Turning the heel
What is the magic that makes a sock a sock? It's the technique of turning the heel. I sort of puzzled out how to do it today in between having 3 (three!) crowns glued into my very numbed head with the help of the Yarn Harlot and a bootlegged pattern. I feel quite proud of myself.
I took a break from the sock this evening as I am puzzling out the next step and worked a dozen more of the long long long rows on the wonderful rust alpaca sweater. I am knitting out the body so it's a long row of knit then long row of perl with no fancy things going on. Very soothing which is what the knitting is supposed to be doing for me. M gave me the wonderful yarn out of her stash and it is totally scrummy. We are both knitting a sweater using different yarn but the same pattern. It is a ball. She's ahead of me so I is very comforting to be able to call her about what to do next.
The DoF mead is doing well. It is officially all fed and aerated and now goes into the waiting time where the yeast just has to eat up a lot of honey and turn it into alcohol. Then there is a time of long stirs which increases the mouthfeel (viscosity) of the mead making it thicker and more silky to the tongue. Then I add pecans and spices to infuse more complex flavors into it. But that's still maybe 4 weeks away. I most likely won't post about it again until then.
The infected mead seems to be totally cleared of infection. I am pausing to ponder what to do next with it. It is too sweet and not alcoholic enough to bottle safely. I might try to get another fermentation but I will have to slowly build up a super yeast as the mead is about 7% alcohol at this point and will really stress/kill any yeast just put in it.
I arranged to get some riding lessons starting in January! I am hoping that I get a chunk of Christmas money to pay for them! I've gotten approval to go ahead from my docs which is really exciting. My plan is to be lunged at the walk on the ancient school horses for a couple of months until I am stronger. Yay! Kyra is doing really well with the ground work I have time to do with her. She is such a sweet and beautiful girl. I am so blessed to have her in my life. We will have to see if I have the money to get Kyra well enough trained for it to be safe for me to ride her. I sure hope so, but in any case she's been a blessing in my life.
2 bags full of washed wool went to the fiber mill this week. I have about 3 pounds of white and about 4 pounds of mixed grays. The mill is very busy so I won't get it until March. I am hopeful that my neck will be healed and I can spin again by then. I do most of my spinning in the summer for some reason. They will comb it out and turn it into roving which I will then be able to spin quickly and easily into the type of yarn I need. My hands don't tolerate the stress of the repetitive pulling that needs to be done with wool that isn't pre-formed. I do have a cunning plan to spin, dye, and knit a pair of thick warm woolly kilt socks for my husband for next Christmas. I am totally jazzed about doing that for him.
We're mostly done with orders for the year now if all holds to the usual way it goes. We are going to start getting the house and studio ready to host my husband's family and my dad who are coming to celebrate the holidays. We haven't had an actual Christmas tree in many years but it's on the schedule this year. I have pulled the decorations out of storage and plan to sort and clean them early next week. It will be a treat to see them!
It's hard to believe it's another year gone. They go so quickly.
I took a break from the sock this evening as I am puzzling out the next step and worked a dozen more of the long long long rows on the wonderful rust alpaca sweater. I am knitting out the body so it's a long row of knit then long row of perl with no fancy things going on. Very soothing which is what the knitting is supposed to be doing for me. M gave me the wonderful yarn out of her stash and it is totally scrummy. We are both knitting a sweater using different yarn but the same pattern. It is a ball. She's ahead of me so I is very comforting to be able to call her about what to do next.
The DoF mead is doing well. It is officially all fed and aerated and now goes into the waiting time where the yeast just has to eat up a lot of honey and turn it into alcohol. Then there is a time of long stirs which increases the mouthfeel (viscosity) of the mead making it thicker and more silky to the tongue. Then I add pecans and spices to infuse more complex flavors into it. But that's still maybe 4 weeks away. I most likely won't post about it again until then.
The infected mead seems to be totally cleared of infection. I am pausing to ponder what to do next with it. It is too sweet and not alcoholic enough to bottle safely. I might try to get another fermentation but I will have to slowly build up a super yeast as the mead is about 7% alcohol at this point and will really stress/kill any yeast just put in it.
I arranged to get some riding lessons starting in January! I am hoping that I get a chunk of Christmas money to pay for them! I've gotten approval to go ahead from my docs which is really exciting. My plan is to be lunged at the walk on the ancient school horses for a couple of months until I am stronger. Yay! Kyra is doing really well with the ground work I have time to do with her. She is such a sweet and beautiful girl. I am so blessed to have her in my life. We will have to see if I have the money to get Kyra well enough trained for it to be safe for me to ride her. I sure hope so, but in any case she's been a blessing in my life.
2 bags full of washed wool went to the fiber mill this week. I have about 3 pounds of white and about 4 pounds of mixed grays. The mill is very busy so I won't get it until March. I am hopeful that my neck will be healed and I can spin again by then. I do most of my spinning in the summer for some reason. They will comb it out and turn it into roving which I will then be able to spin quickly and easily into the type of yarn I need. My hands don't tolerate the stress of the repetitive pulling that needs to be done with wool that isn't pre-formed. I do have a cunning plan to spin, dye, and knit a pair of thick warm woolly kilt socks for my husband for next Christmas. I am totally jazzed about doing that for him.
We're mostly done with orders for the year now if all holds to the usual way it goes. We are going to start getting the house and studio ready to host my husband's family and my dad who are coming to celebrate the holidays. We haven't had an actual Christmas tree in many years but it's on the schedule this year. I have pulled the decorations out of storage and plan to sort and clean them early next week. It will be a treat to see them!
It's hard to believe it's another year gone. They go so quickly.
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