The cats spent the day moving from sunny spot to sunny spot.
I went to the farmer's market, made pigment with the lichen dye bath, and worked in the garden for several hours.
I also pulled the pink stripe out of the sweater, redid the seam with brown yarn and have started edging the neckline with pink.
Pretty sure this is going to work.
A good day.
I was at the bookstore to pick up a book I'd ordered and took a peek at a book that Hazel recommended to me.
It came home with me and it's lovely.
It's a non-fiction picture book explaining how rocks are formed.
I also found a cookbook that I couldn't resist, The Secret of Cooking by Bee Wilson. It's as much essays as recipes. This was made following the technique for "Magic Pasta."
My version has olive oil, onion, pasta, water (4 extra tablespoons because I didn't use any other liquids), a good pinch of salt with herbs, dehydrated peppers, artichoke hearts and some of my dehydrated tomato sauce. Topped with parmesan reggiano. It was ready in 15 minutes!
This is a perfect after work meal.
And...I am playing with the settings on the camera again.
This was taken early in the morning.
Following up on the squash:
There was soup, equal amounts squash to broth. And garlic toast, Mom shared some bread that she'd made.
The rest of the bread was used for bread pudding.
The pizza I want to recreate was made with blue cheese, bacon, dates, arugula, and balsamic syrup.
Today's attempt was tasty but ugly. I was missing the balsamic syrup and the arugula. I will try again another time.
The train I was planning for the "Peace and Plenty" blanket is becoming a truck.
I had a lot of help today, all three cats took turns as pattern weights.
They thought 1 inch or so...
I measured 8 inches.
So glad to be at home today.
A little worried the power might go out, winds between 20-30 MPH. The sky was white a few times.
There was a lot of planning and some training on Zoom. I know how to share my screen now! And a little bit of knitting...
Widget loves a ball of yarn more than anything else I think.
Yesterday's project:
Once this was a shirt-jacket kind of thing, made about 20 years ago. One of the sleeves tore. I cut deeper arm holes and added pockets. Now it's a vest kind of thing. The fabric is hemp and has soften through the years. It's also shrunk and become a tighter weave.
The assistant:
Timber had his own ideas about arrangement.
The window:
I was intrigued by the window while looking at the photos. This is unaltered, I just cropped this section of the photo from the one with Timber.
The altered version:
Grateful this morning for shelter and running water (which I don't have but will again sooner or later).
Found the fish while doing some cleaning/organizing.
I will be releasing it somewhere.
This morning I finish stitching a new neckline on a t-shirt that is a revise of another t-shirt. The neckline was a little too loose/low for me.
Releasing this from the mending pile.
And just 'cause:
Wishing everyone a good last day of 2023...
Three of the dots that I painted a couple days ago.
Looking at them closer.
I like the tiny dot on the right one.
Two out of three of my helpers.
And number three.
Plan B:
I knew there was a reason I was keeping those beads...
I will need more wire though.
Hopefully with nothing dangling they will leave it alone.
Charcoal ink, ochre, and mullein (I think).
Playing with flowers again today.
I also set up my Christmas tree.
I tried hanging an ornament that the cats couldn't destroy.
It only managed to stay on the tree for about 5 seconds.
The ornament is fine though and I have a "plan b."
Sample dot for the quince leaf lake pigment that I made today.
I am thinking of roses.
I am thinking...why dots?
One reason, they are a simple shape that can be or become so many things.
A tangle of cats.
Sometimes they are a dot too.