Category: lofty thoughts

Sourdough Saturday: Biscotti

Posted on Posted in inspiration, lofty thoughts, recipesTagged , , , 10 Comments

Burn Anne the amazing gluten-free sourdough starter continues to delight and amaze. This week I made biscotti, based on this recipe. I substituted gluten-free ingredients, increased the flour by 1/4 cup, decreased the sugar by 1/4 cup, and used sunflower seeds instead of almonds since I can’t have tree nuts. Next time I’ll record exactly what I do and post a recipe.

This has been delicious dipped in a brew of roasted dandelion and chicory root, which we drink as our coffee. I’m sure it would be delicious dipped in coffee as well. I wish I could drink coffee!

A “burn” is a watercourse, which I imagine as a bubbling stream. This is why I named my starter Burn Anne, because I have a Burn Anne Agate necklace I love (which is how I learned about the term burn), the starter bubbles and froths like a burn, and because Burn Anne is named after Saint Anne, the patron saint of motherhood and labor. She keeps birthing more starter and baked goods for us. It’s also a homophone for a silly way I sometimes say banana, “burnana”. My necklace has a hawthorn leaf on the back of the pendant, which is my Celtic tree zodiac sign. This is how I found the necklace in the first place.

Do you name your sourdough starter? Do you talk to it? I find it helps.

Saturday Share: Wool Tech

Posted on Posted in fiber love, lofty thoughts, sewingTagged , , , 9 Comments

This textile designer is pioneering sustainable building materials from wool and fungus.

Scientists are creating wool rope for seaweed farms to help reduce plastics in the oceans.

Woola creates sustainable wool packaging supplies.

Links via Hand Spinning News and The Wool Wire, respectively.

Textiles are one our first technologies, and I’m sometimes surprised people don’t realize they wear cloth constructed from knitting or weaving on a daily basis. (All hail the knitted t-shirt!)

Speaking of wool, I’ve wanted a green wool coat for a few years now. I’ve found a pattern and ordered some fabric swatches, but I’m having a tough time finding a green wool coating that is appropriate. The emerald green contains nylon, and while I won’t be washing the coat and shedding nylon plastic into our watershed, it doesn’t feel right to use it. (Also, it’s way out of my price range.) (Also, the lining fabric is Bemberg which is viscose which has its own environmental production problems.)

The olive green is too lightweight. It’s also not as green as I’d like, although olive is a color I enjoy wearing.

The navy is perfect (100% wool, lining is silk) but it’s navy. I do love navy and have been told it is “my color,” but it’s not green. Would it satisfy my desire for a green coat? No.

I’ll keep watching for the right fabric at the right price, and save my pennies in the meantime. I have some black wool embossed coating leftover from an unfortunate fabric purchase that will make a nice coat. I can use it to make a muslin.

I still want a little flock of Shetland sheep. Bob says I’d be sleeping with them to try to protect them from predators, so I’m not allowed. I fret too much about the frogs as it is.

Jogging On: the Dressing Ritual

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Working from home during a pandemic pretty much has me wanting to wear PJ pants all the time. And yes, I could do that. But the mental preparation for daily work requires and involves the dressing ritual.

Mah GERD also requires nothing snug to be worn around my mid-section. Even leggings that are loose in the legs and butt squeeze my gut until I’m in so much pain I have to change into a tent. They just don’t make pants that fit my old apple body! This is why I’ve made the transition to dresses and overalls, but come on! I don’t want to wear dresses and overalls every day of my life! They’re fussy!

My PJ pants work for me because I make them to fit my body. Then one day I realized, you know what? I can make work PJ pants! I’ll make PJ pants in nice fabric! Then I realized I wouldn’t feel dressed enough, and decided to level up to some work sweatpants. I purchased the Plateau Joggers pattern from Sew to Speak, along with some nice French terry fabric. I’ve also purchased some merino interlock yardage in black, because wool + I’m cold all the time.

On the health front: I may have a small hiatal hernia. It runs in my family. And when I can’t manage my stress, I throw up. So, I need to wear loose pants, eat small portions, and manage my stress. And drink lots and lots of water. These are my instructions for wellness.

Also, I’m hoping that work joggers will make it more plausible for me to exercise during the day. I can be at work in my home office, sitting at my desk in my nice work joggers. When I find that I am at a good pausing point, I can take a walk down my road. Yes, sometimes I need to be dressed for the thing or I don’t want to do the thing. The Dressing Ritual.

What about you? Do you need a dressing ritual to get you motivated to do your thing?

Happy New Year!

Posted on Posted in holidays, inspiration, life, lofty thoughts11 Comments

My word for 2021 is content, both adjective and noun.

Noun: state of mind which results from satisfaction with present circumstances

Adjective: having the desire limited to present enjoyments

It’s even a verb: to rest or be satisfied; to give satisfaction to

Content is related intent, from the root word tenere, to hold or stretch. Intent is focusing on stretching outward, while content is focusing on holding. So my intention for 2021 is to focus on what I have and be content. I feel I don’t do this enough, and it prevents me from really enjoying my life as it is. I want to slow down a little, settle in, and focus on the content of my life and find the joy there. I’m in a good place right now, and I am grateful for that.

Today we’re eating black eyed peas and greens, and I hope to Skype with kids. I will call my Mom and sister. And I will knit! I hope you have a wonderful day, and wish you a happy and healthy new year!

I Sound My Barbaric YOP

Posted on Posted in knitting, life, lofty thoughts, Works in Progress (WIPs), Year of ProjectsTagged , , , , , 23 Comments
Year of Projects Update Week 3
Arachne Yarn Chicken

I divided for the sleeves on Arachne. I’m worried I will run out of yarn. Do I wait until I run out? Or should I go ahead and order? What would you do?

Knit the Rainbow as it Presents

I started the heel flap on my second Pride sock. I decided to be lazy zen and knit the rainbow as it presents. #knittingislife

Shetland Tweed Throw and Beverage of Choice

My Shetland Tweed Throw is almost long enough to cover me as I knit it. I still have six hanks of this yarn but I’m holding it double. I only had 10 hanks to begin with, so I think I’m okay. There is an i-cord edging, but that shouldn’t take too much yarn.

There’s nothing to report on other topics except for practice on fiddle and design. No sewing. No fiber art.

This has been a Year of Projects Update. You can read my original list here. You can find out more about the group here.

Non-YOPping Content

Lili Taylor in Dogfight

Yesterday was Lili Taylor movie day. We watched Mystic Pizza and Dogfight. Neither Bob nor I had ever seen Dogfight. It was poignant. River Phoenix was also superb. Maybe next weekend will be River Phoenix weekend.

I can’t wait until our virtual knit later today!

A Matter of Practice

Posted on Posted in design, knitting, lofty thoughtsTagged , 2 Comments

You may remember me saying I should sketch a knitting design every day as a matter of practice. Today is Day 1. I received a new journal in the mail, and today I wrote my first pages and made my first sketch.

I like this design. I would enjoy knitting it and wearing it. The sketch isn’t showing the increases to make the gently flared sleeves and body, so I’m assuming those are happening along the sides and insides of the sleeves.

Here’s another design I like from Interweave’s Wool Studio. I may knit this one someday.

I am looking forward to practicing my violin when my new strings arrive. I’m also practicing exercise and good eating habits.

Practice is having faith that if you focus enough on something, what you desire will manifest. But I must remember to take a day off to stare at the trees. I guess that’s a matter of practice, too.

Wednesday WIP

Posted on Posted in knitting, lofty thoughts, what makes me tick, Works in Progress (WIPs), yarnTagged , , , , 11 Comments

Thanks to bonnyknits for turning me onto the emPowerpeople2020 movement and this cowl pattern. Yarn is Wood Wool Stone DK baby alpaca, merino, and silk. I really needed something new to fan my knitting flames.

I recently watched Fruity Knitting’s interview with Cecelia Campochiaro about her book Sequence Knitting. I’m excited to dive into this because I’m really into systems. I like to think of a pattern as a system for taking an idea or item and making it replicable. Sequence Knitting takes the idea of a pattern as a system to an entirely new level.

I have made a goal to blog four times this week. Two down, two to go!

Sock It To Me Monday – PRIDE Edition

Posted on Posted in knitting, life, lofty thoughts, socks, Works in Progress (WIPs), yarnTagged , , , , , 10 Comments

I started my PRIDE sock KAL with the Blogville Knitters. This is TurtlePurl’s What Does It Mean? Double Rainbow sock yarn and for pattern I’m following a 64 stitch recipe based on Hermione’s Every Day Sock.

Also proud to have spent most of my day helping to create and communicate a Statement in Support of Racial Justice for the organization I work for. Exhausting day, but a good day.

State of Emergency Stockinette

Posted on Posted in knitting, life, lofty thoughts, sweaters, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , , 5 Comments

I wanted to post about this yesterday, but didn’t have the energy. We closed two of our stores early yesterday due to a state of emergency in downtown Columbus, and protests scheduled for downtown Indianapolis which we expected to escalate. (They did.) We stand in solidarity with peaceful protest, and judging by the posts of people I know personally, the protesters themselves remained peaceful. We have kids living near and in downtown, and all reported in safe. Our staff is safe and so far no reports of damage to our stores. We are lucky.

We are supposed to be packing. Bob is. We are still waiting on the second appraisal report. I’ve been slowly progressing through the back of Deschain. I’m grateful for the stockinette. I’ve been watching a Fruity Knitting podcast each day, and it’s getting me through. It’s a moment of respite in a sea of worry. I realize I’m privileged to have moments of respite. And not to have to fear for the lives of our children because of the color of their skin.

We watched “The Vast of Night” last night. Excellent film in a throwback style. Intelligent and suspenseful with great dialogue and music. A moment of race reality acknowledgement. A breath of fresh air.

Mending

Posted on Posted in lofty thoughts, sewing, what makes me tickTagged 16 Comments

Today I’m mending Bob’s pants. They were too long to begin with — which is why they were fraying — but not so long I could turn up the hem twice after cutting. I used bias tape instead. I’m not sure where I picked up this trick, probably from Grandma. Now Bob’s favorite pants are good as new! Better, because they are the correct length.

I love mending because it’s very zen and I don’t have to follow instructions. I also love making something damaged like new, and reusing, and saving money! And I gotta pay for this sewing machine, right?

Do you mend? Do you darn your knitting? I’ve never been very good at darning. I need more practice.