Tangled and Warped

First, thank you everyone for your kind thoughts, wishes and prayers for my Dad.  Last night Mom said she thought he was coming home, but I had my doubts.  Sure enough today they have a bunch of ’specialists’ in to look him over.   Dad still insists that he DOES want heroic measures to keep him going.  But this goes against what he actually does, like eating hot fudge sundaes and drinking alcohol when you are diabetic.  I want to kick his butt right now, but I can’t.

Mom is hanging in there and we are still trying to figure out away to get her down to PA for her sister’s birthday.   And since my sister will be doing the Andover Craft Fair as usual on Saturday.   My best chance for getting to the NH Sheep and Wool will most likely be Sunday, but right now I am not counting on making it up there this year.  And I’m ok with that.  It’s not like I have huge amounts of disposable income to spend on fiberlicious stuff and there is nothing I absolutely positively need and can only get there either.

If it doesn’t pan out then there is always Webs Annual Fiber Sale next weekend…  it’s spring - there is always a fiber fix somewhere! hehehe

Last night was so beautiful out, and NO BUGS (yet), so I did the walk around to see what’s coming up.

My hydrangea vine is going to town, as was the bleeding heart in front of it.  I say was because this morning I came out the door and it looked like someone had sat in the middle of it.  I am so going to kill that cat!

This is the view off the back deck facing due north.  That forsythia was just a few skinny branches that I had pulled out of my sister’s yard 10 years ago.   On the other side of the trees is the wet lands.  Already I’ve seen 2 blue herons so they are nesting somewhere back there.

Last but not least is my damn lilac bush - look at it closely as it is the last time you will see it.  I planted a slip of a lilac 15 years ago.  It comes back every year, bigger and bigger.  I trim the suckers,  water and feed it and for 15 years not one damn lilac blossom, not ONE!  So come fall, I’m digging the damn lilac bush up and giving it to a friend.  It pains me as I have wanted a blooming lilac bush forever, but I am tired of dumping different potions and plant food suggestions from various landscapers, and nursery specialists.  I’ve tried whacking the stems as otherssuggested when they have shared their ‘old wives tale’ secrets for getting Lilacs to bloom.  But nothing so far as worked, and it doesn’t look like it will be blooming this year either.

Knitting:

I finished knitting the bsj, I still need to sew up the seams, weave in the ends, block and find buttons for it.

This weekend I had so many plans but most got dropped when Mom called on Friday morning to say Dad was back in the hospital.  We knew he hadn’t felt well for awhile and when you are 82 that is kind of expected some days.  But when my sister checked with the Dr. and the doctor starts with “well you know your Dad has lived beyond his life expectancy, and he has several issues….”  it doesn’t bode well, so we dropped what we were doing and headed down to the hospital.

He actually looked better because they had given him a few pints of blood and it made him at least look healthier.  For some reason his body isn’t making blood.  It doesn’t help that he’s been diagnosed with both systolic and diastolic heart failure.  And the medications aren’t really helping.  He also had diabetes which he refuses to modify his diet to accommodate, and with a sweet tooth this is not good either.

So until they get him a bit more stablized he’s in the hospital for awhile.   If you think of it, keep him in your thoughts.  Thanks!

Saturday since Dad was having several tests, and would probably sleep in between, we decided to go ahead with open studio day at Western Avenue Studios.

Bead and Fiber Babe, Amanda stopped by and picked up some of my lovely hand dyed finn roving.  She recently acquired a spinning wheel.  Check out what she did with the Finn roving here.  Didn’t she do a fabulous job?

Cindy was there giving lessons to some lovely ladies on weaving.

Check out the lovely scarves they finished while they were there!

Fantastic job!

Note the triangular loom in the background.  Cindy has been working this loom for about 6 months now - all right, all ready - finish it so I can make one too!  I spent the entire day spinning (sorry I didn’t take pics , I know BAD BLOGGER!)

Saturday night my friend Nancy came over for dinner.  She was supposed to come over Friday night, but with Dad in the hospital we had postponed it.  We had a lovely dinner of Delmonico Rib eyes, baked potatoes, and salad and I had a couple of nice cocktails too.  Thanks Nancy!  Then apple pie later.  It took a while to get the teenagers to leave but they finally did.

Sunday, it was grey and dismal out.  By the time I woke up it was pouring rain and all I could think of was that my poor sister and nephew were out there doing the Walk for Hunger.  Eric is ‘this’ close to finishing up all the badges for Eagle Scout.

Up and at ‘em Grace and I went back down to the hospital to see Dad so, no knitting at the Peddler’s Daughter in Nashua.  We were going to use the tickets mom had for an afternoon play (Street Car Named Desire) but Grace was being a total brat and Dad was sleepy so I sent Mom off to the play with her friend ‘B’ and we hung out with Dad while he had some lunch.  After lunch he was getting sleepy again, so I got his pillows plumped and got him settled and tucked in, then Grace and I skedaddled out of there to get some errands done.

Within moments of arriving home the gaggle of teens descended on the house.  But they left early enough that I got so hang in my jammies to watch some TV and get some knitting in.  I am almost finished with the Baby Surprise Jacket - I ran out of my handspun with just 3 rows left :(  I have something complimentary that will work, but still it ticked me off.

I am still hoping to get to the NH Sheep and Wool festival this coming weekend - but that all depends on Dad and where he is.  Mom had been planning on going to PA for her sister’s birthday, but that is all on hold too.

1891 Frederic Leighton - The Return of Persephone

A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.
Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;
For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?
- Sara Teasdale, May Day

And so begins the merry month of May.

Friday was my sister’s birthday, so the family gathered at her house for dinner and cake. Mom made a Strawberry Rhapsody cake. I hadn’t made one in years and together we figured out the recipe.

According to my former MIL who used to make this cake all the time “it tastes like you think Strawberry Shortcake ought to taste.”

Here’s the remember recipe

Make one pkg of strawberry flavored jello but reduce the water by 1/2 place in the fridge until it’s a jelly consistency and not completely set.

While you are waiting for that, drain one pkg of frozen strawberries and reserve the liquid for later.

Take a sponge cake or pound cake - you can use angel food cake in a pinch but it doesn’t hold up as well. Break the cake into 1″ x 1″ bite sized pieces and set aside.

Make one envelope of Dream Whip per the box directions.

Once the Dream Whip is whipped and ready, add the jelly jello and whip until it’s incorporated. Fold in the defrosted strawberries. You now have a lovely pink strawberry flavored foam.

Take an Angel food cake pan or spring form pan and spread a small amount of the strawberry cream mixture to coat all the sides of the pan. If you are using and angel food cake pan be sure to spread some on the inside cone.

You are going to layer the cake with the strawberry cream mixture starting with the cake (use less than a 1/3 of the cake to start. Then the cream mixture, then more cake, cream, cake ending with the strawberry cream mixture. Smooth and press down a little to make sure there are no air bubbles and the cake and cream are packed into the cake pan.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 6 hours - overnight is better.

Just before you are ready to serve:

Take the cake out of the fridge for a few minutes while you make the glaze.

Glaze:

Put the strawberry liquid that you saved in a small sauce pan with 1 tbsp of corn starch and wisk out any lumps then add heat stirring until the sauce becomes slightly thicker and clear.

Once the glaze is ready take the cake out of the tube or spring pan - you can ‘patch’ together’ any flaws at this point, but if it’s properly chilled you shouldn’t have to.

Drizzle the glaze along the top and down the sides. Garnish with some fresh strawberries and serve immediately.

I wish I had pictures, but my camera battery was dead.

So after stuffing ourselves with cake and having a couple of margaritas it was time to go home. Not to mention Darling Daughter was in a foul mood and cranky to be with her friends who she had been attached to the hip with all week long during Spring Break week.

Saturday morning I wake up to a pile o’ teens on the livingroom floor. They had stayed up most of the night playing video games. So I banged around making coffee, bacon and eggs and they soon roused their heads. After feeding them I handed them all rakes cracked the whip and got my yard raked. I thought this might deter them from showing up at my house all the time…..

It didn’t…

They were back on Saturday night. I put them to work on Sunday as well and then sent them all packing at noon. Don’t they bath? do laundry? brush their teeth? Apparently most of their parents don’t care where they are, as long as they don’t have to deal with them. So by Sunday I was done with teenagers for awhile.

Of course having to stick around with the teens around, meant no Fiber for me. I didn’t go to CT Sheep and Wool, nor did I end up going to see the Harlot at Webs. But I have knit this damn baby surprise jacket three times now. The first time I didn’t like the size 5 US needles, so I switched to 8s, then I screwed up the stitch count, then I ran out of my handspun so I need to go back and add a little something something to ‘fill in’. you would think I would have this memorized by now.

Next weekend is Open Studios at Western Avenue, so I have a ton of stuff to get ready for that. Anything that I don’t sell on Saturday goes into the Etsy shop that night, so keep an eye out.

As Kermit says “It’s not easy being green”.

I’ve been trying though, really I have. I must admit though that I hate recycling and do it begrudgingly.

I’ve also had a hard time with grocery bags - I kept buying the reusable ones from Trader Joes and the local grocery store and they would be great taking my groceries home the first time then they would either disappear (my daughter would snag them to carry stuff in) or I would forget to take them or forget to put them into my car, or leave them in the car and only remember that they were in my car as I checked out.

That was until I found these. Actually my sister found one and couldn’t remember where, so I went on-line and bought us each 5 of them. I love that they have little carabeaners on them to clip together and then on to my purse . So far so good, they are easy to remember and carry and so far my daughter hasn’t noticed them!

NO MORE PLASTIC BAGS!

On a scale of 1 to 10 this weekend was an 11! In spite of what the weather people around here were predicting. It was an absolutely perfect weekend weather wise.

I actually got some garden beds raked out, vines and shrubs trimmed too. I can no longer do half the yard in a day anymore, so I have to take it little bites at a time. Lets just hope the weekends continue like this!

I even got a ton of junk cleaned out of the back(sun) room because, it’s that time of year again and I want my sun room back! Then I moved on to the back deck and got that swept off and dragged some lawn furniture out. It’s almost presentable.

I even got to spend a few hours spinning in the sun. It was a perfect weekend.

This some BLF that I dyed a few weeks ago and was begging to be spun up.

It’s approx. 245 yds. 2-ply Sport/DK weight

It was just a nice day to hang with friends, good food, good fun and lots of laughs.

Michelle, Sally, Laural

Mary

And yes Michelle was flying the Jolly Roger yesterday - so look out. LOL!

The pinkletinks are back or peepers as most of us call them. I know a few people have posted that they heard them early - but it’s been a bit colder in the Nashoba valley so my windows and storms were still closed.

Yesterday was so nice I opened my storm windows and put down the screens and actually left some windows open last night since it was still so nice out. As I finally settled down to doze off, there they were the “peep, peep, peep” that always heralds spring.

On this morning’s drive in it seems the trees have budded overnight and the red buds look like they are ready to explode. If it stays this lovely weather wise we will soon have the new bright green haze of the new leaves soon.

I guess I’ll have to drag the deck chairs out soon, even though it feels like I just put them away.

I am busy spinning some BFL hand-dyed for a baby surprise jacket, knitting another BSJ from STR 2007 club - merino superwash.

And that lovely Leicester Longwool Locks are almost dry - I cannot wait to card some and spin up a sample.

Today is my work from home day - fortunately it’s been fairly quiet (please don’t jinx it) and since it is such a gloriously sunny day I decided to trying my hand at scouring some raw fleece I just picked up.

Raw Leicester Longwool - fairly clean of VM

Scouring the fleece - yucky water

Drying the fleece - It appears to have some serious yolk stains so I guess I’ll have to toss this into the dye pot.

But just look at the lovely locks

Well I was actually planning and had been looking for a used fine cloth drum carder.  But last week as I was checking Craig’s list for the umpteenth time I came across a Lendrum ST for a great price.  I thought about it all night.  You rarely see Lendrum wheels come up for sale second hand.    It seems like every time I spin on my wheel during open studio I am asked about lessons.

Not having a second wheel kind of precluded giving lessons, so with this one practically throwing itself at me, I emailed the seller to see if it was still available having be up for sale for almost a month.  Sure enough it was, and it was only a 20 minute drive from my house.  So Friday after work I drove up and picked it up.

It’s a older model, but I am sure my bobbins will fit.  She also had one of the older lazy kates which look much nicer than the one I got with mine.  I look forward to giving it a ’spin’. (hehe)

Saturday was supposed to be a nasty rainy cold day, but the sun came out early and stayed out all day - it was just beautiful.  Unfortunately I had schedule hair appointments for me and DD in the mall that afternoon.  I thought about canceling but my hair was just awful.  So I got it all cut off - lots of layers, and with my hair texture and waves it looks like I just came off the beach.  (Translation- comb in the morning with a little product and no need to do anything with your hair again all day.)

I also need to color it desperately so I decided to throw caution to the wind and went a shade lighter than my normal reddish blond,  Then on a whim I decided to go for the gusto (translation double process - remember those days?) and grabbed a hair frosting kit too.  DD helped me pull my hair through the cap to add the blonde highlights.  I have to say I love, love, love it.  Patty is going to be so jealous!

Sunday, only Jen and I made it to Peddler’s Daughter - the Magner’s was delicious and we had a lot of laughs.

Only two weekends to the CT Sheep and Wool festival and The Harlot at Webs.  Who is going?  Carpooling?

4 oz. Jacobs Roving from The Woolley Farm

I picked a bag of this lovely roving up at Spa this year. It’s from Deb at The Irish Ewe. It was lovely to spin, in fact, it almost spun itself. It required very little pre-drafting and I could even do a long-draw which I’ve had problems with in the past. Nice stuff!

This roving was from their flock of Jacobs. It was two-toned roving that I split the light from the dark then spun each color separately into singles, then plyed the two together (2-ply duh).

I haven’t set the twist yet, so I haven’t measured the final wpi or yardage yet, but I suspect it’s about fingering weight and I am hoping for close to 350 - 400 yds.

Now, I am thinking about kettle dyeing this skein. What do you think? Hot Pink? Turquoise? Another color?

Edited to bitch - WordPress recently upgraded their service and appears to have left out SPELL CHECKER due to bugs.  WTF?