Monday music and musings

in which our plucky heroine is wearing many layers...

this made me giggle, and sort of want to get up and dance!

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it is pretty cold here, though not like places in the Midwest. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be adapted to the colder weather, but in the meantime, it is double puffs on the bed, and double heat packs in the microwave before bedtime. It seems like making some warm scuffs to slip feet into on arising from the cozy nest would be a really good plan, as my "house boots of double thick wool are nice and warm, but a bit convoluted to put on when barely awake...

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SWAP moderating is going well so far, folks seem to like The Rules formulated for this year, and there have only been a few fairly minor questions. Yay!  As far as my own SWAP plans, figuring out what to make with the fabrics on hand is the current puzzle. Pulled out all the grey fabrics, which turned out to be rather a lot:

• grey heavy linen
• grey duck canvas
• grey wool herringbone
• grey polartec
• grey/black houndstooth flannel
• grey hemp jersey
• grey denim
• grey chambray
• grey/black stripe 
• grey cotton jersey
• grey random knit stripey scraps

The scrappy collage cardigan currently in process may not be included, as it may not work well with enough other garments, though it certainly will function as a fancy midweight cardigan. Going give the remaining stripey knit scraps a good looking over, in the hope that there is enough to pull together a coordinating knit top, for a kind of "art teacher" twinset that I was thinking about yesterday.

For sure, I am going to make a new pinafore from the heavy grey linen, and a "barn/chore" coat from the grey canvas will be my "goes with everything" piece. The herringbone wool will become a capelet, the houndstooth flannel was always intended for a shirt, and the hemp jersey will become some flavor of knit top. There is enough of the grey chambray to make a dress. Plenty of options for moving forward anyhow. Am considering adding the grey/black/blue stripey dress from earlier this year as one of my "sewn before SWAP" garments, since it really fits with the rest of the plan.

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There are two palm trees just outside the dog wash and daycare near here, so I took that as my subject for today's prompt - #4 - palm tree

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	three sketches	necklace pegs	-
2	x	x	-
3	x	x	-
4	x	x	-
5	x	x	-
6	x	x	-
7	x	x	-
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitutude -  the bus service here is pretty functional, and today was dry and sunny, so an errand to one of the Big Box Stores in the land of Giant Malls, which I normally avoid, were doable!

Monday media

in which our plucky heroine is grateful for snow day averted...

This is sweet, and well animated, and made me cry...

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Last night was working on the final adaptation sketches, and inking in of, the Scythian style Three Mountains Baronial charter designs...in the interest of not acquiring more gadgets, and the necessity of it being after sunset, figured out that I can use my MUJI paper file carry tote as a nighttime improvised light box... tape paper to the lid, tilt lid at an angle, and shine the LED desk lamp through it! Worked like a charm.

.

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Despite the forecast, last night up here on the plateau we got a mere dusting of snow, unlike many of my local pals. This morning there are damp roads and mostly green grass, with fragments of the snow dusting in the colder corners... but for those who were caught in the storm, or still in the depths of deep winter, this charming snow day announcement made me laugh several times, and hopefully will bring you a smile as well

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	bright feathers top for Mom	leaky undersink	bag to Goodwill
2	taupe/teal feathers knit top	neckline binding	bag to Goodwill
3	11 4oz jars marmalade	more chips spread	bag to Goodwill
4	mushroom print blouse	chicken bedding	bag to Goodwill
5	Seville marmalade	button replaced	rusty toolbox
6	4 jars Awesome Sauce	x	x
7	Pomelo marmalade	x	x
8	blood orange marmalde	x	x
9	indigo pinstripe dress	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - dodging the snowfall last night, (though with full cognizance that overall, the less snow we get, the more the drought worsens...) There are no unmixed blessings.

Media monday

in which our plucky heroine does her best to remember that the world is still full of sweetness and good cheer and beauty, as well as sorrow and grief...

This is just a wacky bit of cheerful fun, (particularly if you like The Talking Heads)

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Sweet scented clematis blooming on Karla's alley fence. I love this variety of clematis, and tried repeatedly to get it to flourish on my front walkway fence, but despite my best efforts the plants did not survive. Karla has amazing "green fingers" and all kinds of interesting plants in her yard. I suppose that if I had made plants my avocation, I would have better success, but in truth, I can enjoy them every time I walk between her house and mine. We do not need to possess something personally to enjoy it in the common spaces - and that is one of the best reasons for caring for and adding beauty to the world.

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Given where I live, and our common springtime weather, this drawing from Incidental Comics "Philosophers in the Rain" seems very appropriate...

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an old favorite lullaby (written by James Taylor);
and sung by David Buskin, an old favorite folksinger...

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine confronts the Perilous Piles of Paper, and is impressed with the creativity of her local pals ...

After last week when I cleared away the paper detritus from the computer zone, it seemed like a natural next step to start dealing with the paper handling systems here at Acorn Cottage. I've a big two drawer file cabinet in the workshop, which has not had any organization applied to it in well over a decade, and in truth, it has been more dead storage than active filing, which is a waste of good cubic. My coach and I decided that the Monday after my holiday/birthday party would be an excellent day for focusing on this project. Through the miracle of technology, I here, and she faraway connected intermittently all day long, while I sorted through piles of papers, emptied and culled file folder contents, discarded/recycled unneeded papers and relabeled the refilled contents of the file cabinet with words that actually were clue-ful for me to access information and images when I need them.

The two full drawers contents were weeded down to part of one, with the remainder of that drawer now holding not-yet-used pads of artist paper, tracing paper, and graph paper for future projects and planning. The second drawer is empty, and will end up storing additional art materials once we move on to a level two organization of the house contents. The end of the level one declutter is actually in sight, as soon there will be no more Boxes of Unknown Contents. My aim is to complete level one by the end of 2016... wish me luck

:::

For the last few years, I've hosted a "Saturnalia" party toward the end of December, as a contradiction in the darkest season, and to celebrate to my own natal day, which occurs at more or less the same time. Not at all a convenient time of year for a party, when every weekend day or evening has multiple events filling the calendar, but needs must.

This last Saturday a delightful assortment of my friends arrived to spend the afternoon or longer in convivial conversation. This year, unlike the last several, there was no specific requirement for Roman food or garb, but my dearly loved and eccentrically creative pals Ursel and Marya were undeterred... You may not remember that last year they were partially responsible for the arrival of the Coliseum, complete with sea battle between gummi bears and gummi sea serpents. This year there was an inspired combination of architecture and geology:

Not everyone gets a holiday/birthday subtlety complete with "documentation" (in the form of an artist rendition of what the Forum at Pompeii probably looked like prior to eruption...)

and... despite some issues with the unexpectedly no longer liquid "congealed" lava (strawberry jam needed a bit of help from a serving spoon in order to break out for suitable pyroclastic flow)

The aftermath of the eruption...

Thankfully for the state of my kitchen, my dear friends were sparing with the powdered sugar "volcanic ash"

:::

December SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee jambe enamel	5 skirts hemmed (for Megan)	full paper recycle bin
2	Tullia apron	winter turtleneck mended	bag of papers
3	3 knitted dishcloths	-	bag of papers
4	custom table drape	-	-
5	candied grapefruit peel	-	-
6	rum balls	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

:::

Friday fabulousity and fragments

in which our plucky heroine begins preparing in earnest for the party on Sunday, which will celebrate my birthday/Saturnalia/Solstice/Green Wood Horse Year. Indeed it is an entire turning of the Great Wheel of the Chinese zodiac from the year of my birth, and great good fortune to have made it this far.

:::

The bad news is that in reading the recipe for bacon baklava, our plucky heroine read the part that said "9 x 13 rectangular pan" but forgot that all the pans in the house, save the turkey roaster, are smaller than that; the good news is that most of the baking hardware aisle in Fred Meyers was on sale for 50% off today.

:::

Started baking for Saturnalia by mixing up a batch of savillum... While most recipes I have read call for wheat flour, this variation, made with bulgar wheat instead, was a standard breakfast in our camp during the first years I was active in the SCA; it is easy to make ahead, is really filling, and has a substantial amount of protein... bulgar and ricotta and eggs oh my, plus honey and poppy seeds.

It is much easier than pie, requiring the cook to simply mix all the ingredients together and then bake at 350F until done, about 30 minutes more or less depending on the pan used. Because this is intended as party tidbits rather than hearty breakfast, a thinner layer was desirable, and I lined the baking pan with parchment paper, in the hope of not sticking. As soon as it comes out of the oven, drizzle some honey over the top, spread the honey out across gently, and then dust with poppy seeds. The quantities are not super precise: about 15 to 16 oz ricotta, one or two eggs, a scant cup of honey, and a generous cup of bulgar, with a little more honey and some poppy seeds.

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This is what our plucky heroine found after all the boxes on the front porch were unpacked!

the first box said "Live Plants"... someone (hi Mom!) took it to heart when I mentioned entering my second childhood

The second box contained this very large double wall cooking pot, and rather gave me a clue as to what might be in the other boxes, but no clue as to who the mystery sender might be...

The third box held a green five gallon bucket. I foresee a rearrangement of the SCA/camping closet

The final, and heaviest box contained a Stove-Tec rocket stove, the deluxe model with two doors and a grate that allows for burning either wood or charcoal. Whoo Hoo! Now I can set up a temporary outdoor kitchen (or natural dyeing using my regular dyepots?!) space in the carport and have crafternoon/cookouts!! (and it will be excellent earthquake emergency cooking gear too)

:::

Just in case anyone is eager to attempt weaving leafy Laurel wreath trim, this is the weaving draft for the just finished project. Found on Guntrum's site, but graphed out in the style of Applesies and Foxnoses - turn forwards except in the parts of the graph with a grey background

:::

loop de loop

in which our plucky heroine revisits childhood, indeed there are those who think she never left there in the first place...

When my pal Marya showed up at our table at Yulenage a' Trois (Tri-Barony Yule Feast) with one of these iconic woven objects, and said that this was an activity in the children's room, I lost no time in following her back there. One of my earliest weaving memories is of loopers on a square loom, and there was a whole table of loops and an assortment of looms, and several other adults as well as youngsters enjoying the simple pleasure. Illaria had brought bags full of loops she cut from clean singleton or worn socks, so there was quite a variety of colors to pick from; my potholder has all the colors to match my kitchen. 

:::

Finished the sekrit santa project but cannot post photos, since it is, well, sekrit...

:::

There is very little in the way of hard alcohol that I find particularly enjoyable straight up, preferring my booze as an ingredient rather than a beverage, and apparently I am not the only one that feels this way:

:::

December SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	red-dyed wool, from pokeberries	hem and new pockets on Stacey dress	*
2	grey slip-dress	*	*
3	two kitty face needlebooks	*	*
4	acorn ornament	*	----------
5	four more kitty needlebooks	*	----------
6	sekrit santa gift	*	----------
7	looper potholder	*	----------
8	*	*	----------
9	----------	*	----------

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3 random Tuesday tidbits, including increased coping skills

Two possible Latin translations of "if you are going to die, die full of pie!", courtesy of  Steven Mesnick via the Latin for Scadians Discussion group on Facebook...

Si moriturus es, morere plenus tortae

  or possibly

Si tibi moriendum erit, moritor plenus tortae

:::

Last week when the Blue Cedar House folks were here for the holiday, while no new housey projects were completed, the bathtub surround moulding was shaped to fit the wonky contours, and Mr R showed me the clever trick of how to mark a coped edge, using parallel markers. Now that concept is another tool in my toolbox, yay! Today, after turning on the little space heater so as to not immediately freeze when exiting said bathing facility, it occured to me that it might not be necessary to wait for late spring to finish the bathroom trim... it should be possible to paint the assorted moulding in the warmth! All I need is a little table to hold the paint and the wood bits.

:::

Solitary Foxen is almost three-quarters finished! Keeps being put on hold as there are many more urgent handwork projects this time of year than one utterly self-indulgent and fascinating wooly wrap... Pretty much any time I have it out with me in public, usually knitting on the bus or waiting for transit, I get questions and appreciations of how it looks. Never had a piece of knitting generate so much commentary from entire strangers, a number of whom wonder if it is some combination of knitting and crochet, probably because of the convolutions. I suspect that when it is finished, no one (except other knitters) will assume it is a homemade handknit, because it is so unusual. Looking forward to the eventual finish, not because I want the knitting of it to be done, but because wearing it will be a delight!

thanksgiving

... in which our plucky heroine considers the twin blessings of fellowship and food, and gives thanks to Dame Fortune for the gift...

...from all of us here at Acorn Cottage and Blue Cedar House, wishing to you and yours a taste of the abundance and sweetness in the bright world, with much gratitude for the gifts of friendship and love, and an everpresent sense of how lucky we are to have both a roof overhead, food to eat, friends and family, and a life that however difficult it may seem, still allows us to discover joy and adventure...

cats in the logbook

in which our plucky heroine finds her prejudicial preferences unchanged, as witness these two log entries from Saturday and Sunday...

Captains Log - Stardate19813.4:
The two alien life forms aboard are quite annoyed that only portions of the ship are available to them. Nonetheless, for their own safety and ours, this remains my decision. Our kitchen crew has been careful to prepare their meals at recommended intervals, but they seem little interested in eating. While I cannot explain to them the delay in returning to their home world, I shall do my best to distract them with affection and amusements.

Captains Log - Stardate19814.2:
The two alien life forms attempted to explore the ship while the navigation was off for the night, the evidence was clear in the various objects displaced when our morning crew came on deck. The more timid one approached us this morning with almost the alacrity of the more communicative one, and the kitchen crew promptly provided the morning meal as our manual describes appropriate. Unfortunately, it was necessary to call out the cleaning crew, when the freshly prepared food was unswallowed shortly after breakfast by the more communicative of the aliens.

Truly, I much prefer the company of dogs to the company of cats. Any fourlegged companion, indeed any companion at all, has creaturely needs and requires accommodations to be made by all involved. The ideal is to find accommodations that are in the functional end of the fun to hassle ratio. I hadn't remembered how much cats climb everywhere, and Acorn Cottage is far from cat-proof ! Fortunately no harm was done to either of the two guest "aliens" or to the house, and they went home this afternoon.

:::

Today I am grateful for the generosity of surprise gifts, and the wondrous way that on occasion the exact things we wish for arrive on our doorsteps, sometimes literally and sometimes figuratively. I have been wishing for narrow raised beds tall enough to make gardening a little easier, and today Deb not only dropped the fixings for one on my front porch, but in addition a whole bunch of homegrown garden goodies. And today on my electronic doorstep, a gift from my friend Mary in San Jose: a knitting pattern for the new project that I have been craving the opportunity to try out, one that will teach me some new knitting skills.

may this gratitude contradict despair...

little red dress

...our plucky heroine is tired of wearing SCA clothing for Halloween, so shall make a new costume all in the next week... the fun red dress and cat-face apron that Bee wears at the beginning of Bee and Puppycat:

It should be fairly simple to adapt my standard dress pattern for the dress, as all that will be needed is to make the dress knee length, and the sleeves shorter and puffed, add a white peter pan collar and buttons, and a frill for the bottom of the sleeves. The animated image looks like the frill is a flounce and not a ruffle; flounces are prettier, I suspect that ruffles are quicker and use less fabric. Then I need to make the apron... Fortunately I have fabric paints in suitable colors for the catface, which can be simply stencilled onto the apron bib, and then there is all that frill/ruffle/flounce to do there as well... Alas, I don't have any little white boots, so shall have to make do with my regular boring footwear.

I have been thinking about making some faux ice cubes to carry around in a baggie, y'know "here's some stuff for your stuff"... I think that gelatin would break down at room temperature, but maybe agar agar would work? Do they sell agar at asian grocery stores?

our regularly scheduled program

...now this may be obvious to most folks, but it took years to figure out how to remove the screens from the windows here at Acorn Cottage. It never occurred to me that removing half the window first was part of the process! The screens are not removable from the outside of the house, that is one of the things that baffled me in the first place. They are spring loaded and only come out once the sliding portion of the window has been removed, which, for obvious security reasons, can only be done from inside the house as well.

My initial thought had been to wash them, but I wanted to brush off the worst of the dust first; once I did that, by "scrubbing" both sides with a dry scrub brush, they looked like new, so I just put them back... I suspect that now that I know HOW to remove them, they'll not go nine years between cleaning, so not get anywhere near as dusty. The screen itself is easy to clean, just make sure to either have the breeze at your back, or use a fan to generate one, to blow all the dust and pollen away...

:::

I have been rather charmed by Bee and Puppycat, and if the red fabric I remember having in stash somewhere is still there, I will make up a Bee costume for Halloween... truly, her dress in the first scene is not that different from my regular dresses, and who doesn't need want a catfaced apron!

on substitution...

in which our plucky heroine learns that substitution only sometimes works, and that sometimes the best thing you can do is switch to plan B...

There were guests this weekend at Acorn Cottage: B and K, plus teenage C and D. I like to make more interesting things for company breakfasts than my usual egg with broth or steamed veggies - and D is a 15 year old boy, tall as an adult, with the kind of appetite only a teener can have...

On Sunday morning I decided to make Brigid's tasty-sounding Crispy Cornbread Waffles*. In doing this, I violated several rules of successful cookery... I had not tried out the recipe myself before attempting to make it for company. I did not have all the ingredients that were called for in the recipe, so decided to substitute diluted yoghurt for the kefir. Bad idea, they are not at all the same thing, as I found out later. Not sure if substituting sugar for honey made much of a difference, since the quantity is very small. But the worst error was in not trying out the new/used waffle iron ahead of time...

You see, there once was most wonderful countertop waffle iron that made delightful waffles without trouble. It went away several house moves ago, and recently I decided to replace it, and not finding anything appealing in the stores, waited till something similar showed up at the local Goodwill. I carefully cleaned it, and it appeared to be working properly....

Alas, only the appearance was similar, this appliance was under a curse, which is probably why it ended up there in the first place. When the batter was baked in the carefully greased iron, no matter how long I let it cook for, it persisted in sticking to the metal and tearing into shredded pieces. I am not pleased at all. And just to make certain that it was in fact the waffle iron and not the batter, I tried again tonight after acquiring the necessary kefir and honey. The batter had a much different texture, but the results in the waffle iron are the same!

This morning the hens had a great treat of the two torn-to-shreds waffles, and I used the rest of the batter to make delightfully crispy pancakes instead. There are another two torn-to-shred waffles for the hens tomorrow morning, from this evenings experiment...

Not sure if it would be a good idea to send the waffle iron back to Goodwill, and let some other unsuspecting soul take it home. Of course, there is another option: I could simply put it out of its misery...

* I am certain that the waffles, made in a proper waffle iron, are completely and totally delightful. I intend to try them again using the big non-electric cast iron waffle maker. That one has mostly been used over a campfire; using it on the stovetop will make the kitchen here at Acorn Cottage very warm indeed, so the experiment will have to wait 'till the weather had cooled down enough that extra heat will be pleasant.

looking around + in the freezer

look up...

wooden watertowers atop downtown buildings

look down...

decorative grating on an underground carpark

look all around...

a veg-head in it's native habitat

look at all the blueberries in the kitchen!

part of the twelve pounds that came home yesterday
~ ~ ~≈:::≈~ ~ ~

I shall probably need to do some kitchen crafting eventually; sorting through the freezer today to make room for the additional berry goodness gave me some ideas... There are a lot of citrus peels, mostly lemon, so perhaps attempting limoncello might be a good idea. There are a number of bags of (chicken)bones, so cooking up broth will clear out some space. There are still some whole tomatoes, which could be turned into chili jam. And some of the blueberries will become Lavender Blue jam as well, if there is still a bit of homegrown lavender in the side yard, or if one of my friends has some sweet scented lavender to spare

~ ~ ~≈:::≈~ ~ ~

This comic just tickles me, because the person who saves the day is a girl
~ ~ ~≈:::≈~ ~ ~

A while back, this kawaii hanging dryer needed to come live here at Acorn Cottage. I mean, really, it is a cephalopod, and the one I found was even blue! It lives in the shower, and occasionally drys delicate things that need to not be in the sunlight. Yesterday I discovered that the clips can also be used to hold the shower sprayer overhead, thereby allowing the handheld shower gizmo to also be used as a hands-free shower, which will become important in a little while. I am happy to have discovered this.

~ ~ ~≈:::≈~ ~ ~

dog is running around and barking again; I cultivate equanimity

wool almost over my eyes

I have been knitting like a madwoman, partially to get the test knitting finished by the deadline, and partially perhaps to keep from becoming a madwoman. The activity of knitting is soothing for me, especially if it is just complex enough that I have to pay attention to what I am doing, but not so complex that I get frustrated. Knitting this bag has been perfect that way, with lots of pattern changes and none too difficult.

The intention is that this will shrink down to become a sturdy and colorful bag of holding; the result, right now before shrinking, looks rather like an extremely large demented sort of hippie hat for someone with ginormous dreadlocks. Which I am not. Well I might be a rather demented sort of old hippie, but my skimpy little braids did absolutely nothing to keep the giant knitted bag in place... It would have been more accurate to let the whole thing slide on down all the way over my head, but that would have made photography rather difficult. Stay tuned for news of further felting developments...

~ : ♥ : ~

I've made a tiny bit of progress on the herbal jelly front. The first straining through muslin left me with a partial quart jar full of cloudy pinkish liquid. Then I read another different recipe that said to let the apple-y mush cool before straining. Hmmm... so I strained it a second time and now have a saucepan full 2 1/2 cups of perfectly clear beautiful peachy pink elixer. I think that if this works, it will be gorgeous, all pink and green and tasting of springtime herbs.

the paper boy, the paper man, and random bits

Flat Stanley came to visit Acorn Cottage. He is part of a geography unit for a kindergarten class in New Hampshire, they mail him (actually several of him) around the country, and his hosts sends letters back to the children. I decided that an important special thing about Portland was Powell's, so we rode the MAX downtown to visit the mothership store on Burnside...

Though Stanley has now traveled on to Olympia, (where he will be staying with Beth and Karen and Ceilidh, and learning about Olympia as part of Ceilidh's homeschool work), another paper friend has come here to stay... I have long been a fan of the artist Lindsey Carr, who sells under the name of Little Robot on Etsy. I've had a "crush" for several years on her Mystical Cowboy and she recently made him available as a free download! A quick trip to the color copy shop, some careful xacto work, tiny brads from the scrapbooking shop, and voila...

~ : ♥ : ~

The wonderfully warm weather this weekend drew me out into the yard, and I managed to get a few of the many needed chores begun. I dug up the Japanese anemone, which was not happy near the driveway, preferring a slightly more temperate location, and moved the other rhubarb into that spot, away from the behind the downspout in the dark, where for the last few years, it has started out well only to be devoured by slugs. Since it's buddy, the red rhubarb from Mud Bay, has been happy near the driveway, I'm hopeful that eventually I will have a large rhubarb colony next to the front walk, and someday a planter for strawberries as well. Can you see where this is going?... (for now, I'm going to transplant the alpine strawberries into a nearby container)

~ : ♥ : ~

Last night I attempted Roasted Garlic Jelly, March is allium month in the year long Tigress's CanJam. Everything looked good, the jars sealed perfectly, but I have syrup instead of jelly. I'm going to call it good, since my primary imagined use for this condiment is as a glaze or marinade ingredient. Add some soy sauce for teriyaki, (or stir a bit into some hot whiskey and lemon to send any random wintertime bug on the run)

~ : ♥ : ~

SWAP progress report - I'm about 2/3 finished with the stripey flannel shirt, which means that I'm about a third of the way there. The goal is 11 coordinated garments by April 30th, so while I'm not the fastest participant, I'm doing okay.

Media monday - internet cookies?

I have found some very useful recipes online...

need a smile? (more media)

I've been working on the Roman Shades project all day, with short breaks. These are a bit different, with a room darkening interlining, which makes sewing a bit like wrestling with layers of ancient rubbery raincoat. Ah well, more than half done finally, I'll be glad to see the end of this one.

The wee tape deck I borrowed decided that since it was so very old, that It didn't want to come to a new home after all, and the motor stopped working. Alas, I guess it is back to square 1.5 on that one. I have a ancient boom-box tape recorder, well not so ancient, I bought it from RealGoods back in 1990, before my ill-fated excursion to Idaho, since I needed to have something that would work on 12 volt or AC. It has a microphone port, but any auxiliary equipment has long been lost in the intervening decades. So I'm still looking for a simple recorder, or possibly something to work with my current archaic technology.

This morning's breakfast was particularly nice, and healthy. I've been trying to find various winter breakfast options that are greens plus protein (that I like), and that aren't super complicated. Half a single bacon strip cut into dice and cooked slowly, then half a bunch of black kale chopped small dropped into the same pan. Since the bacon is always chosen with an eye for mostly lean meat, there was almost no fat in the pan, I had to add some water to let the kale steam for a while. Once it was suitably softened, it went into a big pottery bowl, then about a half cup of cottage cheese, and a modest amount of sweet chili sauce for garnish. I'd been thinking about Ethiopian greens, and this, while spiced very differently, started the day off well.

textile Tuesday

Upon awakening, my groggy morning ears heard the radio tell me: "whatever your holiday traditions, we hope you make kink a part of it" Despite the fact that I know those are the call letters of the station, it was truly an unexpected exhortation...

~ : ♥ : ~

Perhaps a bit of fabric shopping will be necessary after all... I started laying out some of the patterns yesterday, (as a birthday treat for myself, taking an hour off work for some pre-SWAP prep), and discovered that the stripey flannel that I had intended for my matched stripe is not printed with the stripes evenly spaced at all. They vary just enough that matching them won't work.

I'll be sure to take swatches of all the relevant fabrics with me, and look for another blouse-length of a suitable medium to small scale print. I've been resisting doing any shopping at all, but was given a small holiday bonus from a client, and decided to spend half of it on textile treats for me: a length of fabric and a new circular knitting needle in one of the sizes I don't yet have.

Now I just need to find where I put the Marcy Tilton pants pattern, I put it somewhere safe, which wasn't with the fabric, or with the other patterns.

I'm going to make a knitted vest, which may end up as part of my SWAP. Though I didn't have enough of the grey yarn in my stash for a whole garment, I am going to combine it with the bittersweet chocolate brown yarn (recycled from a thrifted sweater) and make a striped vest version of Sonnet. My sketch shows it with a generic jumper and turtleneck shirt:I'm taking my inspiration for this from these sweaters: stripey sonnet, embroidered knitting, and delightfully striped. I'm hoping that this will be both practical and a bit whimsical, so as to be friends with the other new clothes I'm planning... And since garment sewing on public transit is pretty difficult, this will be a way to make SWAP progress while travelling to and from work

Media Monday

Despite the song, I actually have a lot of work to do today, especially since I took the weekend off to go camping with friends...once I get home from my day job, there is studio work calling my name. A new hen home needs to be built ASAP; HennyPenny is being less than hospitable, and refuses to let the New Girls into the henhouse, so they are spending their nights perched precariously outside in the hen yard. and...I have four people coming to visit this weekend. and...I need to prep for a whole day art demo on Saturday at Art In the Pearl.

...Life is never dull at Acorn Cottage

Media Monday

because sometimes you just have to ask for help...