Two and Three

Tuesday, I decided that I would give NOT accomplishing a lot a whirl.

Everything is measured where I work. How much work you do and how well you do it. It's kind of hard to get out of that mode of thinking. So, instead of processing wool and cleaning out closets, I decided to poke around a local book store. I bought a hard covered book. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. I felt a little guilty buying it. Funny, because it's no big thing for me to get a new cook book or a knitting book. I like it so far.

It's all about Chinese here as of late. The cilantro chicken with the fresh water chestnuts we made Monday night was delightful. Fresh water chestnuts are fantastic! Though Sam remarked that it was too complicated or a weeknight meal. And I've been making things from my Kylie Kwong cook book. However, I've learned her recipes are far too salty for my taste, so they all need to be adjusted.

I finished the recycled sari silk garter scarf. I have yet to take a picture of it. I wasn't paying much attention when I cast on. I just wanted to be sure it was long enough. When I finally cast off, the sucka is about 10 feet long. Dustin and Tate stopped by in the evening to hang out. Luckily, I had made Jamaican Jerk Burgers, slaw and baked sweet potatoes, so there was plenty for everyone. I offered to give Dustin the scarf, but he declined saying it looked "older lady-ish." Grreaate. I cast on for a simple garter shawl using a beaded rayon yarn I bought years ago. But, after knitting a little bit, I just didn't like the way it looked. I actually wondered what possessed me to buy the yarn. It looked fugly to me. Does anyone have any ideas? Or does anyone want it?

Lately, that's been happening a lot. I get a small portion of a project done and it just looks fugly to me. So, I found some organic cotton in my stash and started the garter triangle shawl. It's very soft yarn. Last night I wondered if it, too, was fugly.

Wednesday, I cleaned the kitchen and refrigerator like a mutha. It was also the first pick up day for my CSA. This week's bag contained bok choy, spinach, lettuce, spring onions, and asparagus. I also got a dozen eggs and a small container of raw milk. I think I'll make a frittata for dinner tonight using the spinach and asparagus. And then a nice salad.

It was so nice to go out to dinner with my family Wednesday. The restaurant is less than a mile from my parents' house. It's increasingly harder for my Mom to get around. It was hard for her to walk from the front door to the table and to get seated. And it was kind of sad because neither one of my folks can hear very well, so conversation is hard in a public place. I ordered a soft shell crab appetizer and the veal liver. Tate got crab bisque and sea scallops. It's very kind of my cousin to spring for such an expensive extravagant meal.

I realized that I have the second felted slipper to complete for Danny before I go to Victoria. This morning I dug through the UFO basket and found it, but I couldn't remember where I had stopped. So, I frogged it and started over. That's okay, I hadn't gotten that far. Next, I have to make Caitlin and Danny a pair of the recycled sweater slippers. Those just take a few minutes to make.

June 14th is WWKIP Day. I'll be heading over to the Plaza for that. Anyone want to join me?

Day One

My trusty beagle awakened my right on time--6:15. It would have been nice to sleep in, but then it's good to get things accomplished.

I started the day washing fleece. This is white merino I got off of Ebay.

Here is how I do it. Stuff the fleece in a lingerie bag.

Fill an insulated cooler about half way with HOT water. Add a bunch of Dawn dish detergent.

You don't want to move it around a lot. But, you do want to make sure it's submerged.

The cooler keeps the water hot. You are, after all, melting that lanolin off the fiber. I let it soak for about 40 minutes. Repeat two more times. Rinse three times in HOT water for 20 minutes or so. The middle rinse add some white vinegar.

Then, I spin it out in a salad spinner and set the lingerie bags on a little drying rack outside in the sun.

The process takes a long time, but it's not a lot of "hands on" time. Tomorrow, I will tackle the merino I bought at the Fiber Festival. It's a very light fawn color. I think it will look smashing blended with the white. And then dyed.

I certainly don't want to spend all my time cleaning. But, I do feel compelled to organize. I got the bathroom hall closet cleaned out. It wasn't that bad because I think I got around to it last year. I'm taking baby steps with the closets. The ones in my office and bedroom terrify me.

I've been reading about Vitamin D deficiency. So, I spent about 15 minutes in the sun today. I'm taking the holistic approach to my osteopenia. I've been taking Vitamin K2 supplements. I also need to get more calcium supplements. My mom has been taking Fosamax for years. She's now having troubles with her teeth and jaw, so the doctor has taken her off of it. I think she's been on it for 16 years or so. I was diagnosed with osteopenia at an earlier age than she was. I certainly don't want to be on a medication like that for years and years. Who knows what the side effects would be.

The recycled sari silk garter scarf is coming along nicely.

Tonight, we are having Cilantro Chicken with Fresh Water Chestnuts and Baby Bok Choy for dinner. I also got some Gai Lan to have with it. Or I could just make that for my lunch later this week. Sam took a half day off so we zipped over to the Asian grocer where we found everything for the dish. I'll let you know how it turns out. I've never had fresh water chestnuts.

I won't be going to Spinning on Wednesday. My second cousin is coming for a visit and she always takes the family to a swanky French restaurant. I can never decide whether to get the veal liver or the veal sweetbreads.

Sunny Sunday

The Great Purge has begun! I decided to start cleaning up the laundry room, where crap has piled for a LONG time. I took five grocery bags and one large moving box FULL of clothes and bedding to a Planet Aid drop off box. I also took out two bags of trash. And that’s only about half of the room. The jury’s still out on whether I have enough stuff to make a garage sale worthwhile.

I got my hair cut and colored. He colored it a little darker than I’ve had it. And the top is light. Of course, I will never be able to make it look the way he does. We made beer can chicken, mashed cauliflower and sauteed mushrooms for dinner last night.

I saw that Kim was tagged for some sort of blog thing. I wasn’t tagged, but I’m going to play along anyway. Kind of like an annoying little sister.


What was I doing 10 years ago?

Things weren’t all that happy for me ten years ago. I was in the middle of my awful, long, expensive divorce. My husband was in arrears, so I was totally broke. The man I was seeing decided to call it quits because my soon-to-be-ex-husband vandalized his car outside my house one night. I think this was about the time that I picked up knitting (again).

What are five things on my to-do list for today?
(1) Post on my blog. (as we speak!) (2) Start washing the mountain of fleece I’ve purchased.(started) (3) Make a game plan for my sabbatical (4) relax and knit. (5) Get Piddles’ nails trimmed. (done)

Snacks I enjoy:

Chips & salsa. And not your standard chips or salsa. I like the designer kind. Chips & guacamole. 365 brand organic cheddar popcorn. I guess I’m not much of a snacker.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Pay off the house. Get ALL of the remodeling/home improvements done Sam & I have been talking about for years. Buy each of my kids a new hybrid car. Buy a second home. The jury is out where. I’d like to investigate the Pacific Northwest. Pay off Dustin’s school loans. Make a ginormous donation to John T.’s business. Pay for Tate’s college education at the school of her choice. Buy a drum carder.

Places I’ve lived:

Montclair, NJ, Overland Park, KS, Parkville, MO, Kansas City, MO, Prairie Village, KS. Man, I’m boring!

Five people I’d like to know more about:

Barbara, Kim, PJ, Marilyn, Jamie (the Shepherd)

I got Intertwined from the library the other day. What a cool book. Here I've been trying to make my yarn thin and consistent. This book show you how to create thick and thin yarn with blobs of this and that. So, I tried to make a skein or two of art yarn. I think I'll try to make a hat with it. I love the crazy bats.

It's finally here in all the glory

My sabbatical just started. I'm off work until the first week in July. Woot!
I haven't had much to post about the last few weeks. The weather has been gross here in the Midwest. We lost our power this past Saturday in a wind storm. And the dang furnace had to be turned on a few times because it was so cold. We just never seemed to have more than one sunny day.

All of this left me quite grumpy.

All I could say over the last few weeks was:

It was cloudy today, so I couldn't take any pictures.
I feel grumpy.
I can't wait until my sabbatical.

Boring, huh?

Spinning is coming along great. I went to a teeny Fiber Festival this past weekend and purchased quite a bit of raw wool. I've spun some of it in the grease. But, the big plan is to wash and card it during my time off. I found out I can rent a drum carder from either the Fiber Guild or the Weaver's Guild. So, that's what I'll do with this wool. If I like it, I'll look into purchasing a drum carder.

I have an appointment at the salon for a cut and color tomorrow. Then, I'll set up an appointment to get my tootsies in order using the spa dollars I got at Xmas. CSA starts up Wednesday. The crappy weather is behind us. It's all good.

Because of my grumpiness, I didn't feel much like any complicated knitting. I've got another pair of plain stockinette socks on the needles. And I've cast on for a plain garter scarf using recycled sari silk. I'm knitting it horizontally rather than vertically. Gotta love garter.

I hope to keep you updated on how I spend my time off.

It's been a LONG time

It’s just been too cold and cloudy to post. I wasn’t able to take any pics due to the natural light situation. Crappers.

I’ve taken the first two wet felting classes, and the third is this weekend. We’re supposed to make a purse. It should be a blast. Here are some of the things I have made:

It's hard to get a good shot of the scarf. Dang.

I’m about done with the Snow Squall socks. I’ve recently been validated regarding my preference to make SIMPLE socks. Knitting has been going slow for me; perhaps it is this icky weather that has got me down. I dunno.

The mitts are too large for me. I have one completed and the other almost done. Though I will give them to my son, Dustin, it’s always harder to knit for someone else. Especially for one that loses the things you make. So, these are at a stand-still.

And, I’ve been spinning.

Less like barf and more like yarn, eh?

I found out that the space that the renegade spinners meet might start to charge. This means that they will either break up or find a new place. Boy, I hope it’s the latter. Meeting with the renegade spinners has been a great help to me. I will be sad if my Glorious Night will no longer be.

I posted a response to Dave Daniels' Cabin Cove. I’ve pretty much been a wiener when posting comments on blogs. But, he actually responded to me and had some fabulous suggestions on becoming a better spinner. His work is phenomenal. I was quite honored to have a blog STAR respond to me. Thank you, David.

I have really been loving the Kylie Kwong cook book. Everything we have made has been spot on. We went to the Asian Grocer and got some more supplies. And, I finally found the Indian grocer nearby. Curries are next.

My sabbatical is less than three weeks away. Oh--Caitlin got a job! So, that is good. She has to have a job in her field to stay in BC.

The World's Longest Remodeling Job

We started the remodel for the family room today. It took all of about an hour to pull the carpeting up. And the primer is just about finished. It occurred to me that we haven't done a remodeling job since 2005. That was when we did the second large remodel job on the house. We completely gutted the kitchen and finished up The 20 Year Remodel Job of the "Back Room" in 2005. After that, were burned out on remodeling of any kind. The first large remodel job was in 2003, when we replaced the windows, air conditioner, furnace, and gutted the main bathroom.

I bought this house with my former husband in 1984. I found out I was pregnant with my third child the week we signed our mortgage papers. We had immediately outgrown the home. It was supposed to be a starter home. When we moved in the Back Room was a screened in porch. Because we needed space, we decided to turn it into living space. However, my former husband was great at getting things "Half Done in a Hurry" as my mother would say. He got the walls done, windows put in, and a French door going outside. The walls weren't dry walled or anything. There was window inside the room that used to be part of the outside of the house. No electricity had been run. It was essentially a walled porch. And it stayed that way. I got pregnant the fourth time. And my former husband had trouble holding down a job, so money was always tight. When I would complain about getting the place fixed up, he would say, "When I have the time, I don't have the money. And when I have the money, I don't have the time." So, it sat half done for many, many years until we divorced.
After we got divorced, I had even less money. He was always behind in child support payments. When the kids went to his place for the first weekend, I was lost. I simply did not know what to do with myself. I felt as if someone had chopped off my arms and legs. Having an entire weekend alone, I decided to work on the house with what little extra money I had.
So, I would paint because it was cheap. I felt like I was reclaiming the house as my own place. And it was fun to pick out any color I wanted. It didn't matter what color I picked. There was no one there to disagree with me. So, I painted the walls crazy colors. I had an apple green kitchen, a lavender dining room, and a green living room. If I got bored with the color, I'd paint it a different color. So, the kitchen was painted watermelon and canteloupe. I painted my bedroom blue. And then sunflower yellow. The sky was the limit. One of my friends remarked that she loved to come over to my house because she never knew what color it would be on the inside. If I had some rare extra bucks, I'd pay a handy man to work on the Back Room. First, I took the window out. Then, put in electricity. Finally it was dry walled. That's about all I could afford.
Then, in 2005, we added a ceiling and carpeting and replaced the French Door with a sliding door. The Back Room was done! Or so I thought. While on vacation about a year later, the cats had a spaz and peed all over the carpeting. Plus, the carpet color was too light. It really showed dirt. I tried to get the carpet clean, but it was ruined.

After 24 years, I hope I finally get the job done.

Here Comes the Rain Again

It's raining cats and dogs right now.

Unfortunately, I have a puppy that doesn't have sense enough to come in from the rain. It even hailed for a few short minutes, and she ran all over the yard trying to catch the hail pieces like they were popcorn falling from the sky. I'll probably be washing and drying dog towels all weekend long. Now when any hail falls, she runs to the door and can't wait to get out. Silly puppy.

I had a wonderful Glorious Night. I started out with a nice long bath, stopped off at the library to pick up some reserved books, and then had soup and salad at Whole Foods. I got my first bundle of fiber from PJ. It's hand-dyed merino. I'm a little worried about starting up with nicer fiber. I just don't want to waste it. But, I'm so sick and tired of spinning with undyed wool.

One of the gals brought me a beginning spinning video to watch. And there was a new woman that brought llama fiber to sell. I bought two sandwich size bags for 75 cents each. Another woman had made these adorable felted cows using sticks from her yard as the legs and then felted wool bodies and head. Then, she added all of this great needle felting. Another woman had completed a Baby Surprise Jacket, but she used the waist band, button band and collar of a toddler's jeans jacket. She had made oddball yarn to use for it. It was really cute. I guess the majority of the women are gearing up for a guild sale of some sort.

Strangely enough, Sam went to the doctor two weeks ago for a complete physical. This is just not like him. He explained that he hadn't had one since he was in high school. Considering he will be 40 next year, I think it's about time. The company I work for sponsors a free all-inclusive blood screening every other year, and his last one was horrible. So, maybe he just wanted to know what was going on. On his follow-up visit this week, he was prescribed high blood pressure medication and advised to get his cholesterol down or he would have to be put on medication for that as well. All of this means lighter cooking. We've been having a lot of Asian foods, fish and tofu. And, that's fine with me, I could easily be a vegetarian.

I've finished the Landscape socks. I fiddled around trying to use a new method for grafting this morning. I have never been quite satisfied with my results. But, this new method was a PITA , and I went back to using my tried-and-true instructions from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd.

I've got about 6 inches done on the second Snow Squall sock. I've been feeling kind of "meh" about my knitting lately. Perhaps it's having to finish up things and there is none of that initial excitement like when you are working on a new project. To remedy this, I cast on for the fingerless garter mitts from Weekend Knitting. They go really quick. I am using Visions Artisan Yarn that I bought at Cottage Fiber. It's a celery green color. If I get to be better at spinning, I would like to make these out of my hand spun someday.

Tomorrow, we will pull this gawd awful carpeting up out of the family room. Then, the painting begins!