It's that wonderful time of year here in New England. FRESH TOMATOES...everywhere. Here's a super quick, super easy sauce recipe. It is great over pasta, as bruschetta, on rice, as a salad and etc.:
About 6 large, ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic
salt/ pepper.
optional:
10 or so torn fresh basil leaves (add right before serving)
1 cup diced (small) cubed or shredded mozzarella (add when preparing)
Romano or Parmesan cheese
Mince the garlic and add it along with the salt, pepper and oil to a large bowl. Rough chop the tomatoes and add them (seed if you wish). Stir well and cover. Leave at room temperature for at least two hours and up to about four hours, stirring occasionally. Serve as desired.
I adore processing my own wool. I meet the most wonderful shepherds; I get to hand select a fleece. Washing a fleece is a joy to me; I love seeing dingy, dirty wool change into glowing white wool. I love the smell....yep, I love it all.
Preparing the cleaned fleece can be a time consuming process. I have hand cards and wool combs and adore using them but most of the time I rely on my drum carder. Getting the wool ready for the carder is super hard on my hands because they have arthritis and protest loudly to pulling and picking apart fiber by hand. I have wool picker and it is a huge help. Even though I'm really careful, I still find neps and noils in my fiber.
(Neps are the little bumps that form around second cuts and the like. Noils are little coils that happen when fiber is stretched and bounces back. You can tell the difference by examining one. If you can pull it apart into staple length fiber, it is a noil and if it comes apart into bits, it is a nep, generally speaking. These can be saved and used in spinning either an art yarn or a tweed yarn. Also, as you spin, they kind of rise to the surface of the yarn and can be plucked off.)
I'm spinning a lavender Jacob's fleece for a sweater and so I'd prefer a smoother yarn. As you can see on the carder drum...a little nep is lurking. Enter the dental pick. It is really easy to just grab the offending mass and remove it. I stop the carder after every couple of additions of fiber and remove what I can. The pick works equally as well at removing any leftover VM. And even more.....it is a huge help in removing fiber that escapes and wraps itself around the carder's axles. A pick came with my drum carder (Fancy Kitty) but it grew feet; I got this one for a very few dollars from Amazon.
Sometimes the smallest inconveniences are the biggest annoyances. My new to me wheel doesn't have sn on board orifice hook and yikes, what a pain. So, I bought a threader and got some coated copper wire from the toolbox; then I fashioned a hook/ hanger around the rear maiden. Voila.
One coil spun and the other, core spun.
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| And one Jake |
They are assembled. Each has its own strengths and each may have a weakness, although you'd have to ask me very, very nicely to get me to admit any of them have any weakness of any sort whatsoever. And of course, the weakness may well be mine and not the wheels.
They are (in no particular order) a cherry Schacht Reeves (30 inch), a Cadorette CPW, a Majacraft Aura and a Roadbug from Merlin Tree. It has taken more than two years to get them all into my house and my hands. It wasn't hard but it required more patience than I'm used to exerting and a lot of help from a special Aunt and a special friend. My Aunt is amused at the way I spin because I usually have all four wheels at work all the time. The Roadbug is always ready for travel and the other three stay home.
Are there other wheels in my future? I only need a little bit more room.
Pretty drive on the Kangamanga Parkway thru the White Mountains National Forest. There are tons of trails and picnic places. There's also a river to play in...We were there yesterday (7/5/14) and it was only 62 degrees. Wonderful!
