The Rest of the Story

I finished the last two 2x3 rag rugs today.  I'm pleased with them both, but the one on the right was from a king-sized sheet I bought at Goodwill.  They use some kind of fumigant that has a nasty sweet smell.  Ordinarily it's just annoying but today the entire time I was weaving my allergies plagued me to the point that I was sneezing pretty badly by the end.  I love the rug but I'm not going through that again.  Even after I pulled them from the washer and drier I could still smell that chemical.  I'll have to try a different thrift store next time.
The good news is that I had enough warp left to tie off for a dummy warp.  I've never taken rag rugs to a craft fair, only place mats.  Ian says the problem is that so many people don't sit down at a table to eat together anymore that they don't want place mats.  Let's see if they want rugs.

This is the latest shell I've knitted from the pirate-booty fiber gift exchange at Spindle Camp in June.  The photo is a bit staged since I had just washed my hair and I wasn't wearing the sweater anywhere, but I really do like it and I have worn it.

The Ronco dehydrator that Ian ordered for me arrived within two days so I've been using both to double-team our aging produce.  Gretel says she thinks she's had hers for 30 years.  At first I didn't think there would be much difference, but oh boy, there certainly is.  Mine dries more quickly and also the food doesn't stick to the trays.  I think the change in plastic was more than cosmetic, or else 30 years of use has changed Gretel's trays.  We have Amazon Prime so the dehydrator and Farberware mandolin were $43 dollars with no shipping charges.  I'm really pleased.  I'm drying the zucchini chips that Cindie suggested and sampled one a little bit ago.  Yum!

This is what 20 pounds of tomatoes looks like after they've been dehydrated.  It's my understanding we can store them in glass jars in the garage over the winter.  They're supposed to be good for a year, but I hope to have cooked with them before then.  I think I'll prefer the frozen tomatoes in cooking but there was no more room.  I need to give the produce a rest tomorrow.  I need to give me a rest!

Trying to Keep Up

Friday I prepared eight quarts of blanched and quartered tomatoes for the freezer.  I have two lugs left to go but I ran out of ice from the ice maker and it's so slow refilling that I hope to have enough tomorrow to at least do another lug.

Gretel offered me the use of her dehydrator as she is canning this week so I drove over this morning and I picked it up along with her mandolin.  I've got five trays of cantaloupe drying tonight and expect they'll be dry in the morning so that I can restock the dehydrator.  I have more melon but would also like to dry some of the tomatoes.

Ian came in from the garden with these this morning. This is the most robust growing year we've experienced. I feel like the little Dutch boy with his fingers in the dike trying to save the whole thing. Ian ordered a dehydrator for me this evening which should be here Tuesday. I don't want to lose any of this food if I can help it. Our potatoes are ready too and I'd like to dry some of our onions. I thought I'd try making potato chips in the dehydrator.
The last warp of sea glass towels is off and the the towels are finished. This brings me up to 21 towels for the craft fair in three weeks.  I'm dressing my loom with the reds and purples, but by adding the lilac I ruined the image of Red Hat Society.  I'm not sure what I've got.  I guess I'll find out in another couple days.

I'm cutting strips from this king-size sheet for my final rag rug.  I think the rugs look awesome and was surprised when Ian commented this morning that he had noticed my finished ones when closing the blinds yesterday afternoon upstairs.  He said - they're gorgeous!  I have no idea if they're craft fair fodder so will limit myself to a few to test the waters.
I hope they do sell as they're so much fun to make. Plus, I have probably close to 50 pounds in cottons.   I forgot to take any pictures of the finished rugs but I love how this one is developing.  The rest of my energy until then will be in towels, which I know are craft fair fodder. 

A Fallon Woman

Kerry and I drove to Fallon today along with our neighbor Gretel to visit Carol who was just hired as the director of the Churchill County Library system.  She found this adorable house two blocks away and walks to work.  She still comes home on weekends.  It's 95 miles and an hour and three quarters one way.

I'm always amazed at the dynamic in their household.  Carol and Harry grew up with Kerry in the town of Rosetta, PA - if you read Malcolm Gladwell's book the Outliers, then you have a sense of the family loyalty here.  

She's certainly got her work cut out for her. It's a charming library, built in the 60s but it's plagued with an asbestos problem that's so pervasive that they're raising to money to build a new library and raze this one. These old IBM Selectric should give you some idea of the age of the building.

They have a fantastic Friends of the Library bookshop and we all brought books, but I loved this sign.  Someone has a sense of humor. 

We wanted to see Carol's house and her library but we also wanted to visit Lattin Farms. Kerry and Gretel wanted to pick raspberries for jam

They picked for a couple of hours while I lolled in the car, reading a book club book on my Kindle, me and the flies.  I'm not a canner and I knew what I came for - tomatoes.  I got 60 pounds of beautiful red orbs for $20.  I'll blanch and freeze them as two cup per freezer bags.  It's been a bumper crop for them this year.  Lattin Farms is where our CSA box comes from and Mike the delivery guy told me last Tuesday about this three-for-two deal.
This is how they get so much food in this inhospitable climate.  They use hoop houses that are Washoe Zephyr wind worthy.  The one on the right was filled with basil and other herbs.  The one straight ahead is all tomatoes.

I came across these ladies, shucking garlic.  I know they're grateful for the work, but the lady on the left told me that stench never leaves you.  It permeates your clothes and your skin.  She said her sister told that she makes her eyes water.  Nevertheless, they were cheerful.  All those boxes are filled with garlic.  This farm is completely organic on an impressively small footprint, contributing to their local economy and I love being a part of their enterprise.

You might think we were at just another fruit stand but the place was teeming with activity.  People popped in buy two melons and then were on their way.
They had many displays of Halloween pumpkins, gourds and squashes.  We learned last year these crazy things are delicious and seeing this, I assume we'll get squashes in our CSA box very soon.

Gretel's husbands has a large greenhouse and she cans about 200 jars of food each season.  She was along for the visit and the berries.  She's offered to loan me her dehydrator so I'll pick it up Sunday.  I bought six melons from the very ripe discount table and would love the dehydrate them.

Years ago when my parents lived in Fallon I had a dehydrator and would dry all the fantastic produce my folks brought to town.  Nothing was on the dehydrator shelves by the time the cycle was finished.  My kids kept "sneaking" it in advance.  They thought they pulling the wool over my eyes and I was thrilled to see them eating so much fruit.  I appreciate Gretel's offer and her advice.  I think I might need one.  Dehydrated minced onions??

So this post was done on the new blogger interface which I'm a long way from understanding.  I bought a new laptop on Tuesday and I simply couldn't find the old interface.  I can find it on my old laptop but that defeats the purpose entirely.  I hope I get better.

Aloha

These photos from a recent Sunset magazine article were my inspiration for an Aloha colorway series for my towels. I discounted some of the brighter colors because they already appear in the Fiesta ware series.
Then at our book club potluck luncheon Saturday, one of the ladies brought mango halves with chicken salad. That's exactly the color I was thinking of and the dish was delicious.
Tuesday I rode into town with Ian to pick up my car after it having been serviced. I had some errands to run including a dental appointment but on Tuesdays I often end up with time to kill before picking up our CSA box at 3:45. I know if I go to a store, I'll buy something and I really don't like to shop anyway. I have always loved the Wilbur May Arboretum so now I'm always careful to pack a book and knitting. It's not killing time at all. It's a walk in the park!
This was our CSA box this week. The box was so heavy that the delivery driver wheeled it to my car on a dolly. I split it up between our household and Carol and Harry's, but it's still a lot of food to eat in a week. It's the deal of the century - $417 for fresh produce weekly, from April to October.
So these are the completed towels. There are ten but I wove two in the same warp colors. As much as I want to see mangoes, pineapples, hibiscus flowers and tropical lagoons, I think they're just too close to Fiesta ware colors to repeat in the future. I've started winding a warp for Sea Glass which is a nice departure.
And we're onto a new adventure. Returning from town Monday after dropping my car off, a car rounded one of the corners on our two-lane road, in our lane. He was fully in our lane but Ian has very fast reflexes and was able to leave the road for the field. This left the front of his car sliding along the side of our truck. Our damage is minimal but he was picking up pieces of his car from all over the road. I'm not sure I could have reacted as quickly as Ian.

We didn't file a police report and now the driver is saying to his insurance that the nice driver lady said the damage to the door was minimal and she wasn't going to pursue it - after all he was barely in the other lane. The insurance agent wanted to know if there were any passengers. Red flags! We are going to file a police report tomorrow with the sheriff's office, since this is county. And here we are, less than a week from our family gathering. It's always something isn't it?

Different Color Play

First of all, let me reassure you that I haven't forgotten how to knit. I'm working on sleeves for this sweater and those needles are carefully stowed back against the arm of the sofa, since Charlie has made this his bed for the evening.
The first set of placemats on this warp is pretty bright and very red. I think another time I would cut the red strips in half. I think the sheet is a queen; that's pretty wide. I just found this shuttle amongst the stuff that Laura shared with me after her mother passed away. It's funky, very narrow and long, and the more I use it, the more I like it.
I chose these sheets for the next set - they just seemed to want to go together, like little giggling girls in a classroom.
But after I had cut and sewn the strips and wound them into pinwheels, I was having serious doubts. These clearly are too pastel - exactly what I don't want.
I realized once I had woven this far that the problem is the stripe. I couldn't help thinking of the Sesame Street song - One of the things is not like the other. One of these things doesn't belong. The yellow is wrong.
I unwove back and removed the yellow, which means that every time I come to the yellow, I have to stop, cut it out and roll it up for another project, then continue. It also means that I had to cut more strips. But now I like it, so it's worth it.
I picked up our CSA (commun-
ity supported agri-
culture) basket after I went to the gym today (same parking garage). I love it that my hospital has a fitness center and also provides access for the CSA community. We got probably the last of the heirloom tomatoes this time, and now its squash, onions, potatoes, garlic, plus the greens are back. We got Swiss chard today - yum.

We only have three more weeks left of this year. It has been fascinating to watch the produce change with the seasons. We spent $500 to have fresh local organic produce for six months, which came to less than $20 a week. The food is so dense that our grocery bill has plummeted. The cost seems expensive upfront, but I know we got a real deal. I so appreciate our local farmers - they've been on the same farms in Fallon for generations and they're finally getting rewarded for the standards they have held. I like to think of that as being the American way.

Ian has been telling everyone about "my" squash dish. I got it online and the recipe is below, though I halved it for just the two of us. I made the leftovers into a patty which I microwaved for breakfast and then topped with a poached egg - yum.

Butternut Squash Supreme:

• 3 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup crushed butter-flavored crackers
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions

1. Place squash in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until very tender. drain well and place in a large bowl; mash. In another bowl, combine the eggs, cheese, onion, milk, salt and pepper; add to the mashed squash and mix well.
2. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs. Dot with butter. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Gearing Up

I've started stacking and spreading my fabrics to get a sense of what sequences I'd like for my next placemat sets.
I cut these yesterday. They're quite pastel and all but one has a stripe of some sort. I'm curious to see what all the stripes will look like when woven.
In between loads of laundry I was able to get all the strips sewn together and then while watching Design Star last night, I got the first six rolled into pinwheels. I know they're not mandatory, but having that crease pressed in the folded strips makes the weaving go so much faster.


I cut these strips this morning before I went into town. I'd love to get them sewn tomorrow and get the next two sets of strips cut and sewn. I'm working on a deadline here. I need to get everything cleaned up and put away soon.

We have a Labor Day gathering here and if you haven't seen in pictures of it in the past, there will be a whole new set next week. Because it's the same weekend as Burning Man, it's been dubbed Sparking Boy. We turn our home into a campground for a weekend with family and friends, simply put.

The other deadline is the jackalope. I've knitted two more legs and am ready to assemble the body. I don't see how I can get it done but I'm not giving up just yet.
My Tuesday schedule now is to go to the gym and then pick up our CSA basket afterward - it's the same parking garage. I went to grab my bags from the back and realized that the "emergency" roll of toilet paper had freed itself from it's nitch and essentially toilet papered the whole back end of my car!
I've started using a different entrance and just noticed this sign today. I wasn't frowning.
This is the contents of our basket this week. The water-
melon flesh is yellow and is called Yellow Doll. We've had it once before this year and it's absolutely the sweetest a melon can get. We got more hot peppers so Ian promises he'll make his fantastic salsa tomorrow. I have some cilantro left over from last week - yum!