Happy New Year

Dear Mom,

First this happened:

On December 4th, Olive had surgery on both elbows. We are now over halfway through her 8 weeks of restricted activity. We've become much too familiar with and very good at elbow surgeries and recoveries and pain pill schedules. I am happy to report that Olive is doing very well. She wore The Donut of Despair only until the sutures were removed. Had she needed it through Christmas I would have put red bows on it and disguised it as a wreath. I hope we never need that thing again (and according to the vets, there is no reason to think we will), but it was worth every penny and much friendlier than the Cone of Shame. We give the ProCollar two thumbs and four paws up.

Then this:

My Most Favorite Little Boy saw the moose and called it a Reindeer!

And then a WHOLE LOTTA this:

And then before I could get Christmas put away, there has been way too much of this:

My Hero brought it home (and by IT I don't mean the Lysol) and I took him to the doctor. Technically NotTheFlu, (no fever), and too late for Tamiflu,- and let me interrupt my story right here and say that pretty much you need to get into the doctor to get that Tamiflu prescription about 3 minutes after you start thinking that maybe you might be getting sick, because 48 hours later is too late- the physician's assistant reassured me that the rest of the family was probably safe since we'd been living with him and had all remained symptom free and Tamiflu is in such short supply that they don't prescribe it as a preventive for the people living with The Influenza. You do see where this is going, don't you? 

Fast forward 2 days. My Hero feels back to normal. 

I do not. Happy New Year.

I decide to make the most of it and indulge myself in a day in bed, with hot tea, and knitting, and books, and Downton Abbey on my iPad. It was almost a vacation.

I woke the next morning feeling really good. Patting myself on the back for kicking it to the curb, and toasting the power of Emergen-C with my fresh pot of tea that morning, I showered and dressed and had a pleasant day. Turns out this NotTheFlu bug is a tricky devil. I woke up in the middle of the night aching all over. I could feel my toe nails and my hair hurt. This next day in bed was not quite as fun as that first day. 

Yesterday I was well enough to round up the troops and finally get Christmas put away while there were still needles left on the tree. And then I needed a nap so I could fix dinner. And then another nap so I could  stay up for Downton Abbey.

The worst of it is behind me. I hope. And we've managed to keep NotTheFlu contained to just the two of us, although I am holding my breath on that one.

While convalescing, I read two very different books. Each inspiring and intimidating in their own way. The first- Bread & Wine is inspiring and amusing and scattered with recipes and realistic entertaining advice. I am not as free spirited as the author but I did like it that she admits to things like a dirty house and fights with her pants. The second book- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is good for inspiring a person to clear out the clutter, and was worth it for the folding clothes lesson, but it is not a book for making a person me feel good about her hobbies. Let's just say that reading Susan Branch's Happy New Year post did wonders for making me feel like I might be normal.  

I did go on a KonMari folding spree when I had the strength to get out of bed.  

Look at this drawer! 

And seriously would you look at that empty space! That is an empty space in. my. top. drawer! The beauty of this method- the author has named it the KonMari method, a combination of her first and last names- is that I can see all my shirts and can take any one without disturbing the others.  

Such was my inspiration that I went on to do the sweaters in my closet.

Disclaimer: I did this on Friday. I spent Saturday and Sunday in my pajamas, basically, and Today is the first day I've needed anything out of the closet or that drawer. So far the system is working, but it has not really been tested yet. 

So what next? I've been working on a new hat pattern. It was moving along but body aches and charted fair isle are not good partners. I started this cardigan, but I know I am sick when I don't feel like knitting, and that is sort of what happened yesterday. 

Simplifying to make room for Happy Pursuits is my theme for 2015. With that in mind, this is the next book to have found me. 

I'm not far in and already know that I won't be taking anything even close to this extreme, but the author is funny and I have a feeling I can learn some valuable lessons. At the very least, her experiment is an interesting one to read about.

Be warm, be well. 

Love,

Kim

The Irony

Dear Mom,
My dining room.

The clutter mocks me.

Love,
Kim

Marigolds, Merino, and Mohair

Dear Mom,
Before I cleaned up the garden, and inspired by these books, I harvested a gallon sun tea jar's worth of marigold flowers with the hopes of dying some of that lovely Merino/Mohair roving I have.

 I must confess that it took me awhile to get over some of the weights and measures and science and decide to see what happened with what I have. I pre-mordanted the fiber in Alum and prepared the dye stock by simmering the marigolds in a huge stock pot for about an hour. It was still warm outside and my windows were open. Although I did not find the smell offensive, I don't think I'd want to do this with the windows closed. In other words, this is a fair weather process.

After I strained out the plant material I gently put the roving into the steamy marigold broth. I allowed it to steep for about 45 minutes. To avoid handling the fiber, I placed it into a large mesh zippered laundry bag. I am glad I did it this way because I was able to pull the fiber out and save the broth. It took several rinses before the fiber was clear of residual dye. I spun the bag of fiber in the front loader and laid it out to finish drying.

I was very pleased with the result!

 A few days later I decided to play things fast and loose (for me) and put another batch of pre-mordanted fiber into the leftover, re-heated marigold broth. Another good result- a little paler in color, but still very pretty.

 Then I really got carried away and reused the alum mordant bath on two small bundles of roving and put the twice used marigold broth into two crockpots. I let the fiber "cook" all night.  I am sure there are good reasons (probably many of them) for these crockpots to end up at the Goodwill where I purchased them. I discovered one of the reasons for one of those crockpots had to be that it gets way too hot. When I checked on my little experiments the next morning, one of the pots was sputtering and boiling over! Yikes! I was afraid I'd find a felted blob of wool inside. Both pots yielded more pretty color, and the overheated fiber has an interesting bronze color.

Crock pot 1- "normal" heat

super hot crock pot

This next photo has all 4 rovings lined up from 1st batch on the left to the super heated batch on the right.

I've started spinning that first ball. I have a bright red felted wool coat and a navy pea coat and think this yellow wool will make a pretty scarf or maybe even a scarf and hat that will look nice with both.
In spinning this blend of fibers, it is a treat to see the shimmery mohair bits with the merino and how they've each taken up the dye differently but very subtly.
You should be able to see the slight differences in this next photo. Some of the shades are a result of the dye not being consistently absorbed throughout the roving (which I like) and some is the difference in the merino and mohair.

I won't have any more marigolds to play with until next summer. I do have other things on my dye shelf in the garage to play with though!
Love,
Kim

I did squeeze in some knitting

Dear Mom,
Until I looked back through the photos downloaded on to the computer, if you'd asked what I've been knitting I would have answered "not much".  I don't know exactly how, or when, but I did manage to start and finish a few things.
First up- The Bobby Sweater from Tadpoles and Tiddlers. I've made many sweaters from this book, multiple times.  This little gansey is for a new great-nephew.  I made the smallest size and used about 1/2 a skein of Baah's La Jolla yarn.

And then, I must have been in some time warp because I can barely remember knitting this Highland Shawl with Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool XL from the Folk Shawls book.

For the yarn shop- from one skein of Berroco sock yarn- The Ananke scarf.

Up next, and with 2 skeins of Ella Rae Lace Merino, a pattern I've had in my stash for a long time.  Finally. This is Scalene, a very clever keyhole scarf. I love the yarn combination I chose, but my expectations for how much I was going to love this scarf may have been too high. I'm not sure I like it all that much. It needs to rest in a quiet place for awhile. Maybe I'll like it better after we've had a little break from each other.

And Last, but certainly not Least. I am most proud of this one.
This is some of that beautiful angora/ merino roving, spun and knitted into an original design.
Meet Mistress Tippet.

 Spinning this yarn was a dream.

 And then watching the angora bloom after it had been knitted and blocked….magic.

 Mistress Tippet was inspired by the little pink shawl that Claire wears in Outlander during the boar hunting.

While we were watching you commented on how it would be nice to have something like that to keep the back of your neck and shoulders warm but would not get in the way. One of the reasons I have to watch these episodes multiple times is because I am dissecting the hand knits. Really. Too bad Jamie doesna wear as many as Claire does, aye?

 Ahem. Anyway. I had all that pretty hand spun- and some ideas. And Mistress Tippet was born. By the way, the definition of the word tippet is : a scarf, usually of fur or wool, for covering the neck, or the neck and shoulders, and usually having the ends hanging down in front.

But Mistress Tippet takes it a step or two further. Buttons allow you to wrap and secure the ends at your shoulders for a pretty draped cowl.

 Or, you can wrap those ends all the way around, securing them at the center back, for a snugger fit.

Pretty and warm and dressy. More details for knitting and purchasing the pattern can be found HERE.

Love,
Kim

And Then My Head Exploded

Dear Mom,
On a recent visit to the Kansas City area to spend several blissful days with a dear friend, we gloried for hours, soaking in the inspiration of Florilegium.

beads of every shape and color imaginable

This area was off limits to customers. It is The Owner/Artist's Studio area.

This display is just small selection of the beautiful ribbons available.

Everything is displayed to perfection.

This case greets you as you step in the door.

This Enchantment is beaded embroidery on a window screen!

And one display case was filled with samples of ribbon embroidery.

In addition to the ribbons and beads I've shown here, there was roving, and wool for embroidery or needlepoint, buttons, art yarn, hand painted yarns, and thousands of ideas. Gretchen, the owner, and Cathy, her employee, were extremely generous with their time and ideas, with no hesitation to demonstrate a technique or describe a creative process. We left with our heads spinning. My only regret is that Florilegium is 9+ hours away. Lucky for ALL of us, they ship orders every day!
Love,
Kim

The Estate

Dear Mom,
A long time ago, not at all very far away, a grand country home caught the eye of a curly brown haired girl, riding in the back seat, behind the driver, as her family took a Sunday drive through the country. That little girl was I.

I think the whole family loved our country drives. And probably all four of us kids were hoping with all our might that the drive might end up at Dairy Queen; but until we either returned home or pulled into the DQ parking lot, I leaned my head against the window and looked out and day dreamed.
On one of those summer Sunday drives, as we drove past a full spruce tree near the road, a remarkable number of rabbits shot out and scattered across the lawn of a large brick house. Daddy, who loved to tease, announced that this was where the Rah-bots live. The name stuck. For forty years I've thought of that house as The House Where the Rahbots Live. And for forty years I've admired that house. I still live within a few miles of that house.

The house has History. It is 150 years old and started out as the home on a 100 acre horse farm, Two Gaits Farm. Eventually, the home was donated for use as a rectory and then one of the parish priests purchased the home. The horse farm was sold off bit by bit and this grand house is now surrounded by the the newest sections of my neighborhood.

Not too long ago, as my hero and I were driving past - either heading to the hardware store or for a dinner out- I saw a For Sale By Owner sign in front of the house I've been dreaming of all these years. I grabbed paper and pen out of my purse and wrote the contact info down. I knew in my heart that this was an unrealistic dream, but I was going to make that call.
And I did. The house is way out of our price range and it needs a hefty investment of time and money to get it in shape, but in my conversation with the estate agent, I was told that there would be an estate sale to sell off the contents of the house. I noted the dates on my calendar, knowing that this may be my one and only opportunity to step inside that house.

The estate sale was impressive. I felt like I was in a museum, surrounded by fine antiques, depression glass collectibles and a barn filled with glass lamps and lamp fixtures. I didn't necessarily go there to buy anything as much as spend time in the house, satisfying so many years of dreams. I did manage to find an interesting solution for my laundry detergent. I've been wanting something prettier than the Tide box to keep the detergent in- something that would be fun and functional. What I found is absolute perfection! It is the vessel that would have once been used to empty a chamber pot!

This beauty holds a huge amount of Tide detergent and I keep a pretty little tea cup with a detergent level mark on the inside of the cup to scoop the detergent out and into the washing machine. I am thrilled with this purchase. I also found a delicate, petite-sized cake stand with a glass dome. Not necessary, but too pretty to leave behind.

What I really really REALLY wanted, but was intended for sale with the house, was this sign. I took a photo, knowing that my picture would be the next best thing to having it. I have so many childhood memories tied up in the name of this farm, and in this sign. And yes, it should stay with the house, where it belongs.

The Estate is still on the market. I won't wonder or dream about living there anymore. I am happy to stay here, in My Home, but I will be keeping an eye on The House Where The Rahbots Live, hoping that it can be a home again to someone who will love it. And maybe even to someone who dreamed all her life of living in a house just like this one.
Love,
Kim