Trying to keep it real ... and how hard it can be.

This post is a kind of ramble jumble of thought.

This is the first time in almost 8 years that I have been in my home, alone, with no kiddos to take care of!  Yes I miss them, but what I love is that I have a day full of that quite time that my brain needs to get organized!  And not only am I finally able to think clearly, and think ahead farther than 2 hours, I can be creative again!

I have been knitting and beading my head off.  My poor Etsy shop languished for MONTHS while we muddled through our crazy days, but I am so happy to announce that it is up and running again!  Check out the side tab to see what is new!  Yarn pots are coming soon!



One project in particular, is a beaded lace lampshade I am making for my LYS owner.  I am making it out of Crimson Cascade, Kid Seta Noir,  Right now, I only have 2 rows done, but I am liking the new cast on I tried out on this.  It is called the Frilled Cast On.  LOVE IT.

In the midst of all of this crafting fervor, I decided that it would not be a bad thing if I treated myself to a pair of shoes I had had my eye on for over a year.  I had been patiently waiting for them to go on sale, and lo-and behold, I came across them on major sale, online.  So I bought them.  Imagine my surprise when about 1.5 weeks later THIS arrived in the mail

A kitchen sponge, air mailed from China.  I was perplexed at first, and then I googled the Chinese address on the package, Xiaoya Yang, Xixiang Jiedao, Zhongwu Zonghedalo u4, Shenzhen Guangdong, China. Do NOT buy from SHOP-CORA Shoes. and came across a bunch of other people complaining that after making a purchase at Shop-Cora, and some other named on-line shops.  IT IS A SCAM!  I ham disputing this charge now through Paypal and I have filed a complaint to get my money back.   I have since purchased my shoes again, but with a RELIABLE online source.  

Now for a little grumbling.

Lately I have been dismayed with how far we have gotten away from "The Real".  "The Real" I refer to, are the simple discomforts of life.


for example:

When it is summer, it is hot outside ... get over it.
When it is winter, it is cold outside ... get over it.

I am sounding really judge-y here, and I really dont mean to come off this way, but I cannot tell you how my hackles rise when I hear someone complaining about how MISERABLE a cold is making them, or how their big toe just hurts soooo much ...(I think I have been watching too much Keeping up with the Kardashians) perhaps it is unfair of me, but after going through chemo and radiation, i have a WHOLE NEW PERSPECTIVE of what feeling bad, and feeling hopeless really is.

Ever since looking the grim reaper .in.the.face. I decided to start living more through intention, and less through habit.  bad habits, i believe, set up bad cycles in our lives, and within our bodies.  I believe that those bad cycles reach way out, beyond our bodies, into the world around us (garbage in garbage out); and also, at the same time, they reach far inside our bodies, all the way down to a cellular level (you are what you eat).

I am tired of hearing "oh how GOOD you are being" when I opt to pack my lunch, rather than imbibe on a Fast Food item.  They see it as "being kind of weird about fast food", I see it as the ONLY path to my own personal wellness, and the ONLY way to keep from repeating what I went through in 2009.

I listen to people complain about wanting to eat healthier, and how  they "always have a refrigerator full of fruits and veggies go bad because it is so hard, and takes too long to cut them...".  These same people whine and complain about being unhealthy and overweight, and get when given a choice between a bowl of fresh grapes, and a plate of box-mix cupcakes, they will dive in to the cup cakes, one after the other, and complain between bites how they "really should not be doing this...".

Take control of your OWN life, and you will be shaping the future of what you want for your self.

We have always tried hard to offer our kids healthy alternatives to junk food, and I love how my kids will gladly eat a container of fruits and veggies when it is offered to them.  Of course, they will choose a box of cheezits over anything, but that is where being mom comes in :-).





Scams, and grumbling aside, it has been a wonderful summer, and the fall is turning out to be gorgeous!

WTF? Really?!?

So today at the pool, while the boys were in swim class, I sat binding off the hem on a baby dress I am making for a friend. The dress lay splayed out across my lap. 

The following is a conversation that took place. I said nothing because I did not want the child to see me laugh at his father. 


kid: (excitedly pointing at me) LOOK daddy! LOOK at that! 
dad: (leaning over to look closer) why YES, look she is making a hat! 


REALLY!?!? Does the thing in that photo above look like a F'ing hat to you?


OH! OH! Wait, I see! Well i guess it DOES look like a hat. MY BAD!

Dye day

So at s'n'b the other day, S gave me some "Verboten Rice" to try. In my quest to try to eat low Glycemic Idex foods, she had been telling me about this grain. It sounded FAB. And not only is the grain supposed to taste great, the rinse-water, she told me, would really get my attention. Well, being  curious is how I roll,  so I took the bait.

The rice soaked over night. This morning I awoke to this

















The most gorgeous and unexpected color of rice water I have ever seen.  It was a kind of burgundy, purple, red wine color.

 CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I went in to the yarn vault and pulled out two skeins of vintage "Plantation Unger mercerized cotton".  "Why vintage cotton"? you ask?

1)  Why not?
2)  It will not felt up like wool if I need to heat the dye water.

I immediately grabbed "Dyes from American native Plants, a Practical Guide." a book borrowed two years ago from my other s'n'b'er K, and proceeded to do a quick search through mordants. In my brief perusal, is seemed that Potassium Hydrogen Tartrate (cream of tarter) seemed to be good for many pinks and purples, so I just went with it and made up a quick soak of a liter of water and a half a bottle of cream of tarter.  Scientific method went out the window when it came to measuring this stuff.  I DIDNT MEASURE ANYTHING.  You will find NO molar weights on here today.

While that was soaking

I did some surfing and found this article on line. Right up my alley with it's chemistry and science geekiness.  The red pigment that comes out of the black rice, just like the red color that comes out of red cabbage, is an anthocyanin.

Located conveniently at the end of this article was located a bit of info that intrigued me.  The article states that -- The main problem found with using this kind of dye/pigment was that color color-fastness, and that they autor felt that "this could be overcome by dipping the untreated fabric in weak alkali such as aqueous ammonia and then in a mordant such as alum solution." ...  

I immediately poured all of the cream of tarter solution into a glass jar, rinsed the yarn , and proceeded to make a vinegar and water soln to soak the fiber in.  I realized after immersing the fiber that I had accidentally grabbed the VINEGAR and not the AMMONIA.  F .   We also did not have alum (an alkali), so I just used the cream of tarter (acidic) solution again.  So to stay consistent, i decided to keep it all acidic.  Oh well, the show must go on.  After soaking for about 1/2 an hour, I removed the yarn, squeezed it out, and placed it back into the cream of tarter solution to soak for another 1/2 hour.  I then squeezed out the yarn and placed it in to a sauce pan of the rice water.  It remained in the rice water over an hour (we had swimming class to go to).  When I got back, I turned the stove on low.  Thank goodness I did not use wool, because I futzed around a lot with this while it was in the saucepan, and wool would have felted up like one huge blob.

I think it "cooked" for about an hour, and then I took to pot outside and hung the yarn up to dry on the clothes line.

Now, for the color-fast test.

After the yarn had completely dried in the sun, and then I rinsed it several times in cold water.  In the above photo, the yarn is still damp, and the hues are nicely saturated (no pun intended).  A bit of the color DID wash out, but I am totally pleased with the results.  Above I did not mention, but I essentially "kettle dyed" it.  During the time the yarn was "cooking" in the pot, I reduced some of the pigmented water in a separate saucepan.  I reduced about 2 cups of the rice water down to about 1/4 cup, (it was super dark and concentrated) and I poured it over the exposed yarn in the pot.  I think this helped add a deeper tonal variation in the color.

Basically, the mordant/s I used this time were acidic (Cream of Tarter and Vinegar) ... next time, I am going to try alkali (Alum and Ammonia) and see if I get different hues and better or worse colorfastness.

One interesting thing I noticed was that there was a reaction between the wet yarn and the aluminum clips on the hangar.  Where it was clipped and touching the metal, I noted a light blue grey coloration....it would be interesting to add strips of foil to the next batch... Weave them in amongst the strands as it air dries.  Next time!  Next time for sure!

Still waiting on my Old Navy order.

One step at a time.

Yesterday as I was leaving Carle after yet another 3 month visit with the "parole officer",(thank you Jennifer Griffin for that awesomely accurate descriptor) I burst out the doors of that clinic feeling like some sort of super hero. As I made my way towards the free lot, I started remembering all of the times I walked this very sidewalk, not feeling anything like how I did at this moment. I lowered my head to kind of bring myself back to the here and now (trying hard to push away the there and then) and I was concentrating on just how delicious the warm sun and fresh breeze felt ... when I saw something blue flutter and roll its way next to the path. It was a ripped off and discarded hospital ID bracelet. I thought about picking it up to see whose name was on it, but I stopped short, suddenly wanting to protect this persons anonymity. It skittered away in a gust of wind;  just how I imagined the wearer did as soon as they were free of the thing. I could completely associate with this persons feeling of freedom. A grand explosion of "I am finally getting out of that place", a burst of freedom, and feelings, made waiting to find scissors NOT an option. Maybe they were in for some inane outpatient surgery ... or maybe they were just being released from the clinic after some sinister out-of-the-blue diagnosis, and some subsequent life altering (and hopefully life saving) surgery. In my minds eye that person threw open those doors (no matter how sore, sad, or solemn they were) and felt the same warm, magical spring breezes that steep the scenery with a fresh breath of  promise, and of renewed life and fresh beginnings. I see him/her lifting her face to the sun, drinking in the wind blown kisses and then suddenly noticing the the hospital bracelet on their arm. Hard and scratching against the skin. Each movement a reminder of why this trip to the free lot was even necessary in the first place. The super-human strength that is needed to tear one of those off can only be brought on by feelings such as this. A primal urge to flee the things that imprison, hurt, and scare... At one time I think I had to wear 4 of those bracelets, not a one of them stating "endless drip on the morphine please" or "GTFO". I remember that delicious feeling of freedom leaving that place after each chemo, and i remember the anxiety attacks i had as soon as i would see the place upon return visits. Almost three years of magical spring breezes have quelled those anxiety attacks and my fear of the place . . . But what has grown in its place is a deep appreciation of health, love, life, and the beauty that is to he had in this world -- things that we can enjoy only IF we take time to stop to see those things.

"the Parole Officer Man" said that he is pleased my body is behaving itself, and i am very close to a important milestone, and that my visits can now be decreased to every six months instead of every three.  Each forward step taken on the road to freedom gets you one step closer to your goal, and one step farther from what you are working on leaving behind.