Highland Games and the Bluebonnet Tartan

I'm finishing the Bluebonnet tartan shawl I started to weave for the 2010 Highland Games. This has been an interesting journey for me. I decided last year that I wanted to weave a sash or shawl in the Bluebonnet tartan, and that I wanted to try weaving it in bamboo. Bamboo is kind of the new "wonder fiber." I have sheets and towels of it for both home and the boat, and it's been available for spinners and weavers for a while now. It's an interesting fiber - behaving much like silk in some ways.  Last year, I wove a shadow weave shawl from Bamboo 7 (15 EPI) which is gorgeous.  Okay, I haven't finished the fringe yet, but it IS a gorgeous shawl.  Last year, I wove a Hume tartan scarf in Scottish wool for the 2009 Highland Games. It turned out beautifully, but kind of scratchy and very warm for this climate.  I decided to go for Bamboo 12 (30 EPI) to see how it would work.  The short version is that the shawl worked beautifully, but what a journey!

Saturday at the Games was busy.  We had more people come by the booth that one day than came the entire weekend in 2009.  At least it felt that way. One of the questions I was commonly asked was where to buy Bluebonnet tartan items. It's a beautiful tartan and many people wanted to buy it. Handwoven items are too expensive for most people to buy and I only weave for love. So on Sunday morning, I went to ask one of the vendors at the Games if he sold the Bluebonnet tartan. Wrong! In my memory, I see this image of a man getting crazier by the moment, threatening me with all sorts of dire consequences simply because I was weaving a tartan. Yes, I researched the tartan before I warped the loom.  No, I could find nothing that indicated that I couldn't weave the tartan, especially for demonstration purposes. I should have been calm, but his craziness caused me to be unsettled for the rest of the day.  Hmm.... That's giving him too much power over me.

In spite of the insanity, the day progressed well enough. I had tension problems the entire weekend. The left side of the weaving was slacker than the rest of it, for no reason that I could see. When I started, the tension was very even. When I removed the shawl from the loom later, I discovered that I had not triple-knotted the warp onto the front lease stick on the left side - exactly the threads that slackened. Note to self: bamboo is slippery and has to be triple-knotted at least! However, the finished product didn't look bad, so I think I dodged the bullet on this one.

After the games and as a result of the "crazy man" I started on a quest to learn as much as I could about the Bluebonnet tartan. It's been an interesting journey of its own and I met some wonderful people along the way. I also have a new destination - the Tartan Museum in North Carolina. Who knows where my weaving journey will take me!

More later!  It's time to get going with Easter dinner.

A Greenhouse Update

The wind is dropping, the sun is out (which will make it bitterly cold tonight), the greenhouse is up and the plants are in. It's already much warmer in the greenhouse than outside, even though it has no insulation. I'd forgotten how much I love being inside a greenhouse. It's peaceful, warm, moist and alive!  Hopefully, the plants (the lime tree, olive tree, jasmine and herbs) will be happy there, too.

Epiphany and Socks

George's socks are coming along with the first sock completed and the second one about halfway through the arch expansion.  I'm using the Philosopher's House Socks pattern from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways sock book. I have her newest sock book, and it looks interesting, but I can tell I'll need to sit with it and concentrate quite a bit. The New Pathways socks clicked (finally!) and I can now knit more or less without referring to the pattern all the time.  I even have great hopes of abandoning patterns altogether and just doing my own.

Yesterday was the first day I felt like anything after my cold.  Of course, I overdid it and am now back to feeling rotten. But yesterday was Epiphany and I got the urge to make my traditional prime rib dinner. Since I didn't start until late, and George got me an almost 5-pound roast, we ate late, but there it was. I didn't make Yorkshire Pudding, but did make a brown gravy from the drippings. I didn't feel up to making the King Cake, so it's in the oven now. When the children were little, I made a pound cake every Epiphany with an almond glaze on it. The first time, I planned to put a coin in the cake for them to find, but then thought the better of it. They might bite down on it and break those precious teeth! So I decided to hide an almond instead. But when I invited a friend with her two boys to have the dinner with us, I thought that I'd never explain to four very young children why one got the lucky almond, and the others didn't, so I laced that cake with almonds! Pound cake isn't a traditional King Cake in any culture, but it is in our house, and that's the only time I'll put the almond glaze on it.This year's King Cake is in the oven now and I'll make the almond glaze when it cools.

George is getting ready to bottle his first batch of double IPA, which ought to be exciting. Actually, it probably won't be, but he's using his new bottle washer for the first time and that might be exciting.

In gardening news, the pop-up greenhouse arrived today, a day late, but we probably won't put it up. With winds gusting up to 40 mph out there, the poor thing might blow away just as we're trying to get it anchored down. We'll set it up this weekend, perhaps, and try to get it going. I sometimes wish I had a few acres of land and no restrictions. I'd like to have a workshop for George, a permanent greenhouse, a small garden, and a little room for a few chickens. However, that's incompatible with life on a boat, so we'll see.

The hydroponics herbs are coming along nicely, except the parsley, which still stubbornly refuses to sprout. If it doesn't sprout by tomorrow, or if I don't see roots underneath, I'll probably try dropping another seed or two in the pod. The basils are sending out their second set of true leaves, the mint, thyme and dill are sending out their first set of true leaves, and the chives look very much like small chives. I'm looking forward to harvesting my own fresh herbs.

I had to give up on the idea of starting my seeds hydroponically this year. AeroGrow is out of units, having sold out for Christmas, and I'd need a second unit promptly. It will be time to start peppers soon and then tomatoes a couple of weeks afterwards. We are trying one of Burpee's seed starting kits that looks interesting and we set up florescent desk lamps in our "grow" corner. We've been trying them out with our microgreens and they obviously work. Probably next week will be the beginning of starting our few veggie plants for the spring. We're planning on several types of tomatoes, growing over the arbor where we had mandevillas last year, bell peppers, cucumbers and herbs.

The weather has been much colder than usual this year - or rather, much colder than it's been lately. I'll have to check NOAA and see what the records are for this time of year. A bad cold front is coming through now, with the temps due to get down into the 20's tonight and for the next few nights. This is very unusual for us and I'm worried about my new, young olive tree. Established olives can make it down into the teens, although they don't enjoy it much, but young trees usually need at least five years to mature before they're hardy enough to take temperature extremes. I think the pomegranate in the front yard will make it. George just suggested getting the greenhouse set up before the hard freeze tonight and setting a lamp in it to keep the temps up a bit. Since we won't hve a chance for solar heating to start working - no sun today - we'll be dependent on the power grid tonight.

Stay warm, everybody!

Getting Short Ribs and Tilapia Meuniere

Yes! In spite of colds, cold temperatures and other nastiness, we made it to the Pearl Market before opening today and got a couple of packages of short ribs.  I'm going to see if these are as wonderful as I've been led to believe.

In spite of the fact that we'd planned to spend New Years on the boat, we're at home. Both George and I are down with colds and we just didn't feel like being on the boat right now. We came home on New Years Eve and have stayed through the weekend. This means we went to the Pearl Market for our first farmer's market visit of the year, instead of the Austin market. Truth to tell, I'm not ill-pleased with being at the Pearl Market again. Some of our favorite vendors weren't there - the mushroom folks and the lamb folks weren't there, but our favorite goat cheeses, camembert cheeses, herb plants, grass-fed beef, eggs, and veggie folks were all there.  We walked out with our basket uncomfortably heavy and at least two bags in addition.

On the way home, we tried to calculate the percentage of our food now coming from local vendors. I'd say about 75% of our veggies, probably 60 - 75% of our meat, and maybe 40 - 50% of our cheese come from the market. Flours, spices and baking goods are still sourced out of state - except for locally produced cornmeal - and that's a significant percentage for us as we bake all our own bread. We are eating far more seasonally, which is something I've long wanted to do. I'm also learning, at long last, to think more in food. I find it surprisingly liberating to work around fresh foods I find at the market rather than work from recipes and try to find ingredients. I'm freeing myself from dependence on recipes and learning to cook by technique instead.

Tonight's supper was tilapia meuniere, made from tilapia caught fresh yesterday morning, packaged last night, purchased at the market this morning and cooked tonight. Nothing could be simpler, and I see why Julia Child raved over sole meuinere as her first meal in France. It's perfection!

One of the surprising benefits of becoming locavores - eating locally produced foods - is that we're developing relationships with the growers of our foods. I had a conversation with my favorite egg lady, who also has lots of veggies. She mentioned a kind of burgandy okra, which had me almost in tears.  My grandmother grew burgandy okra and passed seeds to me, which I've since lost. Seeing my look, she promised me burgandy okra - she'll grow it this year.

Bread isn't the only food we're making ourselves. I've been making many of our cheeses, having been introduced to The Cheese Queen through Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I've been making our mozzerella, yogurt, yogurt cheese and cottage cheese. I wish we could source local milk, but at least we have HEB's organic milk, which seems to work just fine. George has taken up beermaking - and thus far hasn't blown anything up! We're drinking his first project, a light German ale. It's okay, but I admit, I'm not a beer fan. He has a double hopped IPA in the fermenting vat at the moment. We'll see how it turns out. I'm growing our sprouts as they seem so much fresher than the ones at the store. I made Pad Thai with the first crop of mung bean sprouts and it was the best I've ever made! I got trays for growing our own microgreens as well.  I'll have to report back on them later. We're growing our own herbs hydroponically - a technique I want to learn more about as I may need the knowledge while cruising. Six of my seven herbs are up and doing well. The parsley is still on one of its seven trips to the devil and back, but I think it may be about ready to pop its head up.

As of today, we've eaten in a restaurant once in over a month... and I got sick from it. I don't know what's in restaurant food that upsets my digestive system, but it's something. I suspect preservatives. Other than coffee, which does tend to upset my system, I can cook as rich as I want at home and feel just fine. We've also moved away from eating any processed foods, no high-fructose corn syrup and no soybean oil. This isn't a vow of anything and I don't try to keep the kids from eating whatever they want... although I've noticed that they've lessened their dependence on processed foods. The shopping list, to which we all contribute, tells its own tale.  The food is undeniably better, too, which makes it easier to take each step, one at a time.

I'm fighting my cold with a remedy that at least makes me feel better, whether or not it actually helps my cold. I mix apple cider, the juice of a tangelo (from the market), a cinnamon stick, whole cloves, whole allspice, and about a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger, simmered together. It's warming and spicy and makes me feel better for at least as long as it takes to drink it!

In a knitting update, I finished both hats. The second was, indeed, a waffle hat which turned out quite well. I'm now at work on George's socks - a pair to replace the pair that had to be retired.  you can only darn socks if there's anything left for the darning to take hold of!  I may look at Elizabeth Zimmerman's socks with the sole knitted separately, so the sole can be removed and reknit as necessary.

More later about tomatoes, greenhouses, and reports from the herb front.

Furiously Knitting Hats

I'm truly furiously knitting hats as I need to get two done ASAP. They are intended for the children of a friend, both of whom are deploying soon.  I was over halfway through one of the hats I used to knit for the Ships Project when I suddenly got the inspiration to check Ships' site and see what was new with them. Yikes! Requirements have changed, so I had to abandon the HIP (Hat In Progress) and obtain a 100% wool that I thought had a fighting chance of making it through military laundry.  Yarn in hand, I discovered that the needles I wanted were in use on another project.  Sigh. Okay, I chose to use my KnitPicks Option kit with a long cable and magic loop the hat. Actually, it's far better as the Options are my favorite needles now anyway.  I do need to order longer cables as the longest that came with the set is just a bit too short and the longest cables I ordered in addition are suitable only for Mobius knitting. I started two different hats, the basic Ellen's Hat and a waffle hat that I've made in the past for Ships.  Neither one seemed to work.  I got on Ships again and found a spiffy cable hat pattern - Smariek Knit's 3AM Cable Hat. At least one hat will be the cable pattern.  Probably the other will be the waffle hat, but we'll see when I get this one finished.

I'm not in love with the yarn, Ella Rae Classic Superwash. It seems to stick between my fingers when I knit Continental, so I'm whipping these babies out English style. At the moment, I knit faster English anyway, although I'm catching up Continental. The Ella Rae is also prone to splitting, which is a nuisance, especially as I'm learning yet another new trick.

Last night as I was working on the hat, I came to the place where the first cable twist had to happen. However, I was on the couch, with Ming on my lap and George reading A Study in Scarlet. (We've gotten interested in re-reading Sherlock Holmes since we saw the movie!) One of the basic rules of life, as every cat staff knows, is that you cannot move a sleeping cat and Ming was peacefully asleep.  My cable needle was, as expected, on the other side of the room, well out of reach. Bleh! So I set down my knitting, took the book, and read it out loud to George as his eyes were getting tired anyway. We finished the story and gave it up for the night with the cable undone.

This morning my Knitting Daily post came flying into my inbox, as usual. Many times the post isn't anything I'm interested in. I always scan them, though as I've learned many useful tips from the posts. This time it contained a lesson in how to cable without a cable needle.  Woot! I've heard of cabling without a needle and have done it on very small twists, but I've never tried it on full-size cables. I watched the video, then watched it a second time, knitting in hand.  This is awesome!  I may give up my cable needles forever!  Anyway, I'm giving them up for this hat. I've scooted along on the hat and have hopes of finishing it tomorrow.  Since we're going to the boat, I'm hoping to finish both hats over the New Years break and get them mailed early next week. I'd cross my fingers, but it's awfully hard to knit with crossed fingers.

More later as we see how this all works.  Also more later about hydroponics, beer making, and becoming locavores...

Anchoring, Pressure Cookers and Alcohol Stoves

We spent part of this past weekend aboard Gypsea.  Maybe we should have spent the entire weekend as it was the first pretty weekend we've had in a while, but we had chores to do at the land-based home. We went to the Pearl Farmer's Market on Saturday morning instead of the Austin market. While the Austin market has more vendors, the Pearl market seems friendlier to us. We wanted our last market visit of the year to be the Pearl market. I didn't beat out whoever cleans the beef lady out of short ribs.  I'll perfect my technique next year!

We visited Yarnorama in Paige TX Saturday early afternoon. It's a great place and may well become one of my favorite LYS (Local Yarn Shops). She has an entire wall of spinning fiber. I walked out with two new spindles, two DVD's, two bags of fluff, and a skein of locally-produced yarn. One bag of fluff is a merino/yak blend, which just BEGS to be petted.  It's so soft. The other is a wool/bamboo/mohair blend. Both are spinning well on the spindles. Since spindle-spinning works on the boat with its limited space, I'm converting as much spinning as possible to the spindle.

We found ourselves on the boat by late afternoon. The first thing we discovered was that we were out of fresh water! Apparently, we'd used more last visit than we realized. After refilling the fresh water tank, I brought out the new 4-quart pressure cooker. Opinion among cruising cooks seems to validate the importance of a pressure cooker aboard a sailboat. Because it cooks so much more quickly, it uses less fuel. The new pressure cookers are much less scary and more safe than the older versions. I have a 6-quart model at home, but only find myself using it for dried beans. One of my current resolutions is to learn to cook in it. While we were shopping for "boat food", I carried the cookbook that came with the 4-quart model and chose ingredients for a kale-potato risotto. Later, on the boat with fresh water tank filled, alcohol pods filled and ingredients prepared, I waded into seeing how a pressure cooker would work on an alcohol stove. Let's merely say that it was the quickest, easiest, tastiest risotto I've ever made. In fact, with the pressure cooker, risottos become daily fare. Contrary to popular opinion among many sailors, the alcohol stove is a fine heat source.

Sunday morning found us rigging the anchor rode to the anchor and motoring out to the Sometimes Islands (at least the lake level is up so they're not the Sometimes Penninsula!) to practice anchoring. This was our first time to anchor since our advanced sailing classes, our first time to anchor Gypsea, and our first time without our instructor or other knowledgable person by our side.  It took us two tries, but we did it! The anchor didn't set the first time, but the second time I felt it hit bottom soundly.  It drug only a little as we backed away from it and then set securely.  We shut off the engine and proceeded to settle back to watch the afternoon sailboat traffic on the lake. I wandered below to fix lunch, this being the second time to prepare a full meal while not in the marina. As calm as the lake was, it's still a different ballgame to cook in the relative stillness of the marina as opposed to open water.  Lunch was farmer's market veggies with homemade hummus brought from home and a potato/cheese dish I made up on the fly with ingredients we had on board. It's such a luxury to sit in the cockpit on a sunny day in late December, eating lunch and watching the sailboats go by.  As the afternoon wore on, it got colder, so we pulled up the anchor and went back to the marina.

We opted to cook an early supper on the boat and then head home. We're finding that our desire to eat in restaurants has faded amazingly. We've been a month away from having anything in a restaurant and find we don't miss it at all. But this is another story entirely!

10,000 hours

Just finished my 7th pair of Cat Bordhi's Tibetan Socks. I finally found a good combination of needle size and yarn. Crystal Palace's Mini-Mochi, held double, on size 4 needles is perfect for me. They make thick, soft socks that slip comfortably over the heel, yet still fit elsewhere. The more subtle gradations in color are beautiful. As nice as the Tibetan socks are, I'm purposing a couple of skeins of yarn for nice, thick slipper socks to wear around the house.

I've committed to learning to knit Continental style as opposed to English. It's a major re-learn for me as I've knitted English style since I was 8 years old. I think Continental style will be easier on my aging hands and allow me to knit certain patterns faster. It's certainly not faster now, though! I'm early in my 10,000 hours to mastery!

I'm spending far more time spinning - some on the wheels but significantly more on drop spindles than I have in the past. Part of it is the colder, darker time of year that seems made for spinning! I like to imagine my antique wheels whispering to me about cold winter nights in their past, long before I ever sat to spin with them. Part of it is committing to master spinning on a drop spindle after reading Respect the Spindle. I sat in the doc's office, waiting for my Well Woman check yesterday, spinning away on a bottom-whorl Emily spindle. It's funny to see people trying so hard not to stare or talk to me, but curious. I probably should have elicited conversation, but I'm not yet at the point where I can spin with a spindle and chat easily. Also, spinning is a very Zen activity for me and I like being in the moment with it. I'm a little farther along in my 10,000 hours to mastery here.

More later about local eating, slow food, and farmer's markets.