Pinterest Make it Monday ~ Because I Did

By now most of you have heard of Pinterest. Pinterest is made up of virtual "pin boards" of various topics. I enjoy looking through them for inspiration and ideas. My girlfriend, Katte uses it like Google to search for things (and regularly pins the most amazing tatting and costuming). I always find it interesting to see what amuses, interests or makes nostalgic my many friends who are also on Pinterest. As most of you know, I am a arty/crafty person. I like making things with my own hands. It fills my heart. I have a personal board on Pinterest called "Pinterest Make it Monday". I have been pinning and pinning and not doing anything with the ideas I have been collecting. I decided a few months ago to dedicate a day to making something based on something I had pinned. So far, I have made a smashed penny charm bracelet, a up~cycled denim and cotton maxi~skirt and today I made firestarters. I thought that with Fall rapidly approaching that would be a good one for this day as soon we'll be having fires in the fireplace. As luck would have it, I had all the ingredients to hand to make them. I used old newspaper, pine cones, string, herbs and spices. Just rolled 'em up like a Christmas cracker and wallah!

17 May - Maybe

Maybe:

I will get into the shower as soon as I get this posted.
I will get to knit today at the LYS.
I will remember to get Size 3 circs to finish Katte Beth's mitts.
I will get the hems on my new chemise done.

#59 of 356 - Hmm, Sunday and Great Big Sea for Me

The dear daughter is taking me to see Great Big Sea for my birthday in March, whoo-hoo!

This photo was taken during the Uprooted Tour in 2002. My wildest dream came true as three of my favourite Celtic Rock and Trad groups, Great Big Sea, Seven Nations and the Young Dubliners were on tour together. We three girls saw both the Vail and Denver shows that tour.


I'll be tired tho, as I will have walked in the Denver, CO Saint Patrick's Day Parade that morning. Oh well, GBS Rocks! This will be the last opportunity for Erin and I to see the band together, as Erin leaves for the UK this summer. We first saw them together at Red Rocks Amphitheater when they opened up for The Chieftains and Sinead O'Connor. That was also a fabulous show. Whatever else you think of Sinead, her voice was ethereal within the confines of Red Rocks. However, what we came away with was CDs and Tees from GBS and deserted island choice of music for me.

So Katte, put the coffee on, Erin and I will likely be spending Friday night the 12th of March at your house.

#35 of 365 - How I Spent Some of My Day

This morning, I talked Erin into going to the Denver Sew Expo at the Merchanise Mart in Denver, obviously. It's a sewing expo that runs for 3 days in February every year. We were going to pass by it today on the way to delivering me to Sheila's house in anticipation of dog sitting in Broomfield for the next week and we had the time to check it out, so we did.



We ran into Katte whilst we were there. We also saw Barb, Marlene and Betty, old dear quilting friends from Denver and Boulder. We checked out the vendors and spent a lot of time in Cheryl Oberle's booth petting yarn and checking out the shawls. We got to see her latest shawlette just of the needles and we all love it. I can't wait til the pattern is available. Besides Cheryl's yarns and books, the only thing that really interested me was the banana fiber yarn, lovely colours with an interesting texture. Erin was not so fond of the texture, but I was okay with it.



...and yes, I am wearing Ishbel again. I even gave lessons to other patrons on how I wear it...

Now I am at Sheila's, knitting and visiting whilst waiting to go to the Wiseharts for the supper and then on to the house of dogs across the way...



Sheila sez Hey Rebecca!

The Birthday Surprise

The Birthday Girl, Erin and her Surprise, Leilani aka Mimi. Yesterday we had a very long adventure to celebrate the DD's birthday on the actual day of her birth. I very nearly didn't go as I had given up my ticket to Wicked for Eriy's cousin and I hadn't slept well the night before. So, I was grumpy and not so sure that I wanted to spend the whole day out of the house. In the end it was a good day had by all.

Anyhoo, we left the house at 5:30 am to drive to Boulder for breakfast with another birthday girl, Katte Beth (her's is on Monday) at the Boulder Tea House. Erin and I hit the WalMart in the Flat Irons before hand to finish up some grocery shopping in anticipation of potentially being snowed in. Mark, Darla and Aidan joined us as well as the surprise that wasn't, Leilani aka Mimi, who flew in the night before from CA and stayed at the Judd House until we all met up for breakfast.

After breakfast, I took the whole gang to Gypsy Wools also in Boulder, to look at and fondle fibery goodness. Darla found some bamboo and merino to spin together for socks. Aidan got a BIG foam mat for his needlefelting projects. I got some lovely lavender fiber to spin(think I will ply it with the silk/wool that I have going) and Katte got some yarns and patterns for a mitt and scarf set, that I am going to knit for her.













Then we headed into town for the Wicked Ticket Lottery sign-up. I gave up my ticket for Mimi, so she and Erin could see it together. Sadly, I didn't win a ticket in the lottery. That means I get to see Wicked in London next year. Sad for me, NOT! The gentleman with his back to us in the brown leather jacket in the waiting group is Don Stewart. We met this fellow conspirator while waiting in line to get in the lottery for tickets. He joined the three of us and we all entered for 2 tickets each. As we only needed the one for me we would give him the other and vice-versa. Don didn't win either, but he was going to try again last night and today as this is it. Wicked ends this evening and moves on to Cleveland...

Since the ticket lottery sign up started at 11:30am and the drawing was at Noon and the show didn't start until 2:00pm,we had time to kill. So, we hopped on the 16th Street Mall shuttle and went down to the Tattered Cover at 16th and Wynkoop in LoDo to peruse the books and be inside til the show started for the girls. We sat in the knitting/art/craft area on the second floor and rested the feetsie and looked at the books. The Joy of Sox which has two patterns by my friend, Gina House was on the shelf and it was the first time I got to really look this book over. I so want to add this book to my collection of knitting books. The girls left me at the Tattered Cover when it was time for the show and I pulled out my knitting (I had a pair of socks with me). I discovered a huge mistake and put them aside to peruse the magazines. My phone rang and it was Sheila checking to see if I had gotten a ticket. She also wanted me to know she and her friend, Sue were heading to The Lamb Shoppe for the afternoon stitch in. Since I was at loose ends, they very kindly came downtown and picked me up and took me with them. It was a very satisfactory way to spend the afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to the shop and my visit with Sheila and Sue.

After the girls picked me up, we headed home to the Springs in the snow storm. We had planned hand built pizzas for the supper, so we stopped to pick up the fixings at the Whole Foods after we got Pan's supper at the Pet'sMart. We were smart to stop even at the lateish hour as this is what we woke up to...

Samhain Supper or Enough Already

A while back I went to Blazer's in Aurora to do some shopping with my friend Katte Beth. She was all excited about this place and wanted to show it off to me. We went on a Sunday morning, only to discover that the store was closing THAT day for a 2-3 month remodel. As, I was also expected to be somewhere that afternoon, we did a "quick" run through the store and scooped up what goodies were left to find. The store was pretty well gutted of the good stuff due to EVERYTHING being 1/2 price. I did buy a little over a $100.00 worth of pastas, teas, oils, balsamic vinegar and crackers for which I paid a grand total of $50.00. As always, more fun is to be had with the adventure that is Katte Beth, thanks, grrly!

One of the pastas I purchased that day was a black linguine made from squid ink. Squid ink, you say, ewwww! Not! It was for colour only, not for flavour. I saw it and said to myself, hmmmm? Then I thought, All Hallows Eve is coming and put it in my basket... I also picked up some Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomato pastas at the same time...

One of the foodie blogs or some such (could have found it through TipNut), that I read had a recipe for a Creamy Pumpkin Sauce. I looked over the ingredients and thought to myself, yum! Then I thought of the black linguine and wallah, Samhain Supper was born... I used this recipe as the basis, Creamy Pumpkin Sauce. As Erin responds badly to pork and turkey, I used sweet Italian chicken sausage instead of the one called for. She also isn't that big a fan of sage so I substituted fresh rosemary for it. It was still yummy. One should, in my opinion, make any recipe to your own taste and with the ingredients that suit you best.

The enough already is for the friends that have been bugging me for the recipe for the sauce and my Golden Yam Waffles...

As to the rest of the weekend. I did a fair amount of spinning. I finished the DIRTY brown alpaca which I ended up with 1200 feet of, so will likely will get about 300 yards of 2 ply. I found that it was easier to spin if I didn't comb it out and just spun the locks. However, I ended up with a lap full of vegetable matter (VM) and soil and more was released when I ran it off my bobbin thru the yardage counter. Ick!


The light specks you see on the brown yarn are the VM that still hadn't gotten removed as yet. When I boil it to set the twist after plying, most of it and the soil will finally go away, but I suspect that I will be picking VM out as I knit with the finished yarn. Will keep you posted on that.

I also spun up the hand dyed watermelon colours of Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) from which I got about 420 yards. I think I will ply it with a creamy white. I had never spun BFL before, it's loverly to work with.



I also spun up some merino pencil roving in very pretty colours. Pencil roving had been giving me fits before when I tried to spin with it, so it was an exercise in prevailing over a challenge. The last time I tried to spin some, I ended up having to have it combed into rolags to spin from. This time I was determined to get it to spin in it's stripy way and surprisingly it didn't fight me back and the effort was a much more successful. Yea! for me! I will probably ply this with some black after I find a source for it and get it spun up. I think that likely will mean a field trip to Gypsy Wools in Boulder for some black merino fiber. Sad for me, not!

Again, I have to thank my spinning teacher, Darla for all of her help in getting me to this point. Also, for giving me the confidence to KEEP trying till I get where I want to be in my spinning efforts. Thanks again so much, you are an awesome addition to my life.

Knitting with an Echo in the Bone and Cake Wrecks

Which is about a book reading and signing with our favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, whose latest book, Echo in the Bone just came out this week. It's also about friendship, laughter and new companions in life's fun events.

Diana Gabaldon with my knitting, Thanks to the Yarn Harlot for the idea.































The launch was in Scottsdale, Diana Gabaldon's hometown on Tuesday and she was with us in Denver on Wednesday. Slightly creaky of voice, which surprised none of us at all since she has been stumping the book and talking non-stop, I am sure for weeks on end. Just for an instance, she was at DragonCon in Atlanta within the last two weeks.

Erin, Katte Beth, Michelle, Cindy and myself went to the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch last night to hear a reading from Echo in the Bone from Herself and to get our individual collections of books signed. Between us all, I think we had over twenty books to be signed. Erin and I got our HB copy of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, a paperback copy of Outlander for her friend Jo, my copy of Cross Stitch (the British version of Outlander) and our copies of the latest book signed, which completes our collection.

As you can see there were quite a few knitters and crocheter in the group waiting for Herself to show. Most were working on small projects, socks and such. Katte Beth, however, was working on baby blanket and I was working on a Nubia, which is a period scarf and Erin was working a scarf as well. Michelle and Cindy didn't bring any handwork for themselves, tho.

The Tattered Cover Independent Book Shop hosts many authors for readings and signings and their system works pretty well although we didn't get to queue up until about 10:15 pm or so, since there were over 400 people there to get see Diana.

Erin and I got there first to queue up. Although, Michelle had gotten our queue tickets earlier in the day to guarantee the spot in the queue for getting our books signed. So we caught up with each other and talked about Erin's wedding plans and such. I corralled Cindy as she arrived last.

Katte Beth was a book-signing virgin, having never been to a book signing before. She had no idea what to expect from the event. Erin was 12 or 13 the last time she saw Diana in person. That occasion was just a signing so she had never heard her read an excerpt or speak about her writing process. The last time I saw Diana was at her home Scottish Highland games in Mesa and she had us in stitches again and the men wondering what the heck they had been missing.

Diana is a great story teller and had us laughing, whooping and blushing. She did, however, give Erin hope for her writing future as Diana didn't start writing fiction until she was 35. We also learned that Dr. Who (a BBC sci-fi, time travel, fantasy program for "children") played a part in the whole phenomena that is the Outlander series. We all are Dr. Who fans as well, so this was the kewlest discovery. We also found out exactly what she likes about a man in a kilt. Let's just say it's a great reason.



These are pictures of me catching a York Peppermint Patty, one handed whilst taking a picture by the way. I think Katte Beth thought it was a parade or Mardi Gras or something. She was about 30 for 35 in her tosses, not bad, grrly. Also pictured here is Angela of Sheared Bliss Fibers and her friend and our Cindy, the ordained minister and Tango Dancer Extraordinaire and her seat companion.

We had a fairly long wait to get our books signed, so Katte and Michelle ran out to grab snacks and drinks. We also unraveled the baby blanket that Katte was working on as she had neglected some of her increases and therefore was making a basket as opposed to a blankie. Erin perused the knitting pattern books. I looked at the history, poetry and the bargains. Erin also introduce Katte Beth to the joys of Cake Wrecks, thus the mention in the title. We thought Katte was going to pee herself she laugh that hard.

So, here's Erin getting her books signed, The Girls, that would be, Leslie, Erin, Michelle, Katte Beth and Cindy and our Carlene Campbell from the Saint Andrew's Society of Colorado.













Sadly, I cannot start the book as I have a woolen cloak to make for the pregnant Eyrnn (in which I am borrowing an idea from Diana and making the hood and shoulders with a waterproof inner lining) and if I crack the cover all will be lost until I read the last page. So, NO SPOILERS, and that means YOU.

Seven Nations at Scruffy Murphy's

Seven Nations on the seventh day of the seventh month. It was an awesome show! Katte Beth and I and the rest of my friends were treated to one of 7Ns old school shows. They even played Under the Milky Way, which they haven't performed in concert in a very long time. Thanks, guys!



























Vic and Will were on top of their game and Crisco kicked it on the drums, and in spite of being tired from the travel, Kirk and Strube sang and played even better than at Gillette.

Trish and Katte Beth

Gary, Jenny and Kristin

Gina


Of course, I worked on a sock whilst waiting for the band to start. Knitting in a pub leads to interesting conversations, ask me how I know...

It Was A Day of Errands for Art's Sake

Sub-titled: I Made Candied Ginger Cheesecake with Ginger Roo Crust and Drove My Daughter Crazy with the Aroma.

It's 27 April, guess what was on the ground this morning? Yes, that's right, SNOW, again!



I thought that I wouldn't get my all errands done due to the snow but it was gone by the time I was ready to leave the house. I met my friend Anita for coffee at the Perk and we also ran into Miriam and her husband, who want to buy a knitted felted purse from me for their daughter, woot!

I then went and got the transparencies done at the copy store to finish the decals that I am painting for the Colorado Medieval Festival's new banners (http://www.medievalworld.us/cmf). I have a pile of gessoed canvas waiting to be painted with the designs. At least I only have the painting part to do, someone else is making the big banners. Yeah for me in not speaking up to do them as well (nevermind, I DO NOT have the space for that).

I also made a stop at the art store to get large sheets of drawing paper (20 x 24) and some new coloured pencils for my sketchbox. I also picked up a 12 x 12 stretched canvas, since painting has been whispering in my ear lately and I want to try out something ala my friend Anne's artwork. (http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com)

I then ran to the library to read the article in the Gazette about our former priest (on the front page no less and him facing possible indictment) and the letter to the editor from one of our parishioners in response to an earlier article. After that, I hit the ATM to make a deposit. Sigh, no envelopes at the machine, had to go into the bank, on a Monday no less. I was that glad I had the Belletrix Stocking I am knitting with me to work on while in line. I must say, DO NOT be hasty in putting away size one DPNs, as I poked one right through my painted canvas purse and into the leg of my jeans. Ouchers, @#$$@^%$!

This weekend, I am going to the 2nd Annual Fort Lupton, CO Heritage Fair (link is way out of date, but here tis: http://www.lasr.net/). I always carry my sketchbox with me when I am traveling. As, I like to make little sketches of where I am visiting as a record of my visit. This was something that my Mum encouraged me to do as a child and I have continued it into adulthood. I sure wish I had some of those earlier books today. Oh well, wouldas, shouldas, couldas, will kill ya.

I am also taking my new spinning wheel with me (this wheel needs a name in the worst way). Katte Beth, Darla and I will be there as part of the Women's Craft demo team from the Ft. Lupton group and the Ren Scots (http://renscots.org). Spin Mistress, Darla is going to help get me started spinning again. I am really looking forward to that. I am taking the two new skeins of Dragonfly handspun (which seem to want to be a pair of wristlets/fingerless gloves) with me in case I do get to doing some knitting. I've got my tatting supplies packed as well.

As for the cheesecake, currently, our house smells gingerly divine. The Daughter O'Mine, Erin brought a few packages of Ginger Roos home from Las Vegas last year. Sadly, we didn't eat one of the packages soon enough and the cookies got HARD. I mean they went from squishy little rounds to round little rocks.

We both love Ginger Roos and hate like heck to waste them. Since we do not have a Trader Joe's close enough to run out and get them from we treasure the ones we do get(nearest TJs is Santa Fe, NM). The Daughter O'Mine decided to ask Peabody the Culinary One whether we could make bread pudding from the stale ones. (http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com) Peabody's response was likely not, but they could work well crushed and made into a base crust for a cheesecake. The DD and I had went Aha! Yum, cheesecake! This was a couple of weeks ago and the idea of the cheesecake has been perking in the back of our minds since them and the cookies have been getting even staler.

Last Saturday, The DD and I went grocery shopping as we decided wanted to make pizza from scratch for the supper that evening. While there, we actually remembered to pick up that extra needed brick of cream cheese for making the cheesecake with. Then we remembered the reason we hadn't made it before was that we didn't have one of these... It's a Springform Pan and a necessary pan to have to make cheesecake in. As cheese cake has a crumb crust and no crust up the side. The side of a Springform snaps loose and is removed, leaving the cake intact on the pan bottom for serving.

Since we were shopping at the Evil Empire Store, we hied ourselves over to the cookware department and looked at Springforms. We decided to get ourselves the 3 pack in graduated sizes. As I also make my Black Bun (Traditional Scottish Cake) in Springforms, we could justify the expense and the weight. Erin considers this every time she makes a purchase these days, as she has either to send it to the UK when she goes or leave with me.

Since today's weather was so grim and I certainly didn't mind heating up the kitchen cooking a cheesecake, I decided to make it today. I used the blender to grind up the cookies, used the microwave to soften everything else and I chopped candied ginger into small bits. I spread the crust in the pan, mixed and poured in the cream cheese mixture into the pan, wrapped the pan in toweling (a trick I learned from a bakery in NJ to get the cake to cook evenly with as little cracking as possible) and then proceeded to torture Erin with the lovely gingery scent of baking cheesecake. The torture brought on by the fact that it is suppose to cool in the fridge overnight before nomming on. All of which means she can't eat it tonight, bwwaaahahaha.. Here's the picture of the cheesecake just out of the oven with its toweling collar. Can't you just imagine the lovely aroma wafting through the house?

Dragonfly in Amber Sporran Swap

Over to Ravelry, there is a group or two or three for just about every interest one might possibly have. There are groups for journals round robins, fans of Moleskines, TV shows, quilting, movies, books, authors, designers, steampunk, geeks, knitting needle brands and all matter of other things, even for being cack - handed (a lefty).

One of the many groups I belong to is for the fans of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Here's the link to Diana's Site: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/. Within the group, we are doing read-a-longs and Knit-A-Longs. The book we currently are reading is Dragonfly in Amber, which is the second book in the series. We have been doing the Dragonfly socks as the KAL, please see earlier posts for pictures of the socks (I've made two pair, as I really like them).

It's coals to Newcastle for me to read this book yet again, as I have read the series every year since 1996 when the first one was published. I know that sounds crazy, but I am not alone in doing this. The Ladies of Lallybroch are legion. (The Ladies of Lallybroch is an on-line fan group of Diana Gabaldon. Here's the link to the site: http://www.lallybroch.com). I have 3 sets of the books, a set of autographed hardbacks and 2 sets of PBs. The PBs, I will lend to anyone I can con, I mean, er, introduce to them. Between Katte Beth and I, we finally got to our friend, Darla. She is going to start reading them as well. Woot! Another person to sit and spin and talk about Outlander with.

Well, anyway, to the point of this blog. We do a swap in the group by signing up and getting randomly selected to be spoilt and to spoil. I was given Tiffany to spoil and her sporran is on the way to her. K was chosen to spoil me. The Sporran Swap is a package of themed goodies tailored to the spoilee. In this, I was spoilt to a great extent by Lachlan, aka KRobin... She really outdid herself. She must have poked around on Ravelry and other places to see what I liked and what things are favorites of mine. She did a great job of sleuthing, IMO. Thank you, thank you, thank you, (100 million).

In the great box, I got a Moleskine-like journal with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the front. There is a package of sliced candied ginger and a recipe to make Ginger Roos (if you have read earlier posts, this will make sense). There was also roving for needle felting including some smooshy Corriedale in a shade of blue that I didn't have. Two beautiful skeins of handspun yarn (they are whispering about a pair of wristlets to me), in some of my fave colours of cream, green and brown. A package of shortbread, cuz we're Scottish after all. Wonderful stitch markers of dragonflies to add to my growing collection of REALLY KEWL JEWELS for knitting. Possibly my most favorite item of all, an amber bead and wood bead with silver charms bookmark (I love, love, love bookmarks!). There is so much more, including dark chocolate, a skein of sock yarn in a colourway very similar to one I was contemplating just this morning. There was also a roll of ribbon, a postcard, a photo of Edinburgh Castle. Jealous (1), as she's been there, also some fun buttons and findings for a bracelet.


Again, a thousand thanks and I have enjoyed this experience to no end and would do it again in a heartbeat. Next up, Voyager and I got the sock pattern picked out already, the yarn to do it in now, as well. Thanks again, K!

My Katte Beth Sewing Kit

6 or 7 years ago, our friend, Katte Beth , gave my daughter and me each a sewing kit as a prezzie for Christmas. My friend, Lini, the Essex Hooker was talking about sewing kits and I told her I would share mine with her.

It is made from a fishing tackle box from Wal-Mart. She put inside the box a folding pair of scissors, what she thought was a seam ripper, but was actually a knit-picker, a couple of spools of thread and a Lo-Ran magnetic needle case. It is the exactly right size to throw in your purse, suitcase or work bag.

I have since amended the contents to suit me. No surprise there, eh?. Two months after I got the box and while I was working at the LQS in S.E. Denver, my bosses had gone to Japan and while there, they toured the Clover Notions Factory and brought us all back Clover Purse Size sewing kits, with "real" scissors. So, I traded out the folding ones for the Clover ones. The next Christmas, my friend, Darla gave me a poly - clay decorated needle holder made from a glass vial, so I traded out the needle case. Meanwhile, I added my favorite leather thimble and a metal thimble for tough sewing, as I was making a lot of Ren Faire garments at the time. I also put a grommet setter in the box, that, with the hammer I keep in the truck meant grommets could be set anywhere. Later down the line, I got a lovely gift box from an un-secret sister that included a bit of wool roving. At that time, I hadn't started needle felting and wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Eventually, I rolled it into an egg shape, stuck in the toe of a stocking and tossed it into the washer with a knitted bag I was felting and wallah, a pin cushion was born. I ran a ribbon through the long axis and added a button to hold the knot and attached it to the box. I also got an actual seam ripper to go in the box as well. The knit - picker was a serendipitous mistake as it is a handy thing to have. There are also 3 different types of bodkins, for drawing lacing and elastics through casings, just in case an end gets lost in a chemise. There are as well, safety pins, straight pins and two spools of thread (these change according to project being worked, of course).