Knitting Obsession

The Most Important Nutrition Book(s) You'll Ever Read

2011-06-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

I've been annoying my friends and acquaintances lately by pushing the books "Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It" and "Good Calories, Bad Calories", both by Gary Taubes. (WWGF is a shorter version of GCBC.)

Why? Because reading these books made me mad.

I'm mad because the people who set nutrition policy (and agricultural policy) keep pushing a dogma (if you're fat, it's because you're lazy) that is not supported by science, and have ignored or ostracized scientists from related fields such as endocrinology who actually do have an answer for those of us who have trouble with our weight.

Anyone who has struggled with weight issues knows how difficult it is to lose weight, despite trying to eat less / exercise more as we've been told. We eat what we're told are healthy diets, we get moving -- and either the scale doesn't budge or we actually gain weight. And then we're told it's our fault and that the reason we're fat is that we have a moral defect, i.e. laziness.

Meanwhile, we all know people who stay thin effortlessly despite eating more than we do.

Science has actually had the answer for more than 50 years, but because the received dogma is that the reason for overweight was sloth, nobody was listening. In truth, we are fat because we're insulin resistant, and we've been told to eat the wrong things (remember Snackwells?) which only exacerbated the problem by raising our blood sugar and causing other health problems. It's no coincidence that the obesity epidemic is coinciding with a diabetes epidemic. Oh, and diabetics are also told they're diabetic because they're fat. No, they're fat because their insulin metabolism isn't working. How's that for blaming the victim?

Gary Taubes is a science journalist who has studied the history of the science of fat metabolism. He lays out exactly where the science went wrong and how we can get back on track.

I've had enough of the "blame the victim" game from nutritionists. If you're tired of being bludgeoned, read these books.

Back from Rhinebeck! ... and Roadbug

2010-10-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Back from the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival -- great trip! (Rice flour) pancakes for dinner, since it was the easiest & quickest thing to make. Friday it took us FIVE hours to get from DC to Delaware, due to construction, accidents, construction, tolls, and, oh, construction. Came back on 83 through York, PA and had a much less frustrating, if longer, drive.

I brought less than a pound of fiber, and only one book -- I have more than enough wool already, and didn't see any must-have books aside from the one I meant to buy. The big purchase for this trip was a Roadbug spinning wheel from Merlin Tree. which is absolutely cute. One of the women in my local spinning & weaving guild has a Hitchhiker (the slightly taller version), and can spin with it while riding in the passenger seat of her truck. It will not, unfortunately, fit in the foot well on the passenger side of our 1999 Ford Explorer, since the glove compartment comes down too far. It does, sort-of, fit in the passenger footwell of the Focus, though it's a little cramped and I'm not sure I can spin without having knee problems -- will have to give it a try. Regardless, the Roadbug will be a lot easier to take to demos, knitting night, and road trips. I might actually make a dent in the fiber stash! ... Presuming, of course, that I don't buy any more fleeces.

Brought Kevin a Whoopie Pie (New England dessert), maple sugar candy, and maple cotton candy (!).

The general consensus was that the things Rhinebeck has over the Md Sheep & Wool Festival are: the buildings are better, the weather wasn't as beastly hot as MSW can sometimes be, and there is MUCH better food. I hope that MSW gets better food as the Maryland wine & other local food industries get going. Might drop them a suggestion...

Met some great folks, had a lovely time, very happy to be home. Think I'll go have a long soak in the tub, pet the dogs, & go to bed.

Do It Gorgeously -- No, Don't.

2010-05-17T08:03:00.001-07:00

I picked up a copy of Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products by Sophie Uliano from the slush pile at work last week.

It's ok... nothing to write home about, for those of us who have been doing the mend-and-make-do thing from childhood. But one part just made me stop short: the section on natural dyeing, which is a subject I know something about.

On pp. 169-170, she recommends dyeing with a number of things, such as turmeric and pomegranates for orange (the first does give a brilliant yellow, but is very fugitive, meaning the color will fade over time; the second gives yellows and tans, in my experience), strawberries, cherries, raspberries and plums for pink... I'll stop there, because none of these dyes gives a permanent pink. They might stain clothes a little, but don't yield a lasting, permanent dye. She goes on to list a number of other supposed dyes, few of which will actually yield the promised colors.

She completely skips the subject of mordanting (you need a metal like alum, iron or copper to prepare the fabric for dyeing, with tannin also needed for dyeing cotton and linen), recommending salt and vinegar as "fixatives".

The author says she's dyed several articles of clothing with berries, but I find that hard to believe. I've attempted to dye samples with beet juice and pokeberries, and the results were disappointing. The beets left a vague tan color behind. Pokeberries will yield pretty, but very temporary, pink/purplish colors.

You can find this sort of misinformation repeated in various books and websites, but, as a friend's mother used to say, "paper will sit still for anyone." It makes me wonder whether the other recipes (cosmetics, etc.) in her book have been tested, or whether she's just passing along information she's read without seeing whether it works.

Wild Hare sign

2010-04-13T04:45:00.001-07:00

It's so hard to find camps at the Ft. Frederick Market Fair -- all that white canvas looks alike! -- that I thought I'd make a sign for our camp/"inn" (up to about 15 people camping/eating together). One side has the night sky, the other the day. It's not quite done -- bunny's eye pupils need to be painted in, and I have a few other touch-ups to do. The frame will be oxide red.

Mmm, chewy!

2010-02-18T05:08:00.000-08:00

So should I take this as Ruby's indictment of my (lack of) dog training skills? I just had to laugh when I saw this.

I went out and bought more toys for her and straightened up the house to remove any other tempting non-approved chewable items.

Oh, I so think we need a couple of these.

2010-01-25T17:23:00.000-08:00

Bones, bones, bones

2010-01-25T17:03:00.001-08:00

New dog Ruby (the name that stuck) has been going around collecting all of the rawhide chews and bones that Caden has forgotten. Tonight she found one upstairs and went tiptoeing out of the room with it, as if not quite sure that it was ok for her to have it. She went into her crate with the bone, which means she remembers last night's lesson (i.e., that the crate is the safe place for her to bring her chew toys).

The tiptoe act was very funny. I know, easily amused, here...

New dog - name TBD

2010-01-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

We picked our new dog up today from the rescue -- her name was Sapphire, but I'm not wild about that name. We haven't decided on a new name yet. She's very thin -- needs to put on a little weight. I think she might have whelped recently. We'll need to take her to the vet to have some stitches removed soon. She looks like a little fox -- reddish coloring, lighter underneath, with a white patch on her chest. She's still a bit timid but keeps putting her paw out for more petting and is beginning to relax a bit.

Buttoned Up - Early Silver Cufflinks - The Three Graces

2010-01-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

Buttoned Up - Early Silver Cufflinks - The Three Graces

Solstice Vest

2009-12-21T16:32:00.001-08:00

I knitted this vest while I was on vacation in Maine in October. It's a great vest -- very warm & comfortable. I dyed the yarn (factory spun) with indigo* (the blue, natch) and wild coreopsis (the orange) and coreopsis/goldenrod (the yellow).

I'm really happy with the way it came out. The stranded colorwork was a bit of a pain, since it has to be worked back and forth instead of in the round and doing colorwork while purling is awkward. But there's not a lot of it, so it's worth the trouble.

I might write this up and publish the pattern, so this post and pics are © 2009 by Mara Riley.

*Ok, my friend Antonia dyed this for me, since she had a vat going at the time for a scout troop activity.

Snow day: finished the Interminable Dishtowels

2009-12-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

These dishtowels (aka the Damned Dishcloths) have been cluttering up my loom for months now, so it's good to have them finally done! The pattern is ok, but they're in that category of Deadly Boring that kept me from wanting to work on them. Something either needs to be so simple I can work on it without thinking about it, or complicated enough to hold my attention. Stuff in the grey zone between those two doesn't get finished.

Now I can move on to the next project! I'm either going to a) warp up a shawl to use up some of the laceweight yarn in my stash, or b) weave a sample tartan scarf, prior to starting a larger tartan shawl (aridaid) that I've been thinking about weavingfor a few years.

"A Green Gown" - Symbolism vs Real Life

2009-11-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

At dinner in Williamsburg on Saturday, one of my friends overheard part of a conversation about a green gown being considered inappropriate "because green had such a naughty reputation in the 18th century." (There were at least two of us there who either were or had been wearing green during the course of the day, so I'm not sure who this was directed at.)

This business about nobody wearing green in the 18th century is complete and utter horse-shit.

First, it's contradicted by inventories and surviving artifacts. The Smithsonian has a lovely pair of stays covered in green wool, and Mark Hutter, the staymaker at Williamsburg, says that green is one of the most common colors for stays (possibly because it's easy on the eyes of the staymaker while sewing). I've seen several lovely green damask gowns at costume exhibits, and there are at least two (I wasn't counting) green quilted petticoats at the current Williamsburg exhibit on quilted clothing. (There's also a fragment of a red quilted petticoat, fwiw.)

Second, it's the result of confusion between allegory and real life. The origin of the idea, I think, is the poetic trope of "giving a maid a green gown" -- i.e., getting grass stains on one's clothing from making whoopee out in a grassy field. As anyone with children knows, it's possible to get grass stains on the knees of pants of many colors. So it's the grass stains that are a very tangible sign of "naughtiness", not the overall color of the gown itself.

Allegory is NOT real life. Yes, green has lots of symbolism in artwork and song. However, that did not stop perfectly respectable women from wearing green in the 18th century, any more than it stops women today from wearing a red dress, sweater, blazer, etc.

(And why is it women who get subjected to these idiocies? I guess men encounter problems when they wear the gender-prohibited colors of pink or purple. Speaking of which, the DeWitt had a picture of a man wearing a mauve waistcoat and a dark purple coat with black breeches. Lovely. But I digress.)

Speaking of red, let's think back to medieval artwork -- you can see the Virgin Mary wearing a red gown, and in a different painting the king's mistress is wearing a very similar red gown. Does that mean the artist was saying something bad about the Virgin Mary? No, it does not. It means that there is a completely different symbolic meaning for the color red in that context.

Back to real life -- context is everything. Sometimes clothing does carry symbolic meaning in real life. But sometimes, as the apocryphal saying goes, a cigar is just a cigar, not a symbol. Sometimes a green dress is just a green dress.

/rant

Potatoes and soap, and gardening

2009-03-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Tried two new things this weekend, neither of which will be particularly exciting to those who've already tried them -- growing potatoes, and making soap. The potatoes are being grown in a trash can (with holes drained in the bottom). Got them planted on Saturday, so nothing exciting to see there yet. I've wanted to try this for a few years, though, just for fun; the idea amuses me, for some reason. Guess I'm easily amused.

Second thing: soapmaking, another thing I've wanted to try for a few years. Some friends from my local knitting group, one of whom had done this before, came over and we had a good time hanging out, knitting, and mixing stuff. I may or may not make soap again, but at least now I can say I've done it. It was NOT hard. I've made soups that were more challenging. We were very careful with the lye -- one person poured the lye while the other stirred, and we did the lye mixing outside, but, having taken adequate precautions, everything went smoothly. We made two batches, one of a plain unscented olive oil (with a bit of coconut and palm oil in it, for harder bars) and a second of a scented shampoo soap. I like shampoo bars, because you can take them on the road or camping and not worry about liquid shampoo spilling in your luggage.

We didn't get around to making any shaving soap, but I'd like to try that eventually. I bought DH some shaving soap, a mug, and a badger brush for his birthday, and he loves it; says the soap gives him a better shave than shaving lotion from a can. The shaving soap recipes I've seen all require about two tablespoons of clay per batch, which apparently gives the razor better slip or something.

Also got a bunch of gardening done, including moving a pretty big rosemary bush to its new spot next to the (regular) trash bins. I'm moving the herbs into the former flower beds behind the house, having moved the flowers to the side yard where the blueberries and strawberries were. The former herb bed will have tomatoes this year, since that's a great, sunny spot. But first I need to add more organic matter. This is one of the beds that I didn't add organic matter to when I filled it, so the topsoil gets rock hard during summer dry periods and has very few worms -- a sign that the soil really needs help. The herbs did ok in this bed (herbs seem to thrive in rough hot, dry conditions), but if I'm going to start raising veggies there, the soil needs some serious help. Will be picking up some composted manure from a friend as soon as we can figure out a good time for me to come over and get it. Oh, boy, more shoveling sh*t... Well, it's a good workout. (Ouch.) The beds to which I added sheep manure and grass clippings last year are doing very well, though -- lots of fat, happy worms.

Garden Pics -- Major Snowstorm, and Cold Frames Update

2009-03-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

We had a snowstorm on March 1/2 -- got about 7 1/2 inches at my house. It's been a few years since we got this much snow. I was able to work from home that day, and enjoyed watching the birds at the feeder, including three different kinds of woodpecker: downy, redheaded, and hairy. I think I've seen a pileated woodpecker in the woods, but haven't seen one at our feeder yet.
Anyway...

The cold frames are a mixed success. The artichokes rotted out, but the leeks, onions, beets, cabbage, spinach, and lettuce I planted in the fall survived pretty well. The lettuce, chard, and beets I planted in an unprotected bed didn't fare as well.
I've started more artichoke seedlings. The plan for this winter is to keep a few in the cold frames in pots with a sandy soil mix for drainage, to see if they do better; I'll keep a couple outside covered with mulch for comparison.

Also got my cabbage, pepper, eggplant, broccoli, leek and onion seeds started inside under the grow lamps. I need to get the spinach and peas planted out, but it started raining yesterday and I didn't have time, since we were framing in the basement's utility room. The soil now needs to dry a bit before I can plant any seeds.

FO: Provincial Vest, from Interweave Knits

2009-03-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

Finished this back in Feb. Fun to wear, but in the 35" version, the cables don't line up above the waist ribbing in the back. I figured out a way to make them work, but that was annoying.

Updates

2009-02-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

We had a moderately cool but not windy morning yesterday (Valentine's Day), so I spent the morning pruning my apple and pear trees. I can't claim to know much about this, but I reviewed my books for tips on pruning and gave it my best shot. I particularly wanted to reduce the height of the Red Anjou pear tree and the Jonathan apple tree, which I let get big enough that it's hard to get any fruit out of them. But you can't take more than 1/3 of a tree without harming it, so I had to try to eyeball that to make sure I wasn't pruning too much. Also pruned the small trees I planted last spring off so I don't need to do major surgery on them in a few years.

Bad news re the artichokes: January's cold snap seems to have killed them. Drat. The crowns are rotted out entirely... I'll have to try again this year. I have some more artichoke seeds, and will start them soon.

I got some eggplant and pepper seeds planted -- some in "official" peat pot seed starting kits, some in egg cartons (hey, those plastic egg crates have to be good for something!)

K. bought a new finch feeder, since my old, cheap one broke when I refilled it yesterday morning. The new one is much better -- polycarbonate and metal, and the finches have already discovered it and are happily feasting away. The other new bird feeder I bought a week or so ago is also getting lots of visitors -- it's supposed to be squirrel-proof, and so far the squirrels haven't managed to empty it. I like feeding the birds, but damned if I'm gonna feed the fuzzy-tailed rats too.

The Post-Holiday Recrimination Season

2009-01-12T08:35:00.000-08:00

I am SO ready for the family sturm-und-drang to be over with.

Short version: Mom buys everyone presents that have little or nothing to do with their current interests or taste. Last year, it was a dreadful sweater plus a few decorative objects from her favorite thrift store. This year, a lovely-but-not-her-taste sweater for my youngest sister. We both made the appropriately appreciative noises, and trundled the objects off to the thrift shop after we got home.

This year, Mom made the mistake of calling my sister and badgering her on whether she really liked the sweater.

My sis is not one to tell a lie. She'd already said it was a lovely sweater when she received it (it was, just not her style). But if you put her in a corner and press her, she will tell the truth.

So Mom's nose is out of joint, sis is grumpy, and I'm getting to listen to it from both sides. (I'm more sympathetic to sis, given that I've been on the receiving end of Mom's not-very-thoughtful gifts.

I'm going to try to suggest that we just not do gifts this coming year -- we should just donate the money to charity and get together for tea to wish each other a happy holiday. That's also controversial, because this year we didn't nail down exactly whether the charity gift we did was to count spouses or just immediate family, which matters (in a very minor way) for tax purposes. But if we spell it all out in advance, it might work.

Sigh... Family. Holidays. Sheesh.

Update, 1/13/09: Called my other sis. One of the gifts Mom sent up for her boys was a hat with large purple flowers on it (i.e., bully bait). Just goes even further to illustrate that her gifts are purely opportunistic, and that no thought goes into them whatsoever.

Michael Pollan's 12 Food Rules

2008-12-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

I've just been watching a couple of lectures by food writer Michael Pollan on food. Good stuff. Here are his 12 rules for healthy eating:

Pollan 12 Food Rules:

1. Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can’t pronounce.
3. Don’t eat anything that wouldn’t eventually rot.
4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.
5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.
6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmer’s market or CSA.
7. Pay more, eat less.
8. Eat a wide diversity of species.
9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.
10. Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.
11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

--------------------
Apparently there are some folks out there who are decrying Pollan as "new-agey" etc. because he's advocating eating less processed foods and more fresh vegetables. That's pathetic.

For anyone who doesn't know me, I have a raft of food allergies -- probably because of a) a genetic predisposition (grandparents on both sides with food allergies); b) being a preemie -- I had food allergies as an infant; and c) being exposed to defoliants when I was in grade school and living near crops that had these used on them (cotton and soybeans). I'm allergic to corn, soy, wheat, citrus, some nuts, and a few other odds and ends like mangos and bananas. The first three items -- corn, soy, and wheat -- mean that I have to read the labels on everything I eat. This means that I'm very aware of how much of this stuff, as well as other chemicals and non-food ingredients, go into our food. So I don't eat a lot of processed food, as you can imagine.

This also makes it an iffy proposition to eat on the road. Take a meal at a chain restaurant. Has the meat been marinated / injected with something containing corn syrup or soybean oil to make a cheap meat cut appear more flavorful? That salad dressing -- it almost certainly has either corn syrup or soybean oil or both in it. Never mind the croutons, which are obvious*. Steamed veggies are usually fine... I can have a baked potato -- but is that real butter, or margerine? Forget about dessert! Well, maybe the creme brulee, but that's more high-end than most restaurants go. (*We won't go into a full-scale rant here about the waitress who didn't know that pasta is made from wheat.)

This isn't a pity party, btw -- this is just part of my routine, and I handle it pretty well; I provide for myself and don't make a fuss, usually bringing food with me if I'm not certain where I'm going to eat. It did, however, make a recent business trip to NYC, well, interesting -- the lunch provided at the meeting was something like sandwiches and pasta salad. I was able to duck out and get something else to eat, fortunately.

I'm glad that Michael Pollan isn't a "food Nazi" -- he doesn't tell people to cut out the processed foods completely; people should relax and eat their friends' cookies/treats at parties, etc. He tells his audience to be more aware of them, though, and to cut back on the overall amount of that stuff they eat.

I am hoping, however, that this emphasis on fewer processed foods and more "real foods" -- unprocessed, whole ingredients -- results in a better world for people like me, as people demand less adulterated food. Even a salad dressing made from simple herbs, olive oil and vinegar, with no soybean oil or corn syrup in it, would be a huge improvement! (Why do they have to add that stuff, anyhow?)

Desktop Trebuchet

2008-11-28T16:48:00.001-08:00

Just what every cubicle needs...

Basket weave vest finished!

2008-11-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

Just finished a vest for myself. I'd been thinking of making a vest or two, since my office is a bit chilly but I don't usually feel like wearing a sweater. This yarn is from Cobin Creek Farm; I got it at Millicent's Yarns in Cumberland, Maryland.

I was going by the dimensions in The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, with the following modifications: I decreased the vest to the waist, then increased up to just below the bustline (where it switches from ribbing to basket weave); and I had to rip back about 1.5" at the shoulder because the armscye was just too big, and the fit was more flattering when I took it in.

I literally had inches of yarn left over at the end and was worried I'd have to call the yarn store and buy a whole extra skein just to bind off. But it's done, has been washed and is drying on a rack in the hall bathroom.

Here are a couple more pics of the vest prior to blocking. I tried it on, and it should be pretty cozy to wear.

Ancient Spindle with Runes Found in Reykjavik

2008-11-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

Here

Neat!

Do you know where your towel is?

2008-07-22T07:09:00.001-07:00

(with apologies to the late Doug Adams)

I've been trying, with mixed success, to use more reusable shopping bags. The problems I've encountered are a) remembering to take them into the store with me; and b) getting the baggers to use them. My solution for this will be to get some string bags that I can put in my purse; these ought to fit more easily over the handles the baggers use for plastic bags, so ought to solve both problems with one stone.

I've had a lot more success with cutting down on the use of paper towels and napkins around the house and at the office. A few months ago I bought a bunch of cloth towels and, instead of napkins, colored waffle-weave dishcloths (more absorbent than plainweave fabric). We keep the dishtowels in a drawer in the sideboard with a couple hung on the oven door handle. The cloth napkins are in a basket on the sideboard, where we previously kept the paper napkins. There's a basket on the washing machine specifically for towels and napkins, and, since the washing machine is in a closet in the kitchen, it's easy to toss a dirty towel into that basket and grab another one. When we do a load of laundry, we can toss the napkins or towels in the wash with the other clothes, so they don't add significantly to the amount of laundry we're doing.

We still use paper towels for messes where cross-contamination is an issue, but we've gone from using several rolls of paper towels per week to one (at most), and have completely eliminated paper napkins.

I also take cloth towels and napkins to work with me (I usually bring my lunch, due to food allergies).

I'm not saying this to put myself out as "greener than thou". I haven't cut out paper use entirely. The secret for changing my habits, though, seems to be to make things easy and convenient.

Now if I could just remember to take those damned bags into the store with me!

On the to-do list: make some more fabric bags (I certainly have enough fabric in the fabric stash, and this would be a good way to get rid of some of it); and weave some more dishtowels (again, I have the yarn in my stash and should use it; never mind that the loom needs to be used more).

Beet / Chard Salad

2008-07-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had dinner at a restaurant that featured a lot of locally grown foods, vegetables, and other neat stuff. One of the surprising dishes they served was a beet and watercress salad. I don't normally like beets much, aside from pickled with eggs, but this was pretty good.

I didn't use precise measurements, but my version of the salad has:

3 beets, cooked (boiled about 45 min, then peeled -- the skins just rub off)
about a handful of watercress, chopped parsley and/or cilantro, depending on what I have on hand
about 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts or pine nuts
Feta cheese or blue cheese -- a couple of slices, crumbled
Large dash of vinegar, to taste
A couple of slices of beef (optional -- the original didn't have this, but if I want to make a dinner out of it and have some leftover beef on hand, I'll put it in)

I've also made this with sauteed chard, and it's pretty good, but a bit more beet-greeny. Pics of that soon.

Oh, Poop (or, what good manure will do for you)

2008-07-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

I was out in the garden training the cucumbers up their trellis strings when I noticed a distinct difference between plants at one end of the bed and the other. I think, though I'm not 100% certain, that the area with the healthy, green cucumbers is where I dug in some manure this spring when I moved the old trash bin shed to its new location; the less healthy plants are further up in the bed where I didn't mix in manure, since I already had plants growing there and wasn't sure the manure was composted enough not to burn them. (Guess I should take better notes, but that's my best recollection.) Interesting, eh? I'm going to have to get some composted manure and treat the rest of the bed to see if I can get the smaller plants caught up to their larger companions. My other garden beds also could use some help. The ones where I had the peas did get some manure when I pulled out the peas and prepared them for beans and squash, but the others didn't get any, and seem to be suffering by comparison.

It's not that I don't enrich the soil -- I dug in compost from my compost bins last Fall. It's just that the compost is not nearly as good as manure, apparently.

New garden bed started

2008-07-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

I'm putting a new garden bed in this year -- it's going to be 9' x 10', and I was initially going to make it 12" high (2 6" boards) but decided for three tiers of 6" boards instead, for a deeper bed that would be good for growing stuff like parsnips and carrots.

The second picture here shows the dirt I'm dealing with in my back yard. It's heavy clay (ignore the gravel for the moment, that was pea stone we added), with spud-sized rocks interspersed throughout. When it's hard you can barely get a pickaxe into it -- believe me, I know this from experience -- and when you do, you hit a rock, which jars your whole arm.

I've read that clay can actually be pretty rich in minerals, and if you put humus into it you can get great garden soil, but I really don't know where to start aside from just randomly adding peat moss, compost and sand. I happened to remember seeing a book among the ones we picked up from K's late dad's collection on the subject. Rummaged around a bit and found the book; it's called "The Gardener's Guide to Better Soil", and it's by one of my favorite garden writers, Gene Logsdon! I'm also reading "The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening" at the moment, which is pretty inspirational, even if I can't implement some of his ideas (like keeping chickens) in my little patch of suburbia. Hopefully I'll get a better grasp on what amendments the soil needs here, rather than just randomly throwing stuff into the dirt and hoping it works. It's clear that some of my veggie beds are doing better than others; going about this more systematically would be a good idea.

New shed!

2008-07-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

Here's the new shed! The installers came and put it up on Tuesday. Woo!

Today we put all the stuff from the old shed, which had been piled on the patio, away. It's nice not to have a pile of junk under a tarp every time we look out the living room window.

Also finished mulching the garden beds, measured the space for the new bed, and bought the wood for the new garden bed and pad for the water barrels. If I'm not too sore tomorrow from spreading mulch, I'm hoping I can get the new bed built. The bed will be approximately 9' x 10' x 12", made of two levels of 6" wide boards, giving me a nice deep garden bed for growing root vegetables.

The tomatoes in the four 4' x 8' veggie beds aren't doing very well this year. I don't know why; I have been trying to make sure they get enough water. The lettuce and chard did pretty well in those beds. Beans/peas and squash do fine there, too. I don't know if I got the tomatoes planted a bit late, or if our long, cool, wet spring just delayed them. I may want to add another 6" board to raise the level of those beds this fall.

Aunt Anna Blouse

2008-06-16T17:49:00.001-07:00

For some reason, this pattern from "Knitting in the Nordic Tradition" has caught my attention. The problem is that it's not really a pattern -- it's more of a template. The author gives the measurements of her sample garment in centimeters, so you have to figure out a) what your measurements would be, then b) how many stitches per inch (or cm) that would be according to your own gauge swatch. This actually doesn't bother me that much, since it means I can knit it with a yarn that suits my taste instead of the specified yarn; but I'm still working on figuring out all the measurements.

I started knitting it in some cotton/acrylic blend I had on hand, but I think I'm going to switch to some linen yarn I got at Springwater on Sunday.

I R Not a Hippy. I R a Geek. Therz a Difference.

2008-05-21T06:53:00.001-07:00

Sunday my parents came over for dinner (and so we could rescue some files from an old .zip disk for them). We'd spent the weekend working pretty hard -- got the pad dug for the shed, etc., as per previous post -- so it was a low-key evening.

As she was going out the door, Mom told me that someone at Dad's birthday dinner, back in mid-April, thought that K. and I seemed like hippies, but that she told them no, we're reenactors. (Which is, in and of itself, very funny -- but that's a subject for another post.)

Um. WTF? Hippies? I think I gave some bemused answer to Mom, but have been reflecting about that comment since then. We got the same thing a few years ago from our very, very clean-cut Southern Baptist neighbor across the street (whose son, I'm happy to note, is now sporting two diamond earrings, one in each ear). Reactions are a) I can't be a hippie, I work way too hard; and b) what a presumptuous asshole. (And, btw, I was dressed very conservatively for Dad's birthday party -- makeup, dress, heels, panty hose -- I even shaved my legs!)

Yes, I know the hippie movement was a very diverse one (I was born in the late 60s, so only know this second-hand), but that's not what this guy meant, I'm sure. Hippiedom has become a shorthand (deservedly, in many cases) for muddle-headed semi-mystical self-serving navel gazing. The dirty hippie trope has also been used by the Right to smear legitimate concerns about global warming.

When I ran the comment by my knitters' group last night, the reaction was, "Huh? You?!?"

I suspect that, given the very conservative nature of my parents' current church, this guy sees anyone the least bit to the left of himself as a hippie. So, ultimately, his comment says way more about him than it does about me.

Making Mudpies

2008-05-19T04:47:00.001-07:00

Saturday we rented a backhoe to dig a hole for the new shed's gravel pad. Our land is borders an old river bed, so it's mostly hard clay mixed with river rocks -- even if the ground is soft after a rain, your shovel or pickaxe is going to hit a rock. We checked out backhoe rental and decided that it was worth the money. We will still have to fill the hole with gravel and stone dust and tamp it down, but at least the hole for the pad is dug.

While we had the backhoe, I had himself dig a hole for a pad for our rain barrels (the downspout diverter is on backorder, due in June), and clear a corner of the front yard for a new flower bed. I should have had him dig up the dirt a bit while he was at it. The apple tree in the picture is a very old variety called the Lady apple.

Sunday, despite a soft rain, I put topsoil, peat moss and humus in the new bed, dug it in as much as possible (see above re rocks), and got it planted. I bought a few plants: one coral bells, one white bleeding heart, one blue hardy geranium, and two lavender plants. The other plants -- irises, roses, columbines, bletilla, white hardy geranium, white salvia or veronica, and meadowsweet -- were moved from the bed next to the porch, where the korean boxwoods have gotten big enough to start choking off the other plants' water and nutrients. It's a bit risky moving some of these plants this late in spring, but they were already suffering so I didn't have much to lose by moving them.

Estonian Garden Shawl

2008-05-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

I love Evelyn Clark's designs. The Estonian Garden shawl has been on my "round to it" list for a while, and I finally got around to knitting it this spring, as a gift for my younger sister.

The Swallowtail Shawl (Interweave Knits) uses the same Lily of the Valley pattern, and when I knitted that shawl this winter the nupps gave me fits. However, I found a few blogs that mentioned using a crochet hook to do the nupps, so that's what I did on this shawl. MUCH less frustrating. I used the crochet hook as though it were a knitting needle, knitting five stitches into one stitch then pulling a loop through those stitches and moving the nupp to the right hand needle. This way the nupp is done on one row, and you can purl all the way back on the reverse row.

Once I'm done with another project or two, I think I'll have to knit myself one of these shawls too.

House Work -- New Closet, and Bathroom Overhaul

2008-03-29T05:51:00.001-07:00

The weekend before Christmas we started a new project (two, actually) -- we are adding a new closet in the master bedroom, and painting / adding trim to the master bathroom while we're at it. The first pic here shows the drywall and pocket door installed. The old wall stopped where you can see the red paint and crown molding stop. We put in a new light fixture by the bathroom door as well as a light in the new closet area. The closet still has a way to go -- the exterior is done, and the inside is painted but needs to be finished out with shelves etc.

The bathroom overhaul includes: painting the wall and ceiling (which were both painted with that crappy builder-grade beige paint), installing bead-board wainscotting, chair rail, new baseboard and shoe molding, and crown molding.

The bathroom is done except for painting over the spackle where the molding is nailed up; that should be done by the end of this weekend.

More Spring Pics

2008-03-29T05:43:00.001-07:00

The first two pics are from my front yard. The crocuses I planted in the lawn a few years ago have been dwindling so that now only a few come up; I guess I'll have to replant.

The last pic is the horseradish -- it was in one of my 4 x 8 beds, but it was taking up too much space so I found a corner of the herb bed where I could put it.

The octagon form was around one of my fruit trees -- I had a pear tree die year before last, and this winter took out an apple tree that was diseased / stunted and not producing. The fruit trees were planted before I put the raised beds in, so I had to put a dam around them to keep their surface roots from getting suffocated by the new beds. The other two fruit trees (one apple, one pear) are doing fine. I took the opportunity to remove the dams when I took out the dead trees so that when I replant the new trees will be at the level of the rest of the beds.

Some Spring Garden Pics

2008-03-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

The left pic is the bed on the east side of the garden, next to the shed -- we had asparagus in the back bed, but a foster dog several years ago ate and killed most of the plants, so I've finally decided not to replant the aparagus and use it for something more productive. Right now it has peas; the front bed has salad vegetables (spinach, mesclun mix, lettuce).

The bed on the right is on the west end of the garden, and has the same mix of plants. You can see the pea brush (trimmings from apple trees) that will serve as a trellis for the peas.

Baked Leeks

2008-03-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

I make no secret about being a somewhat lazy gardener. (But I have such a big garden? Yes, but I'm not out there fussing over it all weekend, every weekend, believe me.)

I planted some leeks last spring and left them out in the garden all summer -- and winter. Finally decided to pull some of them up, so I went searching for a good leeks recipe (I like leeks, but DH doesn't particularly like them), and found this one. I made two changes to the recipe -- I didn't use bread crumbs (wheat allergy), and I microwaved the leeks instead of steaming them. DH proclaims that he'd eat this any time, so it's a success. It's basically a crustless quiche, with the addition of chicken stock to the custard mix.

I'm definitely planting more leeks, now that I have a recipe Himself will eat.

Relynn tagged me

2008-03-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

The tag rules are:

1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog
Relynn's blog is here

2. Post the rules on your blog

3. Write 7 things about yourself

~~4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs~~

~~5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged~~

So here are my 7 things:

1. I had a pony when I was in 2nd / 3rd grade. He wasn't very interesting -- he was old and fat when we got him, and preferred to amble around and eat grass to actually going anywhere, so I still don't know how to properly ride a horse. The neighbor kids frequently cut through our yard and left the gate open; the pony would then sneak out at night and go hang out with some other ponies in a pasture a few miles away, at which point Dad and I would have to go fetch him and walk him home. When we moved from our off-base house to on base, my Dad refused to go get him from his final escape run, figuing he'd be happier there than in the stables on the base.

2. I love old British cars. My folks had two MGAs when I was growing up -- one when I was a toddler, another when I was about 15. K. and I owned a 1971 MGB in the early '90s. I'd love to have another one eventually. I learned a bunch of great mechanical stuff working on the MGB. Alternatively, I've been looking at old British motorcycles. Not sure I'll buy one, but it's fun to look.

3. Both my grandmothers were artists -- one professionally, painting portraits and teaching art and mechanical drawing at the local high school; she worked as an architect during WW2; the other was good enough to have been a professional artist, and had a college degree in art and design. I'm very proud of them, and have some of their art displayed in my office at work.

4. I had two fairly serious operations before the age of 34. This definitely changed my outlook on life; I'm trying to enjoy life more on my own terms and worry less about what other people think.

5. I can't imagine living without dogs. Yes, I've had a series of dogs with odd/warped personalities, but they're a big part of my life. I like farm-collie type dogs, probably because the dogs we had when I was in early grade school were usually at least part collie. (Later we had poodles, but I never quite clicked with those dogs as much as the farm collies.)

6. I love rain; I really love thunderstorms. I've been known to go walking in rainstorms (not the ones with lightning, usually, though) because they make me feel alive.

7. My favorite season is Fall. I love the rich colors, the seasonal foods; this past Fall I got back into my fall tradition of baking and putting up preserves. Spring is a relief after a long winter, but I could do without the pastels and Easter-related kitsch.

Article in the NY Times about the "Buy Handmade" movement

2007-12-30T05:10:00.000-08:00

Here

I was recently talking to my middle sister (who is into beading) about handmade gifts etc. I think a large part of it is rebellion against the Brand fixation that really took off in the 80s (think about those Gloria Vanderbilt and Jordache jeans commercials).

Now that you can buy expensive goods -- or their knockoffs -- more cheaply than ever, a brand logo doesn't have the cachet it once did. It's harder than ever to be unique; buying handmade is one way to do that.

Interestingly, this article on "how to be polished" notes that women who are considered trendsetters rarely wear (obvious) brand name items.

I'm not anti-logo, per se; but the brand has to mean something: real quality, not just perceived value. I read a series of articles this past summer about how many big-brand companies have moved manufacturing overseas -- and have dictated such low profit margins at those factories that the factory managers wind up skimping on stuff like the thread used to sew seams in pants just so they can make a 10% profit margin rather than a 2% margin. One fashion writer noted that she'd bought a pair of expensive pants, only to have the seams in the pockets come apart the first time she wore them. At the same time, I read an article about how one brand-name handbag manufacturer, while moving manufacturing overseas, had kept a tight eye on the quality of their products so that their brand image didn't suffer. But the point is that, generally speaking, manufacturers are actually encouraging people to have less trust in the value of their brands as consumers hear more stories about the erosion of quality in what they buy -- a sort of inadvertent "culture jamming" by the very brand manufacturers who foisted brand consciousness on us in the first place. And this is pushing people more toward buying quality goods from sources -- either individuals or companies -- who stand behind their products.

Man Cold

2007-12-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

here

Says Mr. K, "I don't get it."

(snort)

(FYI, I've had the Really Bad Cold that has been going around & wound up with bronchitis; had to go in to work anyway, since we had a deadline & haven't hired my new assistant yet. Himself has actually been pretty helpful and makes great chicken soup, so I can't complain, but this is still funny.)

Visit to Ch'naca

2007-12-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to visiting Chnaca Farm & Fiberworks (oh, btw, they have their own website now) at their new store location in Prince Frederick, MD. It's a nice shop -- it seems roomier than the previous location, though that could just be the open plan of the building. They share the large space with a basket shop and a bead shop, and there's a large table in the middle where people are encouraged to come and visit/talk/knit.

The store will be closed between Christmas and New Years so Nancy can do a bit more organizing, but the shelves are already pretty well-stocked.

I Heart LibraryThing

2007-12-22T13:49:00.001-08:00

I recently got on Ravelry, a knitting networking website (username: corbiegirl), and found that one of their features
allows you to upload your knitting books from another website called LibraryThing, a site that allows you to catalogue all of your books, either by typing in the title /ISBN# etc., or by scanning in the books' ISBN bar codes.

Your book list can then either be accessed remotely if you have a web-enabled PDA or phone, or download in Excel format ,which file can then be printed, put on a PDA, archived for insurance purposes, etc.

The Ravelry import feature (still in beta) is a little buggy and didn't quite work -- but I joined LibraryThing anyway because I once started a database for my books, since I have a number of out-of-print books that would be hard to replace if we had a fire or something, but didn't get that far -- I had to type in all of the books' information manually, and it took too long. Entering books in LibraryThing is much faster, even if you have to type in ISBN or LOC numbers, because their database has all the other relevant information on file (titles, author's name, etc.).

The pic above shows the "CueCat" scanner, which you can buy for $17 from LibraryThing. The scanner speeds things up considerably. I had to get used to using it -- I was swiping the bar codes too slowly, and had to learn to swipe the laser more quickly.

I have all of my knitting, weaving, and dyeing books entered so far; I have a long way to go to get the rest of my books entered, but I've made a good start on the categories of books where I'm most likely to make duplicate purchases. Woo!

You can also join various communities at LibraryThing, see who has books similar to yours, look at their libraries (for good book suggestions), review books, see other peoples' reviews, etc., but I haven't had much time to explore those features yet.

It's a closet! (or will be soon)

2007-12-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

The current home improvement project is a closet -- we got it framed in last weekend. The corner you see here is in our bedroom, where the wall jogs around the stairs on the way to the bathroom. This is really wasted space. I guess you could have an entertainment center or something there; we had a desk (now in the living room), but a closet will be a better use of the floorspace.

If we'd been thinking about it when the house was being built, we'd have suggested that the builder add a closet there, and he probably would have done so for free and adjusted his blueprints for future houses (as he did with our pantry suggestion, which he thought was pretty neat) -- but it didn't occur to us at the time, so, eight years later, we're doing it ourselves.

As you can see in the pic on the right, K is using a pocket door instead of a door on hinges. Neat idea; pocket doors are nice.

Next: installing the electrical stuff (overhead light & lightswitch), then drywall, paint, trim. But not this weekend -- I'm recovering from a nasty cold which gave me a sinus infection, and am still pretty much out of it.

Merry Solstice!

2007-12-19T16:01:00.001-08:00

An analemma, courtesy of Archergal

More on analemmas

Money Mindfulness, and Knitting

2007-12-19T15:47:00.000-08:00

Archergal writes:

This explains something for me

From No Impact Man:
If we get to do the things that other people do and have the things that other people have, that means we're as loveable as everyone else. If we go the places they go, then we're as cool and, therefore, again, loveable. Consumption has become a surrogate for being loved.
That may explain a lot of what goes on in the knit blogging world.

--------------------

The knitting group I started locally used to meet at a mom & pop coffee shop, which unfortunately went out of business. I bought coffee every time we met there, in support of local businesses. I suppose that's consumerism in a way, but it's also localism. I'd love to meet at the library, but they don't stay open past 8 PM, and most of us can't get to a meeting until 9 PM, so it's not really practical... so we meet at Borders. I don't think Borders makes much off us, since we don't buy many books, but they do make something off the refreshments they sell us.

It's really sad that there is no public space available / suitable for us to meet. It's true; most of the public space available is in shopping centers. We could meet at members' houses, but that would involve cleaning for some unfortunate soul (probably me) every week. (I have two long-haired dogs; dust-bunnies start appearing half an hour after I vacuum.)

Even the way the most recent knitting boom got jump-started (for those who weren't knitters before) is linked to consumerism and celebrity -- it became cool to knit because Hollywood stars were knitting. How sad... why not do something because you love it? Why does it have to be sanctioned by a celebrity?

I've been thinking a lot about consumerism this holiday season, too. The housing market crash and consumerism are directly linked; how many commercials have we seen in past years encouraging people to take equity out of their homes to go to Aruba etc.?

Bill McKibben's essay, "Hundred Dollar Holiday" sums it up well.

I'm actually not the world's worst person when it comes to money, but I do have some bad habits that I really need to cure & am going to make an effort in the new year to be more mindful with my money. That's not to say that I won't spend money -- but I am going to try to spend my money more on stuff that has value instead of stuff that I simply want "right now" -- to examine my wants to determine if they're really needs or just wants.

Which is probably not what Henry Paulson would want to hear right now.

Sea Urchin cloche

2007-12-19T12:40:00.001-08:00

Speaking of hats, this is one I'm working on currently. One of my friends said it reminds her of a sea urchin, hence the name.

It's going to be a cloche hat. I toyed with the idea of knitting a cabled band perpendicular to the body of the hat, then picking up stitches on the band and continuing the brim, but after doing this for a few inches I decided I hated the way it looked, so I'm just knitting the brim and will apply a band separately.

Holey Christmas Disaster, Batman!

2007-12-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

These are the socks I knitted earlier this Fall for the nephews' Christmas presents. The first set is for the older nephew, the second is for the younger. The older boy likes blue, and would probably be upset if the younger boy's socks were bluer than his; I thought the yarn for the second set was more purple than it turned out to be. So this weekend I went to overdye the second pair with purple dye, and two things happened -- a) I found a hole in one sock, probably a moth hole, which alarms me because, although I do try to store all my yarn etc. safely, there is yarn in the stash that isn't mothproofed and might be a target for moths, and b) the purple dye turned out way darker than I intended it to be, so the socks are nearly black.

So there's nothing to do but knit another pair of socks for the younger nephew. I thought about mailing him something else instead, such as one of the hats I've been knitting, but that would make the older nephew envious. Thank goodness I'd already ordered them a present via Amazon.com, so if their socks are late, it doesn't matter very much. I've alerted my sis (their mom), and things will be fine.

Norwegian Knitting PrØn

2007-12-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

I've seen pics of the rock art this sweater is based on.

(Mood: Amused)

ROUS discovered

2007-12-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

(link)
Now we know where they filmed The Princess Bride.

Sock Wars

2007-12-17T07:08:00.001-08:00

A variation on "Assassin", crossed with sock knitting -- I gotta admit, this is pretty funny. A good deal less saccharine than some of the swaps out there!

Adventures in leatherwork

2007-09-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've been trying some leatherwork lately. I did a bit a while ago, and didn't really know what I was doing, so I've since done a bit of looking & learning.

A friend asked me about working leather -- coming at it from a fabric-sewing point of view, here are the differences.

Leather is a bit hard on the hands (I'm sure that'll get easier as I build up the strength in my fingers, and I bought a pair of flat pliers, which helps when the needle won't go through a stubbornly tight hole) but the big adjustment is that you need to work leather when it's damp, so the awl will go through. The holes you make tighten up a bit when the leather dries.

Unless you're working with REALLY thin stuff (the kind of leather you'd use for gloves), you have to punch your holes before sewing using a four-sided leather awl, which punches a diamond-shaped hole.

Then you use blunt needles -- two needles, one on each end of the thread -- to make what's called a "harness stitch" through the leather. The thread makes a figure 8 through the holes; you put one needle through, then the other needle goes through the same hole in the opposite direction. You use waxed linen thread (modern sewers don't usually wax their thread, though 18th c. seamstresses/tailors do).

Leather does stretch while it's wet, and you can't pin the leather the way you can pin fabric; so you either fit the pieces together, punch a few holes with the awl and tack them together with a bit of thread, or use something like binder clips or clothespins to hold the seam together.

I found a stitching pony (aka stitching clamp) on ebay, which holds the piece while you sew it; that does help speed things up considerably.

Pretty neat, though! It's fun learning something and having it turn out well. Pics coming soon.

The Pumpkin Tree

2007-08-30T16:52:00.001-07:00

I have some Long Island Cheese Pumpkin seeds that I saved a few years ago. I don't really have a good spot to plant them, but this year decided to put them in the bed with the quince tree.
As you can see, the pumpkin vine has climbed into the quince tree, so yesterday when I went around the corner of the house, I saw a pumpkin hanging from the tree -- a very amusing sight. You can also see a quince fruit on the branch the vine is weighing down. This is the first year I've had quinces.
I've since propped up the branch with a bamboo tripod; hopefully this will keep the branch from breaking under the weight of the maturing pumpkin. I'm debating whether I need to put some kind of net on the pumpkin -- I've heard of melon growers doing that when growing melons on a trellis.

This is the other largeish pumpkin growing in that bed -- in its proper place on the ground.

The pumpkin vine is also trying to swallow the porch, competing with the New Dawn rosebush for "Audrey Two" status.

Fun with Tape Loom

2007-08-29T17:01:00.002-07:00

A few years ago I bought a treadle tape loom from David Hoffman of The Joyner's Shop. The loom is a replica of one at the Landis Valley Farm Museum. I had to tweak it a little -- namely, sand down the sides of the rigid heddles a bit -- when the wood swelled up with summer humidity, but otherwise it's a lovely loom. I didn't use it much the first year or two that I had it, but this spring I've been weaving on it a lot more. Weaving on the loom goes quickly compared to a hand-held rigid heddle loom, since it has treadles.

The tape you see in the first two pictures is woven with 8/2 cotton. I've also woven a wider strap using cotton carpet warp (blue and yellow design), and wove some narrow tape using the leftover thrums from my dishtowel warp to weave matching loops for the towels.

Rain Barrels -- Installing the Plumbing Fixtures, Part 2

2007-08-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, where was I?

The first picture to the right shows the fitting (a 5/8" male shank mender) that will have a hose connecting my two rain barrels. We left that fitting off Dad's, since he only has one rain barrel.

The next five pictures show the fitting that will connect the downspout to the rain barrels, along with a screen to keep large debris out of the barrel. I'll put some window screen in the screen to prevent moquitos from breeding in the barrel.

One of the barrels we got had a square indentation instead of the round one seen below; we'll use that barrel as the overflow, and fit the downspout into this one, as it was easier to cut the hole for the downspout fitting.

Steps:
1. Mark the cutting line
2. Drill a pilot hole
3. Cut the hole, filing if necessary

Is Dirt the New Prozac? Or, Why Gardening is Good for You

2007-08-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Apparently, a common soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, may relieve depression.

And here I thought I was just getting depressed because I was looking out the window at all the weeds.

Seriously, gardening does make me feel better. I think it's mostly the act of moving one's body around that breaks the mind out of that merry-go-round of obsessive thoughts and grumbling. Works most of the time for me, any way. Sometimes I'm so wrapped up in a train of thought that it doesn't work, but I haven't been that upset in a long time.

It's mid-summer, and it's been oppressively hot (near, and occasionally over, 100) during daylight hours, so the garden's been neglected aside from occasional forays out to pick ripe veggies. We did get a break in the weather today, though -- it was 83 degrees when I got home from work, so I did about 20 minutes of weeding (my limit for myself, so I don't do my out-of-shape knees/back/etc. too much damage), and made more progress than I thought it would. No, didn't remember to take any pics. It's mostly black-eyed susans in bloom right now anyway, with a few smatterings of yarrow.

With any luck I'll be able to get back out there through the weekend and restore a little order. I need to pull out the bean plants and prep those beds for some fall leaf vegetables; I left for vacation in mid-July and forgot to tell DH to pick the beans while I was gone, and they stopped producing. I intend to plant spinach every year, and every midsummer it's so hot I can't contemplate that much work outside. We'll see.

We gave the house a bit of a cleaning last weekend, too, which helps when one is confined inside due to either hot or cold weather. Few things are more annoying than being stuck inside a dirty house. Still have too much clutter, but at least there's less dust and dog hair.

Hm, organization. Can you see a theme here?

Rain Barrels -- Installing the Plumbing Fixtures, Part 1

2007-08-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

We got a start on the rain barrel project. They're not deployed yet -- we still need to pour a small concrete pad and build a platform for them so we have some water pressure (gravity). But it's a start.

The first thing we did was to install a PVC elbow for an overflow tube. Here you see Himself filing the hole a little, as the keyhole bit (next picture) cut a hole slightly too small for the PVC elbow. That's not a bad thing, though -- the threads on the elbow cut into the plastic of the barrel, which makes for a good fit. We screwed in the fitting, backed it out, applied caulk (we went with T Rex caulk, which is supposed to be very strong) and then screwed it back in.

The next step is to install the drain. We bought one 3/4" male (i.e., with threads on the outside) boiler drain per barrel and used a forstner bit to cut the hole. The drain fitting is brass, so it cut very nice threads in the plastic when we screwed it in. Again, unscrew fitting, apply caulk, and screw back into barrel.

Garden update

2007-07-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

I've just uploaded a bunch of garden pics to my flickr account. I'm very happy with the garden this year -- it's not perfect, but I'm actually managing to keep up with the weeding, despite a a really nasty case of poison ivy last month that had me ultimately taking Prednizone (which kicks butt on the rash, I have to say).

I lost a tree to fire blight over the winter, so there's a bit of a hole in the garden where that goes. I also got a late start putting in the veggies this year, so am only now getting beans and a few cherry tomatoes, and haven't gotten any cucumbers yet.

Other problems: we have bunnies. Oh, do we have bunnies. I see them even in broad daylight. I wound up putting frames and bird netting over my blueberry/strawberry bed to keep them from getting all the berries after I went out to pick the first ripe strawberries of the season and found that the bunnies had taken one bite out of every ripe berry. Very wasteful critters. I have half-built a netting cage over the tomato bed because I've had birds eat my tomatoes in past years for their water content, but am hoping that a bird bath might mitigate that problem. If not, I'll finish netting over the tomato bed.

I'm considering putting another bed or two beside the garage and planting more strawberries/blueberries. We've been getting a steady trickle of berries since early June, and it's lovely.

We also got four bowls full of currants from the currant bed (which you can see behind the air conditioner, above). I've frozen most of them to be used later -- maybe with some quinces, once those are ripe, since I may actually get a few this year. I took a small bowl down to visit my sis and made compote for our pancakes, which was yummy.

Now that's a kitchen garden!

2007-07-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

In late June we visited my sis and her husband down in Charlottesville. Part of the enticement to get K. to come along was a trip to Monticello (with its period furniture). I'd been there before, but not in summer, so it was a real treat to see the kitchen garden.

The layout is pretty simple; the garden has rows of different vegetables, broken up so that there aren't large blocks of plants that disease or insects can sweep through.

The employees at Monticello get to take home the produce from the garden. Pretty neat!

Rain barrel project

2007-07-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

So, my friends will know I'm frugal (ok, cheap) to a fault. I hate paying a big water bill; and I especially hate knowing that I have to pay a sewer tax on water that goes on my garden, not the sewer, even though the tax probably takes that into account.

I've been looking into making my own rain barrels, since (being cheap) I hate to pay the price for a new one from a catalog, and I don't mind doing a little bit of work.

Wikipedia has several links on how to make your own rain barrels. Next problem: find some barrels. A friend found a place selling them for $15 apiece (ok, I know I could probably have gotten them for $5 if I'd gone to the Baltimore Pepsi plant or something) and picked up three of them for me. I'll keep two and give one to my Mom for her garden, since she's a pretty enthusiastic gardener and is also on a limited budget.

I'm contemplating trying to save water from my washing machine to use on the garden; but one problem with that, from what I've read, is that you can have problems with e coli if you use laundry water on your vegetables. So if I do capture water from the laundry, I should either a) only save water from loads that have no underwear in them; or b) only use that water on the flower beds, and use rainwater on the vegetables.

I'm putting a shopping list together for the fittings. Next step: plumbing the barrels.

New loom bench

2007-06-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, Susan, here you go! The pic I promised of the new loom bench -- loosely modeled on the one from Harrisville, but with details that make it look a bit more like an antique bench, namely some cove routing along the uprights and more graceful shaping to the "feet":

Skills, praise, and learning

2007-06-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Just read this post (Waylaka, on Abby's Yarns) about how a traditional society trains its children; interesting contrast to our own society, where people often learn to do things in a half-assed manner, and if you really want to learn to do something well you either have to know to ask (and know who to ask), and/or figure it out on your own with the help of a book.

I agree with one of the commenters; I'm very suspicious of praise of an effort I know to be not up to par. On the other hand, I'll admit to having an easily-bruised ego. But you have to work through that and just keep plugging at it until you get where you want to be.

Dishtowels are for weavers like socks are for knitters

2007-05-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

And socks are like potato chips -- you can't just do one (pair). I started the third towel using the third alternate treadling, but decided I didn't like the somewhat indistinct pebbly texture and un-wove it, then started over using the same birdseye treadling as I used on the first towel. I think I'll either do that or another herringbone towel for the fourth (and final) towel. I've noticed that there are LOTS of towel drafts out there -- booklets, patterns, and Interweave now has .pdf files you can buy online. Also like socks (and unlike potato chips), towels go pretty quickly, the warp can be relatively inexpensive (compared to, say silk -- you're not going to save any money by weaving dishtowels, though, any more than you save money by knitting your own socks, since the yarn is more expensive than what you'd pay for ready-made socks or towels, but that's not the point, is it?) and you can always use more of them.

I ran out of the natural color of yarn, since I used some of that for my overshot runner, but I've ordered more. It should be here tonight. I'm also weaving a strap on my treadle tape loom, but that'll go quickly enough.

Got a bunch of work done in the garden over the weekend -- I've weeded all the beds (which means I have to start over and re-weed the first one), and have most of the mulch down. The bed nearest the camera has newspaper down under the mulch. I think I have the wrong mulch to use over newspaper mulch -- I got pine nuggets, and should have gotten shredded. I also need to put some kind of trellis in the bed where I've planted the cucumbers, since I've got beans in the beds with the trellises this year.

The garden looks pretty good. This is probably as good as it will look all year -- things start looking a little peaked over the summer, and most of the flowers I have planted do best in May/June -- so I'm enjoying it. My mom came over on Sunday to return some pruning tools, and joked that if I ever want to sell the house, she'd be interested, just so she could have the garden. She's quite the gardener herself, so that's a compliment.

I'm toying with the idea of putting in rain barrels and finding a way to capture water from the washing machine so that I don't feel as guilty when I water plants during the dry part of summer. That's been my usual problem -- when we get a dry spell and have water restrictions, I feel guilty "wasting water", but if I can capture water that's otherwise just running down the drain and reuse it, my garden would be a lot happier.

I planted two more white salvia plants and two "Blushing Knockout" shrub roses in the back beds where I have "dead" spots -- areas where stuff has died. The roses (New Dawn and Bonica) and salvia I have elsewhere in the garden have done well, so I figured that more of the same might work in those spots. These shrub roses are supposed to be blackspot and beetle resistant.

I lost a pear tree over the winter in the back right hand bed, so I'm debating whether I want to replace it (I'd better hurry before shipping season ends!) or move the Seckel pear from out in the yard. I'm leaning toward the latter. The tree that died subcumbed to fire blight, but there are suckers coming up from the stump, so I think the soil may not be infected after all. It's an airborn disease, anyway.

Current weaving project: German Birdseye dishtowels

2007-05-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

I got my new loom warped up in April, but didn't have time to do any weaving until early in May. The pattern is a German Birdseye from Marguerite Davison's book. The yarn is a cotton/linen blend from Webs, and the pattern is one they give you if you order the yarn. It's meant to be woven in a tabby weave, but I just had to try it in birdseye.

I played around with redrafting the pattern so the colors and the birdseye weave corresponded, but wound up deciding it wasn't worth the effort. I did, however, reverse the birdseye pattern when I reached the center of the warp, so that the pattern is balanced.

The shuttle in the first picture is an old Hammett shuttle that I got with the loom when I bought it. I like the shuttle, but find that the Shacht shuttles (in the second picture) are becoming my favorites. The bobbins hold a lot of yarn, and they float nicely over the warp instead of diving under the occasional thread that gets stuck when I change sheds. I've fixed the "sticky shed" problem I was having when I started the first towel -- the warp needs to be at a higher tension, and I had to tweak the tieup a bit -- but the Schacht shuttle had fewer problems overall.

I'm weaving the second towel in plain herringbone. I may either go back to the birdseye for the third towel or try another treadling of the same pattern.

MD Sheep & Wool

2007-05-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did go to MD Sheep & Wool this year. I usually go on Sunday, since I'm not really worried about missing out on anything, and it's always less crowded. I took two friends, one of whom is learning to spin & had never been to the festival before. She quickly loaded herself down with LOTS of fiber (roving, fleece, etc.), and also bought a drop spindle and pair of wool cards. We had a fun, if exhausting, day. Here's the obligatory cute picture -- one vendor stationed her two daughters outside the booth with angora bunnies in their laps.

I bought a couple of books on weaving, three small bags (different colors) of Icelandic fleece, some cochineal bugs, and another weaving shuttle / bag of bobbins. I was very trying not to buy more yarn or more projects, since I still haven't knitted the sweater kit from Philosopher's Wool that I bought last year, but I did buy a punch tool from American Heirloom Rugs, a company that makes rug kits. I might buy a rug kit from them down the road -- I loved the rugs they had on display, and have wanted to try hooked/punched rugs for some time. The tool makes it look pretty easy. I might try punching a few mug rugs first.

Weaving Class!

2007-03-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, but that probably doesn't matter, since as far as I know only my friends and family read this blog anyway.

I've been knitting quite a bit, but just haven't found the time to upload any pics.

More interestingly (to me), I recently finished taking a weaving class at Springwater, which I enjoyed a lot.

It's been a long time since I wove anything other than simple bands/tapes. The last project I tried was a disaster -- I was in my early 20s and bought crappy flake cotton for warp, so I had a lot of breakage, and eventually just gave up in disgust and sold that loom. The class at Springwater, "Intro to 4-Harness Weaving", seemed like a good way to get back into the craft.

I didn't have the presence of mind to take pictures while the class was in progress, but one of the other class participants did, and she's uploaded her pictures here (thanks, E!). The class fee included rental of a 4-harness table loom that we could take home and work on between classes.

This pic, by E, shows various samples by other class participants. What's interesting about the picture is that it shows how many different results you can get from the same yarn and threading.

After we wove this sampler in a fairly heavy cotton (carpet warp), we tied a new warp to the old warp to save time re-threading the loom and wove another sampler in Harrisville 8/2 wool (about a fingering weight, for the knitters who might be reading this). I turned mine into a scarf, as did a few other class participants. Again, there was a lot of variety in the colors chosen, and it was interesting to see all the different results. The wool scarf was woven with the exact same threading as the cotton sampler, but with a different treadling (i.e., the order in which you lift the threads). The Harrisville Shetland yarn we used on the wool samplers felt very stiff while we were weaving, but it "bloomed" nicely when washed.

Finally, we each chose a project to design and weave on our own. I chose an overshot table runner, since the disaster project was overshot and I wanted to get over my fear of repeating that disaster. The warp for the project was an 8/2 cotton-linen thread, and the overshot pattern weft was some Shetland yarn from my stash, doubled to give the right weight.

I had a few problems with the pattern at first, but once I figured out what I'd done wrong, the project went pretty well -- I only had one thread break, and my selvages (the edges) didn't draw in too much, which is a problem I had with the disaster project. Here's another of E's pics, showing the overshot runner on the loom.

The other students' projects (again, I neglected to take pics, but E has a pic of her lovely grey/purple runner on the link above) were quite varied -- one student did some neat mug rugs. One of the great things about taking a class like this is seeing everyone work out different design possibilites that you wouldn't necessarily have thought of on your own. I highly recommend it!

quote du jour

2007-03-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Recently posted on a knitting list:

Knitting can make difficult situations bearable and dull people
interesting; the only other thing that does that gives you a
hangover instead of a pair of socks.
(rough paraphrase of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee)

Oh, how true... there's been more than one occasion when having my knitting in hand was the only thing that kept me from screaming.

Antique store finds - knitted lace stockings, baby blanket

2006-09-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

I found these on a recent trip to Ohio -- the doily and baby blankeet were in an antique store near Zanesville, OH, and the child's stockings were in a store in Lebanon.

I rarely see knitted objects in antique stores, and think I'm going to keep more of an eye out for them in the future. I have never seen a knitted doily in a store -- and I've looked. This is a first. The baby blanket has a few holes, and I suspect most such items would have simply been thrown out. I might chart up the pattern one of these days.

But the child's stockings were the neatest find of all. They're knitted at about 12 stitches per inch out of cotton yarn, and one is slightly larger than the other. I can't tell if they were worn or not -- there might be a small repair on one of the stockings, and they do have a few stains. I don't have any friends close by with kids of an age to try these on, unfortunately. I'm sure they'd look adorable on a kid's feet.

Victorian crocheted bonnet / hood

2006-09-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

I was antiquing a few weekends ago and came across this nifty Victorian bonnet. I didn't buy it, and I don't crochet, so no, I don't have a pattern, nor can I write one up. But it was still so neat I had to take pictures.

I'm sure some creative crocheter can come up with their own pattern for this, if there isn't already one floating around from Godey's or something.

Shed

2006-09-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

Put an extension on the shed in August -- we will put walls on the extension eventually, but it was just too damned hot to do so that weekend.

The extension will hold: Tent poles, my bicycle, and the cart we use for some reenacting events. I'm going to put brackets on the wall for the tent poles.

So, no "two sheds" for us :)

RIP, Sparky (VGD)

2006-09-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

VGD = Very Good Dog -- the best, and most important, title a dog can ever have.

Our dog Sparky died over Labor Day weekend. It was a pretty tough thing to deal with -- he was a good dog, and we knew he was getting old, but he went pretty quickly.

We got him in early 2001 at an undetermined age from a shelter on the Eastern Shore. He'd been living under a junked car before we got him, and we washed a lot of engine oil out of his fur when we got him home. He probably was between 10 and 12 when he died.

Next up: finishing the Bicycle Socks

2006-07-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we went to Alexandria to have lunch and meet some friends for a production of Into the Woods at the Little Theatre of Alexandria. After lunch at the Austin Grill we had some time to kill, so dropped in at Knit Happens, where I bought some Brittany cable needles, the Harmony Guide to Aran stitches, and some sock yarn (Lorna's Laces, Baltic colorway). Yeah, I'm trying to be on a yarn diet lately, but hey, I did just finish a new project.

Anyway, since I'm trying to finish up current projects before starting any new ones, next up on the list of UFOs are the Bicycle Socks by Lucy Neatby. I started these (well, the first sock) for G. last winter, and really ought to finish them. After doing two whole sweaters, I'm hoping the socks will go quickly.

Irish Moss -- Finished!

2006-07-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

I finished the sleeves Saturday night, blocked them overnight, and assembed the sweater today -- woo hoo! It's done. Looks great. I love the color, which really is a denim blue, and am looking forward to wearing it when it gets cold enough. Heck, I might take it in to the office to wear before then -- they certainly keep the air conditioning on enough to do so. Below are pics of the finished sleeves (unblocked), and the sweater.

Fiona sweater cables

2006-07-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

One of the incentives I'm giving myself to finish the Irish Moss sweater and a few other projects is starting the Fiona sweater from Autumn House Farm. I considered knitting it in another color, but keep coming back to the brown in the picture, so I've ordered some Brown Sheep worsted weight yarn in their "Stone" color. I can't wait to start.

I've charted out the cables, since the directions just had them written out, and will be starting a swatch soon.

Irish Moss -- button bands and shawl collar; and frogging sleeves

2006-07-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

After getting a few inches into the sleeves, I decided that I don't like how quickly they're increasing. The pattern calls for a series of increases every other row at the beginning, then increases every fourth row after that. I'd prefer something more regular (maybe every third row? I could handle that...) so that I don't wind up with a sort of fish-belly effect on the seam of the sleeve.

So in the meantime, while pondering how best to do the sleeves, I did the button bands (not pressed yet), and have started on the collar.

I haven't done a lot of picking up stitches, so I have found it a little intimidating in the past, but the more I do of it, the more comfortable I am with it. This pattern calls for picking up 87 stitches over 16 1/4". I divided the front edges into four parts, then picked up 22 / 21 / 22 / 22 stitches in each section as evenly as possible. I didn't get too picky about counting rows and spacing the stitches very precisely -- as long as they're picked up more or less evenly, any little differences seem not to be very important.

I don't have enough buttons in my button box for the sweater, but think I'm going to try to find more like the one above.

The collar is pretty simple. You put all the stitches from the back of the sweater on a needle, then knit back and forth in Moss stitch, picking up two stitches at the end of each row.

Irish Moss -- pics of body, and sleeves started

2006-07-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

A few people have asked me for more info on the sweater. It's "Irish Moss" by Nancy Bush (there's a sweater by Alice Starmore by the same name, it seems), in Arans & Celtics: The Best of Knitters. Linda tells me it's Issue #16 of Knitters (thanks!).

So here are pics of the body of the sweater, slightly steamed, and the start of the sleeves. As with the body, I'm knitting both sleeves at the same time, so they'll match. Nice trick -- plus you don't have the tedium of knitting one sleeve then knitting another that's exactly the same (i.e., second sock syndrome), which would be very boring.

The yellow post-it note pinned to the front of the sweater says "Left". The yarn ties at the top mark the decreases -- the red marks the last "k3tog", after which you switch to k2tog. No need to mark the decreases on the other sweater front, as they're identical to the ones on the other side.

Back to "Irish Moss"

2006-07-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to work on some back-burner projects before letting myself start anything new. So, the project I'm concentrating on at the moment is "Irish Moss", which I started back in January before embarking on the FLAK sweater.

I finished the back and started the fronts on July 3, knitting both at the same time with two skeins of yarn so they'd match. I could probably have cast on and knitted the fronts along with the back, eliminating the side seams, in retrospect. The fronts are now done, and I bound them off to the back at the shoulders last night and started the sleeves.

Will try to remember to take and post pics.

I'm really liking this project -- it's designed so that you don't need a cable needle, as the big "cable" uses a traveling stitch and the smaller cables are really faux cables, where you pick up the third stitch and knit it from the front, then go back and knit the first two. The problem with that is that the cables aren't really as three-dimensional as real cables. Another annoyance about this pattern is the zig-zag small cable -- you have to 'zag' it back when knitting the wrong side, which I find annoying (I like to knit back without patterning on lace and cables, apparently). If I were redoing this sweater, I'd make those cables into simple two-stitch regular cables, where you twist them on the right side and just purl on the wrong side.

This sweater is definitely going faster than the FLAK. I think that's because the cabling is done without a needle -- and, googling today, I found Wendy Johnson's tutorial on cabling without a needle (doing real cables, not faux ones). I'll have to try that next time.

Speaking of which, the next project will either be the Fiona sweater from Autumn House Farm, knitted (probably, pending swatching) in Brown Sheep Worsted (color: Stone), or the Fair Isle-type sweater kit I bought at MSW from Philosopher's Wool. I can't remember exactly which kit I bought, but I think it was in the Fall colorway. I really like their Kilim jacket, but am sure that's not the one I bought.

But first to finish Irish Moss, some socks I started a long time ago, and decide whether to abandon the red cotton sweater I started last summer. Starting the new project will be my incentive/reward.

Finished FLAK

2006-06-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

Voila! I actually finished this Monday night, en route home from my sis's house.

The sleeves look rather long; but that's what K. wanted. He's got long arms, and says he can never get sweaters with long enough sleeves. It fits him pretty well, so we're both pleased.

Puppy love

2006-06-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

For the general amusement, here's a pic of a puppy that some friends brought by our camp at the McHenry Scottish Games in early June. The other members of my group firmly insisted that I could NOT take him home. What a cutie...

I've been watching the Dog Whisperer lately. It's fairly formulaic, but I've been picking up a few training tips -- for instance, instead of comforting Molly when she acts fearful, I should tell her to snap out of it and give her some other behavior to do. It's been working, more or less -- she no longer wakes us up when a thunderstorm comes through. Definite progress, especially considering that we've had nonstop rain since Sunday.

I've heard of yarn stash problems, but...

2006-05-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

This takes the cake.
"WOODSTOCK -- A grandmotherly-looking woman is one of the two people accused of stealing thousands of dollars in yarn from stores in metro Atlanta.Skeins and skeins of yarn has become the target of thieves in Woodstock.“She looked like your typical grandmother,” says Debi Light."

I've seen complaints on knitting lists about yarn store owners following people around the store. If one woman can steal $13K worth of yarn from one store (over time), I don't wonder!

Most knitters, however, pay for their stash. I am trying not to become one of those SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Lifetime Expectations) knitters -- I have a portion of my sewing room closet allocated to yarn, and am on a yarn diet trying to use up some of what I have before buying more. Ditto fabric -- I have entirely too much fabric, and am trying to use up or sell some of it.

There have been studies on hoarding activities. People who acquire large numbers of, say, cats -- to the point where their own lives, and the lives of the cats, becomes unsanitary -- are suffering from a specific kind of mental illness. I suppose that hoarding fiber or books or yarn is a lot less harmful overall than hoarding cats, but I think the woman who stole $13,000 worth of yarn really needs help.

Wool & Sheep Pics

2006-05-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

I posted some pics from the MD Wool and Sheep Festival here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corbiegirl/

FLAK progress

2006-05-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

I've got Sleeve #1 done, and am about 6" into sleeve #2 -- yay! It's going a lot faster now that I'm done with other projects. I do need to get some sewing projects done, but am happy to be making progress. I'll post pics Really Soon Now.

I decided that I really dislike doing cables in the round. Since you're only patterning on the right side, it's easier (for me) to knit the sleeves and body flat. I'm sure I could use a marker to get around this problem, and may try that next time, but flat worked better for me on this project. YMMV, of course.

Update: Pic of sleeves, finished, for those of you who are just starting this stage in FLAK Round 2:

Crow Feathers

2006-04-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm moving my blog to Crow Feathers since I'm not really talking that much about knitting right now. I'll continue to post updates to my FLAK sweater and maybe a few other things here periodically.

Frogging and redoing

2006-04-01T03:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I was going on measurements from one of K's sweaters, but it looks like I need another 2" on the front and back to make it fit properly. So there was no help for it -- I had to frog the sleeve and extend the front and back some more before restarting. Damn, damn, damn...

Painting class study

2006-03-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

We had our third painting class last night, during which we finished the study we started last week. Here's mine. I'm happy to say it doesn't suck. There are definitely things I'd improve on, but it's probably the best that can be expected from two evenings worth of effort.

Both my sis and I had been feeling a bit peeved at the teacher for not giving us more actual help with technique. Last night was better, though. For one thing, the students were asking more questions, and learning from each other as well, so we were having a lot more fun overall.

I signed up for a beginning drawing class at the Art League; the class starts next week. My drawing skills aren't bad, but could definitely use some more work.

Sis and I, and a few friends, went to the Cezanne exhibit at the NGA on Sunday (we also stopped in on the van Mieris and the Dada exhibits -- talk about vastly different schools of art). The Cezanne exhibit was fun. His stuff isn't exactly what I prefer to look at, but it was interesting nontheless, and I can appreciate it; but I like the earlier stuff more than the later. I said (only half-joking) that with a little practice, we could probably do as well as Cezanne; but the Gainsboroughs, not so much.

Some of Cezanne's later work makes me wonder about his eyesight as he got older. I'm sure an art historian would say that his experiments with color and abandonment of literal interpretations of form was all intentional. Cezanne's saving grace is that he really could draw when he wanted to; so I don't doubt his skills as a draftsman and an artist. And he did have a good sense of proportion, even when the image on the canvas really doesn't look like a mountain anymore. (You have to know the rules to know how to break them, etc.) However, many artists today -- I wonder whether they can really draw. I think more often they're out to be different just for the sake of being different. And don't even get me started on performance art.

There was a quote on Marilyn's blog a while ago:
Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.--Tom Stoppard

Yeah, exactly.

FLAK progress, and DPN needle case

2006-03-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

So here's the progress on the FLAK sleeve (yes, I'm still stuck on the first sleeve). I am glad, after all, that I frogged back and added the additional cables.

The second picture is actually of a paintbrush roll I found at A.C. Moore in the art brush section. It was about $7, I think. I marked the sections with a sharpie, starting with the smallest needle size I own. I've been thinking about making a case, but this will certainly do for now, and I can use it for a model if I decide to sew one up later out of nicer fabric.

Embracing my inner Hermione

2006-03-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

So the other day I suggested that my sis bring her copy of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" to class, and she said she didn't want to be Hermione in this class. "Too late", I said. We bought kick-ass easels (mostly because it's easier to transport everything we need using them, but also because they're nifty); we have all the tools we need and then some (people forgot stuff this past class, and we had extra stuff to share); and we've taken sketching classes, which most of the other students have not. Not that we're trying to show anyone else up -- we're not.

I really don't mind being Hermione here. I've embraced my inner eager perfectionist. And, hey, why not?

Anyway, here's the result of last night's class. Used big brush strokes because I figured we didn't have time to get a lot of the details down. Next class, apparently, we're doing details. Well, should be interesting! I was hoping the teacher would give us more info on what brushes to use for what techniques, and demonstrate a bit more than she did. So I hope that's yet to come.

New toys -- easel and stool!

2006-03-17T17:59:00.000-08:00

So, the painting class that my sis and I are taking started March 6. The next class is next Monday (the community center was closed this past Monday), and I subcumbed to temptation and bought a French easel like my sister's.

Yeah, it seems like an extravagance, but I got it at Jerry's Artarama for a pretty good price, and got a folding stool while I was at it. I don't need the stool for the class -- they have chairs -- but I'm going to class after work, and was pretty overburdened for the first class, so the easel made a lot of sense. This easel has the advantage of holding everything neatly in one compact package, and it even has a shoulder strap. The teacher gave us some homework -- sketching -- so I've been having a bit of fun with that.

The first class (which I forgot to blog about) was interesting, but it was really apparent which of us had had drawing lessons. My sis and I, and maybe one or two other students, had; the others were still more or less at the grade school level. I was slightly disappointed that the teacher didn't recommend a good drawing book so that the students who were interested could improve their skills, and I don't think she gave enough constructive criticism during the class, either. I know my drawing skills are a bit rusty, but she mostly stood behind each of us in turn saying, "That's nice."

I've gone a bit overboard this week buying art books -- mostly on drawing -- but I know that, while I'm ok with the geometric stuff, I'm lousy at drawing people; and that while I have some basic shading concepts down, I haven't got a clue when it comes to stuff like crosshatching and stippling.

Frogging the FLAK sleeve

2006-03-17T17:54:00.000-08:00

So I decided to frog the sleeve (first picture) back to where I started knitting in the round and knit it flat instead, and add a few more cables while I was at it, laddering back to the start of the sleeve. The problems: first, no matter what I did, knitting it with dpns or a 16" cable needle or my aborted attempts at magic loop, my hands didn't like it; and second, I was bored silly with all that seed stitch. I think it'll go faster this time, knitting flat. Sounds contradictory -- I usually go pretty fast knitting in the round on dpnsd when knitting socks -- but if my hands aren't protesting, I ought to get up to speed pretty quickly.

Donuts! And other stuff.

2006-03-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

First, the donuts -- and a happy soldier! This time it went much better, with charcoal in the stove instead of wood, and better weather.

The pic of the soldier is modeled after a WW1 film clip that someone there mentioned, which showed a soldier happily walking along with his coffee mug and five donuts on the fingers of one hand, taking a bite from each donut as if to say, "These are MINE, you can't have any!" The guy in the pic has such a great grin that we just had to use him for the pic.
Here's me knitting at the event. I didn't get much done, and it was mostly for show anyway. Lost a needle later that evening, so I'm probably going to just rip this out and start again later. I have too many projects to finish before I can really start another one.

When I got home on Sunday, the anemones and crocuses had started blooming. Last year they weren't blooming until the beginning of April, which means they're about three weeks early. Global warming? What global warming?

FLAK note, ,art, and this weekend

2006-03-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

So, for the FLAK sweater -- no, I didn't ladder back to add cables; I've just gone too far to go back, and am too far behind to go back, too (I'm about a third of the way through the first sleeve).

I regret not knitting the sleeves flat. It was easier on my hands. None of the solutions I've tried work very well for me (no, I didn't like the "magic loop" method), and I'm finally just knitting them on 16" circs.

I signed up for a painting class with my sis, which started Monday. The first class the teacher had us sketching, to see where our skill levels were. S. and I have both taken drawing lessons, so we did ok, comparatively speaking; we signed up for this class to learn the techniques of painting (it's one thing to have the paints, another thing to know how to use them). But the sketching practice wasn't a bad thing, and she sent us home with instructions to practice more. Another excuse to buy art supplies -- not a bad thing! I'm debating buying a French easel, since I've seen some for not too much money and they have the advantage of getting everything in one package that's easy to carry (my problem with my current equipment).

So, this weekend is the World War 1 event, and I'm nearly all packed -- still have to pack my clothes and buy a few groceries. I got a cheap CD/MP3 player (it plays CDs from MP3s, and only cost about $25), and a very cheap pair of speakers for it, and found a bunch of period MP3s at meloware.com and firstworldwar.com, so when I don't feel like cranking the actual gramophone, I can play the MP3s under a tablecloth. Will have to actually see if the guys mind that -- I wouldn't bring the MP3s without having the actual gramophone and records there to lend some plausibility.

Buddhism and Postmodernism

2006-03-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

Am listening right now to the podcast of a lecture by Ethan Nichtern, "Being Skeptical, Being Cynical, and Being Buddhist" -- re: postmodernism and belief, courtesy of http://www.betherigden.com/.

Kind of interesting discussion about the postmodern malaise. He's right -- scepticism can be very paralyzing. At a certain point you have to stop doing that and just jump into life with both feet (even at the risk of drowning) and do stuff you enjoy even if you're afraid the mockers are still sitting on the shore smirking at you.

After all, you're the one that's swimming. What do they know? You just have to LIVE.

I let the paralysis of uncertainty claim me entirely too much. The times I've enjoyed most have been when I've decided that I just don't care, I'm just going to do what I enjoy and the hell with it.

Quiet day, with dogs

2006-03-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

I've been contemplating laddering back to add some more cables to the FLAK sweater sleeve, and now, after seeing JennyRae's sweater, I'm pretty convinced. I asked K., and he doesn't care one way or the other (the sweater is for him), so if I made this change it'd mostly be to please my own design sense.

I worked from home today. I try to be very productive (respond to emails promptly, get a lot of work done -- in fact, sometimes I think I'm more productive than at the office, because there are fewer chances to talk to coworkers), but it's nice to take a break to get a cup of tea, switch a load of laundry over to the dryer, and pat the dogs.

Got the flooring all done last night, phew! Need to do the crown molding and baseboard now. But not tonight. And this weekend looks pretty busy, too (stuff for the event next weekend, and more work on my sis's wedding dress).

A messy house is good for you...

2006-02-28T08:27:00.000-08:00

... or something.

Actually, I wonder if the "neatness and order" thing has less to do with it than having the kind of brain that likes exploring new possibilities and learning new things. Learning new things is responsible for more of the mess in my house than anything else. Imposing order on the chaos is my last priority, and only happens when I can't bear the level of chaos any more. Chaos always reasserts itself very quickly in all its vibrant colors. You have to break eggs to make omelettes, or tempera paint for that matter.

Power Tools are a Girl's Best Friend

2006-02-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

Got about two thirds of the floor down tonight. Hope to finish it either tomorrow night or Weds. night -- depending on how sore I am tomorrow. We just barely have 90 square feet of the stuff left over after doing the rest of the house -- and the room is just barely smaller than 90 square feet (9 x 10 room, with one corner cut off).

K. helped get the first couple of rows down (he cut the wood around the floor vent), but if he'd kept "helping" me, I woulda had to kill 'im. (Just kidding, hon.) The basic problem is that we are both quite competent craftspeople, but have different working styles. And I have, in fact, put down MOST of the flooring in the house. I got quite peeved with him when he "helped" me and Dad put the flooring down in our bedroom -- he whined, stalled, and otherwise made a nuisance of himself -- so when his back started bothering him so much that he couldn't continue, it was a relief. And I told him I'd be happier doing the job by myself when I put down the flooring in the other two bedrooms and hallway.

I think it's the complaining that bothers me most. My knees and back hurt too, dammit, but you don't hear ME whining about it -- at least not until I'm done with the job for the day. Then I'll complain about how my #@!! body is falling apart on me. (Speaking of which, I guess I should go take some aspirin so I don't feel like cr*p in the morning.)

So it gets a bit irksome when he starts telling me how to install flooring ("Put the staples closer together!"). I made strong hints, about two rows into this evening's work, that his knees weren't up to the task and he really ought to leave me to get on with the job, thankyouveddymuch. I can tolerate his help on some of the details, but really, I'd prefer to do this on my own. Besides, there's only one stapler.

2006-02-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Franklin at The Panopticon, Miniature Cheviot Sheep.

I tried to borrow a friend's bottle-fed sheep once, for a reenacting event. I figured that since Baa (the sheep) had been a bottle lamb, raised in Christina's kitchen, it'd be used to being around humans. What I didn't figure on was that Baa had grown up considerably in the month since I first saw him, and had also been reunited with the flock, so when I arrived to pick him up, I got a fully-grown sheep who was not happy at being separated from the flock.

At the time I had a blue Subaru Legacy station wagon. It was a good little wagon, and I managed to haul lots of gear to reenacting events with me. So, I lined the back of the wagon with plastic tarp and newspaper and put Baa in. On the hour-long drive home, Baa bleated softly. I got the wierdest looks from other drivers (how often do you see a station wagon with a sheep in the back?) but figured things were going moderately well.

When I got home, I put Baa in the kitchen, where I'd set up a small pen lined with newspapers and furnished with some hay and water. Baa didn't, however, think that this looked much like home, so he commenced to bleating much more loudly than he'd done in the car -- so loudly that it would have been impossible to sleep. He also showed no signs of stopping the infernal noise. We briefly contemplated putting him in the basement or the back yard, but the stairs and the thought of annoying our neighbors made us decide to cut our losses and take Baa back home that evening, even though it was already about 10 pm. I called Dan to tell him that we'd be late for the event on Saturday; I think I heard him laughing his head off on the other end of the line at the bleating he was hearing in the background from my end.

neighborhoods

2006-02-27T07:21:00.000-08:00

So. Yesterday, when I was driving around the neighborhood posting flyers for an upcoming event, I happened upon the tail end of an altercation at Giant in which one man (white, as it happens) pulled a gun on another man (black). I gather the "n" word was used at some point in the argument.

Sigh... The knee-jerk reaction, here, is to want to move far, far away from here. And one day, we might, because we've had a longstanding dream of having a small farm (say, five acres or so). But as far as the immediate issue of crime goes, that really doesn't solve anything. I have friends who live in small towns and tell me about the stupid fights their neighbors have, and the guy two blocks over who was busted for making meth. A friend in rural Maine had the police called on him because an enemy was convinced he was abusing his elderly mother (or something like that). And moving to a rural area certainly doesn't get you away from ignorant rednecks who use the "n" word and pull guns on people.

It's not surprising that there's racial tension in our area; more and more minorities are moving into an area that used to be majority white. But most of the minority families I've met (my neighbors, for instance) are just like us -- middle class, hard-working, respectable people. The one family I was happy to see move out of the neighborhood were white, and could be called "rednecks". They moved, I'm sure, because they were uncomfortable with the increasing minority population in the neighborhood. They had badly-behaved children and a dog who lived in the back yard or garage and howled all night. The family (white/hispanic couple, active duty military) who bought their house said it was a mess inside, and they had to have some baseboard replaced and drywall patched to make it decent.

The truth is, I like my suburban neighborhood, especially now that it really has become populous enough that we have some good stores. And I know my neighbors; whatever their race, they're all middle-class, hard-working professionals. They take pride in their property and they don't have yelling fights in the middle of the street. And, unlike many small towns where the neighbors are intimately interested in your comings and goings, my neighbors don't seem to care (or if they do, they don't let me know). They keep an eye on things, but aren't intrusive, in other words.

The things I wish I could change: I wish we had enough room to put up a workshop for K's woodworking; I wish I had a little more land, for the dogs; and I wish we could keep a small boat under a cover in the back yard. If we ever do find the right piece of land, this is enough incentive to move. But land is getting awfully scarce around here.

FLAK progress, and room painted

2006-02-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

Here's the progress on my FLAK sweater. I'm using seed stitch for the filler, and find that I only had to pick up 100 stitches total along the edge (provided I'm doing the math correctly -- but it looks good, I think), and then decrease every 10 rows to the cuff. Also vaguely debating whether I want to rip back and add a few more cables, but... nah. Not yet, anyway.

I tried the "Magic Loop" method mentioned onlist today, but it seems awkward (to me). And I hate 16" circs -- they make my hands cramp up. So, it's dpns for me. I'm glad there's a method out there for those who hate dpns, but I'm like them and am used to them, so there's really no point in switching.

Got the front room painted this weekend. Yesterday we spackled (some more -- caught some spots we missed earlier) and did a bit of painting, and installed the new ceiling light, which gives off a good deal more light than the one the builder installed. Also got a new light for our bedroom while we were at it.

This room will ultimately house my weaving loom, spinning wheels, and a few other textile-related items. There will also be a console for the printers and fax machine, with an area underneath for the dogs to 'den' in the way they used to sleep under K's desk. White is a good choice for sewing rooms and areas where you're dealing with colors -- it reflects light, and doesn't change the way you see the colors of whatever you're working on.

The white paint also makes the room look bigger -- it's only about 9 x 10. Taking the dark carpet out helped, too, but the white, which is semi-gloss, reflects a lot of light. We're thinking about painting the trim a color like sage green, but haven't decided yet. Green might work; it would bring the outside in, as the designers say.

After finishing painting, I pulled up all the carpet staples, so we're ready to start installing the flooring. We just barely have enough flooring left for this room and will be literally cutting it very close. Enough work for one day, though -- I'm stiff and sore. If we ever build another house, we definitely need to budget for the builder to install the flooring.

Why, yes, I do like the color green. Why do you ask?

2006-02-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

Come to think of it, this makes four shawls I've knitted in green. Hm. Maybe I should diversify my color choices a bit...

And yes, that is dog hair, and muddy footprints, on the floor. I'm mopping the kitchen floor tomorrow. Or something.

Anyway, the shawl. I wore it to work on Wednesday, and got about six unsolicited compliments, a few of which were from complete strangers. That made me feel good. I mean, I feel good about this lovely shawl anyway -- it has everything I like. It feels wonderful to wear; it has nice drape; the yarn has a lovely texture and shine. It's just the thing needed for my somewhat chilly office, too. But random compliments are always a good thing.

Deirdre Flint

2006-02-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

Here, courtesy of the "Cast On" podcast -- check out "Boob Fairy"

Sleeves in your Pi - finished and blocking

2006-02-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

Here's the pi shawl, being blocked on my bed (yes, that's my "to be read" pile on the bedside table -- or one of them, anyway), and my extension of the last several rows of the pattern.

Wore it (unblocked) over to my sis's house yesterday, and she called it my "fuzzy yeti" shawl. Yeah, it is big, fuzzy and green. Could also be compared to the Cookie Monster. But it's warm, and comfy, and will make a lovely wrap for sitting on the couch on a cold evening. Despite all the lacy holes, it's a nicely cozy wrap.

This New House

2006-02-20T11:42:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years, we've been ripping up the carpet in the house and replacing it with hardwood flooring.

The last room to go is the front room, because K. has been using it as his study. Since he got his laptop at Christmas, he hasn't been using the desk, so we cleaned out the room, stored stuff in the basement, got rid of a bunch of stuff, and finally were able to rip out the carpet today. (He's ultimately going to get a room in the basement, when we finish that out, for his exercize equipment etc.)

The pics show the carpet, then the dirt on the carpet pad, and finally the dirt under the carpet pad. Amazing how much dirt gets trapped under there, isn't it? The pink outline on the carpet pad shows where the plastic chair mat was located. You can see how dirty the surrounding carpet pad was in comparison to the protected area.

Nifty find

2006-02-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

My sis and I are signed up for a painting class that starts in March, so we went to a local art supply store and got a bunch of paints and other stuff yesterday. When I got home, I tried to search for the sketch box I thought I'd seen in the basement, but didn't find it until I looked again today.

I don't know which grandmother it belonged to -- could've been either Irma's or Bobbie's. Irma was a professional artist and art teacher. Bobbie had a degree in art, but never painted professionally. Either way, it's a nifty find.

I'm not going to be able to use any of the paints for this class (even supposing they're still good), since I want to try acrylics rather than oils, but it's nifty to have an actual artist's paintbox to look at, especially one belonging to my grandmother. I'm going to divide the usable parts -- pallette knives, mostly -- with my sis.

Wow. I don't know what to say...

2006-02-18T04:21:00.000-08:00

Two links, courtesy of Bitch PhD.:
"Your Pregnancy is a Punishment from God"
and
"Sluts Still Need to be Taught a Lesson"

I have too many friends who deal with various issues -- miscarriages, that kind of thing -- and reading about this sort of behavior on the part of doctors just... wow.

About a year ago in November I went to visit a friend who stayed with the church I grew up in. She has four kids. When I was showing her my knitting (hats for the nephews) she made several comments to the effect of "so that's what you can do if you don't have kids" which really irked me. I didn't know how to interpret her comments -- envy that I don't have kids and she does, and feels trapped (she's worried about what would happen to their family if her husband had a heart attack)? Judgement of me for not having kids? Maybe a bit of both?