Chem Lab

Dear Mom,
Over the past few weeks I've had a gallon jar filled with an odd colored liquid brewing on my back porch. I checked it daily. Sometimes several times a day. Occasionally I picked the jar up and gave it a swish.

And when I'd used up all my patience watching the brew, wool was thrown in the mix to steep for awhile.

The first batch I tried (notice I said first?) used a salvaged piece of copper pipe from the recent water softener replacement. I filled my former sun tea jar with ammonia and the section of copper pipe and waited.

This is how it looked just a few minutes after the experiment started.

And this is how it looked a few days later. 

Greener.

I added the chemical symbols (which may or may not be correct) after the Young Man asked if I was "making pickles".  And added the "not a pickle" sign just to be sure everything was clearly understood.

After I got restless decided the brew hadn't changed anymore, I took out the copper pipe and added my wool.

And then several days later, when it appeared that this combination had about run its course and I was restless,

and it seemed that the wool was not taking up anymore of the broth's color, I removed the wool, carefully rinsed it and let it all dry.

The wool did not evenly take up the color, which was discouraging at first.  And I believe that happened because I had it stuffed into that "pickle jar" with little room for the broth to circulate. 

Learning....but.....

the parts that did take up the color in the broth were very pretty, and I pretty much stopped everything and sat down with Daphne Joy to spin.

I spun most of it in one sitting, then finished spinning and plying it to itself last night. That's a lie.

It was early this morning, in the wee hours, when I finished the plying.

But Gosh Darnit, I am so impressed and in love with this yarn and the colors that I couldn't NOT hang in there to see how it all turned out.

It is exactly the colors in the variegated ivy growing on the back porch.

I have another marinade started.......

Love,

Kim

Evidence

Dear Mom,
One peek at my dining room table and it will be clear that I have more ideas than time. Or sense.
And while I can't seem to make progress as quickly as I would like, I can show you some happy endings...

First, the coral yarn is now a sweater.

I finished the knitting during a road trip last weekend and purchased the buttons on a detour to Ewenique Knits, in Royal Oak, MI. It's hard to see in the photo, but the buttons have a soft leafy florally thing in shades of coral, spring green and periwinkle. Exactly what I wanted!

Next,

the Polska mittens (started over a year ago) are finished. There is nothing like an important birthday for motivation. 

Those mittens were some seriously fiddly knitting, but totally worth it. Especially when I saw how happy the Collector of Polish Pottery was to receive them!

Of course there are new projects on the needles, dye experiments on the back porch, books, roving, and fabric on the dining room table. And the grass is growing. Oh! And the dogs are shedding. Focus, Kim. Focus.

Love,

Kim

Swing Coat

Dear Mom,

Top Down Swing Coat

It took eleven days of monogamous knitting, but the Swing Coat sample for the Village Yarn Shop is in place. I taught the first of three classes for this project yesterday afternoon.
The coat is knit from the top, down, making it possible to try it on as you knit, adjusting the length of sleeves and body as desired. Once you get past the collar and set up the points of increases and decreases, this is a pretty straightforward knitting project. Thankfully, it is knit at a gauge of 3.5 stitches per inch, making my 11 days with this project an exercise in focus, but not a crippling marathon.

And yes, last night I cast on the coral cotton yarn, completely ignoring the other projects I've already started. This too is a bulkier yarn and I am convincing myself that I can finish it quickly and get back to my other projects before they miss me.

Love,
Kim

Finished but shelved

Dear Mom,
Just in time for record warm weather (yahoo!), I've finished two wool sweaters.
One is a sample for a class I will begin teaching today at the Village Yarn Shop, and I was in such a rush to get it finished and in the shop I neglected to take a photo. I'll take one today and post it later.
The other sweater is for me. I'd wanted a navy pullover for myself, tunic length, with pockets just because I like them, and had plenty of Cottage Craft wool, color St Croix Navy, in my stash.

I chose to knit a deep rib and place the pockets where the ribbing ended. The pockets have buttonholes to keep them closed, as a nice finishing detail, and because I like buttons. In this case I couldn't decide on a button and tada!, a ReLinkWish solves that dilemma.

In this case a nice plaid covered button. Another day it could be a pretty hand crafted clay button.

I will GLADLY wait until November before I wear this. Or December even.

I've got a chemistry experiment going in the garage ( I'll show you that another day), a small project to finish and some design ideas swimming around in my head, but what is really jumping up and down, waving its hands and calling "ooo!oo!ooooo!Pick Me!! I want to be a cardigan!" is this:

Classic Elite, Sprout, beautiful warm coral color.....

Like the baby bird that gets fed first because it is the loudest, this one may push all other ideas to the back of the line.

Excuse me, I have some knitting to do.

Love,
Kim

Spinning

Dear Mom,
After the Kool-Aid dyed wool had been rinsed and dried, I couldn't wait to spin some of it. I had a silk hankie from KnitPicks that I wanted to spin and thought the colors of the hankie would look nice plied  with the darker of the two batts I showed you in my last post.
I hadn't spun a silk hankie before, or anything 100% silk for that matter, and probably won't ever do it again. It spun nicely, but those fine silk threads wanted to fly away and stick to everything. Give me a good scratchy wool and I'll be happy.
To make the hankies, silk cocoons are stretched out and layered on top of each other and then dyed. They are squares and about the size of a ...... hankie. Each layer is tissue paper thin- well, even thinner, really. Very pretty.
Here is what my bobbin looked like after I'd spun a few layers.

Once that was finished, I spun the wool batt and then plied the two together. I thought the bobbin of silk was very pretty and the bobbin of wool was, too. 

But plied together? In my opinion, the sum didn't equal the beauty of the parts. Still pretty, but a tiny bit disappointing. One thing I seem to be VERY slow to learn is combining colors to their best advantage, foreseeing how yarn will look once it has been plied together. I'll keep learning and experimenting. 

Love,

Kim

Dyeing

Dear Mom,
MelissaWhoSpinsButDoesNotKnit invited me over for a dye day on a Saturday last month. We weren't quite Lucy and Ethel in the candy factory, but we were definitely two novice dyers with enough knowledge to be a little scared and potentially dangerous, but mostly adventurous.
We had some good results, some not-so-good, and some that had us patting ourselves on the back, inwardly squealing like little girls and snapping an insane amount of photos of colorful wool locks. I won't bore  you with all 30 of those pictures, but I will share some- as proof that we did it.

Melissa took notes.

Thankfully there were no accidents, and excepting some dishtowels that may never be the same again, at the end of the day Melissa's kitchen was still white.

Inspired by our Saturday, I dyed two batts of wool I'd previously carded with Fig. I'd read about a Kool Aid dye technique and wanted to try it. Kool Aid is not a scary dye - unless you have toddlers and white carpet (which I don't). I don't drink it, but if it is considered 'safe' to drink, I don't feel like I am bringing poison into the kitchen like I would with some dyes. Plus, this is good practice for when I use the Greener Shades dyes I have. I'll be using those in the garage.
I'd read that I could sprinkle the powdered Kool Aid directly onto the pre-soaked wool in the dye pot. As the wool steeps in the simmering water, the Kool Aid dye slowly dissolves into and through the batt of wool. I did one batch in my Goodwill crockpot ($4.99- to be used exclusively for dyeing wool), sprinkling Orange Kool Aid on one end of the batt and Cherry on the other end, leaving the middle naked. The result is the batt you see on top in the photo below.

I did something slightly different with that second batt. I used Grape, Cherry, Orange and Lemonade Kool Aid, sprinkling the powder directly onto the soaked wool, but instead of steeping the wool in the crockpot I  steamed it in the microwave, checking the wool every two minutes or so until the water was clear and the dye had been absorbed by the wool. Makes me feel like I am working magic. I was pretty happy with both batts, but the crockpot was definitely easier and the dyes stayed where I put them. The dyes from my microwaved batch swam together more- maybe a result of more water and movement, and the Lemonade color was completely overwhelmed by the other flavors.  But the results were still pretty. Experimenting, taking notes, learning, getting braver.

I dyed another batch of roving in the crockpot last weekend, again using Kool Aid. And let me just say that Tropical Punch Kool Aid may be in a BLUE package, but it is NOT blue. So what I thought might be a pretty combination of green, blue and purple turned out to be Santa's Tropical Thunderstorm.

Right now I am just hoping this will be prettier after spinning. Because right now it is....not.

I am gathering materials and courage to start mixing dye stock. This is getting serious.

Love,
Kim

Fiberholics Anonymous

Dear Mom,
In her post titled "Hello My Name is Christine and I am a Fiber Fanatic" , Christine writes about the fiber she had blended and spun from her sheep and alpaca. It is beautiful. It haunted me. 


I stalked Christine, offering to take some of that fiber off her hands if she would be willing to part with just a little bit. 


She was. ( or I bugged her enough that she sold me a cone just to shut me up)


Last week my cone of yarn arrived. This is a 70/30 blend of Blanche and Sammy. (wool and alpaca)

It is absolutely beautiful and I have special plans for this yarn. In the meantime, I am keeping close while I daydream about what it will be someday and to admire it. 


To me, this is as pretty as a bouquet of flowers.


See how pretty it is outside with the crocuses?

For inspiration, it watches Downton Abbey with me.

It hopes to be a pretty lace stole someday......


Love,
Kim

Crocuses

Dear Mom,
It would seem that too many ideas and the full-time job of keeping up with the dog hair around here has kept me away from this blog for too long!
I won't regurgitate everything I've done all in one post. I'll stretch it all out a bit and (hopefully) have a more constant blog presence.
Today I want to share with you these pleasant, happy blooms I found in my front yard this past week.

In the Autumn of 2010, I planted 100 crocus bulbs in the front lawn. I used all the crocus bulb colors I could find (white, yellow, purple and that stripe-y purple) and randomly scattered them through the turf. That following winter was a tough one, and I didn't see my first crocuses emerge until late spring. I had almost given up hope.
Last autumn I planted 100 more, again scattering them all over the yard, using a mix of colors. Our front yard is small- our pie-shaped cul-de-sac lot gives us a huge back yard with plenty of room for shade trees, gardens and playing fields, with a front yard that gently slopes down to the street. I had long imagined that gentle slope filled with blooming crocuses in the spring and finally acted on realizing that image.
Our mild winter and the warmth of the past days coaxed some of these buds into bloom. I cannot begin to describe the cheering happy hopeful feeling that finding and seeing these tiny, brave little flowers gives me!
I'll keep adding bulbs every fall until the lawn is absolutely saturated with blossoms in the spring. So far, three yellow crocuses have emerged. Plenty more to come. I'll share photos if Mother Nature rewards me with a lawn filled with blooms.

Love,
Kim

Cozy

Dear Mom,
It was either the last finished project of 2011 or the first finished project of 2012 ( I can't remember). I guess since it technically wasn't felted until this week that it qualifies as a 2012 project.
I needed a new tea cozy once the scorched tea cozy finally completely fell apart. It had been subjected to more scorching episodes after that initial unexplained injury. When one of Wool and Honey's Twelve Knits of Christmas projects was a tea cozy, I logged in and ordered the kit.

My finished tea cozy was a bit too big for my Brown Betty and felting was called for. I've had mixed results felting in my front loader and my plan was to borrow your washing machine one day.  I continued to use the cozy in its too big state, but started worrying that it might end up in the same scorched condition as its predecessor if I continued using it all floppy. My impatience got the better of me and I had a go at felting in my front loader, deciding I'd make another if my felting attempt failed.

Happily, it did not, (although any more time in the machine and it may have ended up too small) and now I have a perfectly thick, well-fitted, warm cozy for my tea pot.

Hot tea + Girl Scout Trefoil cookies = Bliss.

Love,

Kim

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dear Mom,

Happy Valentine's Day!

It is out of character for me to say this, but the snow this morning is cheerful!  Probably because it is just a little snow, in the middle of February and we are nearing the end of winter, and things have been looking very dreary and muddy out there for so long.

Have a Heart Warming Day!

Love,
Kim

February

Dear Mom,
It is a good thing that February is a short month, because I've noticed a pattern of behavior that hits me this time every year.

I buy lipstick. Rarely do I ever find a lipstick in February that I am happy with, but I keep doing it. Every year. I don't even realize that I am "doing it again" until after I've tried and rejected a few. I blame it on the relentless gray days that are reflected in just about every body's complexion. Somehow, in the back of my mind, the right lipstick will transform me into a radiant, sun-kissed beauty. As if.

Another more productive urge that strikes me at this time of year is the need to re-organize and clean. This one is easily blamed on cabin fever. Even though this has been a mild winter, there isn't much to entice me outdoors and the disarray behind closet and cabinet doors can't be ignored.

Last week it was the shelves above the washer and dryer that got my undivided attention. And yesterday, it was the spice cabinet.

That spice shelf has been a source of frustration for too long.Years. I've tried all sorts of spice display ideas and none of them really worked for me. I couldn't find things and as I looked for one spice, several others were knocked off the shelf and onto the countertop.

So. Along comes Pinterest to the rescue. Every good (and unrealistic) idea all wrapped up in a pretty picture is there for anyone to find on Pinterest. The trouble is, is you fill up on all these good ideas and have no time to do any of them because you wasted all your free time looking at them on Pinterest.

Back to my spice cabinet.

Somewhere in the past week or two, I discovered The Answer to the Mess that is my Spice Cabinet.

I perused the internet and found a source for 2 oz. plastic deli containers with lids. After counting how many different containers of spices and seasonings I had in my cabinets, and measuring the depth of my cabinets to be sure the containers would fit, I ordered 75 containers ( and spent less that $30) -enough for all my spices plus extras.  Yesterday, every single spice container came off of that shelf, was placed alphabetically on the island, and with a black Sharpie marker, I took this mess

 and turned it into this!

An added bonus to this system and another frustration eliminated is that annoying measuring-spoon-won't-fit-into-the-bottle thing. AND, I'll be able to make better use of the herbs I grow in my garden! They will be easily stored in these containers after they've been dried.

And by the way- purging that cabinet revealed not one, not two, but three different bottles of both Lemon Pepper and Lemon Peel. Go figure. Won't be happening again!

This next has nothing to do with lipstick and spice cabinets, but to reassure you that I have not totally lost all sense of who I am, becoming a person with coral lips and alphabetized spices,  I do have some knitting to show you.

A finished hat- a birthday gift.

It's an unusual hat, to be sure. The pattern is from Mac & Me- found here. I had a bit of trouble getting gauge and ended up using the yarn single, rather than doubled as the pattern suggested. The yarn used in my hat is Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, one of my favorites. The back of the hat is a loose flap, and the leather ties are definitely needed to keep the hat on. I got this one out of my system and probably won't be making it again, unless the recipient gets/gives rave reviews and I get specific requests for another.

That's all for now. There are more closets to distract me from buying lipstick.

Love,
Kim

Another Good Recipe

Dear Mom,
One afternoon back in the late 70's, in the distance of about 2 blocks- between the grocery store and guitar lessons, I think- you and I devoured most of a package of Archway Homestyle Apricot Filled Oatmeal cookies.

An indelibly sweet memory.

I haven't been able to find those cookies in the grocery stores for a long time. I don't think they make them anymore. I even did a google search.

Over the years I've been passively searching for a recipe that would come close to those soft, chewy flavorful cookies. I'll keep looking, but I've found something very close and very delicious. And the bonus is that the recipe came from my American Heart Association cookbook!

Apricot Raisin Bars

6 oz. dried apricots, chopped

1 c golden or dark raisins

1 3/4 c unsweetened apple juice, divided

3 T cornstarch

1 1/2 t grated lemon zest

vegetable oil spray

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1 1/4 c uncooked quick-cooking oatmeal

3/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 c sugar

2/3 c light margarine

In a medium saucepan, combine apricots, raisins and 1 1/2 c apple juice. Cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, or until fruit is tender.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 c apple juice, cornstarch, and lemon zest. Whisk into apricot mixture. Cook over med-high heat until mixture thickens, 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 13x9x2-inch pan with vegetable oil spray.

Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in oatmeal and sugars. Blend in margarine until mixture is crumbly. Press about 2/3 mixture into pan.

spread fruit mixture over crust, then top with remaining oatmeal mixture. Gently pat top crust into fruit.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is lightly golden. Cut into 48 squares.

Calories:76 Protein: 1g Carbohydrates: 16g Cholesterol:0 mg Total Fat: 1g (sat fat:0g, polyunsaturated fat 1g, monounsaturated fat 0g) Fiber: 1g Sodium 28mg

Okay. I haven't been able to cut mine into 48 squares. But still. A cookie healthy enough to eat guilt-free, for breakfast if you want to!

Love,

Kim

A Knitter's Christmas

Dear Mom,
Being sympathetic compatriots in the holiday pressure to Get Things Finished, my fellow knitting friends and I decided to postpone our Christmas gift exchange. So instead of December 25th, we had our "Christmas" on January 25th.
The variety of gifts selected and hand crafted is testament to the kindred spirits I am blessed to call friends.

Hand made ornaments that look like stained glass.  Embroidered linens. A scrap book of memories and recipes. Padded hangers with knitted covers.



Hand woven dish towels and hand made soaps, lotions and bath salts.

Bonnie's honey and a set of adorable sheep that we've divided to share. That is Aiden, Finn, Bartley and Liam.

And hand felted chickadees. Mine is perched in the bathroom in front of the mirror where we can appreciate a full view.
Along with our friendship and fiber, food is an important ingredient. I served Roasted Tomato soup and grilled cheeses sandwiches for our "Christmas" lunch. I won't claim to be a good cook, but rather a person who cooks with good recipes. And this soup is the best tomato soup I've ever tasted, has never failed to impress those I make it for, and is worth every bit of effort to make. I've even had friends in need of comfort ask me to make them some of this soup. I found the recipe on foodnetwork.com/Barefoot Contessa.
As a Knitter's Christmas gift, here it is....

Roasted Tomato Soup 

6-8 servings

3lbs. plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise

1/4 c + 2 T olive oil

1 T kosher salt

1 1/2 t black pepper

2 c chopped yellow onions

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 T unsalted butter

1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes

1 (28 oz) can canned tomatoes with juice

4 c fresh basil leaves

1 t fresh thyme leaves

1 qt chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the tomatoes together with 1/4 c olive oil, salt and pepper.

Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on baking sheet ( I used my broiler pan) and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8 qt stockpot over medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic with 2 T olive oil, butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown.

Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme and chicken stock. 

Add the oven roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet.

Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Pass through a food mill fitted with  the coarsest blade.

Taste for seasonings. 

Serve hot or cold.

As with most soups, this soup tastes even better the next day. It freezes well and I've made a note on my calendar to make and freeze this soup with the abundance of garden tomatoes and fresh herbs I'll have at the end of the summer. 

Love,

Kim

Before we were interrupted....

Dear Mom,
Now that Bumper is cleaned out, my house is cleaned up, and things are back to what passes for Normal around here, we can catch up on the nice things that have happened! There may be too much for one blog post. THAT's how much stuff I have.
Two weekends ago, MelissaWhoSpinsbutDoesNotKnit and I took a road trip to Asheville, NC. We left some winter weather, which stayed with us well past Lexington, but the traveling was safe and with both of us in good company, the time passed quickly. Downtown Asheville was loaded with the expected inspiration and we soaked it in. I was so busy soaking it in that I neglected to take many photos.
My head wrap did some sight seeing too. At one point, while trying on some clothes - and let me pause here to ask why is it that I thought driving 8 hours and crossing several state lines would mean that I could wear and look good in something that was little more than a tailored feed sack? cute feed sack, but not on me, darn it!  - anyway, while juggling my coat, purse, feedsack and out-of-shape figure in the dressing room I noticed my head wrap had misplaced itself. Did I drop it somewhere or leave it in the truck? I wasn't terribly concerned about it, but did mention to Melissa that we might want to keep an eye out just in case. Melissa was pretty sure she saw it in the back seat, so we didn't think anymore about it and kept moving forward. More than 4 hours later, as we headed back to the truck ( only to move to another parking spot) Melissa Shouted "Kim!" and pointed to the sky.  ???

Good thing she was looking up, because I was looking down and would have missed it.

My head wrap in a tree

Thankfully the branch hung over a parking lot AND the parking space underneath was empty, so we  Melissa backed into the space, climbed into the back of her truck and rescued my head wrap.
I left it in the back seat for the remainder of the trip.
We did come home inspired by the things we saw in the many galleries and shops, at the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, and at the Winter Retreat held in a nearby mall and hosted by Friends and Fiberworks, a local yarn shop.

On the trip, my car knitting project was a gift for a soon-to-arrive nephew.

Yarn-100% cotton from Universal yarns- Cotton Supreme, if I remember correctly. The pattern, Sweet Pea,   is one I've made before and I like that the opening for the head is like a "onesie" and easily accommodates those big baby noggins. Quick knit, wrapped up and in the mail. There before the baby is, I hope!

Now, onto More Good Stuff.

Weaving.

My best effort yet. I am Very proud of my selvage edges on these. There are still mistakes, but less.  These have been gifted and well received!


On the heels of these pretty things came this:

Yes, that is Patsy's leg in the photo.  She Who Must Know and Approve of ALL that happens here.

"What. Is. That?", you ask.
Well. It is exactly what I wanted it to be, which is good. I just didn't mean for it to look like a Walmart Special. Which it does. I cut old t-shirts into 1-inch strips and wove them into a mini (11X28") rug for the dog dishes. I learned I won't be using t-shirts for weaving. Not that they were difficult- they weren't- and it certainly was a fast project- I just don't like the look. But, as I said, the rug fulfills its intended purpose and thankfully the dog dishes cover up most of it! I also got to try out the fringe twister toy I purchased in Asheville. More learning.

More Good Stuff? Why yes! But I think I'll save the rest for another post.....

Love,
Kim

A little humor

Dear Mom,

I came home Monday from an adventure in Asheville (more on that in another post) to a very sick dog. Bumper's gastronomic adventures got the best of him and this time it took 4 enemas and lots of money to put him on the mend. He isn't 100% yet, but we are getting there. Needless to say, all the trash cans are on lock down.

Following a dog around the back yard with a plastic bag and a flashlight does not make good blog photo ops. Nor does mopping and cleaning carpets. So, I'll share this little gem I found on Pinterest this morning:

That's where things stand right now.

More later.

Love,

Kim

Willoughby

Dear Mom,
I have a new favorite finished object.

Pardon the following picture overload.

Willoughby by Jared Flood.
Yarn from that first bag of wool, handspun by me, walnut dyed with friends.
Love,
Kim