Summer came in

Riffing on "Summer is icumin in", the old song celebrating the Solstice.  I watched what I could see of the livestream from Stonehenge, but they seem to have had a typically overcast British morning and the sun didn't blaze through.

I'm about a week behind for a midmonth update.  Much has gone on in the greater world, and locally.  Right now about 60% of the states are seeing an upward climb in confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19.  I live in one of the few with a decline, but we're not confident that will hold, especially with the state reopening and people refusing to wear masks or follow basic kindnesses about keeping distant from each other.  Also, when I walk past some of the outside dining areas, it seems the tables may be six feet from edge-to-edge, but that doesn't allow patrons to be six feet apart.

Some people say they are eager to eat at or in a restaurant to keep a local business going.  Others say they will continue doing take-out as they feel it is safer.  I've thought about picking up a pizza, but that requires preordering and being at the store when you say you will, which I think is not worth driving specially and I haven't had time when in that area to add it to my travels.

My CSA made the first delivery this week.  I split it with friends, and ended up with lots of radishes, two types, which I am eating raw or cooked.  I went to the farmstand to get yoghurt, and some of the season's first tomatoes, which I've eaten in various sandwiches with herbs on top.  I roasted chicken with Thai basil stuffed under the skin because I didn't want to fuss with breaking down the chicken for Thai Basil Chicken; while it roasted I did a stirfry of snap peas and garlic scapes, with Asian chili sauce, for a side dish.  With rice the meal was something of an upscale, deconstructed version of Thai Basil Chicken, and yummy.

Also yummy the local strawberries which are starting to arrive, and which I am eating daily.

Resolutions Update

I finished the sock:

Now I have to start the second one.

Nothing else that was OTN has been finished, but I did complete the secret project, with enough yarn for a second item.  I'm also designing the second one and it is going much more quickly (even with a measuring error that required frogging) and I should be able to put the package into the mail next weekend.  Pictures after they are received, in case the recipient follows my blog.

Storm and Songs and Sock

When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.

Haruki Murakami, writer, born January 12, 1949 in Kyoto

We certainly find ourselves in and surrounded by storms these days.  Pandemic, protests, riots, flurries of news reports from all sides.  The inexplicable death of a man at the hands of police, and people unable to stop it - and now, unable to stop challenging the status quo that contributed to George Floyd's death.  And so many others.

I wonder if people will think this a frivolous blog, because I haven't been tracking how the pandemic has affected me and my family and friends, and how I feel about all the terribleness in the world.  It's not in my nature to be expressive in that way.  I have been talking with family and friends and in some ways feel "talked out" in the topics of sadness and stress and suffering.  Hence my blog containing other things.

Such as the songs I posted for the rest of the 31-Day Song Challenge month:
Day 17:  I've been in a backup group for karaoke, but never leading (although I might lip-sync, but that's not what they asked), much less in a duet.  Either of these work, both from musicals:  Annie Get Your Gun and Godspell.
Day 18:  I learned this song as a child, and wondered where it originated.
Day 19:  I think a ballet suite counts as a song that makes me think about life.
Day 20:  So many meanings in this song, at least for me.
Day 21:  This was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar.  Not well, but I did.
Day 22:  I first heard "Hafan Gobaith" when I was involved with the North American Welsh Choir.  Sir Bryn Terfel's rendition isn't quite a moving to me, but more than adequate.
Day 23:  I definitely think that everybody should listen to "Fanfare for the Common Man".  So many recordings from which to choose.
Day 24:  It didn't take long for me to choose THE BAND as a band I wish were still together, it took much longer to select a song (and a second) to feature.
Day 25:  I chose Beverly Sills as the deceased artist.
Day 26:  Since I couldn't think of "a song that makes me want to fall in love", I chose songs that make me want to dance with somebody.
Day 27:  A song that breaks my heart.
Day 28:  Since I'd already shared so many songs by performers whose voices I love, I focused on a couple of bass-baritones today.
Day 29:  A song from my childhood.
Day 30:  A song that reminds me of me (and some of my friends), but I never cut class or drank beer.
Day 31:  This song, and performance, comforts my soul, and reminds me of several family events.  And is so ironic to post right now.

Status of Resolutions

The blanket is finished and mailed, but I have not heard that it has arrived, so I cannot show it.  I did not finish the vest or the pair of socks, or even a single sock:

Part of that was trying to get the pattern to work with the yarns, and adjusting the stitch count when it was clear the first attempt was too big around, and then as I bound off I decided I really could make it longer, especially as I have the other lightest colour.  So as you can see, it's close but not yet finished.

I did finish several scarves, because I needed something meditatively simple due to high stress levels this month.  Work has been very busy, and I've felt guilty because so many people I know are out of work or on reduced hours or income.  People are being WFR'd at work.  So - I knit, and crochet.  And socks on US#1 needles need too much focus.

The timing meant I had to cook something quickly for our monthly cooking club, and since it was just before Shavuos I made a noodle kugel with things I had on hand, including shell macaroni instead of flat noodles.  It came out tasty, with a nice spiced sugar topping:

June Mini-Resolutions

Easy to decide to finish at least two items I have OTN, but which ones?  Might be the vest, might be the sock, might be something entirely different.  I also have another secret project for a friend, so I cannot say more, but hopefully will be able to post pictures later in the month.  I already have July planned, so I need to get things done in June.

Midway Point Music

I know that many people are posting about being in lockdown, how they've adjusted, different food preparations, and so forth.  Given that I WFH when I am not on the road, the biggest adjustment to me is that I am home All The Time, and it took me a few weeks to put away the little suitcase I usually repacked every weekend.  Work still keeps me VERY busy and I feel a bit guilty because I know many people who are out of work entirely, or have severely reduced work, and it feels wrong to say anything about how much I do have to work when so many cannot.

For today, I'll post the first half-month of music I've included in my daily posts for this challenge:

I thought of posting here weekly, but obviously haven't, so here's a catch-up:

Day 1:  I ended up with a song for every colour of the rainbow:  Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple.
Day 2:  I thought of doing the Brubeck song that everybody else posted this week, but really, this lifts my spirits.
Day 3:  So many summertime songs!  "Walking on Sunshine", a Bill Withers song I remember hearing played in parks when I was a child and teen, and this one by Chicago.
Day 4:  Songs on this topic can be tough.
Day 5:  So much of classical music needs to be played loudly, and this is excellent.  I've also been known to play some modern music quite loudly, like this song.
Day 6:  It's hard to NOT dance when celtic music plays, and this is a favourite of mine.  Also this one, from a movie full of danceable songs.
Day 7:  This works for me on some long drives.
Day 8:  When a song is called "The Drinking Song" and has a chorus of "Drink Drink Drink", of course it's appropriate!
Day 9:  This song always makes me feel happy and hopeful.
Day 10:  A song that makes me sad, and not just because of its name.
Day 11:  I never tire of this duet, and love hearing different pairings.
Day 12:  I count this as a song from my preteen years because it was our fourth-grade musical, and given that I grew up in and around musical theater, and it's the centennial year - of course!
Day 13:  This might be understood only by people from Chicago.  I love it and knew I'd include it.
Day 14:  Committed bachelors like me have a hard time thinking of weddings, but I like this song.
Day 15:  "Fever" has a long history, and I've heard a version by Pasty Cline that I like a lot, but couldn't find it online.  Shirley Bassey did my second favourite.
Day 16:  I don't know if songs from classical music are intended, but this is one of my favourites.  I just love patter songs, whether this one, something from Gilbert & Sullivan (and this update), or the opening of "Hello, Dolly!"

Music is supposed to be good for the immune system, as if I needed justification to listen to some each day!

Mini-Resolution update:   The blanket is finished and in the mail to its recipient, and I've cast on the first sock.  Following the toe increases, I am doing a sample heel because I've decided it should match the toe, and then I'll continue with the colours in sequence.  Details later.

She waited several hours

My grandmother did, she said, after my birthday package arrived, before she opened it.  "I knew it was something that squished" she said, which was true because I hadn't put the gift into a box before wrapping it, so it would fit into the box I was using to mail it.

This shawl: 

Patons 'Glam Stripes' in Navy

For the record, her birthday is next Monday, and I didn't expect her to wait that long.  It's a bit of a running joke that my grandmother doesn't deal well with curiosity - she wants to know what is in the package now.  Sometimes I wonder why bother wrapping it - but she does have fun unwrapping.

I didn't finish my vest, but I did finish and mail the Mittens for Akkol grad items:

The sweater is more person-shaped when it's not patted out for photographing.  For the scarf I used the same stitch pattern as in the borders on the sweater.  The socks are overdyed wool and I didn't realize the two hanks were slightly different shades until I wound them, so I alternated yarns every three rows, with the darker one used for ribbing, heels, and toe.  The pattern had a texture to it but I left it out given the striping.  I wanted these to be semi-mindless.

The vest is past the dividing at underarms, but it's not nearly mindless enough and I am trying to figure out what to do at the armholes.  That will depend upon how much yarn is left.  I may figure it out this weekend.  For mindless things I made five rectangles for The Linus Project, and two scarves that will be donated to shelters.  All but one scarf are in garter stitch - nice and mindless.

I've also been doing cooking, including some very nice bread and sandwich rolls:

I found out about a cooking group at a library, and they moved online.  We had a meeting this week and everybody showed what we've made from our pantry.  I did a soup with lots of kale, because I got a bag of it at the farmstand last Saturday.  We didn't get to taste each other's cooking this time but we did have fun getting recipe ideas and talking about what we miss being able to cook.

Resolutions for May

I am one for two on the April resolutions, because I made the shawl but didn't finish my vest.  So first up will be to finish the "We Knit In Texas Y'All" vest.

For other items, I will finish the baby blanket I was going to do in March and hand off to friends to deliver.  Of course, all the travel stopped, so pressure to finish was off.  The baby is already in this world but the month that includes Mother's Day seems a good time to get it finished and shipped.

For a new item for me I think I will take a set of red yarns from one of the DFW Fiber Fest vendors and make a pair of socks.  With the colours I can do a very plain pattern and let the yarn be the energy.  My mother loves red, so it seems appropriate - and somewhere I think I have some red socks I was making for her.  I sent a Mother's Day gift so I don't need to make one for my mother, and my grandmother loved a box of soaps I'd sent to her, so I'm done with gifts for a while.

Music for May

A friend posted this challenge, which she'd gotten from her son:

She posted partway through April, and note it has a bonus challenge, so I decided to wait and start it on the first of May.  I'll post the dailies on Facebook and a summary list here each week or two.

Setting a Record and Cooking Maple-Beans

Hello!  Today, just because we could, we had snow:

 

 

My neighbor's forsythia is sad that it's snowing.

Apparently it set a new record for snowfall of this date.  The previous record was 1.7" (4.5cm) and today we received 2.4" (6cm).

When I heard that we had a winter storm warning for today, I decided to make baked beans, using the mix I'd used before but following their recipe, scaled both for size of household and remaining beans.  I put a cup of the beans to soak overnight:

In a bowl, covered with about one inch
of water.  At right, after overnight soaking.

 

 I put them into my crockpot to cook.  They are really a pretty assortment of beans!

The original package (from Sweet Wind Farm, a local place, but you can order online) came with seasoning and maple syrup.  Scaling to the quantity of beans, I added a half-cup of maple syrup, and half the seasoning, plus a bay leaf.

Then I added water to cover and let it cook on high, which gave it a steady simmer, until the beans were done.  Unfortunately they lost some of the pretty colours while cooking: 

Although I like the taste of bay, a whole leaf was a bit too much for this quantity, but overall the beans are very tasty.  I made rice to go under it, and it's a solid meal.  I did add a couple pickles on the side for some contrast.  They are not blue; that's my grandmother's shawl, sitting next to my bowl.

The bowl is one of a set I got at the SouperBowl in Madison the year I lived there.  You could buy a ticket for a bowl and soup, or you could buy just a bowl.  They also had tables of extra items, including a set of these bowls, which I bought and have used very happily.

I have one portion of rice and probably two portions of beans left, which will be meals in the next couple of days.

In other news, I finished the sweater and scarf, which finishes my committed items for Mittens for Akkol.  When marking them on the spreadsheet I realized that I have some yarn I'd overdyed that will work for thick socks for one of the extra grads, so I wound it and cast on for those.  I'm also working on the border of my grandmother's shawl.  Pictures to follow once ends are run in.  Next Saturday I'll go to the post office, and hopefully mail everything.

Tonight is the weekly KnitTalk meeting, and earlier the local paper artists group met.  It's not as much fun to meet remotely, but I like how much more convenient it is for me time-wise and geographically.

The Fiber Fest that Wasn't - Day 4

Today I wasn't supposed to be at DFW Fiber Fest - I was going to jet out early (8:00am flight) for Raleigh to attend the North Carolina Opera's production of "Die Zauberflöte" or "The Magic Flute".  Of course, like so many things, that has been cancelled/postponed.

Because of this, I decided to wear my shirt from the Carolina Fiber Fest, which I attended last year, and of course this year's was cancelled.  Maybe next year I'll be there.

  

Instead, I watched movies, chatted with friends online, had a long talk with my grandmother (her cordless phone is as much technology as she can handle), took a long nap (because, why not?), read a bunch of things, watched some movies, and knit:

Not enough - if I focused I would be further along, at least into the second hank.  But it's not a race and that's as far as I've gotten.  I did spend some time playing with the yarn I brought in last weekend (the stuff I picked up yesterday is still on timeout in the garage) and looking at patterns and I think once I finish some obligatory items I will be having fun working on things out of my DFW Fiber Fest goodies.

Knittingwise, the next one OTN may be "RoadWarrior" by Carissa Browning, one of this year's teachers.  Buying patterns is a way to support them.

The Fiber Optic yarn has been aging, because I didn't get the pattern they were showing with it a few years ago, and I almost chose another pattern, but I think "RoadWarrior" will look very nice and is appropriate given how much I am usually traveling.  The BaaBoo colourway is "Black Gold" and it has a bit of greenish in it, so may get swapped - but I confess to not having many solids from independent dyers in my stash, so this may be the end result.

I have other yarns "kitted" for hats, socks, and other things, so once I am done with the obligatory items I may be working on a lot of things for me.  And of course some of the charity scarves and blanket bits that usually keep my hands busy when I am running errands and so forth, and now can keep my hands busy during online meetings.  It helps me to focus.

Before I go, a beautiful tribute, and a beautiful version of a song that means quite a lot to many right now.  Stay safe, y'all.  Stay home if you can.

The Fiber Fest that Wasn't - Day 3

Today at DFW Fiber Fest I was going to do an all-day class called the "I Am Dragon Trilogy" which teaches a format that looks like dragon scales.  I've tried a crocheted version and it's tedious and I was hoping for some hints and tricks.

Instead, I worked a bit on the vest, not enough to make a progress picture worthwhile because I also did some other things, including the weekly Torah Study, which included a discussion about whether it is acceptable to have somebody go to the grocery store for you.  While the rabbi didn't offer an answer, we had many opinions and views shared, including from one participant who is a healthcare professional and did catch COVID-19 at work.

After class, I went out to the post office, pharmacy, and farmstand.  I wore this outfit, with the sweatshirt zipped and hood up, and further accessorized with gloves and shoes:

At the post office I picked up a few more packages of goodies from DFW Fiber Fest vendors:

A Hundred Ravens.  A friend adores
their yarn and the one on right is the
commemorative show colour.

Brazen Stitchery - not sure why
I ordered the one with all the pink,
but I couldn't resist "Hermione".

LeRoo's yarn is REALLY soft.

moondrake added the pink; the lavender
and brown is their commemorative colourway.

That should be the end of it, but some vendors held out their offerings until this weekend, or have now added some show-special items.  Dang it.

Gnomespun isn't a vendor, but I was reading about the spinning wheel he made at 1/16th size, and wandering into his shop area, and somehow these showed up in my mailbox, too:

The blue is even more amazing in person than onscreen, and I am SO glad I gave in to temptation.

After that photo shoot the mail went back into the boot/trunk of the car to wait a few days.  then the packages get wiped down before coming into the house, and isolated in a corner for a few more days.  I took the photos to show the yarn during DFW Fiber Fest weekend.

Then I scrubbed off the veggies I'd gotten at the farmstand: two kinds of radishes, rainbow carrots, stripetti squash, brussels sprouts, rapini, mushrooms (gently soaked, not scrubbed, because they are delicate), golden beets, sweet potatoes, and parsnips.  I also got a dozen eggs, which I wiped before putting into the refrigerator.  They took a preorder  of a couple items I wanted to be sure to get and packed the rest while I was there; the farmstand is an open shed and they let one person in at a time, and do all the picking and packing for you.  Hurrah for supporting local farms.

Then I scrubbed myself and put on fresh clothing:
  

Closeup of the leggings.
I don't know why they look
so grey in the full-body photo.

At DFW Fiber Fest I wouldn't be wandering about in just a shirt and leggings, but at home, I can do it.  And with the day as sunny as it ended up being, I'm more than warm enough.  It's hard to see the shirt in the morning photo above, but it's the same saying, just on a different colour and the light grey has short sleeves.

And yes, I am planning a crochet project for some of the yarn I've gotten from the vendors this year, although the several ideas I've had are all knitting.  Back to the vest for now.

I'm knitting while watching streaming arts programs:  Met Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber, etc.  I'd planned to be at Rover Dramawerks for their "365 Women a Year" festival, but they have been shut down since mid-March, like most of north Texas nonessential businesses.  You can see the sign the City of Plano posted to their door at the top of their website.  They received permission to post video from some of their "10 Minute Plays Festival" and although I'd been to the shows, I'm enjoying watching them again.  I'll probably send the price of a ticket or two to them in appreciation - arts organizations are hurting now, and any bit that can help, really does.