Score!

Think back to last week wherein our writer whinged and moaned about clothes and the way that she looks in them at the moment and being unable to find a good pant to save her, well, you know.

Fast Forward to Saturday afternoon wherein she located not 1 not 2, but 4 excellent lengths of fabric for well-fitting pants. Note that said lengths were navy, black, rust and a lovely neutral pinstripe plaid with a green streak in them.

Said green streak will work quite nicely with the green sweaters that are fair to bursting out of our heroines closet which has somewhat more room of late.

The future is a bit brighter as a result of the prospect of the wearing of the green. Now if only our heroine might find the time to sew them up....naturally she must sew things in the order that they are cut, not because sewing uncut pants is a bit challenging, but because too many cut things lead to chaos.

(Chaos is bad.)

But also because our heroine is fresh out of navy blue thread. The current cut things are navy blue, and while having been serged to within an inch of their last thread, finishing will require navy blue thread. Of which, there is none in the market today. Not even for ready money.

Perhaps our heroine will kill two pants with one spool of thread by walking to the big Taj Mahal of Fabric in SF to....

buy a spool of navy thread.

(Note that our heroine will not go for a walk to reduce her cholesterol and body weight, but will apparently go the end of Sutter St for navy blue thread.)

Oh, the irony.

A tribute to Jim Henson

Here is my latest tribute to Jim Henson. I believe that I have now exhausted anything resembling a Muppet from the stash.

The best part is that this yarn was 10 Balls of cheap crappy yarn from Target at a dollar a ball. I had been thinking that it would be something that I could knit into a sweater for Littlest. But it turns out that it knits into a substantial scarf if you knit all 10 balls at the same time, and is over quickly.

Which is a very good thing for this stuff since I have been looking at it for some time and wondering What was I thinking?

Littlest once again snagged this from the needles, with me following her around the house trying to bind it off so that it did not become a snarled mess that would have to be trashed. Again, what was I thinking? I could have trashed it.

Here is one of the dresses that I recently sewed up. It's a lovely linen with embroidery in the leaves pattern, sprigged with lady bugs....

The Rock thinks that my daughter will run screaming from me when she sees all the buggees on Mama....she was traumatized as a small child by DS who told her there was a bug on her.....she shrieked and has not been the same since.....every speck on the ground is a buggee, accompanied by tense neck muscles and her trying to claw her way up my legs to get away from the declared buggee. Here is a fuzzy detail of said Buggees.

How does my garden grow?

I have been very busy lately between work, class and the family. Sadly, the family is losing out in that equation, but I have provided negative feedback to the class, based on the instructor's caution to the class to conduct no business on the internet, because it's not safe.

Luddite.

Anyway, I slammed out my plan, and they will arrange for it to be reviewed by one or two consultants on staff with respect to the class, and I will no longer attend the class, as it is a patent waste of my time. Mind you, The Rock thinks that I should stick it out, because there might be something that I could learn from it. But then everyone else that I know wants to know why I am still in the class.

So the plan is almost complete, I have another couple of hours to put into it on sections that mostly just don't apply to my model, size and concept, and then it will be DONE....and I drop it off on Monday for them to review. Finito.

But meanwhile, my garden has been growing, I have completed a pair of socks and a shawl in the aforementioned timewaster. Thank God for sticks and string! And I thought that I would post some pics of the plants growing in my yard for all to see.

Here we have the pima cotton that grew in, this plant is about 7 weeks old. Something has been eating it as you can see, but there is no apparent insects, and we have very few rabbits and the like that might eat plants. Now you should know that commercial white cotton is kept that way by draconian genetic, insect, fertilizer and other controls, is one of the most expensive crops on earth in terms of the cost of water, to the environment and chemically. You can see why, no? This little plant is not so hardy, yes?

And here we have some brown cotton from seeds acquired clandestinely on the internet. This plant is a little more than 3-4 weeks old. Look how healthy it looks, more hardy, and it's brown cotton, so has the added bonus of being more natural than the other. Of course, it's in a pot about 6 feet from the pima, one would think that what's eatin the pima would be going for this, but no! Amazing how Mother Nature takes care of her own. As for the rest, not so much.
Radishes, that have not been thinned yet. The only person that eats radishes in my house, is The Rock. I throw some seeds in each year, just so he can have some spice in his life. Of course, he would much prefer the peppers, but I have not been so successful with those here.


Meet the peas....also in need of thinning. You can't see it in the photo, but just above the wood there is a chicken wire fence that the wee peas will climb up once they get big enough.
Beans, beans, the musical fruit..... What was I thinking? I have 3 pots of beans....and well they is going gangbusters.....also needing thinning.
Last year's calendulas are exploding. I need to strip the heads and brew me some sun tea to dye with. Maybe tomorrow.
Here is a mystery. I think I put linen seeds in the side bed, and they were last years' seed, did not get water for a bit, and well the bed is in bad condition. And I have this growing there....well actually the mint is coming back too, but this is my concern. This could maybe be flax, but I don't think so. I think it's a mysterious noxious weedy thing.

So bumble fee, if you see this and your flax is looking like this, do tell, aye?

If'n it is flax, it's not doing well, as the plant is laying down, not erect like one would expect of flax.
Here is the peach tree that volunteered in a strange place a few years ago. Do you know that this peach tree, which The Rock swore three ways from Sunday would never produce, threw on oodles of small sweet peaches that were well enjoyed by all? Last year was a bust due to leaf curl, but as you can see, looks to be a peach pie year, weather willing!
So that's the garden....

Now for something completely different. I have been going through my clothes to pull out the ones not getting any action, and in that lot was this vest that was too long for flattery, and too plain by far. Take a look at it now! That is shisha mirrors and some trim that I picked up somewhere. I still have a bit of sewing to do, but it's done with respect to the look....just finish work left.

First the detail. Oohs and ahhhs are appreciated, of course.

And the total look!
I also recycled some jeans into the yoke for a linen skirt, quick and easy. I did not take pics of that yet.

On the yarn front, I am wrapping up the adagio shawl from Candace Eisner Strick. I have to say though that the pattern has left me with alot of leftover yarn, which I hate.....I may knit it up into a scarf or something like that, just to use it up.

On the dyeing front, my yarns are up on the Ceallach Dyes storefront. Take a look and place your orders, because this yarn is going to disappear before you know it! There are still some yarns that need to be photographed and posted, but there is a lot to see right now.

Look forward to hearing from you

Alas, Poor BodyBag!

I knew him well.

Okay, not really, but he did sit in my garage for quite some time.

But I can say that I have this weekend used something like 10 pounds of mohair up!

The pillows are stuffed, and body bag is no more. They are quite lovely, and I shall post pics once I have some that are not blurry and horrid.

And I have two days of gratitudes as well.

I am grateful that my father who I did not always get along with was there to talk to last night. He and I talked at length about life and work and feeding the soul. It was painful and difficult and left me feeling a bit cleansed.

I am also grateful for naps. Naps for both children, including my 6 year old who is "too old for naps" but has taken a nap twice in the last two weeks. And kudos to Mama for somehow managing to get both children napping at the same time, other moms know that this is quite the trick indeed.

On the right sidebar, you may notice that I added in my 2007 resolutions, so that I can track progress on them. I am also going to add a section for fiber used....just out of curiosity to see how much wood (fiber) a woodchuck (me) could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. It should be interesting at year's end to see how much fiber I have used. My hope is that it will reveal that I in fact chuck a great deal of wood in the course of a year.

Bezzie asked about Caramel Apple Cider, as if there was a secret family recipe that I was tempting her with. There is not a secret recipe, but I have on occasion mulled cider with quite nice results, and here is how:

Caramel Apple Cider

Pour Apple juice into a pan sufficiently large enough to prevent a large mess from overflow. Then add the mulling spices, I like cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, which can be used whole wrapped in cheesecloth or just dropped in. (The quick alternative is a mulling spice packet that can be purchased. Let cider mull for a good long time. If you have a crock pot, mull it in the crockpot. The crockpot is also nice for this as it will keep it going for awhile.

Pour into cups and top with whipped cream, drizzle a little caramel sauce on top. Those little caramel dipping cups are good, for small amounts.

Drink, slurping with great delight.

(Optionally spike with alcohol. The Rock says to use Calvados or an equivalent Apple Brandy for flavor. For the accomplishment of full on inebriation, apply vodka in a less than judicious manner. Rinse Lather and Repeat. I tend not to do this as it yields less than attractive results.)

Reserve mulled cider not used right then in the refridgerator and reheat as necessary.

Gratitude Day 6

I am grateful that I have health insurance that allows me to call and find out that the symptoms I am having are pretty much the order of the day for the string of viri making the rounds. Littlest has had, Little Hill now has it, it has even struck the Rock....who has gone off to work, despite my encouraging him to stay home and rest....

Some folks have asked about Caramel Apple Cider. It can be had at Starbuck's, although on the day in question, there was no cider in the coffeeshop.

Not even for ready money.

We subsequently went to Pete's who have nothing resembling cider, also not even for ready money. Apparently, cider is not coffee.

Panama Bay does have cider, but it is simpler and less expensive.

But by far the best to be found is at my local Borders store, in the coffeeshop aka Seattle's Best.....it comes with real whip and caramel sauce on top....served with a smile by the barrista who knows me because I go there every week for knitting.

Ain't it amazing how such a simple thing like Caramel Apple Cider can have so much behind it?

I have also been knitting....a little. Here is the feather and fan shawl I am knitting on very large but color-coordinated needles....I am using basically any odds and ends I can find with some main colors in mind....Here are the results so far. I am knitting with 3-6 strands of yarn the whole time, depending on weight and effect on size 19 straights. I started with a cast on of 38 stitches, allowing for 1 knit stitch on both edges and 2 repeats in the middle.

Here is the organic Brown cotton that I have been spinning for what seems forever. I have about 420 yds of it, in a sock to fingering weight. Don't ask me what I will do with it, because the color is soo strange for me and my family. I plan to boil it in soda ash though since this is supposed to deepen the color which might make a difference for me. I am hoping it may deepend to a coppery color, which can work.

Finally, the pillows in the family room are dead.

Yes, that's right, dead. You know, broken down, lumpy, floppy and in need of replacement.

But I have this stunning bit of shisha embroidery which was made into a choli like bodice for a young girl, that my cousin-in-law brought back for me. I am going to cut it up a bit and make it into pillows for the futon. I am going to replace the numerous pillows with 2 triangular bolsters for the ends. First I have cut muslin out, which will be sewn up, and stuffed with Bodybag.

Bodybag you ask? That is the moniker for the mohair that was given to me by an older guild member to clear out her space. It came in a bag that was approximately the size of a Bodybag, thus the name. I had it processed, as much of it was snarled and not so nice, although it had been washed nicely. However, I have since discovered that only the softest of the softest kid mohair may even approach my sensitive skin, and handspun is best. (Handspun yarn is frequently more soft, as the finest fibers can be difficult to spin on a machine....lucky me!)

I have found though that mohair makes lovely stuffing. Since it does not felt and is somewhat slick, the fibers slide against each other, lending stuffing a more yeilding feel. Perfect for pillows.

So I am making pillows, with Bodybag and shisha embroidery. When they are done, I shall post for your approval. Drooling is strictly not allowed.