Simmering Potpourri

Dear Mom,
Potpourri is one of those words that doesn't look right no matter how I try to spell it. One R? Po-por-eee. Two RR's?  Pot-Poor-rEEE. You cannot pronounce it the way it is spelled or spell it the way it is pronounced. Spell check came in handy on this one.

When I was at the Spin Workshop a couple of weekends ago, a fellow classmate asked if she might borrow my niddy noddy overnight and return it in class the next morning. Of course she could!
When Melissa returned the niddy noddy she gave me some of her home made simmering potpourri as a thank you. I thought, WOW! What a nice and totally unexpected completely unnecessary thing to do!..... I think I want to be her friend.
The potpourri is wonderful. I asked Melissa for the "recipe". She gave me several. The ingredients are all things you probably have in your kitchen and spice cabinet. I have her permission to share the recipes with you.

The combination Melissa gave to me was this:
orange peel (literally- the peel off of an orange.)
broken up cinnamon sticks
a few whole cloves

Put it all in a saucepan with enough water to cover and simmer away. Just be sure to check and refill the water- it evaporates quickly. Use it for as long as you like, until it looks yucky. And then make some more.

Melissa also suggests the following options-

Grapefruit peel with bay leaves

Lime peels with broken cardamom seeds

Lemongrass that has been smashed well and cut up for a citronella scent.

Cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg.

When I saw Melissa at Open Spin the weekend before the workshop, I knew she was somehow familiar to me, but I couldn't place her. When she started talking about her rugs (she is a Hooker!), the light bulb flickered on and I remembered. WAaaay back when I took the rug weaving class Melissa walked in with a few of her hooked rugs. They were impressive, inspiring, unforgettable. Works of art. I hope to see more of her rugs someday.

And this has nothing to do with simmering potpourri, but look at what I found at the Tractor Supply when I went to buy more Orvus wool wash:

Cute CUTE little baby chicks.

And even CUTER baby ducks.

Think of the neighbors, Kim.

And the dogs.

And the POOP.

Pictures will have to do. But ohhhh.

Love,
Kim

Rags to Rugs

Dear Mom,
It was rags to rugs around here over the weekend.

On Saturday, two friends and I took a "Rug in a Day" class up at Tabby Tree Weaver. To prepare for the class we cut 5-6 yards of fabric into 1 1/2 inch strips to be woven into a rag rug. I didn't want to love weaving. Looms are expensive and take up space. I just wanted to like weaving and have a good rug to show for it. I wasn't too far into weaving the rug when I caught myself rearranging the house to accommodate a loom. I reigned myself in. A big part of weaving- warping the loom- was already done for us when we arrived for class and just thinking about setting up all those warp threads is pretty daunting. Before I fall headlong into turning myself into a weaver, I'll need to take a class that teaches every step of the process and I'll see if I still like it. I'll do That, and start saving my money.

As you can see, our rugs were all very different from each other. That is mine in the middle. TheNeverDullAlwaysCreativeBecky's is above mine and CarolWhoseHouseGotStruckbyLightning's is below.

Here are some close ups of the rugs-

After about 6 hours of weaving we all were really tired- not that any part of it was physically that difficult- I think it was a combination of learning and being inspired that left us drained. We all wondered if we would "feel it" tomorrow. Becky decided to forget about the Bow flex- working the loom was a good upper body workout! The only reminders of my day of weaving were a tender spot on my right hand where my middle finger meets my palm and another on my right cheek where I had it planted on the bench. (Surprising, considering the padding I have there.)

My rug is now home and after "trying it on" in different locations, I think this is where it is going to live-

in front of the kitchen sink. It is long enough to cover the width of the sink and dishwasher. It has also been claimed as a good resting spot by Patsy.

Then, on Sunday, as if one rug in a weekend wasn't enough, I decided to get on with it already and finish something in an attempt to clear off the project queue on my dining room table. The one taking up the most space and also the one most likely to be completed in an afternoon was the Rag Doily Rug I posted about awhile ago. Shorty after posting about it, I purchased some sheets at the Goodwill and tore them into strips. They were wound into balls and waiting for further action.

It felt better scratching this one off the list than it did in the actual knitting of the fabric strips. Fabric strips do not slide through each other and across the needles like yarn does, so this project was work. Not hard knitting, and the pattern is easy to follow- it was just the fabric that made it tough. I like the rug though, and wondered while I was knitting what it would be like to knit it in mop cotton, or that shiny rope stuff from the hardware store, or even lots and lots of strands of cotton yarn held together. And maybe the fabric strips would be easier to knit if they were cut and not torn and thinner.....(As if I need more rugs or more knitting projects. But sometimes these ideas wiggle around in my head and won't leave until they get some play time.)

After all that rug production, the house needs me to do some catching up. To be honest, I am surprised there isn't a pile of dog hair somewhere in those rug pictures. The vacuum cleaner is my friend.

Love,

Kim