...at least when it comes to knitting. Yes, my yarn stash is the size of a major football stadium, but that isn't the only reason I'm insane.
I just completed knitting an Einstein coat. It is gorgeous and it took a long time. If you don't know what an Einstein coat is, it is a wool coat knitted entirely with the knit stitch (no purl or cables, etc.) They call it Einstein because when you are done it looks like it was hard, but it's not. However, it takes a long time.
Upon completion of that project, I went back to working on the Frog Tree Origami Sweater I started last year. Again, it's all one stitch. This time it is K1P1 ribbing. The concept is a knitted rectangle 65" long and about 2 foot wide in this ribbing. Then you knit another rectangle, not as long or wide and fold the two together to make a sweater.
All that ribbing takes quite a while to knit.
This week, I got out some Cascade 220 I've had for a while, dark green heather, very nice. And, I started to knit a poncho using size 5 needles. All knit stitch.
Again, it will take a long time to complete.
And, I'm contemplating another project of a lace shawl.
I must be insane to have four long knitting projects going at one time. But, my scheme is to alternate between projects so no one project can get boring.
Of course, there's always the prospect that all four of them get boring as a whole. Then I'd have to start number five....
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Where do you come from?
This past weekend I listened to a talk by a man who was adopted at birth. After his parent's death, he discovered that his mother was Sioux and he was united with his birth family of brothers and sisters. He went on to explain how learning of his native heritage had influenced his life.
There is much interest these days about geneology, many internet sites and books about the topic.
Personally, I know half of my story. My grandmother on my father's side did a complete geneology of our family, going back to Norway in the 1700s.
On my mother's side is where the mystery begins. My grandfather was a storyteller and when asked about his past, he would tell many stories, but no one can say which are true and which were embellished. We have no documentation of his past other than there is some German in there somewhere.
Knowing where you came from can help you understand more about your family's traditions, habits, and idiosyncracies. It can explain why you have a certain hair color or facial features. It can help you understand your medical history.
But, it can also do other things.
It can limit you by putting you into a mold of your past.
It can create discrimination by separating you from others.
It can create exclusionism by causing groups to separate themselves.
People may want to know where they came from so they know where they fit in.
I know where I came from. I came from the mother earth. I came from earth, water, wind and fire. I came from the same place every other human on this planet came from.
Which brings us to another question.
Where are you going?
We are all going to the same place, back to our mother earth when we die. It's not where you came from that matters. It's the journey you take before you go back that is the whole reason we are here.
We are all one family, from one source. We all have indigenous roots if we can trace them back far enough. We all have cave man ancestors who sat around the fire and told stories of where they came from.
Perhaps in times to come, someone will trace their ancestry back to us and marvel in the fact that they are part 'earthling.'
There is much interest these days about geneology, many internet sites and books about the topic.
Personally, I know half of my story. My grandmother on my father's side did a complete geneology of our family, going back to Norway in the 1700s.
On my mother's side is where the mystery begins. My grandfather was a storyteller and when asked about his past, he would tell many stories, but no one can say which are true and which were embellished. We have no documentation of his past other than there is some German in there somewhere.
Knowing where you came from can help you understand more about your family's traditions, habits, and idiosyncracies. It can explain why you have a certain hair color or facial features. It can help you understand your medical history.
But, it can also do other things.
It can limit you by putting you into a mold of your past.
It can create discrimination by separating you from others.
It can create exclusionism by causing groups to separate themselves.
People may want to know where they came from so they know where they fit in.
I know where I came from. I came from the mother earth. I came from earth, water, wind and fire. I came from the same place every other human on this planet came from.
Which brings us to another question.
Where are you going?
We are all going to the same place, back to our mother earth when we die. It's not where you came from that matters. It's the journey you take before you go back that is the whole reason we are here.
We are all one family, from one source. We all have indigenous roots if we can trace them back far enough. We all have cave man ancestors who sat around the fire and told stories of where they came from.
Perhaps in times to come, someone will trace their ancestry back to us and marvel in the fact that they are part 'earthling.'
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Julia Child vs. church cookbook
Recently, I watched the movie “Julie and Julia,” about a young woman who pledges to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” She gives herself a year to accomplish this task, meaning 536 recipes in 365 days. The movie was fun, and if you haven’t seen it, I recommend it.
I commend the woman in the story for her perseverance in the task. Personally, I would have a few obstacles on this type of journey:
What do I do with the leftovers? If I cooked 536 recipes in 365 days, that would mean cooking something new every day. In the movie, it was just her and her husband eating these meals. Of course they had the occasional dinner party, but as a matter of day-to-day eating, that’s a lot of food. My refrigerator isn’t very big. Where will I put all the foil covered plates, Ziploc bags and Tupperware?
Who will do all the dishes? We never see her or her husband doing dishes in the movie. We see scenes of her in the kitchen, but never piles of pots and pans stacked up in the sink. And we know she didn’t have domestic help because that was part of the charm of Child’s book, which was written for women who did not have servants. My problem is, I can’t cook in a dirty kitchen. Before I start any cooking endeavor, I must clean all the counters and do the dishes.
With 536 recipes, there must be a few that will not appeal to everyone. Do you make those anyway? What about allergies? Personally, I’m allergic to hard-shell seafood. Do I still need to make the lobster dishes?
How do I find all those fancy ingredients? This woman lived in New York and had numerous markets to shop from. Here in the northland, if they don’t have it at the local grocery store, I’m out of luck. Though during the summer, the local farmer’s markets are a good source for some unusual finds. I have yet to see live lobster or whole ducks.
When my grandmother passed away, I inherited her collection of church cookbooks. It would be interesting to try this challenge with one of them. These recipes are “old school.” They call for things that are not commonly found in today’s kitchens such as lard and sorghum. Quite a few of these women cooked like my mother did, adding a “pinch” of this or a “smidgeon” of that. They also gave instructions like “cook until done,” or “add spices to taste.”
I took a sentimental journey through grandma’s Country CookBook from the Halfway Creek Lutheran Church, 1971.
The first recipe in the book is for rommegrot, which is comprised of rich cream, milk, salt and flour. Then there’s Berline kranser with the only ingredients being butter, sugar, flour and egg yolks. This recipe is supposed to make over 100 cookies. After these delicacies comes brabakkels with eggs, sugar and brandy (add a bit of flour to roll out thin). I’m starting to see a pattern here.
I flipped the pages to the main dish section to find a collection of recipes for casseroles, hot dishes and meat loaf. A recipe called 7-course dinner includes potatoes, carrots, hamburger, onion, rice and tomatoes all combined into a casserole.
The salad section includes a lot of fruit, jello and cottage cheese.
This is a far cry from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” It’s more like “Mastering the Art of Blocked Arteries.”
However, my grandmother used the cookbook (I know this by the pencil notes she wrote in the margins and the extra sheet of paper that fell out listing her favorite recipes from the book and their page numbers), and she lived to be 98 years old. I’ll never know if she tried every recipe, but I thought of her fondly when I came upon the recipe for fruit soup. When I was young, fruit soup was a traditional dish my grandmother served. My sister and I hated fruit soup, but my mother always made us eat some so we wouldn’t offend grandma. I won’t be making that recipe.
The last pages are a compilation of “household hints.” I will leave you with this piece of old-country wisdom: “A banana and the white of an egg, beaten until stiff, make a good substitute for whipped cream.”
Bon appétit.
I commend the woman in the story for her perseverance in the task. Personally, I would have a few obstacles on this type of journey:
What do I do with the leftovers? If I cooked 536 recipes in 365 days, that would mean cooking something new every day. In the movie, it was just her and her husband eating these meals. Of course they had the occasional dinner party, but as a matter of day-to-day eating, that’s a lot of food. My refrigerator isn’t very big. Where will I put all the foil covered plates, Ziploc bags and Tupperware?
Who will do all the dishes? We never see her or her husband doing dishes in the movie. We see scenes of her in the kitchen, but never piles of pots and pans stacked up in the sink. And we know she didn’t have domestic help because that was part of the charm of Child’s book, which was written for women who did not have servants. My problem is, I can’t cook in a dirty kitchen. Before I start any cooking endeavor, I must clean all the counters and do the dishes.
With 536 recipes, there must be a few that will not appeal to everyone. Do you make those anyway? What about allergies? Personally, I’m allergic to hard-shell seafood. Do I still need to make the lobster dishes?
How do I find all those fancy ingredients? This woman lived in New York and had numerous markets to shop from. Here in the northland, if they don’t have it at the local grocery store, I’m out of luck. Though during the summer, the local farmer’s markets are a good source for some unusual finds. I have yet to see live lobster or whole ducks.
When my grandmother passed away, I inherited her collection of church cookbooks. It would be interesting to try this challenge with one of them. These recipes are “old school.” They call for things that are not commonly found in today’s kitchens such as lard and sorghum. Quite a few of these women cooked like my mother did, adding a “pinch” of this or a “smidgeon” of that. They also gave instructions like “cook until done,” or “add spices to taste.”
I took a sentimental journey through grandma’s Country CookBook from the Halfway Creek Lutheran Church, 1971.
The first recipe in the book is for rommegrot, which is comprised of rich cream, milk, salt and flour. Then there’s Berline kranser with the only ingredients being butter, sugar, flour and egg yolks. This recipe is supposed to make over 100 cookies. After these delicacies comes brabakkels with eggs, sugar and brandy (add a bit of flour to roll out thin). I’m starting to see a pattern here.
I flipped the pages to the main dish section to find a collection of recipes for casseroles, hot dishes and meat loaf. A recipe called 7-course dinner includes potatoes, carrots, hamburger, onion, rice and tomatoes all combined into a casserole.
The salad section includes a lot of fruit, jello and cottage cheese.
This is a far cry from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” It’s more like “Mastering the Art of Blocked Arteries.”
However, my grandmother used the cookbook (I know this by the pencil notes she wrote in the margins and the extra sheet of paper that fell out listing her favorite recipes from the book and their page numbers), and she lived to be 98 years old. I’ll never know if she tried every recipe, but I thought of her fondly when I came upon the recipe for fruit soup. When I was young, fruit soup was a traditional dish my grandmother served. My sister and I hated fruit soup, but my mother always made us eat some so we wouldn’t offend grandma. I won’t be making that recipe.
The last pages are a compilation of “household hints.” I will leave you with this piece of old-country wisdom: “A banana and the white of an egg, beaten until stiff, make a good substitute for whipped cream.”
Bon appétit.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A new twist
Okay, I admit it, I caved in.
I swore I was not going to read any of the Twilight series books. I had enough of vampire stories in my teens. Remember Dark Shadows, the vampire soap opera? I was addicted.
After a while all the vampire hype started getting old. It was always the same, vampire wars, big teeth and lots of blood, so I quit.
I've always wondered about the vampire legends. If vampires are so good at attacking people and biting them, why aren't we all vampires? The garlic part I could understand. I stay away from people who've eaten too much garlic myself, and no, I'm not a vampire. The crosses work too. After all, who wants to spend time with a certified evangelist, boring.
However, I was in the library looking for a new book to listen to in my car. I've just about gone through their whole selection already, so something new was hard to find. I noticed the first Twilight book was on CD. I needed something, so I caved in.
Why not give it a try. I checked out the website of the author and she notes that she loves to put standard characters into different situations, so I thought maybe this would be different, a new twist on an old legend.
So far, I was right. And I have to admit that she writes quite well.
In case you aren't familiar, here's a synopsis so far:
Young girl moves to new town, meets irresistable boy who has some quirks. His skin is pale, his eyes turn different colors, he's moody, he's aloof, he drives too fast and seems to materialize out of nowhere. Oh yeah, and he never eats. Lots of clues there. But the twist is, he's not a people biting vampire (bites animals instead) and he can be out in the daytime. The author gets by that one by having the character deny the daytime thing as 'merely lore.' With all of these clues, our heroine falls for the mysterious one anyway. Love at first sight (bite?).
So far, it seems the story is less about the vampire boyfriend than it is about a young girl moving to a new town and trying to fit in. Outcast meets outcast.
Funny thing, there is a scene where he takes her to an Italian restaurant. She orders ravioli. As far as I know, most Italian restaurants feature garlic prominently, yet, there was not mention of it, hmmm.
I'll keep reading.
I swore I was not going to read any of the Twilight series books. I had enough of vampire stories in my teens. Remember Dark Shadows, the vampire soap opera? I was addicted.
After a while all the vampire hype started getting old. It was always the same, vampire wars, big teeth and lots of blood, so I quit.
I've always wondered about the vampire legends. If vampires are so good at attacking people and biting them, why aren't we all vampires? The garlic part I could understand. I stay away from people who've eaten too much garlic myself, and no, I'm not a vampire. The crosses work too. After all, who wants to spend time with a certified evangelist, boring.
However, I was in the library looking for a new book to listen to in my car. I've just about gone through their whole selection already, so something new was hard to find. I noticed the first Twilight book was on CD. I needed something, so I caved in.
Why not give it a try. I checked out the website of the author and she notes that she loves to put standard characters into different situations, so I thought maybe this would be different, a new twist on an old legend.
So far, I was right. And I have to admit that she writes quite well.
In case you aren't familiar, here's a synopsis so far:
Young girl moves to new town, meets irresistable boy who has some quirks. His skin is pale, his eyes turn different colors, he's moody, he's aloof, he drives too fast and seems to materialize out of nowhere. Oh yeah, and he never eats. Lots of clues there. But the twist is, he's not a people biting vampire (bites animals instead) and he can be out in the daytime. The author gets by that one by having the character deny the daytime thing as 'merely lore.' With all of these clues, our heroine falls for the mysterious one anyway. Love at first sight (bite?).
So far, it seems the story is less about the vampire boyfriend than it is about a young girl moving to a new town and trying to fit in. Outcast meets outcast.
Funny thing, there is a scene where he takes her to an Italian restaurant. She orders ravioli. As far as I know, most Italian restaurants feature garlic prominently, yet, there was not mention of it, hmmm.
I'll keep reading.
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