A new hat

I made this hat before Christmas but I forgot to post about it. It's the same pattern I've used for 10 years now. In fact, I made my first one during the move from NYC to NH using Noro colorways. The second one was knit about 5 years ago using Lambs Pride in blue/red/yellow. The latest is in green, I've been wanting a green hat.

It's knit in a type of stitch closely related to brioche but it utilizes 'knit one below' and regular knit stitches--on every row--so there's no bringing the yarn forwards and back, making the knitting fairly easy. Also, every row is knit in a single color so there's no carrying the other color around. The increases for this pattern give it just enough variety to keep it interesting. It makes a lovely, well defined stitch. And it's thick which gives the fabric warmth. The band is twining stiches which is also easy but slow'ish because the yarns need constant untwisting. Constant. But it's only 4 rows.

I sized this one so it fits more like a skull cap and I'm right pleased with it. This is what the stiches look like on the reverse (i.e., inside the hat):

I've been wearing it constantly outside and it's perfect.

Here's something I've never made before: mulled white wine. I've made mulled red wine many times, but never white. I'm sipping some as I type this, it's fantastic! Here is the recipe I used. The measurements are as given, and the ones in bold are my modifications. I could tell (from my experience making mulled red wine) that the amount of sugar and some spices would have been too much for my tastes. IMO, my alterations were spot on. I used an inexpensive Chardonnay. After all, this isn't about savoring the the complex nuances of a fine wine. As you can see, I altered almost every ingredient and omitted one.

Mulled White Wine

750 ml white wine

1 cup water (1/2 cup)

3 Tbsp orange juice (omitted, since there's orange slices included*)

1/2 cup sugar (1/4 cup)

2 Tbsp honey

1 orange, sliced (1/2 orange, sliced)

1 lemon, sliced (1/2 lemon, sliced)

10 cloves (5)

4 star anise (2)

4 cinnamon sticks (2)

*(eta correction 1/9/24: Since I used only 1/2 the orange as slices, I squeezed the other half into the mix.) 

Throw everything in a pot and slow cook it, stirring to dissolve sugar. Don't bring to a boil. I left mine on low heat for about 20 minutes. Yummy! After pouring a glass, I add about 1/2 jigger of brandy to replenish some of the evaporated alcohol. I mean, after all.

I finished the drummer boy for the 12-days ornaments and have also finished the piper. I noticed the order of the gifts is not the same as the song I'm familiar with, but upon doing some investigation, found that the order of these ornaments is what they were way back in 1780 (and at other various times in history). The Wikipedia entry for this song has a huge table of variations on the gifts and their order. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)

Chistmastide is now over, but I'm thinking of extending the Christmas season up to Candlemas, February 2. It was common at the old English court to do so. Works for me. A particularly interesting bit of history: In England, men and women's labor resumed the day after Epiphany. Two names associated with the first Monday after Epiphany were Plough Day (men's work) and St. Distaff's Day (women's work) for it's when the women went back to spinning again, after the prolonged holiday festivities. Cool.

My decorations are still up and I'm not ready to take them down yet. Maybe they won't be up until February 2, ... but maybe they will.

This is a really lovely channel... Richard McVeigh's "Beauty In Sound". So much beautiful music. This is the live from Christmas Eve (below). He has great visuals on his videos so you can see his feet, his hands, etc. Very well done.

The organ in his home is a very cool Hauptwerk set up, i.e. a virtual pipe organ. Basically, it's midi capable keyboards and pedalboard and optional physical stops that are connected to a computer via an intermediary audio/midi interface. The computer runs Hauptwerk software which takes "sample sets" from famous organs and plays those samples via the keyboard and pedalboard. Very cool indeed.

Happy New Year!

 

On the 7th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, seven swans a swimming...

The swan has been on the tree since just before Christmas. On the 8th day, the gift is "maids 'a milking." I just finished her yesterday and she's now on the tree. Her construction was a little more involved than the previous 7. This appears to be the case with the remaining ornaments as well.

I cut out the pieces for the drummers drumming this afternoon and have already embroidered the drum.

It's still Christmastide so it feels perfectly 'in season' to continue making them and hanging them. I may even continue past Twelfth Night, which is Friday, and finish them all this month. I plan to have the tree up for at least a week after Epiphany... there might be just enough time. And if there isn't, I'll either keep the tree up until I'm done, or I'll make them whenever, and pack them away till next Christmas (only 359 days away! 😉 ).

I could swear the light coming in the window this afternoon was at a different angle! Maybe it's simply that we haven't had as many sunny days lately and I'd forgotten what it looks like. But there is no denying the fact that the light is coming back, as imperceptible as it is from day to day.

The neighbors were over the other evening for a game of Scrabble. I didn't win. I figured something retro to snack on would be fun, so I made a batch of 'Nuts and Bolts' (aka 'party mix', 'Chex mix', ...). This is a very good recipe...

10 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1.25 teaspoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
.75 teaspoon onion powder
.75 teaspoon thyme

Melt it all together and toss with 11 or 12 cups of the following in proportions that suit your taste: Corn Chex, Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, Cheerios, skinny pretzels, salted mixed nuts. Bake at 250F for 1.5 hours, stirring every half hour. The possibilities for what you add to the mix is pretty open.

It was a big hit and everyone got addicted to it. I had beer to wash it down and everyone went home happy. In a few weeks we go to my neighbors across the street to learn Bridge. We're going to be known as the Groton Bridge Club. LOL.

Do I have any New Year resolutions? I don't usually partake of this ritual, but there are a few items I want to attend to. The first is to read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. I should have read it years ago. Oh, well, never too late. I have it on order. The second is arranging to work with a piano teacher/coach on a regular, but not weekly, basis. It helps so much to work with someone. For one thing, it takes one out of oneself and I believe that strengthens the learning experience. For another, an objective pair of ears is invaluable. I got the names of a few contacts while attending the Lakes Region Symphony Orchestra's concert last month in Plymouth. The woman I was sat beside told me to contact the director of the orchestra because he's a piano teacher and he knows others in the area. I'll get in touch with him.

What am I hoping for 2024? Peace, who isn't. It shouldn't be so hard! The preservation of our Democracy. I shudder to think we could be on the cusp of seeing the end of this experiment. No!... Positive thoughts! ... We must persevere.

More personally, I'd love to have a more fruitful vegetable garden, but the fact that I didn't get a greenhouse up before winter means I'll be buying potted seedlings again and that's a crap shoot. I did not concentrate on veggies last year, but this year... yes. There are a myriad of projects on the list and I hope a few of them get crossed out this year.

A channel recommendation... If you love organ music and old churches, Ben Maton's channel, "The Salisbury Organist" is worth checking out. He travels to small churches in England to seek out and play their organs. Very lovely.

From a few years ago... nature doodles

Merry Christmas

Mt. Moosilauke

 Well, I made it here... finally! A few days late.

I'm enjoying a wonderful and magical festive season, I hope you are too. But has the time flown! Where did the last three weeks go to? I must say I'm noticing the short days more this year than ever before. Is it just me, or have the days actually gotten shorter? Someone said it's probably age related. The nerve. But the time between sun up and sun down sure does go by quickly (not that I experience the first 2 or 3 hours of sunlight.)

I thought I might get my yearly Christmas Eve video finished and uploaded yesterday but by the time I got around to working on tidying it up, it was already mid evening. It's uploading now, as I write this. I started making a virtual open house on the night before Christmas when the pandemic hit. There was a possibility I would forgo making one this year, but inspiration came, and not only that but I made one recapping my whole day. It's a half hour long! Hope it's not too boring. There is a mix of live sound, music, and voice over. Since several sections were filmed when the birds were awake I had to cut much of the sound. I have tried to be sparing on voice overs. Link to it is below. Best viewed in full screen mode.

Since I didn't get my tourtière (French Canadian meat pie) made yesterday, I made it today. The filling was finished yesterday so all that had to be done today was make the pastry, assemble the pie, and bake it. It's a traditional dish for which there are many recipes. I make something very similar to what my mother made. So delicious!

I use a pound of ground pork, a pound of ground beef, a shredded potato, a shredded onion, lots of allspice, lots of pepper, salt, and bay leaf for the filling. It simmers a few hours on the stove top. My standard pie crust works just fine for this pie: 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup butter, 1/4 cup shortening, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 cup water.

Then I made some mince pies this afternoon. The mincemeat is some I canned up a few years ago. Absolutely scrumptious! There's a healthy dose of brandy in the mince.

However you celebrate the holidays, I hope they are magical and beautiful for you.

Christmas Eve Open house video  ... (due to low lighting it's best watched full screen) :

The twist

 The 'twist' part of 'twistandvibrations' refers to adding twist to fibers, i.e. spinning.

My great wheel has sat upstairs--partly under my bed--for too long. Out of sight, out of mind. That's partially because one of the legs was so wonky that it would often collapse. I brought it down stairs last night and used plastic wood filler to make a repair and had it up and running this afternoon.

I want to get proficient at spinning on this wheel. To be sure, it's a joy to use, ever so quiet and smooth, and with it's minor's head (an accelerator gadget that takes the rotation of the great wheel and multiplies it by several factors) it spins f-a-s-t.  It increases the ratio of the spindle to big wheel to around 230 to 1 (one rotation of the big wheel will turn the spindle 230 rotations!).

The minor's head.

For this go around I'm using some multi-colored Merino top that I purchased at the NH Sheep & Wool last spring. In order to spin it 'woolen' with a long-draw technique such as this wheel requires, I'm carding it into rolags (fluffy little tubes of carded wool). The resulting yarn will likely be semi-woolen as these Merino rolags are not entirely randomized. I'm mixing this with a grey colored Shetland/Alpaca/'Bombyx (Bombyx is domestic silk) blend that is truly woolen.

There are primarily two types of yarn: Woolen and Worsted. In woolen yarn, the individual fibers are all mixed up going every which way. It is lofty and very warm. In Worsted yarn, the fibers are combed so that they are all parallel to one another. When spun, it is very strong and warm (not as warm as woolen, though).

Before carding the Merino, I'm separating it into solid color blocks. I will spin a colored rolag followed by a grey and alternate throughout. I'm hoping the resulting yarn will knit up into a cool looking speckled fabric. I want to knit a cardigan.

I don't name my tools. I know a lot of people who name their sewing machines and spinning wheels and pianos, but not me. But sometimes I think this wheel should have a name. She's got a personality. She will throw her drive band now and again. It's a bit of a jolt when everything's been going smoothly, and it seems I might be getting better at it. Whop! Off it flies. I think it's due to the minor's head not sitting tightly enough on it's peg. I need to research how to prevent it from loosening and twisting because that throws the alignment out between the big wheel and the head.

The 'vibrations' part of 'twistandvibrations' refers to music, of course.

I took a break from the cello, I really needed it. I spent the summer focusing intently on some new piano music. This morning I sat down with the cello for the first time in several months. I've really missed it. Playing cello is like having another voice. I was afraid I might have lost some technique but much to my delight that is not the case, not much anyway. I guess it's like riding a bicycle. To be sure, the finger pads on my left hand need to redevelop some calluses. But that won't take long.

I feel I have started a new chapter on the piano. I'm working on pieces that once seemed far off, and I'm so, so happy about it. Last fall I learned Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau". I want to make a video of it one of these days. This summer I started learning Ravel's "Une Barque sur l'océan", from 'Miroirs'. I can now get through the whole piece, meaning I can read all the notes. Quite a way to go before it's finished. Funny things about this music, it looks daunting, but it turns out looks can be deceiving. Some of what sounds hardest is easiest to play! Some of what looks hardest is easiest to play! Case in point is a chord written: B#, E, Fx, B# (B sharp, E natural, F double-sharp, B sharp). When the mind sees the pattern those notes make on the page, along with the 4 accidentals, well, my mind just stops and wonders what the... Turns out this chord can be written a different way (if the key were different): C, E, G, C!! It's simply a c major chord. LOL. So, the looks of the music can be off-putting or discouraging but I'm learning to not let those things get in the way.

There is, though, one real toughy page and it's tough because of the harmonies. Very unfamiliar with some dischord. In my book, it's the fourth page. But it's coming along, slow methodical, repeated work on it. I hope to have this ready to play next spring.

I also read through Ravel's 'Jeux d'eau' a few weeks ago. I've looked at it before. Not easy, but more within reach now than before. I hope it will come together after I'm done with 'Une bateau...' And after that I want to tackle Debussy's 'L'isle joyeuse'.

All this music is so beautiful and blissful.

We had some snow fall this afternoon . . .

A New Door

First snow on October 30, 2020

We are predicted to get our first substantial snow fall of the season tomorrow evening, 4"- 8". I planted my tulips bulbs today and set a rose back in the ground in a new location. The rose was dug up a few weeks ago and it sat covered until I finally got to it. Tomorrow I will need to get the deck cleared and all outdoor living furniture under cover.

I made a terrible mistake with last spring's tulips which I dug up some weeks back. After they'd sat in the sun to dry the earth that still clung to them, I put them in a bucket and forgot about them. Sadly, I discovered this afternoon that fungus had set in and most were softening and spoiling. Oh dear. Lesson learned. I salvaged some of them but most had to be tossed upon the compost pile. Luckily, I had 24 new tulip bulbs that were ordered this summer and they went in. Looking forward to some 'Apricot Beauty' and WFF Perennial Pink next spring.

With the very generous help of my neighbor, there is now a new door leading to the back yard from the entry room. Yay! I'm very glad it happened. I did most of the demolition myself and was feeling confident that I'd be able to get the new door in myself, but upon hearing my drill and saws, my neighbor came over and went right to work. Most, most thankful. He built the stairs for me and all I need to do now is frame the door on the outside.

Wow, what a convenience! I used the new route this evening to bring in wood for the evening and it was a true luxury to be so close to the door. There's a wood bin in the entry room that I can fill which saves me from having to go outside if I'd rather not venture into the cold. I have to say, though, many is the evening when I look forward to going out to the wood pile at 11pm, or so, just to take in the beauty of moonlit nature. It's magical.

There wasn't much sewing this week. I finished the golden ring, and cut out the pieces for the 'geese-a-laying' and that's it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

More construction

 

Pudding cake just come out the oven... yum!

Recipe for the pudding cake: Chocolate Pudding Cake

The latest construction project, which I'm attempting on my own, is replacing a window in the entry/shed room with a door. As you can see from this picture, I've already removed the window and just beyond is the end of the wood shed. Putting a door here will allow me to exit the kitchen, turn sharp left and out the door for quick access to the wood. That will save me from having to clear a path through the snow all the way around the shed.

I found a pre-hung door at the local Habitat for Humanity for just $100 (edge of it is visible on left of picture). Today I took measurements and decided what I need to do next. My neighbor has offered to help if I need it... thankful for good neighbors. I hope to have this done by end of week and then I'll have to do something about stairs outside. May opt for a temporary solution this winter and deal with the stairs in the spring.

I made three potpourri with the materials I gathered from the garden. All experimental, so I did not make great quantities. I used powdered orris root as a fixative. A scant tablespoon for each, to which I added drops of essential oils to create the scents. This was mixed with the dried material and is now in air tight containers under the desk in the dining room to 'cure' until Christmas time. The following one will likely be my favorite. It's scented with balsam and Christmassy aromas. The tiny pine cones are not from my garden.

This one is quite appropriately scented with Arabian rose oil. I purchased the vial of oil many, many years ago in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. A deep, sensuous scent. Some of these petals may have come from bouquets that I allowed to dry out. The purplish flowers are fuchsias and the small yellow ones are 'Tête-à-tête' daffodils.

Finally, the last one is scented with a mixture of 4 oils to create a light, flowery aroma. I need to work on the formula a bit. When I get it down, I'll post my recipe.

The last of the Beatrix Potter characters is done! Tom Kitten is the eighth and final pattern in the set I purchased. I need to find a small straw hat for him. In the meantime I've used a small round straw 'cap' that I had in a set of doll house accessories. I do have a pattern for Peter Rabbit and will make him too, but first I want to get on finishing the Twelve Days of Christmas ornaments I started last year: I had made days 1 through 4.

All eight characters are done and boxed until the tree is put up in December.

At work on day 5 of the 12 days, a golden ring:

I need to get in the garden this week and plant my tulip bulbs! Luckily, it's warming up and will be comfortable for the task by end of week.

I think I'll do a post soon about the music I'm working on.

Pantry is done

The first fire of the season. Lit it three nights ago and it was allowed to go out during the following day. I re-lit it the following night and last night as well, but today I continued to stoke it as it was only in the 30s most of the day. There is nothing like radiant heat; so enveloping and soothing. It makes me happy.

The Tailor of Gloucester is almost finished. I just need to secure his glasses and attach a small bell or bead to his tail!

Only one character remains: Tom Kitten.

The pantry is done! Almost... I want to get some shelf paper for the shelves. I have some very pretty vintage paper but I'd rather preserve it than use it. My neighbor suggested photocopying it and using the copies. I may do that if they can copy it down at the UPS store. What I have is one long strip. I have a printer, and I could scan a portion and repeat it, but home printer ink has become prohibitively expensive.

I'm also going to paint a little decorative border along the partition that separates the broom closet from the pantry. As you can see in the picture below, I took some space on the right side of the original pantry to make a broom closet as I did not have one. The pantry shelves are now narrower, but since I put five of them on euro glides I was able to place them closer to each other. Originally, there were five shelves, now there are seven with room to grow on the bottom. I'm quite pleased with how my DIY turned out. The gliders were a challenge, especially since the walls aren't entirely straight. I put a motion sensitive light on the ceiling within to help illuminate what was once a very dark space.

The partition between pantry and broom cupboard was constructed with wood that was removed from the living room this summer; the shelves are the original ones that I cut to size and supplemented with a few pieces left over from past projects; the paint was also leftovers from a previous project. The only things I purchased for this make-over were the euro glides and some construction screws.

Happy November!