Cari

 

Remember Cari? She's the only unwashed fleece I still have in the shed. 

She was unwashed until yesterday. I had to clip and bathe Pup so I took Cari down to the lower level tub and when Pup was done I gave her a good wash too. 

I bagged her up instead of separating locks. She's a Corriedale and she can take a good scrub.

It was sunny and hot so she dried in a flash out on the deck. She was pretty clean and pretty fluffy but there was a lot of yellowing which was probably my fault for not washing her sooner. 

I took those yellow bits and stuffed them into some green and blue dye and left them in the sun to do their thing. Someday I'll card it with the rest of the white and see what happens. What will most likely happen is that I'll have yet another box or basket of fiber that needs to be spun someday in a future far, far away-if ever.

Stash Appraisal

 

It was blistering hot and humid outside yesterday so I found myself inside for the day looking for something to do. What I found was a lot of fiber stashed all over the house that needed to be sorted before the Tour. 

The living room used to be where I did my spinning but it's full of boxes of kitchen stuff so I've got baskets like this all over the house and I mean ALL OVER THE HOUSE. 

I've got bins of fiber piled up in corners. 

I've got boxes of rolags......

.....and batts waiting to be spun. 

I've got so many spindle projects going I don't know which is which anymore. 

That didn't stop me from starting a new one. I found this beautiful garnet colored Merino and thought that it would make a lovely lacy shawlette one day. I know I'll never finish it but that never stops me. 

What I need to finish are those thrummed mittens I started last winter that are now gathering dust with the rest of the fiber stash. 

Then there is this. This is the newest addition to the fiber stash that is destined for this year's Tour spinning. It's a pretty Polwarth/Silk blend

I decided to give it a test spin and as soon as I did I remembered that I hate spinning silk blends. They don't draft easily and bunch up on you to make a rather clumpy single. I'm still going to spin it. I just won't love doing it. 

Happy Potato Day

 

I finally got it. I got my couch potato day. Sort of. First we took Pup for an extra long morning walk on the boardwalk to tire her out. Then I vacuumed the whole house, made bread and put some bean soup in the crock pot for dinner. I finally got to settle in for some serious TV time and knitting in the afternoon.

I got those last six Audun squares finished. I've lost count of how many I have now. It might be around 20. Even though I need a lot more I am starting to worry abut joining them.  The directions are a bit confusing. I think it's going to take a bit of trial and error to figure it out. 

It was a great day except for this face. This is what she does whenever I sit down. She doesn't understand what's going on. I am usually in motion but every once in a while I just want to sit. I had a funeral AND a dentist appointment to get through this week and none of that was fun. I could use another couch potato day to tell you the truth. Maybe several. 

In the Kitchen Part 2

 

I got a lot of questions yesterday about why on earth I was making expensive stinky soap. 

I made a small batch last year out of curiosity. It you watch a lot of soap making videos on You Tube everyone eventually gets around to making this soap as it has a long history of being the gold standard of soap. 

It's a traditional Middle Eastern Soap that is famous for its moisturizing and anti-microbial properties. It was supposedly Cleopatra's soap of choice.

It's made in huge floor vats most notably in the city of Aleppo in Syria where it gets its name. I can only imagine how bad this place must smell. My house still smells like burnt fruit. I've also read that if you wash your woolens in it moths won't be a problem. I totally get that. 

If this batch cures like the last one that burnt smell will pretty much disappear over the year. What's left is a slightly medicinal smell that I like. This is the only soap I use on my face anymore. It's so rich and creamy it's like getting a facial. It does wonders for your feet too and everything in between but it's too expensive for all over use. That's $64 dollars worth of laurel berry oil you're looking at right there. Like I said, this stuff is gold. 

In the Kitchen

 

As soon as The Mister walked out the door to do battle with poison ivy at his sister's house yesterday morning I knew it wasn't going to be the couch potato day I had hoped for. I needed to make soap and now I had a chance to do it in the kitchen where it's the easiest to do as long as there are no interruptions. 

I had that very expensive bottle of laurel berry oil that I needed to get made into some Aleppo soap because it's the one that has to sit for a year before you can use it. 

It's dark and thick. It smells like burnt fruit. It's pretty terrible stuff but I love the soap it makes so I made a very big batch. 84 ounces to be exact. I wanted to use all of that fancy oil up. 

Since the recipe only calls for laurel berry oil and olive oil it doesn't set up like regular soap. You can't do anything fancy with it and it takes a long time to get thick enough to move those molds around without spilling it everywhere. 

When I could move them I was very happy to find that all three of my smaller molds fit in my little cooler/incubator just fine. Usually my house smells wonderful after a soap making session but not this time. It's a soap only a soap maker could love.

Wednesday WIPs

 

It hasn't been the kind of week where things got done but I did finish the Static man socks. After a very rocky start, they behaved nicely right to the end. I only hope that bit of laddering up the side from the Magic Loop blocks out. If not I'll just pretend it's a design element. 

I didn't even finish the Audun blocks I had begun. I still have one more round to go before they can go in the finish pile. Today I am getting some alone time while The Mister does battle against some poison ivy at his sister's house. I plan to sit on the couch and knit and knit and knit...and maybe a little crochet. I don't think I can name a part of me that isn't tired.  

And....thanks so much for all the kind words yesterday. Sometimes I feel like Debbie Downer because it seems to be one thing after another anymore but then you all chime in with your own tales of woe reminding me that I am not alone. The older we get the more we lose along the way. It just is what it is. 

We Are But a Moment's Sunlight

 

Today I am going to be doing funeral things for Dad's little lady friend. I am so thankful I got one last visit, one last hug and one last "I love you" a few days ago. 

Sometimes it was hard seeing her in the place where my mother should have been at family gatherings but I would have never made it through those last dark years without her faith and good humor. She saw things in the old man that I didn't and it helped center me on the worst days. Suddenly I feel like an orphan again out there in the big, cold world once again losing someone that loved me and it hurts. It really, really does,