Well, Hello There!

Hello, hello!! Welcome back to the blog!!

So very many wonderful things have happened since I last served up a post... have you all been making rice milk? I sure hope so!! You've had plenty of time to get it perfected by now!

So, we moved to the country... got a dog... she's a Huskymix and her name is Heidi, and boy, oh boy, is she ever a handful! I am so very thankful for all of my puppy mommas, with all of their advice and support! She has become quite the popular little girl. She has her own blog as well, Heidihaus, I will be logging all of our adventures there, and you can also see her all over instagram as well! 

 I am back to making beautiful dolls as well!! I am still putting my studio together, and plan to list these babies more frequently in the shop. I am playing with and incorporating more wool into my original designs. It has been so fun and inspiring...

 Some exciting news on the storefront... I am officially relocating my online Pumpkinhaus shop, away from etsy. I will be having a Grand Reopening soon! The shop is active, so anything you previously had your eye on is now located in the new shop! Like a lot of my other fiber selling friend, there has been a growing frustration with etsy... so much has changed, and I am feeling like I needs some change and growth for myself!

(click this image to take you to the beautiful new storefront!)

Thanks so much for all of your support, and patience. It is always equal parts hard and exciting when moving into a new home and creating time and space for your work. I look forward to sharing more posts with you soon!

xo~d.

Make Rice Milk!

Rice milk... you love it, right? You wanna make it? 

I did. 

You want to know how!? 

Okay...

Rowan and I tried a couple different methods of making rice milk this morning, cooked rice and rice flour. Both had very different results, and we made so much of it that we were able to try different spices and ratios to get what we thought of as the best taste. Gluten free rice milk at the market can cost something crazy like $4.25 for a measly one quart tetra-pak (I still cannot wrap my head around why the most healthful foods come wrapped up in crazy, wasteful packaging and you get the smallest, most useless amounts... for feeding a whole family that is...)! I made 5 quarts + a half gallon for just a couple bucks! And, I just had the stuff! No special trips to the grocery!

Rice Flour Method

• 4 cups water
• 1 cup rice flour
• 2 tbs coconut oil 
• 1/2 to 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 drop almond extract (you may omit this... I happen to like the way it makes everything taste like cookies) 
• 3/4 cup honey, agave or brown rice sugar

Okay, mix together rice flour, coconut oil and sea salt together in a bowl and whisk it together with about a cup of the water. Set that aside and bring the remaining water to a boil on the stove in a good sized saucepan. Once the water reaches the boiling point, add the flour mixture slowly... stirring all the while. Now, in all of the recipes I have ever read about making milk from various flours, no one ever mentions that at this point, it seems like you are making glue! Well, you need to cook that glue for about 5 minutes. Keep it moving and don't burn the bottom, turn the heat down a bit if you need to. Let the mixture cool a bit and then you can add the honey and extracts. You don't ever want to add honey to the boiling mixture because the high temps will kill it and negate everything good and pure about honey... and that is one reason we like it so much! 

You need a blender for this part... better if you have a Vitamix. I don't. My blender worked just fine, I just think that the milk would be creamier in the high powered mixer. Anyhoo. Make the milk in a 1 to 3 ratio... 

One part rice paste to three parts water

Blend it for a good 5 minutes.. just please don't burn up your blender! I would feel really bad if you did.

Now! You can keep the rest of the rice paste mixture in the fridge and use it up as you like... or you can do like me. Go nuts and make everything up all at once. Like a mad scientist. It cost you practically nothing to make... right? Have fun!


So, as if this was not just soooooo much fun, I wanted to try using cooked rice. There is also the overnight soak method, but I didn't want to wait. I actually had rice leftover from dinner last night. Okay... method #2:

Leftover Rice Method

•  4 cups water
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup honey

This one is so flippin' easy... Get out that blender! Add all of the ingredients... and blend. Blend... blend... and blend some more. Give it a good 5 minutes. Now, let it sit there for about 45 minutes to an hour. Go take a shower, read some of your book, maybe play a board game with the kids. Has it been long enough yet? Okay! You need to strain this one with a cheesecloth or a really fine mesh colander. It also comes out much creamier than the flour mixture so I like this one mixed in a 3 to 1 ratio...

three parts yummy rice sludge to one part water

This mixture will last up to two weeks as well. Make it up as needed or just go ahead and do it all at once! This is a way smaller batch so it can easily be used right away.

 

On to the fun flavors!! We had soooooo much, and Rowan is a freak for Horchata so I made her a batch:

Horchata Recipe

• 6 cups rice milk
• 2 cups low-fat milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

I mixed his all up in the gallon jug of milk since there were only 2 cups left! Add all ingredients, twist on the cap... hand it to the kid and Shake, shake, shake Senora, shake your body line! Shake, shake, shake Senora, shake it all the time... Pour over ice... and enjoy! (I know... it has milk in it. But, it's good. Really good.)


Strawberry! 

• 3 cups rice milk
• 6 frozen strawberries
• 1 tbs sugar

Blend it up in a blender... make a little or a lot! I have no idea if this one keeps for long in the fridge. It never makes it that far.


So... obviously, if you want it plain... omit the flavorings and sweeteners. Easy peasy. My favorite one out of the bunch was actually the Leftover Rice Milk. It had the best flavor and consistency. The sea salt is key, too. It really, really helps the flavor! Rice is pretty bland stuff... and sea salt helped immensely! And, the coconut oil helped it to emulsify, the stuff just separated without it. I still give it a good shake when I take it out of the fridge. 

Let me know if you make some of this and how you liked it!! 

xo~d.

We like to bake pita...

How to make fresh Pita Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt in large bowl or bread mixer/kitchenaid . Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression.

Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula (or your hands!) until elastic (this part is way easier with a kitchenaid and bread hook attachment and you can omit the next part by just letting it go on its own for 10 min). Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

Coat large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated and allow it to sit in a warm place for about 1 to 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

 

Once doubled, roll out in a rope, and pinch off 10-16 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes.

 

Preheat oven to 500 deg F. (make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven) also preheat your baking sheet. (Don’t use a baking stone! I learned the hard way… it is now in two pieces. So sad.).

Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick. the thinner... the more puff you get.

Bake each circle for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Tamp it down with the spatula and then turn over and bake for another 2 minutes. 

Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and add additional pitas for baking.

Immediately place hot pitas in storage bags. This is how they stay soft, if you eat them straight from the oven they have a crunch to them! You can reheat them in the toaster or oven.

Always get a bit of flour on your nose... it gives the illusion of hard work... lol!

I like to make homemade falafel, hummus and tahina sauce to go with mine, but with peanut butter, cinnamon and sugar or plain is alway delicious too!
 

Enjoy!! xo~d.

The Cutest Little Gnome!

Hello hello!!

Just poppin' by to share pictures of the sweetest little Gnome you ever did see!!! I have truly missed my blog... but, alas... I make no excuses for being a bad blogger! I just figure if I have no time to blog it, I must be busy livin' it!! I do have a couple big posts up my sleeve to share with you later on this week. Until then my pretties!!

xo ~ d.

 

Spinning Service Now Available!!

( click the picture to take you to the actual listing)

You are drooling over the fibers.... but you don't spin??!! Never fear! Add this listing with any batt or hand pulled roving purchase in my shop and I will spin it for you!

Choose from:

Thin singles ~ WPI: about 10-12 ~worsted~

Bulky singles ~ WPI: about 8-9 ~bulky~~

~Things to Know~

• *Yardage will depend on type of fibers as well as amount.
• *This listing ONLY applies to fibers purchased in my shop.
• *Please! Allow for an extra 10-12 days for your order to be shipped... Depending on how many orders I have to fill, it is likely to show up sooner.
• *If you are buying multiple batts or hand pulled roving, please add a spin service for each... if that is required.
• *Please leave all of this lovely info in ~Notes to Seller~ upon checkout... not doing this will only delay your order!

If you are interested in a Custom Spun Art Yarn (totally, 100% different and unique, way more pricey and involved... also my speciality) Please check my other listings. If you do not see one available, please send me a convo and we'll chat about setting up an awesome spin together!

Spinning the Floof! Wild Rolags!

Prepping a floof batt into a wild rolag for spinning!

the bubble wrap just makes rolling easier... its uh, how I roll... lol ;)

this is the end you will draw the finished, prepped fiber from...

take half a batt... rip it down the middle

and spread the fibers out until you get a thin web. I like to do them roughly 18x20 it depends on how much fiber you have to work with

start by folding up the edges and roll kinda tightly... not death grip tight... but firmly. you can use a dowel rod to roll the fibers with, it works well... mine just happens to be out in the yard pretending it's a sword at the moment. So, yeah... to dowel or not to dowel... you choose!

keep rolling!

once you have all of your fibers rolled.... take the loose, wispy edges and pull them out. wrap those little babies around the rolag nice and smooth!

now... roll the tube away from you (the same direction you originally rolled) and put a light pressure on it. continue rolling up and down the tube until all of the loose fibers have compacted and you have a sturdy tube of fiber. never roll the opposite direction or you will loosen it all up!!
this is where the bubble wrap comes in handy btw...

and there you have it!! a ginormous, wild rolag ready to be spun! start at one end and draw out some of the fibers to attatch to your leader and have fun! let the texture go wild on itself, and draft out the smoothy fibers for an awesome thick and thin... curly and wild yarn!

finished wild rolags Filly Floof 4oz

contains: mill ends, black welsh mountain x, wendsleydale locks, milk fiber and sari silk

The Art of the Batt - p~haus on Bricolage Studios

What can you do with that chunky art batt?? I am going to spin a semi-laceweight, simple yarn from a gorgeous, super textured art batt from BricolageStudios.etsy... as well as give mad props to my girl Emily (the mastermind behind Bricolage Studios)

bricobatt containing: merino, cotton, firestar, silk noil, thread, mohair locks

close up of a curly mohair bit

on the bobbin

another awesome mohair bit

When I am finished spinning this, I am going to knit it into a small neckerchief/shawlette. I should have a fair amount since this will be roughly 5oz when it is all said and done! I'll share pics and eta to add a link when I am totally finished (give me a week or two... I do have a couple other shawls I am working on in that are nearing completion themselves!)

Spring Spinning!

Its a beautiful morning... just taking advantage of the early spring. It gets hot pretty quick on the back porch! You can see here how easy it is to treadle the Mach... my knees are barely moving up and down... Its quiet too.

I found a little gnome sneaking around the cherry tree too! Shhhh... if you feed him corn chips he'll stay!

Oh... Go Get Floofed!

K-9 Love

Doin' the Tuesday Shuffle...

I'm in it... official spring fever dumps. It snowed again and I am having a hard time trudging to the end of the driveway in the disgusting mud and snow. blargh. Its been an interesting couple of days, I am thinking I had such a killer birthday weekend that this may be the cause of da mood... although I am quite sure it just may be something else.

I posted a T Rex video this morning on ye olde facebook... my little man Cael kept giving me his Jeepster (it truly must be love... he's a lot like his daddy) so I bust out the song... man oh man... I can almost feel the warm wind and smell the inside of my sweet Joe's old beater truck when I hear it... le sigh (in a good way)... When we first started dating (1994!!!) I made him a Marc Bolan doll sitting in a huge silver papier mache rocketship. The doll is still kickin' around but the ship is long, long gone.

So its time for the weekly pod shuffle... I am liking this routine. Its keeping me on a bit of a blogging schedule... lol... here are your 10 songs yo!

1. Once Burned ~ Todd Rundgren
2. Mating Ritual of The Bespectacled ~ Miss Murgatroid
3. Wev'e Only Just Begun ~ Claudine Longet
4. In Hopes of a Garden ~ Steppenwolf
5. Boll Weevil ~ Leadbelly
6. Dwarfish Trumpet Blues ~ Tyrannosaurus Rex
7. Seen and Not Seen ~ Talking Heads
8. Reset ~ Big Boi feat Khujo Goodie & Cee-Lo
9. C'mon Feel the Noise ~ Titan
10. Evil Part 2 ~ John Du Cann

I had to skip 2 that time because Leadbelly and Todd Rundgren came up twice... Its funny how your ipod can be spot on sometimes... ha ha ha... and other times it like wtf?? I listen to that!? hee hee hee... this is a good shuffle for me today :)

Its funny... with this latest rash of spring fever, I have been really thinking about the last few years. I think it is the same for others lately too... I have read so many posts from people waxing poetic about the 90s... and Veruca Salt... Veruca Salt? I really loved the whole Riot Grrrrl scene, but I just don't correlate this band with the movement. It could very well be that I was knee deep in glam for most of the decade... lol... and love... and Love... lol... I think it was my 10 years of the 70's... :)

Anyways. I had better get spinning. I need to update the shop again, and I am hoping to squeeze in some new Prims... that will be another post!

xoxo ~ as always

Happy Birthday! Its my birthday!

Yeah!! Today was the day I turned 35!!! I am not a person who is upset by getting older... I am rather enjoying it I tell you!! I have an amazing husband and two wonderful children, and I wouldn't dare go back and change a thing about my life...

We spent the weekend cruising the thrift shops and I got a great new (to me) pair of orthogeek kicks!! Dude!! I love it when I score at the Goodwill!! Its been a while since I have had any girly shoes... Imma remedy that one real soon!! lol...

Joe picked up a couple of the cutest dresses for me from Folk.etsy!! Oh my goodness... now, not only do I have sweet feet... I have cute dresses to go with it!! It has been a good while since I have been able to indulge in anything for myself, it feel so good to have something nice!! It is quite possible that if you were to come knocking on my door, I may just answer... hee hee hee...

So... a good weekend... a good life... some fabu clothes... sushi... what more can a 35yo girl ask for??!!

In a Monster Stylee...

Its time to shuffle yet again!! Todays playlist was brought to you by the colors of gnashing teeth, night vision, green scales and cold blood!! Grawr!

The Ravelympics have begun and my MONDO project is a Monster Blankie made out of handspun art yarn... needless to say this will be getting as much of my attention as possible during the Olympics (actually watching the Olympics??? Nah...)! I carded up 17 batts for this one so far... I am really not to sure how much yarn this one will actually take. By the time I am finished with it I would like to have Little Man Cael graduated to the big-boy-bottom-bunk of the bed! Hey!! Nab a pattern and make one with me!!! C'mon!! It doesn't have to be handspun... I will be freeforming it a bit, but will adhere to the pattern for the face. If you do, let me know!!! Tweet me!!

Alrighty then... on to the MUSIC!

1. Miss Elaine ~ Run-D.M.C.
2. Howdido ~ Woodie Guthrie
3. Gates of Steel ~ Devo
4. P* Da Roseira ~ Gilberto Gil
5. The Masks/Hobby Horse ~ Paul Giovanni (Classic 1973 Wicker Man Soundtrack)
6. Dance Song '97 ~ Sleater-Kinney
7. Boogie Man Song ~ Mos Def
8. Luvin' ~ Electric Prunes
9. Unicorn Theme ~ Tangerine Dream (Legend Soundtrack)
10. Minimum Wage ~ They Might Be Giants

Hmmm... a couple soundtracks on there... they give me away as a Fantasy dweeb. Its true... I love the faeries... :) Enjoy the mix... there is always more where that came from!

I have a load of new batts going in the shop tomorrow... here is a sneak peak... There will be 7 batts and about 4 handspun yarns... unless I get a couple more set tonite! (crosses fingers)

Oh yeah... I'll be 35 at the end of the week... how on earth that happened I'll never be able to figure out!!! Ha ha ha... naw... Imma grow old gracefully, I like being smarter and wiser... and smart... and knowing everything... and ask me, because I know... hee hee hee. Joe and I are celebrating in a couple weeks by getting a room at The Lakeside Inn for two nights. That should be reeeeeeally nice! Other than that, who knows... maybe I should have a slumber party!! And we can watch scary movies all night long and eat way too many rice krispie treats!!

xoxo ~ d.