Escape

We spent the weekend upstate. Had visitors too. Welcome guests

Jerry did some repairs on the deck. Some of the boards are rotting so we're going to paint on our next visit. Thinking green to match the house trim.

Went to the antique mall to get vases for the girls. Found this handsome little fellow and brought him home.

And speaking of vases.... I did some experimenting with cut flowers from our yard. The purple flowers are water hyacinth which we have in our yard in a little water garden.

These are the water hyacinth after they opened up. They are very pretty but they only lasted the day. Next day they were starting to close up. Not good for cut flowers. Too bad. I really like them.

We went for a walk at Dunn's Creek. I like to walk back in there. It's quiet and there are very few people around. I feel I need that more and more. The deer must have been having a party. Their hoof prints were everywhere.

Remembering...

This is a woven wall hanging that I made for my friend Jess back in July 2013. I've been thinking about her a lot lately...

Things always pop up to make me think of her. But lately, I had finished the Lydon book Knitting Heaven and Earth. In the book, the author talks about how she knitted a sweater for a terminally ill friend and how she felt she was trying to knit her friend to the earth. Then last week, I read an article in the new Handwoven by Jenny Pelc about weaving memorial banners for loved ones that have passed. Was I doing that with the wall hanging? I didn't think about it at the time, but I think maybe somewhere in my heart I was.

When I was getting ready to go for treatments back in July, I started crocheting a baby blanket. There are no grandchildren on the horizon as of yet, but I felt compelled to start this little blanket. I went to Joann's, bought 3 skeins of neutral baby colors and started crocheting. I just felt such a strong pull to do this. Maybe I was crocheting myself here to Earth. I need to stay here. I want to see the grandchild that this blanket will eventually cover.

My friend Jessica did not win her battle with cancer. She was 38 years old and left 2 beautiful and sweet little boys as her legacy. She has been gone for a year. I know she is ok though. More than ok. And here's how I know...

I have to back up first. When my dad passed 12 years ago (has it been that long?), we saw a rainbow on the day of his funeral. My mom said that was his way of telling us he was happy. A few years ago, I was at work and feeling very frightened and depressed about having an acoustic neuroma. While sitting at the information desk, a little girl who I had never seen before, or since, came up to me and gave me this...

...she said it was for me.

Shortly after Jess passed, I was walking along the beach and thinking about her. I sat down on one of the benches to rest and look at the water. I was thinking how much I wished she could tell me what it was like and how she was doing. I glanced down the beach a way and saw two people flying a kite. And guess what was on the kite... yes, a rainbow. And that's how I know Jess is happy.

Random weavings

Randomly woven scarf... I like the way it came out, especially the drape. I'm not sure if it is technically saori or not, since I've read that in order to be truly saori, it has to be woven on a saori loom. I wove it on a rigid heddle loom. I put the question to the Weavolution saori group as to whether or not a piece had to be woven on a saori loom in order to be considered saori. Well that's not exactly what I asked. I asked if there were any difference between the saori loom and any other 2 or 4 harness loom. I mean the weaving is either plain weave or 4 harness, right? I've gotten no response as of yet.

I really liked the way the weft undulated between the warp... like ripples across water. I used a very light beat to achieve a gauze-like feel.

The heel she is done! And the stitches all look right. Now to conquer the ankle

This is Paton's Kroy sock yarn, color Blue Strip Ragg, over dyed with black. I love the way sock yarn looks when it's over dyed.

I finally decided on how to use the little green ball of yarn... Potato chip scarf!

The heel

I've been working on the heel of my sock for a while now. It's taking me a long time because it's my first sock ever. And now it's going to take longer.

I realized a while back that my heel wasn't looking right. By that I mean it wasn't coming out in stockinette stitch like the rest of the sock. So I thought, "well, maybe it's supposed to look different", and just kept going. I was getting so caught up in the process (I'm definitely a "process" as opposed to "finished product" sort of a crafter...it's all about the process for me), and kept ignoring the little nagging voice in my head saying, "something is wrong doofus... something is wrong".  The heel was in fact knitting up in reverse stockinette. Finally good common sense broke through and I realized I would have to do the thing I have always feared most as a knitter... frogging... rip it! rip it! 

This was scary, especially since I have never frogged on circular needles before. I've never really done much frogging at all. So I did it. Took me about an hour to get the needles back on. My glasses are old and we're talking tiny, size 2 needle stitches. But I finally got the stitches back on the needles and started again.

Now, let me say why I'm glad this happened. Yes, glad. Because I was forced to do something I feared. Because I learned more about the anatomy of stitches and how to fix dropped stitches. Because I'm not afraid to correct mistakes anymore and I feel like that fear probably kept me from trying new things as a knitter. Kept me from pushing and learning new techniques.

And as Leonard Cohen says:

Ring the bells that still can ring

forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

Saori musings

I started this scarf back on the 14th and just thought I'd let it flow out as it would. The warp colors are the colors of a cow pasture that I saw on my way south from the parsonage a couple of weeks back. Blues, greens and golds. It's one of my favorite things about Florida; the endless horizons. I'm always able to get inspiration from the horizons.

So I'm weaving the scarf, using stash yarns, with no particular plan. Then, the other day, I got an invitation to join the Saori weaving group on Ravelry. What is Saori? It is a form of free weaving in which imperfections are welcome. This sounded familiar and upon reading the philosophy, I realized they were talking about wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy of finding the beauty in imperfection. I've always been drawn to this philosophy. Imperfection, decay,

And only a couple of weeks ago, I found this little mat that I wove a few years back in much the same way as the scarf I'm working on. No plan... just free weaving with imperfect selvedges. I was Saori before I knew what Saori was I guess.

My sock is coming along. I have started the increase on the heel. I am really enjoying sock knitting.

Beautyberry

Watched the storm over Lake Crescent while slurping Frosties

Inkle done

Fresh off the loom this morning. I like to let my weaving rest for a day before I start finishing. Let me rest too.

Saw my doctor Monday for my 6 week post CK treatment. He said I was doing good and that I will get an MRI at 6 months to see how things are going in the old insane mem"brain". He also told me that he wants me to now put this behind me for a while. I think he is right. And I will try. Besides, I have to see all my other doctors that I've been neglecting. Saw my eye doctor this morning and got my glasses prescription fixed (too strong). Then I'll need to see the dentist ... ugh! Then the "lady doctor" tee hee! Then dermatologist because I live in the sunshine state. I can only take one doctor at a time though.

Last Sunday I made the Lazy Day Casserole. Let me just say that awesome would be a good way to describe this recipe. I modified it a bit, using Uncle John's Pride, Country Smoked Sausage. I also didn't add the fennel bulb, as my store didn't have any. Served it over some wide egg noodles. It was goooooood! And very easy. I like easy.

S.T.E.A.M. on a Sunday

I haven't worked the rigid heddle loom in a while so I thought, what the heck... I could use a scarf for winter. More on that next post. Anyway, I had some left over yarn. Then I got to thinking, what can you do with yarn you don't seem to have any use for? How can you reuse? Experiment time. 

I cut some bits onto the carders and combed them out.

Made some funky, colorful batts!

Which spin into funky, colorful yarn! Groovy! I'm doing a spinning demo for kids in November, so I'm thinking this would make a good STEAM program. Teaching the kids about spinning and recycling and reusing materials. Anyone wanting to do this with their class or group, fear not. You don't have to spend a lot of money with this project. You can substitute wire dog brushes for the cards above and you can make spindles easily and inexpensively. Spindles can be made from CD's or toy wheels.

The sock is coming along. Coming along slower than I'd like but it will get there.

Isn't he cute? Che made him. She was so nervous waiting to hear back about a job she'd applied for that she cranked out a bear in a day. Much faster than her mom...

Remember the muscadine grapes from the last post? Well, here's another yummy thing you can do with these southern grapes

Vacation's end

A brief summery of week 2 of our vacation...

We took a dip in Silver Glen Springs in Ocala Natl. Forest. It was gorgeous and cold! The water, as Jerry likes to remind me at any given opportunity, is a constant 72 degrees, as it is at all of the springs in Florida. So you can either dive right in, suffer the mammalian dive reflex, and have to have your heart jump started again... or, you can go in gradually. I opted for the later.

Once you get used to the cold, the water feels wonderful, especially on a hot day. I floated in the crystal blue water, very blue, and listened as someone on one of the boats on nearby Lake George was playing the Grateful Dead. Home.

We went to the wine festival at the Log Cabin Vineyard in Satsuma. These are muscadine grapes, which are native to the southern United states. They produce a sweet, dessert wine. I bought a bottle of a white wine infused with key lime. Can't wait to try it!

And here the wine goddesses are crushing the grapes. There was also live music. It was a small but nice gathering.

Our neighbor across the street, Mr. Counts (he's a math teacher... no really) brought us over some of his homegrown veggies.

I spent a good part of the vacation knitting and reading. I'm reading this book by Susan Gordon Lydon. It is a really good read about knitting and the healing power of craft in our lives.

Will knit for chocolate

We have been here in N. FL at the parsonage for the past week and heading into a second week here. The weather has been very nice. June and July were definitely the hottest months. It's been warm and dry, in the 80's, in the mornings, hot in the afternoon, and mild evenings. Of course anyone from up north would just think it was hot. But when you've lived in the subtropical mire that is S. FL, you can tell the difference. I'm sitting in the yard now watching a pileated woodpecker inspect a knot hole in the giant oak next door. Pretty close to Heaven for me. And this has been a rough summer, so I'm happy to be home just watching the birds. And now a sandhill crane has just wandered into the yard and is looking at me. Totally unmoved by my presence. The same can't be said for me, however. He is beautiful and very tall.

I had a fun, chocolate filled lesson in sock knitting from my knitting guru Cindy of DelightedHands. I now understand why there is such a cult following for sock knitting. It is very challenging and three dimensional. Cindy taught me Judy's magic cast on  for knitting socks toe up on circular needles. I'm using Patons Kroy Socks FX in Clover Colors on size US 2, 32" circular needles, which Cindy gave me to use as well as a sweater knitting CD, homemade soap, the best brownies you've ever had and M&M's. Well, we needed the M&M's to help us count rows and stitches. No really...

See the little toe emerging? I was reading in my copy of Vogue Knitting that socks are probably the earliest application of knitting, dating back to 1200 AD in Egypt. 

And the fiber fun didn't stop there. Bridget came over from Jax and hung out with us for the day. She brought the crochet blanket she is working on and we hung out knitting, catching up and watching TV. It was a mellow afternoon. 

The other creative offspring surprised us with this cool little fire pit that she made. Good job Che!

Mein Shotzee

The Shotzee spindle has arrived. It is a medium weight, cherry wood tool of beauty. I like the way it spins. I do believe I'm more comfortable with a top whorl spindle. But I'm going to keep working with the Louet. I've separated the shetland top into two, 4 oz. bundles and will spin each with the 2 new spindles. I love the color of this shetland too!

And speaking of color... I found this lovely skein of wool purchased at the Earth Guild in Asheville, NC about 2 years or so ago. I was having a hard time deciding what color to dye it. But I've decided to dye it red, inspired by the book I've just finished reading, The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman. I don't want to give anything away in case you want to read the book, but at the end of the story we find one of the characters is a spinner and knitter who dyes all her wool with madder root, producing red yarn. So I thought by George! Red! However, I didn't use madder root. I did something I've been wanting to try for a long time... Kool Aid! Cherry red. I used the directions from the Knitty website found here.

And here it is. The dye job came out a little uneven. When I do this again, I will bring the dye and water level up to where I think it will cover the wool before I add the wool and I will stir it more often than the instructions say. But otherwise I was happy with the color and the process. Just the fact that I wasn't dealing with toxic materials made me pretty happy.

About 3 years ago, I visited a really cool little yarn shop in Lancaster, PA called Oh Susanna's. If a yarn shop could be on an episode of Hoarders, this would be the place. There were shelves and baskets and boxes full of yarn. So much that you just wanted to jump in and swim around like a pile of leaves in autumn. And out of all that yarn, I bought one little skein of lace weight tweed yarn. Yes, just one. I am a doofus. So while straightening up in the loom room the other day, I came across my little green ball and decided to finally do something with it. Since it's lace weight, and since I saw a really cute narrow scarf in a magazine the other day, I'm thinking scarf. Mostly too because it is just one little ball. If it turns out I don't have enough for a scarf, then it will be a cowl.

Want to share this website... it's really cool! And fun. House of Tartan Interactive Weaver

Wool and Key Lime Pie

For being good and taking all my nuclear medicine, I decided to buy myself some presents. So of course I bought fiber related fun. I ordered a Louet drop spindle, bottom whorl, and 1/2 lb. of Shetland top, both ordered from Yarn Barn. I also ordered a Shotzee top whorl spindle from Halcyon. That one hasn't come yet. The top spins up nicely but I haven't used a bottom whorl spindle in a while... all my spindles are of the top whorl variety. So the yarn was coming out a little slubby at first. But after a while it evened out as I got more acquainted with the tool.

I'd also like to share a website that I recently discovered through fellow blogger, Delighted Hands. The KnitPicks website is a very nifty site. There is yarn and fiber for sale, patterns, and lovely needles. There are also videos and tutorials. Check it out.

Ooooo what is that you ask? Why it is a genuine key lime pie made by a genuine Florida girl! The pie was our contribution to a dinner invite from our good friends. I had not made a key lime from scratch in a loooong time, so I was a little nervous as to how it would turn out. First off, a real key lime pie is not green. Nor should it be sour. And it absolutely must have a meringue topping... none of this whip cream stuff. Want to make one? You will need:

1 graham cracker pie crust

4 eggs + 2 or 3 more eggs for meringue

  1 can condensed milk

1/3 c. key lime juice

sugar

1. Beat the 4 egg yolks and 1 egg white together. Save the other egg whites

2. Add the can of condensed milk and beat again.

3. Add the lime juice and beat until thick

4. Beat the 3 remaining egg whites until thickened and fold into the mixture.

5. Pour into the graham cracker pie shell.

6. Seperate 2 more egg whites and beat with 2 tablespoons of sugar until meringue forms peaks. For more meringue, use 3 egg whites and 3 tablespoons sugar. 

7. Don't put meringue on pie yet. Bake the pie at 350 for 10 min. 

8. Take the pie out of the oven, spread the meringue on top, and bake for 10 more min. 

That's all there is to it. You will have a sweet yummy pie. A Sunshine State original. I'm going to bake another one before the summer is gone. 

  

Oh Puddy... don't you know it's bad luck to walk under a ladder?

Bears!

The bears for the Mother Bear Project are finally finished and ready to be shipped off on Tuesday.

These little bears are very easy to make. I used the knit pattern and Che used the crochet pattern. I think the pattern is like $5 and you order it from Mother Bear. I think this would be a good project for tweens and teens too. Also good for beginning knitters.

And at the risk of sounding redundant, let me say again that my new URL is warpedandwoaded.blogspot.com ....

Light at the end of the tunnel

I finally feel like I'm coming back to the land of the living. Was able to work a half day yesterday and am going for a full day today. I will have to pace myself and rest when I feel I need to. Most AN patients say this and I believe it. I have added a page to talk about my Cyberknife experience for anyone who is thinking of doing this. So many people on the AN website have been so helpful. I would like to give back.

I should probably say that I've changed my URL (didn't know I could) to warpedandwoaded.blogspot.com just in case any of you dear readers have me bookmarked. And speaking of internet techie stuff...Jerry got a Google Chromebook and so far it is pretty nifty. Blogging is much nicer since I can now take my time and write instead of trying to hurry through my posts during my lunch break at work. My only complaint is that Chromebook seems to have a hard time working in certain parts of the house, like the loom room where I like to sit and do my thinking. You have to be in the living room where the modem lives to get any kind of speed.

During my convalescence, I did quite a bit of reading. One of the books I got interested in is The Knitter's Life List by Steege. There are lists of what you could or should try as a knitter, some techniques, knitting history, info on fiber festivals. It's an all around interesting book for needle clickers.

I also had time to catch up on some old Handwoven magazines. Found an interesting article in the May/June 2013 issue about Anni Albers and the Bauhaus weavers.

The article was saying that the Bauhaus weaving was attempting to stay "true to the vertical and horizontal nature of weaving" and was heavily influenced by the industrial landscape of the 1920's. This got me thinking about the bar and chain inkle I'm working on and much of plain weave inkle, which can have a Bauhaus "bent" to it. So this all excited my curiosity in reading more about Bauhaus textiles and Anni Albers. Grabbed a copy of her Selected Writings on Design.

I also had time to finally finish knitting this bear for the Mother Bear Project.  He's only been on the needles for like a year. My daughter said that the child this was supposed to go to has probably graduated from college by now. Wise guy.

I'll embroider a face on him and use all the long tails to sew up the sides. Then I'll make him a sparklie necklace with some bling type yarn and voila! Ze bear... she iz fini!

Postie toastie

Sorry, this will be a brief post this week. I am post Cyberknife and it has been a rough time for me. I am not feeling well and having a lot of fatigue. Hopefully I will feel like myself next week. Trying not to be discouraged. Luckily I have my needles and spindles to keep me calm.

Pelted by gamma rays

Tomorrow begins my Cyberknife treatment for acoustic neuroma. I may come out looking like The Hulk (only the Jack Kirby rendition will do) but probably not. Pretty sure I'll just be my same old self. Well, mostly.

I'm looking at the computer screen and not really knowing what to say about all this. I have been in watch and wait for 5 years and frankly, it has been 5 years of fear and worry and I am tired of it. I am ready to have this treatment and then I would like to just put it behind me for a while. But realistically, symptoms will never really let me put it behind me 100%. But, as Duran Duran said, I will find my way to the ordinary world somehow. 

potting shed

We took a little trip to the parsonage this weekend. This was a good trip for me. I ended up feeling more focused on a few things.

white ginger

I realized that I have been really quiet the past few weeks. Jerry may disagree, but even he would have to admit that I am not my usual motor mouth self. Then I started to realize that I've been too "in my own head" lately. Too focused on myself and that's never good. But it is hard not to be sometimes, especially if there are health issues.

yellow ginger

Some of the local artists, craftsmen and creatives in Crescent City are trying to organize an arts and cultural guild. We met with Marcia, who is among the core people working on the nonprofit planning, and talked about various plans. The organization will be called the Multicultural Arts Guild Inc. and at this point I am waiting to receive information and a logo so that I can create a Facebook and Twitter account.

It sounds very promising. The plan is to be all inclusive culturally and artistically. And we discussed maybe partnering with the schools, which would be very cool.

After our meeting we took a walk up the street to The Curiosity Shop  which is a nifty antique store. I found this little fellow... isn't he awesome? There was so much cool stuff there. I got to talking to the owner who just so happens to be on the mailing list for the evolving art guild and works in stained glass and mosaics. We had a nice chat.

storm clouds over Lake Stella

All this and seeing Che and my grandpets helped me focus on other people for a while and my spirits were lifted.

My spirits were also lifted by some spinning and weaving. I finally got around to plying some of this churro that I had spun up a long time ago. The churro makes a very course yarn good for rugs and maybe tapestry.

And a little weaving...

I will do my best to be brave this week. I will look forward to good things in the future. I will put myself in God's hands.

My new theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj26N10Ymlg