Of Queens and Crowns

Now that my daughter has gotten settled into her first grade class her teacher has asked us to create some capes and crowns.

I volunteered to complete a felt crown that had already been cut out.  I used gold lame under some cutouts and used blanket stitch around those cutouts and the outer edge of the crown.  For the blanket stitch I used a gold thread that needed a lot of TLC but the time was worth it for the effect.  Then I decided to use Mother of Pearl beads along with a center blue seed bead to complete the decoration.

One of the nice things about Waldorf Education is the use of Royalty archetypes throughout the stories and class play.  This is not like the "Little Princess" Tiaras that so many little girls wear or the Burger King Crowns.  The use of crowns and capes and Kings and Queens in Waldorf Education is about presenting children with the idea of creating a noble view of their behavior.  Kings and queens and knights behave with honor and take care of the people in their kingdom. 

To behave with honor and a noble nature is what we should all aspire to.

First Day of First Grade

Wow,  how quickly it seems that we send them off.  Today was India's first day of First Grade.  I got to watch her waiting in line patiently until it was her turn to greet her new teacher and then enter her class.  I saw her nervousness and how she handled it.  Somehow today was different than when she started Kindergarten.  In Kindergarten the children are expected to be just that, kinder kids.  In first grade there are more rules and more things that they will be learning.  By the end of the year she will be reading ( I expect pretty well)  She will be in a new phase of her life. 

Oh how wonderful, compelling, stressfull, and somewhat mournful all of that is.

End of Summer Fiesta

Wow the last few days have been picking up steam.  Swimming lessons were over yesterday.  The Ice Cream Social at India's school was Thursday night. Also several of my clients are getting their last little trip out of town before school starts.

So amid all of the end of summer busy we took the afternoon to enjoy the Festival at Vets Park in Culver City.  As usual India prefers the pony ride and petting zoo to anything else.  However, we did have to pretend we were eating our vegetables with some fried zucchini.  Then my annual opportunity to have some Cotton Candy.  I am so happy to only have it once a year.  That is truly enough. 

The end of summer is upon us.  The sun is still bright in the sky.  First Grade is right around the corner. The best things in life are still petting a pony.

Chloe Begins

Well as you can see to the left I have gotten started on the "Spud and Chloe at the Farm" project.  My daughter India is very excited about it all and is very vocal about what colors I should be using.

One thing that I have observed about working on small knitting projects is that it gives you an opportunity to start learning some new techniques that you previously had not had very much opportunity to try.

For instance I have be doing K2tog (Knit two together)  a good method to decrease.  Also I have been using Kfb (Knit front and back) Pfb (Purl front and back), and M1 (make one)  All three of these are new ways to do increasing for me.

Also when you are working on this scale you complete your work fast but you also have the opportunity to repeat your work often to help you get used to the new techniques.  So far This little doll is going together well and I can't wait to get her dress done.

Dorset Wool is Spun

A little while back I posted about a lovely fluffy snowball like ball of Dorset Wool I was working on.  Well I am finally done spinning it.  It is about 15 1/4 ounces of wool that I spun in about a light worsted weight. 

I will be dying it into pink, blue, and purple.  Then I will be making it into a granny square vest for my daughter.

I have never done any dye work with my hand spun yarn yet but time will give me the opportunity to add a new skill.  I will post the results of the next stage when they  are ready.

Spud & Chloe at the Farm

Yes, just one more project to get started with.  I saw this book advertised at the back of Living Crafts Magazine and had to get it.  The book is full of instructions to make a whole knitted farm yard scene and a story to go along with it.

This book is designed using the Spud & Chloe Yarn line from Blue Sky Alpacas.  This yarn is partly super wash wool and partly cotton in a worsted weight yarn. 

While I am sure it would be great to use this yarn that I am sure is divine, I checked on the prices.  It seems that each skein is just under $20.  That means to get all of the colors to make just Chloe you will be spending around $60 once you add tax or shipping.  Now I am sure that each skein will be able to be used in more than one of the patterns. It still comes out pretty pricey for me. 

I am presently using some "Wool Ease" that I have on hand to test out the patterns.  I may also experiment with other worsted weight yarns to complete this cute little scene.  So far the patterns seem pretty straight forward and I hope to be able to learn enough from working my way through them that I will ultimately be designing some of my own cute little things.  Some ideas are fluttering through my mind.

Family

Today our little family got to be four instead of three for a little while.  It had been about four years since we last got to see my husbands son, Chance, who lives in England. 

A day like today makes you think about what really makes you a relative to someone else.  Is it genetics? Yes and no. Is it proximity, being with each other day after day?  Or is it just simply a desire to be a family?  Have a place marked for you that says that you belong with others. 

While we don't get to see Chance often.  Seldom have the opportunity to communicate the way we would like.  We are family.  We are family because we have chosen that. 

So today under the watchful eye of the Hollywood Sign we had an opportunity to reignite that feeling of family.  As I look at those three faces in the picture above I see a genetic resemblance.  I also got to experience that desire that you have when you are with family to connect and feel passionately that you belong just where you are even if those physical moments of togetherness are much too far apart.

Lace For Shoulder Bag

 A few days ago (August 13)  I made a post called Weft Faced Weave.  This post showed some weaving that I am working on that I plan on making into a shoulder bag.  I am also making some lace to put on the bag when it is down to give it a little texture. 

This particular lace is being made with, I think, 60/2 Linen.  The pattern itself comes from "101 Torchon Patterns"  by Robin S. Lewis.  This particular book is a really nice place to start for some basic Torchon patterns that are easy to follow and give you an opportunity to work on many different techniques.  Many of them can easily be adapted to use different stitches than is originally shown to spice up your work. 

I especially like this pattern because of the hearts.  I think it will give some nice contrast to the more ethnic feel of the weaving that I have done so far.

Playing Fair

Well here it is. I am finally letting myself write a bit more of a philosophical blog post.

Through a conversation with my husband tonight on the merits of what we were viewing on the evening news. I was reminded of a frustration that I have with the leadership that we have throughout our world. This is not just our politicians or our bosses. It is all of us. You know, the "adults".

As a parent I take my child to the playground. I help her get through her issues with other kids. Tell her how to play fair, say she's sorry (even if it was not her fault), teach her to tell the truth, care about others who are different than her. You know all of those things we teach our kids but often fail to do our selves.

I teach her these things and then I have to explain to her that she will get more responsibilities in life as she shows she can be more responsible. Then she looks around and sees many adults behaving worse than the biggest brat on the play ground. What's up with that!

I watch the news and it is just one big "he said she said" spat. Why should I pick up my toys Johnny doesn't have to pick up his toys. You know the drill. Anyway, the whole point of this post tonight is just a reminder to myself and those around me that maybe before we open our mouths we should think about what our Mom or Dad would have told us was the right thing to say. Remember that life really is one big playground and none of us can have a good time if we aren't willing to play fair, accept our failures, and try again.

Airing Some Clean Laundry

Living in an apartment I have to use the washing machines that are in our laundry room. When you start adding up the cost of doing your washing each month it ends up costing me about $40 a month if I use the dryer. If I don't use the dryer I save about $13 per month.

So why would I bother hanging my laundry up to dry in my bedroom instead of using the dryers. The reasons are many.

For instance I take that $13 and add it to what I set aside for savings each month. That is $156 extra dollars in my savings per year.

It also saves on the wear and tear on my clothing. Whenever you clean the lint trap in a dryer the lint you are removing is fabric that the dryer removed from your clothing. That means your clothes wear out that much faster.

When I hang my clothes and the air flows through them into my apartment it works somewhat like a "swamp cooler" and helps to cool my apartment.

Lastly, its just that much less energy used that does not have to be used and no dryers heating up the world any more than we already are.

So every night I have the clothes up, yes we have to duck under them. Do I want people coming in my bedroom looking at my underwear hanging up there, No! But this is about having a home that works for our family not the other way around.

Painting With Wool

Wool is such a versatile fiber. You can spin it, weave with it, knit it, felt it, stuff things with it, and even paint with it.

This technique is called magic wool and essentially you just lay the wool on a felt base and press it together. I am just starting to work with it that way so when all was said and done I did a little needle felting to keep it all together. I think that in retrospect I need to work a little more slowly. Diligence almost always pays off. One of the nice things about getting older is that I no longer feel pressured to hurry. I think that is one of the things that people who have a passion for art and crafting have is that willingness to let something evolve in its own time. Sometimes you just have to give the work time to show up, if you move to fast you miss all of the fun.

Popcorn

When I was a kid we always made popcorn on the stove in a saucepan with a lid. Then one year for Christmas I asked for a kids popcorn popper that I saw in a toy magazine. My parents who also loved popcorn did not want to get me a popper that would not last very long so they went ahead and bought an adult style popcorn popper for me for Christmas. I think they had the motivation that if I enjoyed making the popcorn they would reap the benefits.

That popcorn popper was basically an aluminum pot that sat on a hot plate but the bottom of the pot was rounded so that the popcorn would not burn. The next popcorn innovation came when they developed jiffy pop. Then we had hot air popcorn poppers, and then microwave popcorn.

Over the years the original popcorn I loved as a kid became almost forgotten to the point that I seldom come across anyone who knows how to or considers making popcorn the old-fashioned way. I even was having a hard time finding popcorn all by itself to pop. I sent away to a company I had known as a kid that supplies popcorn to the circus. They are the Evel Gada popcorn company in New Springfield, Ohio. (Part of the Hummel Gift Shop)

Now in our household we pop once again the old-fashioned way. I always have a jar on hand and in not much more time than it takes to make mirowave popcorn you can have the good stuff complete with freshly melted butter and plenty of salt. You just have to get your portion before India gets ahold of the bowl. I think she actually likes popcorn as much as she likes chocolate.

Weft Face Weave

A little over a year ago I aquired my first loom. It is a very well loved two harness table loom. When I got it, it already had some warp left on it that I finished up into a table runner using some yarn that I had on hand. Almost imediately I wanted to do something more than a tabby weave.

I started exploring the idea of a weft faced weave and this is what I have been working on. My ultimate goal is that this will become a shoulder bag and I will probably do the strap on my inkle loom. I also am planning on putting some torchon bobbin lace on it as well for some different texture. Who knows how it will end up but I am having a good time working with some new techniques and mixing the media up.

The First Challenge Is Complete!

A little over a month ago I decided to post on this blog for 30 days straight. I am happy to say that I achieved that goal. Like many of us out there I had started working on a blog. Posted once or twice. Then intended to continue at some date somewhere out there in that future place that means "not gonna happen".

I set this goal because I was tired of going through my day thinking about something and saying "Oh I should blog about that" and then not doing it. I want these ideas down in writing so here I am....writing.

Some of the things I learned over the last month was that it really was not that difficult to set aside a few minutes a day to post here. I often would try to keep collecting ideas in my mind as I thought of them so that come about 9:00 at night I had something to write about. Some days that was a stretch, but, for the most part ideas always showed up. Another thing that I worked through for myself was what I wanted this blog to be about really deep down. Mostly I want it to be a place that people can look at the projects I am working on. Maybe be inspired to try something similar or to try something else. I just want people to try and get rid of all of the extra ideas we all get on how we are supposed to be in the world and start to do it their way. Make their own little bit of heaven for themselves and their families in their home. Who needs a spa or resort when you come into your own home everyday and feel love and joy and all of the simple good things in life.

Hmmmm, I need another goal! Thirty more days? Why Not?

Baby Doll Carrier

A few days ago I posted about a felted swan that I received the instructions for in "Living Crafts" magazine. This Baby Doll Carrier is another project that I did from that same magazine (Spring 2011).

I did not jump at this particular project since it was crochet and I had not done crochet for years. However, I was already in the process of making India some knitted stuffed animals that needed some accessories.

I found some yarn that I already had on hand and found a crochet hook that had originally been given to me by my Grandmother Nina Knittle along with a skein of yarn one Christmas. (This is the same grandmother that tried to show me how to tat) I read over the instructions a few times and settled down to start to crochet. I was impressed by how much I remembered and also how much faster crochet was than knitting.

Crochet is so versatile and blends easily with knitting and many other fiber arts since you do not have to find a way to pick up some stiches to "cast on" as you do when you add knitting to a piece. It was worth giving a try once more and I plan on doing a crochet vest for my daughter soon.

India's Birdfeeder

This little birdfeeder is one of the many creations of my daughter India. She has actually been bugging me for a few weeks now to put it on my blog. Just as she created the Faery House with craft sticks she has also created this from craft sticks and glue.

I hope to put it out in the tree off of our balcony in the near future but my fear is that it will get messed up pretty quickly.

She loves to build things three dimensionally. I think that is one of my favorite things about kids this age. If they decide they want something that they cannot get any other way they just make it for themselves. Right now she is working on a candy shop made of construction paper. I think construction paper is a much better candy shop than the real thing.

Carding With Dog Brushes

I have one set of wool carders that are about 60 pins per inch. They work to arrange the wool for the most part but do not fine tune the wool. I have been looking at what other possibilites for carding wool are. Drum carders are pretty expensive. Even the less expensive hand carders are at least $70 per pair. Which seems to be a bit more than I wanted to spend at this time anyway.

I had read about people using Dog slicker brushes as carders for wool and especially cotton. So today I went ahead and indulged in a pair that ended up costing me $17.38 with tax. Now they do not hold very much wool but they did seem to do a fair job. They seemed to do the best on the shorter staple fibers. It seemed that the longer the fiber the less effective that they were.

The fibers I have pictured are from left to right....suffolk, alpaca, cotton, Navajo Churro, alpaca. The Navajo Churro seemed to work the least well and the cotton worked up nicely. Now I do also have to add in that I am not well trained on hand cards. My skills are completely self taught with much more to learn. However, these brushes are a nice inexpensive way to start carding your own wool. Even if you get your raw fiber for free it often seems that the cost for processing it professionally sort of takes away all of the savings you get from the raw fleece in the first place.

If you can borrow someone else's Dog brushes first to give them a try or your own if you have them is the best way. If you do decide to buy your own at least they are not to highly priced.

India has been introduced to Harry Potter

A couple of weeks ago when the final movie of the Harry Potter series came out I started to think about whether or not I would go and see it in the theater.

I own and have read all of the books and I have the entire series on CD as well. So in order to get myself into the mood for one more movie I decided to listen to the books in the car when I run around every day. India is with me and has now become a fan. I was planning on not introducing her to Harry Potter until she was 11 and then letting her read and see one book each year so that she could grow up with Harry. Well, I suspected that I would not succeed at this and I was right.

India is in to Harry Potter. We have been spending the weekend having a Harry Potter film festival. I was worried that she would be afraid of the movies but since she has already been listening to the stories on CD it seems to have taken the scary out of the movies. She knows a bit more about the characters and watching them in the comfort of your living room is much different than seeing them for the first time in a dark theater.

Now I will just have to put up with her bugging me until the last movie comes out on DVD.

Felted Swan

This is a very easy swan to felt. You start with a pipe cleaner in the basic shape and start to build the swan by wrapping wool roving around the shape that you have formed.

I got the instructions to make this swan from Living Crafts Magazine Spring 2011. This was the first issue I got of this magazine and I made almost every project that they listed. I highly recommend this magazine for fun, natural, easy, and fast crafts that your family will appreciate.

For this one I started at the beak and worked down from there. Using red roving on the beak and white for the body. Once I had buit up the body enough I layed the feathers on either side and then added wool over top of the tips of the feathers and then pinned them down with the wool. For the water I took two colors of wool (blue and green) and felted it together layering the colors to imitate algea on a pond.

I have made several of these and used them for gifts for my daughter's friends. What little girl does not like a swan. I mean really. Quick and easy you can be done in under an hour with roving you may already have on hand. The feathers you can get at any craft store.

Plying A Two Ply

I have a very simple technique for making a two ply off of a drop spindle. It requires very little work or tools.

When I start to spin on my spindle I use a brightly colored leader yarn to attach my new yarn to. When I build up the cop I make sure that the leader yarn is accessible so that I can slide my newly spun yarn off of the spindle and pull the first end out from the center.

I then slide the newly spun yarn onto a knitting needle slightly smaller than the diameter of the shaft of my spindle. This way I can pull from the center and the outside at the same time to do my plying.

Then all I have to do is pull out as much single ply from each end as I can handle. Hold it taught and spin in the opposite direction. This method allows me to 1. go straight from spindle to plying and 2. I always stop plying at the very center of my singles. The only disadvantage is that I can only ply the same fiber this way. I am considering working with two cops at a time and maybe use multiple fibers.

One Butt Kitchen

What is a "One Butt Kitchen" you might ask? It is the term that my Grandmother Kariher used to describe a kitchen that can only hold "One Butt" at a time. I have had one of these types of kitchens since 2000. My husband and I are just now starting to be able to occupy the space together but not without some frustration.

I love to cook so in order to cook in my tiny kitchen I have had to find ways to make every inch of space work for me. I would always be frustrated by trying to keep a cookbook open on the small counter and try to cook at the same time without getting all kinds of schmutz on the book.

My remedy for that is to take recipes that I enjoy making and type them up on a sheet of typing paper. I slip them into a plastic sleeve and keep them in a three ring binder. I can organize my favorite recipes then just the same as you would in your old fashioned recipe file but with more space for information. Then when I want to make the dish I just put them on a chip clip and hang them from a little nail that is under my cupboard door. It is out of the way and right at my line of sight. I actually have a couple of nails because sometimes you need more than one recipe out at the same time.

This space saving method has led me to look for other ways to deal with my small space. Thinking vertical is one of the first things I do to help deal with these issues.

Tatted Beginnings Part Two

As a child I had been interested in learning to Tat from my Maternal Grandmother. Unfortunately, at the time I just did not have the patience to learn. As it turned out I had been the only one in the family that had shown an interest and upon the passing of my Grandmother I was given her tatting things. I thought that they were very special and I put them away for a bit.

When I was in my mid twenties I ended up getting a subscription to Threads Magazine. One of the issues that came to my home had a really nice article in it about a women in North Georgia making bobbin lace on a really large scale. She was commisioned to do three huge lace pieces that would be hung from the ceiling of an office building. The article went on to talk about how she solved the problems of working on such a large scale. I was inspired. I figured that if she was able to do something like that I certainly could teach myself how to tat.

I got out my Grandmothers tatting things, turned off all distractions and then proceeded to work until I finally figured it out. Since I was not a part of a class I did not feel presured to learn more and more techniques right away. I had the priviledge of being able to practice, practice, and practice a simple ring over and over again. I slowly taught myself new techniques and started to create more complex work.

Finally having exaushted all of the information that I had I sought out other people that new something about lace. I eventually discovered that there was a Lace Guild in the area called the Heritage Lace Guild. I joined and in no time felt right at home.

As fate would have it I decided to learn how to do bobbin lace. As all good guilds do, they brought teachers in from other places to help us learn more about our craft. The first such teacher that I signed up to take a lesson from was a woman named Robin S. Lewis. As time went by I discovered that she was the same woman that the orignial article that inspired me to do lace was about. The world is as small or as large as you want it to be. I am happy that in that particular case it was small.

TVP Sloppy Joes

One of my first vegetarian cookbooks was "The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook". I bought it at the Food Co-Op in Youngstown Ohio. At that time the Co-Op was a very cool little store located in part of an old warehouse. It had everything someone wanting to improve their diet could want without all of the fancy wrappings.

Not knowing very much about this cookbook I did not realize that it was not only vegetarian but also vegan. I have never been a complete vegetarian. Even less so now but I really enjoy the opportunity to bring hearty food to the table that does not include any meat or dairy. The Sandwich above is made with Onions, Peppers, Tomatoe Sauce, TVP (Texturized Vegetable Protien), Soy Sauce, Chili Powder, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, and Mustard. With the exception to TVP most of these ingredients you already have at home. TVP can be found at most health food stores. You will probably have to ask where it is at though. However, it keeps really well so stock up. It can be used to add some protien and texture to any dish. It can reduce the amount of meat you use in meatloaf etc.

I have made this dish for my husband's mens group and they LOVE them. They have the whole man food flair with all of the health benefits of a vegetarian dish.

The Farm is a commune that exists in Tennesee and was founded I believe back in the 60's. I have never been there, but here we are 40 plus years later, they must be doing something right. They have a website www.thefarm.org. The cookbook is also still for sale the ISBN number is 0-913990-60-4. Other great recipes include Melty Nutritional Yeast Cheese, and Soft Sandwich Buns. Check it out.

A Family Raised on Sunshine

I received this book for Christmas in 1977 from my father and step-mother. I was in the 10th grade. While I enjoyed reading it, since I have always enjoyed living a more simple kind of life, I seldom had the opportunity to use it very much. When I was in my 20's I was not so concernd with homemaking as I was in working outside of the home.

Now that I have a great new life with my husband and daughter it is important for me to make a good home for them. I have pulled this book off of the shelf many times in the last eight years. If for nothing else for encouragement. It is filled with lots of tips on raising a family in a healthy wholesome atmosphere. I have a lentil soup recipe that I use all of the time for dinner that I found in this book. Today I pulled it off the shelf to give me a push on making my own bread crumbs. Seriously, I know that it is not that hard to make bread crumbs but how often do we find ourselves tossing that stale bread and running to the store to buy bread crumbs for a dish we are preparing. Today I went to Whole Foods for bread crumbs and the only ones they had were both gluten and wheat free. Now if you have problems with these two items that is important but I just want plain bread crumbs.

So I did buy the package but I also popped some cubed bread on a baking sheet into my oven with the pilot on to dry them out. This evening I ran them through the food processer and put them in the freezer in a re-used jar instead of wasting a ziplock bag. We had roast chicken for dinner so I cut up a chicken into 10 pieces and also put the back and neck into the freezer for some soup stock. For me I just have to remind myself to plan ahead and work smart.

The book "A Family Raised on Sunshine" by Beverly K. Nye is no longer being published as far as I know but if you do a google search for it you can order one directly from the author or get one used on Amazon or some other book dealer. The library is also another possible resource. I recommend her books especially as reminders to keep it simple.

Swedish Weaving on Huck

When I was in the fourth grade I had the opportunity to learn how to do Swedish Weaving on Huck Toweling. I enjoyed learning more and more intricate patterns and loved the bold exchange of bright threads on white fabric. Somewhere in storage I have a sampler that I made while in high school.

India has also been enjoying learning how to make different sewing stitches so I decided to give her the opportunity to learn this simple embroidery. I did the more decorative row and India was focusing on the rows of straight threads. She really enjoyed herself and I look forward to teaching her more. It is great to see a seven year old focus on a new skill.

En Plein Air

After India and I were talking about the artists in France Painting "En Plein Air" we decided to do a little Plein Air painting ourselves. After we were done with a few errands today we went up to the Getty Center Museum to get down to business.

It had been a few years since I had been there so I was surprised when I discovered that the parking rate had gone up from $5 to $15. At least you get in for free. Still a deal in the long run. However, I often like to get the opportunity to buy passes so that I can visit a place multiple times instead of just once. With kids you never know how long they will hold up at a place you visit. Sometimes you need to leave shortly after you arrive and I don't like to feel presured to stay.

So back to the painting at the Getty. We had a nice time down by the garden doing a little sketching and painting. Then before India got too tired of it all we went and saw the impressionist paintings and took a photo in front of Van Gogh's Irises. I think that one of the things I appreciate about living in Los Angeles area above all others is the access that I have to such world class museums.

Painting in France

Tonight my daughter and I were watching Rick Steve's Europe on television and at one point in the program he was talking about the people who love to draw and paint in the open air in France. It reminded me of the three months that I spent in France back in 1998. In no time I was inspired to try my hand at being an artist in Paris. I started to wander around with my sketch book in hand drawing the sites around me. I was encouraged to find an art teacher who could speak English and take some lessons while I was there. This first picture is one that I worked on while I was taking a lesson with my teacher, Boris Slovinsky. It is a copy of a painting by Amedeo Modigliani. At the time I had very little exposure to the arts but somehow I really fell in love with this Women in the Red Shall. After I worked on this piece I went around to the museums in Paris that had some of Modigliani's work. I Love his style. This next picture is of his original.

Spinning Carbonized Bamboo

After my meeting on Saturday and the opportunity to try some new fiber I decided to finish up the Carbonized Bamboo that I sampled. I have about 1/2 an ounce of it so I expect I can get quite a few yards. From what I can tell Carbonized Bamboo is Bamboo that has been pulverized, turned into a sludge, heated and then somehow turned into this soft and silky fiber. So at this point it is no longer considered a natural fiber but a man-made one. That having been said I would probably not be interested in using a lot of it, but, it is fun to explore. It is very soft and silky. When you spin it, it is both slippery and grippy at the same time. It takes up the spin well yet you can still work with it once some spin has entered the fiber. I would like to see if I could use some of it in making some tatted lace or some bobbin lace. It is supposed to finish very soft and drapey so bobbin lace may not be possible unless I create lace with sewing edges on both sides to support it. We will see how it goes.

Learning to Weave

After my recent addition of a floor loom I had to accept the fact that I have been putting off educating myself in the finer details of weaving. Like all crafts your learning is life long. However, there is a point where you step off the cliff and start to immerse yourself in the subject at hand. Since I am a book addict I started to sort through my weaving acquisitions and chose "Step-By-Step Weaving" by Nell Znamierowski as my place to start. It was only about 92 pages long so I could break it down to a small bit every day and still finish it in under 2 weeks. It was published in 1967 so it truly has that 60's hippy flavor to weaving. Getting a chance to read it actually gave me some of our more mainstream types of crafts a starting place. For instance the Rya Rug is the forerunner to the hooked rug that so many of us bought kits for back in the 70's. It is nice to know how to build one from scratch.

I already had a hand loom warped up so since I started reading this book I have started to putter a bit more on this loom. The book actually tells you how to make an easy hand loom that is able to complete all but the last few projects that it lists. I had a good time with this and can't wait to start exploring making my first Rya Rug.

Casserole Night

One great thing to have for dinner when you have no idea what to fix is a casserole. Tonight I made Broccoli Mushroom Noodle Casserole from "The New Moosewood Cookbook" by Mollie Katzen. This is a nice alternative to a Tuna Noodle Casserole. When I was a kid I could not stand the taste of tuna. Now I enjoy it but I also enjoy having a vegetarian option on a regular basis. I especially like the recipes in this cookbook because they use ingredients that are readily available.

I think that the one thing that I would change in the future for this recipe is to make homemade egg noodles and homemade bread crumbs. I think that would increase the value of the flavors in this dish. With store bought it can be a bit bland. Which sometimes is good but not always.

Dish Drainer?

One of the things about living simply is that you are always looking for ways to use the things around you in new ways. Ways that make your life easier. Now in general most people would say that using a dish washer makes your life easier. However, it does come with its own sets of issues. For instance here in our apartment the plumbing does not seem to drain well so you can only use the dishwasher every other day or it backs up. Knowing this particular quirk I find I have to hand wash a large portion of the time.

Now I actually like to hand wash but my finger tips tend to develop nasty little splits unless I use gloves. Since I have such a small space I do not have a dish drainer on my very limited counter space. So as soon as I have washed some dishes I end up taking off my gloves. Drying dishes. Putting on my gloves. Wash some dishes. etc. etc. etc.

Then the other day it finally occured to me. Why not just let my dishes dry in the dishwasher racks. Simple, more space, and much quicker in the long run. I know its sounds obvious but I finally figured this one out.

Greater Los Angeles Spinning Guild

I finally took the opportunity today to join my third guild. I was really looking forward to my first meeting at the Greater Los Angeles Spinning Guild even though I did not know what the program would be. To my happy surprise it was a fiber tasting. The presenter offered up 10 different types of fiber with several different kinds of preparations to try out. I got to try some fiber that might have taken me years to get around to trying otherwise. Such a great opportunity.

The fibers are as follows... Starting on the top row on the left we have #1 - Silk Hankies #2 - Carbonized Bamboo #3 - Optim (Chemically treated Merino) #4 - Wensleydale #5 - Rameldale Roving Second row starting on the left #6 - Alpaca/Shetland Rolag #7 - Cotton Puni #8 - Loose Cashmere #9 - Merino, Cashmere, Nylon Roving #10 - Cotton, Merino, Tensil Batt.

Funny how fiber can just open up your world to new possiblities!

Knitted Gnomes

Every autumn at my daughters school "Ocean Charter" Lady Autumn comes for a visit and she gives each of the children in the kinder program a little gift of a little knitted gnome. This year we are adding an additional 24 children to our program so I decided to get a head start to making these special little gnomes for our 84 kinder students. So far I have 20 made as you can see in the picture. They are fun and easy to make with bits of left-over yarn and large size acorns. Which are hard to find in coastal Southern California, you have to go more inland for the big ones.

The original pattern for these lovely little gnomes comes from the blog... www.environmentalhomeschooling.blogspot.com/2008/04/gnome-oakies.html Check it out they are great fun to make.

Dried Tarragon

One of the nice things about having a garden is to have a good supply of fresh herbs whenever you want them. However, I often like to dry them for use during the winter months or also for use when I make my own salad dressing.

I like to make a version of dressing that I originally got from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Essentially I use 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder, and then some dried herbs of your choice. This is where my herbs come in. I especially like to use tarragon in my dressing. Unlike other drying instructions I like to wash the cut branches in cold water then remove the leaves that I want to dry from the branch. This eliminates wasting time drying leaves that I do not want anyway. Sometimes when they are dry it is hard to determine which are the best leaves. Once I have picked the leaves off I then put them on a paper towel on a cookie sheet and put it in my gas oven. I do not put the heat on. The pilot light does all of the work. In a couple of days the leaves are ready to chop into smaller pieces ready to be stored and used the next time I make salad dressing.

The other herbs that I like to use in my dressing are parsley, thyme, and basil. All of which are also available in my garden.

On a final note. If you do not have your own herbs and buy fresh ones from the store. It is a good idea to dry your leftovers instead of having them go to waste. Your result will be much more satisfying than anything you would buy off the shelf.

Suffolk Wool

I had been spinning roving for quite some time and was getting a bit tired of paying the price of already processed wool as well as being limited by choice.

I was concerned about the idea of working with a raw fleece because I just did not know how to deal with the bulk in the small one bedroom apartment that we live in. So like I usually do I went on line and found some instructions on how to wash small portions of fleece in my sink.

I was inspired. Shortly there after I found this Suffolk fleece on E-bay and the rest was history. The day it arrived I started washing some of it and then discovered the frustration and joy of picking the wool clean once it has been scoured. I then had to learn how to hand card and spin from my less than stellar rollags.

I have discovered that this particular fleece does not quite suit me when I spin it by itself. However, I have since tried it with some Alpaca and am really happy with the results. I have a lot of Alpaca fiber right now so I will continue to explore the mixing possiblities.

My New Baby!

On sunday I got the opportunity to receive a four-shaft Herald Loom from one of my Weaving Guild friends JoAnne Cook. It came originally from the estate of Edna Barton who was also a SCHG member.

The Herald Loom was made in Lodi, Ohio. The company is no longer in business.

I was able to just fit the loom in the back of my Element and my husband helped me get it into the crafting studio that I use. I have spent some time the last couple of days working through some issues with the treadles and I think I have worked through them. One of the nice things about trying to figure these issues out is that they help you learn more about your loom. I have never worked on a four-shaft loom before but I am looking forward to what I can do with it. So far I have only had my small two-harness table loom that is on its last legs. While there are many things that you can do on it there are also many things that you can't. This new loom opportunity should keep me busy for quite a while.

I am not sure what my first work will be on it yet, but, I hope to get started soon. Maybe a rep weave or some twill. Oh the possibilities!

A Faery Home Companion

As parents we all like to believe that we see our childrens future career within the arena of play. I like to imagine that India will one day become a famous architect that specializes in the innovation of houses for a greener, happier, healthier, planet. The fact of the matter remains that I have my ideas, and for the most part she just likes building Faery Houses.

She had just turned seven and my sister sent her a box of craft sticks along with other art materials for her birthday. For about the first 15 minutes that she was working with the craft sticks she seemed unsure as to how she would use this new medium. Within no time after that, however, she started to develop ideas, encounter structure challanges, and then overcome them. If nothing else I know that the future of Faery housing is safe in her hands.

AHH! Tomatoes

All year long I purchase tomatoes in little plastic clam shells. Usually I choose either tomatoes on the vine or romas at Trader Joes. Sometimes I go for the little grape ones. All of them serve the same purpose. To give my cooking color, texture, and a certian ketchup type of flavor to my food.

Then some time in late winter I decided what types of tomatoes I would like to plant this year. I had great plans to start all of my tomatoes this year from seed directly in my garden. It all started out well at first. They popped up from the ground in plenty of time. Then after a brief moment the snails found those juicy little sprouts and my crop was over. I tried this a couple of times and the only plant I could save was a Japanese Triffle heirloom. I finally went and bought a Black Cherry plant, and a Momotoro plant.

Time and patience have prevailed and the tomatoes are coming on now. The other day I made a salad with the first "Black Cherry's" I had picked. I got one in my mouth not really thinking about it. The next thing I knew I did not care what else I put in my mouth at that meal I just wanted the tomatoes.

Now when we go to the park every day I pack some tomatoes as part of our snack. Talk about natures candy. My life is good with a home grown tomato. The most expensive restaurant could not do better.

Torchon Lace German Spider

This month at the Freeway Lace Guild meeting the program was on the Torchon German Spider. I always like doing spiders in Torchon Lace. You take one group from one side of the lace to the other side, switching places with the same amount of threads from the other side. Then you take them all back again. Simple, straight forward, and the hardest part is getting the tension right.

This spider is different in the fact that instead of it being in the center of ground work it extends to the outside edge of the lace. I usually do all of the ground around a spider first. Then work the spider. Then go back to ground work. On this particular pattern that process just does not work. You have to work a section. Then do some ground. Then work another section. Then work some edging. Then work on the spider some more.

You have to constantly be rechecking where you are in the process. One of the tricks that helped a lot in the project was to color code the diagram to help keep track of where the pairs were to go next. Taking your time and focusing was also a must. I personally think a glass of merlot along side was also a plus but since we meet at a church that was not to be.

As you can see from the photo I am not very far along, but, hopefully by the end of next week I should show some progress. I just have to really find focused quiet time for this one.

The pattern for this spider is from Alex Stillwell's book, "Drafting Torchon Lace Patterns".

Tatted Beginings Part One

When I was 9, almost 10 years old I went to live at my Mother's Parents house with my Mother and my Sister. I was suddenly in a new suburban environment which was very different than my rural one. I adapted quickly especially since there were next door neighbors exactly the same age as myself, and there was also a small creek on the property with a bridge. The creek had its share of frogs, crayfish, and water skimmers so I had plenty to keep me busy.

I had always, at that point enjoyed doing handwork with my Mother and when I saw my Grandmother doing tatting I was immediately intrigued. My Grandmother agreed to show me how and at the age of 10 or 11 (I am not sure which), I realized that I did not yet have the patience to figure out the knot. It just kept locking up on me and in my frustration I would try to pull and pull, ultimately making the whole thing worse. Needless to say the whole thing ended in frustration.

I soon decided to quit trying but deep down I knew that I would revisit it one day. I knew that I just was not ready. The time would come when I would learn but that is a story for another day....

Bobbin Lace in the Park

At the last Freeway Lace Guild meeting that I attended I found out how important it is for us to demonstrate lace making in order to support the IOL and our Guild.

So this week I have been spending my time at the park working on my Lace. India gets a chance to play and I get a chance to work with wonderful natural light. The only thing to worry about working outside is to stay out of the direct sunlight, but lucky for me this park has lots of great shade.

Most people ignore me and what I am doing, but every so often someone expresses some interest. I know that if I keep it up long enough more and more people will begin to realize that there is more to do at the park than talk on the phone while their kids play.

Since I took a long break from lace making and never had gone much beyond an advanced beginner I have decided to work on some simple patterns just to get my rhythm up. The pattern I am working on only takes eight pair and is from "The Torchon Lace Workbook" by Bridget M. Cook. I can see using this simple lace on something for my daughter or one of her dolls.

Fresh Air and Lace what more could I ask for.

Dorset Wool

This big ball of fluffy wooly goodness is actually only one third of its original size. When I received it, it was just shy of 15 ounces. My mother sent it to me from Ohio. It was some wool raised on a farm near her and the neighbor sold it to her already processed into roving. When it arrived in the mail I could not help but think that I had just received a lovely base of a snow man. I don't miss the cold but an occaisional snowman certainly would be nice from time to time.

At this point I have all but 5 ounces spun into a "worsted" weight yarn. I then plan on dying it into about 3 different colors of young girl friendly shades. I plan on making my daughter a granny square vest for her to wear this coming winter. I not long ago was re-introduced to the granny square and just can't resist doing my part to revive such a tried and true design.

Swiss Cheese and Mushroom Quiche

Tonights dinner was one of my favorite dishes to make. The recipe comes from the Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.

This dish is a very simple quiche that has a real French cuisine flavor. The ingriedients are simple. Butter,flour, milk, eggs, onion, cheese, Thyme, dry mustard, salt, pepper, and paprika. Almost everything I have on hand at all times. The only thing I really have to think about is the mushrooms.

One of the main things I believe in doing that makes my life simple is having the ingredients on hand when I need them. If I have to run to the store to get something that I only use on that dish I find I am doing little more than wasting time and money. For the most part most French style receipes revolve around some basic delicious ingredients. Butter, butter, and butter. It's worth it.

Navajo Churro

WOW! I just cannot pass up fleece. This lovely 10 lb fleece is from a Navajo Churro named Shiloh. This great sheep resides at the Santa Anna Zoo in their petting Zoo area.

I have no idea what I am going to make with it yet. I was so excited that I had to hurry up and skirt it down in the parking garage. I now have a bit scouring in the sink. Hmmm, I wonder how long it will take me to clean this huge fleece one colander full at a time in my kitchen sink.

Just a reminder that not everything that goes through my kitchen should be nibbled upon. He He He I always have to warn my husband.