Maia Spins

Farm City

I am so very excited about this book!  The author, Novella Carpenter, is a friend of mine and a very talented story teller.  This book is about her adventures creating an urban farm in a vacant lot in a ghetto neighborhood of Oakland, California.

From the back cover:
<snip> "By turns edgy, moving, and hilarious, Farm City marks the debut of a striking new voice in American writing." -- Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food (yes, THAT Michael Pollan!).

I started the first chapter and it was all I could do to put it down and get back to work.  Like her blog, Ghost Town Farm, I expect this to be a great read.

The kick-off event of her book tour will be this Saturday at BioFuel Oasis in Berkeley, California.  She will also be speaking with Michael Pollan on June 18th in Berkeley.  More events can be found on her blog and on the book blog.

Congratulations Novella!!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It is raining and very wet here lately.  It is always an awkward transition for me.  This is a semi-arid climate.  Typically, we have no rainfall from late spring into October sometime.  You get used to the outdoors being a part of your living space and leave stuff lying around outside.  You know the rains will come at some point, but, you still get quite peeved when the rain starts soaking your stuff.  It was a mad scramble to bring it drying fleece and sweaters.

Notice anything in this picture besides overgrown shrubs and dying tomato plants?

Does this help? 

We estimate it to be about 4 feet tall with its neck stretched out and a wingspan of 6 feet!  Great googly moogly!

Every year we get visitors.  They are scoping out the pond and our sweet little fishies.  I know this is the circle of life, blah, blah, blah.  Those are my sweet little fishies!  Yes, I do have more babies every year and there are more fish in there than a small pond can support (anyone want cute multi-color goldfish?), but those are my sweet little fishies! 

Sigh.  At least someone doesn't mind the rain.

Let's move on to a cheerier topic shall we?  I have sockiness to show.

Charlie Socks

They are my own design.  It has been kicking around in my head for almost a year.  The yarn is naturally dyed by me using osage orange and logwood grey.  The two dyes together make that wonderful olive green.  I love me some olive green.  (Hmm, olives! a la Homer Simpson popped into my head.  Does that make me 8?)

The second one is a variation on the pattern stitch that makes diamonds instead of chevrons.  I can't decide which I like better.  With one of each, I won't have to!

I am also working with more of that yummy Shetland fingering weight yarn from Elemental Affects.  I love this yarn!  It has the grab you expect from a true Shetland wool and a wonderful heathery quality to it.  What you might not expect is how smooshy it is.  Yummy!

I am designing several socks for them; this is the cabled one.  I want to use different techniques for each one, so this sock is knit from the cuff down.  Quite a departure for me.  I can't remember the last time I designed a top-down sock.  In this case I think it will feel like the sock zooms at the end.  The sole will be stockinette on fewer stitches to make the differing gauges work.

Please excuse the craptastic picture.  I can't use my usual brackdrop as it is rather sodden at the moment.  This is just before the heel flap starts.

I am experiencing my usual naming skills.  So far I call it, wait for it, . . . . .  Cable Socks.  Anti-climactic isn't it?  Brilliant naming ideas are welcome.  Er, any naming ideas are welcome.

Have I mentioned that I am going to Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck?  I just found out that they have fried pickles there!  I am so going to have one!  Hubby doesn't believe me.  I'll get photographic evidence.  Maybe he is just getting tired of hearing me talk about it.  Who would tire of hearing FRIED PICKLES! exclaimed at random moments?  Sheesh, he's got to lighten up.

Rockin'

Anni has given me a great honor by picking me as a

I love Anni's blog.  If she hadn't picked me, I totally would have picked her.  She dyes with plants, spins, plays with energized singles, and explores color in ways that make me think.  You rock Anni!

Now I get to pick 5 Rockin' Girl Bloggers.  What a tough choice.  There are so many fabulous and rockin' bloggers to choose from. 

In no particular order:

Leah of Homework does amazing things with felting.  Many of her projects include the work of her kids or are designed to be fun to do with children.  I always leave her blog amazed and inspired.  Read her archives, you won't be sorry.

Judy of Persistent Illusion is an adventurous sock knitter.  She is just as likely to show you a fabulous idea as an idea that seemed great but fizzled.  It is a window into her design process and what a process it is.  Her posts are smart and her blog is gorgeous (I dream of a blog so clean and orderly).  Did I mention that she invented the best toe-up cast on evah?

Jessie of What Housework? has a heart as large as Vermont.  Jessie's family includes a few humans and a menagerie of creatures.  Her stories are like a big warm hug and a mini vacation on the farm.  Grab a cuppa and sit down for a visit.  If fabulous fiber is your desire, Jessie can provide you with A Piece of Vermont.  She is one of my favorite indie dyers.

Rachael of Yarn A Go-Go is a bright light in the knitting blogosphere.  She is one of those bloggers that can make me laugh and cry in the same post.  Warm, real, and so cute!  You feel like you are hanging with a good friend.  And, she knits fearlessly. Rachael is the definition of a Rockin' Girl Blogger (why is Pirates of Penzance stuck in my head now?).  Go Rachael Go.

Janine of Feral Knitter is my sage of stranded knitting.  Watching her work makes me want to expand my knitting horizons.  She is original, smart, and funny.  There is a strength a surety to Janine that I admire very much.

Brooke of Missy B is a wealth of information.  I think there is a fiber catalog in her brain.   Whenever I need a bit of  advice on spinning, dyeing, or fiber preparation, I turn to Brooke.  She has also developed the ability to knit while doing just about anything.  If someone told me she could knit in her sleep, I'd believe them.  (Haha Brooke, now you HAVE to up date your blog.)

Marcy of Habetrot reminds us of what spinners and knitters of yore did.  Each post is a postcard from another time or place.  She is our historian, reminding us of spinning history so we CAN repeat it.  And she is celebrating her blogiversary.  Go give her some love.

Did I exceed my five Rockin' Girl Bloggers limit?  Ooops!

We are off for a family weekend at the lake.  I can't leave you without a few pictures.  Here's what is growing in the back yard.

I planted yellow nasturtiums the first year we had our raised vegetable beds.  It has been seven or eight years of sweet little volunteered faces.  The young flowers and leaves sometimes make it into the salad bowl.

Several tomato plants volunteered themselves this year.  I think they arrived via the compost.  The farmer's market supplies us with heirloom tomatoes until our kick-in.  We have never grown this variety (until now!).

A zebra tomato we did plant.  One of my favorites!  Tangy and acidic, it is a great contrast to the usual varieties.  Ripen, ripen, ripen!

A morning glory hanging over the fence from the neighbor's yard.

Blame it on Ravelry

Yup, that's right.  I have no good excuse for not blogging.  Well, there is that persistent I'm- stuck-and-I-don't-know-what-to-knit-or-spin problem.  Aside from that minor issue, I continue to be bewitched by Ravelry.  If you are on Ravelry, you probably aren't reading this because you are there now.  If you aren't on Ravelry, you are probably sick of hearing about how great it is.  Sorry.  I won't speak of it again.  This post.

I do have one knitting project going.  It started with this pile of goodness I got at Muse:

Top row: Cascade 220 in dark olive, rust, gold, and yellow (not shown), Silky Wool in yellow,Tahki Cotton Classic in rust, and Silky Tweed in olive.

Fabu (# M4318), Crystal Palace Yarns Fizz (I think it is going back, I'm not Fizz-friendly), Artful Yarns Olympic in yellow, and Crystal Palace Yarns Little Flowers in sage.

What does all of that become?

A bag.  This little piece doesn't do it justice.  It is a quick knit, more soon.  After socks, knitting with three strands held together seems so odd.  In a good way.  We like quick, fun knits.  Hmm, yes.

In the critter category, I have pictures of my albino channel catfish.

We have two albinos and one gray.  The gray one has been in the pond for 5 years or so, the albinos a year. 

They are six to seven inches long and love to "hoover" the floating fish food.  They use their whiskers to funnel the pellets into their wide mouths.  It is quite a sight.

I wish I could have caught both of them together.  They move so fast.  I took twenty pictures and most looked like this:

If you look at the larger image (click for it), you'll see some of the baby fish born in our pond.  We get oodles of new fish every year.  Probably more than our little pond can support.  Let me know if you want any.  Please.  Pretty please.

Speaking of gatherings (oh, I wasn't?  hmm, it didn't have a good segue, so anyway . . . ) I am hosting a 

Spinning Potluck Brunch at my house

Sunday August 5th at 11 am to 3 pm or so.  Bring your wheel, spindle, or pointy sticks.

I'm hoping it will be a regular (monthly?) event.  Let me know if you'd like to come and I'll send the particulars. 

That's it, move along, nothing more to see here.

Nothing To Blog About

Do you know the expression "nothing to write home about"?  That's the way I feel.  I'm stalled.  In a holding pattern.  Stymied. 

Let me count the ways:

• I finished the latest Sidewinder and blogged about my mods.  I just don't feel like starting the next one yet.  Do you think that 2.5 pairs of Sidewinders is all I've got in me?
• I am on my fourth (or is it fifth?) swatch for that sage green Zephyr I teased you with a few days ago.  Ribbit, ribbit.
• I can't (or won't) start prepping the fiber for my sweater because I want to use Brooke's picker on the fleece.
• I don't have more undyed tussah (want to dye some that is solid yellow) for my Spun Stitches Shawl, so I'm not spinning the painted tussah roving.
• The alternate spinning for Tour de Fleece is not inspiring me (see below).
• None of my WIPs or UFOs are capturing my interest right now.  There are lots of them too.
• We are in the middle of our foggy/overcast/cool summer since it is so warm inland.  I think the gray is getting to me (this is why Seattle and I parted ways after 15 years).
• And, Ravelry has sucked me in and thoroughly bewitched me.

What to do?  I often get this way when I finish a project or a book (not that I've really done either of those).  It is like circling the airport waiting for clearance to land.  It will pass.  Eventually.

I think I am liking the current swatch for the Zephyr.  Maybe that is my ticket out.

Here is the alternate spinning for Tour de Fleece.

At the top is natural BFL spun at a DK weight (about 14 wpi).  At the bottom is the lovely saffron merino-tencel roving that Ronni sent me.  It is spun finer, lace weight, about 26-28 wpi.  My apologies for the craptastic lighting in that picture.

Here it is plied.  You'll probably have to click for the bigger picture to actually see what it looks like.  It is fine.  A bit boring. 

I have oodles of the BFL to spin and about 3/4 of the saffron singles left.  Do I make more of this yarn?  And, if I do, what do I do with it?  Oy!  I had such great plans for it and it isn't what I envisioned.  Help!

 

On a cheerier note, my waterlilies are doing very well this year.

A long shot.

And a closer shot of three of them.  I love the white, white petals with the bright yellow centers.

Cheery flowers, I love you.

 

Flower Power Friday

Yumminess is bursting out all over the house.

A few pictures from my California native plant garden:

A native sunflower (Helianthus annuus).  It is supposed to be 4 foot tall.  Mine are close to 6 feet tall.  This is the first flower to open.

There are oodles of buds ready to burst open on my sunflowers.

My Clarkias are in full bloom.  The white is Clarkia amoena 'Memoria'.  The purple is Clarkia rubicunda.

This is gorgeous pink flower is Clarkia amoena 'Aurora' "Farewell to Spring".

Yumminess from my organic herb garden:

Purple basil.  So yummy in salads.

Thai basil.  So yummy in Thai curries.

Yellow stemmed chard.  So yummy steamed and served with balsamic vinegar.

And the promise of many yummy figs this fall.  If the neighbors don't steal them all.

Doggy cuteness:

Sammie is built for begging.  He manages to look sad, innocent, sweet, hungry, and cute, all at the same time.  No wonder he is so spoiled.  He knows how to work it!

I think he needs to have his portrait done on velvet (remember the sad children with the huge eyes?).  If you look closely, you can see a tear running down his cheek.

Such a cute little prince sleeping with a pillow (carefully arranged for his snoozing pleasure).

My next knitting adventure:

The very beginnings of a shawl in yummy Zephyr.

On The Hoof

Just a quickie post to show off the first of the Debi Socks and a few pics from the garden.

Here it is "on the hoof".  The heel is a teeny tiny bit pointy for me, but otherwise fits quite nicely.  I think I'll do one less decrease round on the second sock  which is almost at the heel shaping.

Speaking of hooves, have you seen this?  Thanks to Ang and Rachael for the link.  Boggles my mind.  (ETA: Liz kindly points out that this is a hoax.  That's a relief.)

From my California native shade garden:

Tolmeia menziesii (Golden Piggy-Back Plant 'Taff's Gold').  You may recognize this as a houseplant.  It is a California native. 

Philadelphus lewisii (Western Mock Orange).  These are in full bloom.  The flowers have a light, sweet scent.

Yellow Pacifica Iris Hybrid.  This is a hybrid of a native iris.  I love yellow and couldn't resist this one.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! 

Spring has bit me.  I have been a little distracted in my garden this week.  I got some help cleaning up the weeds and preparing the front yard for planting more natives.  I planted almost everything from my first and second visit to Annie's Annuals.  The yard is definitely taking shape.

In other yard news, the fiber I put out for the birds has been a hit.  Hopefully, I will get to see it in a nest.    It is just outside my front door, perfect for monitoring.

The suet cage has also been a hit.  With the squirrels.  Becca was right.  However, I have heard more birds than ever before in the front yard  so we must be doing something right.

There is not a lot of knitting and spinning to show.  Soon.  Meanwhile, I am LOVING my Forecast Socks.  I have finally discovered a toe-up gusset heel that I love.  It is my own creation and I will do a tutorial for it soon.

I have started knitting on the Surf yarn, but, the pattern stitch isn't clicking for me.  Then, I was distracted by some commercial sock yarn (a top down sock, it has been a while).  I'll show you both projects tomorrow.

Rockin' Good Time
We had a great time last night hosting a bourbon tasting.  It was a lively bunch.  It was great fun for me because, while I don't drink bourbon, I did have a fellow knitter, Rachael present.  We also had the delightful company of Lala, Deborah, Lear, Ken, Heidi, and Rick.  Speaking of Heidi and Rick, they are 2/3 of 5 Cent Coffee.  We saw them last weekend with some other folks for a night of Tom Waits songs.  What a great time out.

We had dinner as part of our evening.  At 6 pm, after making a huge green salad from the garden (yay!), I realized that I have no salad dressing.  I whipped up my easy cheater dressing.  Rachael wanted the recipe so here ya go-go:

Quick & Easy Salad Dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2-3 Tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt
juice of 1 lemon (3-4 Tablespoons)
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 - 1/2 cup minced herbs (I used Italian parsley and basil)
1/2-3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2-3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed because that is what I had handy)

In a medium bowl, whisk together everything except the oils.  Slowly whisk in the oil.  Add enough oil to balance the acidity of the lemon juice. 

The mayonnaise provides an emulsified base.  It is a very forgiving recipe.  You can add more or less lemon juice and oil, depending on your tastes.  You could also use other herbs or garlic.  The lemon flavor comes through nicely in this dressing, but it would be just as good with a nice vinegar.   Best of all, it will keep well for a week in the fridge.

Last, but not least, a picture of my snuggle-boy Sammie.  Aw, such a cutie!

Thinking Local

I hope you aren't tired of garden pictures.  I love the new growth this time of year.

These are Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophilia menziesii) that volunteered.  They are a sweet little native annual.  I planted some last year and it is great to see that they like my yard.  Such cheerful little faces.

Last month I showed you my Red Monkey Flower (Mimulus puniceus) and mentioned that the flower color is quite different between the two plants.  The one on the left is in part sun and the one on the right is in bright shade, maybe 15 feet apart.  Both colors are beautiful.  I am not complaining.  It is just curious.

Dudlea farinosa "Point Molate".  I got this succulent last year.  It is very local.  Point Molate is in Richmond next to the Richmond-San Rafael bridge. 

Point Molate had a rich and interesting history.  In 1908 it was a central point for processing wine in California.  The Winehaven Winery was once the largest winery in the U.S. is reported to have made 12 million gallons of wine a year at its peak of production.  Prohibition ended Winehaven even though they tried to stay afloat by making sacramental wine.  During World War II it became a naval fuel depot.  In 1998, the depot was decommissioned.  The land is now controlled by the city of Richmond and there is talk of a casino being built there.  Very controversial stuff around here.

For The Birds

When I went to buy the suet cage for the fiber I put out last week, I learned that this is a great time of year for suet cakes.  Birds need the extra nutrition for feeding baby birds and migrating birds need the energy to fly to their destination.  A little research on the interwebs and I found the idea of mixing up some homemade goodness and packing it into pinecones. 

My recipe:
1 cup lard (a.k.a. manteca, available at Latino markets)
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/3 cup dried currants
1/3 cup chopped raisins
2/3 cup chopped peanuts (unsalted)
2/3 cup rolled oats
4 large pinecones, 4 to 6 inches tall and about 3 to 4 inches in diameter

Any dried fruit should work.  I used what I had in the cupboard.  You can use birdseed and other nuts, basically whatever you have around the house.  Tie heavy twine around the top of the pinecone.  I used two doubled lengths of cotton warp (it is what I use for drive-bands on my spinning wheel).  Then fill the gaps in the pinecone.  The first one I made was so full of goodness I am afraid to hang it as is. 

I decided to pack the next one with half as much of the mixture.  The naked pinecone weighed 40 grams (1.5 oz).  Filled it weighs 200 grams (7 oz). I figure it is better to keep them lighter for two reasons.  First, there will be the added weight of a bird (or heaven forbid a squirrel) on the pinecone.  I am not worried about the string, but about the pinecone decapitating.  Hopefully, two strings tied at different heights will help to distribute the load.  The second concern is freshness.  I don't know how fast the birds will find this food or how long the lard will last before going rancid.  If temperatures are over 70 F do not use lard.

For a stiffer mixture, stir in cornmeal, flour, breadcrumbs, or a similar ground meal.  In this batch I added 1/3 cup of cornmeal and 1/3 cup of chopped pumpkin seeds.  Pack it into a half-gallon milk or juice carton and chill overnight.  Remove the carton and slice.  It will make 3-4 slices perfect for most suet cages.  I got 4 slices almost an inch thick weighing about 9 oz each.  Hang in a shady spot.  Store extras in a cool dark spot until needed.

Hanging in the tree (click for a bigger picture).

I have nearly finished my forecast socks.  It took four attempts at the cast of edge before I found one that I like.  I settled on a combination of garter and feather and fan to maintain the scalloped edge.  It looks a little too loose at the top but it fits perfectly.  Blocking should help it all look right.  Now I just need to reknit the top of the second sock.

The stats
Yarn: my Navajo plied handspun from Amy's roving (Forecast colorway in merino, the February offering from the Spunky Club)
Needles: #3 Boye double pointed metal needles
Pattern: my own toe up gusseted sock.