Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things I Love about Winter

1. The way the animals want to snuggle. The pup will sleep under the covers, and I sometimes end up with three pets curled up with me in the armchair.
2. I can indulge my hermit tendencies without guilt. Other than feeding the chickens, I can stay indoors for days at a time.
3. Our ventless gas fireplace. It heats most of the first floor for pennies a day and is lovely to look at.
4. God, I love mohair. I pretty much live in it all winter long.
5. Frost on the windows, which is probably a sign of some sort of expensive house problem, but I prefer to imagine fairies skating over the glass.
6. I keep a twin-sized down comforter on my arm chair. The dog curls up under it, and I have my own little furnace. Every hour, he'll pop out, gasping for air, go guzzle some water, and then climb right back in.
7. Switching over to flannel sheets is one of my favorite moments of the year.
8. Our dual-controlled heated mattress pad. Much nicer than an electric blanket. I'll crank it up an hour before bed.
9. A few years ago, my metabolism changed, so now my internal thermostat doesn't seem to be bothered by the cold very much.
10. Bare branches against the sky.

I don't really mention knitting because the joints in my hands are bothered by the cold, but I do find myself wearing an awful lot of it.

Scenes from a Rock-Star Weekend

Having managed to score exactly 5 1/2 hours of temp work this summer, I am essentially making a living as a rock star. The last time we did this, I finally had to turn to a food pantry and only got through it because I was hired to be a rock star on a reality show. We're okay so far, just barely, and the few lucrative gigs I've got fall just before the mortgage is due at least.

This weekend, minus gas, I probably made about $10. At least I got these photos.

Musical Chairs

LB and I hosted five musicians last week, in town auditioning for a State Department music/diplomacy program. It was a whole lot of closeness and apparently eight pots of coffee a day, but it all worked out. Sherman enjoyed all the laps to snuggle on, whether there was room for him or not.


I feel really fortunate when I house musicians (or any traveller, really). We don't have much money, but the ability to say "Sure, you can stay with us. Tonight? No problem. How many of you are there?" is a real blessing. We live a block from a shopping district, have an extra vehicle to loan out, and can sleep five to seven guests comfortably. Lucky, I say.

Last night, we got comped tickets to see Foghorn Stringband. Nadine, the base player, noticed my knitting and asked me to look at her cabled i-pad cover. She felt it didn't look like the photo in the pattern. The more I thought about it, I think the designer did some major photoshopping to highlight the contrast between her cable and the background. The photo looked almost unnatural.

Not much of a story there, really, just a reminder to myself that, all things considered, things are pretty good.

Homesteading

Since my former LYS boss let me go, I have more time on my hands and a lot less disposable income. So this year, we're going to be doing more gardening. LB built me some raised beds two years ago, and I gardened quite a bit the first year, then did nothing last year because my schedule was so full.

No excuses this year. We can't afford not to garden.

I am looking forward to spring lettuces and radishes and want to get a cold frame going as well.

The really big homesteading news is this:


I raised chickens for many years when I was a kid, sold the eggs even. We'd been talking for a few years about getting chickens, but weren't sure we'd have the time and didn't want to commit to an order of 25, which is most hatcheries' minimum. The city sets a limit of 4 animals per lot, which means we could only have 5 chicks (1 dog + 2 cats + 5 chicks = 2 lots).

Then a neighbor suggested going in together and three of us were able to pick what we wanted. I, of course, wanted antebellum breeds and really got my heart set on Polish Crested. There weren't any Polish when the neighbor went to pick up the chicks, alas, so we settled for Barred Rocks. I swapped out a few for a Sussex (another antebellum breed) and a Wyandotte (a post-war breed, but soooo pretty).

Yma Sumac doesn't even seem to realize they're here; Sherman was very interested at first, and Steuben has been completely obnoxious about wanting to get to them.

Wish us luck! Are the eggs here yet?

Pattern Updates

I finally got around to linking two of the blog patterns to Ravelry and to photographing them.

First, Helga, a bulky ponytail hat.


Second, the Bulky Broken Rib Cowl.


and just for grins, a gratuitous puppy/kitty pic.


I hope to get some more patterns up soon, particularly for the Civil War purse, but I need to figure out how to do PDFs first, as I want to include graphics and the original pattern.


Stay tuned!

Stuff, stuff, stuff

I've been thinking a lot about stuff lately. Not in the vague sense of "stuff" (as in "I hate that stuff!"), not in the verb sense (although I did just have to buy some stuffing for a knitted toy), but in the tangible sense (the stuff in my house, a house stuffed full). I am aware of my stuff, especially when I try to take photographs.

I don't read decorating books and don't subscribe to any decorating magazines, but to me stuff is charming. I like stuff, except when I try to take photographs.

I've never understood people who don't decorate their homes. Not your place, of course. Your place is lovely.

LB and I knew a couple for many years and visited three of their homes, each singularly lacking in even the smallest bit of charm. Everything was tatty and thrown together, and there was nowhere to rest one's eyes and take in beauty. It's like they went to Goodwill and grabbed the ugliest, dingiest example of everything, then threw it all into one house.

It's totally possible to buy great stuff used, but it takes patience and a practiced eye. Notice, also, that I said we "knew" them, not "were friends with." They were drinkers and enablers, shouters, close-talkers, not to mention the series of thong incidents. Not fun people to be around. LB is far kinder than I am, however. Anyway, their place reflected themselves: shoddy, abrasive, chaotic.

There is great beauty in the absence of stuff. I've been following Anna's blog for ages, through at least three homes as well, and she has a spare aesthetic that takes my breath away.

I, however, tend towards the cabinet of curiosities approach. As a teen, my favorite room in the Walter's Art Gallery recreated a private museum, with every inch of wall space covered in art. I like the Venice Cafe, House on the Rock, and Haussner's Restaurant, places not meant to be seen through a tiny viewfinder, but places in which one immerses, gazes about, explores.

Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to photograph such places. The point is to stand in the middle and look around.

So, with that in mind, here are some photographs, funnily enough not taken in my house.

Steuben and I went camping last weekend, and I knew he'd be wet and muddy most of the time. I also knew it would be cold, so I'd taken a down duvet.


A pale blue, down duvet.*

Fortunately, since I have plenty of stuff, I took an old queen-sized sheet of LB's, folded it, stitched it, and added twill ties to make a duvet cover.


My late cat Double had ripped several holes in the sheet as she got old and had trouble jumping up onto the bed. So I took some fabric scraps and patched the holes.


I imagine I'll keep adding patches as Steuben adds his own share of tears. Since it was cold (we woke to frost), he would pick up the duvet cover with his teeth, then kick at it until he'd made a perfect nest for himself.

When I got home, in fact, I added two more patches, which I could easily do ... because we have stuff.


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*Grammar tip of the day: Confused about when to put a comma in a series of adjectives? Technically, you need to distinguish between cumulative and coordinate adjectives. Cumulative adjectives add to one another: "pale" modifies "blue." "Pale blue down duvet" would mean that the down was blue. Coordinate adjectives each modify the noun: "blue duvet" and "down duvet." Basically, if you can put an "and" between the adjectives, stick in a comma: "the duvet is blue and down." Now you know stuff!

Things that make me happy

Dots

I had good intentions for awhile there, but a headache and a bit of teh-crazy in my life have reduced me to dots.

LB put in a request for shirred eggs, so I did.

I love to cook Thanksgiving dinner just for the two of us; this year I was able to pull it off mostly with our Fair Shares. The menu:

• homemade applesauce from the crockpot
• crockpot cranberry sauce with red wine and clove-studded orange (don't tell my sister, but I just dumped out the dregs of a couple of open bottles of wine I'd had hanging around since the Oscars in February; they didn't smell vinegary)
• roasted chicken
• yeast rolls
• delicata squash
• salad with radish, carrots, tomato, and greens
• mashed potatoes
• gravy, and plenty of it
• and for dessert--pumpkin bread pudding with a caramel pecan sauce (I do not like pumpkin pie, plus we get so much bread with our Fair Shares and I don't like sandwiches either)

I settled in to grade. Sherman helped by chewing on some particularly egregious use of second person, one of my pet peeves.

Steuey made his first real trip to the groomer. We've dropped in several times just to visit, so he won't be too upset whenever he goes.

I tried to get a "baby's first haircut" photo, but Steu was all a blur.

And speaking of grooming, don't let my sister see how bad my eyebrows are. I keep thinking of better things to do with $8, like putting it towards yarn for this headband.

On Saturday, the lovely and talented Megan and the very handsome and erudite Robert took me to the Shaved Duck. I nearly walked out when I found the restaurant stopped carrying its duck fat french fries. Seriously. Nearly walked out.

But Megan and Robert were all the way in town from Indiana and I'd rather be with them then prove a point to the restaurant. The new fries aren't bad, but they aren't even close to duck fat fries, either.

Today it's back to grading, back to leftovers, back to a puppy with messy fur, and me with messy eyebrows.

For Megan

Last night, my friend Megan told me she checked my blog a lot, but didn't care about the knitting stuff. She only wanted to know what was going on with the dog.

This post is for her (although I promise a wee bit of knitting talk).

We had intended to take Steuey to another reenactment last weekend, but the closest one LB wanted to attend necessitated a four-hour drive, and we would not be able to leave until 6 p.m. A closer one was a time-line event (a hodgepodge of WWI, WWII, Civil War, Fur Traders, cowboys, and lord knows what else, maybe some knight errants even) and was deemed too farby, even for dog training purposes. At the last minute, we decided to stay in town.

On Saturday, we headed over to the Strange Folk festival, which others have posted about much better than I, with pictures even. Since it was held in a park, we decided to bring the dog, but after the long trek over the river, I spotted the signs around the park: No Pets in the Park.

I'm a big believer in obeying the dog rules, and I totally get a rule saying "No Pets in the Playground" or "No Pets on the Ballfields." But no pets in the park, period? That I don't get.

This wasn't one of those tiny block-square city parks either. It was big enough to have a playground, a pool, several ballfields, large grassy areas, and several buildings. LB and I were willing to take turns in the park, with the other standing sadly outside, gazing at all the crafty loveliness off in the distance, but we spotted lots of people walking dogs, dog rescue groups, and even a pen of alpacas. One couple was walking their ferrets.

LB talked me into civil disobedience, so I decided to see how Steu would do being carried in a backpack in front of me, something I'd been wanting to try for awhile. He did great for over an hour and then finally got squirrely.

I wish I could say I supported the local crafts, but I only did so in spirit. Through a mix-up at one of my schools, I didn't get paid on time, plus I had given up two shifts at my LYS to go out of town this weekend, so I didn't have that money either. However, if I had been rich, I'd have bought some Day of the Dead barrettes and a dustpan made from a vintage license plate and with a turned-wood handle.

And let's be honest, I also would have bought yarn (and let's be honest, that was the "wee knitting bit" for the post).

Afterwards, the three of us (me, LB, and Steu) drove back to midtown and sat in the car for about an hour, waiting out a torrential storm. LB had wanted to go to the Green Homes Festival, only fair since I had dragged him around a craft fair for most of the morning. After the storm slowed to a drizzle, we wandered around looking at tents for energy audits, green cleaning, and solar lighting.

On Sunday, we headed out to Purina Farms for the Canine Games. I've always wanted to go to the Purina farm, so after almost twenty years, the games finally gave me the incentive.

We watched the dock diving display twice and tried four different events. Other than showing no interest in retrieving (he does at home, honest!), Steu did great at the other three. First, we got clocked with a radar gun at 20 mph. Then we tried agility, which went great. He wove the poles, went through the tunnels and the tires, climbed the A-frames, jumped the hurdles, and came when he was called. We finished off with a tricks class (shake, roll over, and reverse).

Then he came home and took a great big nap.

Virtual Reality

Apparently I've been busy. Not quite busy enough to practice work avoidance by getting online and whining about being busy, but too busy to be online.

I finished up two Civil War-era Norwegian morning caps.

#1

#2

I have traded #1 for some reproduction Civil War-era beadwork garters from Kelly of Backward Glances.

Kelly surprised me with the gift of a third garter. "Just in case," she said.

I went to Springfield, IL to take a ribbonwork workshop.

LB asked me out on a date to to hear a fabulous Hungarian dance orchestra. This was the best video I could find of them. It's a terrible video, but the sound is really good and it was filmed two days after I saw them. If you want to see the dancing better, do a YouTube search for "Ignac Kadar."

We went to the Pride parade, where I forgot to take my camera. My friend Matt of the Unceasing Fabulosity was handing out chokers he'd made and gifted me with this one, modeled by Yma, who, being a cat, is always proud.

I made granola in the slow cooker (oats, oat bran, wheat germ, sunflower seed, pumpkin seeds, coconut, and other stuff I forget).


I went to a bacon party. Rachel (the best knitted glengarry designer ever!) wins the prize for the ingenious idea of a bacon potluck. Years ago, friends would put on a Blue Moon party. We'd rent a dance hall, play blues, swing dance, and eat blue foods (blue corn chips, blueberries, blue candies, etc.) Blue food is hard. Bacon, however, is genius.

My humble contrbution was the following recipe:

Chili-Bacon Grissini (aka Bacon on a Stick)

30 breadsticks

Ingredients:

30 thin slices bacon

30 grissini (thin Italian breadsticks)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 c chili powder

1 t cayenne

NOTES: The recipe works best with very thin bacon. Although it seems counterintuitive, go for the cheap stuff! To get 30 pieces, you'll need about 2 lbs. of bacon. One box of grissini should have 30 sticks, but invariably you'll get home and find that half of them are broken. Buy an extra box or two.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Let the bacon stand at room temperature for about ten minutes to let it soften slightly.
• Gently wrap one bacon slice in a spiral around each breadstick, leaving part of the breadstick exposed on one end. Place the breadsticks on a baking rack and set aside.
• Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place the backing rack on top of it.
• In a tray or long, shallow dish, comgine sugar, chili powder, and cayenne. Stir until they are combined well, breaking up any lumps.
• Roll each breadstick gently in mixture, coating the bacon well. Arrange the sticks about 1/2 inch apart on backing rack.
• Bake about 20 minutes or until coating is caramelized and bacon is a rich mahogany color.
• Carefully loosen breadsticks and cool on rack for about 15 minutes.
• Bacon will become crisp and breadsticks will harden as they cool.
• Serve at room temperature.

In which a miracle occurs

Technically, I suppose, the term "miracle" should be reserved for the true hand-of-God material, like walking on water, parting a sea, feeding a giant crowd with a few loaves and fish. You know, stuff like that.

Of course there's sports miracles, like the "Miracle on Ice" or a Hail Mary pass because we all know God picks sides.

I can't even compete with a Jesus-shaped Cheeto, but somehow miraculously my photos came back.

I don't use "miracle" lightly here. Seriously, I had turned my camera on and off several times, hit the review button only to see "No photos in memory" on the display screen each time.

Then last night, there they were. They're not miraculously good photos, but they are miraculously present.




1. Picture 029, 2. door, 3. lala, 4. rhysngeoff2, 5. nuts, 6. cookie, 7. corner, 8. rhysngeoff1, 9. geoff3, 10. bassclamps, 11. rhysnval, 12. geoff2, 13. geoff1, 14. sadie, 15. corner, 16. bassclamps

Knitting for Cats

Last Christmas, I ran across a link to a woman who had made a cat sweater out of three balls of $45.00 yarn (No Rav link, but you could find it there if you searched hard enough). It's been bothering me ever since.

At the moment, I'm working on a project for myself, the cost of which makes me feel deep pangs of guilt and fiscal defensiveness.

So to assuage my guilt, here are some more cat sweaters from the geniuses at BitchBuzz: The Top 5 Angriest Pet Models on Etsy.

Oh, and the 3-ball cat sweater lady? None of the photos show the cat actually wearing the sweater. Why? Because cats don't like sweaters, whether they cost $5 or $135.

How Can You Say No?

Know anyone who wants a kitty? Really.

No Such Thing

I thought I'd seen yesterday's girls before, so I went rummaging through old posts tagged postcards. No luck. Eventually, on an old flash drive, I found the girls I'd been thinking of. Not the same, but similar. Wherever they're from, that knitting looks pretty essential to keeping them warm.


Yesterday, the man I love, the man who drove off for a 2-day trip 7 days ago, called me from the highway to tell me he was finally on his way home. As a bonus, he'd picked up a homeless hitchhiker and a kitten. Initially, the plan was that the homeless guy go to the shelter and the kitten go into quarantine while we found a home for it. We ended up taking the former out to dinner last night and having him crash in the house we're rehabbing. The kitten quarantine has been more successful.


I can't afford to keep either, so they're both free to a good home. Together or separately. Take your pick.

Fall Is Near

Today, for the first day in months, I put on a pair of knitted socks. Thought about it yesterday, but it wasn't quite cool enough. Today, as we get hours and hours of what's left of Hurricane Gustav, I pulled out a pair of knitted socks, albeit in cotton.

These aren't those, but they are newly finished. Pattern is the Oak-Ribbed Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I've found my new favorite heel. Yarn is Regia Nation Color.

Can you spot the kitty?

Socks and Scapes and Sherman

I haven't had as much time as I'd like to knit, but I've made good progress on Nancy Bush's Gentleman's Sock with Lozenge Pattern. The travelling purl diamonds are just enough to keep me interested, at least on the first sock.


My main frustration with her sock patterns is the yarn requirements. Most men's socks need more than 100g of yarn, darn it. With most yarns now coming in 100g balls, and cost almost $20, that second skein is really scaring me off. _______________

This week, our CSA had garlic scapes, so I modified this recipe:

Cut garlic scapes into match sticks and saute/steam for about 15 minutes until softened (they're pretty stringy otherwise).

Add some chopped leftover german potato salad and 1 T of apple cider vinegar. Cook until vinegar is reduced and absorbed.

Use as an omelet filling with swiss cheese.


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Finally, we have a damned big cat.

Meme from Yoel

Rachel asked me last night why I don't knit anymore, but I do. In fact, my arms are aching right now. It's just that I've reached problematic spots in several projects and many of those are in problematic yarns (don't travel well, not from my LYS, etc). I'm also trying to concentrate on being a good teacher, a good wife, a good homeowner. In other words, I'm aiming for balance at the moment. Like someone quitting smoking, I'm telling myself that this time, I'll really, really pull it off. For sure. Maybe.

That said, I'm falling back on Yoel's meme. She tagged me, thanks ever so much.

1.) What was I doing ten years ago?
Pretty much exactly what I'm doing now. I was teaching, but just at one school. I'd started being a rock star five years before that. I knew how to knit. I had just finished my first season of Civil War reenacting. I was dating LB long distance. I had two cats, both of whom are now gone. I was living in the same place I am now, but it was just an apartment then; later we'd buy the entire 2-flat. I was starting to get comfortable in my skin.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

• make German potato salad in the slow cooker
• call a lawyer to fix a speeding ticket
• print out driving directions for tomorrow's trip to Kentucky
• completely clear out my office for mandatory summer cleaning (technically work, I guess, so I'll do six)
• figure out what to cook with this week's CSA share
• temporarily modify an 1860s-style dress into an 1870s style dress by altering the sleeves and skirt and by sewing a bustle.

3) Snacks I enjoy:-
I'm a huge snacker, so anything. The ones I periodically crave are dark chocolate, Old Bay potato chips, lace cookies, Sweetarts, Smarties, and Good N' Plenty. Chicken In A Biscuit when I'm particularly stressed.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

• Buy a hybrid and a cute camper
• Travel the country and the world
• Try out more new restaurants
• Leave bigger tips
• Get health insurance

5) Places I have lived: Silver Spring, MD; College Park, MD; Relay, MD; Fredericksburg, VA; Baltimore, MD; Catonsville, MD; St. Louis, MO

6) Jobs I have had: God, I can't even remember them all. I've been known to have four at once. Selling corn at a roadside stand; Frank's Nursery & Crafts; resident assistant; language lab worker; generic pharmaceutical company; text book editing; teaching English; rock star; chauffeur; LYS; tutoring in Spanish; private chef; bookkeeping for a frame shop; helping run a 78 RPM record auction; helping in a fiddle shop; running inventory for a granite wholesaler; lots of animal sitting; registrar; and an unfathomable amount of temp work.

If you read this far, consider yourself tagged.

Slurring My Words

I swear this is not a staged photo. Although, knowing Frank's propensities, I'm open for suggestions for props more inventive than liquor.

He looks about like I'm feeling right now about my knitting. I've got too much going on that needs too much concentration. I've got one mitten done. I've got 3/4 of one sock, plus the cuff on its mate. I've done the required 17 repeats on a lace scarf, and am getting stitch but not row gauge. There's more, but those are the things I picked up when I was struggling with some other pieces.

The incomplete pile just keeps getting bigger.

Might be time for a vodka and a nap.

I Spy with My Own Little Eye

• a stack of ungraded papers.
• a copy of the anniversary issue of Vogue Knitting. I have knit the anniversary scarf and made up the flowers. It's been up in a grocery sack in the sewing room waiting to be assembled since December.
• a unfinished bit of hairpin lace.
• Emma, which I am supposed to be reading for a KAL. I'm about three weeks behind. Neither Emma nor Mr. Knightley appeal to me much.
• a spool of blue quilting thread for a quilt I haven't been working on in months.
• an unfinished mardi gras stole. I did manage to knit 6 rows on it yesterday.
• a small fragment of fisherman's wool left over from a charity hat. It should be thrown away because the cats have taken to playing with it, but I just can't bring myself to toss it. It's just enough for a stripe.
• an ad for the orchid show at the Missouri Botanical Garden I would like to see. It ends in a week.
• an unfinishedFidget. I only need to knit about an inch, but have misplaced the pattern.
• Victorian Lace Today, set aside because I could not find my size 8s for a shawl I have no business starting.
• a single sock knit to the ball of the foot, so that LB could try it on this morning. In the less than five minutes between when he tried it on & I went to the kitchen for the Pepsi One, a certain cat (probably Yma) bit the yarn in half.
• a gossip mag and two half-completed crosswords my sweetie presented to me as a surprise this morning. At first he just said, "I thought you would like these," but when asked where they came from, said "The dumpster...but they were on the top."
• the inevitable partially-drunk can of Pepsi One (sweetened with Splenda).
• a short stack of unread magazines. The bigger stack got shoved onto the floor and is out of the frame.
• a Bud Plant catalogue. I have had a $30 credit with them for at least 3 years, waiting on me to order something, anything.
• Three yarns and a crochet stitch pattern to help reproduce a civil war scarf I saw in a photo. It's not working very well.

The only completed things in the photo are the following:

• A coffee-stained quilt
• The deluxe DVD of Pride and Prejudice watched in one sitting yesterday.
• a handout I wrote for an upcoming Civil War dance program

Jesus. Is it any wonder "Chaos" is my name?

Cat Mat

Inspired by Wendy and by a flyer I picked up at a Craft Mafia show, I decided to make a cat mat and sprinkled catnip inside the blocks as I sewed them together.

No new fabric was purchased for this project. It all came out of used clothing, except for the light blue flannel print, which had been lingering in my stash for a few years. That makes it free, right?

The cat mat was very well received.

There was sniffing.

There was rolling

There was a bit of biting and plenty of licking.

But it turns out I should have made two.