Saturday, October 20, 2012

A Saturday with the Ladies...

Quote for the Day:
" A glass pitcher, a wicker basket, a tunic of coarse cotton cloth. 
Their beauty is inseparable from their function. Handicrafts belong to a world existing before the separation of the useful and the beautiful."
~Octavio Paz 

When I get the chance, I like to spend some time on the third Saturday of every month with a group here in Grafton called LEFA (Loose Ends Fiber Addicts).  It is a gathering of people, all women at this point, who are interested in crafts and hobbies that use "fiber", ie, crocheting, knitting, spinning, weaving, quilting, etc.  

It is a loosely organized group in that there are no "officers"  and no "dues",though we do have a Facebook page!   You can visit it here:  LEFA

We meet in the banquet hall of one of the local churches and basically exchange ideas, information and fun stories!  :)  We all bring something to work on while visiting, and if you have a completed project to share, you bring that, too!    I usually bring something to hand quilt on, but others may be crocheting or knitting, and there are a couple of ladies that bring their portable spinning wheels!





In the last picture, Susan is seen using a hand-operated carding machine.  I don't know all of the correct nomenclature, but basically she feeds washed wool into the machine while turning the crank and it cards the wool into batts that she can then spin into yarn.   Today she was carding alpaca wool from alpacas that one of the other ladies raises!   



On a different note, I wanted to share a recipe for crockpot pumpkin oatmeal that Susana and I came up with when they were visiting.  

Crockpot Pumpkin Oatmeal
2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 cups steel cut oatmeal
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter 
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon EACH of nutmeg, cloves & allpsice

Grease crockpot THOROUGHLY!  Place all ingredients into crockpot and stir till mixed.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

That's it!

We had leftovers so I put it in the fridge and have been heating up individual servings since Wednesday morning, when we originally served it.

 I had to add a bit of sugar to it just before eating, but my sister added maple syrup as her sweetener!  :)  Get creative with it!  It is DELICIOUS!!!



Loretta

1 comment:

  1. Thank you Loretta!!! My camera died and Teri arrived with her camera, so she has pics that she will transfer to me, soon I hope. Your pics were great! All but the one with my hair standing on end;) I need to do a better job on my hair do;) Glad you enjoyed our fiber time. Several ladies have told me that they enjoyed today. There is enough fleece carded today, that next month I should be able to sit and spin. I know you are a quilter, but if you ever want to try spinning.....we have the equipment for you to give it a try:)

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