So many hobbies!

Three more days

The camping gear has been moved upstairs and waits by the front door.  The car has been cleaned out and the back seat folded down, ready for Wednesday's loading.  I've gone to the grocery store and I've got 2 1/2 quarts of strawberries and 4 apples sliced in drying in my new food dehydrator:

I've wanted one of these for a while.  Besides these store-bought berries, I can't wait to dry the strawberries we'll pick in June and then the blueberries in July, maybe cherries and definitely the apples picked this fall.  These strawberries will be added to three servings of oatmeal for breakfasts next weekend.  This is the second batch in the dehydrator.  The first one had strawberries, apples and pineapple.  I'd love to show you the dried pineapple but it was so good I kind of ate them all.  Next time the pineapple is on sale at the grocery store, I'll be picking up a couple to dry.  Yummy.

The spindle spun yarn is drying and I'll have a picture for you later this week.  I managed to spin the singles on each spindle so closely in length, that when I finished the cop on one spindle, there were only 8 inches of singles left on the second spindle.  I couldn't have gotten it that close if I tried on purpose.  Because they were so close in length and the plying spindle was so heavy, I decided to wind the cop off the third spindle into a center-pull ball and ply it back on itself into a second skein.  The first skein was 2 ounces which is the minimum I need to enter into the skein contest at Maryland.  The Finn I decided not to spin because it's just too dry here and the wool is way too full of static.  It's too hard to spin an even yarn with the wool flying all over the place.  I'll have to wait until it's a lot more humid outside before I try again.

Only three days until we leave.  I've got a short work week but those three work days are going to feel like forever.  Wish me luck.

Oh, and for your viewing pleasure, the kids sleeping on the couch:

More swatches

 

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?

Apples

 

Let's hear it for apple orchards... and fresh cider and donuts.  Alice and I picked apples at Erwin Orchards Saturday.  This is our haul.  Half of those apples are mine.  One of those bags is half a bushel.  I don't know about other states, but it seems as though every apple orchard and cider mill in Michigan also makes donuts.  And those donuts seem to be more moist and tender than any bakery donut you could find.  Man those were good!

The fresh picked apples are great, too.  I've already had 4 apples today and the day isn't over yet. 

 

7:30 this morning and I was peeling and coring apples for apple sauce.  See that yellow bowl?  Two of those full of apples was 12 pounds worth.  It took about four hours from start to finish but I ended up with 10 pints of chunky applesauce:

 

Chunky applesauce is my favorite.  I like my food to have texture and smooth applesauce just feels like baby food.  I filled a couple jars too full and they leaked in their hot water bath.  They still sealed but I need to watch them to make sure they stay sealed.  Those three that leaked will be the first ones eaten.  Mmm, yummy chunky cinnamon apple sauce.  I somehow managed to get to the end of summer without freezing any fruit so I'm thrilled to have fresh applesauce to eat during the winter.  My mom has already requested a jar.

There's still a half a bushel of apples left and I can only eat so many.  I'll take any suggestions on what to do with them.  I think I'll freeze a few quart bags to make apple crisp during the winter but that's still only going to cover a few.  So tell me, do you have a favorite recipe that uses apples?  Muffins?  Cake?  Coffee cake?  I'm not so much into pie, partially because it's way more work than I want to do.  I prefer something cakey and crumbly.

 

She helped when I was peeling, too.

Strawberry jam

 

Making jam is one of my favorite summertime activities.  I'm not that thrilled with the facial I get each time but I love to see the filled jars all lined up.

 

Nine jars of Strawberry jam.  I'm going to love cracking one of these open when the snow is flying.  It's summer in a jar.

 

Four jars of Strawberry Balsamic jam.  I'm still on the fence about this one.  The balsamic vinegar adds a dark, smokey flavor to the jam.  It'll be good, I think, on biscuits or rolls but I'm not too sure how it'll go on a PB&J, which is how I eat most of my jam.  Still, I like trying new recipes.  I'm sure I'll find homes all of it.

Strawberries

 

Alice and I had a good time Saturday berry picking.  The picking was great as you can see from the pic.  I came home with 11.6 pounds of red gold.  I've got one double batch of jam done and at least one more planned.  I'm also going to try Strawberry Balsamic jam for the first time.  From what I've heard, it's wonderful.  I'm thinking of entering some of my jam in the Great Lakes Agricultural Fair this fall.  I've never entered in the jam contest before so this should be fun.

Today was a day of crossing things off my To-Do List.  I managed to get most of the list taken care of which was made easier by the fact that Tyr woke me up at 5:30.  Again.  I got the week's groceries, called my dad for Father's Day, washed the dishes, the litterboxes were completely emptied and refilled, made one batch of jam, made the binding for one of my quilts, folded the whites and washed the darks, added dirt to the potato boxes, weeded the garden, and finished a quilt top that had been languishing for a couple of months.  The cats, after waking me up at an ungodly hour, spent most of the day sleeping on my bed.  Stinkers.

 

Galen had a grand time this morning chasing his favorite paper wad around the house.  Nothing detered him including batting it under the furniture.

 

One of Tyr's favorite hang-outs is the end of the ironing board.  I was flat on my back when I took this one with Galen weaving back and forth between and around my legs purring loudly.  He was thrilled to have me down at his level.

I really need another day to take care of the rest of the strawberries.  I should get two, maybe three, more batches of jam from the berries in the fridge.  I don't like the consistency of frozen strawberries so freezing is out.  I've made fruit leather in the past (which is awesome if you get the chance to make it) but I don't have a food dryer anymore.  That pretty much leaves jam.

Now, however, I'm off to bed. It's been a very long day.  I'll have pictures of all the jam once I've finished making it.

The Endless Picot Bind-Off

 

I'm more than half-way done but this bind-off is taking F O R E V E R!  It took me a while to get the hang of it but now I'm a pro.  Rarely do I have the urge to to knit the same pattern twice but I've enjoyed this one so much I'm pretty sure I'll knit it again at some point.  Also, I'm absolutely in love with bottom-up shawls.  I found a handful I like on Ravelry but most shawls are designed top-down.  The rows on bottom-up shawls get shorter as you go until you're flying through the shawl at the end.  It's great.

I'm eager to get the shawl done and start working on quilts again.  I have two quilts that need bindings and two I'm still piecing.  It's great to have different hobbies to bounce between.  As soon as you get tired of one hobby, you can switch to the other.  Or in my case, I can switch between knitting, spinning and quilting. 

It's strawberry season and the beginning of the summer U-pick season.  One of my girlfriends and I are picking this Saturday.  The rest of the weekend I'll be making strawberry jam.  Yummm!  Strawberries are just the beginning.  After strawberries comes sweet and sour cherries, then blueberries, peaches, raspberries and finally apples.  Oh yeah, and around the first of July will be cucumbers for pickles.  I found a farm about half an hour from my house that sells U-pick cukes.  I haven't made pickles in YEARS so I'm looking forward to this.  I'm hoping one of the recipes I have will give me the sweet pickles you buy in the grocery store.  I adore sweet pickles.

I'm looking for some good blueberry recipes.  Anyone have a favorite blueberry cake recipe?  I've still got berries in the freezer and I need to use them up before the blueberry season starts.  Any help would be appreciated.

The end of a long, dreary weekend

It rained all day today.  I've accomplished nothing except a load of whites; I'm currently wearing my emergency socks.  You know, the ones you only wear when the good ones are all dirty.  Yeah, those.  Since I didn't do anything besides watch movies and take a nap, I have nothing to show for the day.  So, you get the leftover purchases from my trip to Maryland.

On the way, we stopped at Leener's which is basically a food preservation store.  They sell everything to preserve food from jam making equipment to beer making supplies to pickling.  I've wanted to make sweet pickles for a couple of years now so I splurged and bought myself a 3 gal. pickle crock:

 

I'm still trying to find someplace to put it.  And, according to the declutterers, I need to find something to get rid of.  The rule of thumb is if you bring something new in, you have to get rid of something already in the house.  I'm still looking.

I also bought a kit to make mozarella at home:

 

Yup, Leener's sells cheesemaking supplies, too.  Now I just need to find the time to make the cheese.  I think, though, I should wait until my tomatoes are producing so I can make myself a Caprese salad (fresh mozarella, fresh tomatoes, basil drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil).  Yummy!

Strange how doing nothing all day can be so tiring but it is and I'm going to bed.  Hopefully, there'll be sun tomorrow.

The tally so far

 

Seven jars of strawberry jam.

 

Seven pints and one quart of sour cherries (plus some extra that's hanging out in the fridge).  Look at that color!  When I was little, Grandma canned cherries.  I'd make the most amazing cherry milk shakes from those cherries.  I wanted to get back a bit of my childhood.  And make Grandma proud, of course.

 

And nine jars of Simply Delicious Cherry Chutney (from the Ball canning book).  This stuff smelled amazing while it was cooking. 

Now I have to figure out where to store everything.  Oy!

So much to do!

 

This was how my day started Friday morning:  12 lbs. of U-pick strawberries by 9 am.  The beginning of the U-pick season.  The plan is for a couple batches of jam and strawberry pancake syrup.

The potato boxes are done and the potatoes planted, along with the rest of my little garden.  I'll have pictures tomorrow providing it doesn't rain.  I've already had to replant some of the 'tatoes because the stinking squirrels have excavated.  Squirrels are evil!

 

On the left is natural colored Cormo and on the right, true black CVM (California Variegated Mutant).  Both had bleached tips I cut off before scouring.  I just adore naturally colored wool and these two are beautiful.  I've already spun the Cormo and I've started on the CVM.  The staple length was rather short after I trimmed the tips so flicking would have been too bloody.  I'm not very good at carding so I pulled out my Louet Mini Combs, combed and spun worsted.  I'm leaning toward mittens with the finished yarn.  

As requested, here are pictures of the quilt.  Sorry, they're not very good.  I'd already put together my quilt sandwich when I took the pictures.  The front:

 

And the back:

 

The back looks verrry wrinkly.  I hope it doesn't quilt with folds.  I've never done anything beyond tying my quilts so getting a quilt ready for machine quilting is new to me.  Fingers crossed... 

Six more quarts

Today was a beautiful day for picking.  Not too warm, no humidity... it was great.  It's much more fun to go with a friend.  Alice and I was talking so much, it didn't feel like we were out there for three hours.  The bushes were vicious, however, and both Alice and I have scratches all over our arms.

The plan was to work on the quilt but it didn't happen.  Between napping, working on more boxes, a party at a friends and raspberries, there wasn't time for quilting.  I've got two boxes about halfway done but I need more elastic before I can complete them.  This is the third box from last week: