the power of a Chihuahua to arrange a blanket just so:
It's hard work guarding the veggies.
And greeting friends.
I probably won't leave the "Good enough COVID 19" quilt on the bed with Lola. I've learned the hard way that she's particularly hard on cotton blankets.
Some of the goldenrod dyed velvet was added as a strip. It represents work (employment) for me. The goldenrod grows in our entry way.
It's done.
Just in time for a week of 75-80 F degree weather.
At least it will dry fast when I wash it and block it.
I put a turtle button on it. One I've had for a very long time because you never know when you might need a turtle button.
Perfect for this very slowly made sweater.
Just one button because I never button cardigans up all the way.
I love how the sweater matches the garden.
The green used for the main part of the body is Berroco alpaca/wool, salvaged from a previously made, too small sweater that I unraveled. Lesson learned: alpaca has a lot of drape. This can be a good thing and a bad thing.
The brown was bought at the neighborhood thrift store and labeled "Working the Wool," handspun Romnney, and added because I ran out of the green. Lesson learned: think about drape when choosing placement of yarn. I'm pretty sure it would have been a very bad thing to use the wool on the bottom and the alpaca on the top.
The yellow green is Snoqualmie Valley Yarn, dyed with indigo and marigold. The Snoqualmie Valley Yarn is part of my stash of local yarn/fiber that I've been saving to make a "Washington Made" sweater. I resisted using it for the band for a long time but it really was the right choice, the right color. Lesson remembered: nothing is precious. Use it if it feels right.
The pattern is "Basic Cardigan: Yoke Construction" from Amy Herzog's Ultimate Sweater Book. I made it as a practice sweater for my "Washington Made" sweater (it's going to need a better name). It fits perfectly.
No time to lose, casting on right now...
Some things from my family for my Good Enough COVID 19 quilt:
And a collection of things mostly likely saved by one of my great-grandmothers.
And some things to just hold on to for awhile until they pass on to another generation.
Call them a swatch or a what if.
I have a whole bag of them (plus a few worn out hand knit socks, one felted mitten and a moth eaten hat) and need to decide what I am going to do with them.
I need to cut more wide strips.
Thinking about the word "subversive."
Found a block of cream cheese that needed to be used and a pint of cream.
Half of the cream went into peanut butter pie. This recipe is pretty similar. I used a recipe from Colophone Cafe minus the crust. A 1/2 pint canning jar makes a great single serving.
The other half of the cream was used to make mustard.
I also made freezer pickles. The recipe was from Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard, which is a favorite canning book. This recipe is the same, just larger.
Minimal heat used for all cooking today.
This is block number two for "good enough."
Thinking about warm and cool colors.
About taking temperatures, 100.4 F is the magic number. Above that children and staff need to be at home.
Made peach yogurt popsicles today.
As usual, Lola got the last bite.
Hello, how are you?
It's been 119 days since I started with that question.
Good enough, not fine.
I don't say fine anymore.
Sometimes tired.
Sometimes discouraged.
Sometimes happy.
I have been angry.
There have been some really hard days, some of the hardest ever.
And days that were joyful.
Sometimes I say, "I am really happy to see you."
I picked 119 for the "19" in COVID 19. At the start I thought mid August, it will either be over. Or not. We aren't even close to over.
This morning I read an interview on NPR with a coronavirus researcher, Vineet Menachery:
"He'd be surprised 'if we're still wearing masks and 6-feet distancing in two or three years' and that in time, the virus could become no more serious than the common cold."
I have a plan for a new quilt:
6 feet by 6 feet in size.
Sort of log cabin type squares. They will be crooked.
A blue square for each center because when I think of a color for breath, I think of blue.
19 pieces of fabric per square. The fabric can be repeated in other squares but only used once per square.
There will be hearts in the mix somewhere (19?).
No new supplies other than thread.
No time limit, but I will aim for one square per week.
Working title for now: "good enough" (for a category).
The colors will be joyful.
I am cleaning the freezer out.
It should have been done in March.
Tomorrow I need to figure out what to do with the frozen cranberries. Maybe a loaf of bread. There is a really great recipe in Molly Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest.
For tonight there is berry crisp with yogurt topping for dessert.
It will be breakfast too.
Some projects are like dessert.
I started a poncho because I just had to see what this yarn would look like. (This is why I should never guess how long it will take me to finish a sweater.)
It's going to be sweet...
Another scrappy tank.
Bottom made from a table cloth with stain.
Heading for an onion skin dye bath.
I wasn't paying attention.
I felt bad.
Consistently getting good results with the sourdough.
It's been on the to do list forever, fixing the gate.
I think I am going to weave twine through the slates to hold it together better.
Pasta + garbanzo beans + veggies from Mom and Dad + veggies from my garden + veggies from a CSA.
*
None of these are from today...today was not quite as planned.
Yesterday someone told me on the way home that my break lights were out, so that had to be taken care of.
I started reading Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood and spent over two hours pondering the beauty of well crafted sentences.