Day 3 The 'Tour De Fleece 2011' (4th July)

I went with the Scrap Swap fibre and had a multicoloured hour after work.  These colours are quite addictive.  Plying will really change the look of the yarn.  I could make 'Joseph's Techniclour Dream Shawl'.  It has been quite tricky to squeeze a spin in this evening.  Thanks to my slowpot I came home to Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry all ready cooked.  I may get some more done later when my son has had his bath and is tucked up in bed.  I think this is going to be a bigger challenge than I anticipated, to spin everyday.  I will give it a go though even if I only manage 10 minutes, it will be better than a kick up the bum!

Day 2 'Tour De Fleece' 2011

Today I completed the plying of the Ula Batts and Tussah silk, from Yummy Yarns UK.  It is very soft yarn with a touch of luxury.  I need to skein it but for now my Niddy Noddy has gone on walkabouts.  It will turn up.  I plan on spinning some more Grey tomorrow after work when the little one is in bed and then I am trying to formulate a plan for these:

These are fibres I received in a Scrap Swap Parcel.  They are a complete explosion of colours.  They have actually been very useful for colour theory workshops.  I may just go for the random spin and ply as my confidence to devise a colour palette is not up to what it should be.  I also intend to teach myself how to Navajo ply at some point in the 'Tour De Fleece'.  (That is a method of plying singles as opposed to two yarns plied together.)  For now just any spinning over the next three work days will be an achievement.  I save the adventurous stuff for my days off!

Slowpot/Crockpot 'Carrot Cake' Recipe

I love my slowpot, I use it several times a week, particularly on the days I work so we can come home and dish up.  They are economical to use on fuel consumption and low maintenance.  I tend to chuck all the ingredients in and run....   I like to use it to make curries and casseroles, bolognese, sticky ribs, sausages, chilli, stuffed peppers, soups, pot roasts and stews.  Today for Sunday Lunch it is cooking a Gammon Joint.  I also use it for beef joints and whole chickens.  I have made preserves in there, jams, apple sauce and chutneys and I use it to stew fresh fruit.  More recently I discovered, to my delight it can make yogurt and I was over the moon when I discovered it could bake cakes.  If you haven't already got a slowpot I would really recommend them, if you have got one and it is neglected, get to know it better.  They are brilliant for busy families.  I also used mine a lot when I lived on my own as a student, you can freeze portions to use at your convenience using economical ingredients such as cheaper cuts of meat that become tender with the long slow cooking process and beans, grains and pulses.  Today's Gammon 'leftovers' will turn into 'Split Pea and ham soup'.   There are loads of recipe ideas on the internet, with forums and blogs for people who love their 'Crockpots'.  Here is a link to the recipe I used for Carrot Cake;

Link to Original Slowpot Carrot Cake Recipe

I adapted it (as usual).  My recipe:

Ingredients
6oz/ 150g self raising flour
4oz/100g sugar
3 eggs
125 mls water
175 mls vegetable oil
1 tsp Ground Mixed Spice
2 large grated carrots

Method
Preheat the slow pot on medium.  Plonk everything altogether in a mixing bowl and stir well.

Well butter the sides and bottom of the slowpot.  Put the cake mixture in the slowpot for approximately 20 minutes.  Then turn it on low and leave for approximately 2 - 3hrs.  I occasionally wiped the condensation from the lid of the pot.  When the cake was firm I turned the pot off, removed the lid and covered with a cloth to cool.  I loosened the edge of the cake and turned it out on to a chopping board.  It came out of the pot without any problems.  

Frosting
100g cream cheese
50g caster sugar
The zest of one lemon.
Mix the frosting ingredients together and spread on top of the cold cake.

Result 'Day 1 Tour De Fleece 2011'

Not bad for Day 1.  The fleece is not too bad to spin with.  It feels like a 'Workhorse' though and the Grey reminds me of school jumpers and John Major!  I am sure it would felt perfectly for slippers or I have plans to weave with it.  I think I have been spoiled with beautiful ready made batts and silk.  This feels like a bit of a come down.  I am a bit of a 'Hand Spun Diva'!  I may alternate bobbins each day as I have a 'Funky Rainbow Experiment' I want to try with the results of a 'Scrap Swap' I did earlier in the year.

  On the bright side the 'Slowpot Carrot Cake' experiment was a delicious success.  Hooray!  

Day 1 'The Tour De Fleece 2011' - Preparing 'Local' Fleece for Spinning

This did not look very promising.  I was given this fleece and I do not know what breed of sheep it is from.  It was reared within 10 miles of my house though, so is a nice bit of 'Worcestershire' Wool.

Using my trusty 'Minty Drum Carder':

I have managed to turn it into this:

I am pleasantly surprised.  It looks quite acceptable.  I actually like the natural grey.  I really did not think it would become anything I would enjoy spinning.  I can't wait to give it a go.  I had no idea how it would card and equally I have no idea how it will spin, it is all a mystery to me.  It feels like it is going to need a good  spray of oil, 50% olive oil and 50% water.  It took a couple of hours to card the 50g of wool in the basket which is a small fraction of the fleece.  I would like to card the whole fleece before I start to spin but I think that may be unlikely.  I will probably card a bit and spin a bit, card a bit and spin a bit.  Call me naive, but I am somewhat shocked by what a massive labour dealing with raw fleece is.  Nobody said it was going to be easy I know, but it amazes me that this 'work' was done in the past out of necessity rather than for fun.  After all this someone will end up with a highly prized bobble hat!  I imagine if I did want to make an income I would have to charge £100 a hat, or work for a penny an hour!  We would go hungry if it wasn't for the turnips and raspberries!

     
  Today is Day 1 of 'The Tour De Fleece'.  I have now managed to card just over 100g of fleece to spin.  I have the house to get straight and then I can spin with a clear conscience.  I have more 'Cheese' on the go and I am trying a 'Slowpot/Crockpot' recipe for a 'Carrot Cake'.  It smells delicious.  If it turns out as nice as it smells I will share the recipe.  It is only the second cake recipe I have tried in the Slowpot.  The first was a big hit.  I hope you are having a great weekend, I think it is going to be quite a sunny one here.

Making My Own Cheese

Lavender and Lovage 'Herbs on Saturday' Your Chance to Win A copy of 'The Cooks Herb Garden Book'

If you read about how clever I thought I was Making My Own Yogurt in the Slow Pot can you imagine my delight in discovering I can then (with a twist of magic), turn that yogurt in to Cheese!  I love cream cheese.  It has a constant presence in my fridge.  I love it on bagels, on toast, on crusty bread and in cheesecakes.  I like it plain, with chives, herbs and garlic or my current favourite with chilli.  When I was pregnant with both of my sons I used to eat it spread very thickly on toast with Strawberry Jam.  I had not eaten like that before I was pregnant or since, yet at the time it was a heavenly combination to me.
I was reading in Blogland when I came across A Trifle Rushed and a wonderful Blog post about making homemade cheese.  It sounded so simple I tried it straight away.  It was magical.  Just add three quarters of a teaspoon of salt to 1 litre of Natural Yogurt and stir.  Pour it into a Muslin Cloth and leave it in a sieve over a bowl, overnight in the fridge.  The 'Magic' starts to happen almost immediately the yogurt starts to solidify and a clear liquid drains off.  By Morning you can pick up the cheese and form it into a ball.  (I didn't have a muslin cloth I just used a clean tea towel.  I have since purchased a straining cloth for the Raspberry Liqueurs though, so that will double up as my  'Cheesecloth'.)

Delicious spread on Homemade 'Sunflower Seed Bread' and sprinkled with freshly picked Chopped Chives

I also added dried chilli flakes to some of it and took it to work for lunch (two days in a row) with bread, cherry tomatoes and sticks of red pepper.  When I eventually get some eggs I am going to feel fantastic, I feel like an Urban 'Farmer'.  I need a little goat in the back yard now!  (Preferably Cashmere).

The 'Tour de Fleece' starts tomorrow to coincide with the lesser known 'Tour de France'.  My posts should become increasingly 'Crafty' again as I begin this 'Epic Event with Fleece'.  It will be my first year competing in such an event and I am a proud member of:

The aim is to Spin for each day of the Tour which runs from 2-24 of July, it includes two rest days.  I will be recording my progress for prosperity.