Happy Mothers Day, and change of plan

Lovely ecard arrived from Handsome Son, who's working a full day today, so can't visit.  I played it several times!

And here's some good thoughts about art

Yes to just about all of this.

The weaving needed a change of plan, because I forgot, when I threaded, that pattern threads need to be doubled. My single threads didn't show up legibly. So I decided to continue anyway, with a medley of pattern motifs to see how it works.

Each mistake I make shows me why things are done the way they are. All good experience. And this band is giving me the chance to try a lot of the five pattern thread motifs in the book. They'll look different because of the single threading, and that will be interesting.

I think soup will be on today. Carrot, pumpkin, red lentils. This will be a nice color. 

The containers are whey from the paneer making, and I added in potatoes as well as the ingredients you see here, to make it thicker. I used two containers of whey and the third, still frozen, is back in the freezer.

Here's lunch, decorated with the last of the chive blossoms from the paneer.  It was a golden lunch, because dessert was mango chunks with the last of the paneer 

I had a great postprandial walk, local kids at the start playing football 

Then down the greenway between houses and golf course 

Then chats with neighbors and exchanged greetings for Mother's Day, to turtle watching at the pond 

And young golfers out doing pretty well. These are not the duffers.

Home again and the honesty is developing seedpods. I'm going to have a good harvest. The plants coming up among the sage are interesting -- they're running to seed while the sage blossoms are budding out. Outside there are iris budding up, after years of foliage.  I think they too are glad the butterfly bush is gone. 

So, reading on the deck, sleeping happened too, pot of tea, after checking the iris 

These are heirloom purple and white bearded iris, descended from some planted nearly 100 years on a now deceased friend's grandmother's farm south of here. There are others I gave to neighbors now in bloom, because they're in a sunnier location.

Tea featured several visits from a squirrel who kept forgetting I was there and suddenly realizing ohemgee a human, and dashing away, once with a carpenter bee in pursuit. They're territorial insects, and the squirrel was pottering about in the honesty where the bee was being busy.

Lovely Mother's Day, texted wishes, in person wishes, ecard, it was all good.

Now back to weaving, I realized you can try out a series of designs without making a whole band for each. Just because that's the tradition doesn't mean I hafta. This way I'll have a band that's also a sampler, and a few experiments thrown in. 

Happy day everyone. For some people this is a difficult day. If that's you -- it's just one day, soon done. Hang in there, sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula.

Early flowers and Misfits

 I was out early, no no walking and looking at flowers this morning, at a cool time,  in anticipation of 90°f temps this afternoon.

Here's the honesty that planted itself in the sage container, and other places, not where I'd planted it. The empty strawberry pot is where I planted seeds.

This one is the plant Mary and Steve told me to leave alone. It's a bit different from the others, though, the flower heads with fewer petals, but it's honesty. I'll take it.

And here's the almost last of the daffodils 

It looks like another flower maybe a bit like the columbine? It's a narcissus of some kind, but more sculptural than the other frillier daffodils.

I finished the shoelaces and learned quite a bit about the yarn which every now and then sort of seized and wouldn't slide through the knot. I think yarn fatigue. Anyway I had to learn some fixes, too, using a crochet hook and darning needle, all good. What happens when it sticks is a stray loop that can't be eased in. But when that happens after two feet of braiding, you don't want to start over. And I haven't found a way of unpicking that works. Workarounds rule.

I think part of the difficulty is that I was working off a center pull ball. This changes the twist on the yarn as it gets under way. I think next time whatever yarn I use I'll use outside pull. Anyway, next, on to the aglets.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I have a couple of other ideas to try, using materials I have. I don't have super glue, nail polish, a hair dryer nor heat gun. I'm committed to using what I have for this project, so, onward.

Then Jeff arrived with the Misfits box, shortly after Gary unloaded a huge container of rice on me (he's moving, winnowing his food supplies). I'll nudge him about the food pantry in this process. The rice is now divided into smaller containers and in the freezer.

Here's cans for the food pantry, choc treats for the Great Me, Envy apples, they're so good, crisp and juicy not tart, container of organic wildflower honey, two lots of shrimp, which will be good with some of that mass of rice, block of vital cheddar cheese, container of tiny sardines, for putting on toast for tea.

Salad greens, bananaz, beautiful smelling strawberries, to go with yogurt, some mozzarella shredded cheese, because the last lot made a wonderful pasta sauce. 

This is a small order, and I thought I'd ordered bread, but seem not to have.  I'll live. It's probably a sign to make baguettes. They'll be good for shrimp sandwiches with greens. I might even make mayo. But let's not get carried away now.

Happy day everyone, knit on. When the current sock and the aglets and the notebooks are done, I'm going to embark on the bandweaving adventure.

 

 

People need plants and water

Monday was about weaving while I thought about stitching, finishing the Sacks book and walking.

I recommend all three! If you can. 

Catching up online while weaving. Bruce and Melissa on the screen.

Lovely bright weather for walking 

As I got to this point I started hearing the plomp sounds of frogs leaping into the water, and saw a couple as they flew from the bank, see the widening circles in the pond.

I got closer 

There were dragonflies in action, we have a lot of them, several species, and water boatmen on the water surface. I think some of them may have been taken by frogs, when they suddenly submerged.  

Here's a wild strawberry or something adjacent, and there are many around here. There's also spraying, so I don't check them out.

Home again I sat outside reading and watching birds, and noticing the honesty has started its seedpods 

Once they're silver, I'll let the seeds fall then add the branches of  silver disks to my collection in the downstairs bathroom.

The purple flowers are the sage. They're similar in shape to antirrhinum. 

And 

the yellow potatoes are starting up.

The Sacks book of essays, some written near the end of his life, is full of wisdom, really worth reading. 

He understood the value of plants and being involved with them, and would seek out botanical gardens when he traveled. He comments that his psychiatric hospital work kept him in New York city, and only the gardens made it tolerable. How I agree.

And I'm now rereading an old favorite, full of comic scenes 

I know it so well I'm laughing in anticipation of the antics of Nicky.

Happy day, everyone, flowers all round!

Spice bush, cabbarole, wire art

Saturday was icy winds blowing all over, so walking didn't happen. Things like recycling did, which includes walking to the end of the block, the wind blowing me and my flattened cardboard around like helpless prawns, I expect that's some kind of resistance exercise. 

And weight training came in handy when I found some **** person had slung a huge pile of cardboard on top of, not in,  one container so that it also weighed down the lid of the next container, the one I needed to get into. Entailing forcing up the lid, plus the many pounds of cardboard resting on it, holding it with one hand while wrangling my recycle bucket with the other.  Yes, that, and the breathing exercise from cursing throughout,  was some strenuous time.

However, the patio gave me two nice things: the spice bush blooming away and scenting the wind, great experience, here's a professional view, top left, viburnum carlesii aka Korean spice bush

And the honesty, which declined to grow again where it had done well, in the strawberry pot or in the ground, where I'd next flung seeds defiantly, decided it would do this instead

As you see, happily growing in the sage pot. Well, if it's happy who am I to argue? This means I'll get at least a few more silver disk seedpods to add to my collection.

Indoors I did a bit more on the wire and yarn work

I'm going to leave it alone for a day or two then see what should happen next. Add? Subtract? Rearrange? We'll see. Meanwhile I wove a couple more plain yarn squares just to get skillz.

But the main event was the cabbage casserole, heretofore to be known as a cabbarole, which sounds like an antique carriage but never mind.

What it amounts to is salted chopped cabbage, with an egg and yogurt sauce with flour, I used chickpea, baking powder and cornstarch, big pinch of pepper. Then grated cheese on top.  Baked 50 minutes at 350°f.

Here's a serving with fresh picked chives, very oniony because the first picking of the year.  It was good and I now have a reason to buy cabbage. 

Next time I make it, which I can, with the other half-cabbage chopped and frozen, I'll use a smaller baking dish so there's more interior and less exposed top. 

I used this one because I could mix in it and put it straight in the oven, saving dishes. And I think a pinch of nutmeg would be good.  Overall though, it was worth doing, nice texture, bit of crunch on top, nicely blended inside. 

So there's several lunches. This would go nicely with sausage or chicken or something like that, too, but it worked as a main for me today. Also welcome on a drafty cold day.

Yes, this doesn't refer to the kind I cooked, but it's all good.

And creatively speaking, this is possibly me in a previous existence

Happy day everyone, make stuff and decide its fate! 

And let's hope for the best for Ukraine's fate.

Hardanger, applique, fast food, and tea

While I was pawing through materials in search of the Tunisian crochet hook, about which more later, I found this sample of hardanger I stitched yea these many years ago.

I dyed it with tea to knock down the whiteness and age it a bit.

And here's where we are with the stitching

Some sashiko got in there. One more block and that's the first of three columns completed.

Meanwhile upstairs the rug is coming along. 

I'm seeing the end of the supply of roving now, which, as much as the warp length, may dictate the size. The wire needle is okay, but a bit flexible, so today I'm going to use one of my long Tunisian crochet hooks to draw weft through, and we'll see.

Handsome son visited yesterday for tea, card, present and plum crumble on the patio, lovely afternoon. When I mentioned the rug, he instantly said how will you make it nonskid, joining the chorus who are convinced I'm going to crash out and break something as soon as I step on it. I think I'll stitch some of that nonskid shelf lining to it.

Later Gary presented me with a bunch of fresh cut celery, the stems of which are a bit bitter, but they're now in the stock bag in the freezer, while the leaves are also bagged and frozen for future cream of celery soup.

Caro, this one's for you, fast food for lunch, sharp cheddar and foraged tomatoes on toast, romaine side. 

With the hand hemmed napkin formerly lost under the old fridge.

A couple of people were unfamiliar with the honesty plant whose seedpods I showed you yesterday, so here's more

It's a pretty flower in spring, then lovely seedpods later.

Happy day, everyone, and when a recipe says cups, tablespoons, etc, they're statutory measurements, not just whatever spoon or cup you have lying about! This has come up in rl and online. It's the English language getting everyone all confused again. 

Enjoy your Sunday,  well, Monday for some and go Spain!! First time winners of the World Cup.  What a day for them. Close, tense match. Class play.

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