Urgent. Baby in detention center

 

This child has not seen a doctor. He and his mother must be released. For Juan, this may be life or death.

Please let's all call. This information is from Jess Craven newsletter Chop Wood Carry Water, a reliable source. Anyone may call. From anywhere.

Wedding Annie 63, and East Wing comments

Today's the 63rd anniversary of our wedding, in the mad dash to get Handsome Partner's dissertation finished and accepted before leaving the UK for the University of Wisconsin. Stony broke students.

We're cutting the cake in the student Union building which hosted our reception, their first. My dress was borrowed, the cake was a wedding gift, the few flowers and greenery donated by the catering staff at the Union. The winter had been so brutal that no flowers were available, usually supplied from the Scilly Isles, but few that year. The photographs were a wedding gift, including this one. 

The things we didn't know were to come in our lives.  Just as well, really. 

Today I think there was a mix-up with the weather. We were supposed to get rain to wash away the remaining snow. But I woke to this 

Pretty, and this was definitely the winter to be car-free.

Back to the immediate future. If you're in the US now's your chance to register official comments about the benighted ballroom idea T***p is trying to build. 

 

You'll know it went through when you get a confirmation email, as I did.

Meanwhile it's Presidents Day, to celebrate real ones, that is. And I find we're nearly at Shrove Tuesday and pancakes. Noted. Meanwhile, more granola breakfast bars happened yesterday and went nicely with coffee for breakfast today. 

I offered a couple to my neighbor, and he declined since they don't eat breakfast! I didn't argue the point, but you don't have to live in Yorkshire to eat Yorkshire pudding. Or march on Salisbury Plain for a Salisbury steak.  

But I'm happy to have more b bars for me! This batch included walnut pieces and chocolate chips. An energy explosion. I am definitely flagging, and can use the fuel right now. 

Happy day everyone! Eat what you want when you want it, there's no law! Sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony 

Still my flag, a bit battered but we'll reclaim it, you'll see.

Scarfing along with Atomic Shrimp

This morning I'm into the next bit of the scarf production.

I had some yarn left from the main section so when I started on the two outer parts, I carried it along.  There was enough to cast on and knit one row on each part. 

You'll see how I left a length between needles, like a weaver working further down the warp. Using up the first yarn is planted to unify the middle and outer sections. Then the outer edges will be the same as the center section.

Then I cut off the excess once I started on the second yarn, and knitted in the ends as I went. Less finishing at the end. 

This second merino and silk yarn is lovely to handle, very kind to the knitter's hands.

Once launched, the trick is to avoid picking up the wrong yarn. It's really two projects moving in parallel on the same needle. I like this approach.

Back when I knitted sweaters when we made them in modular form, like dressmaking, I used to knit both sleeves at once, to keep them evenly shaped and to avoid second sleeve lethargy. That's the early version of second sock syndrome.

While I was doing this, I had Atomic Shrimp going on YouTube,one of his lengthy beach walk and picnic outings. It's the one at the top of the video thumbnails,

He's a funny man, very entertaining and enterprising, always exploring and discovering and cooking and learning crafts. He's a knowledgeable naturalist too.  

He's based in, I think, Dorset, he moved recently, somewhere in the south west peninsula of the UK. No, he doesn't know I'm doing this, in case you wondered. I just like to offer interesting channels and websites to anyone who would enjoy them.

Happy day everyone, today's lunch is a rerun of yesterday's.  Groundlunch Day.

Happy Veeday, redtail, decisions

Happy Valentine's Day, it's for friends and friendship and thank you all for being the. 

One of the local friends I sent Valentine greetings to is a nun. She was very pleased, saying, well, this is the only one I'll get, so it's precious. I expect there was a certain amount of eye rolling, too.

Today I dragged out the garbage and recycle, how does a single person manage to create so much, despite my green efforts, to the dumpster area, and got a dazzling reward.

I heard bird cries like a bluejay but louder, and spotted 

A red tail hawk, high in the tree on the left there, preening, maybe with mating hopes, and probably hunting small birds. This is a hungry time for the hawks, their usual prey hidden under the snow, so they start showing up near bird feeders. 

The small birds are very scarce as long as she's up there. We have several pairs around here, doing fine despite development, traffic, habitat threat. They're wonderful athletes to watch swooping around the sky.

Then food had to be fixed. I'd thought of a red lentil curry but didn't feel like making it, then I thought ah, red lentil tofu. So that's what happened. 

There was a good bit of blended lentils leftover so that's in the fridge with the frozen cooked sweet potato, for soup when I get to it.

Then there was the other ambitious plan, a blueberry clafouti. This is officially an easy dish, but that's when you're in the mood for it which I found l wasn't. Then I thought pancakes. Not that either. 

Anyway while I was trying to decide, I set the berries to macerate in a bit of sugar, some molasses, which entailed emptying and wiping down a cabinet shelf, and soaking the glass plate a lot of items had been on, including the now apparent bonded jar of molasses. 

Anyway, jar separated, plate wiped and repurposed, cabinet neat, I got on with the food. I don't think this kind of thing happens in posh cooks' kitchens. 

After the molasses incident, I added in lemon zest, some of that minced ginger I was bragging about yesterday, cinnamon, salt and cornstarch. Then I left it alone.

I was listening to Lucy Worsley interviewing a food historian while I was blundering about in the kitchen, seemed a propos. 

The tofu cubes, with a nice sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, worked fine. And enough for tomorrow.

The fruit sauce, jam, stuff I boiled like jam briefly, smelled great and decided it was sauce with plain yogurt.

Note sneaky reflection. 

The green beans were accidentally enhanced when I was scraping the berries into a small pan, and mistook the identical pan with the green beans in it, and put a spoonful of marinade in it. No harm done. 

I expect a posh cook has a fancy name for it, even. Haricots verts maceres, maybe. Add your own accents throughout this reading.

Speaking of accidentally enhancing --if I can disable the highlights I will. I hit the button by accident. Small screen, big fingers. And I'm told that only removing all the formatting, however that's done, will fix it. 

Happy day everyone, cook for the uncritical people. Such as yourself. And disregard highlights. 

 

Act Blue, Rockit apples, and knitting capers

I waited till some thawing happened on the sidewalk before I went out today. We're in the thaw, run, freeze sequence and yesterday I had to be very cautious because of sudden ice patches too wide to step over  The wind both days was icy, so no pictures. Just out, walk, home to tea and cake.

More signing and writing today, aside from thanking my elected representatives for standing fast about Homeland security.

I wrote this today to the execs of YouTube and Google. Note the threat. 

No business is too big to disregard its consumers. I already use anything other than G as a search engine, best I can manage now. And I've been steadily complaining about AI fraud to YouTube. I'm hoping enough people push back on ads for ICE recruitment to make them think twice. It worked with Spotify.

The sponsor of this campaign is Act Blue, fyi. IYKYK. 

Recently someone asked me what IYKYK means! A true meta moment.

And about Rockit apples, take yet another bow, NZ!

I wondered if gala apples were involved, another favorite. They're crisp and juicy and not tart. I can't do tart apples. Anything with crisp in its name makes my face go all painful. Pink Lady, too. Just doesn't work. But Rockits rock.

And an update on the knitting. As usual I find that the better the yarn quality, the easier on my hands. 

This pattern really is designed for circulars which I currently don't have, so I had a good time figuring out how to compensate.  As usual, modular design rules. I also knew the starting yarn wouldn't be enough, so I'm recruiting a related one to add in.

You Are Here

At this point if I had circulars, I'd add 49 stitches at each side. Then I'd knit all of them for four more inches 

As you see, the current 117 stitches are already a crowd. So I really enjoyed coming up with a plan. This is not about making do, it's about finding another solution. 

So I plan to knit on for the four inches, then cast off. That will complete the middle section. Then I'll cast on two lots of 49 stitches on these same needles, each with a yarn supply and knit both for four inches. This will keep the size working and the yarn well distributed. 

Then I'll stitch or crochet the three pieces together.  Ta-daah. 

At least that's the plan.

Happy day everyone, you can figure things out if you just breathe.

Sez Ted, Big Ursy and Pony 

 

About Pony, Misfits and insurance

I had quite a few suggestions for names for Pony:

Polly 

Pollyanna 

Dapper

Sweetie

Stitches 

Penelope

Percival 

Poindexter 

Pedro

Pooky 

Zipper

Valentine 

I studied the choices, remembering dear old Pony, who lived at the convent where I send the knitted gloves and socks. That was his full name, so I considered it.  

He had a nice paddock where he received his fans and treats, when he wasn't out having illicit adventures in other people's gardens.  And this weekend,  along came Bad Bunny.

So we have Pony Bad Bunny.  Pony for short.

And I got a response from the insurance people confirming that the reason for the sudden premium increase for the house coverage was the cancellation of the auto coverage.  I'm deeply suspicious that the increase is almost exactly what they refunded when I cancelled. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Misfits seems to be an afternoon delivery for Ronald.

I usually try to do a bit of catch-up before deliveries. I had a piece of good ginger in the fridge, and wanted to be sure to process it before it got dry.  Not cheap.

Enter the microplane and paring knife, and now I have two containers of ginger in the freezer ready for use 

Minced probably for cake, diced for Wil Yeung recipes. I don't bother peeling since the skin has a lot of flavor and works fine.

Then Ronald arrived with a small order this week, in a rental van, I wonder if the pink truck came to grief on the ice.

The "meet the family" card back there is about eggs, which I didn't order this week. Maybe it's to remind me.

Canned goods plus honey for the food pantry, honey for me too, Rockit apples like little jewels, olive oil because I'm clean out, blueberries to go with the yogurt, yay my favorite yogurt was back in stock this week, green olives because that sauce was great and I'm up for making it again, only with the "right" olives, tuna for tuna melt and salad, different ketchup because the other wasn't available. 

I already have things like diced tomatoes chickpeas, cannellini beans, so I'm catered for.  It's all good. This evening dinner will be i stew of chickpeas and diced tomatoes flavored with that olive sauce.

Happy day everyone, congratulations to Minneapolis for apparently defeating ICE. For now.

When we get rid of this brutal bunch, we'll have people like those brave souls in Minneapolis and other cities to thank for showing us how it's done. And we will never forget the people who gave their lives and health and safety.  

To honor them, we'll keep pushing,  in every way we can think of. As exhausted, traumatized families eventually get back from concentration camps in Texas to home, they'll still need help.  Local organizations will still need donations. We're not at the end, just at the end of the beginning. 

Still my flag. We'll retrieve it from the mud and clean it up.

New knitting for me

I started this long shaped scarf with this yarn. I've made several of these for other people!  My turn, thanks to R for reminding me I can have nice things.

 I'm adapting the pattern to use straight needles because I don't have a circular. Maybe I once did when I made this before.

Anyway 

Happy camper here. I just wanted to explain a bit about my hand issues, in case you're getting the impression I'm smiling through pain. 

My hands don't hurt. They tire, the tissue is old and worn away with decades of close work. So the tendons jump and jolt a bit, and my fingers jam,  which makes fine work tricky. But it's all good, not complaining here.

I switch to whichever fiber art is easier at the time, good thing I have choices.

And today I got my home insurance bill. It's doubled since last year. I put in a message to the agent asking what? 

I suspect wo things have happened. Rates have risen and I've cancelled my auto insurance which I had had bundled with the home insurance to get a better rate. But I still think it's spite!

In the same mail I got the form which I can use to apply for several real estate tax and homeowner rebates at once. Good, I'll need it. 

I pressed all my electeds today to hold fast against $$ for ICE, and to vote down the SAVE and MEGA bills. That was before dawn, catching them early. 

And I thanked Booker for voting against the bad crypto bill. Good to catch them doing something right.

There's always something to dance about. 

Simple stuff like today was in the 30s f, so I got a walk. It was the maiden voyage of The Boots I stretched and have been practicing with at home before launching them. They move differently from shoes because of being up around my ankles, so I have to get used to it.

Enjoy your day sez

Ted, Big Ursy and Bad Pony! 

I got a pony! I got a pony! And other excitements

Yesterday a box arrived with beautiful yarn, Texan candy (nuts and caramel in milk chocolate), and, drumroll -- a pony!

I can't wait to use the yarn, beautiful stuff, silk/merino, cotton, self striping and much more. The candy has already been thoroughly tested.

Thank you so much, dear Texan blogista R!

And Pony, who needs a name, please, has already done her first photo shoot.

Ready to help take a donation to the food pantry.

This gift box enabled me to Freecycle a bag of handspun, single skeins and balls in various colors, with an instant crowd of requesters. 

Then Tuesday Knitting Group was fun, all the usual suspects and a nice couple of new people, the wife adept at crochet and the husband learning, in order to have a shared interest with her. 

They're Korean, unew here, and still dealing with the English language. He works doing engineering research here, on secondment from his home Korean University.  But they coped pretty much, made a hit, and we hope they'll become regulars.

♥️ Red resistance hats under way, destined for family and friends 

Here's a demo of one of the splices D learned at a recent class 

And Toad's bathing suit is coming along 

A top down sweater being rethought 

Another resistance hat, using hand dyed yarn, the knitter wearing her handmade jacket

Someone did some shopping at the event where she studied splicing

 

Here's her latest lacy shawl in progress, graduating light to dark.

Talk ranged over snow, ice, Korean food, children's language, Paris, Brittany, the high Pyrenees, Francoise Sagan, kimchi, resistance hats, pussy hats, yarn gifts, Indian and Burmese (Myanmar) independence, and more.

Home to tea, banana bread, Texan candy and Textiles and Tea, with Teresa Georgallis,  a high end low key production weaver and teacher currently based in Cyprus.  She grew up and studied in the UK, getting a number of degrees there.

She specializes in subtle designs and colors, some she dyes with local mud. There's a range of pigments naturally occurring in the mud, including copper -- hence the name of the island of Cyprus.  She usually uses cotton, contrasting mercerized glossy cotton with the more matt nonmercerized.

Her life and business partner is a potter, also using local clay. They've traveled to several countries to highlight artisan work from there and exhibit it in Nicosia.

Mud dyed yarns hanging on the wall behind her

She teamed with leather workers to create these bags

She has designed and built a four harness collapsible loom, formerly distributed by Harris, no longer, and now created and distributed anew, using laser cutting and 3D printing. It can be folded down completely, warp still in place, a great inventive feat.

These are high end shirts she designed, hand woven in India.

She's a teacher, too and has used her loom to introduce kids as young as seven, all the way to adults, to principles of weaving. She emphasizes to kids how similar computer programming is to weaving, which gets their interest quickly, the binary principle easy to grasp.

Happy day, everyone! I had my usual Beautiful Tuesday. And the temperature was all the way up into the thirties f.

And in today's resistance I messaged my state legs. to resist the ICE attempts to buy NJ warehouse space for concentration camps. Sent a donation to Minneapolis to support daily help with food and diapers for house bound residents. 

Greetings from Ted, Big Ursy and Pony