Picture of the Week -- 3/28/10

Our kitty chillin' in the fiber pile.

Fiber Fun Friday -- Hot Pour Dyeing

Up 'til now I have only dyed unprocessed fiber and only 1 color at a time. Yesterday I decided to try something different.

If you've been following along, I have a major project in the works for the fiber arts competition at the National Alpaca conference. The due date for registration is May 5th. So far so good.

I have spun all the yarn I will need. It's an amazing blend of suri, huacaya and bamboo. I used a few different white pacas so the whole project feels like a group effort. :o)

Well, once that yarn was spun it needed something....specifically, color.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted and I knew that whatever I decided I wanted a multi-colored yarn. There are a few different methods to achieve this, but I had to pick one.

I choose the hot pour method of dyeing. Basically it boils down to exactly what it sounds like. You pour the dye on when the pot is hot.

It's a little more complex than that as you have to watch your ph and temperatures, but it's kind of like a free for all. Pour the colors you want next to each other and *pow*....multi-colored yarn.

It's by far the least messy and easiest form of multi-colored dyeing. At least I think so.

Eventually I want to try hand painting yarn. Maybe next week? Haha.

The yarn is now hanging in the basement to dry. I'm glad Jim didn't mind all the drippy water because it was waaayyy too cold to hang it outside.

It's hard to see the color variations in this picture, but there are pinks, purples and kind of a salmon color in there. I think it'll knit up really nice.


It's not exactly what I was going for, but I learned a lot and next time it should be easier and even better looking.

Recipe of the week -- Ham Loaves

Easter is less than 2 weeks away. Did you know that? While visions of bunnies and colored eggs may dance in front of your eyes, all I can think of is the Easter ham. YUM!!!

I love ham in just about any form. You can never go wrong with ham. In fact, if I had my way, we'd have ham for Thanksgiving too. That is a whole other issue for another time...

I've got a great use for leftover ham. I was going to save it for Easter weekend, but we are going to be gone the whole weekend so better to put it up now. If you're wondering, we'll be at our first alpaca show of the year in Fort Wayne, IN. Wish us luck! :o)

Anyway, the ham....

This recipe uses your leftover ham from Easter dinner (or any other time of year). I've tried making it with unroasted ham (straight from the package), but it just doesn't turn out the same. I guess it needs to be dried out a bit by the oven roasting. If you had a glaze or sauce on the ham, I'd cut off the outside edges before making this loaf.

This recipe makes 2 loaves. Bake one now and freeze the other for later. I've even cooked the frozen one straight from the freezer without any thawing. How awesome is that?

Ham Loaves

1 cup crushed butter-flavored crackers (about 25)
1/2 cup chopped green onion
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbls. lemon juice
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper
Dash ground nutmeg
Dash paprika
1 1/3 cups leftover ham
1 lb. ground pork

Ham Loaf Glaze ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. ground mustard

Using a food processor or blender, finely chop ham. This is best done in small batches.

In a large bowl, combine the crackers, green onion, eggs, lemon juice, ground mustard, ground ginger, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, nutmeg and paprika. Add ham and pork; mix well. Shape into 2 loaves.

Place one loaf into an ungreased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake the ham loaf at 350* for 1 hour. Wrap the remaining loaf in foil and freeze for up to 2 months.

Meanwhile, combine the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes.

After the ham loaf has baked, remove it from the oven. Baste with the glaze. Bake 30-40 minutes longer, basting occasionally.