#3 Time!

Things have been crazy in the Woodland Pixie household as we gear up for Baby #3!  18 weeks have flown by and we will be having our ultrasound already in just a week!  Looking forward to another woolie babe, and all the babywearing and bonding and watching relationships form between siblings.

For anyone with the same love of cloth diapering/babywearing/all things crunchy, I wanted to mention this giveaway by PAXbaby for their 10,000th fan on facebook.  The gift package is totally droolworthy!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour de Fleece!

For the past 2 weeks while the Tour de France has been going on, spinners all over the world unite for a massive spin-along, the Tour de Fleece.  It's completely non-competitive and social, and a lot of fun so far.  I spend so much time spinning for others that my husband made an offhand comment about how I never seem to knit with handspun, so what do I do on my wheel, do I even need it?  (Blasphemous).  So I set my goal during the Tour to spin for myself and my kids.  I learned that a) I was in denial over how much wool I have and b) I can spin fast when I'm truly enjoying it and selfishly motivated!

This is Charlotte, my Kromski Sonata.  She's a collapsible travel wheel, sleek and fast and smooth. 

This is my Ashford Traveller, he doesn't have a name, but he makes perfectly balanced yarns consistently.  He is my workhorse :)

So far we've spun over 2 lbs. of wool in 2 weeks, some of it as fine as sock weight when doubled up.  I'm doing some experimenting with new methods and playing, having fun, and making a mountain of handspun wool for our fall/winter knits!

This is my very first true 3-ply

This is the second of four for a sweater for me!

Sock yarn from fiber I bought at sock summit last year

And some sock yarn from fiber I dyed myself

I can't wait to put the pile together and see it when the Tour is done!

Gluten free and the bread craving

So I've been gluten free for about a month now, and my headaches have dropped by about 80%.  When they pop up they tend to be mild vs. an actual migraine.  (I cheated once and ate pizza, and had a migraine for 3 days).  So of course I've been questing for a decent gluten free bread.  I found an amazing loaf at a local farmer's market, but with the drive in and the cost, I knew I needed to figure out my own.  I've tried about a half dozen combinations, and finally decided to work out my own version based on others I'd found, and the combo of flours used by the local vendors.

This is what I came up with:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water, with 1/2 tsp sugar
1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3 eggs
1 cup milk, warmed for 60s in microwave
2 tbs. molasses
3 tbs. melted butter
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbs. xantham gum

Directions:
1. Activate yeast in water, look for a bubbly/foamy cover on top.
2. While yeast is activating, in a LARGE separate bowl beat eggs and add in your milk, molasses and melted butter.  Then once the yeast is ready add that in too.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly and mix into the wet. It will be thick, but I didn't need a dough hook.
4.  Put into a greased loaf pan, cover, and let rise for about 1 hr to 1 1/2 hours.
5. Bake at 400 for 30-45 min.  Test with a knife to make sure it's done.

This will be a staple in my house from now on, I might add seeds to add some texture, but this was great as is!


Oh and in other news, Tour de Fleece has started!
Here is my Day 1 contribution to the cause

I'll be adding a lot more info and pics about this to come :)

Gluten Free?

I've been a sufferer from chronic migraines for about 18 years now.  They are completely debilitating and only sometimes respond to medications.  I recently learned that gluten sensitivity, now that it's being more understood, is found to be a trigger for migraines in some people, so I'm doing a trial run of gluten free in our house to see how I feel.  While I've been dealing with some major depression issues circling around Pixie's upcoming first birthday, physically I've felt better these past few days than I have since before I got pregnant with her, which is huge.

So yet another project, researching and converting to gluten free while I try to discover if gluten is in fact the culprit or not...

Yoga and more goings on

So it goes without saying, that since Pi is 3, he has harnessed the energy of a tornado, and has an equally pleasant temperament as of late.  No matter what I try to do to channel it, he has been acting out horrendously.  I decided I was going to try to teach him yoga, since yoga teaching is something I'd love to do as a job, and because he needs focus. 

Of course when I tried to convince him we were going to do yoga, he would have none of it.  So I put on a Rodney Yee video, ignored him to the best of my ability, and settled into my own practice.  A few minutes later I glanced over, and he is standing in mountain pose with his hands over his head reaching for the sky.  I gave him a nod and told him it was a GREAT mountain, he was just and big as tall as a mountain could be.  A couple minutes later, he was next to my mat in a down dog.  Then on the end of my mat joining me in forward bends.  He did the whole practice with me, of his own choice!  And at the end, his mood was so much better.  I'm trying to think of good ways to sneak in more things like that now during the day.  School is so hectic lately I could use any break I can get!

Writer's block, and I don't mean blogging :(

Is there anything as satisfying as the feeling of creation?  Today it was wheat bread.  We spent a chilly day at the Renaissance Festival in Forest Grove, and what better way to warm up the house than baking bread?  Side bonus the house smells amazing!  Even better, the hubby is ecstatic to have fresh bread again, school has kept me so busy we had to resort to a store-bought loaf... the humanity!  He actually kind of complained today that I haven't taught him how to make bread yet.  Am I wrong for keeping the job to myself? 

My less thrilling creation, speech for my Public Speaking class.  I just can't motivate myself to do it, and it's not that I don't care about any topics, or that I hate the class (or maybe I do and I just won't admit it?) I just can't seem to work within a set structure.  Why should this be any different than following a knitting pattern or sewing tutorial or a baking recipe? I can do all of those things! 

Natural Dreads, and posting my socks

Backtracking to my finished socks, which might be my new favorites, I need to get pictures up! They are so comfortable, it's a good reminder of why I am addicted to handknit socks (handknits in general I should add!) I did start a new pair, which I think are going to be great, it's my first pair for me on yarn I dyed myself - yep I'm actually using my OWN STUFF!



I'm today on my 27th day of letting my hair form dreadlocks. I have a very love/hate relationship going right now with it. I hate the frizz, I love where it's going, I wish I loved how it is right now, but I don't. Pi absolutely loves it, especially the beads, and tells me he wants dreads too. Pixie thinks it's fun rope to pull on when I am trying to sleep in the morning and she's hungry. Little by little though, I can see the direction it's going and I'm glad I decided to do this. I can't wait to add in some wool dread extensions or wraps too, I'm already plotting what of my own dyed roving I can set aside for fun with my hair.
Over the last few weeks I've been doing a LOT of dye work, I'm going to be adding some to my etsy. I'm really proud of how it all turned out so I'm going to share, since most of this won't be listed.




And of course, I'm working on socks during downtime at school. My progress on my SELF DYED socks:
I feel like I'm on to something here :)

Dreadlocks, and more craftiness

So I came to the realization that by using natural cleaners on my hair instead of shampoo (I usually clean with baking soda) I was fighting against my hair forming dreadlocks. I was constantly brushing it to keep it from matting and it was forming into thick locks throughout every day. I have always loved dreadlocks, and didn't have them because of working in a "professional" setting. It hit me out of nowhere, hey, I'm a work at home mama and student, why can't I have dreadlocks? So I did some research, did a good cleanse to strip my hair, twisted them up in a semi-uniform way, and am letting nature take its course! Sadly, I'm excited about the new wool opportunities, headbands, tams, wool dread extensions (yes I'm pathetic).

Tomorrow is my last final for winter term - spring break starts, and I have all kinds of dye schemes cooked up, I'm hoping to ACTUALLY stock my Etsy for once by the time break is over, plus prototype some new colorways! Oh and start a new pair of socks, my January pair finally got done, and they are my new favorites!

Since I don't have a picture handy of my socks (since yeah they went straight on my feet and are in the wash) here is a picture of Pixie in her handspun longies I shared earlier. This little booger decided today she would start walking, even though she's only 9 months old :(

Turning to homesteading

On a more non-knitting note (probably because I haven't had much TIME to knit what with school and the never-ending list of custom spinning orders) we have been reverting the house more and more toward homesteading. I'd say urban homesteading, but since we're USDA classified as a rural community that's probably a bit of a misnomer. We live in town though, and are converting our yard to being self-sustaining. Little by little we're getting further from buying ready-made, and doing it ourselves. This week: $35 in non-GMO seeds and some starter pods. I also decided to swear back off of meat in general, unless it's wild-caught fish. So we're experimenting with more recipes (I found out my 9-month old loves quinoa!) and having fun exploring our creative sides in the kitchen. I plan to log some of our progress and results as we go (and since I have a new camera, hopefully photo some of it also!)

School haze

School is taking its toll on this house, and my poor January socks aren't coming along very quickly. I'm almost to the toe decreases on the first sock, which is record slow sock knitting for me. Bonus, in 8 days we'll be driving up to Washington to see a couple friends and go to Madrona, a fiber festival in the Tacoma area. Drive time is knit time, and I'll get to ogle gorgeous wool while we're there!

In the meantime, I snapped a picture of some wool longies I made for Pixie out of my handspun yarn. She's growing like a weed, and I swear outgrows woolies every week.

Backtracking

Back when I had started this project, I told some friends about my crazy scheme, and one had made a comment about wishing she could make socks, she's never had a pair of hand knit socks. Me, being a good friend (or trying to be) thought it over, and said hey... some people just aren't sock knitters. I clearly am. I should offer to make her a pair, since I'm doing this anyways, right?

I thought about it some more, and decided yes sure. I could give her the pattern list from the book, make her a pair of socks, it'd be win-win. I sent her a message that said I would be willing to make her a pair if she picked up the yarn, just as soon as I finished the custom order I was working on at the time. She answered me back thanking me, but that she actually wanted socks for her grandmother. She was in the hospital dying from brain cancer, and the room was so cold that she always complained her feet were freezing. She was worried by the time I made 2 pairs of socks, her grandmother would already be dead.

So I took a break to whip up a pair of socks for a woman I will never meet. I spent 5 days knitting every chance I had, including while breastfeeding the baby. I chose "lace anklets" from the Purl Bee website, because the pattern was fast and easily memorizable. I am happy to say she got them in time to enjoy them. They were warm but didn't dig into her ankles like other socks, they were nicknamed Mindy's Magic socks. They weren't Cookie A, or intricate, or part of my goal for learning new techniques, but they made someone happy, and at the end of the day, I have to think that it's what matters.