Playing in the Wool

After choring yesterday morning and admiring the wool fleeces on some of my sheep, I decided that I wanted to play in the wool. 

I had dyed this roving earlier and split it up and rolled each strip into balls.  I wanted a chunky yarn out of this ewe's wool for mittens and a scarf.  Please note that I muted my colors for this batch.

I drum carded this lamb's wool and it feels like silk.  I folded a piece of card stock and folded it around the tip to protect.

I continue to gently roll the wool around the card stock.

This is what my carded wool looks like before I stack each section.

I will put each card in a sack to protect until I am ready to spin it.  This soft wool will be spun into a sports weight yarn and then I will dye after I have spun it...I want to keep the air in the wool to make spinning easier.  When the wool is loosely packed on the cardboard or card stock, it spins like a dream.  I prefer to spin before dyeing for this reason.  Dyed rovings sometimes has to be pulled and fluffed more before spinning due to the dying process. 

I found this dyed roving while I was going through my stash, I think this was intended to be socks.
I have plenty to do...more wool to card, spin, dye, and knit...oh what a terrible perdictment.  What shall I do????

A white Christmas for the Spinning C

Christmas Day we headed over to my 81 year old mother's.  The roads were slick from the snow and ice that fell on Thursday.  The skies were gray and the temps were in the the low 20s and teens.



Going down into the Yellow Creek low lands.



This is a picture of the land across from my mother's.  It is covered with cedars and no upkeep for years.



After I fed the livestock this morning in the heavy fog.  I ran in and got the camera so I could catch some of the pictures in the fog.  This is a picture of the old M. 



Some of the sheep went out to the waterer and to the pasture in the fog.



About noon the sun broke through and the sky turned the most beautiful blue and the trees are covered with the frost from the heavy fog that blanketed us since last night with the cold temps in the teens.

A picture taken in our front yard .  It is a winter wonderland.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  I pray that your home is warm, your cabinets are full, your bodies are healthy and that love and joy fill your home. 

Our old farmhouse is warm and cozy.  I have been wrapping the last minute Christmas gifts for tomorrow.  If you could come for a visit, we would make a batch of hot cocoa and top each cup with whip cream and we would sit and visit and sip on the hot cocoa and stir it with a peppermint stick and munch on all the goodies.  We might even knit or spin or weave. 
I am so blessed to know the Grace of God and have the faith that Jesus was born and died for a sinner like me.  I feel so humble and blessed this time of year. 
Thank you for sharing our simple lives on the farm.  I appreciate your comments and I in turn enjoy visiting your blogs.  I am also thankful for all the friendships that I now have resulting from this blog and many from others that love fiber.

New yarn swift and jumbo ball winder

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.


And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.



I ordered a new jumbo yarn ball winder and it came in the post on Saturday.





Danny ordered me a large yarn swift for part of my Christmas present.  It is a heavy duty one like they have in yarn shops.  My old one was the type that laid on the table with dowells pointing up and it has lasted me many years but I have had a good swift on my wish list for a long time....Danny is such a good hubby.



 

some very bright wool yarn...Trying to decide what I shall might with it.  The pictures behind are of my two oldest grandchildren several years ago. 

Quiet reflections of Christmas

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!



We may even have a white Christmas...chances are slim for us in North Central Missoutri.  We have chances for dizzle tonight but the temps are above freezing.




I decided since the girls and their families were here over thanksgiving holiday that I won't be using the good dishes this year at Christmas but maybe I should just get them out and wash and shine them up.  I love the look of clean shining glass.





This is my new box that I got last week end while in the city.  I thought it would go well with my colors in the DR and the wingback chairs...had to have it.  I can now hide another in progress project.




My cozy little corner of the world.  I purchased a new DVD of Jackie Evancho.  I read and listen to Jackie...what a relaxing treat!
I have refused to let the season control me this year.  I have learned to say...Sorry, No Thank You..





I believe Jesus is the reason for Christmas.  But people all over the world have celebrated with many different traditions at Christmas and we do put up a Christmas tree and dig out the old ornaments but I don't worship Santa or the tree.   I make and buy gifts to give to family and friends.  I enjoy listening to Christmas music, sending and receiving Christmas cards, making the sweet treats, and just letting the Christmas season warm and renew my heart for another year.  I think it is another excuse to give to others.  A time to put those that need before my own wants.  A time to gather with family and friends. 



I love to eat a good meal at the formal dining table with the good dishes and then have a beautiful sweet desert with a cup of hot aromatic coffee.

I treated myself to Jan Brett's story book.  I love to look at her beautiful illustrations.  (handmade mittens, knitting, ) Nana will have a new story book to read to my grandchildren. 
We pray that everyone all over the world has a warm bed to sleep in, food in their pantry, a warm secure home, good health, and family and friends to share their food and home.  May we all have peace and joy this Christmas.
God Bless.

I have received several request for the round dishcloth pattern.   I use the pattern located at this site:
patternhttp://www.mielkesfarm.com/dishclth.htm.

Decorating Christmas Raffle Pumkin Bread Jars

The Pumkin Bread jars that I showed you yesterday got dressed up for the School Christmas program and raffle tomorrow night.
I ran ribbon through two of my round knitted cotton dishcloths that I knit on while in the waiting room or while traveling and covered the top of the jars and then I added a note explaining to remove the jar covers and remove the ribbon for 2 cotton dishcloths to the back of the Christmas tags that I made.



This is the other side of the jars in the wire basket with a tag and the recipe for the Pumkin bread.  This way the person who wins this raffle will know what ingredients are in the Pumkin bread.
Just turn this tag over and there is the recipe.





I enjoy using my inks and decorating my gift tags.

People bring in raffle items and purchase raffle tickets from the students and the proceeds helps the student to be able to go on a field trip in the Spring. 
I hope that the person that wins my item likes it! 



Thirteen Days till Christmas



Merry Christmas everyone!  I wish you could have been with me in my little cozy kitchen yesterday while I was baking.  The temps were dropping and the wind was howling outside so it was a perfect day to be in the kitchen.  We could have had a cup of hot tea or coffee and sampled the goodies as they came out of the oven...Danny was willing to help.
Danny's mother always baked him a German Chocolate cake from scratch for his birthday.  I have continued the tradition since I married him in 1970.  The recipe that I use is inside the box of Baker's German Sweet Chocolate Bar.  It calls for 4 eggs in the cake and another 4 egg yolks in the icing.  This is not a low cal, cheap cake for sure but it is so gooooood!    It has almost a whole pound of butter, a whole package of coconut, cup of chopped pecans.  I have been having trouble with my oven not being level and Danny pulled my electric range out this week and leveled it but the cake still was not level, oh well, it eats the same and Danny was happy with it.  Just not as pretty as I like them to look.





I also baked up Pumkin Bread in these little loaf pans that I came across recently.  I will wrap them in clear celo and attach a bow and give to the mailman and others on our list.




I made a very large batch of fudge.  My recipe is very simple and always turns out good.  I is never grainy.
1 pkg of milk chocolate chips
1 pkg of semi sweet chocolate chips
Melt in the microwave at 1 minute intervals and take out and stir until the chips are melted.
Stir in a can of sweetened condense milk and 1 container of marshmellow cream
stir and pour into a buttered pan, and let cool.  Add nuts if you like
You are done.  This always went over well with my children.




These are jars of pumkin bread that bakes in the wide mouth jars.  Put the seals on them when you take them out of the oven and they will seal.  Let cool and store any extras in the deep freeze.  These jars are nice to have on hand in case you have company drop in on you.  Just open the jar and slide out of the jar, slice and microwave about 30 sec and top with cream cheese frosting.
I will decorate these jars and put on tags and give as gifts.  I found the wire basket at Walmart.
I have made this pumkin bread recipe many falls when I was using all the pumkins we grew in the garden and the black walnuts that we picked up and picked out the meats.



Little loaves of pumkin bread.
Hope you have endured the cold this week end.
Happy preparations for the Christmas!

Preparing for Christmas

This weekend I plan to prepare for Christmas.  I plan to fill the house with sweet warm fragrants with my baking and making Christmas candy.  I will try to get some pictures and recipes up on the blog Sunday.

I am so excited!!! Jane from the wool processor in Illinois emailed me and they are starting to work on my wool.  I can not wait to open that box of wool yarn and hopefully some pencil roving.   I sent them 5 or 6 fleeces from my flock so I can see what they can do with the wool from my flock, the BFL/Shetland crosses and if all goes well, I plan to send them lots of Spinning C fiber next Spring.  Several spinners have spoke for fleeces already but I know I will have several pounds of wool to ship to them.

Praying that everyone has a very happy weekend and that we all never forget the reason for the season.