Happy 2012 Fiber Year!

 

What better way to start off the new year than playing with fiber.  And this fiber feels even softer than it looks.  Those beautiful balls of fluff in the picture are just aching to be used.  This gorgeous Tahiti Sunrise dyed balls of fiber are the most luscious bits of cashmere that will soon be meeting by drum carder in preparation for spinning something ultra fine.  If you want some of these loose cashmere fibers for yourself, they can be found at Girl Meets Spindle on Etsy.

Rachel has many fascinating hand painted fibers and rovings in her shop.  I just wish I had a lot of extra money to buy more of this loose cashmere fiber in the Painters Palette section of her shop.  It really is the some of the softest, loftiest fibers I have ever touched.  Another section of her shop, Plant Fiber, has some banana roving that I have not had a chance to spin yet.

Thank you Rachel for the beautiful cashmere and your wonderful talent for color!

It's a Wonderful Life!

That sounds like a cliche and more than a little schmaltzy but it's true.  Christmas this year was fantastic.  I just felt this wonderful sense of Joy throughout the holidays. For our family the holidays began on December 23 when we were all able to spend the day at Universal Studios to celebrate my daughter-in-law's 25th birthday.  The weather was perfect and the Butterbeer was deliscious.  We had birthday cake and more Butterbeer (my own version) on December 24 after Church and before we opened our Christmas presents.  I was fortunate enough to receive a beautiful skeinwinder from my husband.  It was quickly named "the Pirate's Wheel" by my children.

Cheese Surprise Biscuits

If you love those cheesy biscuits that they serve at Red Lobster and you like olives and jalapenos, you will love these biscuits. I combined a favorite snack recipe with my favorite biscuit recipe to bring you this new goodie.  So far, everyone who has tasted them gives them the thumbs up.  The jalapeno stuffed olives add that special little something to the taste but will not overpower the cheesy, buttery flavor of the biscuits.  They are very easy to make and only take 10 minutes to bake.  If you make them, please let me know what you think of them.

Kathleen's Cheese Surprise Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 and one-fourth cups Bisquick
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 stick very cold butter
1 jar Lindsay Jalapeno Stuffed Olives
two thirds cup milk
about half a teaspoon Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Drain olives and cut or chop into small pieces (about the size of a small pea) and set aside.  Measure the Bisquick into a medium bowl.  Cut stick of butter into half and set half of the butter aside to be used later.  Take half the stick of butter and cut it into the Bisquick with a pastry cutter (or sharp knives if you don't have a pastry cutter).  Part of the key to the recipe is making sure the butter is quite cold when you cut it into the Bisquick.  The butter will end up the size of small peas after being cut into the Bisquick.  Add the chopped olives and the cheese to the Bisquick mixture.  Stir in the milk until the mixture is moistened.  The dough will be sticky.  Drop by large  spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.    Bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes or until they start to brown on the outside.  While the biscuits are baking, melt the other half stick butter and add the garlic powder to the melted butter.  When you take the biscuits out of the oven, brush the top of each biscuit with the melted butter and garlic powder mixture.  Serve warm.

I usually end up with about 10 biscuits although you could make them a little smaller and make a dozen.  If making large biscuits, I suggest flattening the spoonful of dough slightly so they are completely baked in the middle.  Although they are best just out of the oven, you can put the leftover biscuits in the refrigerator and warm up later in a microwave.

Giffordables Goodies

I've been a little remiss lately and have taken way too much time to take this photo write about Susan's shop in my blog.  This beautiful batt came from  Susan Gifford and her wonderful shop, Giffordables Folk Art & Fiber.  She carded it up from her beautiful hand dyed fleece.  The photo does not even come close to showing the beauty and softness of this glorious batt.  Spinning it is going to be a real pleasure.

Make sure you visit her etsy shop and ogle all the beautiful batts.  You should also visit her blog, Giffordables, to see all the beautiful photos!

Beautiful Locks!     

Aren't these beautiful?   They are hand-dyed locks from Karen at Avalon Springs Farm.  They are young Angora goat girls/mohair courtesy of Duchess, Hope, and a little bit from Glen May.  Karen says that these colors were based on a roving she did called Excalibur.  She also said that they brought her good luck because a friend of hers, Melissa Hicks (Wild Hare Fiber Studio) core spun some and entered them in a hand spinning contest at Maryland Sheep and Wool festival and she got a ribbon.

I was originally going to try to thrum them on the outside of a toy sheep that I was knitting.  It was my first time to try thrumming and I did not have much success.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with thrumming it is a way of attaching loose fibers while knitting.  It was usually used to line mittens and give them a very soft  fleece like lining.

Be sure to check out Karen's and Melissa's etsy shops.  You can do so by clicking on the above links.

Real People, Real Needs

This has been the year of disasters.  There are many people who are wondering how they will make it through the coming winter now that they have lost all their winter clothing and blankets.  There also many people who want to know how they can help those in need.  If you are like me, you would like to be able to help these real people with real needs.  When I looked for ways to help I found that all the big relief agencies just wanted money.  They are not set up for people to help people on an individual basis. I also found many smaller groups who collect handmade items and distribute them, but they seemed very impersonal.  These are all very worthy causes but I would like to know a little more about the people who will be receiving my gifts and feel that I am making a difference in individual lives. After talking with other people who feel the same way I do, I decided to do something about it.  Therefore you are witnessing the birth of a new effort - Real People, Real Needs.

Real People, Real Needs is an effort to provide handmade knit, crochet, and quilted hats, scarves, mittens, shawls, afghans, blankets, lap robes, quilts, and comforters to those people who really need them. If you would like to help do this you can fill out the Volunteer Questionnaire farther down on this blog page.  We only ask that you take the time to carefully consider what your involvement in this effort will require in time and materials.  If you do have the time and talent to commit to this effort, but cannot afford the materials, we will try to provide them. We also welcome donations of yarn, fabric, hooks, needles and monetary donations to pay shipping costs and buy supplies when needed.  When you fill out the Volunteer Questionnaire, please make sure  you use the questionnaire slider button to the right in order to complete the form then click on the Submit button to complete it. 

For those of you who have lost your homes or belongings to the storms, fires, earthquakes or other catastrophes that have ravaged our world in the last few months, we hope that we can assist you in the search for winter clothing and coverings.  You can also fill out the Real People, Real Needs Request Form  lower down on this blog page.  If you do not need these things for yourself but know someone else who does need them, please forward the blog URL or give them a hard copy.  Please be aware that this is a new group and we do not yet know how many responses and requests that we are going to receive.  We cannot guarantee that we will be able to fill all requests for help. When you fill out the Request Form, please make sure  you use the questionnaire slider button to the right in order to complete the form then click on the Submit button to complete it.

How will this work?   The questionnaires are linked to spreadsheets in Google documents.  As requests for winter wear come in they will be matched up with volunteers on our database.  Volunteers will turn in finished projects which will then be carefully cleaned and sent to the recipient.  All personal contact information will be kept confidential.  We would like to be able to share the first names of the volunteers and the recipients and the circumstances behind the requests, but only with your permission.

Thank you for taking the time to read about this new effort to help others.We hope that you will spread the word to all your friends, neighbors and relative both online and IRL.

You can also download the forms below if you wish to copy them for distribution:
Needs Request Form
Volunteer Form

If you have any questions, you can contact us at realpeoplerealneeds@gmail.com.