All About Leftovers

Day 47: Predictably, everyone is posting photos of yesterday's Big Dinner, so since I'm short on material, I'll jump on the bandwagon to offer my twist. First off, let me say that those are popovers, not Yorkshire puddings. To the best of my knowledge, the only difference is that butter is used for popovers,, whereas meat drippings go in Yorkies, and mine were made entirely from scratch (recipe is in "Joy of Cooking"). They reheat well by being placed in a 325-degree oven for a few minutes, but keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

And Thanksgiving is all about leftovers, isn't it? For that reason, I made a 16-pound turkey which I shared only with Merry because in my opinion, the best part of the holiday is Carcass Soup. Oh, I'lll nibble bits of meat over the next few days and possibly put a little in the freezer, but every bone, every piece of gristle will be saved for the stock pot. It will be boiled for hours until the meat has the texture of wet cardboard, at which point, the crows get a feast. When congealed, the broth will have the consistency of set gelatine, thick enough to cut, and that will form the basis for a simple noodle soup. I prefer to use small shell pasta, seasoned only with salt and pepper, but you could add veggies if you wished. The remnants of a turkey this size should make about a quart and a half of gelatinized broth, hearty fare for those cold days we know are coming in January.

Happy Thanksgiving

Day 46: "Autumn Oranges" just seemed to me to be the perfect backdrop for Thanksgiving wellwishes, so to start, let me say that I am thankful to have the quilting almost halfway done. I won't have it finished in time to be a Christmas gift for its designated recipient, but it is still going way faster than I'd anticipated.

The Nisqually Land Trust amused me by including slime molds in the list of things they are thankful for, so let me include them here as a special note among the other abundant gifts Nature gives me daily. Lichens, mushrooms, wildflowers rare and common, birds of all sorts...these are all things I am consciously thankful for every day. I am thankful for my friends, and for my continuing health which, given my age, is far better than it might be. I am thankful for a roof over my head, and for the comforts we take for granted, like heat and running water. I've lived without both. I am thankful for the food on my table, another commodity which has sometimes been in short supply, and yes, especially for homemade bread. I am thankful that I live in the Pacific Northwest despite the occasional earthquake and/or volcanic eruption, because it is the most beautiful place on Earth. I am thankful for the furry and feathered companions who have walked through life with me over the long years. And I am especially thankful for the great, rumbling purr which occurred with Merry laying on my chest this morning, nose to nose in our wake-up-time ritual of sharing a snuggle. I would not trade a single one of these things for all the gold in the world.

Quilting - Rock or Stab

Day 45: There are two principal ways to stitch the layers of a quilt together by hand. The first is with a "rocking" stitch (upper photo) and the second is with a "stab" stitch (lower image). The rocking stitch has an advantage in that it is faster (i.e., several stitches can be made before pulling the needle all the way through). Its disadvantage is that the stitches on the reverse side of the quilt are usually noticeably smaller than those on the top. The stab stitch is slower, but with care, the stitches top and bottom will be almost identically sized. The rocking stitch is preferred by people who quilt in the lap, and the stab stitch is not generally done without the quilt being mounted in a frame. I have seen quilters who "rock" when the quilt is stretched taut, and I've often wondered if they have looked at the back side to be sure their stitching has caught through all the layers. Because of the advantage of the rocking stitch with respect to speed, those of us who stab are becoming an endangered breed.

Lace and Lace-making Tools

Day 44: If you're a lace-maker, it should be fairly easy for you to pair up these six different types of lace with the tools used to make them, and even if you can't match them all, you should be able to get the rest by inference. However, if you're not a lace-maker...if you're one of those people who annoy me by calling tatting "crochet"...here's your chance to learn more about lace in its various forms. These are by no means the only ways lace can be made, and even within each type/style, there are variations (bobbin lace can be Honiton, Bedsfordshire, etc., crochet can be Irish, filet, and so on), but those are subjects of a more technical nature. I should have included a piece of Teneriffe (a needle-made, knotted lace), and #6 could have been a better example if I had made it with a much finer thread), and I did not include hardanger which, while it can be lacy, is not technically "lace." Now that I have set the stage, let me say that my love of lace is my one and only "pink and fluffy" side. No, it doesn't go well with hiking boots and flannel shirts, but I love making it, even if I don't wear it. Now...match 'em up, tool (letter) to lace (number), and don't look at the answers until you're done. 

How did you do?

1 is of course bobbin lace, arguably the finest lace I make, using cotton or linen threads in the #100-125 range. You make it with bobbins like those shown at C (anything from five to hundreds of pairs). The example used 22 pairs.

2 is good ol' crochet like your granny used to do. I prefer to work with #20-#50 threads for doilies and edgings. It is made with a hook (a #12 is shown at E).

3 is netted lace. It is made with a netting needle/shuttle like the one shown at F. The knots are the same ones used to make fishing nets.

4 is knitted lace. This particular example was made by my husband's grandmother using 4-6 knitting pins (extremely fine knitting needles) similar to those shown at B.

5 is tatting, easily identifiable by the "ring and chain" design elements. It can be made with a shuttle like the one at A, but I prefer to use a tatting needle (not shown).

6 is needle lace (and a rather clunky, for-purposes-of-demonstration piece made with #20 crochet cotton). It is usually made with a fine, blunt-pointed tapestry needle, although it can be made with a standard sewing needle (D) if you're careful not to split the threads. Small motifs such as this one can be joined with chains and/or other filling stitches to make much larger works.

Q-Snap

Day 43: For years, I did all my quilting in what was essentially an enormous embroidery hoop, oval or round, depending on what was available each time the tightening block failed (which it did all too often). The hoop was held in a floor stand which at best was an awkward arrangement, or downright annoying as the weight of the quilt tipped the front of the hoop down toward the floor. I was bemoaning the situation to a friend one day, and she said, "I have a Q-Snap frame I'm not using any more. You can have it," and it's proved to be one of the best hand-me-downs I've ever fallen heir to. Basically, it's nothing more than PVC pipes and elbows, but with one important addition: the "snappers" (half-pipes of a more rigid plastic) which grip the quilt firmly when snapped into place. It's easy to set up, easy to move the quilt to the next "screen" (i.e., area to be worked on), and breaks down to fit in a box which can be stored in the back of a closet without taking up much space. I did make one adjustment to the engineering by adding a cross-brace on the bottom to keep the legs in the fully upright position. In the case of this project, when I'm done for the day, I pop the top off, quilt and all and stow it in the Loom Room to keep Merry from using it as a trampoline.

Milkweed Dehiscence

Day 42: After weeks of waiting patiently for my milkweed pods to dehisc, only to see them developing mold in our damp weather, I decided it was time for an intervention. I cut the stems and laid them inside the unheated garage where I hoped they would dry and split. I wasn't even sure they'd ripened, since they had never turned brown as I felt they should have done, left alone on the plants. Now it has to be said that I don't generally have much reason to go in the garage, so they were there for a week or two before I opened the door again. That brief disturbance of the air as the door swung back sent milkweed fluffies into every nook and cranny in the building! They drifted down like snowflakes as my mind struggled to comprehend what was happening, so unexpected was the sight. You know what they say: Be careful what you wish for. Dehiscence had indeed occurred. In spades.

Pilophorus and Friends

Day 41: Walking the one-mile loop trail in Ashford County Park, I didn't really expect to find anything I hadn't seen dozens of times, although I was rather hoping for a slime mold. None showed up, but as I began the descending leg of the trip, I focused on the boulders lining the uphill side of the trail. There were several patches of dusty grey-green lichenization, too fine and too immature for me to even guess at an identification until I came to this one. "Pilophorus acicularis!" I said. It's one of my favourites, and its black-tipped apothecia make it unmistakable. You can see two or three in the upper right corner of the photo. It wasn't until I pulled the pictures up on the computer that I noticed another set of black apothecia in the lower left. They are not the same lichen. Had I not been so intent on Pilophorus, I would have sectioned one of the apothecia with my thumbnail to see if it contained any red pigment. Next time I walk the trail, I'll check to see if it's Mycoblastus sanguinarius, as I believe it might be.