Finishing

Today is November 30, and I am officially finishing NaBloPoMo 2010. I'm not sure how entertaining it was for anyone else, but I tried. Last night I was reviewing the beginning of this blog and noticed that my posts were simply my musings on the mundane details of my life. Perhaps I should do more of that.

I've finished a couple other things recently. My friend Michelle is a photographer and commissioned me to make a hat for a photo prop for her newborn sessions. I finished it on Saturday, and I'm quite pleased with it. No photos of it yet, but it's cute. I've also finished my dad's Christmas present. And started my sister-in-law's. So far all of the yarn for Christmas presents has come from my stash. I finally ordered yarn to complete the rest of the presents yesterday. Hopefully it will get here soon. So, that makes three down, four on the needles, and five more after that. I predict some marathon knitting sessions in the near future.

Today is also my brother's birthday. He's finished being 30 and is now 31. I called him this morning to wish him a happy birthday and we had a nice conversation. But, for the official blog-world, Happy Birthday, Justin!

The thing with finishing is that once it's finished you must begin something else. Once I've finished one Christmas present, I must begin another (until they're all done, of course). Once one month is finished, the next one begins. So, this blogging challenge is finished, what shall I do next?

Latest Accomplishment

I finished my first hank of Suffolk wool today. I processed it from raw fleece to yarn. It's a two ply yarn. I started plying last night and finished this morning. It got a bath this afternoon (to make sure it's nice and clean and to set the twist), and now it's drying on the door knob of my studio. I've done a couple of tiny test samples, buy this is the first full hank I've done of this wool. I haven't measure the yardage or anything, but here's a photo of my latest accomplishment:









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Cookie Dough

I made chocolate chip cookie dough today. I didn't actually make cookies, just the cookie dough. Michael wanted to eat some, so I made some. We didn't eat all of it, of course. The rest is in the refrigerator. I'll probably actually make the rest into cookies tomorrow. I just didn't feel like it today.

The first time I ever made cookie dough with the express purpose of eating cookie dough was in college. Before that, eating cookie dough was a guilty pleasure - a side benefit of making cookies. Only a spoonful or two was allowed. At the end we could lick the remains of the bowl, but we never just made cookie dough to eat. There was a group of us at someone's house and we decided to make cookies. Someone suggested that we just eat the dough and not worry about the actual baking aspect, since it was the dough we were really interested in. That was a bit of a revelation for me. I'd never participated in making cookie dough without the goal of making cookies. We did eventually make a few cookies. There is a limit to how much cookie dough a person can eat. So, after we'd all eaten our fill, we baked the rest into cookies.

Today's cookie dough will eventually end up the same way. I will make cookies out of it. Just not tonight.

Lazy Day

Today was the first lazy day we've had in a while. It was very nice. We've watched movies, taken a nap, and generally lazed about. We did leave the house to go to Target after my brother tipped us off about a two terabyte external hard drive on sale for half off.

Anyway, just thought I'd check in for today. Nothing too exciting. Back to watching movies.

Adventures on the Farm

I've mentioned before that on Fridays I pick up milk from a farm a little ways north of here. I also usually teach a violin lesson, but my student and his family were out of town for Thanksgiving, so I just went to the farm today. I went earlier than normal because I wanted to make it home before dark. As I said last week, I'm not a big fan of driving around up there in the dark. And I wrote about that before we got a bunch of snow. I called my mom and asked her to come with me to keep me company on what is not a terribly exciting voyage, but also to be there in case something bad happened.

I'm glad I had the foresight to do that. And I'm glad she said yes. Thanks, Mom.

I'm also glad I wear layers in the winter. And I'm glad I wore my snow boots today, instead of my tall leather boots that I sometimes wear around town in the snow. I knew I was going to the farm, so I thought, "Hmmm...I think snow boots are a good idea." I had no idea how right I was.

So, we got to the farm no problem. There is a long gravel drive that winds through the farm, back to the house where we get our milk. The drive loops around in front of the house, making turning around normally very easy. However, you have to go down to get to the house and then the loop goes up hill to complete itself. The first inkling that all would not go quite as swimmingly as usual was when we started slipping a bit as we came around the top of the loop. So, I stopped at the top and walked down to the house, retrieved my milk and came back to the car. I figured going down the first hill would give me enough momentum to get back out so we could go home. I made it about halfway up the hill, then couldn't go further and when I let off the gas we started slipping backwards. And no matter how I turned the wheel I couldn't control where we went. Mom got out and tried to push, to no avail. The car was more or less sideways across the driveway, but we managed to get it straightened out. I backed up again, put it in low gear this time, and tried again. I got a little further, but the same thing happened again. And the car was rather stuck, once again sideways. Mom asked if I had any cardboard or anything in the trunk that we could put under the tires to gain some traction to get unstuck. I popped the trunk, and Lo and Behold! Chains!

Mom: "I don't know how to put chains on. Do you?"
Me: "Nope."

So, we tried a bit more to get unstuck, but were unsuccessful. It was time to learn to use the chains. So, we got them out, and they had a little instruction pamphlet. Mom read the instructions while I did the dirty work. And it was a bit dirty. Tires, even after being used in the snow, are not clean. And all the slushy gross stuff gets built up in the wheel wells. After much wrangling and sitting and lying in the snow in my jeans I managed to chain up my tires. We got unstuck and tried going up the hill from there. Unfortunately, the chain on the passenger side tire was not secured very well, so it came off before we could get very far. I fixed it (more sitting in the snow) and backed up for another running start. Before we tried again we said a prayer.

This time I made it a little over halfway up the hill, when the driver's side chain came undone. Fortunately, I was able to stop, fix the chain, and keep going without having to start from the bottom. I made it to the top, Mom got back in the car, and we went a little further before one of the chains came off again (it's a good thing we didn't have to go very far with them - and that there weren't any other cars around trying to get past us). Since we were past the worst of it, we took them both off (more sitting/lying in the snow and dealing with dirty, slushy tires and wheel wells). My hands and mittens were by this time quite filthy. I took off the mittens and gave my hands a brisk wash in the snow. It was unpleasant, but cleaned off the worst of the gunk. We made it the rest of the way down the drive (it was a little dicey getting going again, but we managed) and made it out on to the highway without further incident. My jeans were soaked through, my mittens were filthy, and my cuffs were quite wet, but we weren't stuck anymore. At least I was in a warm car, so the wetness didn't matter too much.

It was a rather tiring trip. I feel like I was in an epic battle with my car and the elements.

I won.

And now I know how to use chains (more or less).

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have all spent an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day feasting on turkey and mashed potatoes and pie. We spent the day at my in-laws' house, and my parents joined us there. There was much eating and playing with dogs and general festivity. We had a good day and brought home leftover pie to feed our sugar addiction. I finished the hat I started last night. I'll post pictures later. In honor of the day, here are a few things I'm thankful for:

• My husband. He's pretty awesome. Need I say more?
• Having family close by with whom I get to spend the holidays.
  
• Having in-laws and parents that get along with each other and us.
• The snow! I'm looking forward to playing in it with Michael this weekend. I missed the snow last year when we barely got any.
• A warm home.
• Warm clothes (e.g. wool).

There are many more things that I am thankful for (like the fact that I have tons of yarn, and the ability to make more, my violin and getting to play it, my students, my teacher, I really could keep going), but I think I will stop with that list. Even though I do get stressed out about things sometimes, I am thankful for the things I have and the people I have been blessed to have in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Yarn Management

I'm currently sitting next to a pile of blue yarn. It's just one hank that I've completely unraveled into a pile. This is in preparation for winding it into a nice ball so that I can make something from it. Tomorrow I will be taking a break from Christmas knitting. So, I'm going to work on a new hat for me. This hat will be the same color as the scarf that my mom knit for me. The pattern won't match, but the color will, and that's good enough for me. It's a very pretty blue. I'll post a photo some other time. In a moment I will get out my nostepinne and wind the yarn into a nice center pull ball. It's actually more of a yarn cake when I use the nostepinne. I do sometimes wind things into actual balls. Sometimes center pull is nice, but they get floppy as you get to the end, and that can be annoying. When that happens, or when I want that to not happen at all, I make a sturdy outer pull ball. And it's an actual ball and looks like a ball.

Background: I meet Michael for lunch at his parents' house most days of the week. It's close to his work, and forces me to get out of the house during the day. If I didn't do that, there would be multiple days that I wouldn't leave the house at all. I'm a bit of a hermit that way.

A few days ago I was at my in-laws' house for lunch. I'd gotten there a bit early to get lunch cooked, and the food was in the oven. My in-laws have two dogs, Bentley and Lexi. While I waited for the food to cook, I was preparing to cast-on for the second sock for my dad's Christmas present. The yarn I was using came wound in a ball already, but it's the kind that will get floppy as you go, regardless of if you start from the outside or the inside. I'd been dealing with a floppy ball of yarn with the first sock and was tired of it, so I decided to rewind the ball into a nice, solid outer pull ball to make my life easier. I was accomplishing this while sitting on the couch. Lexi decided her presence was necessary and proceeded to jump in the middle of the pile of yarn I was making in preparation for re-winding it. I pushed her off to the side and quickly grabbed my yarn up and moved my operation to the breakfast bar. Of course, in doing that the yarn got tangled. Anyway, I managed to untangle it and wind it all up. While I was doing that, Lexi came over and was staring up at me rather pathetically


and making funny noises to indicate that she wanted what I had. Apparently, she thinks that balls of yarn make good dog toys. I would have to disagree.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

According to weather.com, it is 12 degrees outside and feels like -6. That's pretty chilly in my book. So, I am staying inside today. We've gotten a bit more snow now, and it's been windy since last night, so there are snow drifts all over. The state police are advising people to stay off the roads, so I'm taking their advice. I normally go to Spokane on Tuesdays, but I canceled today and haven't left the house.

Yesterday I put some of the wool in the garage into a garbage bag and put it on my back patio. I covered it up so the snow wouldn't get inside. I did this so I could continue to scour the wool in the garage through the winter. I've moved the wool scouring operation indoors, using my double kitchen sink. The premise is the same as using the outdoor tubs, only I don't have to haul the water around. The downside is that I can't wash as much at once, and I can't just throw the nasty bits and stuff I don't want (hay, grass, dead bugs, tiny bits of fluff that aren't worth saving) off to the side. Well, I could, but that would be gross since off to the side would be at the kitchen table instead of into a large swath of gravel outside. The upside is that I'll likely end up getting a lot more done since it's far less labor intensive. It also means that I'll keep the sink relatively clear of dishes if I need it to scour wool. I scoured some wool yesterday and was going to do more today. It seems like a good use of my time, since I'm not going to go anywhere. Sadly, the sliding glass door that lets out onto the patio is frozen shut. So, I guess I'll have to wait until the temperature is a bit higher before I can do more. I'm not willing to put on all my snow gear and traipse around to the back to get a bag of dirty wool, then have to repeat the process to put it back. Having a bag of dirty wool in your house is fine for a short period of time while you grab hunks of it to wash, but I don't want dirty wool in my house for long term storage. It smells like a barnyard. Which is fine if you're in a barnyard. My kitchen is not a barnyard.

So, instead, I will work on my dad's Christmas present. I'm halfway done, and it shouldn't take too long to finish the second half. I'd post progress photos, but since it's a Christmas present, I can't. Instead I'll show you the mittens that I made last winter. I knit them last winter but didn't weave in the ends until now. I have no reasonable explanation for why that happened.



These mittens are superior to the first ones I made. The first ones weren't bad, but I was totally winging it. So, there are a few imperfections. Some are design flaws, some are unforeseen happenings. First, the first pair of mittens don't have a thumb flap. This is okay, but I like to use my thumb on my phone and I can't do that if it's encased in wool. So, my second pair has a thumb flap.


Also, when making the first pair, I didn't pick up enough stitches for the flip-top part, so it doesn't go all the way across to my pinkie.


Also, I didn't allow for enough overlap on the palm. When I made them, they were fine, but with use the hand part felted down a bit and now the flap no longer meets the hand. As long as my hands are closed it isn't too bothersome, but sometimes they come apart right where I grip the steering wheel, and that is definitely unpleasant when it is cold!


So, now I have a new pair of mittens to wear that are much improved over the first ones. The new ones also have a longer cuff, which will help keep unwanted drafts out of my sleeves. Sadly, my mittens will no longer match my hat, but I'm planning on making myself a new hat soon, anyway. Right after I finish all the other Christmas presents.

A Few More Tips

As I was driving around town today, I thought of a few more tips for driving in the snow. Here they are, for your reading pleasure.

• Remember, having four-wheel drive and/or studs doesn't make you invincible.
• When your car is covered in snow, you need to brush it off. This includes not only your windows, but also your lights and license plates. It's also a good idea to brush off the hood of your car so that the snow doesn't blow into your windshield while driving (making it difficult to see) and/or falling forward and covering your lights (making it more difficult for others to see you). Cleaning off you car's roof is also a good idea, particularly if it contains a lot of snow. While driving the snow will blow off the back and create a smoke screen effect for other drivers. While this might make you feel cool, it's kind of annoying if you're behind someone like that and can't see. Now, I realize it's cold outside and it takes longer to fully brush off your car than it does to just brush off the windshield. However, if your windows aren't cleared off or your lights and license plates are obscured by snow, you will get pulled over. It takes far less time to just brush those off first than it would to get pulled over and made to do it by the police.
• Turn on your lights when it's snowing. It's so other people can see you.
• Try not to spin your tires. The quickest and easiest way to get going is to gently step on the gas pedal and slowly add more pressure to increase your speed. Stepping on it normally, or harder than normal, causes your tires to spin. This creates ice. Ice makes it more difficult for you to get going, and makes it more dangerous for other drivers to stop and start at the same intersection.
• If you are sliding, turn in the direction you are sliding. This will help you regain control of the car. Also, take your foot off the gas. Don't brake until you again have control of your vehicle.
  

Winter Weather Advisory

We are currently experiencing a winter weather advisory. It keeps getting modified, so I'm not sure how long it's supposed to last anymore (originally it was until Tuesday night or something). Anyway, what that basically means is that it's snowing and will continue for the foreseeable future. I have to admit that winter weather advisories make me snicker a bit. When weather services feel the need to warn me about something, I expect it to be a big deal. Not a few inches of snow. A few inches of snow is not that serious. Or, at least, I don't think it is. Don't get me wrong. I like snow. I like it to snow a lot and stick around for a while. I don't think it's really necessary to advise people that when it's below freezing and it's going to precipitate it will come down as snow. In my mind, that's pretty self-evident. I mean, this is North Idaho. It gets cold here. And it snows.

However, driving around in the snow (which is probably not even a full inch deep at this point) makes me rethink my stance on the necessity of winter weather advisories. Not for me, necessarily, but for the other citizens of our fair city, who apparently forget how to drive in the snow each year when it goes away. (According to the state police as of about 5:30 this evening, they have responded to over 30 accidents and slide-offs and the snow started around 1:00pm. That's 6 or 7 accidents an hour.) I'm not sure how that works, really. Do they not realize that it will snow once again after we've gotten through the non-snowing seasons? We live in a northern climate. This is not California or Arizona or Texas or some other place that never really gets snow. We get snow. I'll say that once more. This is North Idaho. It snows here. Some winters, like last winter, we don't get a lot of snow, but it still can be icy on the roads. Other winters, like the one the year before, it dumps loads of snow. There's no telling how much we'll really get from one year to the next. They (whoever "they" are) are saying this will be a wet, snowy winter. So, here are my tips for safe driving in the snow and ice:

Things to do:

1. Get tires with traction. Studs are not really necessary and only tear up the roads when the roads are not covered in snow. Tires with good tread that are siped are just as, if not more effective than studded tires. If it's icy, you're likely to slip a bit, studs or not.
   
2. Allow more time to get from one place to the next.
3. When stopping, give yourself plenty of time to slow down.
4. When starting, give yourself plenty of time to get up to speed.

Things not to do:

1. Don't slam on your brakes. This will only make you slide into things.
2. Don't cut people off. It takes more time to get up to speed on slippery roads, so you need to allow more space between cars when pulling into traffic. Cutting people off makes them slam on their brakes, which will make them slide into things, possibly you.
3. Don't drive like the roads are dry. They're not. They're covered in ice and snow. These substances are slippery.
4. Don't feel the need to go the posted speed limit. Drive a safe speed that allows you to control your vehicle. Sometimes that is the speed limit. Sometimes it's slower than the speed limit, and that's okay.

So, if you have forgotten what it means to drive in snow and ice, hopefully the above list was a nice refresher. If you have not forgotten these things, feel free to pass this on to your friends that may have forgotten.

Also, it's cold outside. Wear a coat, scarf, gloves, and hat. These things help you to not be so cold.

Holiday Expo Take Two

This year we put on our second annual Holiday Expo. We had a great time! I made brownies and pumpkin bread to snack on. We had three giveaways, which we will announce tomorrow on our Facebook page. We are donating the profits from today to the local food bank. We are going to be putting on fund-raising parties about once a month (the next one will be in January). Each party will benefit a local charity. We decided to do this so that we can benefit different organizations in our community and help support them. Plus, it's fun to invite a bunch of people over to hang out. Hopefully, you'll be able to make it to our next event!

Fridays

My Fridays are mostly uneventful, usually. The morning and early afternoon is generally relaxing. I usually practice at some point (which I did this afternoon), and knit or spin or card some wool. This morning was spent carding wool, as I had used up all the previously carded wool for that project. It's a bit zen, but we'll talk about that more later. Around 2:45 I pack up my things and head north. I teach a student up in Athol at his house on Fridays at 3:30. With traffic it takes about 40 minutes to get to his house. After that lesson (and the reason I'm willing to drive out there to do it), I head a bit further north to pick up the milk from the farm. (For more about getting milk from a farm and why I do it, see this post.) By the time I'm done with all this, I usually get home around 5:30. Now that we're in the Dark Time, this means I leave when it's daylight, but the rest of my driving on windy state highways in the middle of nowhere is done after dark.

Usually this routine is not to big of a problem. I'm still getting used to driving around up there at night (which is very different from driving around town at night), but last week wasn't a big deal. This week the whole ordeal was a bit of a comedy of errors. It started out with me running a few minutes late, but not so much that it should've been a big deal. Then, I hit nearly every light red on the highway. With the new timing of the lights, traffic gets waaaay backed up, and it's terrible. So, I finally get north of the lights and we're going along fine, then I see a sign on the side of the road saying Highway 54 is closed at the railroad crossing and to take Brunner Road for a detour. Let me just say that I am not overly familiar with the back roads north of town. I can get around town just fine, but once I get very much north, all I know is the main highways and whatever Google maps can tell me on my iPhone. Up there it's all Edge network, so it takes forever for anything to load. Highway 54 is what I take to get to my lesson, so I took the detour. Unfortunately, I decided to take the wrong road north. I made it to Highway 54 just fine, but still on the wrong side of the closed road. So, I had to go all the way back down to where I'd gotten off the highway and try again. The second time I did fine and made it to my lesson. Only 25 minutes late. The lesson is only 30 minutes. I was a bit frustrated. Fortunately, I had called ahead and let them know what was going on. They were flexible enough to just have me do the lesson when I got there. So, after the lesson I had to take the detour all the way back south, then go north again to go get the milk. On the way back I once again got stuck behind the slow person who likes to go 15 to 20 miles below the speed limit. And the passing lanes are always start on a curve going uphill, which makes passing difficult. Add to that darkness, difficulty seeing the lines, and lights from oncoming traffic flashing past and it makes trying to pass the slow poke extra fun. Especially when the person behind me is tailgating me hardcore and I can't go any faster because there's someone in front of me not going super fast, but fast enough to pass the really slow guy. Grrr. In short, I did not have a very nice drive tonight. But, I only got home about a half hour later than normal. So, I suppose it could have been worse. It'll be fun to see what things are like once the snow starts sticking...

First Snow of 2010

We woke up to this outside this morning. Snow! I'm a firm believer that if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow. Plus, when it's cold enough to be almost snow, but not quite, it's miserable. When it drops just a couple more degrees to be full fledged snow, it's great to watch, and when enough accumulates, you can go outside and play in it. What's not to love. Sadly, it warmed up to about 40 degrees, so the snow melted by this afternoon. There's more in the forecast for tonight, and it might stay cold enough for it to stick around a bit. This made today great for snuggling under blankets, watching movies, and knitting. I started my dad's Christmas present yesterday. I'm about a quarter of the way done. It's going much faster than mom's present. I think I'll make some hot chocolate and snuggle up with reruns of Monk on Netflix for the rest of the evening. I hope you are all snuggly and warm wherever you are as well.

What to Make for Dinner When You Don't Want to Make Dinner

Something that can be thrown together and stuck in an oven, requiring little prep and no attention. For these nights my go-to dishes are roast chicken (yummy, economical, but it takes an hour) and what I call Parmesan chicken. For roast chicken, get a fresh bird from the store or your local butcher, bring it home, rinse it and pat it dry with paper towels. Turn your oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle pepper and salt all over the chicken and put it in a roasting pan, uncovered. Once the oven is heated up, put the chicken in the oven and set your timer for an hour. For Parmesan chicken you don't even need to thaw the chicken, especially if you use chicken tenders. Put the chicken in a pan and sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese all over the chicken, then add 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Put it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes (if you use frozen breasts, it may take a few minutes longer) then serve over rice. Or just eat it by itself. Whichever you prefer.

Tonight I did neither of those things. I made the easiest thing ever. Pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese. Yup, boil up some pasta. When it's done, dump it in a bowl, put in a tablespoon of butter, add salt to taste, stir it around and enjoy.

Two Down...

Seven more to go. I finished my mom's socks that she's getting for Christmas. The ends are woven in and everything. All that's left to do with them is take a few pictures, wrap them up, and put them under the tree. Since I can't show you a picture of them until after Christmas, here is a picture of the leftover yarn from this pair of socks:



It's blue and pretty, but there's precious little of it left. Normally I have enough left that I wonder what to do with the scraps. This is really only enough to save for the possibility of darning the socks. Toward the end I was getting a bit worried about having enough yarn. I did, though. With just a bit left over.

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Unfinished Objects

Unfinished Objects, or UFOs, often take up residence in the house of a knitter. I currently have three I can think of off hand. UFOs are different from Works In Progress because progress has not been made on the UFO in some time. Works In Progress still count as in progress if work has been done on them in the recent past. I suppose different people would have different standards for when something crosses the line between a Work In Progress and a UFO. For me, it's something I have abandoned and have no intention of returning to in the foreseeable future. For example, my Works In Progress list includes one purple lace cardigan sweater, one red pullover sweater, a pair of socks for me, and a pair of socks for my mom for Christmas. I have been working on all of these projects concurrently. I mostly work on the socks for Christmas, as those have a specific deadline. I alternate to the other projects for different reasons, including my hands getting tired and needing a change of pace, being in a room that contains one project and not another, and hanging out at my parents house, making working on my mom's Christmas present not an option.

My UFO's have ended up that way for various reasons. My UFO list is shorter than my Works In Progress list. For my UFOs I have a half-sleeve white lace cardigan, a lace cashmere scarf, and a slipper. The white cardigan only has to have the collar knitted and attached and it will be finished. It's silly that it's not finished, actually. But, I didn't feel like doing the collar when it was time, and it's not a cold weather sweater, so the urge to finish isn't particularly strong.

This picture was taken before I grafted the two halves together. Like I said. All it needs is a collar.

The slippers were abandoned last year in the winter. I made a pair for my sister-in-law and decided to make some for myself as well. I got tired of them part-way through and still haven't finished. I really should, though. They'll be warm and cozy and I only have one piece left to knit. The cashmere scarf just got pushed away when I started working on the socks for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Then I started two sweaters. And my mom's socks for Christmas after I finished my mother-in-law's socks. It's not high on the priority list, even though the yarn is yummy and soft. I'll get back to it soon. But, I really want some sweaters. And Christmas knitting needs to get done before Christmas.

If Sock Knitting Were a Race...

If sock knitting were a race, then turning the heel would be like rounding the corner for the homestretch. Unfortunately, a heel flap and gusset take a while. And so does the home stretch. In that way, comparing sock knitting to racing doesn't really work very well.

Colds

I have a cold. I got it from my darling nieces who were here last weekend. My nose is raw, my head hurts, and I've gone through lots and lots of Kleenex since Thursday. I'm glad I have a large stash of the Kleenex with lotion, or else I think my nose would be in much worse shape. For the record, I'm taking my vitamins, trying to get plenty of water, I made chicken noodle soup yesterday, and taking medicine. Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. In the meantime, I've not done very much. I have gotten further on my mom's Christmas present, but still have a bit to go. At this rate, it should be finished in a few more days. Otherwise, I've mostly been sitting on the couch blowing my nose and watching shows on the internet. I hope your weekend is a bit more pleasant. Mine would be great if it weren't for all the nose blowing.

The Dark Time

This time of year is what I think of as the dark time. We've set our clocks back and now it gets dark before 5:00 pm. Soon, the sun will come up even later and go down even earlier. There are more hours of darkness than light. And even the daylight hours are often gray and not particularly bright. There are days ahead in which we will drive with our headlights on all day long, not because we are so far north that we don't get sun, but because the clouds and rain and snow will be so thick as to obscure the sun.

There are things I very much enjoy about this time. I like cuddling up under a blanket with some hot chocolate and a book or a movie. I like knitting lots of warm cozy things. I like wearing the warm cozy things I've knitted. Or seeing other people wear them (if they're for them of course. I don't want other people wearing my hats and sweaters). I like sleeping under warm blankets. This is a dark time, but it's a cozy time.

Veterans' Day

Today is Veterans' Day. If you live in Canada, today is Remembrance Day. Last year I spent Remembrance Day in Canada. I think I like Remembrance Day better than Veterans' Day. This is not because I think veterans are unimportant. Quite the contrary. But I think Remembrance Day does a better job of things. It is a day to pause and remember the past wars and soldiers, as well as thinking about the current soldiers enduring conflict abroad. In Canada and England and possibly some other countries people wear poppies on their lapels in honor of Remembrance Day, to provide a visible symbol of their remembrance and support. This is a reference to this poem:

In Flanders Fields by Lt. Col. John McRae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

This is a poem written by a soldier in World War I. That war is the reason we have a holiday today. Originally November 11 was known as Armistice Day, because World War I ended on November 11, 1918. I learned this from the prologue to the book Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. Here is the excerpt from the book:

"When I was a boy...all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God."

So, in honor of the history of this day, let us pause for a moment and remember. Let us remember the sacrifice of our countrymen. And let us remember what that sacrifice costs us all.

On Wool

Wool is often maligned as itchy and difficult to care for. While wool does require specific handling, it is not always itchy. That is not to say that there are not itchy wools, but there are many breeds of sheep and many of them produce wool that is soft and lovely. Merino is the most famous of the fine wool breeds. Merino is the wool of choice for soft, next to skin wearing garments. Personally, I love wool. It is warm, it's forgiving, and it wears well.

Let us discuss the wonders of wool. Wool is warmer than polar fleece. This was proven to me last year when we had a couple weeks of very cold weather. One week I wore a wool sweater every day except one. On that day I wore a fleece. That day was warmer (by a about 10 degrees) than any other day that week, and I was colder in my fleece than I had been in my wool sweaters. Wool also emits heat when wet, which is something neither cotton nor polyester can say. It is moisture wicking. It is self extinguishing (this means when the flame is removed wool does not continue to burn). It has a certain amount of elasticity. It can range from ultra soft for next to skin wear to sturdy for outerwear. It is versatile, natural, and renewable.

Wool also comes in superwash varieties. This means it can be washed in your washing machine. Usually it needs to be air dried, but some types can be dried in the dryer as well. While this is very nice, wool that has to be hand washed is not that much more difficult to care for. Hand washing is pretty easy. To do it, all you need is a receptacle large enough to hold your item and water to cover it. Put a bit of laundry detergent in the basin, fill with water, then submerge your item in the water. Leave it for 20 minutes or so. Remove the item and drain the water. Fill with clean water and submerge your item once again and leave it for another 20 minutes. You can repeat the rinse to make sure all the soap is rinsed out. After the rinsing, gently squeeze as much water as you can from the item, lay it on a towel, roll up the towel and stand on it to squeeze out as much water as possible. Lay it out to dry.

So, there are some of the reasons I like wool, and some ways to wash it if you're so inclined.

Tuesday

Today is Tuesday. It won't be for much longer, but right now it is. My nieces are gone, so I have no more pictures of cute little girls. I'm not really sure what to write about, so I'm giving this stream of consciousness style a try. But here is a random list of things currently available for discussion:

1. We're watching Lie to Me right now. I enjoy this show. I particularly enjoy Cal Lightman's pithy dialogue. He makes me laugh.

2. I've started my Christmas knitting already. I've finished one present and am halfway through the second. I have six more presents to go.

3. I found a homeopathic remedy that is helping my sinus headaches. It's called Kali bichromicum. Anyway, it's working, which is good since I had a sinus headache that nothing else would help for about three weeks.

That's about all I can come up with at the moment. So, leave a comment and let me know what you prefer: photos of things I'm working on or random stream of consciousness rambling?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saying Goodbye

My brother and family left this morning to return to their home in Colorado. We hung out with them yesterday and said goodbye last night. Michael and I spent quite a while last night getting to play with our nieces before they left. We don't get to do it very often, so we like to take advantage of the opportunity while it's available. Much of the evening was spent playing hide and seek, which is quite entertaining when playing with a three and a four year old. They are very cute little girls. Here are some photos of our last night with them.





And it must be said that Uncle Michael is a big hit.

Google-J

According to Michael, I'm his own, real live Google. He can ask me a question and I'll spit out the answer (without the paid advertisements). This, of course, is not entirely accurate. There are many things I do not know (though I do have pretty good Google-Fu if I do say so myself). In any case, Michael has now dubbed me Google-J (for Google-Jessica), and will call me that whenever he wants an answer to a random question. Behold, the wonder of Google-J!


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A Day at the Beach

For a November afternoon, it was actually pretty nice. The sun peaked through the clouds and the temperature was just above 60 degrees. We spent part of the afternoon downtown and at the lake. Here are some pictures from the beach.

Late Post

I just realized it's nearly midnight and I haven't posted yet today. Bad NaBloPoMo blogger! Anyway, my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces are here for a quick visit. They got in last night and leave Monday morning. So, who knows? The next couple posts might slide in under the wire just like this one.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My latest workout

is scouring wool. I bought lots of raw Suffolk wool from someone in Hayden, and I'm slowly processing it. Raw wool is pretty much what it sounds like. The only thing that's been done to it is cutting it off the sheep and shoving it in a sack. I must now remove it from a sack and get it clean so that I can do something with it. Just in case you didn't know, sheep are dirty. This is a chunk of fleece before it gets washed:


This is what it looks like in the wash water:


And this is what I use to wash it with:

The picture of the wool in the wash water is actually the second soapy wash. If it were the first one the water would be closer in color to tea. I tend to do one or two soapy washes and one or two rinses. This is accomplished in two plastic bins on my back patio. Wool must be scoured in hot water so as to melt the grease the sheep naturally produce. This means I must haul water from my kitchen sink out to the plastic bin (filling the plastic bin would make it way too heavy to move outside, so water must be brought to it). This is accomplished by filling my large stockpot and dumping it in the plastic bin. Five stockpots gives sufficient water for washing. If I do two washes and two rinses, that's 20 stockpots of water to carry and dump into the bins. It works arms, abs, back, legs, and glutes. It's definitely a workout.

Spinning

No, I'm not referring to a popular exercise that involves stationary bikes. I am referring to the process of taking unspun fiber (wool, in this case), and turning it in to yarn. If we are more than passing acquaintances, or if you've read this blog much, you probably are aware that I knit. Rather a lot, actually. Recently I've expanded my obsession hobby to include creating my own yarn.

This really all started nearly a year ago now. Last year when coming up with things for my birthday/Christmas wish list, I found a learn to spin kit and asked for it. It included a top-whorl drop spindle, three bumps of fiber, and a booklet explaining what to do. My mother-in-law bought it for me, and I didn't touch it for about six months. I looked at it once or twice, and thought about trying it, but was intimidated and decided to stick with doing things I already knew how to do. Then, one night this past summer I couldn't sleep and was too restless to knit, read, or randomly surf the 'net. So, I looked at the instruction booklet in the kit, watched a YouTube video or two, and gave it a try. I ended up with three little hanks of yarn from that first attempt.


Then, I didn't touch it again for a couple more months.

In September I picked it back up, and since then I've been hooked. I still enjoy knitting, but spinning can be really fun. Here are my two current spinning projects:



















And here are some other yarns that I've spun:



For the record, I currently do all my spinning on top whorl drop spindles. I do not have a spinning wheel, nor do I currently plan on acquiring one any time soon (largely because they take up space, which is at a premium in my house, and cost a fair amount of money, and if I had $200 to spend on something not strictly necessary, I would get an iPhone 4). While I have not actually made anything out of yarn that I've spun, I could, I simply haven't yet.

Fall Favorites

I very much enjoy living in a part of the world where I get to experience all four seasons. I grew up with that, so it feels normal. I did go to college in West Texas, where they have two seasons: hot and random. It was nice to return to the northwest where we get winter, spring, summer, and fall. Fall is very much upon us. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite things about Fall:

1. Apples. They're in season and abundant everywhere that sells produce. There are tons of varieties, and there are many ways to eat an apple. We got a big box on the last day of the farmer's market to last us for quite a while. In addition to just grabbing an apple for a quick snack, the tarter varieties are delicious sauteed in a little butter. Mmmm....apples.
2. Sunny, crisp days. Today falls in this category. The sun has been shining pretty much all day, and even though it's cool, the sun makes it feel nice.
   
3. Colorful leaves. Yellow is very prominent, but the shots of orange and red against the backdrop of native evergreens is beautiful.
   
4. Butternut squash soup. Winter squashes are out, and butternut squash soup is delicious. I just discovered this one last fall, but I've already made it once this year and have another squash just waiting.
5. Going for a walk and crunching through the leaves. It's satisfying on so many levels.
6. Getting to wear all my handknits. On any given day I can be found sporting something I've knit, even if it's just my socks.
   
7. Halloween. I'm more into the innocent version, where kids dress up and get free candy. Maybe dressing up myself and going to a party. But, it's the dressing up and the fun treats that I enjoy, not pranks. This year we went to my parents' house and passed out candy. It was a quite enjoyable evening.
   
8. Thanksgiving. It's a great excuse to get together and eat delicious food. We're fortunate to live near in the same city as both my parents and my in-laws, so we get to spend the holiday with everyone. That in itself is something to be thankful for.
   

That's about it for now. But, here is a picture out my front door of today.

NaBloPoMo 2010

It's November again, and that means National Blog Posting Month. This year I'm giving it an official try. I even signed up at www.nablopomo.com. I tried to do it last year, but didn't even make it to the halfway point. So, this year, it's official and I'm going to do it. Just wait for the amazingness.