Knitting Again - and dancing too.

A wonderful thing happened when I snuck out of set dance on Saturday at lunchtime - I went to LK Yarns in the Hydrostone and they had the Balmoral yarn I'd used for K's hat and mittens - and they had it in the purple I used! Glory! So I finished off her mittens. The missing one can show up now if it wants to. The mittens and hat turned out to be useful, as it snowed! in Halifax on Saturday night, so we got up on Easter Sunday to a snow-covered world.
   We went to Sage (Saege, if I knew how to make a dipthong) for Easter Brunch and it was lovely! One of those all-you-care-to-eat things with literally everything you would ever want to try.  The only bad thing I had was a slice of ham that was a bit grisle-y. I had a egg Benedict and skipped the English muffin on the bottom to save room for more interesting things, and I must say that the hollandaise sauce was something I really didn't enjoy. It's amazing that they can do them and hold them at just the right consistency. The egg was perfect. There was also lot of fresh fruit and a really nice bread with apples inside and mini Easter eggs on top, which I had twice. Delicious.
    But there was salmon - smoked and baked - leg of lamb, a veggie pasta - luckily Katie eats fish so she was fine. And the dessert buffet was grand too - I had a slice of lemon cake and some homemade gelato - vanilla and raspberry. Delicious! We may need to try making this at home.
By the time we were finished eating, the sidewalks were clear of snow and by the end of the day it was mostly gone. We found a bit of blowing snow on the Cobequid Pass but after that there was a lot more snow on the ground but none in the air, thankfully. There was quite a bit on the Island, though!
    The new car - we are calling her Brigid - has cruise control, and that made the drive much more enjoyable. It's amazing how much work is involved, accelerating and decelerating all the time. It's meant to be good for mileage too. I found it a bit stressful on the divided highway, if you got up behind someone going slowly and the passing lane was occupied. And left-hand descending turns (especially in the hills) were a bit white-knuckle - I must usually slow down going into them, because my brain was saying "too fast! too fast!" all the time. But I learned to hang grimly on and I was fine.
    We were 12 Islanders at the event, and I think it would have been a pretty small gathering if we hadn't been there! Of course the locals can drop in and out as other priorities take over, while we are all there to go to the event exclusively. Pat is talking to Elizabeth about coming at another time of year - possibly the Labour Day weekend, as he is free for the first couple of weeks of September, and then he could tour around in some better weather than most Easters in the Maritimes can provide. It sounds like a good idea, as we never have anything special to do then. We will have to come up with something else to do at Easter! Now that Pat is retired, he doesn't have the Easter holiday to save up, and I am sure he could spend time with his family too! He may be thinking that there will be more people around then as well. I wonder if they are thinking of starting this year?

Easter in Halifax again

We're off with quite a big group of our set dancers to see Pat Murphy in Halifax http://www.setdancingns.com/easterweekend.htm for the Easter weekend. I must remember to google Pat and see if we can guess which dances are "hot" at the workshops he's given recently - I promised I would do that in time for class tonight.
I was quite right about the plants in the cold frame - dead as door-nails. Ah, well -plenty of time to start again. I bought Burpee seeds for peppers yesterday - two kinds of hot (Jalapeno and mixed) and sweet, mixed colours. I hope *they* survive.
I've begun to fix up the greenhouse again - bought two pieces of conduit to replace the broken one and the one that's bent the worst - and I have strapping to brace them more thoroughly this time. I may be back in the greenhouse business again! But the weather is *not* conducive to being out - we are having the "March" winds in April this year - the horrible cold northerly ones that keep the temperature just above freezing. Brrr.  It's not fit to be out!
In the bathroom I have finished the seam-filling in the closet and put up the shelf supports - carefully measured and level as I can make them. I bought the 1x3 oak to make the frame for the doors, and decided to build it into a face frame - cutting carefully first and then drilling and screwing it together before fastening it to the shelf supports and the shelves. This should take care of the problem of there being nothing to nail the frame to at the top. I think the table in the garage will be big enough to assemble and screw it together - I could even glue it! I'm just paranoid that I'll make it and it won't fit ;-(.
But I'll go slowly and carefully and perhaps the worst won't happen!!

March - Going out like a Lion!

     Well, we have been so blessed with weather this year that, when March came in like a Lamb, I thought of the old rhyme and said to myself, "That will never happen this year...we actually had three wonderful days last week - 20 + degrees! - so I believed it to be all over but the shouting.
       However, Monday brought threats of snow (5-10 cm. Peanuts!) and a wind warning. That was the real Lion. Tuesday it raged all day, and today there are drifts like we haven't seen all winter. 

Would you believe that I set up a cold frame last week by the little deck, with seedlings (cucumbers and zucchini) as well as several geraniums which had been overwintering in the office and taking up lots of space?  It's under this drift. I don't dare open it to see what has survived (if anything) because it might freeze the plants. Snow insulates, right? I had taken out my little patio table to do potting on, and it's up to its knees in snow too. And its grout is still not sealed. It's standing on the little deck.
      Luckily while all this weather is keeping me indoors, I have had an indoor project to work on. We have the new washer hooked up in the new bathroom (and the toilet. They are the only things in there that are in working order at the moment).    
       So, what needs to be done is: build a half-wall to create space for a linen closet at the end of the tub as well as a "cradle" to hold the tub.

Ladder in soon-to-be linen closet - 32 x 26 x 96!

     Then, we have to get the dryer hooked up (means getting the electrician to move the 220-volt receptacle to the new bathroom (from the basement) and then we can stack them up with the stacking kit. Then we have to build another half-wall to separate the washer-dryer from the area where the vanity will go, then build or buy a vanity. Then have the plumber back to hook up the tub and sink, and then we tile around the tub, paint, and decorate, and then we're done. Why is everything so complicated?
     So far I've built the wall for the linen closet and put up the gyproc on both sides. I'm at the stage where I seam-fill a corner and have to wait for it to dry before I can seam-fill an adjacent corner. And I have to buy three of the edge guards because I could only find one in the basement - I never even thought to check because we've had this big stash of them since we built on to the house in 91-92. But now we're out!

The washer is hooked up. The dryer will go on top later.

     I am really impressed with the washer - having it on the main floor is great, first off - you feel you can wash anytime! Then, the clothes come out quite dry already, so it doesn't take long in the (old) dryer to dry them. I did hang out a batch while the weather was good last week, but it didn't dry terribly quickly - we need to move the clothesline to where the wind has more impact. And I suppose I could have put them out in the morning and they would have had a better chance. It was when a lot of snow was melting too, so there was a lot of moisture in the air. Oh well, they *were* dry the next day!

Felted!

Manipulating the vessel

I am trying something new - to me - wet-felting using a resist. I started with slippers, which were a complete failure, mainly because I didn't have the right sort of resist - sheet plastic *doesn't* work. I think the fleece was also too wet and not soapy enough. I tried again yesterday, after cutting my losses with the slippers (and a lot of roving down the drain, so to speak).

Unsuccessful slipper

It *looked* all right, but it just wasn't sticking together properly, and it was really wet, even when I left it overnight. It was soggy and falling to bits when I unwrapped it the next morning.

However, I did learn a lot; and when I checked the internet again I found a couple of great tutorials and followed one to make a 'vessel' using a resist. Now, a felt pot isn't a terribly useful thing (though I suppose I could make some felt flowers to put in it!) but it was at least a success. I need a lot of things to make the next one better (including a baby rattle if I can find one of the right shape). And then I may be ready to try slippers again.

Roving, dyed by me!

Making the pot used a surprising amount of roving, so I am going to look for some big turkey-cooking size pans, and see if I can't make more of each colour than I have been. And then I suppose it's back to the Mill to get some more fleece! This is the left-over roving in the colours I used for the pot. I have quite a lot of greens, so I suppose the next pot, or the slippers, will be greens. I think I need to add some more blues to my palette. And have a whole lot more fun.

Next up: Nuno felting. Now *that* looks like a lot of fun.

Success!

Snow Day!

     See. I said the winter wasn't over yet. We had a snow day - the kind the teachers & kids have been praying for all winter.

   I actually took a snow day - didn't go in and tutor, even though  today is my usual day. I was waiting for Rush Transfer to deliver the washer and dryer, so the weather wasn't too bad for them to be out, even though the schools were closed. In fact, just before noon our snowplow guy came in and did the usual job on the "lane" - actually this year he has been plowing the whole *yard*.

       Worked out well, as the delivery truck arrived shortly after and they were very pleased to have all the room. They tried to back up to the door and got stuck! I so should have taken a picture. The machines are HUGE and gorgeous, not hooked up yet of course, so just for looking at so far.

Pale "Moon Blue"

     I spent some of the day dyeing roving - I tidied up the craft area downstairs, looking for the Jacquard acid dyes I'd bought from Knit Picks some time ago - and didn't find them immediately, but found some ancient boxes of Rit, and instructions online on how to do oven-dyeing. The suggestion was to use aluminum roaster pans but I just got out the Pyrex. You soak the wool, pour on the dye and cover with foil, then put it in the oven at 150 degrees C. for an hour. I did a dark green and a "moon blue". The blue was a cold water dye and is the palest for sure.

      You check for clear water, which is a sign that the dye is exhausted, but I think I had too much dye for the amount of roving each time. Less dye next time! I washed quite a bit of it down the sink. My weighing machine needs new batteries, so I don't know how much of each I dyed, but it was such a rush to do it that I want to do it again! I have been watching a YT video on making felted slippers - these you don't have to knit first, and they are hand-felted so there is more control. Probably less sturdy, but there's a lot of room for embellishment and so on.  Can't wait to get started!

Purple and bright!

    After I did the first two colours, I searched some more and found the acid dye tidily put away in a box - so I cleaned out the pans, soaked another two pansful of roving, and did a bright green and a really bright purple (2 t. fuschia and 1/4 t. cobalt) - again, too much dye. Tomorrow I am going to try to make pastel colours.

The dye actually *boils* in the oven, but because the wool is kept really still, and gradually brought up to temp and then down again, it doesn't felt. Amazing.

Even more wintry weather!

     We've had a daddy of a snowstorm and now can boast quite a covering of snow. It was followed by a couple of days of -15 degrees with real wind chill so the snow has solidified, even though it was followed by a daytime temperature of +7 - down to a more reasonable -3 today but still lovely for going for a walk outside.

   While walking, I listened to a couple of "Gardener's Corner" podcasts from January, 2011, where they (amusingly) talked about the winter being nearly over - and flowering winter shrubs! No wonder our ancestors found Canada such a harsh environment. No, winter is not nearly over. We sometimes say that during the St. Patrick's Day snowstorm, but that's a month away yet.
     My poor greenhouse (polytunnel really) is still a sad sight, with lots of snow covering the plastic, pulling it down, the ends blown out, and many of the plastic conduit poles down - I fear to go out and see how bad it is. Obviously it's not sturdy enough for our dreadful winters. I should have taken the cover off, and then the structure would have been safe. A harsh lesson.
     Knitting continues apace. I have been making felted slippers again, and have rediscovered a couple of felted bags made a couple of years ago and never finished. I'm thinking seriously of embellishment, and have signed up to the "Ambrosia Cottage" group on Ravelry - the owner sells hat patterns to knit and felt, and posts pictures of the embellished results. This could be where my beading skills will come in handy.

The slippers are made of Patons Soy Wool, which I bought in large supply a couple of years ago in pound bags from the mill. They start out quite big and baggy - these ones are sized to end up at 7-1/2 - but they felt down quite quickly. I put them in a hot wash and they just needed to go through one cycle. 
I've been needle-felting insoles in my slippers (after they have been are felted) and that's quite satisfying, as well as being a great decoration method. Quite quick as well.  I am just using some carded locks, which I have had ever since I learned to spindle-spin many years ago (in the first crafts revival of the Seventies). Ah the memories.

  The soles needle-felt right down to a cozy and fluffy insole. Now, to figure out what to do to make the soles wear...having tried the caulking gun (and discovering that the stuff wears off quite quickly, or doesn't penetrate the fibre and picks off) I think for this time I'm going for something sewn on. Recommendations range from shelf- or rug-liner to suede or untrasuede (purchased second-hand). I do have a tube of puffy paint too, and I suppose I might try it - it's black, though, so I won't be doing it on these babies.

This are the 7-1/2s with insole, and the red-orange ones will end up at size 9-9-1/2. I have another bigger pair with black soles and another stripey yarn on the tops. I like the little semi-circle of sole that comes to the top of the toe - they look like old-timey rubber-soled sneakers.
      I should say that the pattern for these slippers is "Duffers - revisited" and I bought it from the designer, Mindie Tallack, on Ravelry. I am becoming a true fan of this online buying of patterns - just click and it's in your email - or, if you buy through Ravelry, it's in your Ravelry Library.  I am sure people have been doing this for years for music and movies on iTunes, but it's new and thrilling for me. 
   We finally got to  go to dance again - Fred's work and snowstorms kept us away for three weeks, so it was great to get back. Work at the fabric store has kept me from ballroom dance, however (three weeks of being scheduled for 5-9 on Thursday nights!) but this week I'm on for Sunday afternoon (so as to miss dancing at the pub!) and all day Wednesday instead. I may not have the energy to dance at Irish after being on my feet for 8 hours! But it is simply great to not have any responsibility. And there are plenty of fabrics to drool over - and buy - as well.  I got a big bolt of lambswool interlining - regularly priced at $21.99/metre - for $10 the lot. I don't know what the future holds for it, but it will make many warm things. Or perhaps many things warmer.

Winterish

    The much-ballyhooed January storm didn't arrive, but we did get one on February first. It was my first day of work at the fabric store, and I was allowed to leave a few minutes early, although I didn't actually get *home* early as I had to wait for Fred's car pool to arrive... we ended up at home by 6. However, the power was out, so we couldn't cook, and the house was cool-ish. We lighted all the candles we could find, and got the wood furnace going, with the gravity-feed panel open at the back. I'm thinking of putting it on a hinge, it gets opened so often.
    Anyway, we ate cheese and crackers and dip, and went to bed to keep warm, and shortly after the power company came and we had power again. It is amazing how quiet the house is without the mechanical hum of the fridge, the furnace fan, and so on. It's also amazing how much warmer the furnace makes the house *with* the fan! Anyway, we now have a nice amount of snow, no more than 20 centimetres, but nicely piled up in places. I was out for a walk today, but the wind was bitter - fine when it was at my back, but excruciating in my face on the way back. It's a gorgeous day, though - bright and clear, with a few big flakes every now and then. I wouldn't be surprised if there was quite a bit of solar gain.
  Knitting continues apace, with another pair of Cloisonee mittens in the pile for next year's Christmas presents. It's so nice to make something that takes two days, rather than two weeks (like socks).

    I invested in a few skeins of Patons Classic Wool - went to M*chaels first, as they had a sale on - 2 skeins for $10 - but they had very few colours. I bought black and orange there, and then went to Owl's Hollow, and got a lime yellow and magenta - for their regular price of $8.99. Eeek. Anyway, they are nice big skeins, over 200 metres each. Good for a couple of pairs each, almost.
     The current pair use the black and magenta, and the blue and the white are Aran yarns I have in abundance. (I tried out a pair in Briggs & Little but they are so scratchy I don't think anyone would wear them. I'll wash them and see if there's any improvement.) Once the ends of this pair are darned in I will have a look at another colour combo. I made these in size small, and they really are tiny. I'll have to think about whom they will fit.
    Speaking of tiny, I made a 'selbu' pair of mittens in sock yarn - a fairly dreadful self-stripe from S. R. Kertzer in pinks and turquoise - with which I had tried to make Jaywalker socks long ago. I discovered that the Jaywalker pattern made the leg so un-stretchy that I couldn't get my foot through, so they were frogged, and the yarn's been in time-out city ever since.

    This pattern starts out with 40 stitches, so the mittens are really, truly tiny, but the stripes are set off quite well with the white, I think. Or perhaps it's just cute because  it's so tiny? Anyway, everyone else on Ravelry who made this pattern used worsted or DK weight and made mittens to fit adults, so I may try that myself at some point. It's quite an easy pattern.  I liked the stripes so much that I may have to find some stripey DK! Another time I might make a corrugated rib or a braided edge, as, again, I'm not keen on the stripe by itself.

   I managed to get my deck table grouted, despite the frustration of only finding grout in large boxes, so I ended up with much more than I really wanted. I mixed it up in a yogurt tub, and underestimated twice, so had to mix three batches in all. On the up side, I didn't have to throw out much.

      I suppose that the spaces were quite wide between the marbles, compared to the granite tiles which were our last grouting project, so I needed more than I thought. However, it's finished now, and I have enough of the charcoal-coloured grout to do a couple more projects.
     I have a book on mosaics home from the library, so everything that isn't moving should look out!

     The table will have to be sealed before it goes outside, of course, and I'm looking for a small amount of grout sealer - Home Depot seems to think that we all want a big $40 jug of the stuff.