Transitions

 Note, I am posting from a different device, format may be wonky!

What’s happening here? We had a longer warm period than usual, but alas, all good things come to an end.  We harvested our last herbs and greens, and the frost came.  All of us got used to life spent indoors, although we are still outside a lot.  Temperatures below freezing do not keep us home bound! Sadie the dog is here, on the steps, asking about her walk.

I continue to spin through deep stash.  This is some Polwarth that came originally from Australia, but I bought it in a fiber arts business retirement sale.  It is well aged!  That said, it is spinning up beautifully on my Quebec wheel.

Every fall, a kid or two gets a sweater.  This year, I made another one out of Icelandic plotulopi (unspun.). It is light and warm, if not the hardest wearing.  We were aiming for colour blocking here, but then my kid asked if I could knit the original early 20th century tile pattern from our bathroom into his sweater.  Of course!  I sent him into the bathroom with his iPad and then I knit it from the photo.  I did imagine doing those rows in the bathroom, just to see the tile in person, but thought better of it!

To keep cheerful clothing around, I also made myself another jumper using the 100 acts of sewing pattern and Rifle Paper Company print.  My biology professor husband (currently on strike at the U of Manitoba, but that is another story) suggests I am now dressing like a herbaceous border. I ignored him. I like it!

Last, but not least, our heroic boiler had finally died and we are in the process of getting a new one installed.  So, for now, no central heat, and a lot of toys to tidy in the basement so the new one can be put in.  I am excited about this, although it is an expensive home repair while my professor is on strike…because, well, in Canada, heat is life!  We are doing ok with running two gas fireplaces, a little radiator space heater, and of course, I am wearing a lot of wool…

Upcycle, fiction and design

It's been a big few days here.  We had a scare in our household--our boiler decided it needed some attention.  That's not scary in a more temperate climate, but it was solidly in the "extreme cold warning" range in Manitoba.  That meant real temperatures of -30 and windchills of -40.  (That's darn cold in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.)  I spent much of last week taking care of that, but thank goodness, we are all warm and safe.  A home with no heat is not a good option with those kinds of wind chills.

In the meanwhile...I was so pleased to have one of my designs featured on Upcycle's Creative Reuse Center's Facebook page.   It's this one:
Freestyle Super

And, this sweater has been in constant use during this cold snap!  We love it here.  It uses a lovely soft yarn, Quince & Co. Puffin, which I would normally deem a bit too precious for use in a kid's school sweater.  However, someone else donated it to Upcycle, in Alexandria, Virginia.  We visited Upcycle to do a play group with friends while on a trip to see family.  And I lucked out with enough of this brown yarn to make most of a kid's sweater....and design one, too.

Finally, in 2007, I won a fiction contest for a short story I wrote.  (Wow, that was 12 years ago!)  The magazine, Jerry Jazz Musician, has been doing an amazing retrospective on their fiction contest, and they featured me!

To read the feature, check out this group of profiles, and scroll down.  I won contest #15.

Here's a direct link to the short story itself:
The Prayer for Swift & University

Happy reading!  Winter: It's a good time to stay in, read, knit, and be grateful for a house with working heat.  (I know I sure am.)

spring in Manitoba

On the weekends, I try to let the professor sleep in a little bit. I often get up earlier than he does to let out the dogs. This is what greeted me last weekend at 7 or so in the morning--a nice sloppy spring snowscape. All of the accumulated winter snow had melted off previously, so this was just a fluke spring storm.

We could enjoy it because, well, we have a new roof and knew it would melt quickly! Yes, I still like snow. I like snow even AFTER living in Buffalo, which gets about 250 cm (about 100 inches) average a year! You can see in the picture that includes the streets that it wasn't too cold--the snow melted right off the streets but accumulated on the grassy areas.

Last night was the start of Passover. Traditionally, I wouldn't be posting right now--it's a holiday--but I wanted to share our technological solution to the Passover Seder. The professor and I had never had a seder for just the two of us...it's meant to be a big event for family and friends. We've always traveled to be with family or had a full table of friends and family at our house. Just the idea of a two person seder got me sort of down. It was the most practical solution, of course, as I couldn't have managed to travel or cook a meal for a lot of people, but I still felt sad.

However, my dad's idea came to the rescue--we decided to use skype for our seder. Here is our modest set up for two at the dining room table. On the far left of the picture, you can see the computer...we skyped with my family in Virginia so we could all "be together" for the holiday. It's a non-traditional thing to do--the seder is not really a time for phones or the internet--but in this case, it allowed us all to be together. It was pretty special. Other things to note about our table this year:

1) The professor drank some of his homemade wine--hence the bottle with the weird blue label.
2) I got to eat Egg Matzah because I'm pregnant. (I like it and think it tastes better but usually stick to regular matzah on Passover because egg matzah is considered to be for the "infirm." I qualify this year!)
3) We used the matzah cover my grandmother embroidered for me--she finished it when I graduated from college. She was at my parents' seder and I was pleased as punch that she is still around to share a seder with me 16 years later!
4) We finished our seder very early, so I was off to sleep early as well...note it is still light outside in Winnipeg if you can see the window beyond the table.

All in all, a great solution for a challenging confluence of holidays, health, etc. Tonight, we're going to a friend's house for an informal second seder-I'm hoping I'll be able to stay awake!

Other random notes about spring time and your comments:
-Today, the professor reports he saw his first crocuses while walking the dogs. I thought he was joking but he said no, they were actually growing outside. Spring does eventually come to Winnipeg. Really.

-I'm still enjoying E.B. White's essays and am so pleased to pass along the recommendation to Alison and to discuss an oldie but goodie with Deb!

-Are the fix-its in my house finished? (Uhh, no. We live in an old house. They will never be finished.) There is someone coming this week to finish the painting on the third floor. After that, we will likely take a break on house repairs if nothing further goes wrong. There's still plenty to fix, but the chaos can be unsettling, and now is maybe not the time for further fixes. We're running out of money and patience for now!

update on random stuff

1) I heard tell that a lot of folks ate some sundaes last week. I even heard they were good! Thanks for all the email reports! (We had sweet cream/cookie dough ice cream and hot fudge here. It was delicious.)

2) We now have a new roof and new insulation. It's hard to believe how incredibly quiet it is now that this banging is over. Even the dogs are exhausted.

3) It ain't over 'til it's over. Next week, I get to see a drywaller and a painter again--some of the roofing did a wee bit of damage on the inside of the house. Some day, all this renovation will be over and I will have a whole day without banging, noise, or disorder...(at least, while I'm still pregnant...I know toddlers offer all of the above.)

4) I'm still healthy, in week 31 of the pregnancy, and big as a house. More news on that another time, I guess.

5) I am slowly, slowly, finishing up a handknit black sweater. My swollen and sore hands don't enjoy sewing anymore either, so it is slow.

Hope you're all well out there. I see people are reading the blog, but don't hear from many of you. Wanted you to know all is fine here. Next time, I'll even try to post a photo...

shot of color

It is downright dreary outside right now...overcast and damp. Roofing has been put off until next week. The painting is almost complete--aside from the carpentry/painting that needs to happen next week. I knew all this would take a while. Some of it has gone very quickly, but some has not. Even though I'm not getting out much these days anyhow, I am beginning to miss leaving the house. (It's hard to leave home when you know someone is coming over at "mid-day"--and by the time that work is done, well, the day is mostly gone!)

I am really appreciating your messages on the blog. Sometimes I write you back via email, sometimes I visit your blogs (Adriene's post on citizenship was really something!) and sometimes, I just read your notes, smile, and read them again. I read them all. Thank you for keeping me company!

I am still doing some writing and editing for work, but am trying to wind this down. I can still type but my hands are very sore most of the time. This, like most of the pregnancy symptoms, will go away--sometime AFTER the babies are born. Between now and then, well, I have to take it one day at a time. From everything I've been told, nothing is likely to disappear in the symptoms department during this last trimester. It's all likely to get worse or stay the same.

One thing I can still do is dye things. A couple of days ago, I handwashed a wool blanket and while I was at it, went on a brief spurt of handdyeing. I started with an old short white cotton blend bathrobe. This was part of a nightgown set I got so many years ago that the rest of the set is long gone. I hardly ever wear robes and in any case, a white robe wasn't so useful in our household of muddy dog paws and spills. I decided that dyeing this might make it useful. I started with some garnet colored dye. (Before you ask where I got it and what I use...the professor used to buy me lots of this dye from here as presents. I have a life time supply of random colors!)

I like these packets of dye because they are self-contained, don't sprinkle powder everywhere, and allow me to dye in a one step, afternoon process rather than a multi-step one requiring mordants, etc.

I started with the bathrobe, but since the dye is an all-purpose one for both protein and cellulose, cotton/poly blends will not absorb all the dye bath. I decided to throw in some wool for fun. I soaked too small bunches of roving (wrapped up gently with rubber bands) in some vinegar. The weird color is because I used red wine vinegar. It was close by and didn't weigh too much for me to lift. (We buy white vinegar in enormous jugs and I now find a full one of these too heavy to lift!)

Then I threw these in the dye pot along with the robe. The white wool is a Romney roving and the natural gray color is a Romney-cross wool blended with a small amount of mohair. It turns out I could have dyed more wool, but I ran out of energy after this so ended up dumping a bit of colored dye water down the drain. That's reasonably safe with this dye, as compared to dumping something scary like copper sulfate-a mordant that fixes dye to fiber- down the drain as someone recently did in rural Manitoba. That harmed their water local water treatment plant and waterways.

In these photos, I included a ball of handspun laceweight natural gray wool/mohair so you can see how the darker color takes up a richer color of dye. I happen to like the rich cranberry color to the right better than the pinkish red...but in either case, this is enough for a spindle full of yarn, or perhaps a contrast color if I am filling up a bobbin on a spinning wheel sometime in the future. The robe came out a deep rose/red color. Ideal for hospital stays and perhaps more forgiving of stains than a white robe.

While all this dried, I had a remarkable turn-around in the mail service karma situation..I think it was all the professor's good luck. Yesterday, the professor was home from work as we dealt with two different things at once. (a painter and a locksmith/carpenter) First, my package of baggy maternity dresses arrived. Hurray!!

Everything I bought still fit (double Hurray!) although it turns out that one of the dresses I ordered, in brown, looks remarkably like a monk's brown cassock. I am wearing it today and trying to liven it up with some accessories. I am also having to put my feet up all the time because my ankles and feet are swelling these days as well as my hands. I usually try to remember to take my shoes off before putting my feet on the coffee table. Please don't think I'm a big slob! This is merely so you can see my oxblood colored shoes...good for livening up dreary weather.

Second, I finally received some black discontinued Jo Sharp yarn that I'd ordered to finish a sweater...back at the end of February. Both the seller and I had just about given it up for lost. It appeared yesterday. This photo shows the yarn (in a plastic bag) along with the black sweater, the red sweater, and some green t-shirts of the professor's -- fabric I am recycling by handsewing into something new and more useful, I hope.

This is the side table in my living room--it seems disporportionately messy. I am stuck on sleeves (second sleeve for the black sweater and first sleeve for the red sweater) and can only knit a few rows a day because of my swollen hands, but it LOOKS like I'm being really busy as a knitter! Either that, or really slovenly...!

If you live in a place where spring hasn't "sprung" yet (like me), I hope this shot of color brightened your day. If you're currently enjoying the end of daffodil season? Well, maybe you should keep that to yourself for a bit....don't rub it in!

Omar the tentmaker

The last few days have been a whirlwind. If the stars align and the weather is good, it looks like we could have our roof, insulation, and inside repairs done much sooner than we'd thought. That means it's possible they could start next week and potentially end in early April sometime. I was almost afraid to talk about this at first--for fear of jinxing it. We'll see how all the arrangments line up and how the weather looks. (It is no where near "spring" here, but it is warmer, roughly near freezing, which makes roofing possible.)

At the same time, this week, I hit a new size. That would be--very big. At last measurement, my belly was around 43" around, but I am growing by the day. All of a sudden, I have outgrown much of my maternity clothing. While I can still wear many of the professor's shirts (he is a big guy), his sweatpants are too small. Frankly, most everything is too small. Maternity clothes are really only designed for a woman with one fetus in her tummy!


When I was in Florida a few months ago, I happened to go to a boutique called Oh My Gauze. I bought one tunic, a dress, and a bathrobe thing there. It was a little out of my price range. Also, in January, buying cotton gauze clothing seemed bizarre since it was so cold in Manitoba. However, that clothing has now come in very handy! First off, I am not spending great amounts of time out doors, and with a shirt underneath and leggings (if they fit) and a sweater on top, a gauze dress is warm enough.

That is good because very little else is fitting around my middle! Today I had to order more clothes from them. Here are photos from their website as a sort of free advertisement...ideal for pregnancy with twins!


My one concern is that the clothes might not arrive quickly. Packages sent from the U.S. to Canada can be sort of uneven in terms of how long they take to arrive. Some yarn I ordered in late February has not arrived yet. The professor placed an order less than a week ago and the box arrived yesterday. There's no telling, really. Here's hoping it arrives soon--and way before the twins also arrive.

In the meanwhile, if you see some extremely rotund pregnant lady walking around looking like a hobo in an enormous flannel shirt...please be nice. That might be me!

(caption for these photos? Just add belly)

spindle secrets

1. Ice dams seem to be under control for now. Demolition of our 3rd floor bathroom plaster was successful--we now have an entire wall that is covered with insulation and plastic/taping. It isn't pretty but the plumbing all works, so that is fine for the present time... our second floor bedroom still has an enormous hole in the ceiling and will have that until the spring melt. I have been knocked for a loop by all this weird unexpected house renovation. That said, we're now working on roof estimates so if you have a roofing company recommendation in Winnipeg that does insulation too, let me know, please!

2. My spinning class on Sunday went very well. I'm very tired out --shlepping around twin fetuses while teaching is a lot of work, it seems--
but there are 10 new spinners in the world! Hurray!

3. Geri asks:

What are the specifics of the spindles you're assembling for your class? Are the whorls readily available from a home centre? Does the hole in them readily fit a particular dowel size? What is the size of the dowel (spindle)? I'd love to learn the specifics if you don't mind sharing.

---
Well, the short version is that there are some very basic "making a spindle" instructions in practically every how-to spindle book. There are even instructions in my book, Fiber Gathering.

The basic information is: you need a weight and a stick. Here are some other great books that have illustrations or information on how to make/use a spindle:
Spindle Spinning: From Novice to Expert

Respect the Spindle: Spin Infinite Yarns with One Amazing Tool

Spinning in the Old Way: How (and Why) To Make Your Own Yarn With A High-Whorl Handspindle

Productive Spindling

I strongly encourage anyone who is even remotely interested in spindling to check out some of these extremely useful books. There are also many wonderful resources online and at your local spinning store/guild/friend's house/spinning class.

Now, some of you are wondering why I'm not revealing all the exact details of these spindles. Well, first I'd refer you to this post. One summary on this end is--I sometimes get paid to teach people how to spin. I've been spinning about 25 years, and I spend a lot of time learning and thinking about it. I don't think any of the information is top secret. I am also certainly not the only one who knows how to spin out there!! However, I also am sure you will understand when I say that I don't need to help you re-invent the wheel (err, spindle) either. There's lots of information out there...seek and ye shall find.

Even if I did want to write a "recipe" for how to make a spindle and give it away for free, I'm afraid it wouldn't work. Everyone lives near a different hardware store. Some folks sell dowels or sticks in metric and some don't. Some people use whorls that aren't toy wheels and some use other kinds of weights. Oh--and I don't always use the same size dowel and whorl. I buy what's available and I teach people to spin on many different types of spindles with different weights and sizes. I don't always make/teach the same thing because there isn't just one way to make a spindle or spin. I'm flexible about it.

Thankfully, all these spindles will work. If they didn't, humans wouldn't exist--we humans would all have frozen to death, naked without textiles, thousands of years ago!!

I know some one out there will think I'm purposely withholding vital information here, and that's not my intention. I just don't have the time/mental energy/desire to create a pattern/design/recipe for this that I can then have edited, formatted and sell efficiently online right now. I also can't afford to always do this kind of thing for free. However, I can point you in the right direction towards making your own, and I hope this post is a good first step.

Congratulations to the 10 new spinners in Manitoba! I am so excited to welcome you to the world of spinning!!

Dam

That is, ice dam. We don't have leaky pipe damage. We have ice damming. In case you haven't heard of this, the Wall Street Journal helpfully explains it here. Apparently, lots of folks in our neighborhood have ice damming this year. Lucky us.

-No photos of this. Imagine icicles hanging from the eaves of our house and you've just about got it. Otherwise, the photos would look just like this text--black and white. It's cloudy out today.

I've had a nice appointment with the insurance adjuster to discuss the damage in our bedroom and elsewhere...We didn't like the color of the guest bathroom anyhow, right?! I've put in a call to see if someone wants to wander over and remove this snow from our roof in the meanwhile. We'll likely be having a contractor come in and do estimates.

It also looks like this summer might be the time to have our roof redone...Cause, you know, after the babies are born, I won't be getting a lot of rest anyhow, right? What's a little hammering in the meanwhile?

Here are a few reviving views of Florida from our trip to keep sunshine in mind. Actually, we've had a remarkable thaw over the last day or two. It's gone from -40 to just about freezing! No wonder why it is leaking water indoors... that's 70 degrees Fahrenheit! 40 degrees Celsius!

I've taken advantage of the weather to go out to visit a friend, to take a walk in the neighborhood to have dinner out with another friend and even to stop for a gelato on the way home. The sad part is that it turns out that even in wonderful warm weather... (32F, 0C is WARM!), I still get out of breath. That is just because at this point, I've got two fetuses pushing on my breathing parts. Oh well. I did enjoy the outing!

distracting views

Well, the boiler pipe leak hasn't gotten worse. The house is warm and toasty and I am almost over being grouchy and tired by yet another stupid plumbing malfunction. That doesn't mean it's fixed yet--oh no, the plumbers are busy (and/or sick) and in the great scheme of things, this is probably a small leak and a minor house disaster. Also, before I hear the "I told you so" chorus from people who think we shouldn't own an old house, (Uhh, yes, you know who you are, family members) well, I'll repeat my refrain...new houses and new repairs sometimes cause problems, too. These things just happen sometimes. For some reason, these things are happening to us A LOT these days. Oh well. Life is like that!

If only this had happened BEFORE the big bedroom paint job!! We're trying not to cry about that, but the professor did such a beautiful job before this happened.

OK, in order to avoid dwelling on something we cannot fix, let's distract ourselves. If this reminds you of the way you keep a toddler from crying by distracting him with a new toy? Well, yes, that still works on me. I'm all for distraction when these unavoidable housing problems spring up.

Quick, look at that lovely Lido Key beach photo from Florida. Yes, this is what the beach looks like in Sarasota. White sand, nice views, warmer weather....Ahhh. I'm taking a deep breath here.

Since beach views are not always reviving, here are a couple of pictures the professor took during my book signing at Picasson's Moon.

This is a really fun yarn shop where the staff is so kind and helpful and the yarn choices are pretty interesting. The interior decoration--funky clutter, complete with lots of chairs and cushions, books and antiques--really makes it stand out.

I was there signing books and visiting from 4-7 pm and my charming professor kept stopping in to make sure I was still doing ok. He took several photos, including this close up of me signing someone's copy of Fiber Gathering. You may notice here that I am wearing the Tank Empire pattern sample from Knit Green. I am amazed by how versatile this tank top is in practice. It's good in hot weather worn with just a camisole underneath it and it is a superb vest during the Florida winter. What I didn't expect to find is that the A line shape makes it a very useful maternity item as well. You can't see my belly here, but it really covers it up!

It looks to me as though few or no people have posted or attempted this pattern, at least when you look at the Ravelry.com statistics. My only guess is that the gauge information is offputting. The gauge information is for a cotton/linen yarn that shrinks when blocked. If you'd like to make this for yourself but want to substitute another kind of yarn, look at the gauge after blocking. Knit up a swatch in your yarn choice, block it, and then worry about matching gauge to the information for after blocking. That's how you'll come out with the right size when you knit this.

I hope sometime to knit this project again in another color or two...this tank/vest is a staple of my wardrobe, especially when I travel or teach about my books!

Distraction accomplished, I feel calmer now. I will keep slowly posting Florida photos while waiting for the next housing fix to take place...I hope this post distracted you as well!

We interrupt this program...

I am trying so hard to have a good attitude today. Really I am. Can you see me straining over here while I try to smile?

Remember the newly painted bedroom? I posted about it here. We stalled a while when it came to moving back into the bedroom...we wanted all the paint fumes to dissipate before we slept there again. We also needed a chunk of time to get everything moved and maybe a helper to make the move easier. (I'm not moving furniture these days.)

Yesterday, while I was teaching, the professor and a friend of his moved the whole kit and kaboodle back into our newly painted room. When I came home, I was thrilled to see it. The room looked bigger, even with the same amount of furniture in it. I was excited to get into bed in our "old" bedroom last night. It looked gorgeous.

The dogs made themselves at home right away too. They were thrilled to be back in their regular territory. We knew we'd had a successful home reno job.

Then, last night, right as I was beginning to put on my pjs, the professor and I looked up at the newly painted ceiling right above my part of the bed (ahh, it looked so beautiful when he painted it...) and we saw the plaster had buckled. There was cracking. The professor touched it. It was wet. This just happened- yesterday.

We said a few bad words. We tried to isolate the problem, and as best we can tell, it is a leaking or broken boiler pipe between the second and third floors. Yet, our house is toasty warm, even on the third floor. The ancient boiler is doing an admirable job. Even so, we determined that it wasn't safe to sleep under something leaky that might spew hot water in the middle of the night.

The professor sent the dogs and me down to the living room. The dogs were sleepy and curled up for cuddles and I called my mom. Who else can you call at 10 pm CT (11 pm ET-- her time...) to have commiseration about these kinds of *^#%^!! things?

Somehow, the professor moved all our furniture on his own back into the "back up" bedroom where we'd been sleeping for a little over a month. This is where the nursery will be when the babies are born. He put down plastic tarp and a trash can in our -again empty-bedroom to catch any spills.

We went back to trying to sleep a little before midnight. I was exhausted...but somehow, the city decided that last night was the time to use the construction equipment bobcats to clear large snow piles on the main street outside our house. (Beep beep beep every time they backed up, all night long) Also, we had an endless number of dump trucks, filled with snow, idling on the street as they headed to snow disposal sites. This idling and enormous gas wastage apparently must be done between midnight and 6 AM to avoid traffic problems?

This AM, the professor called the plumbers, who now treat us like family. They explained that they are very busy and that both of their master plumbers are out sick. Luckily, we still have heat so there is no desperate emergency--we're all hoping it is a small little leak...but we'll wait until they come by to cut into that section of freshly painted (and now ruined) plaster ceiling.

Oy.
Have I mentioned that it's downright cold here lately? I am considering throwing in the towel on this day and creeping back under the covers again with a dog or two to keep me warm.

Good news? The carding class went well. There are still more Florida pictures to enjoy later in the week. We're all safe and warm and no one was burnt by leaking hot water in the middle of the night...I guess it's time to be grateful for all these things...right?

Why plumbing is great...

I am sorry I haven't updated you on the drainage pipe excitement around here...it's an interesting tale. (For the sake of your stomachs, I'm avoiding any photos in this post. There wasn't anything too disturbing, but still...)

I'll preface this by saying that for the most part, we had access to reasonable plumbing last week. We could flush, we could shower, etc. We knew that the broken pipe wasn't allowing full drainage, so everything was just done very gently!

In the middle of last week, the nice tradesmen who do evacavating started dropping by. The first guy said--"let me see your basement" and "let me see this broken pipe dvd." Then he said something that was actually quite wonderful. He suggested we call our regular plumber back. He said he thought the broken pipe was actually "inside" the house, in our basement. This meant we wouldn't need a backhoe to dig up our outdoor pipes. It was a smaller problem than we'd feared.
(Think $2000 total and not, say, a potential $8 to 10 grand)

Our regular plumbing company -who are now like relatives- came along on Thursday and started fixing things. That involved:
-Cutting up the plywood false floor in our basement
-Hammering out not one but two concrete floors, complete with rubble in between them. The rubble included old lathe and plaster walls, so we know why concrete floor number 2 was unstable and the wooden floor was built. (laying a new concrete floor on top of uneven rubble is not a recipe for a stable new floor!)
-Digging down to wherever the broken pipe was.

When the plumber hit the broken pipe, the issues were obvious. A few owners ago, our house was "fixed up" by someone who lived here or somebody they hired. This person was a reasonable carpenter, an ok electrician and his plumbing left something to be desired. We knew this already--my professor has fixed nearly every plumbing fixture in the house, and we've also gotten to hire a professional plumber on multiple occasions already.

The short version? One PVC pipe forced into another pipe--without being glued together--had flexed over the years of freezing and thawing. The flexing pipe had carefully dumped out a lot of water drained from our washer over the years as someone washed clothes. This eroded all the dirt around it, and eventually, with no glue holding the pipes together and dirt holding the pipes in place, we had our little collapse this last week.

I felt so reassured on Thursday afternoon by the mere idea that the plumber was taking care of the problem that I fell asleep on the couch in the living room (just above the basement) while he worked. I slept through someone jackhammering concrete. Really.

By Thursday evening, the new pipes were glued in place. By Friday morning, the problem was nearly entirely solved, right down to a new concrete floor. We probably need to rebuild the false wooden floor above it, but that's minor in the great scheme of things. Our basement is not finished and we don't do a lot of entertaining down there!

We were reminded, over and over again this week, how amazing plumbing is and how bad it is when something goes wrong. Something good happened to us. We remembered to be grateful for one of the basics of modern life. Plumbing is an outstanding thing that really improves the quality of our lives and our basic health!

Now the professor is on to other things. Today he's trying out some new paint colors--doing a small sample paint job for our bedroom. This will be the project for winter break. The color when we got here? A very unpleasant yellowish brown with lot of sloppy paint mess ups. We're hoping for a light blue when all is done.

One last thought--we know all this is happening in part because our charming old house wasn't always maintained well...but we also know that things just happen. We know people with brand new houses who have had serious problems. Houses (like bodies) require upkeep! It's been a week where I've reflected (a lot) on how much we take for granted. If you're warm and dry, if you have a home and all the electricity, plumbing and heat work, it is a great thing. It's ok to say a little thank you about that, to whomever you thank. (The Almighty, the local House God, whoever!)

And yeah, if your body is mostly working right? That might be a great thing too. It's amazing when everything works right. A thing of wonder to behold...

the sanding

Sorry for the delay in posting--I couldn't think of anything fiber-related to post, and it looks like my non-fiber posts seem to get more comments anyway these days, so here's a different tale.

This is an old house story. You may remember that our second story bathroom has a fabulous mosaic floor. It's not all in perfect shape but it's original to our nearly 100 year old house. In fact, if you walk a block up the street, you can even see the entry hall of an apartment building with a mosaic that matches ours exactly. I imagine the mosaic tile workers were busy 100 years ago in our neighborhood!

Over the last year, every time someone closed the door to the bathroom, there was an enormous grummmmfh rummmfh noise as the door scraped over the tile floor. This wasn't good. It was bad for the tile floor. It also meant that if you had dinner guests and one of them went up to do their business? Everyone downstairs knew just how long those guests were in there.

The Professor said that the only way to fix this properly was to rehang the door, which had obviously started to hang lopsided (dang gravity) and scrape on the floor. This, he said, would take hours to do properly and he'd put it on his fix-it list. After over a year, I noticed it hadn't gotten any higher on the list...there was always something more pressing! The noise and the potential damage to the floor was making me nuts. When no one is in the house but the Professor and me, I never shut the door. He shuts the door. Have I mentioned that the noise made me crazy?

I suggested sanding the bottom of the door. The Professor didn't think this was an option, but when my dad visited, he said it was definitely worth a try...obviously the rubbing was only a few milimeters in one direction or the other, because we could still shut the door. The Professor washed his hands of the situation, but handed me some sandpaper.

On the first day, my face got all red from leaning over as I rubbed that sandpaper back and forth on the bottom of the doorjamb. I improved on this the second day, when I set up a stool and sat on the stool as I worked on the problem. After a few days, I discovered:

1) This hurt my arm muscles
2) I got a tummy ache from leaning over that much
3) It was slow going

I called my dad. Wise man who is my father suggested that maybe I should hold the sandpaper on the ground, between my feet, and use the ground as my sanding block and the door's weight would help it to sand itself. This worked better. My face wasn't quite as red.

I held onto the door handles for dear life, clamped the sandpaper between my feet, and using my knees as extra help, sanded the bottom of the door jamb. After a few days, I discovered:

1) The next time I dance the Twist, I'll be ready!
2) I now also had little bruises on the insides of my knees.
3) This worked--slowly, and you can work up quite a sweat while sanding.

I also realized that while the door shifted downward, the mosaic wasn't flat either. The floor shifted upwards in places, too. Given the nature of the sanding and my low tolerance level for this sort of thing, I worked on the door for a few minutes every day. 5-10 max. I saw it as my "discipline. " Eventually, I hoped to learn something from it.

After a week or so, I put away the sandpaper. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better.

What I've learned?
(nothing deep)
You can go to the bathroom in my house and I don't have to hear that door rubbing against a 100 year old tile floor.

Now I just have to convince Sally the dog that she does not have to guard the second story bathroom any more by barking. This still scares the pants off dinner guests--sometimes before they get to the washroom! Worse, I don't know if they've managed to make it inside yet and shut the door because I can't hear the door noises any more!

I imagined (while red faced, sweaty, and doing a weird approximation of the Twist) that this was all sort of comical in the home repair department... At least, I try to see it that way.

It's either that, or it's some weird new exercise routine.

Introducing...

Introducing....(drum roll please....) the Winnipegger. Several people voted for names that had to do with my new city, Winnipeg, and I decided that they were right...the name fit. Actually, all the other names were neat too, but I eventually had to make a decision!

There is actually already a "Winnipeg Neck Scarf" design on sale at Ravelry, and it's crocheted rather than knitted, so I'll go for a slightly different name when I manage to get my pattern written up. (soon, I hope!)

I will definitely owe several free patterns to my kind readers at that point, so if you were one of those people... Romi,(Romi comes up with amazing names for her own patterns, I might add...) PghCathy, and Sherry (who doesn't even read blogs!), I will try to get those patterns to you as soon as they are ready!

For everyone else, I must say that although I have finished the slowest socks to knit--ever--, I will have to write their story on Wednesday. Things around here are busy with preparations for Passover, as well as an unexpected leaky washing machine in the basement. The excitement never ceases in terms of house stuff here, must say...and the washing machine is pretty much brand new!

OK, off to see what the professor proposes regarding the newest house related repair...

Have a meaningful and Happy Passover if you celebrate it!

Let there be (more) light

Our living room is new and improved! I promised pictures, and here they come.

You may remember what the dining room looks like in our house. It has a nice chandelier which is somewhat new but has an Arts & Crafts style, so it matches our house. Better yet, when it's on, you can see your food while you're eating. (This is key, I'm really into function, if you hadn't noticed.)

From the doorway, you can see the front hall. In this photo, Sally t. Dog is demonstrating the beauty of the hallway for you. Again, it has an entirely functional and -bonus- aesthetically pleasing fixture.

Now, the living room had a different arrangement. First, it featured these neo-Colonial sconces, which were probably installed in the 1940's or 1950's, if not before. (Back when it was cool to re-invent the Colonial style, I'd guess, but I'm not up to date on my interior decorating history) The sconces all had to be turned on at the fixture, and they were placed relatively high up on the walls, so I could only reach 2 of the 4. (The professor, at 6 foot 3", could turn them all on, of course.) On a dark winter afternoon, when all 4 of these things were turned on, you could maybe see your hand in front of your face. Knitting dark colors was totally out of the question, and reading anything with fine print was difficult.

We stationed two stick lamps in the room, and that's what gave most of the light for knitting and reading this winter. It was ok, except one of the stick lamps was $8 when we got it at a big box store, and, well, they lacked class. I felt like these crummy lamps screamed "dorm room!"

(Note, all the photos of the sconces shot here were done in the daylight, when the big windows allow you to see them clearly. The sconces themselves are not turned on!)
About two weeks ago, I saw some advertisements in the paper of fixtures on sale. I saw ones that sort of looked like they would match the dining room and hallway fixtures. Next thing I knew, the professor had purchased 4 and found someone to help with the wiring...so that I could theoretically flick one switch and the lights would come on. All last weekend, they were hard at work. In the end?

Only 2 out of the 4 fixtures are on the same switch...but hey,that's 2 lights that I flick with one switch and bingo! They're on. The other two are still turned on with little switches at the fixture. This is because (surprise!) the joists on this side of the house appear to be reinforced with concrete. It is hard to rewire that kind of thing, (a concrete thing) and no one wanted to explore why that concrete was there, so we stuck with the old system.

If one focuses solely on aesthetics, I think these are an improvement. They also offer a bit more light. Sadly, we still are messing with stick lamps as well, but maybe that's because I insist in knitting occasionally with dark colors in the winter time. Maybe the solution is just to go with all white yarns, all the time?

Nah. I'd just spill on it...let's be practical.
For now, though, I am trying to admire what we've got (living room lights) and appreciate all the hard work that went into this switch!

Note: For those in the Winnipeg area, I'm teaching an Introduction to Spinning Class at the Manitoba Craft Museum and Library on Sunday from 12-3pm. If you're interested, give the Museum a call by end of the day on Wednesday! I hear the class is almost full...and I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of brand new spinners! If you sign up, you'll also come home with a spindle and lots of practice wool too...it's part of the class fees.
To everyone else? Let's hear it for the light!

festival, anyone?

Despite my very best efforts, I haven't managed to get the Amazon website for Fiber Gathering to update for the 2010 festivals listed in the book yet...I think there is a delay on posting new material there. Since festival season (and spring!) will be coming soon, I wanted at to post these here. If you don't see one of the festivals listed in the book here on the 2010 list, it's because either that festival no longer is being put on--sad, but true--or the dates are still unclear. If I hear more, I will promise to pass it along to you.

Remember, these are only a very few of the marvelous festivals out there! Make sure to check your area first, as festivals are wonderful, no matter what size. If you're wondering why this post is somewhat brief, scroll down...

Here's the list:

2010 Fiber Festivals mentioned in Fiber Gathering
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
May 1st & 2nd, 2010
Howard County Fairgrounds
2210 Fairground Road
West Friendship, MD 21794

New York Sheep and Wool Festival
October 16th & 17th, 2010
Dutchess County Fairgrounds
6550 Spring Brook Avenue
Rhinebeck, NY 12572

New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival
May 8th & 9th, 2010
Hopkinton State Fairgrounds
392 Kearsarge Avenue
Contoocook, NH 03229

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair
October 22nd, 23rd, & 24th, 2010
WNC Ag Center
1301 Fanning Bridge Road
Fletcher, NC 28732

Michigan Fiber Festival
August 21st & 22nd, 2010
Allegan County Fairgrounds
150 Allegan County Fair Drive
Allegan, MI 49010

Black Sheep Gathering
June 18th, 19th, & 20th, 2010
Lane County Fairgrounds
796 W. 13th Avenue
Eugene OR 97402

Estes Park Wool Market
June 12th & 13th, 2010
500 Big Thompson Avenue
Estes Park, CO 80517

The Wool Festival at Taos
October 2nd & 3rd, 2010
Kit Carson Park
Paseo del Pueblo Norte
Taos, NM 87571

PS: Thanks so much for all your empathy and kind moral support last week! I've been reassured by several local friends (who fondled the rugs) that there is indeed a market here for my fiber art. I will need to go to the more artsy festivals, fairs and shops. In the meanwhile, they told me to keep weaving, build up my stock, and not to worry about it too much! The market, they say, might just come to me.

PPS: This weekend the professor is rewiring part of the living fixtures with a colleague of his. I've been told the electricity will be shut off at some point, so I've posted in a rush. I will post "before" and "after" lighting photos later. The goal here is to make the living room brighter at night, so that knitting and reading, for instance, can happen without squinting in the dim corners of the room! His colleague is a cheery, capable person who has already rewired the fixtures in his new house, as his family didn't like the ones there originally. Apparently, this isn't exclusively an "older house" problem. In the meanwhile, I'm off to spin, weave or knit--all things I can do without electricity. :)

August Long Weekend

We are celebrating our very first August Long Weekend. This three day weekend has a "civic holiday" on Monday. As best I can figure, Canadians decided that yes, everyone wanted to go to their cottages (or do home repair or enjoy the nice weather) so might as well have a designated 3 day weekend for it. I'm all in favor. Here's what's been happening...


First, we've been synagogue hopping...each Saturday morning, we're trying out a different congregation. This has been a pleasure--since everything is close by and folks seem so welcoming. No photos of that. :)

We went raspberry picking. This involved grabbing some tupperware, wearing older clothes, and driving out to the city limits. It took no time at all to be out on the prairie. We wish we'd remembered the camera (oops) but the end result was something in the range of 12 liters of berries. Think 3-4 of these cardboard trugs. Eventually we ran out of tupperware and used one of these instead.

Many of these berries became strawberry/raspberry and raspberry jam. We're up to something in the range of 32 jars in the basement, so far... We're also freezing some, and eating a lot of berries, too! It may seem ridiculous to be doing this just after moving, but summer is short here and we must take advantage of local produce as it happens! I'll love all that "summer" on the shelves this winter.


In a new house, there seem to be an endless number of house set-up tasks. We discovered a distinct lack of shelves. We had built-in bookshelves (but no shelves, just the framwork for shelves.) Off we went to buy boards, get them cut to the right size, and put them up. We'll stain them later. For now, the book boxes are unloaded. (Note half assembled spinning wheel in foreground; the flyer has now been located and it is set up for use again.)

All of our clothes (aside from, say, winter clothes) have been unpacked and put in the appropriate places. I have my very own cedar lined closet! Now that I've done the legwork, I even have a shelf at the top of the closet. This seems like a small thing until one has made two trips to the hardware store, measured, and installed said shelf...


Also accomplished? Little Gem spinning wheel has been located, set up, and put into use. I am consulting for a sheep farm that is interested in building value into its wool products; as a result, I am spinning with an eye towards future fleece improvement. It's a very fun consulting gig--and, the first wool I've spun on a wheel in our new home! I'll likely have more information on this later, as I learn more about the wool. It's good stuff.


Other new developments? Introducing....our fence! Our home came with a sturdy fence on two sides. The third side was enclosed with an old tiny wire fence, which did nothing in terms of dog containment. We had a fence built this week, and it is a major life improvement! Now we only take the dogs on, say, two walks a day. (instead of 4 or 5.) In order to make the fence level at the top, there were gaps on the bottom...which makes it somewhat useless for dogs. We've blocked these with old railroad ties and will add something more aesthetically pleasing soon. Also note that gravel...we were left with a lot of mud and muck in a shady area of the yard. Now, we've got approximately 550 pounds (250 kilo) of gravel there instead. The professor did that himself, with 55 lb bags. We'll worry about flower beds or gravel patios or whatever later. For now? We have fence. We have mud under control. Dogs are happy.


Our new yard has some small cherry plantings (sort of bush-like rather than trees) that we share with a neighbor. I'm looking forward to tasting those as they ripen. We've also got a young Rosybloom Crabapple tree. It's growing fruit! It's described as ornamental, but we're thinking that if the fruit actually grow to a decent size, I may try canning with it. Anyone know anything about the "rosybloom" variety? All the varieties are new to us here so we're happy to have any input you can offer!


Last, but not least, I've put in a very few rows on one of my "traveling" knitting projects, the Lady of the Lake cardigan. I love how this is turning out, but am having a hard time concentrating on anything by the time I sit down after dinner in the evenings. We're just falling down with exhaustion after a day of unpacking, home fix-it, and summer delights.


Oh, and have I mentioned emphasizing the positive in all things? I'm not going to discuss how see-through those bathroom curtains are. Annmarie's wise test idea suggests that I have a bit of work to do in the "making bathrooms private" department. Please, if you could stop all south-bound walking and driving along Stafford St. in Winnipeg, or avert your eyes for the foreseeable future? That would be great... Thanks!