Thursday, January 10, 2013

I Am Worried About Blogger

I have been trying for days to upload some photos, but I guess Blogger has nixed that idea.  There isn't a link to post photos.  There is a link to post files, but no photo part.  I will figure it out eventually.

I had two glorious days of dyeing, and I wanted to show those.  I got up at midnight and put the Kota (Navajo Tea) in the pan to soak overnight.  Late the next morning in glorious sunshine, I started making my dye.  The first straining looked really promising, and I boiled the parts again.  I poured both of those liquors in the big dyepot, and away we went.  I did not think I had much to dye with, since there was only 4 ozs of dried twigs and flowers.  I chose a small dab of Rambouillet that I had, and it is a beautiful golden yellow.  I dyed two skeins of JO Sharp wool that has wool, silk, and cashmere in it.  It is a beautiful golden color.  I also loved my straining cloth that had some really yellow and golds in it.  I decided to wash it and put it in my pile of handdyed cloths in the sewing room.   Enough for one day.

Next morning, I boiled up the dyestuff that had been soaking overnight again.  It was still a strong yellow.  I poured out a gallon jar of the previous days dyebath, and I set it in the sunlight with some silk remnants that I found in the sewing room.

When I poured the dyebath into the dyepot, it did not look as strong as the previous days dye.  This was the third boiling, and I knew it was iffy.  So I dug around in my stash and I found a small amount of merino roving, and soaked it.  I got a lovely browny gold color.  Very subtle and pale.  But very pretty. 

I am trying to use up my natural dyes and get back into that habit again.  I only had one problem with it all- I had a full-blown allergy attack.  I had this similar problem with rabbitbrush.  I don't know if it is a plant that does not grow around here and my body does not recognize the pollen.  Or if I truly am allergic.  Who knows?  It won't stop me. 

Since my friend OSM came to visit last Fall, I have been thinking a lot about food.  I know I think about food a lot anyway.  I think because I live alone, I have the tendency to pop something out of the freezer or make myself a sandwich, or maybe eat some fast food.  Anything to get it done and over with.  I do cook for myself, but usually it is such a large amount in a meal that it isn't that interesting to do.  What I do when I crave something is make it up, and then freeze the leftovers.  Then I can pop it out of the freezer and instant meal.

Well, with her body's reaction to the toxins I decided to think about this more seriously.  So since then I have been cooking more and popping stuff in the freezer.  I cook a whole roast, and then I have 4 or 5 meals prepared.  I cooked up some chicken legs the other night, and that was three meals. 

I found something on the internet the other day about not eating foods that have more than one ingredient on the label.  I think what they meant was watch for the unpronounceable words that indicate chemicals added.  So I have been mixing my own herbal blends and storing in glass jars.
I made waffles yesterday, and I enjoyed that tremendously.

I have been thinking of breadmaking a lot lately.  I used to make bread all the time.  Even when I lived alone.  But I have gotten a bit lazy.  I guess also I can't eat a whole loaf of bread before it is bad.  I also have a huge sack of bread cubes from the last two loaves of bread I made.  So that hasn't gotten out of the thinking part.

I made up a batch of bread pudding, but that barely touched the sack of cubes.  So until that goes down, I won't entertain breadmaking.

I am also concerned about the flu going around.  I am not going to WalMart unless it is a dire emergency.  I went 6 weeks ago, and it was awful then.

I know it sounds paranoid, but I don't like going out to public places any more.  I listen for anyone coughing, sneezing, wheezing, and blowing their noses.  Sanitary wipes are my friend.

Yesterday I was bored with the sock I am knitting.  So I got some of my stash leftover sock yarn and made a really cute cat toy.  I put catnip and batting inside.  It took about an hour and a half.  It was so cute and odd looking.  Noodles just looked at it and walked away.  I even squeezed it to put out the scent.  Nope.  Hmmph!

Nothing else new.  Off to the grocery to stock up for next cold spell coming Sunday.  This week has been tolerably nice.  We had a bit of dampness that I guess is called rain.  Less than half an inch.  It just makes the clouds hang around, dreary, and damp.  There is wind too.  So those warm temps that were mentioned by the weatherman are not coming true. 

Still spinning on the BFL, but found two tiny bits of odd stuff that I am plying together.  It won't be much, but I may make a stuffed toy or something small. 

I have got to figure out this picture thing on Blogger.  It just is irritating.

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