Chairs

We have a shortage of chairs at our house. This is bad, because we want to have music sessions and parties here on a regular basis. But instead of going out and buying a bunch of folding chairs, we are taking our time, and putting our creative juices to work.

I found four directors chairs at a garage sale. Here's a photo of one (I'm sitting in it.) You can see it's a bit worse for wear.



We found some bright red cotton duck fabric, and I made new covers for them. To strengthen the seams, I put an embroidery stitch all around in yellow.


My friends Earin and Dick generously helped me paint them. Here's Dick setting them up for the final coat of paint.




I spent most of the day Saturday out at Earin and Dick's place in Penn Valley. Earin was griping over Claude, a sweater that she has been working on for some time. I think it may be finished very soon.

She showed me the grapes and fruit trees she's growing. If she can beat the racoons to them she'll have a nice crop of Thompson's seedless this year.


Eye candy from Earin's porch.

Knitting and Music

April 14 was the potluck in El Dorado Hills. We had a fun session after we ate.

Here's Bo, our host. He has a set of whistles to rival Tim Hart!

The next day we went to session at Joyce's. I forgot the camera, though. We stayed until 8:45, and were too pooped to go to the plough afterwards!


Knitting News
I was browsing around the web, on knitting sites, and I found a link to this call for knitters in response to the shooting at Virginia Tech. Mosaic Yarn Shop is asking knitters and crocheters to create squares measuring 8" x 8" (after blocking) in any composition and send to the shop. They will be sewing the squares together and giving them to the victim's families. They will be collecting the squares through the end of May. Please help create these beautiful blankets and heal in the process...

Color choices for squares: Maroon, Burnt Orange, White, Black (school colors)

Please knit or crochet squares out of the nicest, softest yarn you can afford.

Deadline for the squares...May 31st, 2007

Please mail squares to:
Mosaic Yarn Shop
880 University City Blvd.
Blacksburg, VA 24060

I decided I'd like to do this. I imagine a square I've knit to end up in a blanket that might give some small comfort to a person who has suffered great loss. So I went out and bought the colors in the softest yarn I could find. And I'm knitting in a little personal touch.. see the heart?

I frogged my vest. I did more than the red ribbing I showed earlier, but the colors just were not working together. So I decided I would make up a pattern. I can't find one that I think will work, so I just cast on enough stitches to go around me, and I'm working in the round. We'll see what happens. I'm pretty close to having to make some decisions about armholes and shaping.

And I have started my 2 socks on 2 circular needles, toe up! The next thing I wanted to try.

I am very cleverly using one ball of yarn for two socks. One sock is being knit from the inside of the ball, and the other from the outside. I cut holes in either side of a plastic bag for the yarn ball, to minimize tangling. It's working pretty well, but I still do have to straighten it out now and then.

This yarn was a christmas present from my sister-in-law, Marcia. It's Superwash Merino, from JuJuknits. The colorway is 'pumpkin'. I'm using size 0 circulars, and my only problem was, I made them a bit too big. So I've started a 1x1 rib in the foot of the sock, and I'm making them for Andrew, who's feet are bigger than mine.

Here's a closeup of the colorway.

Garden Tour

I opened the Auburn Journal this morning, and I found an article about a garden tour in this area coming up on May 12. 4 local gardens open to the public! The article is in the Auburn Garden Club column, by Sam Wiseman. At this writing it was not yet posted on their website, but probably will be soon.

For over ten years, the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program has unlocked the gates to hundreds of America’s very best private gardens by working with volunteers coast to coast to coordinate schedules, collect information, and get it to you. Many of these gardens are rarely, if ever, otherwise open to the public.

Jaya and I have lots to do in the way of landscaping our new home. Now, with income tax season nearly overwith, we will begin putting money aside to deal with the yard. But although we have some vague ideas of what we want, I think visiting existing gardens in the area is a great way to get ideas.

My friend Earin is an avid gardener. I think at some point she should open HER garden for viewing.

Current Knits

Here's the latest. It's a Diamond Lace Cardigan, I got the pattern (now discontinued) on sale from Knitpicks.com. This is the back, I am just about an inch away from where the armhole shaping begins. In the process of knitting this pattern, I have discovered the importance of reading through the pattern before you begin. My first couple inches had to be ripped out because I wasn't doing the repeats correctly. And now I have discovered that I've made the edges incorrectly. I'm NOT going to rip this out. I'm going to modify the fronts so that the side seams will match. Since this is my first lace knitting project, I'm not sure I would have discovered this even if I had read the pattern carefully first, but I do see the benefit.

This pink yarn is some I got on ebay, and I have 6 300meter skeins. It has pictures of goats on the label, but everything appears to be in Russian. I think they are angora goats. The yardage works out to be plenty, if my gauge is right. I did do a gauge swatch, but I'm a little concerned about what will happen to this when blocked. Since it will be a lightweight cardigan, it shouldn't matter if it's a little large.

And because I can't have just one project on my needles, I started another one. This is another stash-buster. Did I tell you? My latest quest is to find projects for all the yarn I currently HAVE. Which is considerable.

This project is a striped vest, from Knitty.com. This project is DESIGNED to use up stash. I've decided to use my Wool of the Andes for the stripes portion, along with some cotton/linen/wool blend I picked up over a year ago at Stitches. The wool is leftover from the entrelac bag, so I have a bunch of colors.

I need a couple different sizes of needles to get on with this one, and I've ordered them. But they haven't arrived as yet. Maybe in the mail today....

And here's the waterfall shawl! All done! And guess what? It makes a perfect door hanging, covering the door-window out to the backyard from our bedroom. We have another of these doors in the great room... maybe I'll have to make another one.

Also, the boot socks are finished. I would show a picture, but I've been wearing them, and they are dirty. But they made my friend's blog last month. You can see them (and me) on the March 27 entry of EverythingEarin.

Stitches West

Meredith and I just got back from Stitches West, a huge knitting convention held every year in Santa Clara. This is the floorplan for the marketplace this year. Can you imagine the size of this event? It's huge! We went for one day last year, just after Meredith and I began knitting. This time we stayed overnight. On Friday, we took a class in Norwegian Knitting by Beth Walker O'Brien. I learned how to hold the yarn in my right hand, so I could knit with two colors at once, and how to trap long strands. We learned about steeks, and I'm anxious to try this technique in a garment. We had time before class and again on Saturday to shop at the marketplace. There must have been 300 vendors there!
Meredith went over to the Dominknitrix booth while I was digging in the bargain bin for yarn. I had to wait in a long line, but I bought 60 skeins of wool for $1.66 each. I'm going to see about making the Arwen sweater with some of this wool, 20 skeins are in a pretty dark green.

Meredith got us both copies of the Dominknitrix book. Here I am with the author, Jennifer Stafford.

We went to the fashion show Friday night. Here we are, waiting for things to begin. I haven't mastered the technique of taking photos of myself, so here's the VERY flattering, up-the-nose shot.
This sweater is very appealing to me. I almost bought the pattern on Saturday, but decided I have too many projects to do first.

This fashion show featured a baby, who was a pretty good sport. There was a little unhappiness at the end, but all in all, this kid was a trooper.

Throughout the show, they were giving away materials and patterns for the items they were showing. At almost the end of the show, they called my number! I won! Here's a photo of the beautiful Victorian lace cape:

The pattern is in the book, Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby. I also won a copy of the book!

And here I am with all my purchases and winnings. I'm holding the practice swatch that we did in the Norwegian Knitting class. I also got a space-age ironing board cover. It is made of fiberglass, and it reflects heat, so you can leave your iron at a lower temperature and get great results.

Amish Friendship Bread

We recently attended an Irish Music session potluck, and Christine (whistle and bodhran) brought packets of the Amish Friendship Bread starter. I took one home, and today, I made this recipe. It's a variation of the original recipe, because I didn't have the required amount of instant vanilla pudding.

The Recipe

Important Note: Don't use metal spoons or equipment. Do not refrigerate. Use only glazed ceramic or plastic bowls or containers.

Required Main Ingredient
1 cup live yeast starter (see above)

day 1:
Do nothing with the starter.
days 2-5:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
day 6:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir with a wooden spoon.
days 7-9:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
Day 10:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir. Take out 3 cups and place 1 cup each into three separate plastic containers. Give one cup and a copy of this recipe to three friends. To the balance (a little over one cup) of the batter, add the following ingredients and mix well.
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 ripe mashed bananas

In a separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients and mix well:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup nuts

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Knitting Update

Boot Socks



These are the boot socks, a free pattern from knitpicks. I am knitting them in Swish Superwash, which is suprisingly soft. I may use it for the Arwen sweater. The colors shown here are Dublin and Light Coral. The pattern teaches the two circular needle technique, but I mistakenly ordered the wrong size needles. So I am knitting them in the magic loop technique. I want to try the two circular needle technique on another pair, so it's good I have these instructions.




So, remember the shrug? I had it sitting in a bag all this time. I finally got an inspiration. I'm making a Waterfall Shawl. It starts by casting on with waste yarn. Then you knit in garter stitch for 70 inches (I'm not sure I'll make it that long, we'll see). And then you drop stitches, so it turns into a lacy shawl, see the page below from Ponchos & Wraps-a Knitter's dozen.


And finally, the Ming Scarf is done! My friend Karen and I went to ArtFibers store in San Francisco a few months ago, and I bought 2 balls of Ming, 50% silk, 50% extrafine merino wool. I couldn't invest in more than that, and I thought it would make a lovely scarf. I think it did! I used a basketweave stitch. Simple, but very elegant.


I started the scarf on the plane to Florida.



I had this much done on the trip home. I drew an arrow along the folds so you can see how long it is.

2 Hikes and Knitting Spoor

This hike happened on Saturday, December 30. I am finally getting the time to do a post!



Here are Bruce, Anne and Jaya, getting ready to walk out to the Quarry Bridge.



On our way, we saw a couple bridges that got washed out in a flood, something like 20 years ago. The water was an amazing green color. I don't know what it is that makes that beautiful green, I suspect it's mineral. Possibly copper.



Here is the Quarry Bridge from a distance. It's an old railroad bridge, built in 1912, for the railroad to get to the Quarry. This bridge is still standing, while the two that washed out were built more recently. The railroad doesn't run here anymore, but you can walk out on it. We went across and down the trail a bit.



On our way back, something shiny caught my eye. It was a strand of sari silk! "A knitter has been here!" I cried. "It's knitting spoor!" So, of course, we had to take a picture.




When we got back to the road, I saw this sign. Cool is a town not far from Auburn. We took a drive out there a few days ago. Blink, and you'll miss it.



After the walk, we drove up to the bridge on 49, and we had this view of the other bridges.



Then we drove out to Lake Clementine. (We were actually in search of a bathroom.) Here are the falls.. very beautiful. See the rainbow?




Jaya had me take this picture of him scaling the fence. Looks like it's been done before.




On January 1, Jaya and I found another trail. This one was called Stagecoach Trail. It started out as a nice easy walk, and then we decided to turn onto Flood Trail. Then things got a bit more challenging! These trails were way up above where we'd been before.



At one point, we had a view of the Quarry Bridge from way up high. Just look at that green water!

Janet, Jeff, Bruce and Anne came up on Friday for Christmas/New Years.

We spent some significant time taking pictures of each other.

We exchanged lots of Christmas presents. Janet and Jeff gave the America's Test Kitchen cookbook to Jaya, to his sheer delight. He had spent the night before and that day in the kitchen preparing the pork shank roast from that series. Here are pictures of the preparation. The recipe called for coca-cola to brine the pork, but as Jaya is a Pepsi fan, that's what he used. I have dubbed this the pepsi-pig.

We brined it overnight in Pepsi, garlic, pepper and bay leaves. The next day we rubbed it with a puree of sage, parsley, pepper and garlic, and roasted it, basting every 45 minutes with a mixture of Pepsi, brown sugar and jalapeños.

The roast took longer to cook than we thought it would, but it was bigger than the one used in the recipe, so we should have expected that. We had a wonderful meal of roast pork, collard greens and cream biscuits. Janet brought black-eyed peas, which were absolutely delicious. We barely had room, but managed to have some pie for dessert.