High Road

High Road modelled by AVFKW

After two weeks of "commuter knitting" and a final push today, I finished and blocked "High Road" designed by Mary-Heather Cogar and commissioned by A Verb for Keeping Warm (AVFKW)'s Proverbial Club. 70/30 SW Merino/Silk "Metamorphosis" was dyed "Pilgrim" by AVFKW and evokes the heat, raw land, and minerals of Santa Fe.  The unique construction of this shawl really shows off the variegated yarn.  The shape of the shawl blossomed as I blocked it - the process was similar to that of a wet chick drying its feathers and becoming the more recognizable form we are familiar with (huh? nevermind - the lesson here is to make no big moves before blocking!).  I learn much from this Proverbial Club.

Marmalade from Homegrown

No images, just notes.
Last weekend we picked the oranges from our tree-bushes. Whereas the navel oranges are mild enough to eat out-of-hand, the other unidentified type is intensely aromatic, nearly bitter, and must be good for cooking, n'est-ce pas? Many of them were scrubbed with a new sponge. Many more await.

Quick, here's the data before I forget: 8C fruit, 7 or 8C fluid. Batch 1 had 8C base, batch 2 had 6C base. Used some raw along with the white sugar. Total yield: 8-12oz, 2-8oz, 4oz dregs.

Longer version: 8C chopped oranges and pulp, 2C squeezed orange juice + 4C (or was it 5C?) water + 1C lemon juice. Simmer for 5min, soak 18hr, simmer 45min. 8C (plus all that sugar) for the first batch is almost too much for the 3Q skillet. Boil to gel state, yields 5-12oz plus 4oz. Second batch is 6C, boil to gel state, yields 3-12oz plus 2-8oz plus 4oz in the leftover jar.

Jan 17: a year

First One: 4g, 7ft

A year ago on January 17, knitflix taught me how to use my spinning wheel. I learned to spin, then ply some wool that I had from an intro class several years before. 

Group of First Ones

How could I have known that I would embrace this medium! I've also been introduced to wonderful and helpful people along the way - my local fiber shop was pointed out to me when I called knitflix and said that "I ran out of fiber and need more, now." Yeah - need more *now* - a familiar phrase.







more fun than a barrel full of monkeys

Spinning fiber on a wheel or a spindle alters the fiber as well as the brain waves. Someone find a neurologist and hook me up - let's see what the readings show.

Thank you, J.

Fire in the hands

...from the Kundert Spindle, which was a gift to me. It is well balanced and just keeps going with a single push. Sweet.

Singles and plying were done on the spindle. I tried to spin beyond my typical laceweight zone and produced something between fingering and sportweight.

30g, 69.2yd, 2-ply, woolen, of Fiberfiend's flame.

Defiant blood oranges

2.5 lb CA blood oranges plus one lemon (8c total) plus 7c water plus 1c+8.5c raw+white sugar yields 10c marmalade. Damn the lack of electricity and the lack of other things. I have water and gas and a third-world connection from the fridge to the neighbor's outlet and I am making something fantastic and heating the kitchen and myself in the process.

Quiet time

At elevation 6300', I knit like a fiend while listening to vintage Clapton blues. A pot of beef curry simmered in the pressure cooker, and raita mellowed in the refrigerator. That night brought in a foot of snow that cloaks colors, deadens sound, and freezes creatures.

My brain reviews events and starts to consider "intentions" for self when there's "a little time". This list was started years ago when my children were born and I could not hold so many thoughts in my head, so I wrote them down and referred to them when I had 15 minutes for myself. This exercise of recording and thus freeing my mind has become useful to me over the years.

Solstice

A total lunar eclipse occured last night.  The last lunar eclipse on a solstice happened in the 1600s, and the next one will take place in another 400 years. The clouds parted long enough so that the lunar thumbnail disappeared, then glimmered, then went totally dark before the clouds closed in again.  From this darkness, during the eve of the longest night of the year, the earth continued on its path and the moon was once again revealed. "Remember, my friends, no matter how dark it is now, Solstice means the light is coming." [Stephanie Pearl-McPhee] ...And from the dark depths of the lunar eclipse on the solstice, the emergence and ever-increasing duration of light comes from a deeper source.

Shop local

The perennial question of "so what do you want for Christmas?" has been asked, and I have the luxury of having so much to live with and from, that I get to think about a response that can engage others around me.

The adage "think global, act local" has always been meaningful to me. So I return to this, especially as the general economy is depressed, and the action is to "shop local". This idea is described simply in the 3/50 Project: pick 3 local independent "brick and mortar" stores you couldn’t live without and if you spend $50 each month amongst the 3 then basically you are strengthening your own community.

It’s important to remember the repercussions our purchases have. For every $100 spent on local independent stores, $68 goes back into the community through payroll, taxes, and other expenditures. If you spend $100 on a national chain store, only $48 comes back; and if you buy from an online source, NONE of it comes back.

I want my friends and community to do well and to be well.  In turn, we will be better equipped to reach out and assist others - on a local AND global level.

When life gives you lemons...

...transform them into something grand.

Last week I received lots of homegrown Meyer lemons - tart, bitter, sweet, and very juicy. Thank you, K.

So I added salt to some, and preserved them thus.

Marmalade on L, Preserved on R.

And I added sugar to some more.
Specifically, I cut up one grapefruit and many lemons to make 12C, added 1.5Q water, soaked, cooked and added 1C+9C raw+white sugar to yield eight-12oz plus one-10oz jars marmalade.

Oh yeah, THAT's what I'm talkin' about!

Blue Whale

After a week, I finished and blocked "Blue Whale" designed by Stephen West and commissioned by A Verb for Keeping Warm (AVFKW)'s Proverbial Club. 75/25 bluefaced-leicester/tussah-silk "Luster" was indigo dyed by AVFKW and left its blue trails on my hands - a sign of work and accomplishment that washed off with soap and water after each session. As I blocked this shawl I marvelled at the design of the shape, in which I see the whale's fluke greeting me. There is comfort and satisfaction in this work.   Thank you, Kristine.