Rambling Warps

I should post, huh?

Sorry about the scarcity of posts... during the day on week days, we need to keep the phone line free as much as possible & that is usually when I want to post & have time...

Handpainted Yarns

I have some new handpainted yarns available on the website, some bulky and some sport weight & should be doing some worsted weight yarns pretty soon... I'll do a few solid colors as well. Here's an example with the bulky on the left and the sport weight sock yarn on the right:

   

If you want some for yourself, they're on the Weaving Rainbow website (http://weavingrainbow.com click on yarns and at the top of that list you'll see Handpainted Yarns)... or email me at info@weavingrainbow.com

And here are a couple of shawls I wove & sent to a gallery:

These were woven on a triangle loom... both have eyelash fringe.

I finished weaving a shawl on the loom using the handpainted yarn & just need to decide what kind of edge to put on it... the crocheted/twisted fringe looks great, but it also looks like it'll take a lot of yarn. I may save that for another piece!

I think the next piece on the loom will be a poncho or ruana for me using an old Scandia yarn I've had for several years. I tried making a sweater with this yarn and it just looks too bulky, but I think it will look rather nice woven.

Also notice the hat: I crocheted it with a wool yarn that I've had for a few years... mellowing in the stash until I come up with something. I still have a fair bit left, not sure what I'll do with it. I'm not even sure if it is 100% wool or not.

Sweater project

I've been trying to start a chunky sweater for myself: I don't think I'd like wearing a shawl around the house, or even a poncho, but I want something warm so we can keep the heat set low... I'm leaning strongly toward using my blue donegal tweed yarn with the SpinCraft Shawl collar sweater...

I'd also like to get some wallaby style sweaters going for the boys, at least for Reuven. I have NOT abandoned the idea of making a Rogue sweater, I'm just not ready to start it yet... I know which yarn I'll use: the dark teal donegal yarn.

Turkey

We still have leftover turkey: maybe we'll have sandwiches today.... if we get into town, I'll pick up some sub rolls, otherwise, I can probably make some (except I REALLY would like to get some swiss cheese, but that can wait until I definitely get into town... the wind is supposed to be tricky today: 20 mph with gusts up to 40-45mph...not exactly something I want to drive in, especially with a window that is stuck in the open position on the driver's side... we'll get it fixed someday, but we have other repairs that take priority!

Got Sushi?

Like sushi rolls but not the rolling process or the expense of going to a Japanese restaurant to buy some? OR you started out making sushi rice and the rice wasn't sticky enough to form good rolls? Running short on time but have a craving for sushi? Try this:

You can do this with or without raw fish, your choice!

Sushi Unrolled

Serves 6 adults (or 4 extremely hungry people)... in our case it served 2 adults, 2 nine year old eating machines and a 7 & 3 year old and we had some left over...

Sushi Rice ingredients (you can substitute with the recipe for sushi rice on the package of Nori if you prefer):

2 to 2-1/2 cups white rice (brown can be used, cook it until it's soft and sticky)

4-1/2 to 5-1/2 cups water

4 to 6 tablespoons vinegar (rice vinegar is best, apple cider or wine or even white vinegar will do in a pinch)

2 to 4 tablespoons sugar

1 pack of nori seaweed with 10 sheets of nori

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 or 2 teaspoons salt

Fillings:

1 cucumber cubed

Choose at least 2 of the following; 4 or 5 is better!

1 lb imitation crab chopped into small pieces and mixed with
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise (homemade is nice: email me if you want my mayo recipe) amd
1/4 cup finely chopped onions or 3 or 4 finely chopped scallions

2 to 4 ounces nova lox cut into small pieces

A few pieces of chopped pickled herring

1/3 to 1/2 lb tiny salad shrimp (be sure to cook this if it isn't already cooked)

1 can kipper snacks chopped into smaller pieces, try not to get too much of the oil in!

If you like raw fish & can get sashimi grade, you can put in 1/4 lb chopped into small pieces.. we sometimes can get sashimi grade tuna.

Diced avocado pieces: put this on the side for each person: if you mix this into the rice, it'll turn into a weird guacamole!

Whatever else you can think of that you like with your sushi rolls!

Soy sauce & wasabi

HOW TO MAKE IT:

This recipe can be halved easily, just do the math...

First make your sushi rice...

A couple of hours in advance, steam rice and water & bring water to a simmer; cover pot & simmer until water is boiled out

(we haven't tried brown rice, but if you can get the rice to come out soft/sticky, that's even better)

Let the rice cool

Add the sugar (enough to just barely sweeten the rice), the vinegar, salt and sesame seeds and mix until it's all evenly mixed.

Gently toast the nori over a flame... be careful not to let it burn.

Tear nori into pieces: large or small pieces, your choice!

Add whatever other ingredients you want to add to the rice and mix well.

Serve on plates... if you're having avocado, either put a bit on each plate or put in a small serving dish.

Eat and enjoy!

Some kids will turn their noses up at this or say "ewww"... my kids love it, especially the oldest 2. Micah has been telling people at school that sushi is his favorite food.

Ruana update:

I finished all the weaving on the ruana. Now I need to take the two triangles off the loom. I'm still trying to decide how I want to join the two triangles, I'm not sure if I want to potholder them off the loom or use some other joining method, may do a mock weaving in between the two. I want to have it finished in time for Thursday's art guild meeting!

I'm still undecided about what to do about making myself a sweater. The other day, there was something on TV that gave a few tips on how to dress to look thinner... they essentially said definitely NOT to wear bulky sweaters, but to go with warm merino or cashmere.. so much fot the bulky sweater idea! I guess I will just reserve my bulky donegal tweeds for making a ruana or two... I have a cone of cashmere (fingering weight) that I can double up to make a worsted weight yarn and think I may use it to make myself a sweater... I DON'T KNOW what to do about this!!! Maybe I shouldn't worry about how the thing makes me look and just go ahead & make the SpinCraft Shawl collared sweater ... I have the pattern on the weaving rainbow website at http://weavingrainbow.com click on patterns, then spincraft then sweaters and it is on that page.

Just saw most of the first part of the movie Day of Destruction... the rest of it is on Wednesday evening.

Tomorrow night I'm going to make a German chocolate cake for Gary's birthday... Not a milestone birthday, but he takes 6-1/2 months to become MY age!

What happened the year I was born

In 1957 (the year you were born)

Dwight Eisenhower is president of the US First civil rights bill since Reconstruction to protect blacks' voting rights is approved by Congress Hurricane "Audrey" destroys Cameron, Louisiana killing 390 people National Guardsmen bar nine black students from entering previously all white Central High School in Little Rock Russians launch Sputnik I, first earth orbiting satellite The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery Vanna White, Osama bin Laden, Sid Vicious, and Melanie Griffith are born Milwaukee Brewers win World Series Detroit Lions win NFL championship Montreal Canadiens win Stanley Cup On the Road by Jack Kerouac is published The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss is published

Friday night-a boring entry

Can't wait til we get the camera driver working again... Gary said that he got it running under Linux, but it's not perfect..not sure what he means.

I guess I'll handpaint some yarns this weekend and hope to be able to upload photos so that I can put them on the website...based on the test yarns, these colors will be awesome!

I've got a ruana in progress on the loom on the 4-1/2 foot setting... not sure if I'll close up the frong or not, we'll see!

My pink cityline socks are getting closer to getting done... I succumbed to temptation and ordered some Esprit sock yarn in the seashore color combination from elann.com... I think I got enough to make a mom & son pair: a pair for me and a pair for Reuven. I let him choose the color, though he was choosing different color combos: he just kept picking different ones! Wish I could justify getting more than one color combo, but I don't think I knit fast enough for it to be a good idea...

The weather's been on the cool side, so wearing handknit wool socks is a good idea!

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Happy November

We finally got the computer working about a week or so ago... HOWEVER, we can't seem to convince the camera driver to install, not from the CD the camera came with and not from the downloaded version, they both come out with the same error... so pictures will have to wait until we get this figured out. Gary did find a driver for Linux that is supposed to work with the camera, so maybe we'll try it.

Otherwise, I have not had a chance to post anything...the boys' socks were done in time for crazy socks day last Tuesday. Harrison got the wild idea to wear two different shoes on that day so he took crazy sock day a little further! (He really wanted to wear one of the new socks that I had made him and one of last year's socks but we couldn't find the other one...)

Micah won the contest for September for http://www.facthound.com and won a LOT of books for the school library! That was cool... he was given 2 books and a compass.

I worked on my Pink Fortissima Cityline socks at soccer on Saturday... I made the mistake of trying to incorporate a cable into the ribbing... after a bit of thinking it over, I decided to frog the cable and now am back to just plain knit 3-purl 2 ribbing for the leg... I'll work on the leg until I'm either tired of knitting or until I'm close to running out of yarn (but will save enough to make a square for a leftovers sweater!) and then will do a picot edge...should be nice!

I picked up a UFO to work on yesterday... Medrith Glover's Aran a bite at a time vest... it's a rust color, I have one side done and am working on the other... I'm currently working on a framed cable, but I'm not happy with how the framed section is coming out (you can see it in Barbara Walker's 2nd treasury)... the "chain" frame is not coming out smooth looking & even though it kind of matches the photo in the treasury, I just don't like it, so I'll probably look for something else to put in that section.. maybe a celtic like cable.

I like the shoulder treatment for the blue sweater at this site: http://www.spindlitis.com/knit/sweater.html and may try to do something like it. I don't know if I have enough yarn for this to make a sweater unless I decide to use a contrasting color for some of it...

Then maybe I'll try starting Rogue!