Sunday, April 2, 2023

Yogurt, tornadoes and weaving epiphanies


Yesterday morning was about making soup and yogurt, at the same time, why not 

The soup was barley, sausage, chard, leek and potato



It's good, plenty of spices, and there was ginger in the stock I used. Enough for six bowls.

The yogurt started yesterday




Here's the warm mixture, wrapped in a dishtowel then an emergency foil blanket to conserve heat, on top of the fridge. The top is always warm because of a top freezer, and I put bread dough there to rise, same reason.

Comes today's reveal


Tasted terrific, best starter, best milk, and a bit thin

So


I strained some of it through a lawn hankie



And as you see, got an excellent texture and a lovely dish of homemade yogurt, with plenty more in the jar. The whey is in the freezer to use in soup.

This is particularly good because there was no yogurt available in this week's Misfits offerings anyway.

It's also pleasing because I rescued the batch from operator error. I forgot to let the boiled milk cool before adding the starter, doh. 

Soooo I waited till it cooled to the right lukewarm temp and added another batch of starter yogurt, figuring it would either work or not. And, as you see, it did.

I had a great, if chilly, walk in the sunshine in the afternoon,  despite storm warnings, what storm.

And later was thinking about the weaving again, and why it hadn't worked even after I threaded correctly 
Then a light bulb moment. The dent, or epi, the weaving equivalent of stitches to the inch in knitting, was wrong for the yarn.

It was a 10 dent. Suitable for heavier yarns, not the fingering weight I was using. If I'd had an assistant to manage the other end of the warp instead of a dumbbell, they'd have increased tension and helped maneuver it. 

The reason I realized this was that the last attempt involved stripes, why not, and the one part that did take up as I turned the beam was worsted yarn stripe, the right gauge for this dent 

So, though yes, some brain fog, otherwise it wouldn't have taken me days to get to this point, it's not all up with me.

Last evening I decided the scarf will still happen, using the warp I preserved on that dowel, only with a better heddle, a real warping peg, and a no loom, backstrap approach. It's more my style than the loom.

And I've now ordered a warping peg, and a smaller heddie than the twenty inch, which was too clumsy for my taste. Also the heddle's a twelve dent, better match for the yarn I use.

Stay tuned! I have to acknowledge Sarah Swett for the idea of using a rigid heddle with backstrap weaving. I'd only seen it done with either string heddles or none. 

I made a miniature rigid heddle ages ago using a credit card sized piece of plastic 


and tested it with a tiny experiment, and it worked fine.

Once again, I'm set. I tell ya, whoever gets this scarf better treasure it, is all I'm sayin'.

And yesterday's winnowing was this


The mark is near one end, so not a problem, and I ethically showed it on the Freecycle picture,  full transparency. It's being picked up today.

All this happened before an evening of anxiety, packed with local tornado warnings all around. Lashing winds, rain, thunder, multiple lightning flashes and damage reports all around. 



Once again we escaped damage, kept power, and Handsome Son texted when he got home safely from work through it all. So we are relieved. Again. 

Interestingly this kind of weather features right now in the Japanese microseason 


Happy day everyone, keep going, you simply never know!




22 comments:

  1. I used to make yoghurt, I think I've said that. We are both on the soup tray, a very good place to be. We knew the fog would lift and it did! I think I'm going to do some winnowing again. So happy you missed that weather.

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    1. Well, I'm a bit more confident than before, that's true. And I'm happy we were spared the tornadoes being reported all around here.

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  2. Love that you made yoghurt. Been awhile since I have though plan to soon again. And kraut. OMG. I love kraut! Happy Sunday!

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    1. I think yogurt is one of those things you make for ages, then drop out of until something reminds you. Go for it!

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  3. You know what? I do not think you have one thing to worry about when it comes to your cognition.
    Now me?
    Well.
    I used to make yogurt too. In fact, I think I had a yogurt maker- a device that held the jar that plugged in to keep the ingredients at the proper temperature. That was about one hundred years ago.

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    1. I had a yogurt maker at one time, gave it away because I needed more yogurt than it made. I wonder if the friend I gave it to ever used it..

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    2. I'm more optimistic about cognition today, I must admit. Yours isn't too dusty, either.

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  4. Well done on the yoghurt. It looks delicious.
    I don’t understand any of the weaving terminology. I don’t have a yen to try it so I’ll just happily stay in the dark lol
    Glad your all safe. We saw the devastation on the news. Heartbreaking.

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    1. You probably saw the much bigger tornado damage in other states. They're terrifying phenomena.

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  5. So glad to hear that you missed the damage from your weather event as they seem to be know these days.

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    1. Weather event is like doctors describing pain as discomfort.

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  6. You are so adept in the kitchen. If I cook something, I have to have it all laid out in a recipe, and then I may have trouble following it. Except for eggs and toast. I can do those. đŸ¤“

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    1. You can manage for quite a while with eggs and toast!

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  7. I saw the tornado warnings in the US and wondered about blogger friends. Glad you were ok, Boud.

    Good luck with the weaving this time. It sounds like you have it figured out.

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    1. Thank you, there are damage reports all around here, but no loss of life, fortunately. And I think the weaving will be back on track.

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  8. At least you realized your mistake in adding the starter when the milk was too hot. Imagine if you hadn't? The whole batch would have been lost.

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    1. I did have a plan B involving cream soup, there being no sugar in the mix. But I didn't need to resort to it.

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  9. I used to love summer and all it entailed but in recent years the huge storms are becoming more and more prevalent and terrifying. I grew up loving thunderstorms but now I find them a lot more scary because they can so easily turn into tornadoes. I'm so glad you and Handsome Son are okay.

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    1. I used to love thunderstorms and lightning until our house was hit, and the massive impact brought home an understanding of the sheer power unleashed by lightning.

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  10. Well, you are just too busy. The yogurt came out beautifully. Love that you made the rigid heddle. Most of all I hope you are safe.

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    1. Thank you, we're safe. All around us are damage reports though.

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  11. I'm so grateful you were safe from the storm. Whew. And that soup sounds terrific!

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