Time well spent

Here I was a couple weeks ago wondering if I had time to write, well I certainly do now with being in the hospital awaiting an angiogram! Everything will be OK,  just a little scare that will get looked after next week.

I came very well prepared too with 2 knitting projects, my weaving project book and a dye book about using natural plant materials for dyeing yarns (a new book obtained a few months ago but have not had time to devote to perusing it) to pass the time in a less than comfortable hospital bed hooked up to … Read more...

Introducing My Stormy Point Fiber~Arts Shop!

I have spent the last year gearing up for this moment. The moment I turn my “hobby” into a cottage industry…get it…cottage? Since I live in the Great White North in a cottage? hee hee, I love a good pun.

Most of you followers already know how crafty I am, sewing, knitting and in the last 8 years, weaving and spinning has crept into the lineup of things I love to create with my hands. I come by it honestly, my fraternal grandmother (Baba) was a talented woman who could make a silk purse from a sows ear as the … Read more...

September KAL (Knit Along)

For those knitters and fibre enthusiasts out there, you know the feeling of completing a KAL with a great bunch of like minded folk. For those that aren’t into fibre-arts, you are missing out!

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For the month of September,  I signed up to knit a shawl for a KAL group on Ravelry, which by the way, if you are not a part of and you are a fibre geek, then I suggest you head over pronto to sign up (its free) and you will then have access to oodles of patterns from mitts to socks to hats to sweaters … Read more...

Fuerig The Baby Alpaca

I really wish I could have met Fuerig in person.  With his glossy black locks and cool demeanor, I could envision him strutting around the paddock like a camelid version of Fabio, beckoning to the ladies housed in the next pasture over with a “hello gorgeous, come here often?” line.

Since the owner sold him for breeding stock before I arrived at the ranch, the next best thing was to acquire 2 of his fleeces.  The first fleece being his “cria” fleece (cria is what a baby alpaca is called) with a 4 1/2″ long staple length and slight crimp, … Read more...

Spring has Sprung!

Thank goodness the cold and snow is now behind us and we can look forward to (in my opinion) the shortest and BEST season we have ~ SUMMER!

I have been so busy this past 6-8 weeks, not just with work (my busiest time of year) but also ramping up my gardening chores.  The raised  beds have had their plastic rolled down to thaw the frozen earth and 2 weeks ago I was lucky enough to get some radishes, chard, beets and lettuce seeds sown.  These are cool weather veggies and have a much better appreciation of early Spring cold … Read more...

Washing Up In Style ~ Take II

This is a blog update for my original post back in January of 2013 to which I have modified the pattern slightly to give a symmetrical border to the washcloths as well as to account for the weight (thickness of yarn) difference from Bernat’s Handi-Crafter cotton to KnitPick’s Dishie.  With KP Dishie being slightly thinner, I have added extra stitches and pattern rows to get the same size washcloth as when knitted with Bernat’s yarn.

I have actually become a cotton yarn snob, KnitPick’s Dishie has won me over and aside from the Christmas speckled washcloths I am making for … Read more...

Cake Dyeing Experiment

Sounds yummy doesn’t it?  Cake Dyeing….  Unfortunately no yummy cakes were baked, dyed or consumed for this project.

Cake dyeing is taking a skein of yarn and winding it into a “cake” with a ball winder and then dyeing it.  The word “cake” came about due to the resemblance of the wound yarn to a stacked layer cake.  This creates a centre-pull “ball” of yarn to knit from.

Ok, enough of word origins, on to the experiment!  I found 3 balls of sad looking yarn in the “free bin” in our condo craft room.  2 were an ugly golden-yellow colour, … Read more...

I’m Not A Deer Hat & Scarf

I thought I made a post last Fall about the hat that I knit for deer hunting season….but upon close inspection of past articles, nope, found nothing.

To back track a wee smidgeon, last Fall I went for a walk, around the first week of November, or whenever deer hunting season (with guns) starts in Ontario.  As I am walking down the road (my daily ritual), hunters in full gear on ATV’s whizzed by me with their guns strapped to the backracks.

Hmmm I thought, not a good place to be out walking with all these hunters around with nothing … Read more...

Atomic Sunrise & Goosebumps

I tried something new on the weekend and ended up with an Atomic Sunrise and Goosebumps.  No, those are not new cocktail ideas…although they could be, I will have to think on those a spell.

Anyway, back to my new adventures.  I have oodles of Wilton’s Food colouring gels in the kitchen not being used up since I don’t bake as much as I used to (lots of reasons, and hubby being one of them).  With closing the Northern Homestead for the winter, all my natural dye supplies are up there waiting for Spring to arrive and me with it.  … Read more...

The Great Avocado Dye Experiment!

Yesterday I posted a recipe using avocados, and in that recipe I said to save the pits and skins for later use.  I guess I *should* have been more specific, but I thought it would be interesting to see how many people would be wracking their brains wondering what the heck would you use them for.  I mean, they are inedible after all, and unless you are wanting to grow an avocado tree, why save the pit?

So here is what I do with them….

To one 500ml canning jar, I added 3 oz of chopped avocado pits. Combined 3/4 … Read more...