Mid January status and new cookbook challenge, apparently I'm real busy

Slightly wonky basket, perfect for a beer cozy 

I made a basket in workshop taught by Barbara Shapiro. These are Japanese flower knots which are totally intimidating and seem impossible until you've made 4, then they're addictive. The base is a hexagonal weave. The basket benefitted from being sprayed with water, then allowed to dry with a pint jar inside; it's much less wonky now! Made from craft band, a Japanese recycled paper product. It was so addicting that I ordered a roll of the paper band (arrived) and a book from Japan (not arrived, and in Japanese) so I can try to make some more baskets.

Poor woven band

I finished a cardwoven band in 5/2 cotton (and a mystery fiber), started last year when I did the demo for a guild study group. For some reason I was incapable of counting to 8 reliably but I like the difference in the band as I varied from 4-12 or more turns. BTW, these always look better when ironed (this has been ironed). 

I'd intended to go to the Serendipity Spinners meeting this month with my little e-spinner, only to find that the drive band was busted. I thought I'd ordered new ones... and went looking... I found evidence in my email that I'd ordered bands and an extra motor, but could not find them in the studio.  I found them later, in the first place I looked, just after I'd ordered more (they're just O-rings) off the internet. I did go to the meeting, and I spun some on some blue wool I'd gotten at one of the SOAR conferences. I'm spinning really thin so I can weave with it....

Rice bag #4, Side 1... will it ever end? 

Still working on the Age of Aquarius Poncho; I'm guessing I'm about 16" into the 18" piece, which will be 1/2 of the finished poncho. It's going much faster than I'd anticipated. 

I'm taking another Molly Hashimoto block printing class but German has started and I'm fully occupied with that. I need to get organized...

I'm also working on that 4th rice bag; I have 2 of the 4 panels ready, and the base is ready to go.  I'm having fun with the stitches I learned in the first Alabama Channin class. When that's finished, I can put away the rice bag box; that's part of a (very) slow effort to declutter the studio.

There's a new cookbook challenge... I'll pick a cookbook this time, or ask DH for his recommendation, then cook from it, but only in months when I'm home enough. This month, I'm cooking from Madhur Jaffrey's Instant Indian Cookbook.  I made the Ground Lamb with Peas and the Stir Fried Green Beans in a South Indian style. and served it with rice and an 11 year old Gangloff Condrieu; the pairing was excellent.  I didn't cook the beans in the Instant Pot, and didn't precook them at all; instead I stir fried them in the spices and left them super crunchy. I could eat these beans every day.  In February, I'll go back to Georg Lang's Hungarian cookbook to try out the paprika I brought home with me.

What's up for the foreseeable future? 

• I have some prints to make for my class.
• Next Friday, I'm taking another Alabama Channin class, this time on beading. 
• I have to finish warping my loom and get that project underway.
• I'll work on the Poncho while watching TV in the evenings and while knitting in public.
• I'm giving a mini clinic on how to warp up for card weaving on Feb 1, so I'll warp up another band in 10/2 cotton. 
• K and I are going to play with Andean Pickup on the inkle loom while at our knitting retreat in early February, so I need to get ready for that.
• I have to get back to the mosaic studio. I don't think I'm ready to start tiling but I have to work on the substrate to make it rounder, and add the drywall tape to the border. I can realistically do the edging as well before I'm ready to transfer  the design and start laying real glass.

I've also got my Goethe class, the homework for my other German tutor, and I need to get out on the bike to prep for the bike trip in early summer. Yikes.

Q4 and 2024 Finished List (10/29), and December cookbook challenge

First, the cookbook challenge! Last night I used the Santa Fe School of Cooking Flavors of the Southwest recipe for Lamb Adovada with chipotle sauce and carmelized corn... The recipes serves 10, so I used 1/3 of the meat it called for, 1/2 of the marinade ingredients, but made full versions of sauce and the corn. I served it with roasted fingerling potatoes and a beet and apple salad with a lime vinaigrette, and a 2016 Sea Smoke pinot noir. The lamb was from Dixon, which probably has  the best lamb in the region. DH declared it restaurant quality (which made me smile). We both felt the sauce and corn served 4, the lamb was about right for 4 servings as well. Note that the sauce does not need the extra chipotle that I added.

A quick mention of bread and all things wheat... I not only made sourdough for Christmas Eve, but also cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning! Two issues... I screwed up weighing the flour (don't judge me) so had to eyeball the appropriate amount; I think I added too much; the buns were just slightly dry. Second, I missed the part of the recipe that said to leave them out on the counter for 2 hours after sitting in the fridge all night, but managed to leave them out for 45 minutes and we just had breakfast a little later.  Everyone went back for seconds! But sadly, I feel like I'm suffering from the wheat, and need to kick it out of my diet for a few weeks to check. I think the right solution is to keep using this wheat, but not on a daily basis; maybe a couple times a month?

On to the list of what I've accomplished this quarter...

Done:

 

Six of the unfinsished objects from my list (UFO's)

• The tote bag from the embroidered pieces I made a few years ago, now proudly transporting groceries for K.C.
• 3 purple ikat towels.
• Those two hand towels (of four) that I made a year or three ago but never hemmed? Yep, they are hemmed and on the shelf waiting for guests.

Some new stuff:

• Komebukuro #1 and #2
• More cards for Christmas, same tree as before, and a few more Zig prints
• The Weave-In runner

So 10 things this quarter and a total of 29 for the year. I may have to stop counting each towel, they're quick once they're on the loom and it feels a little like cheating?

What's up for 2025?

• More cookbook challenges: I need to keep my head in the cooking game to not lose my skills; plus it's just fun.  I'll keep baking bread, just not as much.
• More physical effort; I need to be in better shape, and some weight loss would be good too. Having a e-bike makes riding from the house possible, and DH found a lock that makes leaving the bike to go into a shop or cafe possible; this'll let me run some basic errands on bike. Did I mention 90-120 minutes of exercise makes me sleep really really well?

  

  2025: year of the busy hands

• German. I'm enrolled in German classes.
• More printing: I really like printing! What's holding me back is art skills.  I am finally ready to admit that not making art does not make for better art. I've made a list of things I want to try on linoleum block, and plan on making a series of post cards to send to friends. 
• In 2024, I made a goal to make some things for fun and give them away. A scarf and a baby blanket went to charity auctions; another baby blanket found a baby; two towels went to friends. I'd envisioned a box of thinks that I could pull from when needed (ha!). I enjoyed making and gifting, so expect more of it. 
• Finish more of the unfinished projects, and make sure the list is up to date. First up, a vest that ONLY needs seams and buttons.
• Weave up some of the free 10/2 cotton (more on that later).
• Mostly, stay busy and keep my head out of the political news.

Some Bread success!

Bread is looking better

I've been talking and reading a lot about sourdough recently... It's starting to make sense. I baked this loaf yesterday! There was definitely oven spring... It had not risen enough and was a little dense, but it's tasty and I'm happy with progress!

What some of the books/websites  are suggesting is to keep a large active pre-ferment going at all times so that you have the 100-200 gm of starter ready at short notice. The Perfect Loaf recommends a much smaller starter (less waste!!!) and an extra 8-10 hours to build the pre-ferment.  He also has a recommended timeline that suits me better...  There were a couple of issues. I was halving the recipe and I think I got the water wrong; the dough was much too dry, so I added water until it "seemed right". The bread kept it's shape when I took it out of the banneton (at first) but I wonder if under-hydration caused it not to rise as much... 

Another issue was that the oven never reported it was at temp (450 F). Did it hit that temp? I have no way of knowing.  Also, I had the raw loaf out of the fridge and waiting to go in the oven... and waiting... and waiting... So DH ordered me a thermometer and I'll be able to test it. I also suspect the dutch oven wasn't warm enough. 

I didn't do the November cookbook challenge. The recipe I picked called for preserved lemons and mine smelled funky... I ended up making a Rick Bayless Chicken Escabeche recipe. I've repurchased preserved lemons and will go back to the Moroccan cookbook in January.

December's cookibook is Santa Fe School of Cooking Flavors of the Southwest: I've already cooked the Black Bean Soup (added extra chili). Very tasty and fast in the Instant Pot.

Komebukuro #1

I've also finished the second rice bag (Komebukuro). It's very similar to the first rice bag but I used a lighter weight lining without interfacing, and added a zipper to one of the lining pieces. I have all of the instructions and pieces in a box, at some point I'll have to decide whether to make another one or two.  This is the first one; the second one looks very much like it and currently holds my knitting in a very stylish fashion.

The purple towels are off the loom but not hemmed yet. Both looms are currently naked! Oh no! I'm hoping to get projects on them this week.

Ikat Warp shifter!!! Komebukuro, and some cooking

Warp shifter? More info in a later post

I asked DH to make an ikat warp shifter for me: I'm currently trying to learn how to use it. Here's a teaser photo! And when I'm weaving I'll publish a review and some notes. I suspect this won't be a good test as the warp was poorly dyed (by me)... but weaving it anyways.

The October cookbook was Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean... I choose a baked fish dish, covered with a tahini sauce and chopped hazelnuts; I'd cook that again. Paula suggested to eat it with pickled veggies, and yep, that's the right side dish. This cookbook is organized differently than most modern cookbooks, and may not appeal to everyone, and I enjoyed the stories about where she found the recipes... And the Eastern Med covers a HUGE area, which was fascinating as well. 

Pasta wanna-be

For DH's birthday, I made cheese canneloni and a salad with the last tomatoes from the garden... I took a photo at the start but failed to take one of the finished dish! I made a pan of 3 servings, and yep, they were all gone... but there are 2 smaller pans in the freezer to eat later.  We opened a bottle of 2007 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico that we bought at the winery on our 25th anniversary trip... it needed some time to open up and in act was a lot better on the 2nd day. We've noted that for the other bottle we have.

P. and I picked up a pattern and fabric kit for Komebukuro at Sew Creative in Ashland; awesome shop!!! Komebukuro are Japanese Rice bags, used to carry offering of rice to the temple... these bags are super popular for project bags or lunch bags right now. I bought a fabric kit for it but can easily see using leftover fabrics; these bags are embellished with applique, and sashiko and boro stitching.  So far I've sewn together the sides of two bags; the kit is supposed to have enough for three. I'll use scrap fabric for the lining and maybe get a couple more bags from the nice thickish fabric in the kit... (What am I going to do with a bunch of bags? Hmmm...)

On the weaving front, I'm working very slowly through warping with the warp shifter. I don't know what I'm doing and that makes me hesitate. I will likely warp up a runner on the other empty loom.

The beginnings of my komebukuro

Sewing wise, I have nothing currently planned other than the rice bags. 

I cast on the April Cardigan (a v-necked cardigan in blue cashmere) for travel knitting, repeatedly. I finally got the hang of the right facing and left facing increases and am knitting away. It's a simple top down cardi and it's going pretty fast in the DK weight cashmere.

Still working on the Modular Color Vest version 2, since I screwed up version 1 pretty badly. I'd unraveled it and cast it on a while ago. I'm about 2/3 complete. 

More Cookbook Challenge, more bread, some fiber

We're back on the cookbook challenge. DH picked out Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food for June. Today I cooked cream scones, and added pistachios and cranberries to them. I accidentally ate on while it was still warm... it was pretty good. I'll look for something healthier to cook from it...

I made some greek/greekish dishes from the internet and from the Sea Salt and Honey cookbook (which is due back at the library). I made a beet and orange salad, served over some Mizuni and Arugula from the garden; Fava (a spread similar to hummus but with yellow split peas), and shrimp saganaki; the first day we had it with homemade crackers (1/3 whole wheat), the second with homemade whole wheat sourdough, both nights with a nice bottle of Sclavos Robola of Cephalonia (in celebration of Penelope and Odysseus).

The whole wheat sourdough boule did not work out well.  It seemed to have plenty of structure; it got a lot of folding and stretching; the first rise went well, I shaped the loaf and put it in the fridge overnight... It may have been overproofed when I got around to it the next day, but something happened and it just deflated right before it went in the oven. You could even see a little fold at the edge where it fell. I was devastated. However it tasted great and the texture was fine, it was just flatter than expected and it overflowed the dough sling I'd bought just for this purpose. I also used the stock pot because I forgot we had a dutch oven, although I doubt that was the issue. I'll be baking again this weekend to see if I can figure it out!

I used the Clever Carrot's light whole wheat recipe, with the starter named Krusty. https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/)

For the next loaf, I'll use S's instructions and her starter "Hermione"; it's already fed and out of the fridge. I also need to replenish the crackers; I'm going to try a sourdough discard recipe

• Work on the table: Nope. And still looking at other ideas for the pool deck.
• Make 2 runners: Thread is here. I need to wind a warp.
• Bronson Lace: I'm threading.
• Test the Seamwork Hansie pattern: It's done. It's a little baggy on the back of the arm. I'm thinking about how to fix it. This might be related to the fact that my shoulders slope more from neck to arm than they do for the average person. Or it could be that I have a rounded upper back from years of slaving away over a computer screen. Meanwhile, I've decided to use an old pattern that I've used for two sleeveless tops for the Bronson. It'll be fabulous.
• I did a small amount of spinning on the fiber I started at DH's gig.
• I'm knitting on the Invito.
  

I do have some concerns about the Invito fit. It's a top down raglan with a high front v-neck; I should be able to try it on as I go to check the fit. Basically you're increasing along the raglan lines I think until the armpits. Looking at my body shape, I notice a distinct drop off from my shoulder to my arm when my arm is hanging at my side. So... doesn't it make sense that it wouldn't increase as fast once you hit the shoulder? Maybe I'm suppose to wear it standing akimbo? I asked my knitting group and I don't think they understood my point... I'm going to have to either a) think on this a bunch or b) trust the pattern.

I have no photos today so here's one of the mister playing at his gig. It was fun to say "I'm with the band"!

Monagamous! and Fricassee

With all vacations cancelled, we're back to the cookbook challenge, and DH picked Marcella Hazan's The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking again. I wanted to cook a recipe that seemed more like home food than restaurant food (although I can't tell from the book), something that isn't typical to Italian restaurants in the US, and something DH did not expect: Chicken Fricassee in Red Cabbage. The cabbage is cooked down with onion and garlic, then the browned chicken and red wine are added and cooked a while more. It was excellent!  I cooked and served it with a California pinot noir, and accompanied it with polenta and spinich and shallots sauteed in pan drippings from the chicken. I'll make this again!

On the fiber front, I continue to be monogamous. 

I'm quilting away, often on the deck by the pool, when I can negotiate with the cats for access to the quilt. I'm more than half way done with the background, then it'll just be the borders! This afternoon's task will be to mark more quilt. I did sign up for a ruler quilting class at PIQF in mid-October, and I'm invited to the local quilt group meetings where I hope to find out if anyone can coach me through quilt-as-you-go.

Negotiating who gets
which part of the quilt

I'm weaving hand towels for the bathroom, and those are going well. I finally conceded that I need 6-8 inches to get used to pattern and beat before my project looks good. I just signed up for another Janet Dawson Overshot class so will warp the little loom for that; I'm also about to order fiber for the rug by the kitchen slider and flirting with a bound weave project for later in the year.

I'm only really working on my knitting one evening every other week. Two weeks ago, I encountered an error but put it out of my mind, so last night I rediscovered it and spent an hour picking it out. I'd picked this project for travel and now that travel isn't happening I confess I'm looking at other projects.

I hosted two spinning classes taught by guild member BP; I brought out my wheel and continued to spin that blue merino mix that has been making me so unhappy. The good news is I'm almost done with the spinning, then I'll ply that and the brown singles I have (not together). I also took out the charka and tried some cotton but I fear that'll have to wait until my class at the end of September.

I've also been spending lots of time in the garden; I've convinced the gardeners that we need to finish one project before we move to the next. So large parts of the garden are looking much better.

No photos but a great Carolina Slaw recipe...

May's cookbook challenge was to cook off the internet. So when we hosted lunch for my nephew, his mother and his grandparents, I made the following:

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/spicy-oven-fried-chicken-103512

If I made that chicken again, I would only bread the top. Also, I skipped the step where you pour on the butter and it's really necessary. Otherwise, it's a tried and true favorite that I haven't made in a long time.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/carolina-slaw-3053928

I used the full meausure of sugar in this and WOW it was sweet! But it got a lot of complements. My DH has asked for it again. Next time I'll let the dressing cool a bit more before pouring it over and reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/buttermilk-cornbread

Well, I burnt the top. But it was still moist and tasty; I'd make this recipe again.

I also used a non-custard ice cream recipe to make vanilla ice cream, adding a tablespoon of Kirsch; then I folded in a cup of whole Amarena cherries. Next time I'll cut the cherries in half or quarters, and add the cherry syrup to the mix. DH has asked for this with chocolate and nuts folded in for this birthday.

I've been diligently quilting away on the pub quilt; also started a shawl using natural dyed yarn DH brought me from Iceland. I'm also 1/2 threaded on the baby blankets.

The thing that's been sucking up my time is the guild! The towel exchange is almost over; all I have to do is complete a slide show and finish distributing the towels, both of which I hope to do this week. I also wrote up a description of how I secretaried and sent it off to the new Secretary, wrote up a justification for giving a donation to Deer Hollow Farm, and oh yeah! I'm hosting a workshop via zoom. I'm slowing down on what I'm volunteering for though... By the end of the month, I'll be down to being LIbrarian, running a study group, and helping plan a summer social.

Procrastiweaving

Andean Pebble Weave band on the loom

I feel like lots has happened in the first two weeks of April!  Not surprisingly, I finished the doubleweave class sample and I've taken the towels off the loom (but not yet hemmed them).  I also finished the second Andean Pebbleweave band. 

Look! Brand new towels!

I've started some new things, or taken up old things:

• I wound the warp for the two huck lace baby blankets but haven't moved it to the loom yet. 
• I'd started a loom shaped garment (vest? sweater?) to combine with some knitting years ago but could not figure out how to finish it... I'm knitting away at that again. I'm still not sure if I'll end up adding a collar or any other touches but am happy adding length to the bottom with half linen stitch.

  

  Bootlaces of 
  the Pandemic

• I've completed all the simple star blocks for the Pub quilt, and all the stars for the side triangles. I'm currently worried about not having enough material, so am avoiding it my procrastiweaving.
• What is procrastiweaving? That's when you start a new weaving project because you don't want to work on anything you're supposed to be working on. I warped up the band loom with 4 yards of 10/2 cotton (54" of bootlace x 2 laces + 20% takeup plus 20" for loom waste). It's yellow and grey, which happens to be the Pantone colors of the year.  The yellow is for hope and the steely grey for fortitude.  The wavering borders are the path I've been walking the last year and the eye in the middle is the focus needed to stay on course. From the Pantone website: "As people look for ways to fortify themselves with energy, clarity, and hope to overcome the continuing uncertainty, spirited and emboldening shades satisfy our quest for vitality." 

On food news, I'm cooking from the Dishoom cookbook.  I would love to travel to London and eat at one of their eateries!  This week we had:

• Prawns Moilee (a coconut curry with shrimp) with cauliflower over rice with a lovely Italian Pinot Blanc, a good pairing.
• Grilled Spicy Lamb Chops with Gunpowder Potatoes last night with a Rioja (not quite as good of a pairing).
• For dessert, Kulfi, a lovely cardamon spiced ice cream. I may make daal and biryani before I'm done with the month.

Q1 '21 Finished things (17)

I have been unusually productive this quarter; I don't know why. I'm not going to question it though. All of the finished things were made from stash! Yet why doesn't my stash feel lighter?

Owl contemplates this
quarter's accomplishments

The Finished List:

• Double Your Pleasure Cowl
• 4 sets of 12 merit badges (that's 48 badges); I'll count them as 4 objects. 
• 1 set of 2 Adulting awards 
• A baby sweater 
• 3 overshot runners
• 10 oz brown/purple yarn, "Wood Nymph" from Wonderland Dyeworks. 
• Mittens for G from Anna Zilboorg's Magnificent Mittens book.
• Mittens for M from the same pattern book, from a kit that's been in my stash forever,
• One yd of warpwise shibori fabric in tencel, which was my Study Group project.
• Doily from a textile fragment that had been haunting the studio.
• I used the embroidery machine to embroider two hockey skulls and put them on a quilted grocery bag.
• An 80" band of Andean Pebble weave. 

--------------

Here's what's either in progress, or on the wish list from Q1 that didn't get finished. I could probably power my way through one or two of the first 3 but given that I'm not short on finished objects for Q1, I'll push them to Q2. If I finish anything before the end of the month (3 days) I'll edit this.

• I'm not done with the doubleweave class sample
• I have one more towel on the loom, then this will be done.
• I have a 2nd band of Andean Pebble Weave on the loom.
• I didn't make any clothing from stash or handwoven. 
• No bed covering.
• I'm working on getting the pub quilt ready for quilting but am probably a month away.
• I make meager progress on the new mosaic table (just one poppy)

--------------

For Q2:

• Get a vaccine appointment.
• Finish the doubleweave class sample.
• Finish the towels on the loom.
• Finish the 2nd band of Andean Pebble Weave on the loom.
• Make the Get Weaving Vest pattern in handwoven or stash fabric.
• Weave Baby Blankets.
• Start an overshot throw in champagne and white for the den.
• Hand towels for the guest bath.
• Make the pub quilt quilt-able.
• Make more progress on the new mosaic table (more than just one poppy).
  
• Make another grocery bag!
• Make a piece of Andean Pebble weave that's wider, on the loom.

--------------

For the last Red Sage meal of this month's cookbook, we used a squab recipe and substituted duck breasts.  I marinated them in a gloopy preparation heavy on orange juice and ancho chile and DH grilled them; we served it with polenta and wild rice cakes fried in ghee and sauteed red chard and onions, and paired it with a 2013 Seasmoke Pinot Noir. DH declared it a restaurant worthy dinner! I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it was a nice meal. The polenta was interesting; as it fried, little bits of polenta would explode and skitter across the kitchen; it reminded me of tiny popcorn kernels.

Warp all the Looms!

Doubleweave technicolor

I took Jennifer Moore's Double Rainbow Doubleweave course over the last two weeks... I still think I have about a yard of warp to weave on it. It's a delightful class; she's a wonderful teacher;  and I can see using her techniques!  Still working on this warp but hoping to finish by the end of the month.

Kitchen Towels

Meanwhile, on the other loom, I'm working on a towel kit I got from Eugene Textile Center. Yes, I have Plenty Of 8/2 Cotton but for some reason couldn't come up with a pattern, so I bought a kit. It's like magic; the selvedges are as good as I've ever done, tension is good so far, it's almost as if someone else is weaving it; and I can weave a towel in two days, while doing other projects. I've done the two solid colored ones and one of the striped weft. One more to go!

I'm taking a class in Andean Pebble weave on an inkle loom from Laverne Waddington. What fun! I've made one 80" band from 3/2 cotton; it's addictive. The second class is tomorrow and I'll post photos of the bands when I've finished the 2nd warp.

The 2nd set of mittens is done! Mittens were washed and blocked, then I'll put them away until October, when I'll send them to their forever home. 

Also started piecing the intermediate blocks for the pub quilt. DH has suggested I piece all of them (they'll be differences) before I continue... Sadly he's probably right so I'm stalled until I can get more machined blocks complete. 

On the cooking side of things, I made pork chops with blackberry sauce from Mark Miller's Red Sage Cookbook; the sauce was primarily blackberries and ancho chiles. Had I not known better, I would have suspected there was tea or tobacco in it; then realized that the blackberries have a high tannin content! Mystery solved.  I also grilled a New York Steak using the Buffalo Rib Eye rub from the same cookbook. I think their might be one or maybe two more dishes from this cookbook before the month is over!

It's March!

What's been going on? 

There's been a LOT of time spent in the garden and some time futzing around the house while there have been workmen around. I'm also trying to ramp up the exercise as I feel I'm running out of time to lose another 15 pounds during the pandemic.

I had a piece of cloth left over from the runner I made way back when and covered in this post, and have debated for awhile whether it should be a "doily" to replace a knitted lace one, or a lovely colorful wine bag. I got tired of pushing it around the sewing table for a year so  I hemmed it into a doily, and put it to immediate use. It makes the room look coordinated in a wonderful way and replaces a crocheted lace doily. Don't get me wrong, I love my crocheted doilies but this suits the room better.

I'm part way through the 2nd set of mittens! Loving it... I decided I'll finish the mittens and then start work on the quilt.

I've got the loom warped up for Jennifer Moore's double weave class; I just need to put in a header and verify everything is threaded correctly.

I wound a warp for towels; it's twill blocks, a kit I bought from Eugene Textile Center.

I also need to repurpose the warping board as an inkle loom prior to Laverne Waddington's pebble weave class.

I sewed together and am quilting pieces for a grocery bag for DH, featuring hockey related machine embroidery and hockey fabric. DH has called the project "garish" and it may offend his sense of dignity, but if he doesn't like it I'll make him one that's less cute and more serious. Meanwhile, I'm playing with some of the machine quilting techniques that I want to practice and will have a practical bag when I'm finished. 

Food wise, I made Sierra Soups Tuscan Peasant Soup this week; it's a bagged mix, mostly yellow split peas, with simple directions and a couple of fresh ingredients...  also added the rest of the celery, some garlic and some sausage; between that and a trip to our favorite noodle place in Burlingame (take out, of course), I haven't cooked much.  The March Cookbook is Red Sage by Mark Miller. This week will feature fawaffles (waffles made from falafel mix), so it'll likely be next week before I get to the cookbook.

January has been very productive for me!

Destined to adorn nightstands

More from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food: I served the braised pork with chiles with polenta, and it was fabulous. The lemon sherbert was excellent, as was the sauteed fennel. We had the same baked fish again, this time with a garlic, lime, and jalapeno butter. I'm officially closing that cookbook now and moving to February! I'll publish the name of the cookbook in a later post, but it's one of Julia Child's... On February 2, I made the Provencal fish with some halibut and tomatoes that needed cooking up. Very nice with a French Chardonnay.

It's found a home on this table, 
but the table is moving

The same day I finished the overshot runners;  the star fashion and rose fashion runners, and a 3rd runner of my own design adding a second pattern color. My design looks very much like other designs in the group but I did work through all of the design particulars so I feel good about what I'm doing. 

I finally finished the baby sweater from JC Briar's class; it just needs a bath, a better photo, and a toddler.

Baby sweater in search of a baby.

I finished spinning and plying the purple/brown merino that's been in my stash forever. 

Newly born yarn

I also embroidered up a couple of hockey motifs that'll go on a bag; I haven't made it back to my sewing machine yet, but I will!

I'm going to put a list of the weaving projects I'd like to take on while I'm still in captivity... I'll do it here.

1. Turned monks belt warp shibori scarf in tencel for my study group. (March deadline)
2. Double weave sampler in Jennifer Moore's class (March deadline)
3. Doubleweave pillows from MA05 (the cover photo) in colors that match our living room.
4. M's and O's towels from Handwoven JF06, for the towel exchange (May deadline)
5. A new rug for the den slider.
6. Towels for the powder room.
7. A overshot coverlet.

Let's get this New Year Started!

I've been doing some cooking this month from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food.  So far I've baked salmon and served it with a garlic, lemon, and cilantro butter, and tonight I'm cooking a slow cooked pork shoulder with chiles, which we'll have with polenta. This cookbook is as much a collection of cooking techniques as it is a collection of recipes, and I would certainly be a better cook if I read it through!

But instead I've been working on other things. In the garden, I've been dismantling the madder bed, pulling out all the roots and sifting the soil to make sure there aren't any bits and pieces that will sprout later to cause issues. I've got a good quantity of madder drying in the garage and will dye with it in the summer. 

Woven in star fashion

On the weaving front, I've been working my way through Janet Dawson's overshot class. The written lessons are absolutely amazing; the webinars have been okay to good but her teaching style does not necessarily click with my learning style. Regardless, I'm learning LOTS about overshot. I've decided to use the first 2 projects to make runners for the nightstands in the guest room, using a light grey-green 8/2 unmercerized cotton for the weft, and a natural 8/2 unmerc cotton in the weft, with 5/2  mercerized cotton as the pattern weft in a dark green called loden. Instead of making placemats I'm making runners for the guest room nightstands.  So far I'm pleased with everything but the edges... why is it always the edges?  This one is woven in star fashion; the 2nd one will have a different treadling and will be woven in rose fashion. The "fashion" just describes whether there are obvious crosses or poofy circle motifs.

I'll note that I'm using Texsolv cord for the tie ups on the baby Mac instead of the hooks that have given me so much grief; it's MUCH nicer. The Mac, though, is a little small for me and I find after using the Gilmore that the Mac feels more like a toy.

On the knitting front, I finished the Double your Pleasure cowl! I like it.  And it's subtly warm without being overwhelming.  

I also fished out a baby sweater that I started about 2 years ago in a class by JC Briar on how to do set in sleeves. The baby sweater was to teach us the methodology and I figured I might as well do something useful...  I had the best intentions to finish it quickly so I wouldn't forget how. I did find the pattern and the extra yarn and so am finally finishing it!  All I have left is the color, button band, and hiding all the ends.

I'm still spinning away on some purple/brown merino that's been in my stash forever. I finished one of the 5 ounce-ish braids and am maybe 1/3 of the way through the second one. I'll do a two ply then figure out what to do with it!

On the mosaic front, I've got the substrate for the table ready to go. This run of lovely weather has driven me into the yard instead of the studio, but I'll get to it soon.

4 sets of these for my niece and
her family

I made these nifty badges for my niece's family on the embroidery machine! I still need to get them in the mail... I also found the skull with hockey sticks and I'm making some quilt blocks for a machine quilting class; once quilted, I'll make more grocery bags from them, probably for DH. 

Aside from all this, I'm suffering a bit from pandemic-fatigue and I'm doom-scrolling the political news more than I need to. Somedays I feel like I'm trying to swim through peanut butter! Writing all this down is certainly helping me realize I'm actually getting things done.

Quilted bag, towels, and more!

Here's the quilted bag using new equipment and techniques, mostly from Craftsy... DH immediately declared it to be useful and has taken it from me for his weekly shopping trips. I'm thrilled he likes it!

Thanksgiving has come and gone... We ordered ribs from Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, via GoldBelly.com. Tasty, tasty ribs, but the sauce was surprising; not sweet at all and very much on the salty side.  I made beans, cole slaw with apples, and corn bread to go with it; and a apple crumble for dessert. 

I neglected to mention the November cookbooks; I cooked from the Zuni cafe cookbook, and made a fish dish with potatoes, leeks, and a whole bunch of butter, as well as Socca, these chickpea flour pancakes from the south of France. This month, DH has selected Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat; I snuck a few recipes worth of ingredients onto this weeks shopping list.

I've been procastinating all kinds of projects but did manage to finish four towels; one is in use, the middle one will stay with us and the far left one is going to live with someone else. The far right one will either be for the guild towel exchange, or stay in my kitchen. 

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

 This month's cookbook challenge is the Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. Last night, I cooked Spareribs Pan Roasted with Sage and White Wine, Treviso style with polenta (the lazy less stir method) and some broccolini. We drank it with a La Monacesca "Mirum" Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva.  Such a lovely dinner!

I've decided to back off on quarterly goals and allow myself some time for exploration, at least for the rest of the month.  In November, I'll pick up work on the pub quilt again...  Meanwhile, I'm playing with the new sewing machine and largely ignoring everything else. Here's a short list of what's been active:

• I've been working on the Double your Pleasure cowl in front of the TV and on zoom calls; have torn it out twice but now I think it's going well.
• I took out the paintbox quilt (Judy Niemeyer) and have pieced the rest of the blocks. I know it's been on time out for some problem but the problem seems to have healed itself? I've ordered some fabric for backing/borders and will look at piecing it together in the next month or so. It'll be twin size. I may machine quilt it myself, or maybe send it out...
• I've been "down" after the second shingles vax... just feeling crappy and "meh" so watching videos on machine quilting using a technique called "ruler work".  I've ordered a set of rulers and have been watching videos on Craftsy so am ready to play with this new technique!
• I have a warp ready to go on the loom and need to get another one on the other loom... hoping to do that later this week.
• I also organized my button collection and am looking at refactoring the studio so I can find things better... More of that later.

Hawker Fare

Yesterday the sky glowed orange, the sun appeared either a faint yellow dot in the dark sky, and confused crickets chirped mid afternoon; at 2 in the afternoon it was as dark as late twilight. This was a result of lots of smoke blown high in the atmosphere above us and a lower marine layer or fog and haze...  Very eerie and emotionally draining...

Yet I'd marinated 2 lbs of pork chops according to a recipe in Hawker Fare for Septembers cookbook challenge. The cookbook is the story of a Lao refugee, now the chef at a well known SF restaurant of the same name.  There's more recipes than story, and many of them with ingredients that are not easy to get in a pandemic. I did manage to find some Lao fish sauce online, which is a nasty pungent thick version of the Thai fish sauce we're more familiar with; but mixed into a sauce or a marinade, it's pure salty umami. So in the early evening, I made some rice and cucumber salad using cukes from the garden, and we braved the apocalyptic skies, grilled the pork chops (moo ping) and served them with a spicy dipping sauce. I'd make this again, for company!

There's also a beef rib satay recipe that I'll expect to make before the month is out; I'll try to cook the egg salad and maybe another dish as well. Next time I'll try to get pictures.

Beef Satay from Hawker Fare; there was enough satay
sauce for chicken satay later in the week

For my birthday, DH bought me FIVE NEW COOKBOOKS! I'm sure we'll see some dishes from  these in the near future. We've been eating very well and I take this as a compliment to my recent cooking endeavors. 

Actually working from my list!

Sometimes I make a list of what I want to do for a quarter and am appalled at how far I stray. I'm not sure it this is an issue with my lists or with my focus! I'm proud to say that I'm 2 weeks into the quarter and nearly right on goal. Few photos, nothing is finished yet...

• I cut and glued most of the blue outside tile to the eye mosaic (3D mosaic) and played with the andamento on the top, without making any decisions.
• I played with the design for the next table and have made some decisions; also checked glass supply and I have enough orange glass but insufficient green glass. 
• I also found these mind blowing mosaics:  https://www.veniceclayartists.com/mosaic-sculpture-art/
• The ikat is on the loom and being woven; I'm 12+ inches into the first one. I must say it's a very enjoyable weave and I could just do this all day. I'm working on some towel ideas for the next project. 
  
• I finally started on the jacket with the knitted sleeves! I'm doing a specialty finish on the seams to encase the unraveling seams so having to sew every seam 5 times... Yep, that's right, 5 times. I'm having a ball and whereas it's not perfect I'm pretty happy with it. 
• I'm still quilting the border... I'd like to accelerate the process in the next week by devoting some more time to it, so hoping to finish this one day.
• New! Fun! I got Sharpie dye pens! And I spent some time with youtube videos on Zentangles. Planning on either using the Sharpie or a batik technique to do some Zentangle designs on the Number One shirt.

And tonight was cookbook challenge night. This month, I'm cooking from Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterrean. I made the olive, orange and onion salad and set it on a bed of arugula, then followed it with a spinich and cheese "sprinkle" pie; it's traditionally made with cornmeal instead of phyllo dough with makes it gluten free and gives it a bit of a crust. Next time I'd rinse to olives to make them a little less salty, but otherwise it was a lovely evening meal on the deck with a nice bottle of wine.

The one memorable dish from the pandemic

I made this tofu with a spicy peanut/lime sauce on Sunday. Really easy and extremely tasty. DH declared this will be the dish he remembers of all the food I've cooked during the pandemic, I suspect because the flavors are so unusual.  It was so good, I'd make the marinade just to turn it into salad dressing...

I've started on Rick Bayless' Everyday Mexican in a big way today. I've got a pot of beans in the slow cooker, and I just made the Roasted Fresh Chile Salsa to go on the Grilled Chicken with Tangy Yucatecan Spices tonight. This is not a salsa to casually consume with chips... a substitution for this, if you don't have the chiles, is Tabasco's Jalapeno hot sauce. I licked the spoon after stirring it and had a bit of a jalapeno vacation; that's when what you're eating is so spicy everything leaves your mind except the spice.

Fiber wise:

Failed test piece

• I continue to work on the quilt... It's coming aong. I think I am done with 1/3 of 3/4 of the border. I'll need to figure out how to quilt the top border...  
• I have a new project on the loom; a black and white crackle scarf. I know better but I didn't include any length for sampling, and it's taken me the expected 5 inches to get the beat right. So I'm going to cut out the unevenly beat bits and start over. 
• I've started winding/tieing a warp for 2 random ikat scarfs. I'll find some white fabric and tie some shibori to throw in the pot for a matching mask.

On the mosaic front, I tried to create a piece for the garden. It's on pvc pipe, about a foot tall. I used silicone adhesive to glue the glass to the pipe... it was a little fussy working with dipping each piece in the silicone, so I decided to smooth it on the whole pipe, then lay the pieces on. Easy, right? I smugly left the studio and went to find out how long I needed to let it sit before grouting. The answer is that grout doesn't stick to silicone. I tried to scrape it out but then decided to relegate this to the "test piece" catagory and start over with a different strategy. 

Food first, then fiber!

A trio of shibori fabric masks.

Food first!

I've continued to cook out of Great Foods without Fuss. I made a lovely curry shrimp, which I paired with a sweet and sour eggplant recipe (the eggplant was heavily modified because of ingredients). I also cooked cod with mint and onions, an Italian recipe, and was frankly shocked at how well mint goes with fish.

I also tried the easy pot de creme recipe.  I don't know where my brain was but I used unsweetened chocolate instead of semi sweet chocolate in a recipe with no sugar. The resulting product was really very interesting but not enjoyable to eat.  I'll have to try it again but with the right chocolate.

Saturday we had a zoom with some friends... DH adorably asked for some tapas, maybe patatas bravas and chorizo. Turns out I had everything I needed! I used The Food Lab's recipe for oven roasted crispy potatoes (I swear they taste crunchy fried but without that much oil), made a bravas sauce with a recipe from the internet, and made chorizo braised in red wine, also from the internet.  Sunday we had ribs off the grill and some cole slaw. I'm rockin' the SIP impromptu "what can I cook with these ingredients" menus. This week it's back to rice cakes and fuzzy water!

DH has chosen one of Rick Bayless' Mex cookbooks for June.

Graduated to the yarn stash!

On the fiber front,

• I raided the hand dyed fabric stash, and make this trio of shibori masks; one for my sister, one for my landscaper, and one for me! I fussy cut some of the other fabric and came up with some crazy designs. I really need to have more mask fun. Anyways, tally 4 more masks to my total. 

• I finished spinning and plying the silk... I now have 250 grams of silk yarn instead of 250 grams of silk roving. 

• I cleaned up the studio and came across a shirt that I'd stopped working on because it had frustrated me, but honestly can't figure out what is wrong with it. Faced with a decision of finding a place to put it or finishing it, I finished it. Photo to come later.

• Just last night I finished weaving my shadow weave project! I now have 3 1/2 yards of 14" fabric; I'll have to wet finish it (and it'll shrink up a bit more) before I figure out if it's suitable for a shirt or if it needs to be a vest. 

And one more photo just because he's so darn cute...

May news

18 masks for ABQ

It's now a month later and I realized I'm neglecting this blog as time passes by... Here's a rundown on the projects I'm working on.

I went on a mask making spree, supplying masks to friends and family; I also sent 18 to my niece in Albuquerque who has been giving them to her friend and co-workers. I'm about masked-out. Today I made three more from some shibori fabric I dyed a few years ago. I'm quite proud of these.

A perfect trio of 3 shibori masks

On the spinning side, I finally finished spinning the 200g of silk I dyed in a Merike Saarnit class years ago; I still need to ply it up a bunch.  I'd like to order some silk from Redfish Dyeworks and use it together in a shawl.

I started knitting again; I cast on Laura Bryant's Double Your Pleasure cowl with a kit I bought at Stitches a couple of years ago; am knitting along with K and T from one of my knitting groups.  I finished the first couple of inches and have realized I need to pull back a couple of rows... Meanwhile here is the yarn.

Double Your Pleasure 

I've also been putting a lot of time into quilting on the Festivus quilt; I'm working on the border but will need to put a few more stitches into a couple of the blocks, as well as do the setting strips. I'd like to finish this soon!

And finally, I'm still weaving a shadow weave piece of fabric destined for clothing. It's slow going.

Double weave on the loom

I've spent considerable time in the garden in the last couple of months, and hoping to be spending more time doing other things in the next couple of months.

Bangkok chicken, rice with
turmeric, roast aspargus and
yummy Slovenian wine

Finally, the cookbook challenge! The April cookbook challenge was Lopez-Alt's The Food Lab. I made a butterflied roast chicken and some amazing crispy roasted potatoes that I'm craving now... I also set off the smoke alarm with the chicken and was forced to learn to clean the oven. May is Great Foods without Fuss by  McCollough and Witt; a fabulous cookbook!  I made the Bangkok Chicken with grilled chicken and will make a curried shrimp dish later this week. There's also a recipe for pot de creme as well that I'll try before the month is out.