Saturday = FUN!

I went to SAFF today! What is SAFF? Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. Amazing fun, beautiful colors, incredible textures, soft wool, curly mohair, yarn, roving, fleeces, dyes, knitting needles, spindles, wheels, carders, you name it if it has to do with the preparation of fiber or use of fiber it was all there! Even the animals were there. Adorable alpacas, cute little Shetland sheep, curly angora goats, and this crazy fun ram! I think he was there last year, or perhaps it was his brother I'm not quite sure. I was so tempted to buy an animal today. If I didn't live in the city limits I would have for sure. I guess I'm lucky I haven't moved out into the country yet!

So what did I buy? Well I kept it minimal this year. I already have bins of yarn to knit, and boxes of roving and fleeces to spin. I only added one skein of sock yarn. I'll be knitting that up come November 1. The yarn is hand painted. It looks like tie dye when it is knit up into socks. I'm thrilled! After yesterday's adventure into the world of dyeing and my stroll down memory lane with tie dye I couldn't resist! I also picked up some Suri Alpaca locks and Angelina to add to an art batt I'm thinking of carding this week. (That is a whole new adventure. The Drum Carder Adventure shall commence in November as well.) Finally I purchased a small amount of silk hankies for spinning. I've seen them around and have been interested in spinning them. These are white. Tomorrow, if I have any energy after my long Sunday run, I'm going to play with my food coloring dyes again. I though it would be fun to drip dye these hankies and then spin them up. I must say the Muse was quite content to go to SAFF this weekend!

After my busy morning filled with fiber adventures I went off to the health food store for food inspiration. I was convinced the Muse would be equally as vocal given the opportunity to pick and choose from organic healthy foods as she was to pick and choose from all the wonders at SAFF. She didn't disappoint! I walked around gathering some staples, cold pressed olive oil, GF sriracha sauce, canned beans, canned diced fire roasted tomatoes, and fresh greens for salad. I don't usually use hot sauce on my foods but the others that live in my house love it so I felt it was important to purchase a fresh bottle so we don't run out.

When I returned home, I wanted to make a simple one pot meal so I could spend my afternoon spinning. After looking at all those beautiful hand spun yarns and new wheels I couldn't neglect my wheel and current spinning project! I finished my yarn and made a simple three bean chili.

Simple Three Bean Chili

3 cans (15-16 oz) beans of choice, rinsed and drained
1 can (28 oz) fire roasted tomatoes
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 habanero pepper, seeded and chopped
3-5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS chili powder

In a large pot saute the onion and peppers in the olive oil, just before the onion is clear add the garlic and continue to saute until the onion is clear. Add all the other ingredients and stir to combine. Simmer on low heat for 45 minutes. Serve with sliced scallions on top and a green salad on the side.

Dyeing for Color

I've been thinking about color lately. Lots of color. The leaves are in full fall color. When I'm running through the forest I can see the entire rainbow in the fall foliage. I love looking for the rainbows in nature! Sunsets have every color of the rainbow in them. When I lived in Puerto Rico I thought it was only the ocean sunset that was so ablaze with rich color. Now that I'm in the mountains and watching the big flaming ball sink below the mountain tops in fiery displays of majestic glory I know there are beautiful sunsets around the world. We now have trees full of red, yellow, and orange reflecting the glorious sunsets.

Years ago I was an avid quilt artist. I designed and sold art quilts. My favorite fabrics to use were the ones I dyed myself. I would dye unbleached and bleached cottons in varying lengths using cold water fiber reactive dyes. One of my favorite ways to do this was a graduated rainbow in 24 mason jars. I ended up with yards of deep rich color in varying intensities. It was perfect for my particular style of quilting. I took peoples memories, dreams, and experiences and portrayed them in fiber. Some were pictures, some were geometric interpretations of one aspect of the memory. 

This week I've been thinking about yarn dyeing and how I could apply my experiences dyeing cotton fabrics and tie-dye t-shirts to wool dyeing. I've come up with a few ideas I want to play with. The first is mason jar dyeing and a graduated rainbow using 20-30 yard lengths of cream sock weight yarn. I measured off the yarn using my niddy noddy.

Then I soaked it in warm water while preparing the jars for dyeing.

The dye I used is food coloring. I know I could use powdered acid dye and have some very rich color combinations. I was after a simple rainbow and wanted to keep my supplies food safe. I used 6 jars and spread out my food dye in a manner that blended color from one jar to the next. Each jar had vinegar and food coloring in it before I added the boiling water to it. After I added the water I put yarn into each jar and waited for the color to be absorbed into the yarn. I had to repeat this process to dye 12 colors.

It only took minutes and then I was able to rinse each yarn under hot water. About the same temperature as the yarn was. I usually try to keep my temperature very close so I don't end up felting the wool. This wool is a superwash wool so there is no danger of it felting. That makes the process much easier. 

What I ended up with was about 400 yards of yarn in varying degrees of a rainbow. I'm planning to knit this up into a wide scarf, it will be so wide you might even call it a shawl. The colors are bright and happy. I'll wear it this winter to bring a fresh splash of color into my dark winter world.

With all this talk of color what am I fixing up for my dinner meal? Color of course! Butternut squash, red potatoes, red kale, and some purple eggplant. Not a super fancy meal. Just a meal filled with beautiful food, rich colors, both soluble and insoluble fiber, and flavor!