Time Flies When COVID Reigns

 I had no idea it has been 2 years since I have written.  I have been crafting. I have been busy working for the State. Work 8 hours come home..housework, kids, chores and then fall asleep to do it all again. 

We survived COVID. It did hit our house but thankfully we didn't have it too badly. We are all vaccinated and it seem things are starting to return to normal. Oldest son graduated. Youngest son is a junior in high school and is on the honor roll. And have they grown! Both taller than me.

In my time i have continually crafted.  Lots of knitting, mostly socks, a shawl, fingerless mits. I decided to find all the unfinished projects that I have started over the years and punch them out.  Im starting to make a dent.  When they're finished (cross stitches mostly) i photograph them and tuck them in a container until i get around to framing them. 

Im currently doing two black work stitch-a-longs through groups on facebook. And one seasonal cross stitch. They keep me busy for short spurts when each part of the pattern is released either weekly or monthly.  

We started finishing the basement a year or so ago and have been putting up drywall to make the open basement now four rooms. One is my craft room which my hubby says is bigger than our bedroom, though I am finding that hard to believe.  During COVID we put up a fence around our property to keep the three corgis happy and give them a place to run around outside. So what do they do, run out, do their business and beg to come back in. **headesk**

I promise to keep up with this more now that life seems to be leveling out.  Ill gather photos of what Ive done over the last year or so and post. Ill also get together the future projects that I want to work on.

Dying to Try Something New...

A friend of mine sent me some un dyed yarn and some samples of dyes to give a try at hand painting yarn.  Decided to give it a whirl the other day.  Soaked the DK weight yarn that was superwash merino and silk in water that had citric acid mixed in. I used the plastic wrap and microwave method since I don't have anything more appropriate for doing heat dying. (a friend uses stainless steel bowls on her cook top)  I used the sapphire blue and bright yellow, which ended up mixing and making a lovely green as well. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I have two more skeins to dye and also a sock blank. I post results when done! :D

Soaking the yarn in citric acid water

Laying out the wet yarn to apply the dye.

Placing the dye soaked yarn in the plastic wrap in a glass tart dish to cook in the microwave. 2 minutes at first then 1 minute each time after until the dye is soaked into the yarn and the water is clear.

Finished cooled yarn hanging for picture. 

Dried completed hang of hand painted yarn.

Limoncello!!!!

Life has been crazy but good. There have been job changes, lots of projects and fun.  This will be the first of a couple posts, just so as not to make them so long.

I had a job with the Postal Service that kept me from getting to events because my hours were every Saturday and Sunday. I made it to Coronation here in the East Kingdom and that was the last event until this past weekend with 12th Night.  In between then, my wonderful and beautiful sister in law treated me to my dream trip of going to Italy. We did a whirlwind tour of all the great places to see in 9 days.  My favorite place to see and eat at was the Almafi Coast and Positano.  I had my first limoncello there and fell madly in love with it. I brought home a bottle of it and it included a recipe.  I thought I would give it a whirl when we got home and the bottle was quickly emptied between my husband and I. So, I got the supplies and followed the very simple recipe with one change. The italian's use grain alcohol like Everclear, which is very strong in flavor and expensive. After consulting with a friend who also makes it, she said to use Vodka.

Recipe:
Skins of 10 lemons
Large bottle of Vodka (not an expensive brand)
Biggest mason Jars I could find

Friends were visiting and they all joined in the fun.

Zested lemons on left, peeled on right. 

Once the vodka lemon skins mix has sat for minimum 8 days, you make a simple syrup solution of six cups of water and six cups of white sugar. Pour the syrup into the vodka/skins mix and swirl around. Because the jars were full to the top with vodka, we had to split the jars off into an empty one to be able to add the syrup. Once done, you strain out the skins and bottle.  Here is the final results.

Lessons learned in making this: in our first attempt we zested some of the lemons and peeled the others. I would stick with peeling the lemons with a potato peeler from now on as the zested bits didnt all completely strain out even with a piece of linen. 

Still tasted fabulous though!  On New Years Eve, we toasted at midnight to glasses of Verde with limoncello mixed in! It was sooooooo good!!!!

Got more "cooking" as we speak! 

Pelicans....again!!

I was asked to do some knitting and embroidery by a friend for a mutual friend. How could I say no??!! It's two of my favorite things to do!  But...there is a twist! :D My friend Mary Jo asked me to knit socks for our friend Patricia. One pair in her favorite colors, purple and green and one pair in the colors of the Order of the Pelican: red and ermine.  I asked my dyer to dye me up some pelican colored yarn and then I got to work.  Here are pictures of the socks..pretty self explanatory. They are superwash merino and nylon.

Afterwards, I started on the medallion embroidery she wanted me to do.  I used silk embroidery threads on white linen base.  She wanted it small, so I made it small. I am fairly certain this is the smalled Pelican I have ever made in any medium.

Since her favorite colors are purple and green, I incorporated them into the medallion. It was turned into a pin by Mary Jo and given to her this past weekend, along with the socks, when Patricia was elevated. 

The twist to this is, Mary Jo didn't know she was being elevated to the Order of the Pelican as well. So I made her a pair of the red/ermine colored socks as well. It was a tearful wonderfully happy time and I am glad to see two friends honored and could...wait for it.... SOCK IT TO EM!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!  I slay myself!

Well, onto the next project!!!

My "Resolution"...of sorts

2016 is going to be about me. I want it to be the year of creativity and new experiences. I am going to make a list for myself of things I would like to try, learn and do (yes, a bucket list of sorts). I will actively seek teachers if I have difficulty learning it on my own through self study. This will be an active on going list. I will accept any suggestions or help offered.

1. Sign up for an overnight security shift at Pennsic (I've mentioned this one before)

2. Learn to make lamp-work beads for my viking. (i have the set up thanks to the menfolk's Christmas gift)

3. Tablet weaving

4. Learn how to make mead with the 10 pounds of raw honey I have

5. Become competent in the last categories I am not ranked in within Athena's Thimble (Lacis, Needlelace, Openwork & Smocking).

6. Give fencing a try (heavy list i think is too much for my back) and also Archery (I need better arrows, have bow and quiver already)

7. Do more heralding (apparently, I know how to project...who knew!!!)

8. Make more garb for myself that is embroidered (I currently only own 1 thing with my embroidery)

9. More socks..of course. (They're like potato chips, ya know?!)

10. Make more embroidered hand made books. Especially one for myself. That will happen first.

11. Take at least one picture every day and try to always learn a little more about my camera and a better way to take a photo.

I can come up with more and I will as the year progresses, but primarily this will be focused around me as I have been sorely neglecting myself for a long time. I will complete the couple projects for others I have promised but, I need to make things for me...work on me. I will post creations and such here and on my blog (which may be switching to WordPress at some point).

Anyway...that's as close to a resolution as I will make. Hope everyone has had a grand New Years so far! Cheers!