First Fails of 26

 

That nasty scarf is finally off the loom. I hate everything about it. I hated working on it. I hated how the colors pooled, I hated how stiff and scratchy it is. It's Zauberball in case you're wondering. It's good for sturdy socks but not good for something you want around your neck. It's an ugh for sure.

My next project showed up in the mail yesterday at just the right time. I hate the loom being empty for long.

Cotton Clouds tempted me with a kit and a sale so this towel in the Frosty Morning colorway is going to be getting some attention when I find a spare moment. There was none to be found yesterday.

It was 62 degrees here yesterday and I made the mistake of wandering out to supervise The Mister and his chainsaw adventure and ended up doing yard work all day while at the same time....

...running in and out of the house giving Betty the attention she needed while she was in the process of trying to become bread. Those every 30 minute stretch and folds are very time consuming but I guess I got a good workout running up and down the stairs all day. It was all for nothing though because she never did her thing. My first attempt at bulk fermentation was a big fail. She grew a little but there was no jiggle, not many bubbles and after 8 hours she was just a big sticky mess. After doing some homework I think Betty is still too young to do the job. I'll keep feeding and pampering her for a while longer and try again. 

Wednesday WIPs: Attachments

 

The sleeves did indeed get attached on The Mister's Riddari. The colorwork yoke is underway and now I remember why I called this my #&%! Riddari over on Ravelry. I hated doing the 3 colors in a row thing then and I hate doing it now. I'm trying to psych myself out by doing only one row at a time while putting something interesting on TV and just resigning myself to get as much done on it as I feel like in one sitting. When I get to the rows where there are only 2 colors it feels like a holiday. 

I'm attaching a thumb onto the first of the Holt mittens. The thing on the left is the sad beginning of the Glennis Cowl. I've had to rip it back several times because as simple as it is, I still managed to goof it up. Twice. I think I've got it now for at least the next 6 inches. 

I've got new socks on the go. Regia on top, Static on the bottom. I started the Static ages ago but have ignored them for months. They are in the travel bag now so they get worked on every day that we go out. 

In bread news, I made a boule. It's not Betty. I wanted to practice all the sourdough techniques like the pinching, stretching and folding before I sacrificed Betty so I made just a regular yeast dough. It didn't go so well. The recipe I used didn't have enough water to make a pliable enough dough so I had to do a lot of hydrating to get it to do anything remotely sourdough like. I thought the pitiful little dough ball was hopeless but when I woke up and took it out of the fridge yesterday morning it had really grown.

I practiced cutting with my new lame and cooking in a cast iron Dutch oven. What I learned is that I need to take the bread out of the Dutch oven for the final 20 minute bake because.........

....I don't have a real oven. I only have this little toaster oven thing that I keep in the big oven and the heating elements on the top are too close to the bread when the lid is off of the Dutch oven. You might recall that this is my new fancy European style range from my big kitchen re-do and that we fought Frigidaire for over a year to get the oven to work. They played us out until the warranty expired and now I'm stuck with a useless oven. It's not really a very big deal since it's just the two of us. The little thing works just fine and probably saves electricity. I just have to remember to get Betty out before she gets too crispy. 

It was a decent loaf considering all the misery I put that poor dough through for 24 hours. It made some nice avocado toast. 

TNT: Possibilities

 

No. I did not finish the little doodad on the right so Christmas Quaker is still with us for another week at least. I did start the Camel and have one whole row done on the very top. It's slow going but I do enjoy it.

I dug Funky Flower out again and finished the orange flower and background section on the left. 

Dear Jane has one border sewn on. I couldn't do much more than this because....

....I've gotten one and half blocks done on the Patchwork quilt and that teeny tiny needle makes my fingers very sore from all the stabbing. In spite of a little blood here and there, I am really enjoying the process. I really thought it was a fool's errand to do this by hand but I'm thinking it was a good decision. I look forward to working on it every day.

Speaking of a fool's errand, look at this. Can you see the teeny tiny Mister over on the left? He really thinks he's going to clear all that debris from the tree removal. In reality all that means is that he's dragging it into different piles in different places in the woods. All of which is still in plain sight so I don't see the point tbh. He's trying to make me feel guilty about not wanting to go out and work with him every day. I've paid my dues with these darn trees and I'm over it. I say let Mother Nature figure this mess out. She's got more energy than I have and I have better ways to waste my time. 

First Finish of 2026

 

There is one less thing in the WIP knitting pile but there is a problem. It fits, kind of. The circumference is perfect but the length is not. I bought this pattern from Knit Picks because it supposedly uses one ball of chunky Brava but it turns out that it is not enough for the length I like. As you can see, I didn't have enough left over to do much more than a few more rows and this is a problem because...

....I have all these single skeins that I bought to make more hats to match my winter sweaters. I could order another skein of each I suppose but that's not feeling right because...

....I just got this giant box of yarn from Knit Picks. Daughter sent me a gift certificate for Christmas so I spent it on this and that. There is some Felici and some Static, none of which is terribly interesting and the yarn for a kit to make a hat and scarf set. 

This one to be exact, only mine will be in gray and black instead of the pink which I really like now that I look at it. 2026 is off to a heck of a start. Too many decisions.

In Betty news, she's been growing. A lot. Every day. It's been exciting to see her come alive but now I have to figure out what comes next. I haven't thought that far ahead because I honestly doubted I'd get this far so soon. 

I did read where I need about 100 grams of starter to make a loaf so I panicked and instead of discarding half, yesterday I kept 80 grams of it and started another jar. This is Big Betty because she is in a much larger jar. Little Betty is only about 50 grams and doesn't have much more room to grow. Big Betty has plenty of room to spread out and lives in the microwave and seems very happy there in spite of the cooler temperatures.

I've been feeling so confident that I bought a couple of bannetons for proofing. If I can keep the Bettys alive until Wednesday I just might have enough to start my first loaf. How scary is that?

Long Story, Not So Short

 

Remember these? I made a few of these melt and pour type gingerbread men for the Grands. I wanted to make a lot more of them and some other glycerin type soap for gifting but my supply order got delayed and arrived on Christmas Eve just as we were leaving for the family dinner. I was left with $70 worth of soap blocks so...

...I've been making lots of soap with it.  Coconut Lime is on the left. If you like a scent that stays with you, this one does. Lemon is on the right. It's very light and fresh. 

Vanilla is on the left and Persephone's Kiss is on the right. The glycerin bases I've used are Olive, Aloe and Tussah Silk. There's a mix in each.  As usual, I need help in re-homing them. I've got a lot.

I also have my usual cold processed soap to give away. Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is on the left. It's made with goat's milk, buttermilk and coconut milk. Lavender Sage is on the right. 

Red Maple is on the left and Blackberry is on the right. Both of these are the strongest of the fragrances. Red Maple smells nothing like maple. It's a woodsy floral. 

Sea Salt is on the left. It's colored with all natural sea clays. It has a very light fragrance that can best be described as....um, soap? Lemon is on the right. Once again my yellow mica let me down but it smells wonderful.

Honeycrisp, a sweet apple scent, is on the left. Enchanted on the right is a light musky Oudh fragrance. Very exotic.

Winter Wonderland is on the left. It smells like a walk in a pine forest where someone in the distance is baking snickerdoodles. Beeswax and Honey is on the right. The beeswax soap is the first one I've ever made with actual beeswax. It's...different. It's a harder bar. It's the same light scent I use for the Oatmeal, Milk and Honey bars. Beeswax in soap is supposed to have lots of benefits for the skin. One of which is to be a "breathable shield against environmental damage". Well now. That's something.

Showgirl is on the left and Opalite is on the right. These two have a double dose of hard oils and plant butters in them as well as a pinch of tussah silk. Their fragrances are light floral.

I've also got a few bars of a loaf that only a mother could love. It doesn't look like much. It was an experiment I conducted when I was hemming and hawing about the price of cocoa butter. I tried mango butter just to see what it would be like and I absolutely love it. It was the big surprise of Soap Week. It even smells great although it looks rather....ugh. 

So here's the deal. As usual, pick your 3 favorites from my list of regular soap and your 2 favorite scents from my glycerin soap (the Lemon, Coconut Lime, Vanilla or Persephone's Kiss bars at the top) and I'll see that you get one of each. My stock of regular soap is a bit small right now due to holiday gifting so having the glycerin soap to add to this giveaway turns out to be a very good thing. 

The soap supply company sent me a coupon for 30% off my next order to apologize for the delay in shipping so more supplies are already on their way for even more soap making and hopefully an early spring giveaway. 

You know what to do. Message me your choices and your mailing details on either Ravelry or my soap email. Both are over on the side bar. I'll be mailing these out after the 18th so I can avoid the holiday shipping rates. 

Thanks again. I've got some new fragrances on the way that I'm excited to try so I really need to clear my shelves!

Done and Dusted

 

Literally dusted. I spent yesterday removing Christmas and cleaning up the aftermath. The tree is back in the holiday closet and the spinning wheels are all back where they belong but in need of some attention. The drive bands slipped off with all the moving. Adjustments need to be made.

I did all this very early in the morning while the house was quiet, meaning The Mister was still asleep. I took the time to organize the ornaments this year although this box doesn't look like it. It's my star and soft ornament box. Daughter gives me a star or a snowflake every year. I have a lot of them.

The glass ornaments are all wrapped in tissue and tucked away in these boxes. 

Now I can get to this again. I hate this project btw. I can't wait to get it off the loom. I've ordered a new kit that should be here soon. It's for a dishtowel. It seems to be what I do best and I need something to bring the joy back to weaving. 

The sewing room got a good cleaning after I cleared everything out. I can get back to the Color Wash blocks now also. 

The heap of stuff that was on Dear Jane is gone so I can work on her again but not today. Today I've got a sweater to assemble. The Mister's Riddari sleeves are done so while he's busy with football I'm going to lock myself in the sewing room and have a good think. Putting those sleeves with the body always makes me a bit crazy. It doesn't make sense but somehow it works as long as I can get my brain in the right "zone".

Taking the Plunge

 

In spite of the freezing temperatures and frigid wind, the Plunge was very well attended. It was 31 degrees at noon. We'd had a dusting of snow overnight. The water temperature was 39. 

We got there early while they were setting up. They had these heaters everywhere but with the wind they weren't doing much good. 

They had a bonfire on the beach with marshmallows and hot cocoa stands run by the Ladies Auxiliary from the church across the street. 

The Mister used to take the plunge but with the new hip and knee he isn't willing to take the risk. He just watches now and I know it bothers him to not be a part of the action.

For the past few years we've had drones overhead but this year there was something new. A guy out in the water with a video camera. He had to be cold. I took my mittens off just long enough to snap a few photos and fingers felt like they were going to fall off.

Off they went. I can't even imagine doing this. I'm always impressed by the oldies out there. They are some brave folks. The rescue squads are parked on the road right behind them. I need an ambulance just thinking about jumping in that cold water. 

And...look at Betty. While we were gone I left her in the microwave with a hot water bottle not wanting to leave her alone on the heating plate. It's hard to see but she's grown over the top of the band. It's just a little bit but it's a start. She's alive!