Karen

Karen's Blog

-Scenes from the Wood Pile -

10/4/08

House: 2; Karen: 0

The current house is harboring a grudge against being gutted and spiffed up to a new house.

A few days ago I was canning and in the process of boiling my jars to sterilize them. I had turned on the stove fan and light to see what I was doing. I had just turned myself away from the stove to do a few dishes, when -- sizzle; bang; flash -- the light on the stove vent short circuited from the moisture. It even blew out the switch for the light. Scared the living daylights out of me.

Then today, it's chilly out and I want some heat. I would normally light a fire in the woodstove but due to the remodeling, we haven't laid in the winter wood supply yet. I try turning on the furnace but it doesn't kick in. I can't figure that out, so I call John to query what might be wrong. He said he had turned off multitudes of breakers yesterday. Downstairs I went to the breaker box to switch the furnace back on, and also notice the breaker for the water heater is switched off. (No wonder no hot water this morning either). Tried to turn the furnace on after switching breaker back on but it stubbornly stays off. That must have broken too.

I took off with the wheelbarrow to the shop's wood supply. Normally I could have just thrown this into the basement but John took the wood chute out on Thursday (look at the hole below towards the back end of the house. The chute has a piece of plywood over it) and hasn't cut the new one yet. Even if the wood chute was still there, I can't lob wood over a 40' foot long and 14' wide and 10' chasm in the ground. Therefore, I'm hauling it piece by piece into the basement.

I probably won't need a fire when I'm done. I'll be warm.

10/3/08

The Big Dig.

Starting to dig the hole.

The hole is finished.

It's also the cats newest and most favorite playground. We hope they don't manage to toss too much dirt back into the hole before Monday, when the footings are being poured.

10/2/08

The giant backhoe just got here for tomorrow's hole digging.

10/1/08

To those who came here from Spindlicity, welcome! I didn't know the article was appearing until I started getting your emails! If you are interested in a spindle, email me ... I will try to get the ilLOOMinating page with our current spindle selection updated within the next couple of days.

9/30/08

Alpaca Farm Tour, Day 2

Nothing untoward happened. Buckwheat behaved himself. There was a crowd of people for about three hours, and I spun my little heart out showing people how lovely alpaca yarn is. I'm spinning the cria fleece of Annie, sheared back in April, and just recently back from the processors.

Yesterday was spent doing mundane chores around the house. We should get the permit to add onto our house tomorrow or Thursday, and Friday is the Big Dig, aka digging the basement for the addition. It's actually real. Wow.

I also ordered a portable storage container today, which will be delivered on Thursday, so I can start mucking out the house.

9/27/08

Alpaca Farm Tour, Day 1 -- Alpaca Love

A week ago Buckwheat experiences the joys of procreation with Honie, his very first time ever. Saturday afternoon Buckwheat decided that it was time, once again, for a little bit of fun in the backseat of the ~~car~~ barn.

With an audience of several people watching Buckwheat tried to jump the fence separating the boys from the girls, the object of his affection being just on the other side of the fence. His owner, Kathe, scolded him severely for attempting a little afternoon delight, but Buckwheat wasn't listening to her. He tried to scale the fence once again and started to orgle (alpaca talk for "Honie! You're one hot alpaca mama!")

Amidst much giggling and guffawing, Daryl the policeman ~~knocked on the window of the parked car~~ persuaded Buckwheat to go outside and broke up the assignation.

Teresa is wondering if her farm tour site will be given a mature audience rating next year.

9/25/08

Alrighty, now that the garden is done and no more garden updates, now you can be enthralled by construction updates.

Or not.

Construction drawings were taken to the building inspector today and he says we should get a permit by mid next week. We have a line on a house on a lake to look at next week and, if it looks at all promising, we will take a six month lease on it and move out of here while construction is ongoing.

The guy who will dig the hole for the new basement is coming by Monday night to look at our site.

We bought window$ at Home Depot today, or rather, ordered them. I get a bay window for my kitchen, yippee! They also tip in to wash so you don't have to endanger your life on a ladder. Not that I ever did that before in my life.

This weekend, the 27th and 28th, is Minnesota's alpaca farm tour and Hollyhock Farms will be open 10-5 on both Saturday and Sunday. Go see alpacas! Go pet alpacas! Go feed alpacas!

9/22/08

One thing I've never mentioned on this blog, mainly because it always got postponed "to the next year", is the fact that we've discussed long and hard about an addition on to the house. Both John and I have hobbies/businesses that take up lots of room. He's got a workshop the size of the house; I use the living room, the office -- heck, almost every room in the house is devoted to fiber of some sort, except for the bathroom.

Well, the addition is about to happen. We've applied for the necessary permits and are getting construction drawings done for the inspector. We are searching for a place to live in the interim. And I'm so not looking forward to cleaning out the upstairs of the house.

We're adding on 14 feet to the west side of the house, creating a much bigger kitchen, and a studio space for me. We're also planning a skylight over the bathroom, since the addition will close off that window, and I want a whirlpool bathtub. I've already scoped out appliances at Lowes down in Minneapolis. It finally seems real.

John and I attended a tile show at the Swedish Institute on Saturday, and came home with these tiles, along with others --

The loons will be the focal point behind our new stove top on the wall. I want to build the theme of our new kitchen around northern Minnesota, loons and lakes and forests and fish.

By the way, the Swedish Institute is having an exhibition of Bohus sweaters starting in January. I plan on going to see that, looks way cool!

9/13/08

Cures for a dreary, rainy Saturday ...

1. Spareribs & sauerkraut & potato dumplings.

2. A completed pair of socks! Made out of Dream in Color Smooshy in the November Muse color way, pattern is Dream in Color Sleepwalker Socks by Monica Nappe.

3. A hot bubble bath. No photo. Do you want me to scare you???

9/10/08

27" long and he figures 5 pounds. The Master Walleye Fisherman!

9/9/08

Finally, I get a chance to sit down here. I've been trying for three days to do an update.

Let's see ... in the past two days, I have canned 6 jars of apple brandy butter, 37 jars of plum jelly, and 27 jars of wild grape jelly. By the way, we did have a grape harvest ourselves, of sorts --

Aren't they cute? I think John said that this variety was Frontenac.

Anyway, canning-wise, today I hope to make wild grape pancake syrup, and get a good start on making the rest of the pickled beets. We didn't get a frost last night but it came close, so I'm running out of time. I did make a fresh salsa yesterday from our tomatillo's, a recipe from Rick Bayless' Salsas that Cook book. The recipe called for serrano peppers, five of them. I used one serrano and 4 jalapeno. Good gravy, the finished product was HOT HOT HOT. Five alarm fire hot. I gave it away to the neighbors who like things with a bit more fire than this German/Swedish body can handle. Other than the hot, it was good, so I'd like to make it again. With a lot less fire.

A finished item! A pair of sock! Are you surprised? <grin> Classic Elite Alpaca Sox yarn, my own pattern, which is probably the same as what a million other knitters use -- just knit around and around.

So, about my adventures at the BIL's cabin. John persuaded me to try and drive an ATV for the first time. I was game; it looked like fun.

One minute after the last photo was taken as I was driving off into the sunset, I crashed the little bugger headfirst into a tree. It started going faster than what I felt comfortable with, down a hill, and I panicked -- couldn't remember where the brake was. Whammo! Thankfully, I wasn't hurt, and neither was the ATV. But that's the end of my ATV riding, for sure. I spent the remainder of my time doing less stressful pursuits, like riding in the boat and fishing. That's my kind of adventure.

9/4/08

The weather has taken a turn for the cooler. Heck, it's been downright chilly in the mornings. I'm very much looking forward to the end of farmers markets, for me, by the first weekend in October.

Of course, this means my emphasis in the garden has shifted more towards preserving the apples (I made 6 jars of apple brandy butter today; it's a hot seller) and I need to think of making more salsa and drying more tomatoes. I also need to dry my kale, and pull my onions and dig my potatoes. We had freshly dug potatoes baked in the oven tonight for supper, along with steak on the grill and a salad, and it was all so yummy. We've been chomping on corn on the cob for a couple weeks now. The garden looks sad; not so green and lush anymore. It is almost fall and we could expect a frost here within the next couple of weeks. I'm kind of ready to be done with it all.

Even though I'm still canning like a mad woman, I'm seeing the end of it. I've been able to spend time weaving again, and I've finished a pair of socks (photo next time, I hope) and am seriously working on more.

Also next time, photos from our weekend up at my BIL's cabin over Labor Day. They're a hoot.

8/29/08

Berry fest!

aka Battling the Wild Blackberry Bushes.

Last Sunday the 24th my MIL and I took off for northern Wisconsin for the second year in a row, for a short stay at her sister's cabin. With the goofy spring we had this year, we weren't sure what the berry situation would be. We had been warned that the berries might not be ripe yet.

While there were many almost ripe and quite green berries on the vine, we found enough of them to make 4 batches of blackberry jelly and one batch of blackberry pancake syrup. Yum.

One does indeed battle the bushes. The branches are thorny (and that's putting it mildly) and they want to grab onto everything -- your pants, your arm, your hair -- but it's so worth it when you score a nice, big juice berry. When ripe, they just glisten in the sun, they are so beautiful.

There were myriad social obligations too, but we did get a chance to go to Hayward to look at the town.

I certainly didn't expect to see this on the skyline --

It's at the Freshwater Fishing museum at Hayward, and according to their website --

"The highlight of the museum complex is a landmark "Shrine to Anglers" which is a structure one-half city block long and four and one-half stories tall, of concrete, steel and fiberglass, hand-sculpted into the likeness of a leaping fish (Muskie). Its innards are a museum and its gaping open jaw accommodates about 20 persons or more as an observation platform. The landmark is surrounded by a quarter-acre nature pond."

All I know is driving along the street and seeing that huge open fish mouth on the horizon was rather unnerving. Next year, I want to go there.

We also went to the local quilt shop, Rivers Edge Quilt Shop & Antiques, in Hayward (no surprise there, I imagine), and strolled down Main Street and visited Ben Franklin, Legend of the Celts, and I popped in at the winery, Hookstone Winery, and picked up a Muskie Merlot and a Walleye Blush. With those names, how could I not? They are part of John's birthday present (his birthday is Sunday).

My MIL and I came home yesterday and on the way back we stopped at the cheese shop in Alpha, Wisconsin. Oh, yum -- I just love Wisconsin cheese.

Off to the garden and what not. We got over an inch of rain Wednesday night so everything has perked up.

8/17/08

No excuses, other than the garden and my bi-weekly farmers markets. In the last week I have canned the following --

8 quarts of tomato puree

5 pints of pickled peppers

12 half-pints of cherry jelly

6 half-pints of jalapeno jelly

14 pints of green beans

Along with drying eggplant, fruit leathers, and assorted other stuff. Nannette, you were wondering what I was going to do with the eggplant. In one of my books by Mary Bell, there is a recipe for baba ganoush using dried eggplant -- it's an appetizer to go with crackers.

Sock knitting continues, and the other night I finally again picked up my Oregon Vest, which I've been working on now for almost 5 years. It's about time I actually finished it, I think, along with some of the other projects languishing around here.

I did find time to make one quick quilted item --

This little table runner was sent to my cousin's daughter for her birthday. I think it turned out quite darling although I need to give myself a refresher course on how to do mitered corners.

8/5/08

Never, in all my days, have I seen our eggplant plants so loaded with eggplant.

This is just one plant. And I have six of them.

I'm done with shows for the year, other than Fiber Fair down in Mpls in November. This past weekend was Powderhorn Art Fair, and both John and I were artists. It was a steamy weekend, the minute you started to move sweat just poured down your face. Bleah.

Now I can concentrate on the garden and on my canning and preserving, and on my Farmers Markets. I want to go do some weeding this morning while it's cool, then I have green beans to can, and bread and butter pickles to make. My tomatoes are ripening faster and in greater quantities.

I'm looking for a house elf ....

7/28/08

Hi all, sorry to be awol, but the garden has been keeping me insanely busy with weeding and preserving the abundant produce. The zucchini and beans are in full swing, the cucumbers are starting, I really should pickle the first planting of beets, and my tomatoes are starting to ripen. I have one on the counter right now that will be the T in a BLT soon. Yum.

Current garden photo --

It's keeping me hopping, that's for sure.

The other insanely part of my life, the weaving, happened this past weekend. John and I were both artists at Appleton, Wisconsin's Art in the Park. It's a one day show, so we left Saturday morning and got back late last night, er .... early this morning. Like 1 a.m. "Dragging" is the best way to describe myself today. We boarded Spooky for the weekend so I got up at 7 to go spring her out of "jail". She was very happy to see me and has been close to my side all day today.

And my dear hubby won Honorable Mention at the show so he gets to go back next year without having to pay a jury fee or a booth fee. Yeah! for him! We had a celebratory steak and salad supper tonight.

Since I really have not much else to offer tonight (sock knitting continues but nothing is finished) I bring you assorted photos --

My first blooming dahlia.

Cheddar

One of my indigo dye plants. We figure it must have been bruised some how, see the blue spot on the middle of the photo? I can't wait to play with the plants this fall.

7/18/08

Remember those 8 ball zucchini I was telling you about? Well, if you happen to miss one under the plant, it greatly resembles an unripe pumpkin or a watermelon. Zucchini bread today for market tomorrow, folks.

A week ago today we left for Madison, Wisconsin; John was an artist in "Art Fair on the Square". Madison is a fun town and I always enjoy going there. I can't believe the proliferation of wonderful eatting establishments! Friday night we ate at Mad City Crab House; he had prime rib and I had crab stuffed ravioli with a basil pesto sauce. Yum. Then, we did something totally decadent and strolled down to Sucre' and shared a slice of pistachio mango cake. Double yum.

The show happened, and we were quite busy. One thing we noticed was the number of wedding parties that had to get their photographs taken on the capital steps. One bridal party boasted 10 attendants, male and female, along with the bride and groom. And -- other than the bride, they were all dressed in black. For a summer wedding. For a HOT summer wedding. It looked like a funeral and they were all in mourning for the bride or something.

We got home Sunday night and were in bed by 11:59. And I've been tired all week.

Monday morning we busted Spooky out of "jail". Being that she has to get medicated twice a day, we had to board her for the weekend, and she was not a happy camper at all. Vet said that she did okay there though; no problems.

This week has been non-stop activity, mainly revolving around the garden. Today schedule, in no certain order, is to till the garden and weed, make the aforementioned zucchini bread, empty out the back end of the truck of the rest of the stuff I bought yesterday and reload for market tomorrow, mend my canopy, make basil apple jelly, pick and can green beans... think I'll get all of that done?

7/10/08

We just got over a quarter inch of rain, with I think more on the way. We surely needed it. I watered my garden, most of it, on Tuesday, so this will help out immensely.

Speaking of garden, I planted a pack of 8 ball zucchini this year. I thought they might be interesting but I wasn't prepared for how many different colors of zucchini I would get.

I thought that all of them would be the dark green, like on the upper right. They've just started to bear so hopefully next week I'll have some to sell at Farmers Market. Right now we're going to enjoy them for supper, sautéed with some onions in butter and olive oil, and flavored with soy sauce. I also have my first picking of green beans and I expect to be inundated next week.

I finished a pair of socks, the yarn is Dream in Color Flamengo Pie. The pattern was Sleepwalker Socks.

After the first couple of times through the 20 row lace patterning, I have it memorized. I also have more Dream in Color yarn in stock which I will use to make the pattern again, I really like how these socks fit.

I have a rogue hollyhock plant that is in blossom.

Aren't they pretty? I got a packet of seeds from Teresa of the Alpacas last year and planted them but nothing resulted. This year, one huge plant grew. Lovely flowers. I could use them to natural dye but I don't have enough of the flowers so I'm just going to enjoy them.

And finally, a kitten photo.

Colby is having a great time here.

7/6/08

Our niece Brenda was married a month ago and she just shared some of her wedding photos with us.

Wasn't she a beautiful bride?

And her sister, Amanda, has a birthday today -- Happy Birthday dear!

7/3/08

It's time for something other than kittens, I suppose. After a cool, wet spring, the garden is now looking fantastic.

It's been a lot of work, and I plan on going back out there after this blog update is posted, but here is a select view of various plants in the garden.

Roma tomatoes on the vine.

Forming cabbage head.

Green bean blossoms. I'm in trouble here, I think, in a couple weeks, when all of the blossoms turn into beans.

Little 8-ball zucchini. First year for me to try these. I picked three for supper, really not enough for a meal, but good for a taste.

Tuesday I went to Strawberry Basket in Monticello and picked 37 pounds of strawberries. Argh. I had an aching back at the end of the day, but I've finally worked my way through all of them and have 5 batches of Strawberry Honey jam, and strawberry leather, and -- my favorite -- a strawberry junket pie is in the fridge cooling for supper. John has requested strawberry shortcake so I might have to go back and pick another pail or two of berries soon.

6/29/08

Finally, it is finished. My fourth knitted item of the year. Not doing well, am I?

It's Elizabeth Zimmermann's Surprise Baby Sweater, pattern can be found in a couple of her books. I used the pattern from The Opinionated Knitter. I have to sing praises for Meg, her daughter -- I had a question in the middle of the pattern and emailed Schoolhouse Press, and Meg graciously answered the question for me.

I thought the sweater maybe looked kind of bland, with just one color, after I've seen all of those on the internet with stripes galore. Perhaps now that I understand just how this thing is knitted and goes together, I would try again. I suspect my leftover sock yarns would make a dandy sweater that could be washed and dried by machine rather than by hand. For this sweater, I used J & S shetland wool, fingering weight.

Here's one of the five buttons. The knitting was finished a month ago, but Friday I finally sat down and sewed the shoulder seams and sewed on the buttons. I like the buttons.

The sweater is a gift for our next door neighbors as they are expecting a baby girl within the next month.

And more kitten photos. I know I've got it bad with them -- when I downloaded my camera photos this morning, I had two photos of knitted things, and about 20 photos of the kittens. I narrowed it down to these three for you today.

6/22/08

Cat Nap.

They are now named! From bottom left, clock-wise: Cheddar, Colby, Pepperjack, and Tanner.

Tired of kitten photos yet?

6/20/08

Sorry Rob, didn't mean to confuse you. Yep, you got it right -- the bee suit is what John wears when he's tending the bees on a weekly basis. I believe I have a photo of him in it on our JKBee's page.

A couple months ago a friend of ours was going to the Faroese Islands on a business trip. After John told me about it, I called Joel right back up and said, "bring me back some Faroese wool!" Lo and behold Joel delivered this to me this past Monday --

Sirri is the name of the company and the words below translate into Faroese Wool Products. I also got a bag of white wool.

According to Joel, the Faroese sheep are a closed flock from about year 1000 simply because the islands are so desolate and remote, nobody else ventured there with sheep. It's also related to Icelandic sheep. I started spinning this last night at the guild meeting. Both top and bottom coats were carded together (I got it already washed and carded, woohoo!) and you can see the guard hairs too. I found out that I can't spin this too thin otherwise the thread snaps, but it is a breeze to spin. Like butter.

My Trellis scarf needs to be frogged. Again. See the awful pooling of the yarn?

I'm not sure what I'm going to try next. I had some yarn leftover, enough to make it, from the Mystery Stole 3, but I'm not sure I want to knit with that stuff again. It's going to take me a bit to get back to it anyway.

More kitten pictures. They are considering us mommy and daddy #2, and we suspect the real mommy might be close to done nursing them. It is difficult to do anything outside right now without a kitten underfoot or climbing up the leg. And they purr when we pet them. Anybody want a free kitten?

We also found Momma Carrot's kittens last night and we have a Mango look-alike, a Peaches look-alike, and an absolutely break taking black torti. I'm trying real hard not to make that one a shop cat.

6/16/08

Ack. Didn't realize it's been ten days. But it's been a busy ten days. I guess real life has a habit of doing that sometimes.

A week ago Sunday I left for North Dakota; my dad's younger brother passed away and his funeral was Monday the 9th. I came back from North Dakota on Tuesday the 10th. He was the last of his generation so all my cousins and I were standing around and bemoaning the fact that we were now the older ones.

Wednesday I swear I spent the whole day on the computer shopping. I ended up the day by having to order John a new bee suit. I washed his old one, including the veil, and the danged thing ripped up in the washing machine so it was no longer usable. I never realized that it was so touchy, but I learned. Wednesday's market was cancelled due to thunderstorms. We are next to a gas station and the thought of being struck by lightning near gas tanks was not a happy one.

Thursday .... what was Thursday .... can't remember. Friday I spent all day in the garden weeding and tilling and planting. Saturday we left for northern Wisconsin for the wedding of our niece and came home yesterday.

Which brings us to today and the fact that I haven't blogged in a week.

The kittens are beyond cute. We have to tiptoe into the garage as not to wake them. They are not afraid of us, at all, which is a good thing, but they want to follow us everywhere, which is not a good thing. I'm trying to get them interested in wet food to supplement mom's milk as they are always hungry. They are only 5 weeks old today, some have got the food drill and some don't yet. And momma cat is always happy to help out. They are exploring their world, testing the waters just outside the garage door and are having a great time.

Dehydration experiment -- I'm drying watermelon chunks. I have no idea what I'm ending up with but according to the book it can be done. The rind of the watermelon will be turned into pickles today.

Our honeyberries are ripening so I'm picking those too, to be turned into jelly. Fleet Farm has their canning stuff on sale this week so I picked up 15 cases of jelly jars yesterday. I have to go back to town on Thursday for spinning guild, so I will check the store out again to see if I can get any more.

Knitting wise, I've slowed down, other than socks at market. I just don't have enough hours in a day, I guess. I did start, rip out, and re-start the Trellis Scarf from Interweave Knits, Spring 2006, using stash yarn (!yeah!). After the wedding Saturday in Cable, we went to a yarn store there (had no clue there was a yarn store in little Cable, WI) to check it out as we had time between the wedding and the reception. Nice little store, but didn't need anything, or want anything, so I just cruised the perimeter to see what they had. I must say the staff was intrigued, I was in my dress and John was in his suit, so they had to know why we were dressed to the nines to go yarn store looking.

I suppose. On the agenda today, in no particular order, is mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning up the bathroom, picking more honey berries, making watermelon rind pickles, and so on and so forth.

6/6/08

Due to popular request, updated kitten photos. Kinda crappy photos, they were taken in the garage in minimal light and no assistant for the photographer (me).

I think I took these on Tuesday.

And -- a finished item! Two items! A pair of socks!

*****

My latest preserving passion is drying foods. I tried making rhubarb fruit leather, and oh, is that good. A space-age up-to-date food dryer is on my way to me from www.drystore.com down in Lanesboro, MN. I'm looking forward to drying other items to sell at Farmers Markets. I've ordered the bags to pack the fruit leather in, and a special label printer for my product labels.

It's been cool and rainy here yesterday and today. And quite humid. And quite windy too. My garden welcomes the natural moisture vs. using the hose to water. We've been eating radishes over a week now, and I have flowers on the tomato plants I started, and the kohlrabi are starting to set fruit too.

6/2/08

It's a cool day here in Minnesota although apparently we are in line for yet more severe weather tonight. We have been so lucky here where we live and I'm crossing my fingers that luck continues.

My friend the Wool Princess has opened up her very own Etsy shop. Go there, now! She has some lovely mango/raspberry handpainted roving there for sale, and it looks good enough to eat! One may have come to live with me. She also has some handpainted yarn available.

Not much has been going on here, other than market, jelly making, and weaving. I have a run of shows coming up soon so I've been nose to the loom, so to speak, when I have a chance. Sock knitting has been going on but that's about it.

Newest jam flavor is rhubarb/strawberry. It's very tasty.

5/26/08

For those of you who've heard of Minnesota's wild weather of yesterday, we are okay. We were on the very edge of the system, it rained for an hour and we had three separate hail storms, but the hail was pea-sized or smaller.

I finished knitting EZ's baby surprise sweater yesterday but I still have to sew the two seams. Since I haven't shown it to you in progress, I thought I'd wait and spring a finished sweater on you, 'k?

I signed up for Summer of Socks 2008. I dug out a grocery bag of sock yarn yesterday and counted just how many potential pairs of socks were in the one bag ... it was sobering. Needless to say, an incentive to keep up the no new yarn purchases.

That being said, after finishing the sweater, I'm restless. I want to start something new but I don't know what. I really shouldn't start anything new, goodness knows I have enough stuff on the needles now but the majority of it is heavy stuff, which means I really want to do some more lace... but what lace? I have my Bee Shawl kit, and many other shawl patterns and yarns that I could choose from.

Decisions, decisions. Stay tuned.

5/23/08

It's Friday. It's been a wild week.

First, something cute (again). Teresa's newly born alpaca baby, born a week ago today. Photo taken on Monday.

Why yes, I've already put dibs on next year's fleece. Unless Teresa's alpacas manage to produce a grey one.

So ... Monday ... Teresa and I took off for Eagle Bend, MN, as she wanted to look at an antique spinning wheel. She ended up not purchasing the wheel but we had a grand time driving through the wilds of Minnesota.

Wednesday the Farmers Market in Cokato started. It was decided at the organizing meeting to extend the hours to 12-6. After Wednesday, I can already tell that those are going to be LOOOOOONG days now. Sheesh. I picked rhubarb Wednesday morning to sell, as at Buffalo last Saturday rhubarb flew out of the stalls. You guessed it. Not a stalk sold on Wednesday.

So, yesterday I made 25 jars of rhubarb jelly. It's quite tasty. But that was another long day, on my feet, after a long day on Wednesday. So today I'm bushwacked. I think I'll be spending the day on the couch knitting. Or weaving a little bit. But no big exertion.

5/18/08

Cute things today --

Momma kitty and her almost one-week-old babies.

Hummingbird at window feeder.

5/16/08

Death By Walnuts

Last weekend was Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival, and it was a great time as always.

In a place of prominence on my display table was a bag of the dried walnut hulls. A customer came into my booth and inquired what they would be used for.

My reply was that one used them for natural dyeing purposes.

The customer looked at me, in absolute horror. "As in DEATH??????!!!!!!?????"

I kept my composure and explained how natural dyeing of fibers worked. But it was hard. My booth neighbor called me Mrs. Kevorkian during the rest of the festival.

East Lansing Art Festival

The festival is tomorrow and Sunday. We were supposed to be participating in it.

However.

Wednesday morning a couple of our tomcats started fighting just outside the living room door. John stepped next to the door to try and stop the fight. Spooky leapt into the fray and chomped John's left ankle. Hard. (Aside -- you would never know by looking at her now just how sick she was 6 months ago. Truly a miraculous recovery.)

He is now on antibiotics because of the infection and we decided it was better to stay home just in case there were complications.

I'm happy to report he is doing much better today.

Kitten Report

Momma had a total of four kittens overall. Three grey ones and one tan colored. All cuter as can be.

Kitchen Report

I am going to try to make rhubarb bread, pineapple jam, and pineapple rum jam today. We'll see how far I get.

5/12/08

I'm 2 hours old and I have two siblings. Aren't I cute?

5/5/08

I've spent part of my day bagging up dried walnut hulls for natural dyeing --

1# bag

I have eight bags that I've put together, one pound each, that I'm selling for $ 15.00 /bag. I'll be at Shepherd's Harvest this weekend with them or if you can't be there, I'd be happy to ship the bag(s) out.

I'm hunting around for one of my bins of dyed sock yarn, which has totally disappeared. Somewhere. Maybe, with any luck, I'll find it by Friday.

Also brought up my plants from in the basement, to set them outside to harden off.

I managed to have one of the flats split in two and douse my front with dirt and water. Luckily, that happened outside the house, not inside. After I put on clean jeans, I sat outside bagging up my walnuts when I got rained on by cat poop from a cat in the tree right above me. It was being chased by another cat and had the poop scared out of it, I guess.

Never a dull moment around here.

Some time ago I alluded to another quilted item that I was making. It was a wall hanging for my niece for her bridal shower present, and I gave it to her on Saturday so now I can show it to all of you --

A photo of the happy couple printed on inkjet fabric paper is in the center. I thought it turned out quite well.

Off to either weave or hunt for my bin of sock yarn, or both ...

4/29/08

Shearing Day at the Farm

Yesterday was alpaca shearing day at Hollyhock Farm Alpacas, and I went over there to help. Other than manning the kitchen, I wasn't sure what all much help I could be.

I've been around sheep shearing, and alpaca shearing is much different.

First you have to halter the alpaca to bring it to the shearing table, no small feat itself. Darryl and Teresa were chasing them around their pasture enclosure. The alpacas seemed to know what was going on and were having no part of it!

Once an alpaca was haltered and led to the table, first it was strapped in to the table through the body, then all four feet were strapped in.

Then the table was raised to a horizontal position and the leg straps tightened so the alpaca (in theory) couldn't move. Believe me, they could still move. We all had to hold down legs, head, neck, belly -- they were NOT happy to be on the table. Some more than others. Princess Rosita won the prima donna award; she spit and swore and peed on the table. Pelasia cushed (stayed down on all four legs and wouldn't get up to walk) so she had to be carried to the table.

Anyway.

Once Roxanne had sheared off the blanket (back and upper belly of the alpaca; this is the prime part of the fleece), Teresa scurried off with it to the skirting table.

After shearing was done on the first side of the alpaca, it was flipped over so the other side could be sheared.

After shearing, the alpaca had it tail and head fur trimmed up, toenails cut, and requisite shots. And then was carefully freed from all restraints and the table was tilted gently so the alpaca could get back on its feet again. Most alpacas sauntered back to their enclosure (or dead out ran) but Jose I believe was trying to give us the finger as he pranced back, lifting up his feet so eloquently.

Freshly sheared alpacas. And one or two still waiting their turn.

I claimed Annie's fleece, and Rosita's fleece was also claimed, but Teresa still has fleeces available (I think -- Teresa, correct me if I'm wrong and I'll change this) so if you want your very own lovely alpaca fleece (and they are gorgeous, believe me, absolutely gorgeous), give her an email.

4/23/08

14 years today. Happy Anniversary to us!

4/20/08

One whirlwind trip to North Dakota later ....

Left Friday morning for Jamestown. My great-aunt had passed away in February back in Washington state, and the burial was scheduled for Saturday morning in Jamestown. Once I arrived in Jamestown I spent part of the afternoon driving around the town looking for any changes (they have a new coffee house and two new restaurants, plus they are building a SuperWalmart) and I went out to the buffalo to take a photo for you.

I told you it was big. Here is the plaque on it --

One other place I stopped in on Friday, and immediately was drawn to the dark side of the Force, was the local quilt shop. I *may* have gotten into a wee bit of trouble there.

Buffalo printed fabric, what else? for a Buffalo appliquéd wall hanging.

Three kits worth of stuff. Tabby is giving it her approval. Notice the cute sales bag with the flying geese units on it?

Two books.

I barely escaped with my wallet.

Saturday, of course, was the graveside service, and a time to get caught up with some of my relatives again.

My mom's cousin Jim and his wife. Jim's mother was my great-aunt.

From left to right, my cousins Patty, Theresa (those two are sisters) and Jolene.

Patty, Theresa, and Sandy (sisters).

From left to right, my aunt Arlene, and Susan, etc. They are all her daughters.

Jolene and I went back to her place mid-afternoon, and decided to hold a Star Wars movie marathon, so from 3 in the afternoon to about 11 at night, we watched IV, V, and VI of the Star Wars movies.

I came back home today, and unpacked everything. Took a bit of time, but I think everything is in its rightful place again. Spooky and John were very glad to see me.

Gardening time has begun. I planted my onion sets tonight.

4/14/08

What a weekend. I crowed too soon about our not getting any snow. We got bushwhacked again Thursday into Friday. Officially, St. Cloud got 9.5"; since we live a ways from there I'm guessing we got just a bit less. But it was heavy moisture laden snow and it was not fun to shovel the sidewalk.

I did get out in time on Saturday to drive down to Yarnover in Hopkins. The venue got moved to the Hopkins (MN) High School, which is in the neighborhood I used to live in from 1986 - 1994, right before I got married. It was nice to be back there again.

My prime reason for going to Yarnover was to see Franklin and participate in the 1,000 Knitters Project. He's very nice and quickly put me at ease. I'm always nervous when I meet the big name popular bloggers for the first time.

I also browsed the market. I purchased a signed copy of Yarn Harlot's latest book (she was in St. Paul on Thursday night and there was no way I would be able to get out to go down there.) I fell briefly off my no stash pledge and purchased a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in the Flamengo Pie colorway and a sock pattern. It's already cast on, ahead of all the other sock yarns begging for attention from the stash. Mean, aren't I?

It's the Sleepwalker pattern.

After Yarnover I went to Williams Sonoma in Maple Grove, and then sought out Trader Joe's as I had never been there before. Hmm, it's a grocery store (I didn't know what to expect) but there are some neat things in there and I love the Mango Granola. Yum.

Over the weekend I also finished knitting the Wild West Shawl, and blocked it yesterday. I'm somewhat disappointed in it but it's all knitter error. It turned out much smaller than I was anticipating so I'm figuring gauge, which normally is mute in a shawl, wasn't what it should be. I love it though, and will probably give it to someone and make another, bigger, one for myself later on this year.

See the buffalo? They are so cute!

To recap, the shawl was knit out of Roving's Polworth Silk yarn, on a size 4 needle. I would go up a couple needle sizes for the next one, even with lace yarn. And I will make this again.

4/8/08

This time, when warping for a tartan design, I determined to go outside of my color comfort zone. I always seem to gravitate towards the blues/greens/purples. Now I went wild.

Yellow! Black! Red! Looks good, no? This time I'm making a run of scarves.

And -- my very first finished knitted object of 2008. Took me long enough, eh?

Chocolate Kisses socks, the yarn is from All Things Heather.

Cloudy and overcast here today, but at least we didn't get bombarded with snow like the northern half of the state did.

4/3/08

The newest item from ilLOOMinating -- quilted photos.

I've been researching and developing this concept for a few months now, and I think I've finally got it.

First sign of spring for sure around here. I smelled a skunk last night when I was driving home.

4/1/08

One of the weaving projects I've been wanting to attempt for a long time is a tartan design. I have books on the theory and technique and colorways of many different tartans, but I've never had the time to play with it.

This past week, I decided now was the time, and here is the result, part of it at least.

This is the MacCallum tartan design from The Tartan Weaver's Guide, by James D. Scarlett. I was rather limited in my design choice due to the limited amount of yarn I had on hand. I used Harrisville Shetland yarn, sett at 10 epi, and woven 10 rows per inch, so I'm very pleased that my squares turned out square. My only problem was the aforementioned lack of yarn, and I keep forgetting that twill has more takeup than plain weave. I put on 5 yards of warp, thinking I'd get two shawls out of it, and I only got one -- maybe (we'll see after wet finishing, I don't know how much it will shrink there), and the rest yardage. I'm rather wishing that now I had woven the whole five yards as yardage, as I have a smaller piece that I don't know what to do with right yet. I'll wet finish that too, and see what I end up with. In the mean time, I'm going to twist fringes on the bigger piece and proceed from there.

My taste for tartans has been wet. I'm going to warp for another but make it a scarf this time, I still have limited yarn. For now. Harrisville has a wholesale yarn sale starting in another week and I plan on ordering lots of yarn. Dunno where I'll store it, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

3/30/08

Play day yesterday! Several of us converged on Teresa of the Alpacas for a day of knitting, spinning, eating, and conversation. It was SUCH fun.

In the midst of all this conviviality, I managed to finish the collar on Port Clyde, and pick up stitches for the right sleeve.

I can't believe how well this fits. I'm lovin' it, and it will be fabulous on those cold Farmers Markets mornings this fall.

3/25/08

Poor little Moose. First had to put up with going to the vet's for her yearly shots and then had the indignity of having all of her clotted fur shaved off to boot. And then gets her photo pasted on my blog for all the world to see.

She looks really strange, doesn't she?

3/24/08

Port Clyde update -- I've finished the back AND front AND have the shoulders grafted together. I put it on to see how it fits and I like it. <grin>

Tonight I think I'll pick up the stitches for the collar.

3/18/08

I've cycled back to my quilting forays, although don't give up heart; knitting continues. I'm 12 rows away from the finish of the back of Port Clyde.

First thing today, I explored again the concept of the quilted table mat, using a photo as the center. Here's version 2.

I think this is a keeper, as a prototype, although I need to square it off just a scooch better. Next time I go to town, I'm going to purchase bias tape for the binding, my hand woven fabric is too loose of a weave to use as such.

The other item I made today is yes, another table runner.

This is a birthday present for my aunt (don't tell her family!) and yellow roses fabric purchased from Keepsake Quilting is the centerpiece of this one.

I have one other big quilting project to get off my plate, more on that later.

3/16/08

Final candle tally -- 12 floating roses and approximately 60 2 oz. votives. That should get me through this season okay.

Hallelujah! I've reached the point on Port Clyde where I divide for the front and back.

I find it absolutely bizarre that I can knit one side, back and forth, and go faster than I can in going in the round. I feel like it took me forever to get to the point where I divided the front and back, and now I've already cruised through row 8 in nothing flat on just the back. Weird, huh? I'm shooting to get this done by mid-May, so it can be in the fashion show at Shepherd's Harvest at Lake Elmo. I'd like to complete the Wild West shawl too by then but that might be hoping for too much on my part.

At least now that I took a photo outdoors you can see the patterning on Port Clyde. And look! No snow on the ground. Which won't last, as we are in a winter storm watch for tomorrow. Snow. A few inches of it. Blech, blech, blech.

3/11/08

I finally started a project that I've been trying to get to all winter. I like making our beeswax votives at this time as I can set the mold outside to cool. I tried a new mold this year; isn't this the cutest thing?

It's a floating rose beeswax candle and it is lovely. I only have one mold for these, and it makes one candle at a time, so I made a total of six floating roses today. I still have some wax left which I will use up tomorrow. I also made many 2 oz. votive candles, I haven't counted those yet.

Old man winter listened to my plea as it was 49 today, still is 45 outside, and it is absolutely breathtakingly fabulously gorgeous. I do not want to be inside.

My neighbor just told me she's expecting a little girl in July, so now I have to go through my baby patterns for something cute to make the new arrival. Whee! What are some of your favorites? I know I have the Tulip jacket done but I'm saving that for any family member's new arrival. None are expected at the moment but I am keeping it aside.

3/8/08

Dear Old Man Winter --

Alrighty then, I give up. I'm waving the white flag.

It was 15 below zero yesterday morning when I got up. It's not quite as cold today, but close.

Haven't you had enough? It's March ... spring is in a couple weeks. I've got lusty tomato plants started in the basement and they are anxious to be outside. Along with my pepper plants and flowers. For heaven's sake, tulips should be blooming soon, and my rhubarb needs to grow.

I know you're starting to think about retreat yourself though. My tomcats have been very preoccupied the last couple of weeks.

Just make the snow and cold go away. That's all I ask.

Thank you.

2/29/08

Isn't this cool?

Anybody besides me like the biker nurse on American Idol?

2/28/08

In an effort to break the ennui of weaving selvege rugs non-stop for the last few months, I decided to make some rag ones. I need those too; especially grey ones as I had several requests for that color last year.

I had a massive wheel of grey rags stock on hand, which I cut up into one inch strips. Now, endless grey rugs can bring on the same ennui. So I decided to shake it up a bit.

I'm inserting little squares of other rags to break up the monotony and maybe give a little zip to the rug. I think they are rather cute. The first ones took me forever to make but now I can zip them out quickly. Except now that I can see how the warp is looking maybe I'll make them a bit wider so it doesn't look so uneven.

Grey and overcast here today to match the rug. Trying to snow but guess we're not supposed to get a whole lot, thank goodness. I am so waiting for spring.

2/24/08

It was absolutely beautiful yesterday. I threw caution to the wind and tagged along on John's ice fishing foray. I imagine he was tempted to stuff a rag in my mouth because we drove two miles out onto the lake -- on ICE -- even though it was two feet thick, he assured me, I was still having heebie-jeebies about the truck falling through the ice and our sleeping with the fishies.

We didn't catch anything to keep, much to our disgust, but I did catch and release 8 or so little perch. I have goldfish bigger than the perch we caught. Sheesh.

So, um, I've had a bit of a problem with start-itus. In that Port Clyde (from the Winter 2008 Wild Fibers magazine) has now jumped onto the needles, the sweater for which I was auditioning my handspun.

Not that you can tell a lot about it. Dark yarn does not photograph adequately.

And I'm progressing slowly on the mitten --

See Naomi?????

Good thing that, at the moment, nothing else is screaming at me to knit or crochet it. But I do have a woven rug design fermenting in my brain. Probably just as dangerous ...

2/17/08

I sat down yesterday to knit the gauge samples from my handspun, for the sweater from Wild Fibers pictured below.

You can tell a whole lot, no? The one on the left was done with size 7 needles and was 4.5" square. The one on the right was done with size 6 needles and was 4" square, both after washing. The right one is the gauge I was shooting for but the fabric feels like it would repel a volley of bullets. Maybe that's supposed to be the fabric? I dunno. I'm going to stew on it for a bit though.

Cat photo du'jour --

We haven't figured out if Spooky was guarding her water dish or drowning her sorrows.

2/14/08

Happy Valentine's Day! We had our special morning breakfast of waffles and bacon. I need to bake a scrumptious dessert for supper. We are also planning on having steaks with sautéed mushrooms and onions, and a salad.

In my last entry, there was an anonymous comment from a certain person :cough: Naomi :cough: demanding to see a mitten photo. You see, she knew that I had started one after our February fiber artists meeting, the topic of which was mittens. I have had the yarn socked away for years (leftovers from the first sweater I knit) and the pattern too. I was easily able to find both last week so I figured it was kismet and started them. Oh! The mittens are for John, and are from Dale of Norway's Nagano book from 1998.

Anyway, here's my start.

And I'm stalled. As I read further in the pattern, I realized I needed size 3.0 needles for the body of the mitten, which must be buried in a project somewhere as I couldn't find mine. No matter, I thought -- I'll order two from Knitpicks. *sigh* I ordered them Sunday night. They aren't shipping until tomorrow. I never thought it would take six. days. to pack two needles to ship. Argh.

Naomi, this is for you -- I forgot about these mittens that I knit back in 2005 or so.

So there. I have knit a pair of mittens. :)

And now, off to weave. I rewarped the rug loom yesterday so I'm good to go again.

2/11/08

What a fun retreat! My spinning guild converged up in Little Falls here for our retreat; we stayed in the Musser Mansion. Oh my word, how wonderful to live that way for a couple days. We got there Friday and came home yesterday, much to the regret of all.

I thought I had packed an excess of fiber but I got a lot accomplished while I was up there.

On the top is 4 ounces of alpaca spun about fingering weight (anybody know a good fingerless glove pattern that uses about 200 yards of fingering weight

yarn?), on the bottom is 4 ounces of Montadale that I purchased last summer in Illinois, and the ball to the left is my secret spinster gift that I received back in November. I left that in a ball because I plan to spin some white or a light blue to ply with it, to extend my yardage.

Other excitement from the weekend --

Julie and her first two ply yarn.

Kathe and her alpaca socks.

Oh yeah, I learned something VERY IMPORTANT.

+ = very very yummy. My friend Teresa of the Alpacas introduced me to this combination. Hoo doogies, hot chocolate with hazelnut liquor tastes out of this world.