knitting &

Now they tell me!

2009-11-14T20:16:00.004-05:00

Just when I decide to make a turkey for Thanksgiving this year after 20 years of not, I find THIS.
The recipes sound enticing....but I like having a table with food grown near us (Northeastern US).

What do you think? What are your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes?
Do you include ethnic foods, family favorites?

In Memoriam Betty Smith 1909-2009

2009-11-12T12:01:00.011-05:00

In October, I had the great fortune to be invited to a get together for one of my customers, Betty Smith of Voorheesville, NY. She had passed away earlier in the summer at the age of 99, barely missing her 100th birthday and the hot air balloon ride she wanted to go on. Betty's family and friends, quilters and knitters were invited to celebrate Betty. She had been living with her granddaughter, Linda, for the last few years. Linda put together a wonderful party and an exhibit of some of Betty's work.

I knew that Betty had been a prolific knitter since she was taught to knit at an early age, during WW I, when everybody was encouraged to knit socks for the soldiers. I had also heard that Betty was a quilter. But oh boy, I had no idea. None.

I remember her coming to my shop at the time, when a book called Knitted Babes came out. Betty was not only supersmart (a double major and then teacher of both math and art), creative, alert, and all around wonderful soul, she also had a great sense of humor. She literally made everyone she came in contact with smile.

She delighted in making these knitted dolls, including their clothes and flip-flops.

Betty made innumerable pairs of socks during her lifetime.

If I ever live to be over 90 years old, I hope to be able to knit fun things for my grandkids and greatgrand kids!

A series of felted purses.

a sampling of Betty's handwork

And then there was the quilt exhibit. Linda gave me permission to take pictures.

Gotcha! Not a quilt, but a tray of cookies!

The little Flying Geese are 1 inch across.

From a movie being shown that day. Her quilters group had made it.

I have a feeling that Betty Smith made a lot more quilts than that even. Knowing her, she had probably made them for all her kids and their kids and their kids, too.

The exuberance expressed in her work seems to say to all of us: Go forth and craft with abandon!

Thank you Betty, it was an utter privilege to know you.

Dear Thanksgiving Turkey

2009-11-05T21:12:00.000-05:00

Dear Thanksgiving Turkey.

I know it's not Thanksgiving here in the US for a couple of weeks yet, but I wanted to catch you while you still had some time left on this earth. Give you time to digest this news I am about to deliver to you.

O this is going to be hard.

You see, I've been a vegetarian for twenty years, but I think ducks to avoid flying rotten eggs that I am going back to eating....meat. Meat as in chicken and turkey. (The thought of bacon has always grossed me out.)

Please hear me out. I think that avoiding eating 20 Thanksgiving turkeys, and I am not even going to count the Christmas ones at my sister-in-law's house, should at least count for something, and buy me twenty minutes of your time...thank you.

Twenty years of being a vegetarian for political, animal rights, and dietary reasons is a tough thing to leave behind. Repeated reports of meat recalls and E. coli horror had me glad to be avoiding meat entirely. We raised our kids vegetarian too, even though we never "forbid" them to eat meat: if they wanted to try it, they could. When they had questions about the meat and seafood departments in the grocery store, we stood there and visited steaks, hot dogs, and lobster. But they never ended up trying it, until Tall Son went to college. He does have an occasional burger now.

Twenty years of having to explain to one's relatives the reasons why, and why I was doing that to my kids, we felt like oddballs for a very long time. We were labeled as birdfood eating crunchy granola types by some. We were told that we were going to be iron-deficient, emaciated, protein-lacking, miserable people. Honestly I have no idea how Tall Son got to be 6'2" and Crafty Girl at age 12 has caught up with me in height? There were years where we only saw the pediatrician at the annual check-up. Twenty years, and we were never miserable because of our diet. Never.

However. Things started to change for me a couple of years ago, when I found out that I have IBS (probably since childhood) and also a gluten sensitivity. There are 4 celiacs in my immediate family, so the odds are pretty good that I would have an issue there, too. 2006 was a very high stress year for me. Autoimmune disorders are sometimes triggered by stress.

Now my diet excluded wheat, rye, barley, oats, and cow's milk dairy. And still no meat and no seafood. I love my nut butters, and am OK with gluten free foods, and am just fine with goat's milk cheese. (Most of them I cannot afford, but that's another story.)

This spring, I was having more than the usual seasonal allergies, and I finally figured out that eating peanuts in any form makes my chest constrict. Not a fun experience. But I am happy to not eat peanuts. Being able to breathe is more important to me. Switching to almond butter or cashew butter is not an option, as they are made on the same equipment as the one used for peanutbutter.

After several months now of not eating meat, seafood, dairy, grains, and nuts, I started to gain weight in the weirdest way. Was it all the rice? Rice bread, rice crackers, rice cereal. While I was grateful to be eating something that didn't make me sick, I was getting sick of it.

Oh, and did I mention that if I have a full serving of carrot salad, or butternut squash, pumpkin pie, or any other deep yellow vegetabe, I get diarrhea? Did I tell you that eating most legumes has me blowing up like a hot air balloon, but without the exhilarating feeling of floating high in the air? I do love potatoes in all their myriad ways of preparation. I am fond of millet and quinoa. Corn, I am OK with, but it doesn't thrill me too much. I am never quite sure of its nutritional value, either.

I considered being a vegan, but that was an impossibility due to me being restricted in the nut department. I have since found some dry roasted almonds which are like manna to me, which cause no adverse reaction. I need to go purchase some good dairy free, non-grain sweetened dark chocolate to coat them in. A girl does deserve a treat every once in a while.

Always thankful for any kind of food that doesn't make me sick to my stomach, content with my choices, happy to have any food at all in the face of so many millions on this earth who never have enough...I had another piece of rice bread toast the other day with imitation cream cheese, and it suddenly hit me:

I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!

I am so so sorry. I realized that I was spending so incredibly much time thinking about what to eat that didn't make me ill or nauseous or bloated or kept me from breathing. I realized I was sick and tired of tofu and simply could not think of yet another way to prepare it. Already pouring soy milk (thank goodness for SILK!) over my corn chex, I knew I could easily overdo it with the soy protein and then where would I be. Trust me, I had explored many of the glutenfree, allergy free, vegan, vegetarian cookbooks. I knew what my options were.

I was also in the middle of reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, so that may have had something to do with my sudden change in attitude. Yes, I was supremely grateful for the food I had, but all that scrounging for protein was doing something to my psyche. I am glad I can literally just go to the store and find something to eat. (It means spending twice as much time there because I have to read labels all the time, but I've always been ready to do whatever it takes.) I know there are people right around me who have deadly deadly allergies to some of the most common foods. I can truly appreciate what they have to go through each and every day.

But I hit my very own personal wall. I started to fantasize about bratwurst. I know. 20 years. Wiped out. To take the edge off, I went to the market and got a 1/4 pound of all natural turkey breast, sliced thin, and it lasted me for two lunches. That was two weeks ago, and I have since had some tuna salad. (Dear husband and I actually put the occasional fish on the grill over the summer, but that was going to be it. Didn't want to bring that smell into the house.)

The biggest decision I made was that I want a Thanksgiving Turkey. I am going to find a free range one, because I refuse to eat something that had endured torture. Now I need to find a recipe, because I have no idea how to cook a turkey. I do want to do it justice and want it to come out right.

I guess basically I want to make sure that I can be grateful and mindful again of whatever I'm eating, and not spend all my time worrying, because that just seems wrong and serves nobody.

Dear Thanksgiving Turkey. Thanks for hearing me out. Now go live out your life with wild abandon.

a child's sweater

2009-10-29T13:40:00.007-04:00

About a year ago, Blue Sky Alpacas donated a bunch of their superbulky alpaca/merino blend to Afghans for Afghans, to pass along to knitters who'd be willing to make a garment. I got some of the yarn, missed the deadline for knitting at the time and felt miserable about it.
Another deadline came up and I finally managed to finish the sweater up yesterday and mailed it out to them.
The age group they are delivering warm winter garments and accessories to this time is 7-14, and I am hoping this 34" chest size will fit and warm an Afghani child.
I used 10 skeins and so the sweater weighed one kilo, that's over 2 lbs - nice and heavy.

Size 15 needles yielded a gauge of 2 sts/in. I didn't follow a pattern, but I checked my measurements against some size charts.

FO: handspun mittens, and some plying action

2009-10-26T20:13:00.007-04:00

I finally finished a pair of mittens for myself the other day where all that was missing were the thumbs. I guess the recent cold weather nudged me along. These are the first complete project with my own handspun. I don't even remember where I got the fiber, but I think it was a 2 oz Grafton Fibers batt I got ages ago. The yarn came out very soft to the touch and vibrant in color, and I used up almost every bit of it.

I didn't have the sense to wash the skein first, so some of the stitches show a distinct slant. So much need to learn.

Which brings me to...the lovely spinning group I got to visit with on Friday. Kay* met me in a parking lot 20 minutes from the meeting point, so I could follow her and not get lost, according to her words.

Well I may have gotten lost. We were meeting at "Fred's" and I had no clue who Fred was.

Let me tell you. After about a 20 minute drive through the most picturesque landscape around Crooked Lake, we suddenly turn left at a driveway that was studded with faded plastic flamingoes. The small parking lot was generous enough to hold about 10 cars; we were the first ones to arrive. There was some ornate scrolled iron lawn furniture outside of a long rectangular building. A mailman looked like he was stuck head first in the grass -- I liked this place. Impromptu art everywhere. The mailman turned out to be the bottom half of a mannequin complete with an old mailman's trousers and shoes. I guess he had delivered one bill too many....

When we entered, we were greeted by

a) a roaring fire in the world's biggest fireplace

b) an aging dog

c) the delicious scent of freshly roasted coffee

d) and Fred himself.

We were inside a coffee roaster's. There were cafe tables strewn about and bistro chairs. Old overstuffed chairs and sofas, one of which was on a stage (!) on the other end of the room. There were canisters of coffee and tea, brownies, coffeecakes, and cupcakes under domed lids. Antiques on shelves and handmade pottery.

As the spinners and knitters were filing in with their wheels, fiber, and various bags of accessories, everybody
felt at home and made me feel at home. I had been very nervous since it was my first outing at a spinning group, and these were mostly seasoned spinners. But it turned out that I knew at least half of them already, from when I had my shop, from other shops, and from fiber festivals.

Much chatting, spinning, knitting, plying, and even occasional singing ensued. One person brought a partially assembled wheel that was not engaging, and we now know that it takes 5 spinners and a headlamp to assemble the final parts. (Don't ask. I couldn't explain it to you. But the wheel was soon whirring away.)

Meanwhile I was spinning up what I had left of some roving, as this was the day I was finally going to learn how to ply properly. Laurie* pulled out her Katie a go go (OK I admit I googled this later) and got me set up. Only I had so much yarn on my bobbins there was not enough time for me to ply it all. Looks like I'm going to have to get me one of these nifty lazy kates....for all these singles I have on the bobbins that I didn't know what to do with. Laurie also explained how I can make a lazy kate for about a dollar, but then she spoiled me with the best tool and now I feel like there is no going back.

However a week from Friday, I'm going back to Fred's. How can I not? His last name is Cashmere.

PS: *you can see Kay and Laurie in pictures here.

Photography Exhibit

2009-10-09T08:50:00.010-04:00

Yesterday, I re-visited a photography exhibit by my friend Laura Glazer. I've been meaning to go back to the Little Gallery in Rathbone Hall on the Sage Campus in Albany, NY. I've been meaning to blog about it so more people would hopefully go and take a look at this astonishing project.

My only comfort now is knowing that the story is ongoing still, that there will be a book, and hopefully more exhibits as time goes on.

Leaf Prints on the walk to the gallery.

The floor in the exhibit room.

How does one take pictures (with the permission of the artist!) of some of the most exquisite photographs? I am forever fascinated by lines (of writing, knitting), and this exhibit captivated me.

View from the gallery entrance.

Please run over there today if you're in the area. They are open from 12 to 4. Otherwise, keep checking Laura's blog to find out more, and clamor for another exhibit!

more quilt pictures

2009-09-29T19:48:00.006-04:00

Sometimes life happens to such an extent that one is required to spend more energy on dealing with it than planned. Consequently these additional pictures of the Bennington Quilt show of 2009 are a little late.

I hope you'll find them no less inspiring.

Of course, there were some vendors there, too. Fabric. It's how it all begins...

Large, or small, primitive, or artistic...I love them all.

crazy quilt

2009-09-22T11:02:00.005-04:00

I went to Bennington VT this past weekend and spent a lovely day with my dear friend Amy. We went to the annual quilt show there. I only took about 85 pictures, hehe...here's a small sampling. I may put up more pictures later.

I'll start with one of our favorite ones. This quilter took the book Goodnight Moon and made it into a picture quilt. We both enjoyed reading that book to our kids when they were small.

The cranes were pieced!

The description on the Poppy Quilt said it usually hangs on a red wall. Stunning.

Exquisite hand stitching on a crazy quilt.

Wouldn't you love to have one of these on your bed?

We really liked the colors and the border on this one, and put our vote in the ballot box for it.

Ok who wants more pictures?

it keeps me going and going!

2009-09-07T12:08:00.004-04:00

Interrupting my knitting to tell you that the yardage on that yarn is blowing me away! Saturday I said to myself, 'Oh, I'll just knit to the end of the skein.' It took me a whole 'nother day to to finish it.

I got 10 and one quarter inches of sweater back out of one skein (247 yds!) of Valley Yarns "Northampton", knitting the 44" chest size on that sweater.

Some of my cables need to shape up a little, and I'm working on that. Mostly the right-leaning ones have stitches that are a little too open, or loose, for my taste...I have now gone to cabling without a cable needle, except for the ones what require you to cross 4 over 4 stitches (see the big snake-like cable? That's the one.) I'm hoping the rest will settle in when I block it.

Onward!

when the going gets tough...

2009-09-05T10:29:00.002-04:00

...the tough go stash diving and start a new project.

"St. Patrick" from the book a fine fleece, in Valley Yarns 'Northampton', color: Forest Green.

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone.

What's on your needles?

news

2009-08-28T11:50:00.003-04:00

Due to the after effects of the economic downturn,

I lost my job this morning. My boss is closing her personal chef business.

All the Best to you, Lori. You did what you could, for as long as you could. You are a professional who did everything right, and by the book, putting your tremendous energy and creativity into every day. I was proud to be your first employee after you flew solo for five years, and it was great fun while it lasted.

ETA: Lori had two businesses. She also owns a cat sitting business, and will continue running that.

important

2009-08-20T11:42:00.002-04:00

I just couldn't go without letting you know one more important thing.

While I was away in Portland, my boss at Great Capers Cooking LLC was in a car accident and her kitchen has been idle. She is ok, but has cuts and bruises and whiplash. We have not been able to go to the Wednesday market in Troy and are not sure how soon we will be able to return.

Please send Lori some good thoughts and well wishes, so she may recuperate quickly and return to her usual self! If you leave comments here, I'll be sure to pass them along to her. Thank you so much.

turns out

2009-08-20T10:40:00.006-04:00

It has been brought to my attention that I have not blogged here in a long while. Some of you are getting worried about me. Fear not! This blog is still alive and well, however I took a long time blogging about Sock Summit '09 on my other blog, http://www.periwinklesheep.blogspot.com/

Thanks for going over there. I started the Periwinkle Sheep blog to keep track of my dyeing, designing, and knitting adventures....the more professional side of this knitter.

This blog will still feature my knitting, the kind I do for friends and family.

Or the kind that I receive!

To tell this story right, I have to go back to where Tall Son goes to college and finds a beautiful, bright, sweet, young woman and asks her out.

When he goes to visit her family (who live in the same city as where he goes to college) at Easter, I send along a skein of my sock yarn, because it turns out that his girlfriend's mom is a knitter.

Then it comes to pass that his girlfriend visits us over the 4th of July weekend. Bearing a gift from her mother to me: a beautiful handknit scarf

combining my sock yarn with one of her yarns.

In a pattern, it turns out, that is is actually one of my most favorite fancy-but-not, lace patterns.

Last night, Tina and I spoke on the phone. I am to go see her this Saturday at the yarn shop in Rochester, NY, where she works full time (!), with some of my sock yarn (!), where they will take a look at my colors, and may order some of it (!).

Meanwhile, Tall Son's girlfriend is knitting her first sock with some yarn she took a liking to while she was here, and which I gladly gave her with a set of needles.

This may just be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and more than one heart will break if those two kids ever decide to end their relationship :0 . Not only are the women knitters and spinners, they also speak German and the grandparents are originally from Bavaria, like me. My mind is boggled with the similarities every time I ponder them.

So. While we are truly away for a few days (the cat and neighbors minding the house), do take time to stop over at the Periwinkle Sheep blog, if you need to catch up.

I will not be bringing my laptop with me this time, but will cherish all your comments upon my return!

Knit Nights

2009-07-28T16:41:00.003-04:00

Just to remind everyone, we will have Knit Night this Thursday, July 30th, and also on Thursday, August 13th, from 7-9 pm at Panera's in Glenmont.

The first meeting is to help me get over my pre-Sock Summit jitters, and at the second one I will report on how it went!

Thank you Knit Night Knitters!! (Pictured above actually all crocheting, helping me put together a blanket for Afghans for Afghans in May). You are amazing!!

tech difficulties

2009-07-22T11:08:00.001-04:00

posting from tall son's computer right now before he goes away for 5 days -- i am having technical difficulties with my computer and also lost my cell phone -- hang in there with me -- i'll be back soon i hope.

Farmer's Market

2009-07-19T21:21:00.019-04:00

Every Wednesday, my boss Lori and I go to a weekday farmer's market in Troy and set up the booth with our goodies.

There is live entertainment. Every week a different artist or artists show up. These two were some excellent jazz guitarists.

Right next to us is the most colorful, beautiful booth. Last week, we finally had good weather, and I brought my camera.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

EDITED TO ADD: the market runs from 10 am to 2 pm every Wednesday until sometime in October, at Monument Square in Troy, NY. It is near the Center for the Arts and City Hall.

We will NOT be in attendance this Wednesday, July 22nd. We'll be back next week!

colors of summer

2009-07-13T08:42:00.004-04:00

Yarn delivery to The Spinning Room

4th of July cupcakes made by Crafty Girl

One of the Bocce ball sets we played with on the 4th, with friends.

We had such a great time. If I even were to start talking about Tall Son's girlfriend, I would do nothing but gush...so let me just say that we love her. Beautiful, smart, sweet, funny. Aside from that, she knows how to spin on a drop spindle, and she knits, too...

If you don't hear from me much over here, it's because of this.

I hope you are surrounded by friends and family at least some of the time this summer!

what's new with you?

2009-07-02T15:48:00.002-04:00

Over here, we have lovely company for the holiday weekend: Tall Son's girlfriend is visiting, and my sister-in-law is here, too!
I have a few days off from work and dyeing yarn, Knit Night is moved this month to next Thursday. I hope you are all well and knitting away on a project wherever you may be.

Happy Fourth of July weekend!

sew skilled

2009-06-25T07:33:00.014-04:00

During the last couple of years, I've developed a sincere love for small hand made items that are not knitted. If you know me in person, you'll realize that I would hardly ever put a colorful print on myself. But I love cheerful fabrics in small doses, and if they come in the form of knitting accessories, so much the better. If I can find something either locally made, or on etsy, I go for it.

Last fall, I bought a box bag by JessaLu, who is also a friend of mine. It was my virgin etsy purchase. :)

I love this bag because I can carry it around by the handle, with a sock project inside. It holds all of my stitch markers, tape measure, the needle gauge, you know, all those little gadgety things that float around in your knitting bag. I can put the bag in my knitting basket, but mostly it just sits out because it looks so good ;)

The inside is lined and the bag stands up on its own really well.

Now here's the point where once again I need to apologize for my poor photography skillz - my camera was at the complete wrong settings while to took all these pictures.

Anyway. The other day it was time for me to send myself a little present. It arrived on Monday.

I am going on a pretty big trip in about a month from now, and of course I am trying to think about my knitting project and what needles I'll bring and how I will transport it all. Hehe. I'm going to the Sock Summit, of course I'm bringing a sock project, but I'll be with about 270 other vendors who have gorgeous yarn for sale and what if I get some and have to swatch it right then and there?!

OK back to my package. It contained this:

to hold this airline approved (fabulous for the traveling knitter: row counter, tape measure, folding scissors, thread cutter, stitch markers, point protectors) all in one kit -

-- a circular needle case

-- a straight needle case

Everything is lightweight, super well made, and totally beautiful.

s*** hits the fan

2009-06-22T11:57:00.004-04:00

I had a nice litte post almost ready to go about some etsy goodies I got.

You all know I'm dyeing a truckload of yarn for the Sock Summit.

After what happened, I need a whole lot more of this:

I'll have to ask you to go to the other blog, since that covers my "professional life". Thank you for obliging me.

welcome to my garden

2009-06-20T20:56:00.005-04:00

Ten days ago, seemingly all the flowers in my yard were blooming at the same time. We've had a series of gray days with lots of rain, so it's kind of nice to look at these and be cheered.

FO!

2009-06-14T21:31:00.007-04:00

My mother always says,"You never finish anything!"
Well. First of all, I did finally give birth to BOTH of my children at the time so I did finish the two pregnancies.
And, my kitchen is finally done being painted, though dear husband may have had something to do with that, also.

In addition, when I have a concussion and am forced to sit down for longer than half an hour, and being on the computer gives me a headache, then I finish other things, too!

Like this baby sweater, for example.

The intended wearer is now going on 6 weeks, and it's the middle of June and who knows if he wants to wear a little wooly sweater, but I did finish. Maybe there is a resident teddy bear in the house that needs a cardigan. I AM sending this out tomorrow!

It weighs all of two ounces including the buttons, after a wash and block.

The yarn is Brown Sheep's Nature Spun Sport, knitted on size 4 /3.5 mm needles, after this pattern.

take a look!

2009-06-13T09:54:00.003-04:00

There, I did it. Two blogs. Read one, read both, leave comments, leave comments!

The new Periwinkle Sheep blog is up. Are you up for it?

blog re-birth

2009-06-10T11:49:00.002-04:00

I am going to re-name my blog very soon. Don't tell me I didn't warn ya.

Since I am selling my yarn under the business name "The Periwinkle Sheep", I still have a website (though it's under construction right now), and it's generally time for the good ol' sheep name to be resurrected, this blog will soon be found under the name "The Periwinkle Sheep". Which used to be the name of my yarn shop. Good times were had by all at that shop, it was the basis, the foundation, the start of my professional fiber obsession, so here goes: long live "The Periwinkle Sheep!"

PS: thank you for all your well wishes. Turns out I also had whiplash. My trusty chiropractor is on it. I fell like I am beginning to turn a corner.

i'm a blockhead

2009-06-08T10:53:00.004-04:00

On Friday, I was finally going to put the finishing touches on my kitchen, which I had been painting. I hoisted myself up onto the top step of the ladder with elan, in a fairly tight spot, and suddenly it was my head vs. the door jamb.

Concussion.

Dear Husband later insisted on the ER, where they did a CT scan and pronounced it normal.

Which I feel very far from.

Mostly I feel very stupid, for taking up room in the ER where there were little and big people who really needed help. Whereas I should have just looked where I was going.

It has taken me three days to form this post in my head, my mind feels so numb. And if anyone could explain to me why my ears hurt? (I hit the top of my head.) The doctor who saw me didn't seem to pay that any mind.

I am dyeing some yarn today simply because I HAVE to, but after lunch I'll be hitting the couch. Slowly and carefully.