#17 of 365 - Mountains above Bailey, CO and Skully Hats

Here's a photo of me on the deck of the Evans Family home where we had the Ren Scots AGM and Fortnight Party last night. A million dollar view doesn't even begin to describe it!



Here's Celton and Meggie Judd in their new Skull Caps and I am wearing Jenna's Hot Pink one, all of them knitted by my dear friend, Rebecca. Thanks, my dear! Our dear Meggie is also playing at being the Pretty Princess with her tiara on as well.

#16 of 365 - Off to Bailey for the Ren Scot Fortnight

As many of you dear readers know, I belong to a historical re-enactment group called the Renaissance Scots Living History Association. This is the group where I learned to spin, both with a drop spindle and a wheel and can talk about weaving with a reasonable amount of intelligence. I also learned the importance of costuming approriately to convey our time period and how to adjust for modern convention and still look fabulous!





We ostensibly en-act the Clan McLeod of Skye. Therefore, we have a Clan Meeting every year as close to the 12th Day of Christmas as is reasonably possible. Fortnight is the name of the evening in January when we gather to eat, drink and be merry without too much conflict with other holiday and family events. We do a potluck meal, with some associated Scottish foods. For instance, we'll have a Haggis and a Black Bun this evening. We also do a Chinese Gift Exchange, which has been a battle for the kewl stuff (dirks, targes and the like) and is enjoyed by all, except those that get the hot dog shaped candle...

...and do go check out Tristan's giveaawy. Way kewl stuff and his blog is a hoot and a half.

Elizabeth Celtic Festival

A great time was had by all. The weather held out and it WASN'T 90 plus degrees like last year...



Carol and her children getting ready of a morning.









Curtis Judd, the Chief and two of the Wolves getting their lunch in the Pub.











Darla is gonna beat me with a stick for getting her with her mouth full, but here she is with her husband Mark.






Virg Hunter, our cook



















Sam Dieter, one of the Wolves of Dunvagen


Yes, it seems that we do eat often. Bryan Hunt and Jackie Butterworth at lunch. Really, it was the only time I was taking pictures as I had my hands in the wool for most of the weekend.




PJ Roy enjoying the hospitality of the Clan.







Doc Evans and Aiden in the Pub.





Our newest member, from the Shetland Islands and the Royal Marines, Robert Hay.

Travis Butterworth, Michele Nobriga and Shannon Sorensen to lunch as well.





















Many, many thanks to Darla, Spinner Extraordinaire, for getting me from here, a natural brown Shetland wool on the bobbin which I had started spinning at the Wyoming Celtic Festival in Gillette.




to here, the brown Shetland plied with a natural cream Shetland that I had spun on Saturday at the Elizabeth Celtic Festival. Pretty excited about my progress in the spinning. On to spinning the fiber for a wedding ring shawl. It needs to be a lace weight two-ply yarn that is gossamer thin. That is my ultimate goal in my spinning.


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The two skeins of brown and cream Shetland and the remainder of the cream Shetland Navajo plied. On the wheel now being Navajo plied is a Louet brand merino fiber in the colour of Camouflage. More shall be revealed...

Oh, by the way, I was a Judge for the Bonny Knees Contest, Saturday evening. Raucous, fairly PG rated fun was had by all. The bribes, consisted of money, single malt, kisses, massages, but sadly, there was no chocolate... Here's a picture of my Judge's Ribbon.

Wyoming Celtic Festival, again

Darla at the Wheel








Jenna at the Ceidhl


Some of the Rocky Mountain Scottish Atheletes at the Ceidhl.


















Seven Nations on the Festival Stage






Furry Murray McDogal waiting for his family to come home from the supper.

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?

Support

Who Supports You?

My friend, Marion, over the pond in the UK asked that question on her blog today and it got me to thinking about who supports me.

My daughter, Erin is my biggest piece of scaffolding. She lets me clutter the house with all the bits and pieces of stuff that help me to make my art. Be it yarn, fabric, beads, threads, papers, even bits and bobs of junk I find out and about.

My friends from all the different aspects of my life who support me in my artistic ventures by saying all the right things, even if I don't want to hear it. They are the knitters, The Ravelers, the quilters, The Quilt Mavericks, the fiber artistes of all sorts, the historical re-enactors, The Renaissance Scots, the paper artistes, the Scottish community, the Colorado Medieval Festival folks, the Rennies, the greyhound rescue folks, swordsmen, spinners, weavers and costume makers.

I also can never say thank you enough for all the friends that saw me through treatment for breast cancer 8 years ago and held my hand and kicked my ass when it was necessary. I have very little biological family left and my friends are the family I have made. Thanks to all for being the supports of my life. Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah (that's 3 cheers) to you for being there through the thick and thin.

On another note, I am way stoked about Coraline the Movie, opening this weekend. Neil Gaiman and knitting what could be better than that, I ask you?