By Tara, on March 31st, 2008%
I just started reading Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit last night and stayed up much later than I should have, enthralled by the concept of a creative habit and preparation for creativity. More on this as I get through the book and have some time to process it all.Creativity keeps popping up: CopyBlogger took a survey of what creativity is A Creative Journal: just discovered this site dedicated to journaling, just in time for my new journal!
I’m also thinking a lot about knitting with my own handspun. I can’t seem to get up the courage to dye and spin the 24 oz of Merino I received as a gift over 2 years ago! I’ve yet to settle on a project that would meet my demands that 1. It be a project that I can see/use a LOT, not just during the (short) winter months and not so bright . . . → Read More: Inspiration Monday #8: Creativity
By Tara, on March 25th, 2008%
Donuts! The following is a photolog of the making of these donuts, last Saturday afternoon:
rolling the dough (after it’s risen for an hour). Note the French Press coffee maker wearing it’s handknit cozy!
Cutting out the donuts, using the only round thing I had available.You can see that I also used some square cookie cutters.
Fresh out of the oven, doughy and puffed!
After their bath of cinnamon and brown sugar! Yum!
By Tara, on March 21st, 2008%
Dyed with Easter Egg dyes!
I was about to write a lengthy Fiber Friday post (about Organic Squishy), but I have the day off, the sun is shining and the pup is adorable. So having a lovely weekend and I’ll be back on Monday!
By Tara, on March 18th, 2008%
…well, they don’t always turn out as well as the yarn. This bread, following Amanda’s WHO Bread recipe, ended up a bitflat. We fed it to the birds and went without bread this weekend. When my confidence picks back up, I’ll try again. Any idea why it wouldn’t rise and would stay so doughy on the inside?
Last week I got a yearning for flannel pants. In full disclosure, I live in flannel pants. Everyday, after work, I come home from the office and put on a pair of flannel pants. For the last 2 years, I have had 2 pairs, gifts from my in-laws that were BRIGHT orange plaid. Not attractive, but very comfortable. The last few months had been hard on the pants and they were holey in some, uh, unholy places. Last Thursday, while packing to go out of town, I decided to sew some new . . . → Read More: Other Domestic Pursuits
By Tara, on March 17th, 2008%
As buds unfurl and sprouts start reminding us of tasty green things, the conversations around the Boutique (ie. my living room) are turning towards farmer’s market, gardens and our future farm. Jay and I have long known we wanted to live rurally, on some land with a sheep or two. But lately, as he nears graduation and we both are closer to 30 than not, we’ve decided we’d rather have that farm sooner, rather than later. We’d like that self-sufficiency and simultaneous reliance on the local community to be a little more within reach. And so this Monday, I’m inspired by the books I’m reading, blogs and the Ravelry groups I’ve joined; all on the subject of sustainability and homesteading:
The Rural LifeYou Grow GirlCrave’s 100 mile dietSustainable Table (Ravelry group)Live Simply (Ravelry . . . → Read More: Inspiration Monday #8: On the farm
By Tara, on March 13th, 2008%
I started blogging in 2001, when it wasn’t called a blog, but a “online journal”. All throughout college, I updated it with musings, lists and ideas. After I started knitting, I started a knitting blog, which also included bits of my life: pictures of family, grocery lists, etc. I maintained it until last fall, when I felt that it was important to have a separate business blog, one that didn’t include too much personal information; a place to fully discuss my materials and methods. I didn’t link to my old blog, but I feel that without that great big archive a big part of what BCB is and who I am as a knitter and dyer is lost. To remedy the situation, I’m now importing some of my old posts into this blog, mostly the posts about finished knitted things. At each year’s end, I’ve done a recap . . . → Read More: Merging
By Tara, on March 13th, 2008%
When admiring the photography of my yarn-photo heroes, I often wonder how they do it. I’m not so interested in the cameras and settings (I don’t plan on buying a new one for quite some time), but want to know about when and where. Lolly has written a great post about making a lightbox and although I don’t have one, I appreciate her generosity. In the same spirit, I’ll share my “photo studio”. It’s located in the 2nd bedroom, in “the office”, in one corner. My “studio” is straightforward: a sheet, on a chair. When not in use, the sheet gets folded up (to avoid the inevitable snuggling by the pup and cats) and the chair goes back to being a chair.
I photograph a week’s worth of products all at once, after I’ve spent the previous week making it. I love this schedule because it gives me free . . . → Read More: Photography
By Tara, on March 10th, 2008%
I’m thinking a lot about spinning with ‘non-traditional fibers’: plastic, newspaper, material. There are many cool options out there and so many people willing to share how to do it! Here are just a few of the tutorials, ideas and inspirations:
Plarn (yarn from plastic bags) Recycling t-shirts for yarn Newspaper yarn Scrap knitting Oz is thinking about making yarn from a wedding dress…and now I am too (but not my own! Probably a thrifted hideous bridesmaid dress) Crocheting a rag carpet
Now that we’re in Daylight Savings, my evenings are full of sunshine and I plan on taking more pictures of the process and will share if I make anything with these odd fibers.
Have you spun or knitted with anything not intended to be . . . → Read More: Inspiration Monday #7: Recycled
By Tara, on March 7th, 2008%
Thanks for your fantastic suggestions on yarn names for my first roving! The general consensus is that it is very Raspberry-ish. (is that really how you spell “raspberry”? I never noticed it had “rasp” in it…)
I decided on Raspberry Fool, because it’s just so delicious- and silly-sounding at the same time. Commenter Mooncalf gets extra points for giving us this tasty (-seeming, I’ll let you know when I try it) recipe from the BBC.
I’ve spent the week dyeing a range of greens, one of which has made it into the shop: Spring Grass – Bananiere. I’m aching for Spring! Finding ShiningEgg’s Green Week has just brightened my mostly-rainy week!
I’m spending this weekend in Cookeville, TN at my Grams’ rural house on a mountaintop with no internet access, so if you comment, email or call, I won’t be getting it until Sunday night The Boutique will . . . → Read More: Fiber Friday #6- Raspberry Fool roving and recipe
By Tara, on March 5th, 2008%
Did I ever gush about my new handcarders? No? Well, I LOVE them! It is so fun to load the cards with bits of fiber in a bunch of colors and then swish swish, see what they turn into.I bought the cards without knowing how to use them, but I was pretty confident I could find an internet resource or two. Indeed.
This article from Knitty is great for color combiningThis video from the motherload of spinning resources, The Joy of Handspinning, is perfect.
The above yarn (Fire in the Sky) is spun from the first batt I blended. Mostly gray local wool, handdyed orange and then blended with a bit of gray and blue wool (the blue that you see wasn’t blended in, but spun in).I spent most of the last two weeks playing around with color combos and trying to perfect the bit that comes . . . → Read More: Handcarded goodness
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