Pumpkin Cookies ... Yum!

Two words which you might not think go together, but do in an awesome way.. Pumpkin Cookies. They aren't really cookies, more like muffin tops: big handfuls of soft, moist, yummy goodness. I made a batch yesterday to use up a bit of leftover pumpkin and the boys snarfed them down pretty quickly. Next time I'll add some walnuts and cut back the chocolate chips. Even though I reduced the amount of chips called for, they could do with even a few less. Since the first load of wood for the fireplace arrived last night they got to work off the extra calories helping unload the trailer and stack the wood. 2 cord down, 5 more to go!

I took advantage of the sunny day to do some work on the new garden bed. I'm making raised beds using a layered composting method first described by Ruth Stout. We've tons of leaves and grass clippings which have combined to make the base of the first bed. I've layered it with some compost that's been percolating for the past couple of months. Eventually there will be two beds, both about 4 feet wide by 30 feet long, but my goal for this year has been to get the first raised bed ready to plant this spring. Hubby showed me the merits of the mulching lawnmower with the collection bag. This made fairly short work of the leaf collection duty, at least short as compared to a rake. It was a much longer task than with the lawn tractor, but it doesn't collect the clippings! They are piled over a cardboard base - we've lots of that right now, having just moved. I haven't soaked it down though as we've more rain in the forecast and everything has been pretty wet of late anyway.

Inside time has been spent a) trying to find the wool for the next two scarves and b) spinning some embroidery wools to be dyed for a friend. She sneakily used the ones I gave her before on a project for me, so I'm making more. These one's are turning out better than the first ones, so I'm happy about that. I still need to find some dark rovings that will spin up to a fine worsted thread as the ones I currently have are far too crimpy and want only to be fluffy woolen threads. Obligatory shot of plied wool strand on penny for judging thread size!

I've been having a lovely time researching different veggie varieties for the garden. The problem is that I should be doing this in January, not October! I've been given some Orach seeds by the generous gardener found here, to plant and am looking forward to trying the new salad green. The garlic is planted and I'm starting to plan for next spring, although I do worry that it's just a bit early. There will be lots of time for this in January when the snow is starting to build and the blustery cold winds make you dream of spring. Still, it is fun and just a little bit exciting in anticipating growing a real garden again.

Inspector helper kitty is tired and has found my partially finished wool coat to be an ideal spot for napping. I shall have to wait until he gets up to work on it!

On Scarves, Hearths and Inspector helper kitty

I decided that I would unpack 2 "sewing room" boxes on Wednesday. Sewingroom really means miscellaneous craft supplies or we don't know how to label it so we'll put sewing room on it and leave it for Mom to deal with later! The first box I found had yarn, yarn and more yarn in it! Well, as it got unpacked and I was distracted. I found the green wool from the Summer Solstice dye pot and a bunch of handspun bits and pieces, all in grey! Of course, I suddenly needed to dress the loom. You know, a small project like scarves really takes little time to wind off the warp and little more to thread the heddles and reed. It really only took a couple of hours to set up! Sometimes it's really nice to have something work up quickly. The grey warp is about 4 or 5 different handspun yarns, in different shades of grey and slightly different thicknesses. One is some of Wellington Fibres mystery rovings which I split to maintain some of the colours, so there is a bit of blue and purple in there as well. There is enough warp for 3 scarves on the loom. The first weft is wool dyed with apple leaves in an iron pot, done back in June. It's a very pretty green and I wish I had more of this colour to work with as it really does remind me of spring! It's woven off and I'm just waiting on finding the skein of handspun black yarn I wanted to use for the second scarf weft. I may have to change my mind if I don't find the box it's packed in soon! While having a project on the loom always looks nice, I hate not getting it woven off as there is always another project waiting in the wings.

It took 2 days more to get that second box unpacked, but I did 2 more to make up for my inattentiveness. If hubby hadn't shifted some boxes, it might have been even more as I'd just found a box with books and binders packed in it. It was like finding an old friend. It was slow to unpack but enjoyable. I got a couple of books put away and found my Tudor costuming binder and then he shifted some boxes and I can't find the half unpacked box of books now!

The fireplace insert has been ordered but we don't yet have an install date. We were hoping the stove would be installed next week sometime, but I'm guessing that it won't be. The weather is getting rather cool and the wood burning insert should be able to heat most of the house. Hubby is starting the hearth repairs and upgrades. There was carpet right up to the fireplace and a hole in the floor with a fan in it as well. Both of these are code violations, so they need to be fixed up before the stove gets installed.

We need to extend the front of the hearth at least 16 inches of a non-combustible material. We're putting in 18 inches of ceramic tile over concrete backer board. It was fun choosing tiles. While the sales guy at the store thought we should co-ordinate our tiles with the carpet, I really wanted it to look like fireplace, not the greyish colour of the rug. The tiles are extending the hearth the whole width of the fireplace.

The first step is for hubby to measure out the tiles so he knows where to cut the carpet out. Then it's fixing the hole by putting in stringers along side the joists - one was cut for the fan hole, sigh.. and then patching it with a piece of wood the same height, in this case 3/4 in plywood. The helper kitty decided to play inspector to make sure the job is getting done correctly. It's pretty ugly right now but will be much prettier when done!

The black wool with all the veg matter in it has turned into a not so bad project after all. While spinning it is a bit of a pain, it knits up really, really soft and yummy. It's rather nice to work with after all in terms of the finished project - which isn't actually finished yet.

Madder and baking and general busyness

The thing about socks is that they come in pairs. When you get the first one done, you're really only halfway there! There are ways of doing 2 at once, but I'm fine with doing them as singles. Less chance of major mistakes I think :) This pair is done. It would have taken far less time had I actually worked on them regularly. There were lots of other things to get done though, they took a while longer. Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of your own feet?

This black lamb wool is some of the nicest and some of the nastiest that I've ever spun, both at the same time! It's super soft and crimpy, so lovely when worked up. However, that particular sheep is a bit of a pig and his fleece is filthy. It cost double to process this because it had to be sent through the machinery twice! I just didn't have the time or energy to pick and comb the fleece. There is still so much chaff in it, that doesn't want to fall out when spun, nor is it easily picked out in the rovings due to the soft, crimpy nature of the fleece. I can only spin it in between other projects as it is a tad frustrating.. no, alot frustrating, being so nice yet not at the same time.

The second madder pot wasn't what I'd hoped for, although the colours are pretty. It turned out that the madder root had a lot of plant stems in it and really didn't give a lot of good colour. The iron helped bring out some reds and the plain white, with alum mordant turned salmon. The exhuast white skein is a pretty coral colour.

I made a dozen of these square cupcakes today! There is bread rising and lasagna planned for dinner. What do these all have in common? They can't be cooked on a hot plate! Yay... The stove is hooked up and has proven so far to bake evenly and nicely. The boys brought home the fixings for the cake and the lasagna yesterday so that I would be able to make the dishes they've been missing.

3 Bags Full

The gift bags are done. For not having access to most of my yarn stash and not being able to run out and get any, I think they turned out darned well. They are pretty, are a decent size and the colours are satisfactory as well, considering all I was able to find was crochet cotton.

We were at a camping event last weekend, which while being SCA, was geared towards early period authenticity. It was awesome and I can't believe I didn't bring my camera. The Regia household camped together which was nice.
I worked up a sourdough bread dough which was cooked on a griddle over the open fire for lunch. The culture must be a cool raising one as it tried to overtake the bowl and my tent despite it going down to 5C that night. I started the dye pot with just the liquor from the madder roots. This is the colour we got. I resoaked the roots and am cooking them up right now to over dye and see what happens.

With non-stop rain for the past half week and another half week of rain in the forecast, I took some time to wash up half a fleece. If I'd had another 3 lingerie bags, I could have done the rest as the washer tub is large enough. I'm using the fill the washer with hotwater and soap, stuff the bags in, turn the washer off and let soak method. Takes a bit of time and lots of water, but gets it done faster than small bits by hand in the sink.

All that is left blooming in the garden is this pretty purple mallow. Weed it may be, it's pretty enough to stay.

Comforting Stuff

I love wool socks! For at least 3 seasons of the year they keep my feet toasty and comfy. Because purchasing commercial wool socks with enough wool to be useful is getting pretty difficult, I am knitting more and more of them myself. I normally do a short row heel and this time I decided to try a flap heel. Well, the pattern I chose was pretty plain, however there were very clear instructions, including photos of various steps. It was an interesting experience because there were a number of errors. I figured out most of the corrections were myself, found some errata listed on line and found one mistake that wasn't yet listed. I emailed the author who got back to me almost immediately which was pretty awesome. It turns out that most of the mistakes have been fixed in the second printing, so if you're going to purchase Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting, check to make sure that it is the 2nd printing or later.

I made cookies. Yes, you're laughing thinking it isn't much of an accomplishment but believe me it was more than a trial in patience because I had to use a toaster oven. Currently we still don't have a working stove. We were given one, but it has a downdraft system which, after getting the hook up instructions from the company - very speedy reply on that one as well, we realize we can't use. We'd have to pull down some cabinets and at least part of a wall to figure out a way to vent it, which likely means dealing with lath and plaster. That is just too big a job right now. So while I wait for the electrician to wire a place to put a stove anyway, I made cookies in a toaster oven. It came with a small cookie sheet type pan and having no other tiny bakeware, it was the main deciding point.

It took me nearly 3 hours to bake one batch of cookies! I do believe that there is some sort of time/space distortion making the inside of a toaster oven much smaller than the outside.
Regardless of the time and effort, they were pretty delicious. I used this recipe for Oatmeal Toffee Cookies , omitting the coconut and using 3/4 cup Skor Toffee bits and 3/4 cup chocolate chips.

There is madder soaking for an upcoming dyepot. I haven't yet dyed with madder here so don't know what type of colour can get with the water. I used just tap water from our well, without any additives to see what baseline colours I will get. I soaked about 125 gms of roots in warmish water for about 40 minutes. By this time the water was just starting to turn orangish from the rather bright yellow it was at first. I drained off the first soak, added more water and watched the red colour develop. Within a couple of hours the water was really quite red. I've got some grey sheep fleece spun up to use in this dye pot as well as some white shetland. It won't be ready to use for a few days yet though but I'm quite excited to do some "real" dyeing as it has been a while.

Delusions

This summer, just before we moved, I was telling my friend Aibhilin what plans I had for projects to do, along with moving house and the wedding. Her comment to me was "Sweetie, you're delusional". Well, I thought she was wrong and set about getting things done. Then life intervened. The move took longer than expected. The unpacking is still being unpacked 'cause with having to do some renovations and repairs, it just can't all be put away until the other projects are done first. While some clutter doesn't bother me, the total disarray is somewhat exhausting.

Slowly projects have been set aside. The embroidered cuffs sit abandoned in the sewing room. I came to the realization that I didn't have time to learn to embroider with wool and get the project done to my satisfaction. Yes, embroidering with wool was enough different than with cotton to make a bit of a learning curve for me.
It's not been a total loss for project completion though. I had to make a pillow cover. I knew that if I didn't do it soon, the bare cushion would end up in use and never be covered. So I dug though piles of remnant bits and settled on some wool scraps. I will admit it was as much because the cat would like it as for design elements. I think it turned out pretty nicely and it came together fairly quickly once I figured out what design I wanted on it. A couple of templates drawn on cereal boxes traced on to the wool worked wonderfully for applique patterns.

The garden is being weeded. It too, is taking longer than I thought. When we first moved in though, the soil was sodden and heavy so it took much longer. We've not had rain in ages, so it's dusty work, but coming along.

The dire "gotta weave something" project of crochet cotton is off the loom. I was able to weave up until about 2-3 inches to the back apron rod. That meant I was able to weave off the loom waste and sample bit to create a 5th project. All I need to do is run the edges by the dividing yarn through the sewing machine or serger, cut and sew up the bottom and side seams. Adding a draw string to the top opening will finish them off.

I transplanted the rosemary to a pot and brought it inside for the winter. I am tired of buying a new plant every year and then it never really growing enough for a good harvest. At least this way I can have fresh Rosemary once in a while during the winter and hopefully it will be larger next spring to go back into the garden. There is also Sage to harvest again. I don't use alot of sage but the stuff I harvest and dry tastes so much nicer than the dried, supermarket sage dust.

The Medieval Weaving program I did for the Oxford County Weaver's and Spinner's was lots of fun. I am amazed at how warm and welcoming the spinners and weavers I have met through this venture. I felt at home with them as I did with all the other groups I've been to. I think I shall enjoy being a part of their guild. It did however take a big bite out of my time this week as I had to figure out where I'd stashed all my demo resources!

While the underdress is finally done, the hem was marked a tad too long so I fear I must take it out and redo it in order not to trip and land flat on my face in some embarrassing context 'cause you know it won't happen when nobody is looking.
Don't ask me about the the new gown 'cause Aibhilin, my friend.. you were right! Maybe just a tad delusional :)

A week which flew by....

The wallpaper stripping is on hold due to the fact that the drywall underneath was installed backwards. Hubby isn't sure he can skim coat it smoothly enough to paint, so he wants to try a bit first before more time is spent removing wallpaper. I tried Tammy's idea with the hot water but ended up getting an inexpensive home steamer in the end, which works a charm. Still lots of work, but not quite so hard. Hot and sweaty though :)

The chimney inspector guy was here. He tried to check the chimney but when he pulled out the fireplace insert he found over 20 lbs of creosote chunks behind the stove. He ended up cleaning the chimney just so he could see it! So while it is in good shape, we need a liner and a new stove.. yay.. Now the whole house smells like smoke and creosote, just because the fireplace is empty for the moment. I will say though the inspector guy left the house almost soot free which was quite amazing considering he was covered in it.

I'm doing a medieval textile presentation at a local weaver's guild and have been spending some time trying to gather my materials together. None of the resources I use were packed in the same place. Some are finally put away and some are still sealed in cardboard bins of doom. At anyrate, my warp weighted loom came back from a demo in not so good shape, needing to have heddles and weights restrung. Foote the potter made the weights are they are spectacular, working better than I had even hoped for. I really wanted to do a twill this time, but really didn't have time. Instead I settled for a basket weave since it is already the first step towards the twill. Sometime in the future, I will just re-do the patterning for a sample bit of twill.

The crochet cotton project is almost ready to cut off the loom. The first one was a broken twill as found in a Coppergate sample. By changing the treadling it miraculously turns into a broken diamond twill, which is much more fun to weave I will say. I managed to break the clip on my loom lamp, rendering it unusable and making it nigh impossible for me to weave once evening sets in. The bulb is a super intensity "daylight spectrum" compact flourescent bulb which allows me to see easily, even to thread the reed with dark thread. Replacing the clip required a new lamp, meant a trip to Ikea today as there isn't anything else that I've found to fit nicely on the back beam of the loom.

Yesterday was a trip to the K-W Knitter's Fair and the Stratford Garlic Festival. The Knitter's Fair is always fun. I met friends I hadn't seen in a while and the inspiration is always good. I got yarn.. big surprise.. but 2 balls of sock yarn in colourways I wouldn't normally choose just to get some variety in socks and some wool singles in grey and a lovely red. Ostensibly they were for a blanket, but I think they might be too fine. However they were cheap and nice so I dragged them home with me.
Then I got 2 lbs of seed garlic to be planted in October. My cousin dropped by with a housewarming pressie of some of his fabulous wooden cooking tools and a huge braid of garlic. It's the best garlic I've had in ages so when I found the garlic suitable to plant.. not the imported wimpy stuff, but real garlic with Oomph, I had to get some. Of course this means that I need to get the one garden area ready to plant. This afternoon was spent pulling weeds until the mosquitoes started to eat me.

I did take a couple of hours off to drag the Kromski on the deck, ply myself with much tea and spin some more. hehehe actually, I did some plying of wool as well - a bit of roving labeled New Zealand "off white", which we all think is actually grey here. It's pretty though, it spins nicely and effortlessly. I've one skein done and another half bobbin of singles. I don't seem to be able to sneak quite as much time in spinning these days, but I'm hoping to get the rest of the fibre spun up in the next week and a half. I think it will make nice mittens and winter is coming.

On the list for this week.. finish the garden weeding, weave off the yardage, weave a couple of inches of basket weave on the warp weighted loom, spin a bit, hem an under dress and make the over gown, both of which I am hoping to have done for Saturday. Then there is the normal stuff I've been doing and preparing for a guest who told me not to prepare. I think it would be prudent to at least make the guest bed and perhaps clear a pathway to the room so she won't trip over the inkle looms etc, that always seem to be in the way.
Sigh... so much to do.. too few hours in the day ....