Foodie Friday!

Since our arrival in the bluegrass state the sparkle girlie and i have found a lovely coffee nook. In fact, our first idea for a semi-regular Friday feature was "friday at a coffeehouse" and profile coffee shops around Louisville. We enjoyed Sister Bean's so much on our first and second visits we changed the whole scheme! So our new idea is to visit various places for lunch or share recipes we try at home and when we can we will end up at Sister Bean's. 
Due to their excellent location across from Iroquois Park Amphitheater along busy New Cut Road I was honestly afraid it would be too busy a spot for us to enjoy an afternoon of reading and hanging out. Happily, I was wrong. They do a good bit of drive-thru and walk in/out business so it usually isn't too full for a couple of gals to sit awhile. 
Even in the summer on a cool morning Girlie's favorite is hot chocolate ... 

with syrup and sprinkles on top of whipped cream, who can blame her? But, oddly on one of the coldest days of January (which is saying something, right?) she tried a strawberry-banana smoothie and loved it! (She asked i point out in the autumn she likes the hot cider, too.)

I admit i stick to my tried and true dark roast with cinnamon syrup, but the coffee is so good i am certain any specialty drink made with it is yummy! Comfy Cow ice cream and baked goods from Adrienne & Co. (which is funny as some of you may realize because our other home away from home, Grinny Possum, is down the street from Adrienne & Co. in Jeffersonville, IN) plus sandwiches at lunch time - great place for a meeting!

Today girlie created some art for their walls - it was a spur of the moment idea and as luck would have it, my colored pencils were in the other knitting bag! But we think the minimalist artistic look is cool (: 

 

Oh, and i was knitting a guinea pig while all this was going on. so, yeah ... 

I promise there is more knitting, spinning and other craftiness ahead as well as more foodie adventures (: 

First Foodie Friday!

follow the star & Sparkle Girl are not in the food business, but we enjoy food and sometimes inspired by it. Foodie Friday is going to become a semi-regular post that we'll share. We will visit coffee shops, diners and who knows what else! We are eager to find new places and share some of our favorites.
Today we ate lunch at El Tarasco on Fairfax Avenue in St. Matthews. 
SG: I like the outdoor awnings which are green, white and red. Inside the music was fantastico! I had a taco and enchilada with delicioso rice. Mom had a tamale and shared my rice. We both ate chips and salsa. If you like Mexican food, you should go here! :)
fts: Food was good plus friendly & speedy service, as always. I definitely agree - the music was particularly fun today (: We both ate lunch for less than $10 total.
finally our photo showed up! added 1/11/14

Happy Distaff Day!

dis·taff

ˈdistaf/

noun   1. a stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning.

YOUNG GIRL WITH A DISTAFF - JOSEPH BOUVIER (distaff is the cottony candy like item she's holding high - wool waiting to be spun)

1. 
   

Greetings fiber fiends and friends!
Today marks the end of Christmas festivities (for those of you unawares, Twelfth Night was yesterday which is the last of all merrymaking). Today spinner maids return to their work, idle hands being a danger to us all, of course. Also sometimes called "Rock Day" from rocken - German for distaff. But watch yeselves, ladies, the ploughmen have until Monday before the must resume work and will be attempting pranks to taunt and tease.

Incidentally, spindle spinning was so intensely a woman's job that in many places (at least in the 14/15/1600s) the word distaff could also mean woman/women. I have read, but can find no notation, that in some places the term "distaff line" is still a legal title for a female or matriarchal line in a family.

My information has been gathered over time from books and such, but here is an informative essay from the UK you may enjoy.

Now to celebrate by getting back to my spindle! 

SIFAF2013

This weekend marks the 9th annual Southern Indiana FiberArts Festival in historic and autumnally lovely Corydon, Indiana. Some of you may also know that my sweet girlie is 9 years old. She doesn't know an October without SIFAF. We take our fall break the week of fest (to work like crazy chicks) and the week following (to rest and goof off). It is part of our natural rhythm of life for us. I am looking forward to sharing another fest weekend with her (she who has grown SO much since we started). I am excited about seeing friends and welcoming myriad smiling faces to our fiber filled event. For quite a long time I have been enthusiastic about next year's 10th event - but that doesn't diminish my anticipation of every waking second of the 9th. Nine is nice (:

If you join us in Corydon this weekend I hope you say "hi!"

Yarn Party!

This is the thought I've been mulling over for so long - should have done it 5 times by now! My girlie and I hosted 5 friends to learn about making yarn and then some things to do with yarn.
I wish I had 347 more photos to share, but we were having so much fun I kept having to remind myself we wanted photos, too!

images of finger knitting. I do have more to share, but blogger won't recognize them as photos, argh! So I guess you'll have to come back (:
We discussed fiber types, haircuts and combing, um, I mean carding. Gave the drum carder a turn then watched a spindle spin before everyone got to give their own a whirl!
After a break we sat with some commercial yarn to give finger crochet a try outside. The 'skeeters ran us back indoors to finger knit. Girlies aged 4-9 tried everything! Some took a special like to certain activities, but everyone tried!! I'd also like to point out this group of girlies were SO helpful. Not just the older helping the young, but when someone caught on they were giddy about showing someone else.
I had a fantastic afternoon with the 6 charming new fiber enthusiasts (:

(more photos when I get the issue figured out /: )

ok, i must tell!

I am hosting a Yarn Party for 6 girlies tomorrow (almost today, better get to bed!)
I've been thinking about it for a long time and a lot this summer - but this summer has been full of bad timing (;
Can't wait to share photos and stories!!

small but huge

I had a small idea. Today I am more excited about that small idea than I can even put into words. You won't have to wait too long for the post, but you will have to wait (:

in the meantime, here's a giggle