earlybird

too many interests, too little time

California, Part I

 food, nature, travel  No Responses »
May 252013
 

Ah, to be enjoying the California sun again!  We spent 2 weeks in California and the weather was glorious.  These 2 California Sea Lions were hanging out in the Pacific, just off the Santa Cruz pier.  There was a large herd of them, lounging on the side of the pier on landings kept just for them.  They barked and yammered, jostling for the best positions.  More on Santa Cruz later in the story….

We stayed with my mom most of the time we were there, taking some side trips out and about.  We had only spent two nights at her house when we headed north to Chico, to spend 3 days with my niece and her husband.  He works at Sierra Nevada Brewery and we got a special family tour around the place.

in the hop room

We hung out at M&J’s house, went out to eat, and had our own version of “Bargain Hunt” at one of the many antique shops in Chico.

I really like Chico.  It’s a college town, big enough to be interesting and small enough to be cozy and charming.  It’s even easy to walk and bike around town, which is unusual in the U.S.  We left there already missing M&J.

Only a few days later, M drove down to meet us and we headed up to the Sierra Nevada, to Yosemite National Park, to have Sunday Brunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  What a treat!  It’s a big spread with fresh oysters and other shell fish, several kinds of salmon,  prime rib, egg dishes, chicken dishes, pancakes, cheese blintzes, and then there’s the dessert table.

DB took our photo at our table.

The Ahwahnee itself is an amazingly beautiful building, build in the 1920′s of stone and wood.  When I win the lottery I’m going to stay there for a couple of weeks.

We played tourists, rode around in the free shuttle bus, taking photos here and there.

Yosemite Falls

Selfy at Curry Village parking lot, Half Dome in the distance

We did a little walking around the Visitor’s Center and went into the Indian Museum where I saw some amazing woven baskets.  I wish I had taken photos of them but it was a bit dark for that.

It was a quick trip to Yosemite Valley and then back home to Atwater.  Last year, in June, we did a full day of hiking, which I really loved and I’m sure we’ll do again next year.  It had been at least 25 years since the first and only other time I had a meal at the Ahwahnee and I’m really glad we made the trip this year.

Well, I think that’s it for this blog post.  I’m only half way through the California trip, and still have lots to tell you about Estonia, but it’s clear that this story telling is going to take several days and several blog posts. Come back for more photos and travel tales!

…And…We’re Back

 blogging, crafts, Knitting Related, photography, Traditions, travel  1 Response »
May 232013
 

After being away from home for 3 weeks (except for a short day in between trips), it’s taking me a while to get everything organized at home and back in some kind of normal order. I’m still doing piles of laundry and sorting through piles of photos. Today I’m fighting with the “new” Flickr and still haven’t managed to upload my 400+ photos from my travels.

The photo above was taken in my mom’s garden. She has lots of beautiful flowers with birds and bees and butterflies zooming around through the plants. We had fantastic weather the 2 weeks we were there. It was so nice to get warmed up from the never ending winter in the Netherlands.

While in sunny CA we went to Chico to see my niece and her husband, to Yosemite National Park for Sunday Brunch at the Awahnee Hotel, and to Santa Cruz to meet some knitting friends and put my toes in the cold Pacific waters. Of course all during this time I was busy knitting away on my “Twice Born” shawl that is part of Mad May on Ravelry.  I have photos of all these events, but you’ll have to be patient. I’m trying to be patient with flickr.

I also spent 5 glorious days in Estonia for a conference on Traditional Knitted Sweaters Around the Baltic Sea. This was a fantastic experience that was over far too quickly. The weather was perfect, the people so friendly, the knitting and handwork beautiful and inspiring. Add good music and food and you have a little bit of perfection in 5 days. I would love to go back to Estonia to see more and learn more. Of course I have hundreds of photos of this event, but you’ll have to hold on and be satisfied with just this one, that I’ve taken from J.’s FB page.

I’m heading back to flickr now to see how things are progressing with my photo uploads.  More exciting stories and photos will be posted here in a day or so.

Seaming Made Simple

 Knitting Related, teaching  No Responses »
Apr 272013
 

On Saturday, May 25, I’ll be teaching a class at Penelope Craft in Amsterdam – Seaming Made Simple.  If you’d like to learn everything you need to know about successfully putting your sweaters together, beautifully, be sure to sign up!

It’s a 3 hour class which will be mostly hands on practice.  You’ll have to make some swatches ahead of time, so be sure to ask about homework!

You can sign up at Penelope Craft, Kerkstraat 117, Amsterdam or on their web site.

There are a lot of other great classes planned for this summer.  Here’s the first few months’ schedule.

I’m also teaching Sock Design Studio on June 8th.  In this class you’ll learn how to make socks fit YOU, how to design your own socks using your favorite stitch pattern, and how to design socks for others.  What things do you need to take into account when designing socks?  Do’s and don’ts.  Hints and tips.  It’s going to be amazing.  I’m VERY excited about it.

Hope to see you there!

Dyeing Day

 crafts  No Responses »
Apr 132013
 

On Wednesday G. came over and we did some dyeing.  I did yarn, G. did fabric.  I did indigo and she did cooking pots of madder and weld.  Above are the results of my first ever indigo dyeing.

Left to right: 2x 100% merino wool, sport weight, 2 dips; same yarn that was previous dyed with weld (nearly 3 years ago!) and over dyed with 1 dip in indigo; 2x Cascade undyed sock yarn, superwash; 2x 100% silk lace weight.  I was really curious how the different yarns would dye differently.  It’s true what everyone says, superwash yarn takes up dye, even natural dyes, much faster and deeper than non-superwash yarn.  The silk came out beautiful too!

I started out in the morning making a jar of indigo powder, an alkali and a reducing agent, which turned it from blue to a greeny-brown.

Then I filled a plastic tub with hot water and more of the same chemicals.  Then gently dipped the glass jar into the tub, without disturbing it, and poured the contents into the tub under the water.  All of that was to avoid getting any oxygen into the mixture.

It smelled foul and looked green.  Perfect!

Meanwhile G. was busy mordanting fabric and stirring up her pots of color on the stove.

Then I started dipping my yarns, sliding them in and out of the tub gently, watching the magic of the green yarn turning blue before my eyes as it hit the oxygen in the air.  Presto!  In no time I had this:

I then dug into my bag and pulled out a skein of yellow wool that I had dyed almost 3 years ago.  Funny, that day was also with G., dyeing in my back garden.  I decided to take that skein and throw it into the indigo and see what kind of green I would get.  Not bad actually.

Here’s my yarn after a second dip and with the newly green skein.  G. is in the background showing off her bright red madder fabric.

And here are some of G.’s results.

It was such a fun day!  I love this stuff.  I love the chemistry and the mystery and the magic of dyeing.  I can’t wait to do it again.

And that might come sooner rather than later.  My indigo vat is now blue, which means it still has indigo in it, but has become oxygenated.  I need to put some chemicals in it again and it should turn green again and be ready to dye some more.  I think I’d like to try some simple tie-dyeing on t-shirts.  Why not?  Isn’t that back in fashion?

Healing

 Amsterdam, food, Health, Knitting Related  1 Response »
Apr 072013
 

I had a very nice Saturday, day 10 after The Fall.  In the morning I made the above Flourless Chocolate and Pear Cake.  I followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfect.  You can’t really tell from the photo, but there are big chunks of pear in there.  And no flour!  I highly recommend this recipe.  The only thing I did differently was to add the chocolate fondant on top.  Had to.

After making the cake, DB and I went to Amsterdam.  I had to see how tired the trip would make me and how confident I would be to do it on my own this coming week in order to get back to work.  AND it was the grand opening of Penelope Craft‘s new location at Kerkstraat 117, Amsterdam.  There would be cupcakes! And yarn! And knitters!  I had to make the effort to go.

We went by bus, then train, then tram, then a two block walk to the shop.  I didn’t even think about taking photos at the shop, which goes to show how tired and spaced out I was.  I sat and knit with friends and pet some yarn and picked up a couple of skeins of super giant fat yarn to make demo materials for the class I’m going to be teaching there.  It was lovely to be out and with my peeps.

When we got home I kind of collapsed on the couch, fell asleep for a while and was woken up to the delicious smells of DB’s spaghetti.  We then spent the evening watching episodes of Justified, season 4.

All in all, a great day.

All the Colors of the Rainbow

 Health  3 Responses »
Apr 042013
 

That’s what my physical therapist said to me yesterday afternoon – “you have all the colors of the rainbow”.  He was talking about my backside.  Purple, blue, almost black, yellow and a kind of sickly green, covering my left butt, heading up my back and down my left leg.  I’m so tempted to post a photo here, but honestly, putting a photo of my ass on the internet is going just too far.

Exactly one week ago, Thursday morning before going out to work, I fell from the top step to the bottom landing near the front door.  Remember these lovely newly painted stairs?  Those.  The ones that look long and steep.  As Sheldon Cooper said, “Ah gravity, thou art a heartless bitch”.

To add insult to injury (literally), I ended up getting TWO trips to the hospital in an ambulance and spending the night there for observation.  The first trip was after the fall (I managed to crawl to where my mobile phone was and call for help), strapped onto a gurney as if my back was broken and I really thought my hip or back WAS broken.  Turns out nothing was broken and DB and I came home in a taxi.  The second trip was later that night after I tried to stand up and passed out several times.  DB called the night doctor, who came and found I had very low blood pressure and a bruise and swelling bigger than she’d ever seen before (and she was no spring chicken either).  The ambulance guys tried to get me to walk to the ambulance but eventually had to throw me onto the gurney like a sack of potatoes (so says DB, I was OUT) because I just couldn’t stay conscious while upright.  Sheesh.

I was better the next morning and came home and have been busy healing since.  Yesterday was my first venture outside since falling so the Fysio didn’t even get to see the swelling at its worse.  It’s getting better.  Every day I can move a little more.  The coloring is busy moving down my leg and up my back.  A friend said it reminded her of when her grandmother fell out of a moving car.  Yes, I sent her a photo of my ass.  I do have some good friends, and very close family, that have been privy to my privates.  At least the black and blue parts.

You’d think in this condition I could console myself with knitting.  Wrong.  Until Monday I couldn’t find a position comfortable enough that allowed knitting.  I was mostly laying on my right side.  The last couple of days I’ve been able to sit long enough to do something entertaining.  I finished re-knitting the neckline of a sweater that I’m designing.  I’ve started “teaching socks” for a class I’m going to be teaching.  I’ve knit a few rows of a beautiful brioche shawl.  Luckily I had already finished, and given, the baby blanket I was working on.  I’ll get photos posted here in the next day or two of that project.

For now, I’m trying to keep moving, keep taking pain pills, keep getting over this stupid accident.  Last night I woke with a start from dreaming the fall again.  I hate that.  I hope it stops soon.  Also for now I’m going up and down the stairs in bare feet – no more slippery slippers on my feet.  And this weekend we are planning to get some anti-slip stuff to put on the stairs.  More photos to come!

 

Preparations

 Knitting Related  No Responses »
Mar 272013
 

I’ve been signed up to teach a couple of classes in May and June and preparations have already begun!  I won’t say much about the classes yet because they have not yet been announced and I think it’s only right if the shop owner announces them first.  I will only say that, as the photo above hints at, one class involves socks.  I’ve started on the demo socks already.

See those shiny new needles sitting on my laptop?  Those are my brand spanking new ChiaoGoo circular needles.  I have been using KnitPro wooden needles for sock knitting for the past several years but they are just too fragile.  They break easily.  I totally gave up using their 2mm size because they would break if I looked cross-eyed at them.  I had searched Ravelry for needle recommendations and decided to give these a try.

Since the above photo was taken, I’ve knit about half a sock with these 2.25mm needles.  So far I like them a lot.  What I like the most are the very pointy tips.  In fact, I LOVE the pointy tips.  They make knitting with small sock yarn so much easier!  Also, the metal has just the right amount of slip – not too much – just right.  The one thing I’m having to get used to is the cable.  The lovely red cable is actually plastic covered metal.  You can see the metal inside through the clear plastic coating.  They are stiffer than I’m used to.  The stiffness is not causing me any problems with knitting, it’s just something to get used to.  So far though, I really recommend them.

I also recently got a set of HiyaHiya SHARPS interchangeable needles.  I got the SMALL 5″ set, which gives you needles from size 2US through 8US.  Honestly I rarely knit with sizes bigger than this so it seemed like a perfect set.  Again, I got these as a replacement for my KnitPro set that kept falling apart.  And also with these metal needles, so far I love them!  The tips are nice and sharp, the metal has a very nice feel to it and different from the ChiaGoo needles, the HiyaHiya’s have a thinner more flexible cable.

The HiyaHiya set was a Christmas present from DB, but I didn’t actually get them until the end of January!  They were stuck in customs all that time.  What a pain.  He ordered them from a shop in the U.S. because he didn’t find them in stock anywhere locally.  Are you listening local shops??

So, I’m going back to my teaching sock knitting.  And I’ll post more about the class once it is announced.  It’s going to be so fun!

Look What Came in the Mail Today!

 Knitting Related  1 Response »
Mar 132013
 

In order of appearance:  Madelinetosh 80/10/10 worsted weight in color Edison Bulb; Madelinetosh 80/10/10 worsted weight in color Sand Dune; Madelinetosh 80/10/10 fingering weight in color Spectrum.  The 80/10/10 is 80% merino superwash wool, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon.

It is really hard to capture the true color of this fabulous yarn.  It should be easier once it is knit up into something that is worn outside in daylight.  It was snowing this morning so no outdoor photos for me today!

The first of these to be used will be the Sand Dune and the Edison Bulb.  I’m designing a vest and will knit one in each of these colors plus another color, Terrarium – MT Vintage yarn.  I can’t wait to get started!

On the rest of the knitting front – I’ve finished the baby gift I’ve been knitting for a while but won’t post photos here until the parents have it in their hands.  Don’t want to spoil the surprise!

I’m also working away on my second worsted weight sweater in the 6-sweater series I’m designing.  I’m over half way done so should be finished and ready to look for test knitters just after Easter (first week of April time frame).  I think Andy will be finished with his manly version at the same time.

It’s been so cold here lately that everyone is 1) complaining and 2) still wearing lots of heavy hand knits.  I’m looking forward to warmer weather and cotton sweaters and lace shawls!

Winter in the Dunes

 Haarlem, nature  No Responses »
Mar 052013
 

Yes, it is still winter here.  I don’t even see buds on the trees in the dunes yet and since there aren’t any bulbs occurring naturally here, there are no little flowers popping up either.  There are, however, lots of interesting tree shapes.

These photos were taken Sunday while DB was running and I was walking in Zuid-Kennermerland National Park, just a short 10 minute drive from our house.  If you continue west through the dunes you end up at the beach, either Bloemendaal or Parnassia.

I saw several trees with bark rubbed or cut off.  How did this happen?  I think either humans or the Highlands Cattle that roam around here did this.  I can’t imagine why a human would have wanted to do this but I can imagine that a bovine with an itchy head and horns would do this.  Or maybe the deer with new antlers.

After about 40 minutes of wandering around, DB came running up.  These photos make it look like we had the whole dunes to ourselves. Not quite.  There were actually a lot of runners on Sunday.  It’s a popular place to walk and run, even on a grey, cold winter day.

A Quiet Weekend Ahead

 Health  1 Response »
Mar 022013
 

There are no photos in this blog post since they would just gross you out.

Yesterday, March 1st, a day that should be a happy turning towards Spring and new growth, was a day I spent in a dentist chair having old growth removed.  Who knew that you could have a badly infected tooth and not feel a thing?  Who knew that you could have jaw bone loss and not be any the wiser?

I went to the dentist 3 weeks ago for a routine checkup  and he found that one tooth that had an old root canal had become infected and needed to be pulled out.  He could tell this from an x-ray.  I felt nothing wrong at all.  He referred me to an “implantaloog”, Dutch for a dentist who specializes in implants.

(Digression:  I find it so amusing that the Dutch take foreign words and Dutch-ify them.  ”Implantaloog” is just hilarious to me.  A Dutch friend informs me that “implant” is a perfectly good Dutch word, but I don’t believe him.  I can’t find it in a Dutch dictionary.  I do find “implantaat”, which is the Dutch translation from the English “implant”.  So, I guess “implantaloog” comes from the Dutch “implantaat”.  Sometimes English and Dutch are so close that it’s hard to know which came first, the chicken or the egg. /end Digression)

Yesterday I went to this Implantaloog, whose name happens to be Quaak (seriously), and he pulled my tooth.  I really have to give you the gory details.  Turn away now if you are squeamish.  Despite the fact that this root was badly infected and was full of puss and smelled bad, the damn tooth was really hard to get out.  He cut it into 4 pieces and tried to get them out carefully so as not to damage the bone further.  I swear he stood on my jaw with a crowbar in his hands prying these pieces out.  Eventually he managed it and only once did a piece of something land back on my tongue requiring a diving expedition to grab it before I swallowed it.

Then he cleaned it out and decided to immediately do a bone graft.  I didn’t even think to ask where this bone came from.  I’ve read online that the bone is either from the patient themselves (I didn’t donate anything), or from a cadaver, or from an animal, or artificial.  Next week when I go back to get my stitches out I will definitely ask him what it was.  Not that it matters, I’m just curious.

So, yes, tooth out, hole cleaned, bone substrate inserted, stitched up closed, a wad of gauze placed on it and hold it tight til the bleeding stops.  Then to get home I took a tram, the metro, the train and finally a bus.  Yesterday afternoon I felt exhausted and beat up.

Luckily I have nothing planned for this weekend.  It’s cold and grey outside, which perfectly matches how I feel.  DB is taking care of shopping and cleaning and I only have to sit around healing and, yes you guessed it, knitting.  My jaw is throbbing but this doesn’t keep me from using my hands and my mind.

I’m going to work on a design proposal for Vogue Knitting.  All I can say is that it involves some lovely shetland yarns, 3-ply.  Maybe in another 9 months I’ll have something to show for it!

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