Feeling Sheepish

http://phatfiber.blogspot.com/2009/10/feeling-sheepish-and-giveaway.html

Check out the Phat Fiber blog for a chance to win a 2.0 oz of our yummy, scrummy mulberry silk!

Nom nom nom, as the cool kids say!

I work outside the home 40 hours/week, plus go to school in the evening – so a LOT of my food is purchased.  Unfortunately, that has been detrimental to both my waistline AND my budget.

So my goal this week is to eat all my food from stuff we have at home – it will just take some pre-planning.  One of the hardest meals for me is breakfast, since I tend to sleep in until JUST the last minute and then dash out the door.  Starbucks has been my friend.

But… again, not great for the budget.  We got a coffee machine for the office, so now coffee is taken care of.  I decided to make some scones so I could have something to quickly grab on my way out the door.  These are blueberry scones, using Grandma Johnson’s Scone Recipe. They came out just wonderful – fluffy and cakey and just the right amount of sweetness.  I used frozen blueberries (less expensive, and they don’t get all mushy during the cooking process), and used the food processor to incorporate the frozen butter into the flour mixture, a la Alton Brown’s ‘Biscuit Method’.  It makes cutting the butter into the flower nice, even, and easy.  I’m a lazy baker.

They’re tasty tasty – I’m just worried that they won’t last the week!

Woohoo!  I survived, and have great plans for the spring fiber season!

I am pleased to say that my first fiber show, Farm Fest at Rising Meadow Farms was a great success!  It was a GORGEOUS day – bright and sunny, in the mid 70’s.  We got to meet a ton of great fiber enthusiasts, and spent the whole day sitting in the sun and playing with fiber with good friends.  I really can’t imagine a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Unfortunately, no SAFF for us this year – it falls at a really tight point in my fall semester.   I’m hoping next year will be better, but we’ll have to play it by ear.  I am CHOCK full of ideas on how to make our booth prettier and easier to navigate, and hope to hit a couple of shows in the spring.  We’ll definitely keep you posted!

See all the pretty floof in the photos above?  That’s just part of the extra stock that didn’t get sold last weekend!  I’m in the process of photographing it all and getting it listed on Etsy. Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks!

I think my favorite of the new fibers has been our yummy yearling mohair top – it’s super soft, super shiny, and takes color like a dream:

‘Princess’ – 5.2 oz. yearling mohair top

Last but not least – a few photos from the last few weeks of fiber fun:

Me wearing 1580’s Italian Renaissance working-class clothing, playing with my drop spindle at an Atlantian SCA event, September 2009.

Corriedale roving, on the bobbin.  This should be plied this weekend, I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

I did some dyeing on Saturday – not a lot, but I got to experiment with some new natural grey domestic wool sliver – which overdyed into these AMAZING heathery tones. I almost kept it all for myself! But… I figured that it’ll be a new staple for the shop, so there will be plenty more to play with.

Row 1: Bourbon Street – Corriedale, Oceanic – Corriedale
Row 2: Walden – Corriedale, Briar Rose – Domestic Sliver
Row 3: Walden – Domestic Sliver, Bourbon Street – Domestic Sliver
Row 4: Iolite – Domestic Sliver, Clowning Around – BFL

Everything at Feeling Sheepish!