I found my stash of yarn from the sheep breed classes I took a few years ago. I had completely forgotten I still had them. Clockwise from the upper left we have Romney, Coopworth and Border Leicester. These are all long wools which means longer fibers, generally a nice shine and usually coarser than wools such as Merino and Corriedale. (Click here to see the various breeds and read all about them. There is a HUGE variety of sheep!)
I've been occasionally surprised by how some of the yarns has knitted up. These, clockwise from the upper left, are Blue-faced Leicester (BFL), Romeldale, Polypay and Texel. The two on the left are long wools and the two on the right are fine wools. All of these would make wonderful sweaters.
I'm contemplating making Pumpkin Butter this weekend. Here's my issue: I've always made my preserves/canning from fresh picked fruit. This time, however, I'm considering using canned pumpkin instead. It just feels like cheating to me to open a can instead of going to the local Farmer's Market and buying a local pie pumpkin, even though taste tests have shown that canned pumpkin is just as good as the fresh made stuff. I've even got a can in my pantry (my Pumpkin Cranberry bread is to die for!) ready to be used. So is it cheating if I pop open the can or should I just suck it up and go buy a pumpkin?
Hmmm... Well, if you cook down a pumpkin, you'll still have the can available for the bread. Does that help?
That pumpkin butter looks amazing. And we have a bumper crop of pumpkins this year. Thanks for the link to the recipe!
Posted by: gayle | September 28, 2011 at 08:27 AM
In that I now work a 50 hour week I am using shortcuts with some of my cooking. Like my knitting, it is mine and I can do what I want. I don't feel it is cheating, perhaps because I buy organic it helps me to feel this way. Would be VERY interested to hear how it turns out with canned pumpkin! After all they are in season for sometime if you don't like it you can go back to doing it from scratch.
Posted by: Syd | September 28, 2011 at 08:54 AM
Becky, you get so much done, you amaze me!!! You must never sleep! All your projects are just beautiful and those apples - yum!
Posted by: elizabeth | September 28, 2011 at 03:14 PM