Pizza on the Barbie

We have a bit more deck space here so we got this barbeque. Mostly so we could make it in to a pizza oven. Made in Australia no less! So I guess we should call it a "barbie"

Tonight was the maiden pizza voyage...

The BBQ, A Beefeater Discovery

With the way cool shiny red pizza oven hood

pizza toppings

pizza dough

getting hot...579F/300C !

a well used pizza stone

pizzas ready to go in! (ok, so they aren't quite round...anyone have any tips for dough spinning?)

cooking!!

2 finished pizzas and oh, so yummy!

The maiden voyage of the pizza oven was a huge success! 

Pizzas were yummy! Dough was cooked well, and only took a few minutes in there.

 

 

We have tried a few other things on just the BBQ, and all were good!

Corn on the cob!

Corn and Chicken

Corn and fish on a plank

So far our grilling has been a great success. We haven't had to toss anything yet! But we are still learning so if you are are pitmaster please send your suggestions! 

Falls and such

...no, not that kind of fall, though if you know us it would be easy to think that. And yes there was a big fall from a mountain bike last week.

But these falls are waterfalls. Since the weather has turned warmer we have started to 

meander to areas beyond Bend. We went over "the pass" for the first time. Santiam Pass crosses the Cascades from the arid high desert of central Oregon on the East side to the rainy, greener, wetter climate on the West side.

We drove over to take a hike on the McKenzie River Trail on the Sahalie and Koosah Falls. One guidebook described this area as a little slice of New Zealand. Not sure about that, but it was green damp and mossy. 

Fish Lake

Long and winding road...

McKenzie river, spray of falls

Sahalie Falls

Sahalie Falls

McKenzie River

Koosah Falls

Rainbow in the spray

Narrow bridge over the river

Mt Washington

And no blog post is complete until there are some photos of our sweet boy.

tsk and Scruffy, next door neighbor

....and some of the wildlife that we have...

Bunnies and squirrels

lizards!

Quail

Fiber, Fur, and Fun

Today was Fiber Market Day in Prineville, a town about 40 miles from Bend. We have been looking forward to going since they advertised that is was for spinners, knitters, and FELTERS! yay!

Nothing like seeing the roving in person, feeling with your hands, seeing the true colors.

Plus the added bonus of having the fiber producing critters there! So off we went.

The town of Prineville from the overlook

smiling alpaca

rabbits, sheep, alpaca, llama

The Fiber Market

our purchases, waiting to become something cool!

We had a nice time at the market, and glad we went. Since we were in the area we decided to drive along a scenic byway to a hiking area. The Crooked River Canyon is a river walled in by towering layer-cake basalt cliffs. The hike takes you up a juniper and sage canyon, across a plateau to Chimney Rock.

That's where we are hiking up to!

From the top, The Sisters

Chimney Rock

We had a nice outing, exploring new towns, and seeing new things.
And the new roving is calling our name to make something! A cat cave is next I do believe!

I Can't "Resist Felting"

Ok, I'm sure by now you are a bit tired of hearing about felt....

But just one more post..ok?

I want to make a felted cat cave for TSK. He loves to burrow under the blankets and I think he would like the cave-like encapsulated qualities of a felted bed.

But first, I had to test the 'Resist Felting' process. It's a form of wet felting.

 A resist is used in felting to make three dimensional objects from a flat pattern. The resist can be anything flat that will keep the two sides of felt from felting together, i.e. it “resists” the felting process. I used some foam packing material that the previous owner of our house had left behind. (thanks Andre!)

Here are some photos of the process:

First I gathered the items needed. Soapy water, bubble wrap, roving, resist, and tulle. Laying out first layer of roving around the edge of the resist so there is fringe, then a layer horizontally. Cover with tulle, wet and gently rub in a circular motion. Turn over.

You repeat the above process, 2x per side in your inside color, and 2x per side in your outside color. Switching from laying horizontally to vertically. So each side has 4 layers. On the last layer I added a little design.

Next step is the rolling. In between 2 layers of bubble wrap, roll up with foam roller. Roll 30x, then rotate 1/4 turn. When one side is complete, turn over and repeat.

Carefully cut out a hole, removing the resist. Repeat the rolling process. Then you can start to shape it. Using soapy hands and anything with a round smooth side (ice cream scoop in my case) rub it all over, getting the crease out and making  it stand up.

Then set it on a rack to dry. TSK had to check it out, of course.

The finished product. I see I chose poorly in my colors (looks rather gourd like) but as a test it's fine. For the felted cat cave I would use heavier layers of roving to make it sturdier, and also larger with the hole on the side.

This is an image of what a felted cat cave looks like. Cute huh!

So all in all I think the test was a success. Like so much of wet felting it's a very physical process. And an arm and shoulder workout! I'm sure that's just a bonus.

What do you think? Would TSK like something like that? Would your kitty?

Oy Felt!

Nuno Felting

Nuno felting is a fabric felting technique developed by Polly Stirling, a fiber artist from New South Wales, Australia, around 1992. The name is derived from the Japanese word "nuno" meaning cloth. The technique bonds loose fibre, usually wool, into a sheer fabric such as silk gauze, creating a lightweight felt. The fibres can completely cover the background fabric, or they may be used as a decorative design that allows the backing fabric to show. Nuno felting often incorporates several layers of loose fibres combined to build up colour, texture, and/or design elements in the finished fabric. Via Wikipedia

After playing around a bit with wet felting (see the previous post). I thought I'd like to try some Nuno Felting. And it just so happens that my sister has a birthday coming up! I thought she might like a scarf.

I found a couple good websites that had videos to watch with good info and instructions and took copious notes.

Gathered my materials and jumped in. Here are some photos of the process:

Because I will be felting both sides, I needed to mark how big the piece of silk chiffon was. Glad the kitchen countertop was long enough!

Next, made sure my bubblewrap and tule were big enough (they were) then laid down the plastic wrap on top of the bubble wrap so the fibers didn't get down in between the bubbles.

My roving and wool yarn at the ready, putting down the bottom layer.

Bottom layer done, silk scarf on top, starting top layer.

Finished with that step, tulle carefully placed on top. Now time to wet with soapy water.

After entire piece is wet, time to start rolling. Whole thing rolled up and tied. Roll 200 times, unroll, takeoff and put back the tulle, roll up and roll for another 200, and again and again until the fibers start coming thru the silk.

 I got so involved in the process that I failed to take pix of the next step. Unroll piece, gently add some HOT soapy water and rub. The take to the sink, rinse in hot water and hold in hands and let fall into the sink. Rinse, repeat. again and again. Then switch to cold water for the final rinse.

Lay out on a towel to dry. This is both sides.

Here you can see how much is has shrunk and puckered.

And the final result. I hope my sister likes it!

 And there you go! I have another piece of silk... who should I make the next scarf for?