Let's talk honey

Recently, I stumbled across some information about honey being good for allergies. It was intriguing so I decided to read more. My husband has been suffering from allergies since we moved here and has just been using claritin and benadryl when it gets really bad. I've looked at some natural remedies but nothing seemed like it would actually work.

Raw local honey (made by bees where you live) contains pollen from the plants that cause your allergies. When you eat this honey, it builds up an immunity to those pollens. There are all sorts of studies and Web sites out there about it. It is important that the honey you get has not been pastuerized because that process kills and gets rid of all the good stuff in it like pollen and dust (appetizing huh?)

I found an ad in the paper by a guy that sells local honey and he's just a few blocks from our house, so I don't think it could get any more local unless we owned the hives! He does strain the honey but it is raw and does still contain pollen. I'd read a few things about unstrained honey but this stuff should work for the allergies. I might continue to look for unstrained honey locally. Maybe my supplier would bottle me up some special ones that haven't been strained.

Anyway, it was $6 for a quart, which I think is pretty good. So, the husband and I will be eating 2 to 3 teaspoons a day in the morning on toast or muffins. We hope that will help with our allergies this season!

Following up on a few things...

I was looking back through old posts and realized I haven't updated on several things!

So, on the creamer. Turns out that getting so many cans of condensed milk and all that is not really that eco friendly. And, the husband didn't love it. So, I realized that Darigold makes flavored half and half. We've started buying that instead. It's in a carton so not as bad as the plastic, it tastes good and it's made with real milk!

On the lemonade. Months later and still going strong. It's easy peasy to make and adding the strawberries is amazing! I bought a big bag at Costco. Whenever I decide to make strawberry lemonade, I take a few out and let them sit in a dish for about 15 minutes. They are then very easy to smash with a fork. I throw them in a glass and pour in lemonade! I used the blender for awhile but it doesn't work so well and then I have to wash it.
I also got some popsicle forms and made some strawberry lemonade popsicles. They were pretty good though I thought they needed more sugar.

Crafting is going well. I've started making shirts for myself! I've made three in the past week from a pattern on www.sewmamasew.com/blog. It's so nice to be able to customize the fit, choose the material and it's very neat to know that you made what you are wearing, even if no one else does. I'll post pictures soon.

I think that's about it. My house is a disaster since I've been sewing so much and putting off cleaning. I've really got to tackle that this weekend.

Spinning update!

I love it! Here's my first project with the alpaca sample that came with the spindle.

Yarn that I spun.

I took more pictures of the process but they are on my camera which is at home. This was taken awhile back with my phone (that's why it's not the greatest picture.)

Well, I spun up the yarn, set the twist (soaked in hot water) and let it hang dry. Once it was dry, it sat around for awhile until I decided to crochet it into a small bowl.




It is very small and I felted it a little bit to make it really fluffy. Just to let you know that alpaca fiber, when wet, smells like dirty wet dog. Now that the bowl is dry you can't smell it unless you put it rightupto your nose.

But the bowl is cute and fuzzy. I have it sitting on my sewing table with scraps of wool yarn and fuzz in it.

So, my first project, from fiber to finished object is done! So exciting. And, I ordered some more fiber from Paradise Fibers in Spokane and started more yarn! It's merino top, undyed and SO soft and fluffy! And, my yarn is getting more even. We'll see what I can make with this!