'Tis The Last Rose of Summer...

Left blooming alone

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone.

-- Thomas Moore

Well, that might be a bit melodramatic, but the remaining climbing American Beauty rose threw out one bud after the Massacre, which bloomed yesterday. This variety isn't even a sport of the long-stemmed American Beauty red rose that so many people know, so the name tends to confuse people. This is a fantastic rose, however. It's an aggressive climber, tough as nails (with thorns that resemble them) and a bloom cycle at maturity that will cause traffic accidents.  It only blooms once a year, but it puts so much energy into that one flush that it puts repeat bloomers to shame. It's a healthy rose when it's not blooming and is perfectly capable of providing quite a bit of shade in an arbor.  That, of course, is what I was trying to accomplish.  This morning, I fed and re-trellised the remaining rose.  It's still coming over the the swing, doing its best to provide shade and doing a good job. So I got a photo of this remaining bloom. In my experience, it won't bloom again this year, but I could always be surprised.

Huge thanks to the staff at the Antique Rose Emporium for their wonderful sympathy and advice. I really didn't know what to do next - whether to "hoik" the roses (thank-you, Gertrude Jekyll), or to try and bring them back. The folks at the Emporium provided both psychological comfort and horticultural advice - feed 'em a little and pray a lot - they may well come back. The two roses I'm the most concerned about, Katy Road (Carefree Beauty) and the climbing American Beauty, are both strong roses and have a good chance of survival. So I fed 'em a little yesterday and am praying a lot.  We'll see.

Speaking of Gertrude Jekyll, I found a beautiful quote of hers:

In garden arrangement, as in all other kinds of decorative work, one has not only to acquire a knowledge of what to do, but also to gain some wisdom in perceiving what it is well to let alone.

-- Gertrude Jekyll

Felted Slippers

When the going gets tough, the tough knit... Slippers! I finished these for me and felted them. They're so thick, they're taking an age to dry, but they are so pretty! I started a set for George on Saturday. I'm getting the first one about done and will hopefully get 'em completed this week. It's awfully toasty now for felted slippers, but they'll be really nice come cold weather. 

At least it's pleasant now in the mornings to sit in the swing and watch the blue jays come for their peanuts.  They seem to have no fear of me as long as I just gently swing and don't move too much. They are the most incredible precision pilots! I do look forward to watching the young ones come with their parents a little later. The young ones won't do a fast approach and precision landing in the feeder. They'll land in the branches above the feeder and then drop down to it. I'm also looking forward to the young house finches coming to the smaller tube feeder. I've noticed that the male parent brings them. He'll feed them seeds at first and then teach them to get their own seeds from the feeder. I'm not sure why that's not Mom's job, but it isn't in that bird world.

Speaking of dinner, I'd probably better go start ours before too long.

Grieving for Things Lost

This has been an awfully difficult week. Of course, compared to many people, I have so much to be grateful for, and I am.  It's just that we've lost things and I feel like I need to grieve for them and then let go. Joseph got in an accident last Friday.  Thank God, he's okay and noone else was involved. He kept a worse accident from happening, and I'm proud of him for that.  However, the truck is totaled. It was 14 years old and gave 14 years of wonderful service. It was hard saying good-bye to it this afternoon.

And then the roses.  In fact, all my plants. My new neighbor who fancies herself a master gardener cut my roses down to the ground without even asking. Climbing American Beauty roses that took me four years to bring to their first year of blooming with the potential they have. Four years gone.  And worse, the roses may not live. This climate is far too hot to completely cut back roses now. It has to be done in February, if done at all, which climbing roses don't need. She cut off healthy growth.  I'm so angry and feel so violated.

Good-bye, beautiful rose! Right now, I just don't feel like even trying again. And yes, that's a statue of the Buddha beside the blue pot, which is a fountain in the summer. We were just about to start the fountains going again. Sigh. I'm trying to cling to the thought of the Buddha. I have so far to go!

Serious Nerd Mode, Booties, and the Celtic Braid socks

Bleh! I am so down! But I know it comes from going full-tilt at learning to code webapps for iPhones and the iPad. For a Windows girl, making the trasition is hard, but ultimately rewarding. I watched myself tackle it this time. First I tried coding a version of the corporate website in Dashcode, Apple's web development tool. It's awesome for designing the screen and for almost nothing else. I tried designing the screen in Dashcode, importing it into Visual Studio and coding it there.  Eventually, I might could have made it work, but it certainly didn't want to at first. I got on the internet, looking for help. Wow! If I Google something about .NET code problems, I get pages of answers. If I search for an Apple-related code problem, I get ads for DVD tutorials. I suppose the developer base just isn't out there. Finally, I ran across a book by a developer who 1) knows what he's doing and 2) has a good sense of humor about it. As of this afternoon, after a hard week of work, I have a viable iPhone/iPad website developed on the Mac... sort of. It was developed on the Mac, but the .Net code builds the page fragments which are volatile. It's probably a strange way to work, but it does work and works very well.  I, however, am not working all that well. I'm tired, drained, depressed, cranky and the whole bit. I think the term is "burned out."

When I'm going full-tilt like this, I don't balance anything well.  I don't take care of myself, the family, the house, nothing.  Everything tends to go to rack and ruin. I should probably work on that, although George is wonderful at picking up the slack. The up side is that I do learn and learn quickly so I have a viable skill pretty much at my fingertips. No, I don't learn quickly. I probably take as long as anybody else - I just do it all at once and get it over with!

But whether all this work will pay off is another matter. Is what I'm doing all that vital to the company? I don't know. Sometimes I think so. Sometimes not.  I guess we'll see.

Christine Bourquin's Stay-On Booties
I did manage to get a pair of booties knitted for some dear friends who are expecting their first. I adore this pattern. It was sent to Threads magazine in the late 80's by Christine Bourquin, 95-years-old at the time. She didn't want her pattern to die with her, so she freely shared it with the Threads community. I've made booties from it for years, but have always been afraid I'd lose the pattern.  I have two photocopies and the original cut from the magazine, but... I thought that I'd post it on Ravelry, just to be safe.  When I entered the project I thought, what the heck, I'd search for the pattern in their database.  Only a thousand other folks have made this pattern! Duh!  I guess I don't need to be afraid of losing it! I think Christine Bourquin is living on! I have made a few changes in the pattern.  I do a provisional cast-on and then pick up the provisional stitches when I'm picking up around the sole to knit in the round. I still knit these booties on 5 double-point needles.  One of these days, I'm going to try knitting them Magic Loop.  Today wasn't the day.

I'm not totally in love with the yarn as it snags too easily, but it is soft and pretty for little footies. In looking for more information about the booties, I ran across a blog where the knitter chose to make i-cord ties instead of the crocheted ties suggested in the pattern.  Much better!  Also, since the horizontal ribs on the foot hold the bootie on, the cuffs above the ties can be anything. I've seen them done in ribbing, but I didn't like it much. I think I'll try doing them in lace.  It should be pretty. Oooooo, or maybe cables and braid for Celtic babies! (Or maybe I'll just leave the pattern alone.)

Celtic Braid Socks
I'm making some progress on the Celtic Braid socks, but they're still boring.  The foot section is pretty much ribbing on the instep and plain on the sole. The fun doesn't start until after the heel.  Of course, the pattern was originally written cuff-down.  I'm knitting them toe-up so I'm having to re-engineer them a bit. I have great faith in them, though. I'll choose one of the arch expansions in Cat Bordhi's book, do the heel and then get to start the braid on the legs.

Maybe I'll spend some time this weekend warping the 4-harness loom. I'd like to get finished with it, so I can start the weaving. Handwoven has great articles on double-weave this month.  Oh no!  More projects!!

Too Many Projects!

I should realize by now that I tend to go into some kind of hyper-mode when I finish a major project, such as the Highland Games. I didn't go as much into hyper-mode after the St. Francis In The Wood Renaissance Faire because I knew I had the games to get ready for (not to mention a major systems conversion). However, since the Games, I've been going projecct-crazy.

I think it's because I can't decide what I want to do next. With so many memories from the last event, I churn out tons of new projects, or decide to revive shelved or forgotten projects. The ideas flood for a time, and I start, or work on, lots of projects. Some stay to completion (or live in a basket awaiting completion). Others get unraveled and go back into storage. So from the Games I have the following:

Weaving
The 4-harness loom is finally getting the lace shawl out of Aunt Lydia's Crochet Bamboo. This project is in the December (I think) 2009 edition of Handwoven. With the economy being so bad, they did a section of projects with inexpensive yarn. I would have completely overlooked the Crochet Bamboo, but it is gorgeous! I wove a couple of bookmarks on the rigid heddle loom (double heddles) with it and they turned out quite well. I have high hopes for the shawl.

The 8-harness loom is by-golly going to get the Peacock Shawl, from one of Handwoven's booklets. I have the kit in Bambu 12 and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I haven't started warping it yet as the warping rack is busy with the Crochet Bamboo.

Because warping is such a major deal, I tend to put off weaving projects. That has to change. I love weaving so much, but only remember when I'm actually at the loom. Sooner or later, it will become an obsession and I won't need to remember!

Oh! The 16" rigid heddle has a set of CotLin log cabin dishcloths on it. Since the 16" Harp is destined for the boat, so are the dishcloths. I'm not best pleased with how they're turning out. CotLin may not do well on a rigid heddle with the heddles doubled. I obviously need to work more on it.

Knitting
Oh my gosh!  Let's see... Projects Galore.

I started a set of kilt hose for George using the Knit Picks kit. He likes to wear his UtiliKilt, but it can be a bit cold. I want these socks to be done prior to the Central Texas Renaissance Faire. He probably won't wear his kilt then, but they should go well with his Ren pants. I'd imagine he'll need socks in November!

I also started a set of Philosopher's House socks for him after he almost immediately wore a hole in the sole of the socks I made him during the winter. At least I'm going to get a lesson in darning socks as I try to repair the original pair. They were made of a wool/acrylic blend, which I suspect, along with wearing them outside on rough concrete, may have had something to do with the hole.

Then I started a set of Celtic Braid socks for me. I spin and weave barefoot. This is partly because I want to feel the treadles better and partly because I don't want to grind dirt into the treadles. I have a set of hand-knit ankle socks dedicated to spinning and weaving, but they're a bit too modern for demonstrations. These socks aren't kilt hose, but they are very Celtic inspired. Right now, they're just at the toe expansion, so there aren't any photos. I'll add some later.

And while visiting my fave LYS, I saw some unspun Icelandic roving. Woot! I've been looking for it for years! I started Cheryl Oberle's Feather and Fan shawl, but casting on almost 400 stitches with unspun roving is a chore. I assume I'll be able to do it some time, but I switched to the Feather and Fan triangle shawl. I tried knitting double-stranded, but I think it looks better in single-strand. I do think casting on double stranded helps a bit. We'll see how this one goes. I love the Evilla PreYarn. It has all the lanolin left in the roving, so it has that wonderful lanolin smell. I know some people hate it, and some people are allergic to it. Thank Heaven I'm not allergic to it, because I love it!

And if that weren't enough (and it probably isn't everything), I started a Alberta Faroese shawl from Myrna Stahman's book. I've wanted one forever and decide to use a handspun single yarn I bought ages ago. I had started another shawl on our summer trip two or three years ago.  It because an abandoned project for some reason. Although I love Old Shale lace, this shawl pattern didn't do much for me. So I frogged it a few days ago and am now plunging into the mysteries of Faroese shaping. The Alberta shawl uses fir cone lace, which vies for being my favorite pattern. This yarn also has the lanolin left in. I bury my face in it while I'm knitting to smell that wonderful sheep/lanolin smell.

I think that's all the projects for now.  Okay, it probably isn't.  I haven't even started on the spinning projects! I wonder which ones will see completion and which will get boring and be abandoned. Only time will tell.

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!