Violet’s Cape

Violet was still tiny when my daughter asked me to make her a cape.

I had crocheted Aurora a hooded baby cape that we used a great deal that first year when babies aren’t really shaped to be bundled into warm jackets with their round bodies and short arms that stick straight out when stuffed into a thick winter coat. I mentioned it to her.

Her reply? “Not crocheted. Not lacey. Toggle buttons would be great.”

The right yarn caught my eye while visiting a year store. Soft, lofty, washable.

No patten arrested my attention so as winter deepened visions of what I wanted were slowly etched and tried. By the third attempt ideas jelled, the dimensions and gauge settled.

Finished on time for her 1st birthday.

It was very handy during the early Spring cold walks riding in the backpack,
And the car journey between Grammie’s and home.
It’s cuddly soft,

but best of all, there’s plenty of room for growth
now that we’re well into a barefoot warm Spring.

 

5.8.13

I couldn’t let such a great date pass without a post giving a nod to the wonder of the Fibonacci sequence which is the mathematical make-up seen throughout nature.

The spiral found in shells, ram’s horns and the cochlea in our ears;
Roses, sunflowers and the scales of the pineapple;
Arrangements of stems, leaves and petals.

Fibonacci, of Pisa Italy, wrote about the number sequence 0,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89… (each number is the sum of the two previous numbers) in his book Liber Abbaci in 1202 after studying the Hindu-Arabic number system with its use of the 10 digit numbering system rather than the Roman Numeral method which had been used for centuries.

The sequence is closely related to the Golden Ratio also know as the Greek Phi.

Several years ago I read a blog post by a woman who’d painstakingly dyed and spun small bits of wool in order to weave a tapestry with all the intricate shadings of a ram’s horn. The picture of her finished tapestry was stunning in its accuracy and beauty.  It’s a shame I can’t find that post, or even remember who the amazing fiber artist is. If anyone who reads this knows please give a shout-out so I can properly acknowledge her. Her post and seeing the meticulous work she did just to achieve that one tapestry left a deep impression.

Seeing how this Golden Ratio, Sphere, Spiral turn up everywhere in nature throughout the seas, land, the heavens, even our human bodies, I can’t help but marvel at our Creator who designed and spoke it all into being.

***

When last I posted I’d planned to write within the following week but some extra, unexpected work demands came in that needed immediate attention, suddenly work soared to a busier level than anticipated and once again work took most of my energy. Last Friday I woke up with a sore throat which quickly grew into a raging cold that I’m still trying to shake. I’ve still be working but with very slow motion and by evening I’ve been too tired to try to engage my brain at the computer. I’m hoping to mail out the last of the spindles that were bought last week tomorrow so I can fully rest for a couple days and kick this bug.  It’s been very discouraging to be sick again. I suspect the stress of the previous two week with  didn’t help. It’s time to turn off the computer and get some sleep but I’ll be back within a few days with that finished project I mentioned last time.

 

Lit’l Red

The Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival in Hood River was good fun. Met lots of people, talked with people who are beginning to feel like old friends. I’m chagrined that names are so elusive in my memory. These smaller venues are more laid-back and relaxing, providing a bit more time to chat. But there’s still the need to always try to be “on” which an introvert is exhausting.

We pulled our Little Red T@B, in Ed’s little 4 cylinder Toyota pickup. The poor truck put in a valiant effort in pulling the rig up the hills leading to the county park where we set up camp.

We practically stumbled on Lit’l Red in January when we set out to find some sort of camping unit to use at shows. It was waiting for us at the very second RV place we visited.
The T@B is European but much more reasonable than the more common Teardrop. Even better, having been pre-owned it was a great price. Except we definitely need to find a bigger rig to pull it. We’re at the point where we want to have one vehicle instead of two so we’ll be on the lookout for a decent 6 cylinder rig that’s big enough for our needs but not a huge gas hog.

When we pulled into the campground early Friday afternoon not another soul was in sight. Finding a space with an electrical box we set up camp. Only to find the electricity was still disconnected from the winter season – even though the park ranger had assured me there would be power when I called at the beginning of April.

By the time we returned Friday evening, after the first couple hours of open market, there was a pickup camper and a group of high schoolers in a ring of tents near their bus with two huge rafts tied on top. They were finishing up a week of river rafting with their teacher/mentor. Without electricity we turned in by 8pm both nights and sweetly slept in our little unit alongside the rushing river.

There’s much I wanted to write but I’m still very tired from the weekend. We’ll be moving at a somewhat slower pace this week. I spent a glorious hour weeding around the blueberry bushes and doing a bit of work getting the ground ready to garden. Ed built and planted an asparagus bed this afternoon. We’d like to plant as much as the early produce this week.
Please stay tuned for pictures of a finished product that I designed that I hope to eventually write out, update on progress with spinning on the Great Wheel, the different fiber I’ve been spinning on it, and my newest acquisition – thanks to Ed who insisted I needed one.

 

Sad News, Good News

The magnificence and memories of the two Sock Summits are a highlight of our life tied with fiber. We’d been looking forward to SS14; seeing so many people from around the world, selling our spindles to the happy throngs of people. It’s not possible to put into words what Sock Summit encompassed. This evening I read on both Yarn Harlot’s blog and Tina Newton’s blog that they made the very hard decision to dissolve their Knot Hysteria Productions which was responsible for Sock Summit (and other fiber retreats). Both of them worked tirelessly, along with their two teams of helpers and the numerous people behind the scenes, to pull off two incredible, fantastic Sock Summit events. It staggers my mind to even think about the myriad of details that had to come together almost seamlessly, working from two ends of the continent while juggling their own full time successful businesses and families. As a team they were formidable. I have no doubt that they will each continue on to be major players in the fiber world.

One of the things that makes me the saddest is that we won’t get to hang out with Jocelyn, the Knitting Linguist. Not only was she a hands-down terrific helper in our booth but Ed and I both enjoyed her companionship. (Oh my! You must see what she’s up too!)

It will be interesting to see what might rise up from the demise of the Sock Summit, as we know it. I suspect there might be some other event that gathers forces to fill the huge void that is left. With time a hole is almost always filled by something. (‘cepting holes in sock (clothes)! We know how those progress.)

On to happy news!
(Violet didn’t want to wait for the  cookie to have a pretty coating of Easter icing! I made royal icing for the sugar cookies that were boxed up and mailed to the grandkids in Idaho where they landed without nary a crack or break.)

Violet’s shirt fits! As planned for room to grown, it’s a bit big.

Since Aurora didn’t want shoulder buttons I modified the pattern and instead kitchenered the two should ribbing bands. Without the extra room unbuttoning both shoulders pieces would have given — Violet hates having her head messed with — I decided a boat neck would provide a generous space for Violet’s head wide across the shoulders. Turns out the neck didn’t need to be so wide! There’s no problem getting her head through. The overall success of this shirt has me itching to warp up the loom and do some more weaving. Possibly within the next couple of weeks once a couple other pressing items are complete.

Yes, there’s been Walking Wheel spinning, it’s coming along quite nicely.

 

Sweater in progress

Ed beat me up three mornings this week. A very happy sign that after weeks of feeling miserable fighting the flu and all the side effects (sleeping endless hours, chills, aches…) he was finally once again waking up before me. He hadn’t been so sick in these past thirty-five years, and he almost always is the first out of bed. He’s not one for lying in bed once it’s light outside. It was almost alarming to be the first one up morning  after morning while he continued to sleep another hour, or more. He’s on the mend and gaining more strength and wellness every day.

Just a short post tonight. Original plots drifting through my head have diminished due to a very slow computer that’s making small tasks into monumental obstacles. So, instead of a long chatty post with tidbits from all that’s happened this past month I’ll pick up where I left off last time and focus on this one thing. The makings of Violet’s sweater.

With optimistic expectation of completing the sweater by Violet’s 1st birthday, confident that there was plenty of time to cut and sew the fabric, the final inches were woven with almost a week to spare.  Tuesday morning I finished sewing the two raw edges, put the fabric into a mesh bag and tossed it in the washing machine with a load of towels.  Violet was sound asleep in her little crib when I removed the cloth from the machine and spread it out on a folded blanket laid across my bed. Smoothing the cloth, thinking ahead about measuring and cutting the pattern from kraft paper I was suddenly stunned to remember the knitting ribbing . Egads! Slow knitter that I am and a full week of responsibilities: work, family from Idaho coming, getting together food for the memorial service for a dear friend, practicing then playing at the annual St Patrick’s dinner there was little hope for finding the necessary time.

Using a carpenter’s square, kraft paper and a quilter’s ruler (I think that’s what it’s called) I drew the pattern using the dimensions given on the Windowpane Baby Sweater pattern by Ann Walker Budd. Deciding to simply hem the bottom of the sweater rather than knit a ribbing I added an extra 1.5″ to the length. Once the paper pattern was cut I traced around the edges onto the fabric with a washable pencil.

Fabric marked I sewed a tight straight stitch all along the outside of the tracings with a double stitching along the edges to keep the handwoven material from unraveling where the ribbing stitches would be picked up. The longer yarn carries (floats) of the windowpane, 3-shaft weave (aka waffle-weave) needs the extra stability than my normal handwoven materials woven with plain or twill patterns.

Using the pink cotton 8/2 yarn that came in the weaving kit and a size B/2.25mm crochet hook I commenced picking up stitches for the first sleeve and slipped them onto size 4 / 3.5mm circular needles.

What a patience testing experience. The pattern says to pick up 44 stitches for the ribbing. After the third attempt I finally called it good at 42 stitches. The second sleeve was just as challenging as was the left back shoulder. Even with a fine crochet hook I was challenged by trying to get the correct number evenly spaced through the somewhat tight intersections of weft and warp. The ah-ha moment came on my second try across the left back shoulder: Really now, how crucial could it be to make sure the exact number was picked up? Just go with what looks good and right. Whew, it’s been a bit quicker sailing though I still have the neck bands to do and then stitching front, back and sleeves together.

The little checks of the waffle-weave and the way the intersections of color with white make tidy sun circles make my heart sing with joy. Overall I’m charmed at how well the cloth turned out and with the looks of it as progress is made. I hope to finish it by this time next week. If I don’t get a move on it Violet will outgrow it before it’s worn! She celebrated her 1st birthday last weekend! How the year flew past.

 

A Warped Loom

It feels like a Saturday night: Hair freshly washed. Pajamas and robe providing comfortable warmth. It’s early to bed tonight for tomorrow will bring an early morning drive to the far north of the Willamette Valley.

Show weeks can be quite stressful with all the extra work on top of keeping up with normal duties but having taken the month off from accepting spindle orders I actually feel on top of the situation. Another huge annual obligation has gotten underway as I’m slowly organizing and going through bookwork readying for tax paperwork.

The slow down in the office brought time to play: The Julia loom was finally, finally warped! Gracious, I can hardly remember when I first measured out the warp, sleyed the reed then started to do battle with the shafts.

All went well until after the reed was sleyed (the warp threads placed through the correct dent (Slot)- this pattern calls for 18 warp ends per inch (wpi), I have a 12 dent/inch reed so threaded one warp in a dent followed by two warp ends in the next dent across. The trick is to keep the order correct when threading the heddles so there are no crossed threads.

Some time ago I bought the  kit to convert the loom into a 4 shaft, 6 treadle counterbalance. The kit included 4 horses which are what toggle the shafts on the counter-balance rod. (How does one explain that action!) Wooden brackets  hold the shafts in place while adding heddles, tying the horses, the lamms and treadles. First I had to equalize the texsolve heddles from between 2 shafts to the 4 shafts. I lost count of how many times almost all the heddles were in place when a shaft would work lose from the bracket and suddenly crash down spilling all the heddles. In a tangled heap. Of course, when one shaft fell others followed. More than once I wanted to do violence to heddles and shafts. After the heddles were subdued with lines run through from one end to the other to keep them on the bucking shafts the warping fun began.

Insane. Simply insane. Using a 4 shaft counter-balance loom that has resisted every step of the conversion from 2 shafts and threading a 3 shaft waffle weave pattern. The empty fourth shaft wanted to dance with freedom as the other shafts were slowly threaded; 1 of them getting twice the threading as the others, making them hang at crazy angles and levels. Weights on the ends, cords on the ends, adjusting and readjusting the horses to get them to hang evenly as I slowly threaded my way across. Several times I reached the point that I couldn’t bear to even look at the loom for days on end. (Hard to ignore when the loom is next to my chair in the living room.) Determination and the desire to get on with the weaving would take me back to coaxing sense into the beast.

What sweet blessedness when the warp was completely on the loom and the last knot was tied into place. Eagerly the weaving commenced.

Except. Stepping on each treadle in turn showed there to be 3 sets of crossed threads between the reed and the heddles. sigh. In the years of weaving this was a first. At least it was a straight forward fix.
Except. The empty back harness and the second harness with twice as many warp threads weighting it down continued to bob and shuffle off-balance resulting in narrow sheds on one treading. At one point Ed commented that he was surprised I hadn’t hurled angry words at the loom or thrown something. What? A little loom conquer me? Ha! With weights judicially placed on the 4th harness, the horses carefully retied higher, the distance to the treadles readjusted we finally reached a happy partnership with the harnesses moving in sweet harmony.

The waffle weave is a fun pattern. Once several inches had been woven I could see my place in the pattern and no longer had to single mindedly focus on counting. The rhythm is relaxing and soothing. Don’t let my experience turn you away from either weaving or the sweet little Julia loom, which I do enjoy. I could have stopped anywhere in the process and plugged in the dvd which came with the loom. It shows how to warp back to front, the recommended method for this loom. The stubborn person inside obstinately said, “I can do this my way and, by gum, I will.”

Our dear little Violet was fascinated with the weaving and wanted to lend a hand.

Afterall, this material will become a shirt for her first birthday!

 

Favorite treats

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Growing up I wasn’t crazy about Valentine’s Day. The stress of making cards for everyone, worrying whether I’d get any cards or candy from friends and classmates made me dread the day. As a young married adult I began to appreciate the day for what it symbolized – a day for showing love, especially to my family.

One thing that made it stand out in the calendar year of celebrations is that it wasn’t highly commercialized, there weren’t great expectations for gifts, fixing a huge feast for family or going anywhere in particular. We keep it simple, sometimes giving each other cards, candy and/or flowers but for the most part the goodies are homemade. I don’t expect a card from Ed or my kids; if they surprise me with one I’m thrilled. Ever since the early years of our marriage I’ve made Rice Krispy Treats with a twist: pack the marshmallow rice mixture into a well buttered funnel for huge Kisses. This year I added some Strawberry Milk syrup to the mix.
Ed’s mom & grandmother used to make Gobs for special occasions. His mom sometimes grumbled about the amount of work that went into something so quickly devoured by the family, none the less, she took pride in making them and made sure that I had the recipe shortly after we were married.

As soon as Violet went down for her morning nap the milk and flour mixture were being stirred into a thick mass on the stove then poured on to a plate to cool. (Detour to put on the last coat of finish onto spindles then wipe them off and remove them from the drying rack which Ed needed, & continue to feed blank dvds into the duplicator to burn more Learn to Spin in prep for the show on the 23rd.)  Next step, measure out the dry ingredients, mix the coconut oil (instead of shortening), sugar, add eggs and boil some water. The buttermilk chocolate cake recipe uses the old fashioned method of adding liquids and dry ingredients in alternating batches. The oven was heated and parchment paper laid onto cookie sheets and I was just about to  start blending the dry ingredients and the buttermilk when I heard a wee voice calling from the bedroom. Good timing! For once the process begins it’s good to get the cakes into the oven as quickly as possible. Violet was happy to hang out in the sling I’d made two weeks ago when she took to speedily crawling everywhere, and supervise the mixing of the cake batter. Watching the spoonfuls being dumped onto the cookie sheets was just as entertaining. Then to her utter astonishment, she had her first taste of chocolate lickings. No doubt about it, this is good stuff!

During her afternoon nap the filling was completed and spread between two cakes. Part way through I added strawberry milk powder, for color and flavor. Hey, one can’t really go wrong with a strawberry cream cheese spread.

Ed likes Gobs kept in the freezer, the way his mom kept them, so some were placed in a large container and put in the freezer, some were placed in a large cookie tin for Aurora to take home. (I was surprised to learn that most people seem to know these as Whoopie Pies.)

Here’s the recipe which Ed grandmother used to make when her children were young, my modifications are in parentheses.

1st part of Gob Filling
1 C Milk
5 Tablespoons Flour
Bring milk and flour to boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly (ignore the temptation not to stir) until thick. It usually takes about 10 minutes. Have a cup of coffee at hand, and even a book to read – as long as you keep stirring. Pour onto a dinner plate, cover with plastic wrap (try to keep it from touching the filling) and put into the fridge until ready to make the filling.

Gobs Heat oven to 350 degrees, grease two cookie sheets (parchment paper)
In Mixing bowl:
2 C sugar
1/2 C shortening  (Butter or natural coconut oil – which is solid at room temperature)
2 eggs
Beat sugar and shortening (butter) together, add eggs and beat until light & fluffy

In medium sized bowl:
3 3/4 C Flour
2 teas Baking Soda
1/2 C Cocoa
1/2 teas Baking Powder
1/2 teas Salt
Sift together (Mix with fork)

1 C Buttermilk or Sour Milk – add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice to 1 scant C of milk and let stand. (Or, Buttermilk Powder: mix it in with the dry ingredients and use 1 C water)

Add flour mixture alternating with Buttermilk (Water if using powder) Mix about 1/3 the dry ingredients into the sugar/butter/egg batter, stir well, add 1/2 the buttermilk incorporate well, add another 1/3rd dry mixture and mix, add the remaining buttermilk and mix well, add the last of the dry stuff and mix thoroughly.

1/2 C Boiling Water
2 teas Vanilla
Add to the batter. Stir until well blended but don’t beat.

Drop by generous spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake until done.  About 12 – 14 minutes, test with a toothpick, you don’t want these gooey. Remove immediately and place onto cooling rack.
Since these are big and will spread a little you’ll need to do them in batches. I usually get around 32 – 36, half the number when put together with the filling.

When they’re completely cooled spread on the filling:
Gob Filling, Part 2:
Scrape the refrigerated Milk/Flour mix into the mixing bowl and beat well to remove any lumps
Add:
2/3 C Butter (1/3 C Butter, 1/3 C Cream Cheese) Room temperature
Beat well, add:
1 C Powdered Suger
Beat for about 5 minutes then add,
1 teas Vanilla

Spread onto half of the cookies and put together. Freeze if you like. Or, Eat Immediately!

There are a lot of steps and it can seem daunting but they’re really not hard to make, just somewhat time-consuming.

For another Valentine treat I made Raw Almond Chocolate Balls which Aurora declared that she would not share with anyone else.
1 C Raw Almonds ground into flour (a coffee grinder works great)
3/4 C Cocoa (aka Cacao)
1/4 C ground coconut, or coconut flour (optional)
1/2 C Honey
Mix all together (hands work great for mixing this!) Roll into balls and roll in more almond flour or coarsely chopped almonds or ground coconut. Enjoy!