Vintage yarn

Here are some pics of the stash enhancement provided by a friend of my mom's. I'm guessing that most of the yarns are about as old as I am.

Lion is a brand that still exists today.

I've never knit 100% cashmere.

Or 100% mohair.

This yarn totally looks like cotton candy. The natural light was fading fast and I couldn't get a good color-likeness with the flash.

The label is so funny.

These were made in France. There are 10 skeins of the green.

Less of the cream and pink.

There's a good amount of this yarn, enough for a garment, I think.

One of my favorite colors.

There is a lot of yarn. I stopped photographing because the shots taken with the flash were not great. It's wonderful to have new-to-me yarn in amounts that will be enough for a variety of projects. I'm going to need a new tote, and, new space on my craft supplies shelves for these additions to the family :-)

Don't be the one

Go here for a really hearty laugh. Thanks to my ever funny and election-obsessed sister for the video.

Halloween eve

My fingers smell of fresh pumpkin. My cheeks are still cold to the touch. I can still smell the smoke from Donna's fire pit (she cooked burgers and dogs on it last night and we ate outside---yum!)

Fall is in full swing around here. Yes.

Gem did almost all his carving himself. Very impressive.

Sag did not like the smell of pumpkin. He stayed way back as I carved. I worked off of a sketch he drew of his Jack o'lantern's face.

Renée (our downstairs neighbor) gave us the cobweb cotton. The boys were thrilled to decorate.

Bunny ears never get old.

Gem has mastered the monkey bars and loves challenging himself to get across without slipping off. He's got the blisters to prove it.

I love that glow.

Frantic chicken. That's what he calls it.

Growing shadows.

Untwisting in the wind.

What the what?

Huh?




Swinging meditation.


He loves being in this tree though he is really too big for it.


Pine needle fight!


Spent.

Inspiration for when I dye my own yarn.

Peaches in october

I got this in the mail today. Hmm. Love it so far.

Boi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oing!!!!

The sock yarn ("peaches"), handmade by Faun at hands+notions was anticipated. It was my last purchase before declaring no more yarn till 2009. (Yes, I have since bought more yarn. Self-discipline is not a forté.) But, cute knitting postcards? An arty self-made pin? All the love?

I love this aspect of life. Moments of beauty and attention to aesthetic. My eyes are opening to the pleasures of Etsy and connecting to independent artisans. For this, I don't mind paying for shipping. Not one bit.

Hallelujah

I find religion in the darndest places. This morning, it was at the back of the top shelf of the linen closet. I was teetering on the step ladder half-heartedly pushing around old quilts, an extra comforter, spare pillows, when lo and behold, I found the remnant of an old white sheet.

It's what's leftover from the sheet I used to cut "mummy" strips last Halloween for Sag's costume.

Sag decided a couple of weeks ago to be a ghost (instead of Luke Skywalker) for Halloween. Between thinking that that would be "easy" and me being an über leave-it-for-the-last-minute kind of mom, I found myself this morning, still in my pjs, and the knowledge that I'd be car-less in less than 2 hours for the rest of the day, and without a fracking white sheet.

Forgive me, but I have a cold. Not a bad one, thanks to Vinny, but I am a bit sluggish and slow to get going in the morning these days.

Before pulling on some clothes and driving like a madwoman to either Michael's or the Goodwill store (would I possibly be able to squeeze in trips to both?!), an unusual wave of reason (which I attribute to my TCM work...and not having PMS) propelled me to the linen closet.

And, out of view, but there to the touch, was just enough white cloth to fashion a ghost costume out of.

Hallelujah.

That's what she said. (An Office reference. Yes.)

This just in

Out our window, it looks like this. (I am easily distracted when folding laundry.) If it were 10º colder I'd say it was snowing tonight.

Art in the afternoon

Brussels sprouts

I think they rock.

I could have taken a dozen more pics---it was the strangest thing!

These were sautéed in olive oil and then steamed for a bit (just put a cover on the sauté pan), then seasoned with salt and pepper. I am now ready to go to our potluck tonight.

Chocolate chip cookies: the recipe

I've been making and referring to these GFCF cookies for a couple of years now. This is a fantastic recipe and these cookies are devoured whenever and wherever they are presented, whether the eater is GFCF or not.

This morning I spent about an hour and a half making them. Slow food. Yes. The steps, like grinding the quinoa flakes in the food processor, and smushing down each cookie with a glass whose bottom has just been dipped in water, require patience and time. Not a recipe for when you are in a rush.

But, see what you turn out? And they taste good.

"The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies"
from Living Without Summer 2006 issue

Makes 4 dozen cookies

Grinding the quinoa flakes and adding them to the gluten-free flour gives these cookies a chewy texture and nutty flavor. Quinoa is high in protein and fiber, an added nutritional bonus.

1 3/4 cups quinoa flakes
1 3/4 cups gluten-free all purpose flour (go here for great info re: diy GF flour blends)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup GF margarine, shortening or organic coconut oil
1 cup Organic Sucanet or dark brown sugar firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs (or egg replacer)
1 tsp GF vanilla extract
1 pkg (about 2 cups) GF chocolate chips (I use Trader Joe's)
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

1. Preheat oven to 375º (with my oven, I usually set 25º lower than recommended heats).

2. Finely ground quinoa flakes in processor. Add flour mix, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt and blend for 5 seconds.

3. Beat margarine and both sugars in large bowl until well blended (I use my electric hand mixer). Beat in eggs and vanilla. (I tend to go lighter on the sugar than what a recipe calls for---today's cookies, where I stuck to the recipe, are too sweet for me.)

4. Mix in dry ingredients. Mix in chocolate chips and walnuts, if using. (You will need some elbow grease here to get the dough mixed well. Next time, I'm going to toast the walnuts. I don't usually put nuts in, did this time, and they don't have that lovely walnut-y essence you get when you toast them first.)

5. For each cookie, form one rounded tablespoon into a ball (or use a small ice cream type scoop) and place on ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten dough slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in water.

6. Bake until edges are golden brown, about 12 minutes. (I do 10 minutes.)

7. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely.

Meditations

...each in their own ways.

Jottings

• My bag from AC is only half unpacked.

• I joined Facebook which has been entertaining though yet another time drain in front of a screen. I did find Steve, an old boyfriend, who I'm looking forward to catching up with.

• Barbra's scarf is giving me a whirl. The process is calling forth reserves of patience previously untested in my knitting life.

• Halloween is Friday and our pumpkins still need carving and their costumes need fine tuning.

• We all have colds. Vinny boosted me yesterday with cupping, new herbs and a new exercise.

• It's a fifth Wednesday so tonight we're doing potluck at Donna's. I'm making Brussels sprouts, cuke slices and GFCF chocolate chip cookies.

• I saw it yesterday. Frozen clumps of wet falling from the sky.

Julie's scarf

...the one that got away ;-)

Schooly

This morning, the kids wanted to have a "schooly" table activities time. So I pulled out some Kumon and Miquon Math workbooks I've collected over the years. The kids grabbed some pencils and eagerly set forth on addition and subtraction problems, time telling exercises, and "connect-the-dots".



Gem soon asked for "spelling". So I chose a dozen spelling words off the top of my head themed around Star Wars (light saber, galaxy, friendship, planet, soldier, weapon, loyalty, fighter, father, knight, duel, falcon). He was dismayed to see he made mistakes in six of the twelve words. I pointed he was very close for five of those six.

Sag looked for all the "connect-the-dots" he could find in all the workbooks on the table. He liked trying to figure out what the image was before connecting the dots.

He then found this fill-in-the-blanks number chart and worked on that.

I pulled out the Base 10 blocks to show Gem a different way of figuring the "Addition" song he's been singing lately ("2+2 is 4, 4+4 is 8, 8+8 is 16, etc", yes, thanks again to TMBG). Yesterday in the car he got to 512+512 is 1024 and was so psyched! He does most mathematical figuring in his head.

Once you put blocks in front of him, what he wants to do is build with them, in a different way.

We had a pancake and sausage lunch (Gem did some cooking of his own), and the rest of the day has been building with legos, making movies, some computer time, and in an hour, they start their new swimming session. Gem will start in Guppy with Lukas, Sag will continue in Polliwog 2 with Owen.