C of the W, October, puzzle farewell

Yesterday's walk was a great October golden adventure, best October ever

Complete with a whole new highly colored explosion of chicken of the woods, same location but I think a new fungus, much bigger, many layers, appeared since the day before. The camera didn't pick up the brilliant orange colors 

Vintage stuff. Not a mast year this year, few acorns or nuts, but evidently a great bracket fungus year. I'd like to try Sally Pointer's acorn coffee but that may be for another year.

The flock of  yellow rump warblers is still around, plenty of insects in the warm damp weather. Despite sheer curtains, one hit the window but bounced off and kept going.

Meanwhile celebrate what's at hand. Today I'm off to offer the completed Parrot Puzzle to the library for its borrowing collection, and check out another one, preferably fully interlocking, no sneaky bits. No parrots either.

Today's Haggard Hawks is a nine letter word starting HE, ending AT. I guessed hempcheat, one who escapes hanging, which is far too niche, turns out it's much more common, oh well. You try it  

And here's to knitters

Happy day everyone, enjoy whichever season your hemisphere is in.  

Textiles and Tea, separated socks

Yesterday's Textiles and Tea featured a master of katazome dyeing, John Marshall, and sent me down a rabbit hole of Japanese dyeing techniques. Quite a departure for the weavers watching him.

It's a process where rice flour paste is used as a resist, and natural dyes create the design. He studied it for years in Japan and his work is stunning.

The vivid colors are natural dyes, but not all from plants. He also uses cochineal, from beetles, and mineral colors, as well as plant dye from indigo.

 He wrote a book on indigo dyeing, and I found a YouTube video where he gives a step by step of the process. 

I have a katazome piece made in Japan

Much simpler design than his, but you see the idea.

And of course I had to check on other videos about stencil cutting, so long since I did any.

Then it was back to earth and separating socks.

Here's the completed enclosed tube

And here's the separated pair, ready for me to pick up stitches and knit the ribbed cuffs

Then I'll send off the completed pairs and think about what's next.

Handsome Son and I had a great visit, with Diwali tealights lit, pot of tea and he had the last paneer cookie, plus pumpkin walnut bread and pumpkin cranberry muffins, and declared it all good. I forgot pictures in the business of enjoying it all.

He also took boxes to continue his decluttering bit by bit. Now that I've undertaken to fo the disposal by Freecycle and thriftie, it's moving along a bit better. 

Happy day everyone! Try a new thing, cut stencils, make something. Or just read. Or sit. Whatever you need to do. Just enjoy what you can in worrying times. We may as well.

 

Comfort food, puzzling triumph, fog

Yesterday was all about rain, all day, with intervals of heavier rain.

So lunch was green powerhouse, spinach and leek, soup, with cheddar stuffed pita bread toasted to crisp.

I bless the day that nice lady upped her toasting game and freecycled her toaster oven to me.  It's in daily use.

I thought I'd give a bit more information about the  Works of Mercy, the spiritual ones being a bit above my pay grade,   the corporal ones more my speed 

And, Ruffles and Flourishes, name of the tune that usually precedes the arrival of the President , but here it's for the Parrot Puzzle 

Now complete in her jungle getaway, look at that bamboo. The last corner took an age to complete. I tried many permutations until all the pieces fitted, after a long time spent putting right up to the last piece which just lt wouldn't sit.  All parts interchangeable, colors all dark, arghghgh.

It was a fiendish puzzle, with many parts with wavy edges instead of locking bits, and pieces with straight edges which were not edge pieces. That's why the frame wasn't possible ahead of time. I think I'll avoid Schmidt puzzles, they don't play fair!

But now I can donate it, knowing it's complete. Gladly. And while I was wondering about the world of puzzling I found this

I have refrained from giving my bitter answers, leaving that to you, dear blogistas. 

Last evening we had exciting street fireworks for Diwali. I neglected to celebrate in here yesterday, but did message Indian friends. 

When handsome Son comes over, I'll light the tealights Girija gave me, for a belated observance with our tea and little something.  It's a lovely feast, of the triumph of light over dark, good over evil. We certainly need that right now more than ever.

Beautiful morning, warm and foggy, like being inside a Japanese woodblock print.

Happy day everyone, enjoy your own version of fireworks, celebrate the light, avoid mean puzzles!

Photo AC 

Sock Ministry and VoxTox

Here's where the latest socks, two in one, are

That white section is the separation point, where I'll take the two socks apart. It's where cuffs will be knitted after separation. Right now I'm up to foot two,  sock two, heel complete, on the way to the toe.

New readers, the destination for all the socks other than the very occasional pair for the knitter, made from non-ministry yarn,  is a ministry to the homeless and addicted, often both, north of here. 

A van of nuns, who have been nurses and social workers, goes out and works on the street, bringing medical and other practical attention to people in desperate need. 

Socks, well made, comfortable, are a regular need, so I've taken that on. I found nobody in the religious community, who also knit with donated yarn, can knit socks. They were given some beautiful sock yarn and appealed in the newsletter for help. An opportunity made for the likes of me.

So this year I've been doing it, and this is probably Pair Nineteen, lost track a while ago.  

I'm not a member of any religion, but I do observe the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, which are just pretty much what a decent person would do without knowing about them! Not wishing to sound holy, I'm far from it, just that's how it fits into my life.

I'm isolated by age and circumstances, aside from the pandemic which simply formalized my normal life, but this Ministry enables me to be connected in an important way beyond just words on a screen, important as they too are.

While I knit, only for a while each day, many other things going on around here, I listen to audiobooks and YouTube.

I'm revisiting VoxTox at the moment, a great series of short videos Sandi Toksvig, brilliant comic, historian, archaeologist, writer, woman of many parts, made daily, to help people through lockdown. The dog is Mildred 

Take a look. She discontinued the series once things opened up again in Britain where she lives, but the series, loads of episodes, is still there and worth catching. Since it's largely verbal, about books and history,  you can do other things without missing anything.

Happy day everyone, ending here as Sandi does: take care, be kind!

Short life of fungi, also muffins

Yesterday I went to get more pictures of the chicken of the woods which had been exploding on all sides of the fallen logs, and found it has a very short life.

Wonderful October day

Where there had been big brackets, only a couple of shriveled little bits remained.

A short and vivid life. I also noticed a downed tree trunk from a couple of seasons ago showing what I think is damage from Sandy. 

That twisting happened to a lot of mature trees from the force of the storm, bringing them down all around us. Think Ian, only over my house.

The short and merry life meme can't be said of the endless jigsaw puzzle about the parrot. After about three months of occasionally managing to get a piece in, I'm here

I may have to apply for an extension of my lease on life to finish it. But I'm less convinced that there are pieces missing now that the choices are fewer and the discoveries easier. I puzzle while my tea's brewing. It may take a vat of tea to get there.

And as a change of pace, I marked out the lines for overstitching around edges of the upcycled vest.*  The lines are done in ink which disappears in heat, so if they don't disappear with handling, ironing will do it.

And since the pumpkin walnut bread was so great, completely displacing banana bread as a go-to, I thought I'd make it again, but ended up changing it.

It became pumpkin cranberry muffins, same batter, higher oven temp, shorter baking. Handsome Son is visiting tomorrow, so he'll have a selection of paneer cookies, the last one, pumpkin walnut bread and pumpkin cranberry muffins.  I don't think he comes for the food, but it doesn't hurt.

Rain today,  and I still haven't put on the heating, mild October despite recent light frosts.

Happy day everyone, enjoy your stitching and knitting and cooking and puzzling and walking, or just sitting peacefully on the sofa not bothering anyone.

*New readers: this is made from an upcycled pair of jeans, and lined with sari fabric. I'm a hand stitcher. Anyway this is a way to stabilize the lining at the same time as echoing the sashiko stitching on the back, as well as the running stitches on the original pockets.

Vote. It's important for Ukraine as well as many other causes, that we keep the House and Senate.

Knitting mad skillz

Yesterday's knitting group yielded great stuff, look

Designed by the knitter, this cotton adapted shrug has sections of many stitch patterns which my picture doesn't show well

 Same knitter adapted a pattern, incorporated icord edges and changed up the fronts

Another knitter now on the first sleeve of this lovely sweater, look at the color gradation, done by her choosing yarns to blend  The rest of us were working on things you've seen before, no need to duplicate here.

Talk ranged from auto immune diseases, Sandy Toksvig, QI, crickets in the house, scavenging great stuff from city streets, flea markets we have known.  Just another meeting of like minded people.

The chicken of the woods bracket fungus I showed you the other day has now multiplied all over the fallen tree trunks, but the light was too harsh to see to get pictures. I tried and missed. Maybe another day.

Happy day everyone, leaving you with important knitting

Spanish stew and two, count them, memorial plantings

Yesterday I tried a Spanish recipe from  Spain on a Fork, the YouTube channel, chickpea stew, which has a posh Spanish name, too.

I had to make stock first, using the clippings in the freezer, which included parsley stems, good because it was an ingredient which I didn't have.

It's an interesting series of steps, from toasting blanched almonds with garlic,  pounding to a paste,  grating tomatoes, here I used green ones from Gary,  not a quick recipe, more one where you enjoy the process.

Stock simmering, and almonds in boiling water ready to blanch 

Almonds and garlic with scallions sauteing 

Almonds, garlic, salt, basil, pounded together then tomatoes added then chickpeas 

Simmered for 25 minutes 

I had to sub a bit, scallions and fresh basil for parsley, green tomatoes for red, because it's what I had.

And it turned out so much more full of flavor than I'd expected, just great. Definitely to make again. Sprig of basil on top.

This recipe made three large bowls or more helpings if you're serving sides. In the absence of crusty bread to mop up all the liquid, I used a spoon.

Then I had the energy to do the snowdrop plantings, small but emotionally very taxing.

It turned into two memorials because I got an invitation to the memorial lunch for the friend who died right at the time Irene died. Can't risk an indoor gathering with no masks because of food, in flu season, so I made a substitute.

I let the hostess know I would dedicate one group of flowers to her sister, the other to mine. She's very happy about this. My front door, where Diane's flowers will be, is in sight of the house a third sister lived in, another close friend who allowed me to help when she was dying at home. There's a history. 

Then I planted the other group on the patio where I'll see them from the sofa.

Front door group 

Ground turned ready at the front door 

Here's the deck out back 

On left, seen between the houseplants 

On left next to the lavender plant the front door group. I sent this picture to Diane's sister.

After this I retired to the sofa for a cup of tea,a paneer cookie, and a little cry.

Just two small areas but in January they'll start sending up the first flowers of the year.

Happy day everyone, plant, and live,  in hope,