Posted by Susan Albert on February 17, 2016 at 10:05 AM in Fiber Stuff | Permalink | Comments (0)
I was rummaging through my fiber stash last week and found a bag of alpaca roving that I bought a couple of years ago at Victory Ranch, near our place in New Mexico. (Roving is fiber that is carded, usually commercially, into a long continuous cord 2"-3" thick. The fibers are generally aligned in one direction. You can see a sample of it with the hat.) I loved this roving, but when I tried to spin it on my drop spindle, it proved to be too firm and slippery. My spinning wheel needs repair, so that wasn't an option. So I decided simply to crochet the roving, using a large (size N) hook. I added some thin handspun for color, and love the way it turned out. It's thick and warm, probably waterproof (it is alpaca, after all). But I really have to get my spinning wheel repaired.
Here are some of the alpacas that generously provided this wonderful fiber--such sweet faces! I'm betting that my guy is the gray one in the center, since the fiber I bought matches his gorgeous gray color. I would love to have a couple of these here at MeadowKnoll, but it's really too hot for them. They would melt in our 30-day strings of 100+ summer temps.
Book Report. Lots going on here. I'm working on The Last Chance Olive Ranch (China's 2017 mystery) and doing some interesting research into olives. Lots of stuff I didn't know. Learning, for me, is most of the fun of writing.
I'm also working on getting Loving Eleanor out into the world. The book is available for pre-sale on Amazon. It's also up on NetGalley, pre-approved and available now for all NetGalley reviewers. The second GoodReads giveaway launched this morning, this one open to readers in the US, Australia, and Canada. (Tell your Aussie and CA friends about it!) On the book's website, you will find an excerpt from the book and photographs related to the first chapter. I've sent out nearly 50 advance reading copies to media and booksellers, and arranged for a blog tour in February/March. Whew. It's been fun (really!) putting all this together. If you can help get the word out about this book, I would be very grateful.
A Wilder Rose. The option deal is done on A Wilder Rose, but that's as much as I can say at the moment. When we have a story outline and are approved for the script, I can give you all the details. It does look like this project isn't going to sit on a shelf, however--at least, not right now. I'm excited about it (naturally!) and will share the news as soon as I can.
Reading note. " ....I swapt that calico dress which I had unmade at your house to Mrs. Hubbard for a black alpaca dress made as she wanted a calico so I made considerable by that trade I shall be glad of a black dress on the road I am quite out of under clothes & cannot get anything in the city. theres not a yard to be bought ..." Lucy Rutlege Cooke, a letter to her sisters from the Oregon Trail (1852) borrowed from Gateway Farm Alpacas website. By "unmade," she means that the seams were ripped and the pieces of the dress were washed and pressed--that's what she traded ("swapt") for the alpaca dress.
Posted by Susan Albert on November 19, 2015 at 10:30 AM in Fiber Stuff, From the Writing Desk, Loving Eleanor | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: A Wilder Rose, Loving Eleanor
Plains coreopsis--a beautiful flower, especially when they fill the whole meadow with their sunny yellow blossoms.
But Coreopsis tinctoria (as you might guess from its Latin binomial) isn't just pretty to look at when it's blooming. It's a great dye plant, and has often been used to create a strong yellow-orange color on wool that has been pre-treated ("mordanted") with an acidic or alkaline substance to "fix" the color. I've used alum, which is easy to find and use and not as caustic as some of the other mordants.
Picking the flowers is fun--you'll need about a quarter pound of fresh flowers, half that of dried. (I often dry mine, to do the dyeing later.)
Cover the blossoms (dried or fresh) with water and soak overnight in an enamel or stainless steel pot, then simmer for an hour. Take it off the heat and let it cool.
Meanwhile, soak your pre-treated wool yarn or fiber (you'll need about the same amount, by weight, as the flowers) . When the dye is cool, strain out the flowers through a couple of layers of muslin (you can compost the flowers or put them through another dyebath, for a lighter color). Squeeze the water out of the yarn and immerse in the dye. Bring to a simmer (please don't boil). Gently agitate the fiber every now and then (you don't have to stir, just push it around). After an hour, turn off the heat and let cool. Take out the fiber, rinse well, then wash in a mild soap and hang to dry. You can reuse the the dyestuff until the color is exhausted.
Here's an example of coreopsis-dyed alpaca, from hookedanddyed.com. Isn't it beautiful? You can see more here, and read about solar-dyeing.
Reading note: The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way.--Heraclitus
Posted by Susan Albert on May 22, 2015 at 08:00 AM in Fiber Stuff, In Bloom This Week | Permalink | Comments (3)
It's pecan harvest time here at Meadow Knoll, and Bill has been busy--working hard to keep ahead of the squirrels. The trays in this photo contain nuts gathered from a single tree, and we have 20 bearing trees. They don't all produce as well as this one, but all together, it's a good year for pecans.
Bill grafted these trees, on native stock planted here and there by squirrels, floods, and other random acts of a kind and generous nature. He chose the natives for their sturdiness and location, and grafted them with scions (graftwood cut from the previous season's growth of a productive tree) of different cultivars: Choctaw, Desirable, Kiowa, Dobie. They usually bear in alternate years, but the drought confused them and they're out of sync.
Still, this year is a good year and there are plenty of nuts. Bill gathers them; we settle in front of the TV for a shucking party; and then he takes the nuts to a guy in Bertram who cracks/shells them for us. We store them in the freezer--they keep well until the next crop.
All of which means plenty of pecan pies, naturally, like this one I baked yesterday.
Bill's Absolute All-Time Favorite Pecan Pie
1 cup dark corn syrup (if you use light, use brown sugar)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar (brown sugar, if you have light corn syrup)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons bourbon (rum, if you'd rather)
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
Mix ingredients in order listed. Pour into pie shell. Bake 10 minutes at 425 degrees, 40 minutes at 325. We like this warm, with ice cream.
Reading note, from Calvin Trillin, American Fried (a collection of his newspaper columns from the 1970s):
When it came to poetry, my father was not an absolutist. Pie was his favorite subject for a couplet, but every three or four weeks he would write about something else—perhaps a couplet like
"'Eat your food,' gently said Mom to little son Roddy.
'If you don't, I will break every bone in your body.'"
The next day he would be back to pies --
"Mrs. Trillin's pecan pie, so nutritious and delicious
Will make a wild man mild and a mild man vicious."
Posted by Susan Albert on October 07, 2012 at 09:43 AM in Fiber Stuff, The Homestead | Permalink | Comments (11)
The current sock project, in Hook 'Em Horns tweedy orange. (You Texas fans will understand.) I confess, though, that I've been carrying this second sock around in my knitting bag so long that I've forgotten the pattern. Before I pick up the needles again, I'll have to hunt up my notes (I've got a little knitting notebook where I write down pattern names, needle size, yarn, etc). Love doing socks, almost as much as I love wearing them.
Also on the needles: a "spontaneous" blue scarf, done in seed stitch on #8 circs with homespun and bits of other yarns. Photo coming as soon as I get the time to weave in a few ends. You know how that is.
Posted by Susan Albert on September 30, 2010 at 02:09 PM in Fiber Stuff | Permalink | Comments (12)
A few years ago, I spoke at a meeting of the Kentuckiana Herb Society. One of the group members, knowing of my interest in altered books, made one for me, from a discarded hardcover copy of China Bayles' second adventure, Witches Bane. It was made to serve as a holder for a paperback book. But I remembered it the other day, when I was thinking of buying a jacket for my new Kindle (Bill is inheriting the Kindle I bought back in 2008).
So what you see here is an altered book, jacketing another altered book--or rather a largish library of altered books, since I have nearly 100 books tucked into that ebook reader. Of course, this eReader doesn't really "alter" the book, just the experience of reading it, which (for me, anyway) is significantly different from the experience of turning the pages in a physical book. But I accept the idea that the "book" has been radically altered from the first books I learned to read. And I'm glad to have the luxury of downloading books (and audiobooks), sitting in my chair in the living room--no need to drive 90 miles round trip to the nearest large bookstore. And if you want to see a few other really altered books, check them out here. It's an art form I've been wanting to explore, if only I had a little time. If only...
Fiber stuff. Speaking of time and art forms and the like, I've been knitting string bags.
I made the first one of string (literally--plain cotton string) and liked it best. The one pictured here is made of Aunt Lydia's "Denim" (mostly cotton, thicker than string). It's okay, but stretchier than I would like. The one I'm currently knitting is made of some yarn I bought for a weaving project--really liking it. The pattern is finicky and requires some attention. But once you learn the changeover from one round to the other, it works out. I had never done any faggoting work before, so this is a new experience for me, and fun. I can see more bags in my future...
Book report. The Darling Dahlias are out there, and getting good reviews. If you want to make the peanut butter meringue pie, though, please use the corrected recipe. (Special thanks to Dani and Geni for pointing out the problem.) Next up on the writing desk: The Tale of Castle Cottage, the last of the Cottage Tales series. But I won't start that until next week: I'm heading for Houston toward the end of this week for a family visit and a Saturday noon booksigning at Murder by the Book. If you're in the area, do drop by. The Dahlias and I and David and McKenna (the owners of this terrific bookstore) would be delighted to see you.
Guest blog alert. On Tuesday 7/20, I'll be a guest blogger at Molly Weston's Meritorious Mysteries, blogging about (what else?) the Dahlias. Molly has already posted her review of the book (yes, she liked it!). We're holding a book drawing, too, so be sure to come on over.
What I'm reading. I was inspired by a friend (thanks, Sid!) to post a page of my reads and reviews. I'm just getting started with this work-in-progress, so check back every so often and see what I've listed. In the meantime, have a great week--and cross your fingers for no hurricanes in the Gulf and a quick kill on that blasted oil well.
Posted by Susan Albert on July 11, 2010 at 03:22 PM in Fiber Stuff | Permalink | Comments (5)
Isn't this a totally, incredibly, absolutely gorgeous quilt? It was designed and made by Jinni Turkelson of Grand Rapids MI--and then she sent it to ME, to keep me warm on cold evenings when I'm knitting by the fire. (That's Jinni, standing on a bench on her deck, holding the quilt.) Jinni, I love it, and I'm more grateful than I can say. You're a peach. And oh, BTW, I solved the mystery: Jinni said she practiced doing some alphabet work with her new sewing machine and told me to look for it. "It's a mystery," she said. This isn't the greatest photo, but maybe you can see that she's embroidered "Cottage Tales Series" at the top and my name at the bottom of this lovely panel from The Tale of Peter Rabbit--Peter watching Mr. McGregor weeding the lettuces.
UPDATE. 5/22/08. After I had a chance to study Jinni's quilt more closely and read everyone's comments, I've decided that I'm going to take it when I do book talks at libraries. The quilt will give me a chance to talk about the way one person's creativity (Beatrix's "little books") can inspire other people: can inspire the Cottage Tales, biographers like Linda Lear and Judy Taylor and many others who have written about Beatrix's life and work, as well as quiltmakers, artists, knitters, and embroiderers. Wouldn't Beatrix love the circle of friends her work has created?
Writing note. I have the feeling that Jinni's quilt will do more than just keep me warm--it will inspire me, as I settle back to work on the next Cottage Tale. I'm into the third chapter now, in a scene with Beatrix and Will Heelis. The trick is to bring them closer together, romantically, but still find believable ways to keep them apart. This is only Book 6, and they can't get married until Book 8! Today, I'm working on a scene with a new character, Fritz the Ferret, who lives under the bridge over Wilfin Beck.
Gardening note. I was a little late getting the squash in, but both the zucchini and the butternut are up and looking good. The madonna lilies are blooming. Photo tomorrow.
Reading note. From Linda Lear's biography, Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, p. 234: [Beatrix] squeezed out every available moment at the farm, gardening and looking after the haying, but had little time or energy for books. "I cannot screw anything out of my head at present!" she told Millie [Warne, Norman's sister]."I have done a little sketching when it does not rain, and I spent a very wet hour inside the pig stye drawing the pig. It tries to nibble my boots, which is interrupting. I don't think it ever answers to try & finish a book in summer..."
Posted by Susan Albert on May 20, 2008 at 10:26 AM in Fiber Stuff | Permalink | Comments (7)
Fun socks. These are for Paula, my co-editor on the Story Circle Book Review website. I chose the colors by picking up colors from the multi yarn. I love the way the heel worked out, multi twined with orange in a salt-pepper stitch. They're a bit on the wild side, but so is Paula, who blogs at redneckcrime.com. Working with her on the book review has been a blast. And that's the second big project. The first one was What Wildness Is This (the book we edited together a couple of years ago). A pair of socks is scant thanks for all the good times we've shared, most of them over the Internet. Isn't that wild, too?
I'm still not writing, but I'm working, working hard. Peggy and I have assembled some issues of All About Thyme so they'll be ready to go out every Monday. That's a huge job, but I enjoy it and never fail to learn something I didn't know in the process. I've been thinking, though, that maybe I should go to bi-weekly, instead of weekly, just to cut down on the workload. If you have an opinion on the topic, weigh in. I've also been putting the blog tour together (more on that toward the end of the month), finishing the notes and citations for the memoir. Oh, and cleaning the office--that perennial chore that I hate while I'm doing it and absolutely love when it's done.
The storm that caused the tornado devastation in the mid-states on Tuesday night went through here on Tuesday morning, dropping our temps by about 40 degrees. One brave daffodil is blooming--as soon as the wind drops, I'll go out and get her picture. I won't have many garden flowers this year (because the gardens were so badly damaged last summer), so I'll cherish every single one. Doesn't look like there'll be many wildflowers, either. No rain to speak of since September, so the bluebonnets will be sparse.
But that's the blessing of living in a place for a long time. I know that while there may be only a few flowers, they will be beautiful, and that when the rains come--next year or the year after--so will the bluebonnets. I know that the hummingbirds will arrive around the 15th of March, and that the Monarchs will be sailing north through our woods not long after. Paintbrush and blackfoot daisy and monarda, all in their time. I can wait.
Reading Note. Home is where we have a history.--Terry Tempest Williams
Posted by Susan Albert on February 08, 2008 at 10:21 AM in Fiber Stuff | Permalink | Comments (9)
Yum! Doesn't this look good enough to eat? Now, never mind the obvious little bobbles, and please overlook the crocheted embellishment where there was supposed to be a couple of garter stitch rounds. Just concentrate on the colors, which truly are yummy. The pattern (slightly modified) is from Knit Mittens by Robin Hansen--the cover pattern. I can't decide whether to do the second mitten in entirely different colors, or stay with what I've already done. What do you think?
Tomorrow's the official end of the blog tour, but there's still time to enter a few of the drawings (as of this moment, I mean), so hustle on over there and do it! One of the things I've learned on this tour is that computers and servers and networks don't always behave the way we expect them to. But the tour hosts and Peggy and I have persevered, and plugged on ahead, and just plain bullied our way through this, and it's almost over, thank goodness. Honestly, this has been nearly as much work as getting in the car and driving around from here to there! Except I get to sleep at home, which is pretty nice, and I don't have to eat on the road, and I can sit in my own favorite chair in the evening to knit candy mitts, so yeah, I like it. Think I'll do it again, when the next China comes out.
Brrrr.... About 3 this afternoon, I looked out the window to see a flock of 30-some robins having lunch in the grass. Robins are migratory here, and they usually fly down with the first serious cold front--which was forecast for around 5 pm here in the Hill Country. Sure enough, about an hour after the robins, the wind picked up from the north, the leaves began to blow, and the cold front arrived, just in time for the dogs and me to have our evening walk in cool comfort. After yesterday's near-record 86 (honestly!), this was a delightful change. Warmest November on record, so far, I've heard. So what else is new? But last night I watched a TV show about running out of oil (the inevitable conclusion of our spendthrift ways) and felt very grateful this morning when I woke and the world was all in one piece and so was I. I was glad for such an extraordinarily ordinary day, writing and robins and a north wind and a breezy walk with the dogs.
Reading note. I am grateful for every such ordinary day, knowing that these will draw to a close somewhere beyond our seeing. I hope to go on picking vegetables, pulling bindweed out of the fields . . . enjoying the birds, the dogs, even our elderly cat, whose last season this likely will be....Going on is, after all the ultimate pleasure of our lives.--Maxine Kumin, Always Beginning
Posted by Susan Albert on November 14, 2007 at 07:29 PM in Fiber Stuff | Permalink | Comments (9)
I was possessed by the urge to sit down at my loom last week, and this blue scarf, jazzed up with orange and reds, was the result. I warped the loom (a rigid heddle) on Thursday and spent Friday weaving--finished the scarf on Friday night, just about the time Bill got home from New Mexico. (Yes, that means that I didn't get any writing done on Friday. But I put in some good book-think time while I was weaving, and came up with a new plot twist I really like. Also, I watched Night Passage, Tom Selleck's version of the Robert Parker novel. Yum yum. I am definitely a Tom Selleck fan. If any of you see a resemblance between McQuaid and Selleck, you are dead on.)
The scarf is a bit of this and that. The weft is of different weights and blends, mostly wool but some acrylic. (A purist would sniff.) The warp is hand-dyed handspun, along with some commercially dyed wool yarn. Here's how it looked on the loom.
I warped it a different way than I used to (warped it directly on the loom, according to directions I found on the Internet), which is much quicker--or would have been, if I had bothered to read the directions closely. I didn't, so it wasn't. Next time, I'll pay more attention.
And there will be a next time. Soon. Like right away, actually, because I've just realized how close Christmas is, and how little time I have to finish making stuff. I've also got a huge stash of handspun, and this is a good way to use it up.
Now, which of my favorite guys gets this scarf? (No, not Tom Selleck.)
Reading note. Motivational speakers often pose the question, "If you were on your deathbed, would you look back and be sorry you didn't spend more time at the office?" The right answer is, of course, no--you'd be sorry you didn't spend more time with the people you love, or doing the work that will make the world a better place. I think maybe I'd be sorry I didn't weave and spin more, too. Because the more I do, the better everything else seems to fit together. The more I weave and spin, the more in touch I am with myself, the more meaning I find in my daily life. You know? --Linda Ligon, This is How I Go When I Go Like That
Posted by Susan Albert on October 07, 2007 at 10:15 AM in Fiber Stuff | Permalink | Comments (5)