Hay Now

 

True Story: Last week Valerie posted about spotting one of her feral kitties after spending some time worrying about them during the brutal cold we've all been experiencing. I was sitting here typing up a comment to her about how glad I was my feral days were behind me. We were running as many as four heated huts there for a while but all of those ladies and gentlemen have now gone over the bridge....I thought. Just as I was to hit send The Mister said....."hey, there's a cat on the porch and it looks familiar".

It was Smooshie. Years ago he was a regular member of the feral gang. My lady cats loved him but they were all spayed so he didn't stay around long. He was such a handsome boy. He came and went and then one day disappeared. We could never catch him. This photo was taken in 2017. We haven't seen him in many years but there he was beat to hell on the front porch. Wherever he's been, he's had a very rough time of it. It pained me to see him like that. There were a lot of tears. He was never one I could get close to so there's not much I can do. He did remember how to get food and has shown up many times since at the front door for a hot meal. I cleaned out one of our old cat huts and filled it with hay in case he needed a place to hang out but so far he hasn't used it. 

The good news is while I was working on making him a home under the eaves of the house, I found this...

....and this. My narcissus are coming up as are my crocus. The weather is going to be much milder this week. Maybe the old guy will get a break and have his time in the sun. I can only hope. 

Stash Building

 

Getting wool in the mail is not quite as exciting as getting yarn but I was tickled to find these in my mailbox yesterday. The last thing I need is another stash but when you need wool, you need wool.

Happy Heart Day!

 

No big plans here today just hopefully sitting and knitting.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday Fluff

 

I've made peace with my Olympic spin. How could you not with those colors? I just have to spend a little time sorting out the fiber before spinning which is a nice relaxing thing to be doing anyway. 

The handspun Garter Squish is back in production. After all the ripping, I had to put it in time out for a while but now I'm working with some handspun that I think will work better with what's come before. 

I've managed to do one pattern repeat on the Pi Shawl everyday. All those stitch markers count out 20 stitches which is how many edge stitches I use up with the border if I do one pattern repeat 5 times a week which might be manageable. There are 11 sections so at this rate it will take me 11 more weeks to finish this thing. Ouf....

Flour Power

 

My crafting life has been suffering because the Olympics has me enthralled. I'm not sure why I like to watch perfect strangers sliding down snow covered hills so much but I do so you'll find me glued to the TV all day right now. Only if something's sitting near the TV might it get picked up and worked on. Hearts and Flowers is there so it got a new purplish flower and some stems this week. I spent more time on Etsy buying more colors of wool for the other flowers than I did working on this one.

When the live events are done for the day I've been in the kitchen making bread almost every night trying out new techniques. Sourdough is a two step process. First you have to figure out the starter thing and then you have to figure out how to make a proper loaf out of it. My last loaf is getting closer but it's still not right.

Unlike yeast bread that needs kneading, the less you handle sourdough, the better.  You can't knock all the air out of it. I'm getting some bubbles but those holes should be bigger meaning this loaf was underproofed. I'm going to have to work on that. 

In spite of making all this bread, I've still got a lot of discard left over at the end of the day. Most is turned into waffles for the freezer but I also tried out a recipe for sourdough chocolate chip cookies and....

...these Parmesan Rosemary crackers. Both of these were awfully good. Too good to have around for long. I need to stop all this baking stuff and go back to just making soap. Soap doesn't pack on the pounds.

Wednesday WIPs: Melt the Ice

 

I've got whiplash. The weather just took a drastic turn for the better but it's still a mess out there. We ventured out for the first time in ages and it was iffy. Apparently, there wasn't much clearing of sidewalks happening over the past two weeks. 

The bay was filled with broken sheets of ice. I don't think I've ever seen that before. 

Speaking of melting ice, I finished my hat. Ha ha ha...it might fit my youngest Grand. It sure doesn't fit me but it is cute and the money I spent on the pattern went for a good cause. Those of you who are knitting along in bulky weight had the right idea. I wish I had. 

The only other WIP that got attention this week was The Mister's Riddari. It would be finished if I hadn't goofed up the neck. I was two inches in to what I thought it should be when I realized not only had I not changed needles but I also forgot to do the decreases. Rip, rip, rip. I'm also playing yarn chicken with that little ball of black I have left. I'd hate to buy another big skein of this yarn for just a few inches but I guess if I have to, I have to. 

TNT: Frozen

 

As I mentioned yesterday it's been so cold here that my hands have given up on me. All they want to do is hide under my shawl or work on a big pile of wool. Tiny needles are not happening much right now. I did take advantage of a sunny afternoon and finished that last big snowflake motif so Christmas Quaker is now officially packed away for the year. 

I haven't touched my official February stitching project but I did get this out again. This is my punishment project after I cut the original wrong. All that's left are the borders and I hated doing the borders on the first one so I've been putting off finishing it. It would be nice to have this done by spring so I could start something new. Ah, spring. I hate warm weather but I'm not really liking living in this land of ice either.