Peppers

This was moments before they were mashed up in the blender with a sterilizing bath of vodka to be added to a batch of beer. Quite perplexedly, this is the moment the trusty blender decided to fail, sending a stream of chili-burning infused vodka streaming out all over the kitchen and beyond.



Beautiful but quite deadly.

Rather Predictably, a Post about Rhinebeck

NYS Sheep and Wool festival was a Magical Shopping Experience this year, as always. The weather was beautiful, the trees were ablaze with color, the company was excellent.

The fleece sale had some rather impressive selections:



Not all mine, of course. More on those later. It was refreshing to see other people fleece-crazed spinners haul off much more than that.



Also, anytime I think of telling regular everyday people that I go off on the weekends to paw through fleece, I'm pretty sure they get a mental image of this:


Therefore, it's best that I just stick with the story that I was "Upstate for the weekend with friends".

Perverse as it might be, lamb dishes abound and are delicious. The lamb chili is just what you need to take the chill off.



Afterward, the sheep give you disapproving stares, but I assure you, the guilt is totally worth it.


This was an Oxford sheep, which, incidentally, I find unspinnable, or at the very least, not a lot of fun to spin. Therefore, it's a meat breed. Guilt absolved.

This Lincoln Ewe was sweet as can be, and super-soft to boot:








I don't think I had ever seen karakul sheep in the flesh before, but as soon as I touched one, I was like, "Oh, it's a karakul".






Angora goats, reluctantly being shown. They were all like, "Don't judge me."







The yarns were beautiful-





These are gorgeous skeins of natural-dyed yarn from Hope Spinnery in Maine.

Best of all, it was great to catch up with friends.



They were good to have around- we talked each other out of several purchases, and yet somehow facilitated several more.


photo from KnithoudBrooklyn.

We all left a few dollars poorer, but richer in fiber. We are like bran in that way. It's really what makes the weekend great.

Oh, also: Uma Thurman was there, and she rear-ended someone coming out of the parking lot in her giant black SUV.


She was tall and willowy and very elegant looking, and not really handling the situation as I would have expected The Bride to (which is a good thing).

Update Complete! (for today anyway)

It took me a while, but the Etsy store has been updated with loads of new spindles. I still have more made that need to be listed. I'm just waiting for the opportunity to get home early enough for there to be enough daylight to give them a fair photo-op.



I've been playing around with different gemstones and materials. The Tigereye was really hard to photograph- it had such a lustrous and reflective surface, I couldn't really capture the depth and color of the stone.



These seem to be a favorite. I love lampwork glass.

Ah, and the burning. It has ceased. I soaked my hands in milk this morning after they were still feeling fiery and I couldn't get my contact lenses in. It seemed to have worked- I haven't worked up the bravery to touch my eyes yet, but they feel a lot better.

I Burn

My official photographer is on a business trip this week (already?!) so I decided to make a huge pot of nice healthy vegetarian chili (which I also spell chilie, chileaux, chilly, chinchilli etc.) It's always better after a few days anyway, right? It's getting cooler at night and it's one of those things I enjoy making in fall. Added bonus that it is awesome leftovers and I'll mangia on it all week long, leaving me with more time for fiber-related hobbies during the whirlwind.

We are part of a Community Supported Agriculture share. If you are into your veggies, I would highly recommend it...we get a huge box of produce every week of whatever is fresh and in season. No picking and choosing, just having to deal with what you get. I love to cook, so it's a great opportunity for me to expand my repertoire and try new things.

We had a few types of peppers this week, and a variety from last week. I recognized one as jalapenos, but the others I weren't so sure what they were and they didn't taste too hot but I scooped out the ribs and seeds, chopped them up and threw them in.

The chili came out great. It will be even better tomorrow. But christ on a cracker, my hands are BURNING. I washed my hands at least 4 times before attempting my contact lens removal, and I still got all teary eyed. It's mostly my hands though.

Lesson learned. Wear gloves if you don't want to be burned with pepper love.