Christmas in June

Thank you, very much. I've been getting a lot of gifts in the mail, and I'm really enjoying them.

Many thanks to incandescens for sending me all the things I'd been longing for, including Typhoo tea and dark chocolate Hob Nobs, along with a some amazing things that are new to me, including one of her tea shop's teas (which has been lovely, strong, mellow and smooth) and *Jaffa Cakes*!! Which I've never had before in my life! I'd been intrigued on seeing cmc42's layout.. *laughs* and really loved trying them. They're cake! In the size of a biscuit/cookie. Jet and I like them very much.

Thank you, to sophiap as well for kicking back into gear an old addiction I once had for silk caps. *laughs* She sent me the square Mawata silk, some dyed, some not. The basic idea is that when silk is wound from cocoons, some of the cocoons are too damaged or not good for winding, so they just boil them to get rid of the glue and spread them over molds. Caps are usually over some round object and are roughly circular, the Mawata she bought me was in a square form, and I really liked it.

Of course, with the way I work, I cut my fingers thoroughly when pulling them and spinning them, but that's... half the fun. *laughs* The fibers are really strong and fine and the 'yarn' becomes lovely and textured. I went with a thicker Navajo ply so that I could knit it into something more solid than the lace I usually do with these. Though, thinking about it, a lace scarf might be cool.... this stuff is so easy to spin very fine with the huge staple length that a couple of ounces can go for miles. But my resulting yarn makes me just want to old and pet it. *laughs*

And many thanks to xshelaghx for sending me a lovely pair of hand knit silk and Superwash lace panel socks along with goats milk soaps and a lovely body butter that I'm really in love with. I'm amazed and admiring in knowing that she made the soap and body butter herself! They're just *gorgeous*. Thank you so much for the amazing gifts! I appreciate all the work and thought that went into them.

It's amazing to get so much. Thank you all very much.

Christmas in June

Thank you, very much. I've been getting a lot of gifts in the mail, and I'm really enjoying them.

Many thanks to incandescens for sending me all the things I'd been longing for, including Typhoo tea and dark chocolate Hob Nobs, along with a some amazing things that are new to me, including one of her tea shop's teas (which has been lovely, strong, mellow and smooth) and *Jaffa Cakes*!! Which I've never had before in my life! I'd been intrigued on seeing cmc42's layout.. *laughs* and really loved trying them. They're cake! In the size of a biscuit/cookie. Jet and I like them very much.

Thank you, to sophiap as well for kicking back into gear an old addiction I once had for silk caps. *laughs* She sent me the square Mawata silk, some dyed, some not. The basic idea is that when silk is wound from cocoons, some of the cocoons are too damaged or not good for winding, so they just boil them to get rid of the glue and spread them over molds. Caps are usually over some round object and are roughly circular, the Mawata she bought me was in a square form, and I really liked it.

Of course, with the way I work, I cut my fingers thoroughly when pulling them and spinning them, but that's... half the fun. *laughs* The fibers are really strong and fine and the 'yarn' becomes lovely and textured. I went with a thicker Navajo ply so that I could knit it into something more solid than the lace I usually do with these. Though, thinking about it, a lace scarf might be cool.... this stuff is so easy to spin very fine with the huge staple length that a couple of ounces can go for miles. But my resulting yarn makes me just want to old and pet it. *laughs*

And many thanks to xshelaghx for sending me a lovely pair of hand knit silk and Superwash lace panel socks along with goats milk soaps and a lovely body butter that I'm really in love with. I'm amazed and admiring in knowing that she made the soap and body butter herself! They're just *gorgeous*. Thank you so much for the amazing gifts! I appreciate all the work and thought that went into them.

It's amazing to get so much. Thank you all very much.

Finally...

... I kept wanting granola for my breakfast to eat with all the berries that are coming into season with some yogurt. I missed the crunch. And every time I'd go to a grocery store I'd see the $5 or $6 a pound all-natural granola without ingredients I couldn't pronounce and I just couldn't buy it, because... well... *granola*. It's like toasting bread... just a little longer, so I FINALLY made granola this afternoon because I was so tired of *wanting* it all the time.

Yeah, the same philosophy has ended up with a dozen bottles of homemade root beer, too. From the extract it's just water, sugar, yeast (I'll admit to champagne yeast as it tastes better than baker's yeast in drinks), and a spoonful of root beery goodness. Bottle it, wait three days and it's root beer. Jet's going through it like mother's milk. It's summer. He gets spoiled and I know there's no corn syrup in that pop. It's like $2 to make a whole gallon compared to $4 a four pack of the good stuff.

God, now I'm craving writing how Chris of Silver and Black got wings tattooed onto his back... maybe that'll end up the same way.

( Granola recipe... yeah, I know, you need one. )

Finally...

... I kept wanting granola for my breakfast to eat with all the berries that are coming into season with some yogurt. I missed the crunch. And every time I'd go to a grocery store I'd see the $5 or $6 a pound all-natural granola without ingredients I couldn't pronounce and I just couldn't buy it, because... well... *granola*. It's like toasting bread... just a little longer, so I FINALLY made granola this afternoon because I was so tired of *wanting* it all the time.

Yeah, the same philosophy has ended up with a dozen bottles of homemade root beer, too. From the extract it's just water, sugar, yeast (I'll admit to champagne yeast as it tastes better than baker's yeast in drinks), and a spoonful of root beery goodness. Bottle it, wait three days and it's root beer. Jet's going through it like mother's milk. It's summer. He gets spoiled and I know there's no corn syrup in that pop. It's like $2 to make a whole gallon compared to $4 a four pack of the good stuff.

God, now I'm craving writing how Chris of Silver and Black got wings tattooed onto his back... maybe that'll end up the same way.

( Granola recipe... yeah, I know, you need one. )