Fiber Friday - What's Dyeing?

So if you happen to read this in any kind of blog reader.  Mea culpa.  I accidentally posted it earlier this week and updated later in the week and did it again.  Sigh.  Now it's posting today even tbhough it's not Firday.  I give up.  Fiber Friday comes early.

Anyways, I'm dyeing some yarn to knit Solstice Stockings for the family. I thought it was about time to have something colorful and fibery to put goodies in this year.

All the colors: Magenta , teal, dk yellow, and purple

I dyed the yarns in my dye crock pots using 1% stock solutions, of jacquard acid dyes, at depth of shade of one which means I will use 1 ml of 1% stock solution for each gram of fiber.  If I had done a depths of shade of two I would use 2 ml of dye stock for every gram of fiber.  I chose a depth of shade of one to get a medium dark color.

The yarn base is Oatmeal Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool.  It takes dye wonderfully. I weighed out about 70 grams of yarn for each color and measured 70 ml of total dye solution for each skein.

Magenta on the top left: I can't give you an excact formula because I didn't not write it down right away.  So what I share is a guess

Magenta:  for the boy kid
40 ml fuchsia ( This is some fiber reactive color I used as an acid dye)
10 drops periwinkle
10 ml cherry or vermillion

Teal:  for the husband
This one was easy  70ml of  teal

Yellow Orange: for the girl kid
50 ml aztec gold
20 ml sun yellow

Purple: for me!
60 ml Burgundy
10 ml Periwinkle

Each family member chose the colors for their stripe and I will use all the other colors for the ribbing, toes and heels.  For example my husband chose teal stripes so he had purple ribbing, magenta heel, and a yellow toe.



So far so good.  Stay tuned for more dyeing fun and more stockings!

What's Cookin' Wednesday

I figured it out! I've been sharing quite a bit about food the last few weeks. I want to keep sharing about what we've been eating and recipes I put together. But I've missed talking about fibery crafts but I love alliteration.  So it finally came to me:  What's Cookin' Wednesday.

So what's been cookin' at Chez Fiber Star?

Leftovers for lunch on Friday last week and what we had for dinner on Thursday:



Roasted Chicken and gravy in a slow cooker. *  Roasted green beans and carrots.



Yummy food from the farmers market: sunberries (in the bowl), Japanese eggplant my new favorite summer veggie, okra, peppers, apples, damson plums, and sweet potatoes.

The sunberries are new to us but have kind of a cool connection for me.  Sunberries are in the nightshade family and were developed by Luther Burbank.  I volunteered at the Luther Burbank home when we lived in California.  I don't remember sunberries but I do remember white raspberrries and elephant garlic. Sunberries have an unusual taste, kind of smokey and sour. I think they would be nice added to a savory dish of some sort or something sweet with some sugar.  

Bon Appetite!

* Not sure if it's just me but I find it hard to connect to nom, nom paleo sometimes but eventually the link does work.  So don't give up. 

Sunday Book Review: Blood Shot

So I'm not all that into the vampire genre  except for Buffy and Angel.  But my husband recommended Blood Shot by Cherie Preist because it's not just about vampires it's a vampire mystery novel.  He knows how I love a good mystery.  Since I did enjoy Priest's other novel Boneshaker the first in a steampunk zombie series.  I thought I'd give Blood Shot a chance.  I'm glad I did.

Who knew vampires could be so human.  Reylene, our intrepid thief and mystery solver,  has her issues.  She's very concerned about safety and being prepared for anything which doesn't seem much like a vampire and she cares. She can also kick some serious ass.  You can almost forget she's a vampire until she eats that is.  She only eats the bad guys.  I don't want to give too much more away.  If you are in the mood for some light reading then this might be the book for you.  I just started Hell Bent which is book two in the series. I love a good series.

Foodie Friday: Slurp, Crunch and Chew

Slurp:

Japanese Sweet Potato Soup

We had this soup with some oven roasted chicken and roasted eggplant for dinner on Sunday. The Japanese Sweet potatoes give it a roasted chestnut flavor that is oh so yummy.

A recipe of sorts as I'm taking a guess at what Stephen tossed together in the pot:


Rich and Creamy Japanese Sweet Potato Soup

ghee or butter to cook the leeks and veggies
4 Japanese sweet potatoes - peeled and rough chopped
3 leek whites - cleaned and roughly chopped - great tips on how to clean leeks here
2 carrots roughly chopped
a teaspoon or so of chicken better than bullion  - This stuff is salty so a little goes a long way.  I noticed at my local market that they do have a lower sodium version that I want to give a try. I also noticed it contains sugar so maybe I need to make more chicken stock.
6 cups water or stock to cover the potatoes and leeks
salt and pepper to taste
A little bit of milk or cream about 1 cup

Saute the leeks in some ghee or butter, then add the sweet potatoes and carrots.  Then cover with water and bullion or stock.  Let cook until soft.  Run though a food mill or use a hand blender.  Add some cream or milk at the end.

Crunch:

Sweet Potato Chips

I followed the directions I found here which has you cook them at 400 deg for a short period of time.  I sliced mine up in my food processor which worked fine.  I forgot to salt mine and wish I had.  They were good but I think salted a head time they would have been better.  They didn't get as crunchy as I would have liked.  Oddly the got a bit crunchier after I took them out of the oven. Next time I'm trying a lower temperature for longer and see how that works.

Chew:

Monday's dinner: Dad's Pork Chops topped with some kale chips, roasted okra, feta-basil-garlic-tomato salad

This was my first time cooking up pork chops in a long, long time.  I was a vegetarian for several years.  Even though I've been an omnivore again for quite some time,  I avoid cooking cooking meat and let my husband Stephen be the adventurous one.  Since I do most of the cooking during the week and our current diet require more meat protien I need to just do it.  So I did.  The chops turned out good and would have been even better if I had cooked them a little less.  It was a tasty meal anyways.

Feta-garlic-basil-tomato salad
One pint cherry tomatoes chopped
purple basil as much or as little as you want
2 cloves garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste
a drizzle or so of olive oil
top with feta when you serve

Bon Appetite!

Monday Musings: And how the food goes

It's with great trepidation I talk about this.  How the diet is going and the weight loss because  I've been so against dieting and I'm not all that fat phobic.  I disagree with most of the standard medical info that fat is bad or being fat is bad.  I don't necessarily think  just losing weight is necessary to be healthy.  Eating healthy and being active is the most important part of the equation. I don't think model thin has to be the goal. It certainly isn't my goal. Despite all that I'm going to share how much I weighed and how much I lost.

My goal was to get from 190 pounds to 170 pounds and possibly a few more than that since things are going well.  I'm exited to report that I have lost 13 pounds! I am down to 177 pounds. Only seven more pounds and I have reach my initial goal.  I might need to sacrifice something to the adipose gods for the ease in weight loss so far.

I'm torn about the focus on the weight.  I'm frustrated because "Why haven't I gone down another pant size yet !?"  Yet the size 14 jeans I wear do fit and the skirt I bought a few years ago fits again as well as a pair of shorts I was about to send off to the thrift store.  That's the challenge with a diet is how to balance out the goal of being slimmer and not getting all caught up in the body image bullshit.  Because if I don't focus on the size I do feel better and feel lighter now that I have lost some weight. I'm a bit giddy about that.

I remind myself weight loss wasn't the entire goal.  The other goals was to eat three meals, at least three cups of veggies a day, eat delicious food, and eat until I am satisfied.   So far I'm making that happen. There were a few days when I thought, "Oh crap meat and veggies again???"  Yet what else is there? Food is food and we need to eat.  So that's just something to get over.  It was probably a busy stressful day that I just hadn't planned well for.


Sauteed  peppers and basil, roasted eggplant, Anasazi beans, grilled steak

We started out not eating any grains, starchy veggies, fruit, and most dairy during the week.  I did use milk in my one cup of coffee in the morning.  I changed when I drink my coffee to after breakfast as a mid morning treat so now I really get to enjoy it.

Every night after dinner I have a glass of wine and a small bit of dark chocolate.  I love that! I added a smaller glass if wine while I cooked dinner  as well.

As the month progressed I was getting hungry late in the afternoon so I needed something to take the edge off so I could eat dinner with Stephen.  I found I enjoyed crunching on some nuts but they didn't seem to satisfy the hunger.  So I started having a small amount of Greek yogurt late in the afternoon.  Then later added about a 1/4 cup of raspberries or blueberries to the yogurt for a bit of  sweet.  That helps and I like too.

Starting in September we added back in the cheese.  It's been lovely to have some in an omelet or some feta cheese sprinkled on some veggies.  It adds a bit of punch to a meal. I love melted cheese!


Grilled chicken thighs, zucchini pappardelle topped with walnuts and feta cheese.

I am getting a little tired of eggs in the morning for breakfast.  So I might change it up with some yogurt, nuts and fruit  or something more like a lunch meal a few times a week. I was eating three eggs in the morning and I have cut that back to two.

Over all I like how we are eating now. I've learned about the foods I really truly enjoy like avocados, feta cheese, roasted okra,  kalamata olives, and japanese eggplant.  So eating and cooking has been more fun.


one of my mexi bowls 

I like our indulgence day.  The first few Saturdays I did indulge quite a bit: cheeses, desserts, bread.  But as the month progressed  I found I don't like feeling so full all day.  So I want to make those indulgences incorporated into more of a meal and plan of some sorts.  I'm sure to keep this day as my main dessert day and maybe forever.

Stephen and I are walking three days a week and I walk whenever I need to do errands in my neighborhood.   Now that we have a new bike pump we can get some air in the tires and start biking to the farmers market in Saturdays.   I really don't like to exercise to exercise but I do like to move and feel good moving so this is perfect for me.

So so far so good. Bon Appetit!

Foodie Friday: Another Mexi Meal and Veggies

1/2 cup red beans
2 oz of  Local Marquez Lamb and Beef Sausage -  No sugar!
This sausage is good even better than the chorizo.  My go to way to cook this and any similar sausage it to pan brown it with a little oil then put it into 350 deg oven for about 20 min.
1 cup steamed yuppie veggies (see below)
topped with some of the husk cherry salsa




Yuppie Veggies include: carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and until summer is over local zucchini.  We stole the veggie mix name and idea from the no longer in operation Paradise Bakery & Cafe. If any of you local and far remember the goodness of the cafe you can now prepare it in your own home with their cookbook!

We eat these veggies either steamed or sauteed with many of our meals.  Sometimes I jazz it up with a basil vinaigrette or top with some pesto.   Since it's all cut up there is no excuse not to eat veggies every day. We go through about 2 heads of cauliflower and broccoli, 3-4 carrots and 3-5 zucchinis each week.  That's in addition to all the other veggies we eat during the week like okra, eggplant, green beans etc.  If the kids start eating as much veggies as my husband and I are we will need even more.

WIP Wednesday: Getting My Spin On

I've wanted to spin enough yarn on a spindle about 4 ounces so I could knit some mittens or a hat.  I decided this fall was the time.  Since I was at the farmers market this Saturday I found some wool that was just perfect.  I forgot to ask what kind.  So I will tell you later.



The fiber was washed but not ready to spin quite yet.  I started by flicking the locks but found it's just too short a staple for that.  Then I teased the locks and carded on my drum carder.  That wasn't quite right for this fiber either.  It could be because it's so fly away.  In the end I chose my 112 tpi hand cards.  I'm so glad to do this.  I can sit comfortably in my chair with  the green pillow case in my lap then tease some fiber, card some fiber, then spin some yarn.  It's been nice.

On the picture below starting from the left you can see unteased fiber, teased fiber, then carded fiber.



So far so good, I've spun  one ounce so far.  I did this cool trick of slipping the singles onto some skewers I had in the kitchen. Then to hold the singles in place I added some clothes pins.  This is going a bit faster than I thought it would. I'm a fourth of the way done!