On the music front... an update...

On the Cello I'm nearing the end my of introduction to second position. My teacher told me last week that we'd be starting 4th position in a few weeks. (He said he likes to go from 2nd to 4th and then back to 3rd... I guess I'll discover why when we get there!) Extensions are still a struggle but I am definitely getting closer to the maneuverability I'd like. As a matter of fact this weekend was pretty productive in that regard.

As with piano, the muscles in the torso, the ribs, shoulders and neck, in the pelvis, etc. etc. are all involved and need to be worked on. It's not just the hands and fingers, ever!

Cello and piano practice continue to enhance one another. I consider myself somewhat fortunate as a cello student to have exposure to that instrument of torture we know as a piano. ;) The good kind of torture of course. Much of the time when I'm working on my left hand (and all that supports it) at the piano I feel it is work that benefits me at the cello just as much. And vice versa. I know my piano playing has improved since starting cello lessons.

I'm reading a couple of very good books at the moment. One is new--just published but the other I've had for, well... more than a few years but I never finished it. I've taken it up again.

The newly published book is Pedro de Alcantara's Integrated Practice. I'm not going to write anything about it until I've finished the book. Except to say that it's good. Really good.

The book that I've had on my shelf for the last 5 or so years is W. A. Mathieu's text Harmonic Experience. It's a tome and a textbook and pricey but ever so worth it. The first few chapters anyway (about as far as I've gotten) are a masterpiece. His is a fresh and exciting look at harmony. Now that I have a cello (capable of producing a drone) I can do several of the exercises from the book. Many of these exercises are singing one of the overtones against the drone (low C in most cases) to hear the exquisite silvery liquid beauty of harmony. (Something we don't hear too much of on modern well-tempered pianos!)

I'll have more to write about both these books as I progress. But do look them up. They are treasures.

Hooker me... The Union Square Greenmarket's Homesteading Fair

Even though it was a beautiful day--sunny and crisp, within the stone pavilion where we were it was cool bordering on cold. My toes got cold, an experience I haven't entertained in nigh on 30 years! It brought back many old memories. Funny how the unpleasant and uncomfortable is reflected in retrospect. I think those times in which we suffer the most (if I can use such a hard word) end up being vessels for strong, dare I say, fond memories. I have several memories of cold toesies and in fact I look back in fondness upon a great many of them. As they say, "Those were the days." I wonder if that isn't just another way of expressing the sentiment about "the grass being greener..."? I dunno!

I should mention that I'm feeling a bit nostalgic this evening. Probably because I received my pre-release copy of Matt Alber's new album "Constant Crows" today via the web and it is gorgeous--and full of emotion. It's put me in a right reverie. A most beautiful voice! Do look it up... and buy the album.

I am so glad I went ahead a signed up for the homesteading fair. I have not ever done this sort of thing before and I realized Saturday that it's what I love. It's close to my roots. Those are the people I like to be around and that is the atmosphere I really enjoy. Another argument for why I may very well end up living in the country again when I get closer to retirement age.

Set up on the table next to mine was Beth Linskey of Beth's Farm Kitchen. I've purchased her Jams and Jellies before and it was a thrill to be right there while she cooked up a batch of plum jam--it was perfection (IMO, she really gets the perfect level of sweetness)--and squash soup which was just what the doctor ordered, and a poem at that! I bought her cookbook (signed :) ), "Cooking with Jams and Chutneys" and you should too. It is great. Not only does she share some of the recipes for the jams she sells at the market, but the book includes many recipes using those jams, and also includes several fascinating tidbits about ingredients and canning. For instance I never really knew the difference between preserves and conserves and how they differ from jams and jellies. I do now! :)

The woman across the pavilion from me was weaving on an inkle loom. An inkle loom is now on my wish list (my mile long wish list!).

I enjoyed meeting people who were interested in what I was doing. Someone wanted to buy my "Bird Seasons" and it was oddly, just slightly difficult to say that it wasn't for sale. I'll have to think about that. The question caught me by surprise. Another lovely woman who hails from Florida asked if I gave workshops! Perhaps now is the time to consider the offer I received to do a class. Time. That's all it is of course... Time.

The children were adorable! I have two frames so I set one up on the front of my table where those so inclined could try it out for themselves. I had a bag of #5 strips in every color of the rainbow (left over from bird seasons) right next to the frame. The children loved it. Several little girls spent several minutes hooking lines of color. It was marvelous! I gave them every encouragement I could. What dears.

Well here's a look of me we haven't seen on here. Not sure what it is... What? You want my picture? ... (And, oh! No, I haven't made much progress on the recyled shirt rug... been busy with the knitting lately. However, Saturday did set my mood for some more rug hooking. :) )

Hooker me... demonstrating at the farmer's market

I'll be demonstrating traditional rug hooking Saturday, November 5th from 11am-3pm at the Union Square Farmer's Market (the big one!). It's part of the program called Urban Homesteading. Other's will be spinning (including friends of mine, one of whom will be using my wheel) and knitting. There will also be canning experts, mushroom growers, sandal making, quilting and a lot more.

From the market's FB page,

"Come join us for our Homesteading Fair! An exposition of heirloom skills -- from canning to spinning wool -- come learn from a wonderful array of experts whose knowledge and skills are a perfect compliment to the season as we prepare for cooler months ahead."

Knit wise... the baby blanket is finished

Just finished tying the front and back together. It has turned out a pretty little quilt and I'm well pleased by it. The dimenstions are slightly over 36"x36". It was worth taking the time to knit the backing; makes it all the more special. I took a few chances and I think they paid off. I wish I could explain how lovely it feels to hold... When I was a child we called quilts and duvets "puffs", "I need a puff for my bed" was commonly heard about the house in the late fall. That's what this baby blanket feels like: A puff. :) Gotta ship it off asap. I have a hunch they're going to need it pronto. (See last photo)

The front. I decided to have the ties in the back because I did not want to destroy the impressionistic feel of the Noro front.

The back with the ties in place.

The edge on the front side. It shows how I picked up and knit along the perpendicular knitting, and picked up and knit plus knit through the back of the picked up stitch along the parallel stitches. There is only 1 or 2 rows of knitting before the purl row which turns the knitting onto the backside.

Based on the weather we're having here in NYC I think they in Vermont will make good use of this puff soon. I snapped this picture out my front window early this afternoon! It's October 29!!

Soap... second batch: a new recipe

I made soap over the weekend -- trying out a new recipe. The last soap I made was Oatmeal and I've really been enjoying it. Feels very nice to the skin. I don't ever want to go back to commercial "soaps" if I can help it. From what I've read they aren't really soap anyway, they're detergents made with petroleum products. Ugh.

[Climbing off my soap box now...]

Sorry for the bad pun, I couldn't help it.

The recipe I made on Saturday is called Nicolle's Basic Soap and I found it on a site called Soapnuts. It contains more varied oils than the oatmeal soap I made last time including castor oil, cocoa butter, coconut oil, olive oil and palm oil.

Different oils contribute different properties to a soap. Some oils contribute to the softness of the soap, some to rampant lather, some to hardness, etc. From what I read, the trick in devising recipes is to find a combination that results in a soap with the properties you like, along with determining the correct amount of lye to "saponify" the oils. Too much or too little lye is a recipe for disaster.

Saponification is the chemical process which oil & lye undergo to create soap. It's like magic! Who would think these substances would make soap when stirred together under the right conditions?

There are several on-line charts listing the soap making properties of several oils. There are also some "lye calculators" which will calculate the amount of lye needed to saponify a certain amount of a certain type of oil. I imagine these calculators depend on data reaped from centuries of soap making.

I have heard that olive oil takes longer to achieve the state called "trace" than other oils and indeed it took me a while of stirring before I felt ready to pour. Even at that I'd really only reached a faint trace. But it worked. The soap is now unmolded and sitting to cure for the next 4 weeks.

The unmolding was a problem. I put the molded soap in the freezer for 30 minutes thinking that was long enough. Apparently, it wasn't. I had a real hard time getting them to budge from their molds and a few came out with a nick or two. Next time I will know to grease the molds before hand. Live and learn. After struggling too long I decided to put them back in the freezer for a while. That did the trick. They popped right out after that.

I think my future soap making will involve the use of a large rectangular mold to make one large bar which will then be cut into slices. But I'll have to think of a way to spice it up a bit. Rectangular soap is so common! ;)

I divided my batch into three and put lavendar buds in one portion, sweet orange essential oil with some ground up cloves (not enough--I'll learn--eventually) in another, and grapefruit essential oil in the third. About 2 lbs. in all.

Saturday's soap:

Knit wise... a sneak peak...

The knitting on the baby blanket is done. The back was an undertaking but it was really good practice for my continental style knitting. Continental sure goes fast. I am by default an English style knitter but for large expanses I like the economy of movement in continental style. I'm thinking that one of these days I'll practice some continental purling so I can get more rounded in that respect.

I am very happy with the way it's turning out. I had to increase the rate of decreases for the last 20 or 30 rounds. It would have ended up puckered otherwise. I also, half by accident, decided to duplicate stitch embroider the little girl's name and birthdate on the back. It happened because I ran out of the burgandy color and didn't feel I could stop and wait till I could obtain some more (the store I purchased it at had only 2 skeins). So I decided to put in a strip of grey and as that was being manifest the idea of embroidery came to me. As it turns out, on my next visit to the yarn store the shelf had been restocked with burgandy. Charts for the letters were plucked out of Nicky Epstein's book, Cover Up.

I just took the blanket out of a Eucalan bath and it is pinned out to dry. Here's a look at the backing--all wet. I'll have complete pics in a few days. :) (Note: I blurred out the last name for privacy's sake.)

Fiber wise... The NY Sheep and Wool festival... a few more pictures

The previous post contains several pics of my trip to the festival and you can read about my trip in the post before that one.

Some alpacas:

A real beauty!:

Some begonias on the grounds:

Some fish:

Rug wool :) :

The fair closes at 5pm. My train back to the city leaves Rhinecliff at 6:51 so I had a bit of time to spend in downtown Rhinebeck which is just a few blocks from the fair grounds. I stopped for pizza before calling the taxi driver to take me back to the Amtrak station. Downtown Rhinebeck:

The famous Beekman Arms Inn in downtown Rhinebeck. The oldest Inn in the US, it has operated continuously since 1766:

As I was waiting on the platform for my train back to NYC, from the day's saturation of yarns and rovings, my world had become a blur of color:

Here is what I came home with:

A day to remember.