Homeschooling, farm life and our love of earth

"Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it." ~Polly Berrien Berends

Monday, 10 January 2011

Wednesday, 05 January 2011

Hand Spun Merino/Cashmere

I was gifted with a cashmere/merino roving and I spun it up and knitted it into a seaspray tam. It was handdyed by A Verb for Keeping Warm and was dyed with natural dyes. The roving





















Spun up



































Thomas looks so cute in it. He modeled it for me for the photo,

I really should write the pattern down

Wednesday, 08 December 2010

plum jam


We were gifted with 15 kg of plums so the big pot came out and we made 60 bottles of jam.

My basic jam recipe is simple:
700g sugar
1000g fruit
spices to taste

Pour the sugar on the fruit, leave it for 6-8 hrs then heat and bring to the boil. Once setting point is reached, pour into sterilised jars.

To check for setting point, drop some on a frozen plate. Once it has cooled, push the jam with your finger. If it creates wrinkles then it is ready to be bottled.

So my plum jam had cinnamon stick and almonds in it..OH yum!

I cant eat sugar for health reasons, so I made a small batch for with Xylitol.
Sugar free Jam
350g Xylitol
500g Plums
almond slices
a small cinnamon stick

It come out perfectly, I'm really excited to be able to eat jam that won't affect my health.

Sunday, 05 December 2010

RAINBOW YARN PROMO

Here is my new selfstripe worsted yarn that I am launching on Ravelry tonight, in 30 minutes. I have limited balls available so come on over so you don't miss out.
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/nurturing-fibres/1418907/1-25#6



Yardage - 170 yards (155 meters)
Unit weight - 100 grams (3.53 ounces)
Needle size - US 6 - 8 or 4 - 5mm
The South African price R115 for the 1st ball and R90 per ball thereafter
The International price is USD24.00 and USD18.00 per ball thereafter.
PRICES INCLUDE POSTAGE WITH A TRACKING NO

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