I’m trying not to be disappointed..
*sigh* I finished the first Sprung sock:
(Clickable thumbnail; click to make it bigger) With flash, on my desk
Without flash, modeled
It really is lovely. And I generally really like handpainted yarns - especially how they pool. But as I’ve mentioned before, I really dislike it when colors pool in striped pairs. It just doesn’t sit well with me; if yarn is going to stripe, I want it to have nice, big, fat stripes. So while the foot of this sock is lovely and gorgeous, I’m .. trying not to be disappointed in the striping in the leg.
Maybe I just need to stick with more subtle variations in my yarn, or longer swaths of color on the yarn so the stripes are thicker. :/
Look! A distraction!
Ooh! Looky at what the folks over at Catena Expressions have been up to! I’m so jealous! This is precisely what we want to do over our back patio. Isn’t it divine?
About all that I’ve been up to this week is this:
(Clickable thumbnail; click to make it bigger)
What with the stickiness that’s invaded the midwest this week, that’s about all I could manage to do, and even at that it was only because I could hold it all at arms length and not.have.it.touching.me. But I’m really, really loving spinning this up. I love watching the colors change and how they look on the spindle next to each other.
Possible first spinning wheel?
A colleague mentioned that her family has been spending a good deal of time this summer going through items on their farm in order to prepare them for an auction on August 11. When she mentioned they had quite a number of antiques, I asked if there were any spinning wheels.
(Both pictures are clickable thumbnails; click them to load a larger version.)
She sent me the pictures above of one of the two that are available (though you can also see a piece of the second one in the bottom left corner of the first picture). I have no idea what the shape of these wheels is and can’t tell from the photos if they might be worth investing in as a first wheel for me; I can say that they likely need at least a little TLC, but I can’t figure out if they’re actually whole and working (and given that I’m not a wheel spinner already, I’m not sure I’d know even if I could sit down and spin on one). I’d really appreciate any feedback or observations from any of my spinning friends out there, including how I might be able to tell if the wheels are in need of major work if I’m not able to actually sit at them and try them out!
Saturday in the garden
It’s a beautiful day here in southern MN and after having been away for a week, I decided to take a stroll around the gardens to see how things are doing. Admittedly, it was the appearance of this lovely little blossom that started it all:
(All pictures are clickable thumbnails; click them to load a larger version.)
That’s one of the balloon flowers we planted last month and our Garden Guru(tm) told me when we planted them that they may not actually bloom again this year, but not to worry if they didn’t as long as the plant stayed green. I was quite surprised to see them bloom, therefore, and happily reminded of why I wanted them in the front garden as I truly love the shape and color of these delicate blossoms.
Also in bloom in the front garden are the cosmos:
Such a lovely brightness always brings a smile to my face! I have to admit that I didn’t think they’d be so tall, but I’m glad of them all the same.
And speaking of tall, our biennial hollyhocks are the magenta and the white this year and they seem to be doing just fine back by the garage:
The vegetable garden, of course, is going strong and we’ve already started harvesting some of the onions:
We should be able to start using some of the basil (right middle section above) soon, too, but the peppers (right top section) might have been started too late to actually produce anything this year.
The tomatoes are *huge*! Much larger than I anticipated. And all of them are currently bearing fruit, albeit all still green:
Sungolds (sweet cherry-sized)
Yellow Pear (yellow (obviously) cherry-sized)
Big Mama (large, red, paste tomatoes)
I’ve let the side garden go a bit this summer and haven’t been as good about clearing out the bits that we don’t want to encourage, especially the walnut trees that we can’t quite seem to completely kill, but it’s still in full bloom and doing just fine:
Even the apple trees are happily producing fruit, though I’m still unsure if it’s harvestable given that we don’t do anything to keep worms and bugs and such away from the trees
Small tree in back yard; this is, we think, only the second year this one has produced fruit
Large tree in side yard
I have a goal of actually harvesting apples one of these years and doing at least one pressing of cider to use to make apple wine and/or hard cider. I made a couple gallons last fall with bought cider and would like to do so every year so we always have some in the cellar for those crisp fall evenings.
Musings from LAX
This:
.. is where I’ve been this week.
It’s been glorious.
My meeting Monday and Tuesday - the last face-to-face meeting for this project - went well and I feel that the work we’ve done has good, solid potential to be adopted by the sponsoring organizations. My role in that work was not insignificant, and that is something for which I’m both proud and grateful.
Starting around 2 on Tuesday, though, I’ve been on vacation and got to spend three laid back and relaxing days catching up with and getting to know better a few good friends. It’s not uncommon for me to be mildly anxious at being a house guest, especially at the home of someone I don’t know “like kin”, but my welcome was nothing short of warm and friendly and, best of all, casual. I typically prefer to simply melt into the background of any particular gathering and my friends here allowed me that - they allowed me to simply join their lives for a few days and exist alongside them as they went about doing what they do. I could not have asked for a better vacation and am already counting the days until we are reunited (133, in fact *smile*).
Because they are also SCAdians, and because SCAdians tend to be artisans of all sorts, I had time to work on some projects while I was here as well. The first of the Sprung Socks (PDF), from the Yarn Pirate yarn I received from Stephanie as part of the Gnome Swap, is almost complete:
I’ve also worked up a fair bit more of the baby camel and tussah silk since I last posted about it:
I will likely soon wind off the copp of this one as it’s getting a bit heavy to keep the thread as thin as I’d like. I haven’t decided yet what this will be, mostly because I’m not sure how much of it I’ll end up with. I’m hoping for something thin enough to make a lace wrap, or maybe the edging of one.
I also started working up the cashgora I got in Kansas City with Cate and Sara:
I’m loving the color in this, but working with the goat fiber is a bit different from wool - it has noticeably less crimp and is coarser than what I’ve been working with lately, much more like hair than fleece. All the same, I’m truly enjoying watching the color shifts and expect that this will be my first Navajo plied yarn so that I can maintain said shifts without muddying them.
I also managed to find some uninterrupted reading time, a luxury I rarely afford myself when at home. I finished The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman, a book selected by a book group that’s recently started meeting on campus. It’s an odd little novel, centered (as seems to be somewhat of a theme with this group so far) on a cholera epidemic in early 19th century England. It took me awhile to really get into the book - something about the characters seemed distant, making it difficult for me to really care about their story - but by the end I was hooked in enough that it wasn’t as if I had to force myself to finish it. *shrug* The next book for this group will be The Thirteenth Tale, which I have on order from Zooba and will admit to being a bit stand-offish about given it’s recent acclaim (yes, I am contrary like that).
My guilty pleasure reading after The Dress Lodger is Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart, which I’m re-reading to remind myself of the beginnings of this wonderfully crafted tale. Having just finished Kushiel’s Scion I found myself with hazy memories of some of the history and interconnections built up throughout Phedre’s life and because the stories are so engaging it was the perfect choice for a book to get lost in while on vacation and a wonderful travel companion for the four and a half hours of flights home.
Oh, and since I was downloading the pictures in my camera, here’s one of the cheesecake I made last week, unmolded:
Across the pond..
Last week I was blessed with the bounty of many friends. I received two gifts from two friends recently returned from England, and another from a dear, dear friend as a half-birthday gift. Apparently, though, I remain so excited over the receipt of these wonderful gifts that my hands shake resulting in blurry photos.. *smile*
From the Wholly Spirits company, Carol brought me a bottle of 12-year old Speyside single malt, called Love Shovel (no I haven’t tried it yet.. I’m saving it for some as-yet-to-be-determined special occasion):
From Time Traveling Traders, Tori got me a pair of sterling silver and amber earrings - the first pair I’ve worn other than stainless steel piercing rings in over seven years:
And from her travels in Wales, Betsy brought me a enameled brooch of the Welsh Red Dragon, in honor of my many “baby dragon”* days this past spring:
I am well and truly blessed, not only by these gifts but also by the presence of these three truly wonderful women in my life. Each of them, in their own way enriches my life beyond words and I am grateful they each choose to call me a friend.
Moving on to less sentimental thoughts, I cast on a toe-up sock on Artisan’s Row with the Yarn Pirate sock I got from my Gnome Swap pal:
At the time I started it, I didn’t have a plan for the leg, but have since decided on the Sprung Socks pattern from the Keyboard Biologist. I’ve started it since this picture, but think I’ll have to rip it back out since I seem to have skipped half a pattern repeat at the very beginning. These will be my plane knitting for my upcoming trip to Long Beach, so expect a finished picture sometime in the next week or so.
Yesterday was our office’s midsummer potluck, which, at the request of one of our student workers, was centered on cheese cakes. I’ve been wanting to try a recipe posted by TwoSheep since it was posted, so this was a perfect opportunity.
It turned out well, if I do say so myself. This is the first cheesecake I’ve ever made that didn’t crack, and it was creamy and smooth without being underdone. I took a picture of it after I unmolded it from the springform, but am too lazy at the moment to go get the camera to upload it, so you’ll have to trust me that it turned out beautifully. I also made a butterscotch sauce to drizzle over it (recipe from The Joy of Cooking) and let folks add that as they wanted. And it went over very well.. even with no fewer than 8(!) cheesecakes, there wasn’t a single piece left at the end of the day!
I was hoping to get some updated pictures of the garden in here, too, but after spending the day at the Hokah Fun Run, it’s about all I have in me to put out the sprinkler to make sure the tomatoes don’t shrivel up and die. Suffice it to say for now that the garden is doing very well, there are tomatoes on the plants (still small-ish and green, but there), the onions are almost ready to harvest, and I finally got around to thinning the carrots, radishes and peppers. I might try to take some pictures tomorrow morning, but given that I have a noon flight, that might not happen. Especially if I don’t actually manage to pack tonight.
* There are times in my job where it is assumed that I have either more authority or greater sway with those who make the Big Decisions(tm) than I do, largely because I report directly to our Provost, who in turn reports directly to our Chancellor. I have repeatedly assured people that even with such a direct reporting line, my influence is small and rather limited, however this doesn’t seem to stop them from assuming otherwise. This results in me often being frustrated because I *can’t* actually effect change on the level that others assume I should, nor can I mete out retribution on any grand scale. One such day, I expressed this feeling by stating that I felt like a baby dragon, because I’m not big enough to breathe fire, so all I can do is stomp around and “rawr”. Betsy decided that was a very apt definition, and hence, “baby dragon” days were born. So it seems I now have two animal “totems”, as it were - monkeys and dragons.
OUTRAGE!
I.. just..
Words can’t describe the level of outrage and anger and .. no words ..
I’ll just have to borrow Stephanie’s. Please. Go read this. And then, once you can form a coherent sentence again, call your legislators.
I’ll try to come up with something more coherent on this later this afternoon. Something about how “murder” seems to be a word like “rape” that might be construed to make the defendant sound guilty but that no judge in their right fuqing mind would consider banning the use of the word from their courtroom during a murder trial.
Quick event recap and VSA redux
Wow. Last week both went way to fast and seems like it lasted a lot longer than just a week.
After finishing the tent repair with mom and dad, we came home to prepare for WW which including making a three entirely new outfits in pseudo-Near Eastern style, one for Jack and two for me. Fortunately, the outfits went together very easily (for those who might understand a bit of SCA jargon, the undertunics are basic t-tunics, just a little longer; the pants are essentially harem pants (yes, I know they’re not entirely appropriate for this, but they are quick and easy and comfy); the coats were just basic t-tunics slit up the front). No, I don’t think there are pictures of either of us in them, but if I find someone who snapped a shot or two, I’ll post them.
We were on site from about noon Wednesday until about 10 Sunday morning. It was rather nice to have a long stretch of time camping and an event where my primary responsibility was to co-coordinate the Artisan’s Row. The Row was a bit larger this year, or at least had more arts represented, which was very neat. In addition to the fiber arts (which are usually well represented) - knitting, spinning, sprang, embroidery, tablet weaving, hand sewing, hand braiding, dyeing - we had a couple wood carvers, a few leather workers, at least one calligrapher, a bowyer, a couple bakers (who treated us to some very tasty flat breads), a brewer demonstrating how to make mead, and even for a short time a musician.
The classes we were able to host (period dyeing, bread making, mead making) seemed to go over well, especially since we didn’t get quite as much posted advertising as I’d planned (my fault entirely - time just seemed to get away from me all week and I didn’t get things where they were needed). As usual, I think we learned some things to do differently next time (whenever that might be), including making sure that folks who aren’t necessarily interested in teaching something on the order of a class know they can come to just hang out and work on their projects on the Row. Additionally, a larger (or maybe just more contiguous) shaded space may be necessary as folks tend to want to congregate in the same space and a single shade fly gets crowded quickly which I think discourages folks from just wandering in to ask about what everyone is working on.
Personally, I wrapped up and plied a decent hank of the Clun Forest lamb’s fleece (not all of it, but maybe a couple ounces worth), but didn’t manage to make it up to Baroness Eithni’s dyepot to try my hand at dyeing it. I also started another pair of toe-up socks with the Yarn Pirate yarn I got from my upstream Gnome Swap pal and I really, really, really love how they’re knitting up. Oh, and I worked a smidge on spinning more of the baby camel/tussah silk top from my SP9 pal. I will snap some pictures in the next few days and post them.
On an unrelated topic, but one that I posted on a couple weeks ago, if you are or know someone who is a prospective/current/former college student, or the parent of a prospective/current/former student, please consider taking a few moments to complete a quick survey about what information you think is most important to assist in the college selection process. Feel free to spread the word if you’re so inclined; the more feedback we get, the more useful we can make the finished product!
Hero worship.
My parents are my heroes. It’s really not just a saying.. they can do amazing things. Witness the magic of Mom:
Wide shot of the door, with the new patch
Closer shot of the door repair
Back center right repair/patch
Back center left repair/patch
This was completed in about two and a half hours. The seams are rolled and sealed, so that there are no exposed edges, inside or out. For most of the patches, the rolled seams are on the inside of the pavilion (the patch in the back center left is “inside out” because we had a miscommunication about which side she was working with).
We sprayed all the patches very well with silicone water-proofing stuff, especially at the seams, and then re-sprayed as much of the rest of the canvas with the same stuff as we could; we didn’t quite have enough to do the whole tent, but I noticed when I was rinsing off the bleach water I scrubbed the stains out with that for the most part, the non-stained parts were still well water-proofed, so it was mostly a precaution anyway.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the whims of the weekend..
