Because it is Not Hot Enough Here ...

This guy had the right idea. Lovely Grizzly Bear. Well, as 106 degrees F was apparently not hot enough for us in Austin, Texas, we traveled about 75 miles south to San Antonio. Where it was 107 degrees F. Yup. I have no idea what the heat index was. Just really hot. You would think that being from Texas, and not really going out much at home would prevent me from spending 4 hours in the heat somewhere else. Nope; that part of my brain was apparently off. That and Badger got carsick 3 times. Poor guy, he doesn't travel well in the morning. He didn't feel well until MUCH later.

We saw a lovely jaguar. He was mostly still until a keeper caught his eye. Or a little child, not sure which.

Badger compared his hands to the bear's paw. No - not that big yet.


Rose enjoyed being pulled in the wagon. She is wearing a harness because she would jump out and run. We do not generally leash our kids, but felt that the bear and jaguar could refrain this once from eating her.

We spent the longest time inside the Africa Live! building, watching crocodiles, hippos, and fish having a much cooler time than we were. Actually, this was the coolest exhibit - 70 degrees inside and very shady.
Eventually we became too hot, took a quick ride on the zoo train and finally found ourselves at a place I found searching Google on a whim. The Little Aussie Bakery & Cafe is 100% gluten free! Located just a few blocks from the zoo, I can't believe we lucked out finding this place. Mostly also dairy free, I could eat almost everything. Slow food, gluten & soy free and mine had no dairy! The breads and cookies were lovely, and the converted house was so comfy and welcoming. These people really know what they are doing and could not be more lovely.


I had pizza with chicken, tomatoes, and cilantro pesto. I ate most of it before I even thought to take a picture.

Rose's pizza - chicken, bacon, and tomato sauce. We finished it for her.

Badger had a butter and plum butter sandwich. The plum butter was delicious.

Matt scarfed down his sandwich and let me help with his salad. This was incredibly tasty and fresh. Badger and I also shared a slice of coconut cake. It was so good that I never even took a picture. Most of the time, when there is food at a restaurant that I can eat, there is no desert. I could eat all of the cakes except for the carrot cake - I am allergic to carrots! We also had beautiful limeades, the kiddos had lemon in theirs and I had a sour cherry one. So GOOD! Please visit their website; and if you are in San Antonio, Texas - GO! They also ship baked goods and their GF flour mix. I am going back for my birthday with my family.

Lest you believe that my blog has become fiber-free - behold! I present to you a lovely braid of hand-dyed roving: 8 ounces of 70% merino wool, 30% seacell (seaweed based Lyocell). And it was made locally! The last stop of the day was Yarnivore. Tammy, the owner, was lovely and let me fondle part of a whole giant trash bag FULL of qiviut that her dad hunted for her. FOR HER! The roving I got was made in New Braunfels, Texas (right between here and San Antonio.) I will be making a shawl from it, and will let you know more about it later.

Just a reminder that if you see Malabrigo in a nice color that your LYSs don't carry, just get it. I ended up calling the next day and Tammy was nice enough to mail me one. Malabrigo merino worsted in Sunset - 1 skein. I think I will start making Malabrigo my souvenir of choice. There was also a nifty watery green color named Water Green, also not carried by any of the local yarn shops, but one souvenir was enough, n'est pas?

On Handwork

I saw this short video over on the Mason-Dixon blog site. The importance of it struck so deeply that I felt the absolute need to share it here as well.

Playing with ketchup - or just catching up to myself.

Oh, baby! It has been a really busy month and a few days. The above are what I have been working on. Well, some of what I've been working on. The rest has been reorganizing of one thing and another. Reorg of the yarn, reorg of the yarn inventory complete with photos of all of the yarn (on Ravelry); reorg of the spinning fibers; reorg of the knitting, crochet, spinning, sewing, fiber art books and magazines; reorg of the knitting projects; reorg of the sewing projects; reorg of the both kids' books and toys. Then there was the making of two sets of four handmade bookmarks, with handspun tassels as presents. And the 3 skeins of handspun yarn for a friend.

All in one month- I was busier than I thought. The top photo is a sundress meant to last 2 years - a knit top and a sewn bottom. The next a tomato hat for Badger. The next a series of crocheted frogs. Then a baby alpaca/merino hat for my dad's friend - Rose begged to model it. The next is a detailed photo of the swirl on top of that hat. The last is a baby hat for a friend - a cabled owl.

Next week is the beginning of a big sewing week: new shorts for Badger and new dresses, tops, and skirts for Rose. Maybe a skirt for me.

All of the projects are like playing with ketchup: sounds like a good idea at first, gets messy quite quickly, goes faster than you think, surprising when it is done.

Not re-inventing the wheel, just assembling it.

I finally got a spinning wheel of my own. A Schacht Ladybug that spins beautifully. It took 8 weeks to get here, and my local yarn store lent me the use of another Ladybug for 4 weeks. Thanks very much to Suzanne at Hill Country Weavers in Austin, Texas for that particular kindness. It took me about 1 hour to assemble - with child help. It might have been faster without it, but not as much fun.

Now, I started to spin thinking that it would give me more control over my knitting. I thought that now I could pick exactly the fiber I wanted, in exactly the color, exactly the shade, exactly the weight of yarn, exactly.... What I have learned in the last two years is that the fiber is going to do what it wants to for the most part. I can pick the color and shade, yes. I can pick the fiber, yes. If it is not meant to be fine lace-weight, it will not even begin to cooperate. What I have learned is that I have to make good decisions to begin with, but I will have to let the yarn be what it is going to be. What I have learned is that the fiber has more control of me. Sounds like having children.

Yarn made. Next!

Here's the finished skein of Karaoke fiber. It's actually yarn now. 105 yards of worsted weight barber pole merino and soysilk. Andean plyed (2 ply). Enough for a hat. (yay!) Its really soft, slightly thick-and-thin and looks like beads in a row.

Making yarn myself...

As a sideline to make and make-do: homemade yarn. I haven't spun in a year, but with a borrowed wheel, 3 ounces of Karaoke (50% soysilk 50% merino wool) and 2 mornings before my daughter woke up - YARN! I'm relieved that I remembered what the hell I was doing. It was different spinning without being pregnant - surprisingly different. But I got the hang of it again. I only have the one bobbin, so I'm going to have to wind it off to ply it. I can't decide whether to Navajo ply or Andean ply as it already has really long color repeats. If I Navajo ply - really long repeats, 3 ply.. If I Andean ply - barber pole, 2 ply. Keeping in mind that it is just 3 ounces, i think it better be Andean - hmmmm.....