As Promised

Here is why I haven't been around much lately.

Three chenille colour and weave scarves. I had made the warp last year and put it away before I had a chance to weave it off. After Christmas was over, I also put my loom away and concentrated (such as it was) on knitting socks and relaxing. So there it languished all winter, spring, and summer. When I went to put it on, I remembered that I had made it three scarves long. I usually make the chenille scarves 60 inches long, with 6 inches of take up. I forgot about the take up part and wove them 60 inches long. Which meant that they were a little short when they came off the loom. Except for the last one. Which ended up being 94 inches long. That is one long scarf. I guess that you are never to old to get careless.
Next are the four merino shawls I dyed. I dyed the shawls in my usual way by laying out the warp and painting each shawl a different set of colours. These ones all ended up being 72 inches plus fringe. It was easy to see where the old shawl ended and the new one began because the colour changed. Too bad the colour didn't change for the chenille ones.
And yet another handspun. I am liking the striping that I get when I use the black.
And this is my next set of scarves. It is a mixture of pretty much anything that I had that was red or pink.

I'm off to see the babe sing in a wee concert. Should be cute.

Stuck

You know how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head? Yesterday at work, this was stuck in my head. All. Day. Long. Thankfully, I work at a place where you can sing people songs like this and everyone thinks it great. It's an art school so people are doing weird stuff all the time. I fit right in.

Come back later for some progress pictures.

Would you just make up your mind

Hi, remember me? From the land of ice and snow a few days ago. I get up this morning and check to see what is in store for me weather wise and I can't help but note that it is 17 C. That would be 62 F. This following on the heels of snow that stuck around for 24 hours plus. It is suppose to get colder during the day and end up being just below freezing by bedtime.

So my big question is, what layers do I put on today so that I don't melt this morning, or freeze tonight on the way home? Did I mention the heavy rain that we are suppose to get between now and then?

Weaving progress.....

First two shawls fringed and washed
Third shawl cut off and fourth shawl ready to weave as soon as my weft dries
Second chenille scarf almost finished weaving
New mixed yarn warp in pinks and reds ready to go on the home loom as soon as the chenille comes off.

And for no other reason than they are really cute, here are some yearling alpaca's at Legacy Lane Fiber Farm.

Weaving up a storm

Two more shawls woven and fringed, they just need a wash. Two more are on the loom. I usually cut off the shawls as I weave them. The thought of all that fringing at once makes me break out into a cold sweat. I am weaving them at the school to take advantage of a 36" 8 harness loom that is at my disposal This way I can fit the fringing in around the rest of my life at home. One and a half scarves in green chenille are on my 17" 4 harness Dorset at home. I got a really great deal on some chenille a couple of years ago and wove a few scarves off last year. I had put them away for the summer, but have had them on the table at market for the past few weeks and people have been showing interest, so I decided to weave the warp that I had made last year. I have some more chenille yarn and may make another few warps depending on time. I also have another handspun scarf to weave. I just love weaving these things off. Talk about instant gratification! Less than 4 hours from balls of yarn to finished scarf (drying time not included )

And upon waking up, I discovered that we have our first snow fall. Just a few inches. But still.

Heaven Sent

Via Lilloet.

Thanks Kansasa of Canadian Crafter for the gift of Grape Jelly (two kinds) and the most amazing Carrot Cake Jam that I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. I'd take a picture but empty jars are kind of boring to look at. Actually, only the Carrot Cake Jam is empty. But when I get my shawls (and laundry) all done, I am so going to make some of this stuff. Some of it will be given away for Christmas (I can hear the moans of delight already) and some will end up on my jam shelf. I think that it won't last long though.

I have also participated in a traveling journal which needs to be sent off today, and alas, no photo of the piece I did in that either. But it is going to come back to me again so hopefully I will be able to share my work. It is a collage with the theme "where do we go when we die". I was thinking of Charlotte. I can see her in the big studio in the sky, weaving with exotic fibers and perfect tension.

I think I may have won!

Today I unbag that last two bags of wool that have been sitting for the past two weeks fumigating. The last two bags are, of course, the ones with all the small balls that students use for tapestries. I guess that I was saving the best for last. And then ( I hope) the battle of the moths will be over!

I also started weaving my next set of shawls. I am about 2/3 of the way through the first one but there seem to be a few problems with my loom. So, seeing as fixing looms is the technician's job, I am also going to work on that today. I am using a 36" Macomber and it is just a wee bit fussy about a few things and I hate to have my weaving interrupted to have to stick a few of those metal things back on the treddles and lamms.

I needed that.

Wednesday night Bill took the boys and the wee one out to do the candy snatching rounds. Mira went off with a couple of her friends. And I stayed home to wait by the door and hand out loot. Thankfully the computer is in the room right next to the door and so I was able to spend some time surfing while waiting for the door bell to ring.

For some reason, a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about Carol Burnett. Actually, I started thinking about her show. I remember watching it as a kid and laughing and laughing. Ten years ago thinking would be about as far as I would have ever gotten. Now, we have YouTube and you can almost guarantee that if it was once on TV, someone has posted it. So out I go looking and I find Tim Conway's Elephant Story. Or more accurately, the outtakes from Tim Conway's Elephant Story. I think that I watched it 3 times and each time I ended up laughing.

I worked on Wednesday and I think that about 75% of the people in the school were dressed up. Staff and students alike. I love working in such a creative atmosphere. There was also a costume contest for the students and for once the female with the least costume didn't win! The winner was a third year fashion student who had made a roman solider costume complete with breast plate, shield, skirt, sandals, and helmet. And the helmet had the little feathery thing sticking out of the top. Second place went to a first year who came as Batty McSomething-or-other. She is a little bit of a thing and a goth girl and her costume really was spectacular. And third place went to a trio of students who dressed up as Dorthy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.

When I told Bill about how many people had dressed up he asked me if I had felt left out. I didn't because I had dressed up as the Studio Fairy. She's the one that picks stuff up and puts it away. Fixes threading mistakes when the poor student is on their last nerve. Finds lost things (because she put it away, don't ya know). The two third year student dressed as a pot of gold and a rainbow. I wish that I had had a camera with me.

OK

I just got back from the visitation for Charlotte. I am actually not home. I just didn't want to go back to my house full of life just yet. I think that I need a few minutes to readjust. I found my self rather short tempered most of the day and figured out why on the way out the door. I don't deal with death very well. I don't deal well with it at all.

Why am I the only one that can't stop the water works? Everyone else seems to be able to keep it together. There is something in the air of funeral homes that gets me going. Maybe I should hire myself out a a professional mourner. I could just sit over to one side and sob quietly. Blow my nose gently. Take a few gasping breaths and get everyone going.

Something else I noticed tonight....There were 16 boxes of tissues, but no trash cans. The tissues were even in lovely marble tissue box holders. Do you think that I could find a place to deposit my used ones? Nope. No equally lovely trash receptacles. I just had to take my grief with me.

It was a closed casket and so I am still having a hard time believing that she is gone. I know that she was in there though. Her casket was draped with one of her tapestries. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of weaving that I have ever seen. I had seen it before and though so then, so this is not some knee jerk response caused by an out pouring of grief.

And she has given me her loom. It is a hand built 12 harness countermarch. It is huge. And I mean HUGE. The fellow that built it for his wife didn't really know a lot about how a loom works. Charlotte and a mutual friend Jack have been working on it on and off for a number of years. Charlotte brought me on board this spring and I added my input. It worked well with 4 harnesses , and between the three of us making adjustments and suggestions, we have it up to 8 with a passable, but not great shed. John said that I could come and get it anytime with in the next 10 years or so, which is good because I really don't have any place to put it right now.

Charlotte, you weren't suppose to die this soon.

Goodbye Charlotte

It is with great sadness that I note the passing of a friend and fellow weaver, Charlotte Glencross. Charlotte was a huge supporter of the Arts and weaving community. She was instrumental in transforming an abandoned school into a center for the arts.
Charlotte's woven creations were always stunning for her use of colour and materials.

She had cancer but had been doing better lately. I am having a hard time believing that she is gone.

Guess What I'm Having for Supper Tonight

The first night that I went to Bill's for supper we had Spicy Chicken with Peanuts. I got there about 6 and didn't leave till 3am. We ate, yakked, and drank wine (and also went through a copious amount of kleenex because we both had nasty colds). So some were around 1 or 2 am Bill hauled some of this out of the fridge because he had made it a couple of nights before and there was some leftovers. It was sooooo good. He said that he stole the recipe from a magazine. Stole, because he never actually bought the magazine but went back three times to the store to stand in line at the check out in order to memorize it. It was a bit on the dry side, so when he made it, he added the wine.

Chicken Fettuchini with Sundried Tomatoes

1/4 cup olive oil
3 large chicken breasts
1 onion diced
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1 medium carrot grated
1/4 cup olive oil soaked, chopped, packed sundried tomatoes
12 oz fettuchini
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (do not use the stuff in the plastic shaker)
1/3 - 2/3 cup white wine

Cut chicken into thin strips. Saute in olive oil over medium heat. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon to thoroughly drain the oil.
Saute onion, garlic, and fennel seed in the oil for about 6 minutes or until onion is soft.
Add the carrot and tomatoes and cook until carrot is soft.
Have pasta cooking in a separate pot at the same time. When it is ready, drain and put into a large bowl. Pour the wine over the pasta and stir. Add the chicken, and sauteed ingredients and stir. Sprinkle the cheese a little at a time and stir.
Enjoy this dish with the leftover wine.

And speaking of leftovers, When I make this dish now, I always make a double batch because that way there will be leftovers. This dish is wonderful as a leftover.

And now on to other things....

Finished spinning and plying Mermaids Dream the other night. Looks much like my other skein, except that it is 450 yards.
I have put down the shawl for no other reason the I have started mittens. It is getting to be that time of the year when our fingers start to get a bit cold and our thoughts turn to mittens. This is my first pair of mittens in years and they are going surprisingly quickly. I just started them on Monday or Tuesday and I am already halfway through the increase for the thumb gore. Unfortunately, I may have to put them down for a while because I seem to have a bit of bursitis in my shoulder. Maybe if I can stay away from as much shoulder irritating activities as possible this weekend, I have a chance at letting it clear up quickly. Sigh. Maybe I'll try switching to knitting right handed for a while.
I am halfway through threading a new set of shawls on a loom at the school. And I have my next set of shawls all planned out in my mind. I should have been doing this months ago, but somehow lost the initiative to do any weaving beyond my handspun scarves. They are so quick to do up that it makes weaving seem effortless.

Holy Tomatoes Batman!

This is our stash of sundried tomatoes. O.K., dehydrated tomatoes. It all works out to the same thing. I think that we have enough for the winter. Even if we use them every day. Unlikely, but a nice thought. Most of them are dried to quite a crispy consistency although some of them are a little more malleable and are packed in olive oil. We also ground some of the extremely dry ones into a powder and mixed them with some olive oil to have tomato oil for salad dressing.

So I think that I am looking for a few new recipes that use sundried tomatoes. Any suggestions of fish free recipes?

Home free (I hope)

It looks like our Vapona strips have done their job! The yarns all look pretty good. Of course only time will tell. But in the mean time, I have started bagging everything. All cones are in their own baggie (those thin kind that you find in the grocery stores), and all skeins are slipped into Ziploc bags. I am about 3/4 of the way through the process of bagging and shelving everything. And I am actually having a great time! Everything is getting organized. Before, everything was loosely organized into colour groups with no regard to yarn size or type. I am grouping everything according to weight and colour. This is actually something that I have wanted to do for a while but have put off because it is such a big job. Huge job.

But with everything being off the shelves and in bags from necessity, it is not a big deal to dump one of the bags on the felting table and start sorting. For those of you who haven't seen the felting table, it is basically a 4'x8' coated table with two inch sides to keep the water in and a drain at one end to let the water out. The sides help keep the various cones and skeins on the table while I sort and bag. Perfect.

I spent most of my day yesterday running between the felting table and the shelf with a few minutes here and there helping one of the FVA (Foundation Visual Arts- aka. First Year) students getting a warp on a loom. Thankfully she is one of those people who you can show how to do something once and say "call me when you are done" and she will complete the task correctly.

It was really nice to sit down last night, after, of course, I had prepared supper. I have started roping the kids into doing dishes and for the most part they are doing a great job. All that nagging is finally starting to pay off. And after supper, we sat down to watch a movie so I was able to do a bit more spinning on Sailors Delight and I am happy to say that I am almost finished spinning. And then comes the plying.

The battle continues...

Yesterday was yarn day at work. I got to haul all of the bags of yarn from storage and let them air out a bit outside. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day. A little on the cool side, but that is to be expected in October in New Brunswick. I had to do some running around to find bags in which to put all of the yarn before putting it on the shelf. I finally settled on large Ziploc type bags for skeins and balls, large freezer bags for the larger cones, and produce bags from the grocery store for the smaller cones.
So far, I have gone through 60 Ziploc bags, and 10 large freezer bags. And emptied two garbage bags of yarn. Only 10 more to go. Plus all of the cottons that were on the shelves with the wool which I had to bag up and bring down to storage after bringing all of the wool up. We only had 12 of the Vapona strips and so things ended up having to be done in batches. I also had some student yarns to do.
I hope to get most of the rest of the yarn on the shelves on Friday, and the last of it on Monday. But that timeline is dependant on me having nothing else to do at work. Which may happen, but is highly unlikely.

Happy Wednesday

We're halfway to the weekend!

What are your wild plans?

Still

Knitting on my lace shawl. Just in case you though that I had abandoned it. I am into the second repeat of the body chart with 75 stitches on the needles. I do a couple of rows at night before heading off to bed. I am actually beginning to remember the repeat part. Which impresses the hell out of me. The stitch markers that I made myself are working well. In fact, I made a few more, just cause they are fun to make.

My head cold is still with me and seems to be getting worse instead of better. Blocked sinuses, sore throat, fuzzy head. Ugh.

Still spinning the second half of the second 4 oz of Sailors Delight. Although I looked in my bag of split roving and the colours reminded me of candy corn. Hmmmm. Time for a rename? Nah. Just a reaction to the season. And what am I going to do with 800+ yards of slightly heavier than lace weight yarn? I'm sure that I'll think of something.

I finished fringing my noil scarf. I did it the other night while waiting for clothes to dry. Twist a few fringes, go and tun the drum. Repeat. Which means the dryer is still not behaving in a way that it should. At least it is easier to start with the top off. I just turn the start knob and push the top of the drum with my hand.

And for those of you that have gotten this far, here is your reward. This is my latest hand spun scarf. Of course the colours are a bit washed out because I still haven't gotten the whole picture taking thing figured out.

Blooming

The cacti are blooming in my house. Every summer the plants go out to live in the sun porch and every fall they move back into their winter residence. My rather dark living room. This simulated the light change that florist do in their mysterious back rooms to make them bloom. And so without further ado, here are 3 of my 4 different coloured cacti in bloom.




Oh my. After looking at those photos I realize that my poor plants are rather dusty. Washing them is on my to do list. But now I have to go wake up the kiddies and get everyone ready for school and myself ready for work.

What happiness is not.....

My dryer has been acting up lately. As in it won't start. Bill has taken it apart and "fixed" it three or four times. And it always has not quite been the right thing. Not that all his hard work has been for nothing. The back bearing did need to be greased. The motor is much happier with it's contacts cleaned. And there was a lot of lint in various places. But the thing still won't start. In case you forgot, I have 4 kids. Kids mean laundry. 4 kids mean a lot of laundry. For a while, I was borrowing my neighbours clothes line. Unfortunately, it has been raining or we have had extremely high humidity for the past 5 days. No line. No dryer. No clean pants for my boys. As Bill said, the nag factor has taken a dramatic increase in the past few days.

But he thinks that he has it now. After much testing he thinks that that little beast seen circled below is the problem. He has gone off to consult with his friend Elmer. And hopefully will come home with a fixed circuit board.

Update: Still not working. Actually, it can be made to work if you reach inside and turn the drum with your hand and then quickly slam the door and turn the start button. This only works if the load is not so large that the weight of it will stop the drums rotation before you can get the start button turned. But seeing as this was how it was working before, it is not an improvement. The other fun thing about this dryer is that it will stop after 5 minutes and change direction. Or at least it used to. Now it just stops after 5 minutes.

Although something was discovered that was wrong with the small black rectangular thing in the lower left side.

Happiness is....

M.....

Making bamboo baskets.


Like I mentioned the other day, I went to a Bamboo Basket workshop yesterday. It was an all day affair and was also wonderful!

There were 12 of us and most everyone was a first timer and made a random weave basket like mine a few days ago.
Here Jiro is giving a demonstration.

Because I had already made a random weave basket, I wanted to try something a bit different. This was I wanted to do. Linda had also been in the workshop a few weeks ago and also wanted to make one of these. Jiro said that was no problem.
First you start out by making a base with the hexagon weave,
Then you make three more for a total of four. The basket has four layers and the bases must all be made first. You then measure them all and chose the smallest one for the inside layer. A metal tool is heated up and applied at the edge of the hexagon base and the spokes are bent up. You only have to do this with the first layer because the bend is so sharp, if you don't use the hot tool, the bamboo will break.
Then you cut three pieces of thicker bamboo and place them in the base. This will hold you hexagon together while you start to weave. At this point, I got so into making the basket that I forgot to take any more pictures until it was almost time to go.
And here is where I got to. The first layer is complete and the second is started. When I got home, I continued to weave and have the second complete and the third layer almost done. One more layer and then the rim.
Here is my table mate Carol. She is an artist who was taking the workshop to see if she could incorporate basketry into her art. Alas, she has decided that basket weaving is not her thing.

But here is her basket. And what, pray tell, is the white stuff that is covering her basket? Gut. As in pig intestines. You know, like sausage casings. The stuff is amazing when it drys. It looks like hand made tissue paper. She says that it dyes beautifully. It has a bit of stretch to it and shrinks a bit when it dries. I will hopefully be able to get a look at this when it is dry.

And remember earlier in the week I said that I wanted to get two scarves woven and one fringed. Well, one is woven and fringed and the one I wanted to fringe is cut and knotted. So I managed to get half my goals finished. I was laid low with yet another head cold. Ugh.

Wowzers!

Check it out!

A glass spinning wheel!

Thanks to Laritza from Yorksett Arts & Crafts for this amazing link.

The makings of a new Bamboo Basket in the morning.

Bamboo Baskets

I mentioned the other day that I was going to take a workshop from Jiro Yonezawa. And here are the results......
The first is a plaited twill basket. We started out making a flat 3/3 twill structure that was 30 bamboo pieces by 30 bamboo pieces. We then shaped it around a piece of PVC pipe that Jiro had cut to size and put a bottom in. Once we finished weaving the twill structure, we finished the top and bottom using pieces of half round reed and caning to hold it in place. We also did a decorative arrow stitch on the top again using the caning. I understand this structure perfectly.


The next piece that we did was a random weave basket. It starts out with a hexagonal structure and once you have the basic basket form you randomly start adding pieces of bamboo to the form. We used medium sized bamboo strips for the base form and thicker and thinner strips for the random part. My grasp of this form is some what shakier than for the plaited twill. Probably because the twill structure is one that I am very familiar with and the hexagon structure is not. There is also a strange locking thing that needs to be done each time you add a new weaver. But I have a chance to learn a little more because Linda had arranged for another workshop tomorrow. I can hardly wait! Except that I wish that I was feeling a little better. I have a bit of a head cold. Again. School's in and the viruses are out. Oh joy.

And I suppose that while I am here I should give you a moth update. I have bagged all the wool on the wall and put Vapona strips in the bags. I ended up with 12 large garbage bags full. And I am not done yet. There are still some yarns that students have had lying around that may or may not be infested. And all of the cottons that the larva may not be interested in, but if eggs are stuck to them and they hatch next to some wool, I am back to square one. All of the left over yarn and any student yarn will be dealt with next week when the first batch is ready to come out. And then I have to put all 12 garbage bags of yarn back on the shelf in some sort of order. Oh my.

Nice Matters

I was quite tickled to receive a "Nice Matters" award from Davimac over at "Wish I Were Baking". The award states that

"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded, please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

So here we go (seeing as I can't just pass it back to Davimac as I would like to)

1. Teyani from Intrepid Fiber Wizard. Teyani is a very knowledgeable and talented fiber wizard and has always been very helpful with any questions that I have had about spinning or dyeing. Thanks Teyani.

2. Dave from Cabin Cove. Dave is a wealth of knowledge and talent. It seems like there isn't anything that this man can't do. Word of warning though. If you don't like seeing photo's of, how do I put this, errrm, ahhhh, male behinds (usually well covered- last week was an exception I assure you) then don't go visiting Dave on Wednesday's. The other 6 days are all respectably crafty. I, however, always visit Dave on Wednesday. Thanks Dave. (I'll be by in the morning)

3. Jessie from What Housework. Jessie is a woman who knits, dyes, sells, and has a collection of animals that just keeps on getting bigger. Thankfully both her heart and barn are big enough to accommodate them. Thanks Jessie.

4. Kansasa from Canadian Crafter. Kansasa doesn't stop. Ever. I'm sure of it. In addition to having 3 kids, she and her husband run a farm that has a bazillion animals of all kinds, and the woman processes enough food to feed a small army. I first found my way to her blog because, firstly, I am Canadian too, and secondly, I thought that I would see some more knitting or spinning, or what not. No knitting to be found. She doesn't have time. But she is a wealth of knowledge and so nice. I don't know where she finds the time to blog or e-mail, but she does both. Thanks Kansasa.

5. Christine from Spin, Weave, Knit, and Cake. Christine is a weaver and I have to admit that I take great pleasure in hearing of her adventures in weaving. A lot of the time i can say "been there, done that". But other times are purely unique. Like the time she had to wrap her entire front beam and warp in plastic wrap because the cat wouldn't leave it alone. I've never done that and I hope that I never have to. Thanks Christine.

6. Erin from Skein Street. I've been visiting with Erin for a while now. She has shared her adventures of moving several times, finishing school to be a vet, as well as her residencies and classes in various zoos. She is an awesome awesome knitter. And a generally nice person who always has something positive and encouraging to say as I stumble slowly through my various knitting projects. Thanks Erin.

7. Leigh from Leigh's Fiber Journal. Leigh is a talented weaver who shares all of her knowledge quite happily. She is also an amazing spinner and her knitting blows me away. I'll never be as good a knitter, but I'd like to have even a quarter of her spinning knowledge. Thanks Leigh.

8. Leah from Homework. Leah has funky tutorials and is a recycler of old sweaters. You should check out her Etsy shop for all of the neat things that she does. She also sent me a bunch of stamps from various places in the world. The kids and I have really enjoyed looking at them. Thanks Leah.

Thank you all for making the blogging world a brighter and better place. Nice does matter.

Happy Thanksgiving

No, I didn't get that wrong. In Canada, our Thanksgiving holiday is a little earlier than in the US. Here the harvest is a bit earlier and I'm sure that our forefathers were very thankful for full larders when heading into the harsh Canadian winters. According to the Farmers Almanac, we are in for a mild fall and winter. I can only say that I am thankful for that. Shoveling is not my favorite task.

We had all the grandparents over last night for dinner. It was the traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings. And for the first time, we also had a "kid table" in the next room. It actually worked out better than I could have imagined. No major squabbles. No food fights. No huge messes. Just the sounds of the kids enjoying each others company. Wonderful.


All the plants have moved inside for the winter now. This is my indoor herb garden. On the bottom shelf, from left to right are lemon grass, rosemary, and bay. They all seem to enjoy their summers outside and tolerate the move inside rather well. I have another shelf like this one that has even more plants on it, but there is some stuff piled in front of the shelf, and I like to pretend that I live in a clean, organized house. So we won't show that shelf yet. But you can see the edge of it in the photo below.

The last to come in was the grapefruit tree. I had to do some pretty severe pruning before bringing it it or it may have taken over the living room

Yesterday I also made two warps for my next two scarves. I didn't have quite enough (in my mind) to make a full scarf in Patchouli Dance, so I added a few stripes of black.
And, of course, here is "Mermaid Dreams". I hope to get both of these on and off the loom by the weekend. I also have a silk noil scarf to fringe before then. But maybe I'm being a little ambitious in light of all the other things I have to do.

Woah Nelly!

Well! That was a busy day! Saturday is usually market day for me, but not today. Last week, I had a bamboo basketry workshop to go to and I had so much fun that I decided to have fun this weekend too.

First came the Farmers Market. I was there early enough to stand in a small (10 people) line for samosas. There is a lot of history that is attached to the samosa vendors at the Farmers Market. They actually made National news in Canada because there was a fight between the Samosa vendors and the market managers. The samosa people were/are so successful that other vendors complained that their customers were blocking their stalls and the samosa people were eventually kicked outside where they have set up shop in a trailer. For now. They have said that they will probably not occupy the space in the mid-winter because being an outside vendor in January is a rather painful experience.

But I digress.

After my purchasing at the farmers market (I did get a few other things) and did a bit of socializing, I made my way to the place where my market takes place and had a coffee and did a bit of socializing there too.

Then it was back home for a bit and then S came and picked Mira and me up and we went off to a fiber farm that started out as a rescue farm and has ended up as much more. The farm is run by Kim, who is also a nurse and has 3 kids and is pregnant with a 4th. The woman astonishes me! She is one of those people who has managed to find a way to stretch the number of hours in a day and has the energy of 6 of us lesser mortals.

Here are two of her three rams. They are all of different breeds and of course she knows all of their names. They are like her children.
Then we went on to see the ladies of the house. She had Corridales and Shetlands (of many different colours) and Jacobs. And here my brain hit overload. I know that she has other types, but I couldn't tell you what they are to save my life. I couldn't even count them. I'm going to guess that there were about 20 or so. Including the babies.Sooooo cute!
And speaking of cute.... here is one of her Pygora goats. This little fellow is a few months old. She also had Angora goats. I can't begin to describe my reaction to these little guys. All I can say is "I want". I want a few of these goats. ME! Who has enough kids and responsibility and not enough room. I will have goats in my life some day. Not for a number of years. And not until we live close enough to someone responsible enough who is willing to trade critter care so that we can each get a bit of a vacation in the summer. I am not willing to give up our time at the lake, but I want fiber goats.
And she also had an alpaca. I want one of these guys too. This fellow gave Kim three garbage bags of fleece this year. And of course the first thing that ran through my mind was "Baa baa black alpaca, have you any wool?" Apparently, he also bites. She said that he never used to bite until she got word that there was a lady alpaca that she could have. She told this guy (sorry, I forget his name) that he was going to get a wife. Told him all about her and then a few weeks later, the man that had the lady alpaca told Kim that he wasn't going to sell her the gal and Kim told her man, and shortly thereafter, he began to bite. Coincidence? You decide. And I haven't mentioned the rabbits and chinchillas.
Here is part of her fiber room. More continues around the corner and .....
Into the front hall. Right about here my mind stopped working altogether. And my allergies kicked in. She likes to spin "in the grease" and most of the fiber that she had was straight off of the critter. And my allergies really let me know that raw fiber is not a good thing for me to be around in such massive quantities. I bought a sample pack of bits of different types of cleaned processed roving, and some processed mohair roving.

Then when we got home, mom came and took us apple picking
We got quite a few. The kids and I picked 3 1/4 bushel baskets. Mom picked 8. And them Liam asked about the apples on the ground. The lady that ran the orchard said that the ones on the ground were free. So Liam, Mira, and Simon ran off and picked a couple (or three) grocery bags of windfall Macintosh. In about 3 minutes. Some were given to my brothers Belgian horse team (only a few) and the rest will be made into sauce (or hard cider, if we get our act together). This is one of the times when I am actually glad that Liam is a bit of a scavenger. Small boys, eh?

Then it was back home where Bill had been working on chili all day (among other things). Last night it became a family effort to deal with all of the tomatoes at hand. I had suggested a chili for today and the idea received unanimous agreement. Last night we washed, peeled, seeded (or de-seeded) and chopped any tomato that was in any way, shape, or form compromised, and boiled all of their little carcases in a large pot. Today the simmering continued all day and the volume was about half by the time Mira and I returned from the fiber farm. When we returned from apple picking, it was almost ready. Tonight, supper was a wonderful thing.

All fixed

I ripped back my lace to the ( thank heavens and all of the powers that be) a straight simple knit row just before my ..... mistake. I considered trying to weave in a life line. I decided that that would be like thinking of buying a PFD after you fell into the water. Just a little to late to be of much help. I abandoned that idea. I considered tinking back for the 5 rows and thought that I would rather just go for it and rip it back to the row before my mistake. Which I did. Carefully. Very carefully.

I was able to put all of my stitches back on my needles. After which I went through and corrected the few that I put on the wrong way. I counted my stitches and miracles of miracles had the right amount in the right places. I found my row on the chart and knit the next row just to make sure that I had done it all right. Once that was finished and I found that everything was alright, I put it all away and cracked open a beer and here I am telling you all how I saved myself from having to knit that %@#$*&^ neck chart again.

Did I mention that I made the mistake while knitting when I was a bit tired. Knowing myself, I set out conditions under which I could not, or at least should not knit lace. And of those was being tired. Lace and fatigue are not a good combination. But I was getting cocky. "This is easy now. I know the stitches. So what if I am a little tired, I can follow the pattern". Famous last words.

As they say "Hoisted by my own petard". I always wondered what a petard was. Now I know.

On Closer Inspection

I noticed that my lace had a dropped stitch about 4-6-8 rows back. So much for my progress. Sigh.

Look! Lace!

I told you I was going to work on it! I have finished the neck chart and have started on the body chart. And it is actually starting to make sense.

A Touch of Frost

Jack Frost paid a tiny visit last night. Bill and Liam went out this evening to investigate the damage of a few hours at 0 C and came back with a rather positive report. Jack kindly left the tomatoes alone and touched his frost brush on the tips of the squash plants and a few of the pepper plants. But only on one side of the garden. I guess that when the weather man says "patchy frost" he really means it. So they picked all of the tomatoes, yet more broccoli, a few cucumbers, and heavens, could it be? Crimson hot peppers that were actually starting to become crimson!

Every year in January, the Stokes seed catalogue comes. January in my neck of the woods is bitterly cold and outdoors everything is frozen and covered in snow and ice. It will remain that way until usually the end of March. At which point we will have a few teasing weeks of spring like weather before getting hit by yet another snow storm. In January, spring seems a long ways away. But there is the catalogue of all the vegetables spread out like..... well.... only a northern gardener could really know what I am talking about... but .... I call it Garden Pr0n. You know what I mean. Some people take the Lee Valley catalogue to the bathroom. I take the seed catalogue. So there you are looking at page after page of plants. And variety! The last year that I counted there were 76 different types of tomatoes! 76! Sigh. And they also have a good number of peppers of both the hot and the sweet variety. The hot ones even have the Scoville rating so that you know what you are getting yourself in for!

But I digress.

So one January, a number of years ago, I was drooling over the various plants and came across the pepper section. "I want to try something new this year" was the thought that popped into my head (we are, after all, experimental eaters. At least we older ones are). So I started to check different pepper types and their Scoville rating and found that the crimson hot offered a fairly decent rating without my fearing the punch that some hot peppers can have. And lets face it, we have all had one of those experiences where something that went into our mouth was just a little too much to handle. The crimson hots were a respectable 1250-2500 on the Scoville scale, well bellow habenero's and well above some of the, ahem, wimpy peppers.

To make a long story longer, they were ordered, planted, tended, harvested, and then processed in to the most wonderful hot sauce that could be imagined. Go look. I know you want to. There is even a picture of the sexy little beauties. Sigh.

Wow! Was that ever a tangent! I think I need to go knit a few rows on my much neglected lace shawl. Remember that? I have almost finished the first 20 rows of the neck chart and will soon proceed to the body chart. Pathetic. I know. But I have a finish deadline for this thing of December 2013. I think that I will make it.

I love achievable goals.

Yet Another Thing to do with Tomatoes

I have been being very creative here. But not necessarily in a crafty sort of way. I have made some more stitch markers seeing as I have found an outlet in town for them. And I have been taking an absolutely wonderful bamboo basket workshop from a bamboo master Jiro Yonezawa. It is wonderful to feel such inspiration. I hope to be able to steal some images from Linda's camera to do a blog post on it. Tomorrow is the last day and my mind is working overtime with possibilities.
So maybe I have been more creative than I first thought.
But today. Today my best creativity happened when I came home from work (I did work this afternoon). I had decided to use up yet more tomatoes and make an uncooked pasta sauce for supper tonight. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of putanesca sauce, but (if stories are to be believed) it originated in Italy and was a favorite of , ahem, ladies of loose morals. In other words, ladies of the evening. The story says that these ladies would eat a pasta (we are talking Italy here) that was rich in garlic, olives, and anchovies, and would have breath so foul that they would not have kiss their .... clients.
No clients here, and seeing as we all ate the sauce, no kisses have been spared.
So enough of the history and on to the recipe.....

Uncooked Tomato Sauce

14 black olives - pitted and chopped coarsely
3-5 cloves of garlic - chopped or crushed
1 medium red onion - chopped finely
1 red pepper finely diced - optional
1/4 cup fresh parsley -finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil - finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme
a few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce
1/4 cup olive oil - I use extra virgin
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
6 - 8 - 10 -12 tomatoes - it just really matters how many tomatoes you need to get used up quickly. They should be chopped and drained through a strainer for a few minutes.

Mix everything together in a big bowl and serve over cooked pasta. I usually put a bit of olive oil in the pasta and spoon the sauce on each plate. This makes enough for all 6 of us using about 450 g of pasta so scale as you need to. Or just spoon the left over sauce on some bread that had been brushed with olive oil and toasted under the broiler.

oops. Almost forgot to mention the freshly grated parmesan cheese that gets sprinkled on the top of the pasta (I am sure that it will work equally well with the bread)

And I also want to say that as with a lot of recipes, this is infinitely mutable. You don't like olives... leave 'em out. Add and subtract as you want. Just make sure that it never sees a burner (with exception to the pasta of course) and all will be well.


Both Bill and I expressed a desire to have a camera when we sat down to eat tonight. The colours were marvelous.

Yarn and Broccoli

Strange combination, but these days you squeeze in what you can.
I have finally finally finally finished plying my "Sailors Delight" I can't remember what the weight was. Somewhere close to 4 ounces. And the yardage is 407! I am so pleased with it that I started to spin the second bundle the same. With 800 yards I should be able to knit myself another lace shawl. Not that I have progressed very far with my first lace shawl. There is always a reason to not be knitting on it.
I have been doing some other spinning too. For more slubby scarves. Every week many people comment on them. So far, no one has bought one. I have to admit that it is a bit hard to sell a wool scarf when it is hot and humid. Hopefully with cooler weather (and Christmas) coming, people will start to think that they are worth the price that I have on them. Which are, between you and me, a wholesale price. Fredericton is a hard place to sell high quality hand wovens. People think nothing of spending a couple of hundred dollars on jewelery, but balk at spending any more than $30 on a scarf. I need to find new markets.

One of my many excuses for not working on my lace shawl is dealing with garden stuff. Here my helper and I are bagging and freezing broccoli with the assistance of the FoodSaver machine that my sister Christine got me for Christmas. It is really slick. It comes with a roll of plastic tube that can be cut and sealed to make bags. There is also a vacuum chamber that will suck the air out of the bag before you seal it. Very slick. I like it. And so does Nicole. Thanks Christine. You knew that I would enjoy this little machine, and I do.
Don't ask me what the goofy grin is for, but I think that she is having fun.

Amy and I went to the garden tonight to pick a few tomatoes. And cucumbers. And squash and broad beans and green beans and a few peppers and a head of dill. We netted less than last weekend. Thankfully. I sent Amy home with a some of everything except the broad beans and the one head of dill. There were probably just enough broad beans for one small meal and I picked the dill just to munch on. Luckily she was happy with taking about 30 pounds of tomatoes too. And there are still more green ones in the garden. We have a few hot days coming this week and I am hoping that will help some of the tomatoes left ripen. We have been lucky so far this year to not have any frost. But I know that it is coming. Any time now.

Happiness is....

L....

The Lake.

Bill's father bought the cottage while on leave from the war during the summer of '44. When he bought it, it was one of a very few cottages on the lake. Now our well kept secret is out and there has been considerable development. I'm sure that Bill can give you all of the particulars in the comment section. He's the details man. I'm more of a big picture sort of gal. In any case, it was basically a hunting/fishing cabin that was..... well, lets call it rustic. Over the years there have been many many improvements. Now it is definitely a home away from home. Only smaller. The footprint of the cottage is about 24' x24'. A bit of a tight squeeze when everyone (9 of us) is in residence.
There are beautiful views. Even when the weather is less than wonderful.
Plenty of time for lots of cuddles because there is only so much that you need to do. I love this part. My to do list if so short. Those pesky cupboard don't need to be cleaned out. That pile of papers can't be sorted. They are 100 km away!
There are lots of critters that come around. Like Chippy the chipmunk. There are also a variety of red squirrels, frogs and toads, fish and crayfish (the later being a very rare find), and hummingbirds and dragonflies by the thousands. There are woods to explore. And for a few sweet weeks, an Uncle Sandy for the kids to explore with. He can pack a years worth of love and attention into those few weeks. Thank you.
There are kids for my kids to play with. Here are Nicole and a M. from a few cottages down fishing off the end of the dock. I can't tell you the hours of pleasure that those girls got from the toy fishing rods. Quiet pleasure. Did you note the "quiet" part. With everyone being a bit older, there was less stress around keeping an eye on every child. Which meant that I could spend some time sitting on the swing on the porch with a book or some hand work without being interrupted every thirty seconds. Happiness indeed.
Here are all the kids from various cottages around us celebrating Simon's and Liam's birthday. They run in a pack for the weeks that everyone is in residence and everyone gets separated into their various cottages at dark. And best of all, I like everyone of these kids.

It is just about time to say goodbye to the lake for the winter. Maybe we will make it up later in the fall. It is always nice to do because it is so quiet and peaceful. Not to mention that the fire in the stove feels really nice.

Note: All photo's are credited to the fabulous Uncle Sandy
He's the one in the middle. Thanks!

Tomatoes anyone?

Sunday Bill and I biked out to the farm (mom came and picked up the kids) so that we could have a family dinner. My uncle Albert was home from Ottawa for the weekend and mom wanted us all to get together. Before we ate, Bill and I took some time to pick a few things. Starting with a garbage bag of basil and 150 +/- pounds of tomatoes. Then we went on to a few eggplants, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, and yet more broccoli. I have to admit that I am getting slightly tired of broccoli. But we do freeze some and it goes very nice in stir fries that we often have in the winter. When Bill gets home I will see if he can help me get the wee video that we took posted. I am a techno weenie and don't want to do it myself. Besides, he has the cable that I need.
I mentioned this mass of tomatoes that we had to people around the lunch table at work, and one woman suggested that I start selling them. I had brought a few extra to share and they all exclaimed at how good they looked and tasted. I am not quite sure how I would feel about adding "tomato broker" to my list of skills.
Speaking of work......Moth update......
After meeting with the pest control guy, the course of action decided upon is to bag all of the yarn and add a fumigation strip to each of the bags. The fog (as they call it) only kills the adults and not larva or egg. The egg hatch in between 5 to 10 days depending on conditions and the fumigation strips will kill the larva. Then all cupboards and any cracks where eggs may have fallen need to be sprayed and washed. I can't start this process until we get the strips and the pest guy was fresh out of them. So hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to start on demothafication of the Fiber Arts studio.
In the meantime, I am off to deal with a few more tomatoes before I go get the babe at pre-K. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that there is at least as many tomatoes still in the garden. Maybe I should reconsider becoming a tomato broker.

How does your garden grow?

The September edition. Things are really taking off in the garden. Or taking over in the case of the squash. That mound below is squash. And it is about 6 feet high. My mother and I put a cage of sorts under it so that it would have somewhere to go. It climbed the cage, and went through the peppers and into the row of basil.
Within this mass are two types of squash. First up is Akehime. It is a baby sized Japan winter squash. They are about the size of a small cantaloupe. Very cute. I keep peeking in and testing the skin to see if they are ready.
Next is the Fairy squash. The maturity of these says 90 days and I hope that they make it before the frost. We had a rather cold night earlier in the week with temperatures hovering just above freezing. And then yesterday was way up in the 30's ( that would be 90's for all you south of the border). The weather has become rather unpredictable. Both of these squash came from David who didn't get a chance to harvest his garden this year because of a sudden move to Scotland!
And here we have one of the 4 rows of tomatoes. Or maybe it was 5 rows. In any case, the tomatoes are so loaded with fruit that they have knocked over their cages. I hauled up the cages and pounded stakes in about a month ago, but they fell over again. Good enough, says I, stay where you want. So now in order to pick some tomatoes, I have to haul up the cages and pluck the ripe ones from underneath. And there are A LOT of tomatoes coming on. In fact, when I was out there last Thursday, I had and old Eagles song running through my head. Does anyone remember "Hotel California"? That part when the word say "And I was thinking to myself, this could be heaven or this could be hell". I guess that it is all just a matter of perspective. When I was pregnant with Mira 13 summers ago, we planted many, many tomato plants. 40 some I think. Among them were some cherry tomatoes. That grew and grew and grew until they were taller than I was. And they grew out and out and out until that one section of the garden was one mass of tomatoes. I dubbed it "tomato hell" and refused to go in. I would pick from around the edges but not venture in to the heart of tomato hell. 7 months pregnant and a wee bit tippy, I was afraid that I would go in, fall over and not be found until the frost killed the plants. Bill, tomato lover that he is, thought that it was heaven. Except that he was working in another city and had over an hours commute each way. Which left him little time to be in the garden. Needless to say, many tomatoes died in tomato hell that fall.
Thursday I picked about a bushel of tomatoes and I didn't even make a dent.

I also have been dealing with cucumbers in the usual way. Almost every meal has is accompanied by a plate of sliced, lightly salted cucumbers. A few jars of dills have been made but due to having 38 jars leftover from last year, only a few. For some reason, the kids have seriously slowed down in their dill eating. Even though they were given free rein on the pickle shelf. This year, I decided to try something new. Well, old, but new to me. I have only made bread and butter pickles once before and didn't really care for them. I have a mustard allergy and so had to modify the recipe a bit but I still didn't like the Zesty Bread and Butter Pickles from the Bernardin cookbook. Utter failure. So I never made them again. Until this year when I found this recipe on Kansasa's blog. She claims that they are the best bread and butter pickles ever. And I would have to agree. I just left out the mustard seed and they turned out fine. Better than fine. One of my original jars didn't seal and quickly got snacked away. So I made another 8 pints. Kansasa also has tutorials for various good ol' down home cooking goodness. And access to a neighbours fruit orchard that makes me green with envy. Especially the apricots that she makes into Apricot Brandy! Not to mention the slickest way to clean a fish.

I think that I have to go eat some tomatoes now.

Moths

in the main studio. I feel faint. Hundreds of cones and skeins of yarns. Hundreds of pounds of yarn. I think that we need to call in the professionals of else all of the yarn will go to waste. I hope that those in charge of the budget see the sense in an ounce of prevention. I also think that we will stop taking donations from various people who seem to think that we would be pleased to take their grandmothers musty yarn. I threw away some yarns last year that someone gave to us that was so musty that it made me wheeze. I think that some people look upon us as a place to dump stuff that they just can't throw away. I am not impressed with whoever it was that donated the moths. Because that must be how they got in. Hitchhiking on some innocent looking skein of yarn. This is the first year that we have had a problem (starting with the bit last year at Christmas). I cannot describe how I felt when I discovered the little blighters. A lot of dead ones, but where there are carcases, there are the potential for eggs and larva.

Pardon me. I need a drink.

It's like a sickness

isn't it? The desire to spin finer and finer? It is like I am having a contest with myself to see if I can spin finer than the last skein. My sailor's delight is coming in at 43 wpi in its singles form. I am about 1/4 of the way through the second half of the 4oz bundle. I really don't think that I want to go any finer. I'll leave that to the spiders.
And on the other end of the spectrum is my fat slubby scarves. I had a lot of comments on them at market last weekend. I think the fact that it was a little on the cool side worked in my favour.
This is what my booth looked like after the wind knocked down part of my display. Three times. And one of those times part of what came down was my large black vase that I used to display my origami.

Good bye dear vase. I knew you well. Now I have to find a good substitute and maybe sign up for another pottery class.

Need a Laugh?

Many of you have probably already seen this. But for those of you who haven't........ This is what this poor woman wrote in the description portion of her sale on e-bay in which she is selling the Pokemon cards that one of her kids slipped into her grocery cart. If you don't like kids, or had perfect kids, or don't posses a sense of humor around the things that kids do, then just skip the link. For the rest of you.....

Adventures in Grocery Shopping