Today I'm letting Ginny's Yarn Along be my inspiration for my post, because my mind has topic gridlock.
Yesterday I cleaned out the pantry, which was in a sore state. I tend to just shove the overflow in there (in sharp contradiction of my express principles). So I organized the food, found places for a lot of stuff that was just on the floor, and generally made it so that I didn't want to barf when I went in there.
The problem is that there are so many projects going on, and this is my project room as well as my food storage room!
Simply, the floor. Sometimes you can't see it… |
Yes, these are pictures of a ‘tidy' pantry. This is indeed the best I can do!
Back to yarn.
Last week I went to the sale at our local yarn shop and lucked out with enough Shetland wool to make something largish for someone for Christmas (nod, wink). At 75% off the yarn, I'm feeling very smug about that.
It's not easy to take a photo of black yarn. |
You can see it all packed into this wire drawer. It's black. That one drawer is my yarn stash, and I have vowed not to let there be more yarn than what fits in there. That seems wise, doesn't it?
Aaaanyway, I also picked up these little skeins for a dollar, with the idea that I could maybe make little fingerless mitts or some other small project. However, each one is only 110 meters, and I'm not sure that the vague idea I had of combining them in some sort of striped pattern to eke out the yardage (meterage?) is going to work.
Any ideas?
They are pretty, aren't they? The mustardy yellow was in my mother's stash, but I assume it's about the same amount. I do think the green and the heathery beige could go together.
Now, about the books.
I took a little trip to the library yesterday and got these (all but the Euclid, which was lent by a friend).
Going from bottom to top:
Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts For The Ones You Love has some attractive patterns, including something that might do for the black. Simple, knit in the round, useful. And it may be that when I can look through this book for small projects, I will find a pattern for the little skeins. I'd say that of the books in the library, this one had the fewest truly ugly patterns. Honestly, some people's ideas of what could be worth making, much less wearing!
Backyard Sugarin': A Complete How-To Guide, Third Edition was recommended by Amanda Soule yesterday, and I immediately requested it and lo! It came in right away. Love that interlibrary loan! So far I love it.
How-to books should all begin this way: with what makeshift apparati folks have come up with, leading up by degrees to the ideal, ‘proper' if you want to call it that, usually more expensive set-up that only someone who is committed will get into.
Obviously you don't know if you are committed until you try, and there is always room for failure, improvement, and experience. Why all books aren't like this, I don't know. In fact, this is what we try to do here on the blog. Show you what's possible without all the money and shiny equipment…that's what I like. I often have to convince myself that spending a teeny weeny bit of money is okay.
Next year, if I can convince the Chief of this, we might get into maple sugaring.
I did think of it before. We have a neighbor who, every once in a while, pops over to tell me what I should do. A few years ago he came over quite unexpectedly to tell me I should tap my trees!
Well, yes, I should! But I don't think he realizes that not everyone is ready to do what they should do.
I'm a city girl. I can almost tell a maple from an oak, but not quite. If I had been younger, I think I would have cried after his visit, because really, he could have offered to help me to do it or at least to figure out how to do it. Instead, I sort of laughed it off, but in truth I would have loved to tramp around with him, figuring out which trees are best.
Maybe now he'll tell me. I'm even older now.
And maybe he has some of the equipment in one of his ramshackle structures…
The Euclid is there because we are about to start into it with Bridget. I believe that Euclid can be profitably studied by a mature student. It should be in every high school curriculum (even though it's part of the Quadrivium), which sort of falls into the category of “do what I say, not what I do” because only some of my children have studied it, and not at home.
That's mainly because I've been unsure I could tackle it, not having studied it myself. But my friend convinced me I could and that she would help if necessary (see, that's a bit of a different approach from my neighbor's!).
Some other time when we're talking about education, and not yarn, I'll go into it and why it's better for a kid to study Euclid than any amount of philosophy or even literature. But anyway, that is why that book is there.
And The Search for Joyful is my bedtime reading as of last night. It's a sequel to Mrs. Mike, a book I found irresistible reading but oh, so traumatic! Then yesterday in the library I realized that it is a novel, and that makes it a bit better — to think that it didn't actually happen to a real person, although of course, many wrenching things do happen in real life.*
However, this book doesn't seem to be as well written, so I may abandon it unless you can convince me it gets better.
So, these are your action items:
Ideas for those little skeins, talking me out of maple sugaring, and telling me if that book, The Search for Joyful, is worth it.
XOXO!
*Okay, it's not a novel, even though it was in the novel section and the authors call it a novel. Other than the whole trauma thing, it's a wonderful story and I guess I'm good with knowing it's true. However, the consensus from the comments and private conversations is that the sequel is not worth reading and gets worse the longer you go into it. So I'm going to finish My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams, started last year, instead. That's far more edifying!
priest's wife says
…don't ask me about maple sugaring- I am of the mind that if your plants give something- find a way to use it- I know that sugaring is far more complicated than picking oranges that magically appear…but…
your neighbor reminds me of my father-in-law. He has 200 'families' (that's what they are called in the old country) of honeybees. last summer, He gave the dear sisters a long lecture how they simply must have bees on their convent property- but he didn't offer to give them some families and help them set it up…
Snap says
You have been busy and now thinking about sugaring! wowow! all your yarn is lovely and my white cat would love the black yarn !!!!! 😀 😀 😀
Ginger says
Just seeing your yarn makes me laugh. My mom, who can knit and crochet, taught me neither. She did however get me a skein of yarn and a “how to teach yourself” to crochet book this last Christmas. What a hoot! OH, it also came with a free lesson, from mom. Anyway, I used the yarn already for a Sunday School class project for my five year old group, which by the way had nothing to do with knitting or crochet. Ha! I am no a knitter, however I am the Queen of “Making Due.”
I love you site, and I always laugh. I thought you may like Wendell Berry, the author. I would begin with Hannah Coulter. If it is not one of the best books you have ever read, I would be surprised.
Maybe, you could “ask?” your neighbor to help? Maybe he is one of those that likes to be asked.
I hope you have a blessed day, and I love black yarn. It's cold and wet and rainy here, I wish I had a big giant black aphgan to curl up with, while my children are performing their “cooking show” for me.
Many blessings,
Ginger
_Leila says
Hi Ginger! I enjoy reading Berry, but I didn't absolutely enjoy Hannah Coulter, just because I am hypersensitive to polemical fiction. I just thought the fiction side suffered, but I'm very critical that way. A novel has to be super well written for me to enjoy it, hence my proclivity for re-reading the classics.
This Mrs. Mike sequel seems to have the same issue. The polemical side keeps breaking through.
I am going to ask my neighbor to help. I think he might just do it…
Kate says
If my memory is correct, I think Alicia over at love2learn tapped her maples last year. I seem to remember some photos of refashioned milk jugs and Wisconsin maples.
Lisa G. says
“Not everyone is ready to do what they should do” – ahhhhhhhh how true!
J.C. says
Oooh, never thought about teaching Euclid in High School…that might meet our state requirement for a separate semester in geometry for H.S. Math (as opposed to geometry within algebra like the old Saxon texts do which they will not accept) I had a semester at TAC (before my husband and I decided to drop out and get married; we already had prior undergrad degrees…) and I loved it!!! Unfortunately, our old books are a continent away in storage… 🙁 –J.C.
_Leila says
I think that's a great idea, but I also think it would take longer than a semester in HS to get through book 1.
Rachel says
Skeins for $1! You can't lose there! What about bumblebee fingerless mitts with the charcoal and mustard wool? Although striping is not so much fun…or fingerless mitts for tiny hands?
Grace says
Yummy yarn! And, hey, I think we have the sewing machine. I have a Pfaff Hobby 1142. Is that what you have? I've noticed on here that you quilt…saw your mat and ruler. I love to quilt and just thought of having a page on my blog to keep a record of what we make. Don't know when I'll do that yet, but I'd like to.:) I'm really enjoying your blog!;)
_Leila says
Grace, mine is a 1040. It's a very sturdy little machine.
Grace says
I love my Pfaff! It's also a very sturdy little machine. I just found out I can embroider with it which is what I'm currently working on.:) Thanks for replying…and happy sewing!;)
womanofthehouse says
I can't help you with any of your action items, but I just wanted to say that your pantry/project room is lovely. It shows how a real person handles food storage and space for projects in a real home in real life. That's real appealing to me!
jodi says
Love you, Leila. Sometimes I get into a funk, thinking I'm too old to start some projects, although my heart says, “Do, it.” Bee keeping's one of them. Maple sugaring, oh my. You and I are about the same age, I'm guessing. I hope you do go for it! You're my hero. 🙂
margo says
another chime in with no answers for the action items: I have towering piles of fabric, but only one little bag of yarn. I find I need to buy yarn specifically for projects so I get enough. It's not like fabric, where you can guess or add in something else; I mean, yarn comes with soooo many variables and knits up so differently.
I am busy busy busy – first it was a grad class, now it is a craft show next week – THEN I am going to rip into all the messes in my house. Seeing your workroom is inspiring!
Never read Euclid. A little embarrassed. Maybe I will be checking it out of the library. I hope you tell us soon what is valuable about him.
Amy V says
Just popping in to say “Hi” as part of Yarn Along. I think your pantry looks real nice!
sibyl says
I'm not going to try to talk you out of maple sugaring. I think you should try. The idea with me is — and I speak as an incredibly lazy woman filled with regret at all the time I've already wasted in my life, which is more than half over — the idea with me is that we should all just try to learn new skills, having acquired the maturity to realize that we're going to do poorly on our first attempts.
My new resolution is that I'm going to by golly figure out how to make myself a skirt. I mean, a non-wrap-around skirt. I've got one of those, but that's cheating, since it's just one big circle of fabric with a tie sewn on.
Then, I'm going to learn how to make my own egg rolls. I'm deathly afraid of egg roll wrappers and do not own a deep fryer, but that's my goal.
As for Euclid, I strongly recommend every high school kid — especially those smarty pants, argument-crazy 15 year olds who think they're smarter than God — get taken on a guided tour through Euclid. Talk about challenging, but fascinating! The first time I actually worked out a proof for my very own, I dreamed about winning mathematics prizes!
_Leila says
Thanks, Sibyl. I know you can make skirts and eggrolls! Just don't get them mixed up!! 😉
Kaylana says
I'd say give the tapping a try. We did it last year – maple and birch! We collected the sugar water twice a day and just kept the pots simmering. The reward was worth the effort.
Euclid would be worth the time too. Read parts of it a few years ago. I'll have to dig into it again soon. Thanks for sharing.
_Leila says
Hi Kaylana, Yes, I am convinced about Euclid. It's the other book I'm having trouble believing in 😉
no spring chicken says
I just have to say it. I love the way you think on paper. My sister has always had this mildly irritating way of telling me when all of my thoughts are tumbling out of my mouth, just in case I wasn't aware. It goes like this. I'm rambling on, complete with rabbit trails and explatives when I notice the grin on her face, “tic, tic, tic, tic, tic…..” she says!! Can you imagine the nerve? I love YOU and I think that SHE is actually just jealous. 🙂
Pat says
Geometry is actually part of the Quadrivium. The Trivium = grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic. The Quadrivium = arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The Sayers piece explains this.
_Leila says
Pat, you are right! I got all confused. I edited the post to be correct, I hope! Thanks!
alpineflower says
See, now, this is where your Ravelry account will come in handy. Go to Patterns and do an Advanced search. Check the boxes for the weight of your yarn and your yardage, and check “Free” under availability. I pulled up over 2,000 free patterns using 150-300 yards of worsted weight yarn. I love love LOVE their pattern search! If you have questions on how to do it, friend me in Ravelry and ask away – I'm alpineflower there too!
_Leila says
Alpineflower, thanks! I was doing that for the *something I was going to make with the black (and not finding what I wanted, although I usually do and have several faves already). I hadn't thought to do it with the other ones!
LJ says
Oh my word!!!! Mrs. Mike is my favorite book in the world- I didn't realize there was another!!! You've just made me so happy!!!
On a less interesting note- how long do your potatoes keep like that without spoiling? Do you grow them yourselves, then store them in the pantry? Or is long-term storage better in the cellar? It's fine if you have no idea… just thought I'd ask. 🙂
_Leila says
Seriously, LJ? That book didn't just rip your heart out and leave it in the Canadian wilderness??
I haven't grown potatoes. Those are from the store 😉 They keep there for a few weeks, but usually we go through them kinda fast, being potato lovers. The pantry is rather cool in the cool weather – in summer I just make sure I use them faster.
Breanna says
That book ripped MY heart out and left it with the women who had second families because all the first ones died… yikes. You made me feel better when you told me it's a novel. Now just don't read “Tisha,” which is not a novel, and which bothered me more. Give me bighearted Elinor Pruitt Stuart every time… if you have to have my heart, at least leave it with the sagebrush.
LJ says
Mrs. Mike is based on a true story… the Freedmans worked with the real Mrs. Mike to write it from her memory. In Search of Joyful I think is the one that is a novel.
I really, really did love it. I think it did a lot in terms of giving me a healthy role model of wife-and-mother to look up to. (Not that my own family isn't wonderful, but teenagers can't have too many good role models!) I just read it at a time that I strongly identified with the young Cathy… and I wanted to meet a man just like Mike, and grow up and be mature with him! (The preponderance of Mikes in the Catholic universe makes me happy on this account, that I may in fact someday be “Mrs. Mike.”) The story of her children dying is awful… but then, so are many things in life. I appreciated how Cathy and Mike worked through it, and how she came back to him- that was so meaningful to my little teenage self! Also, every teenage girl should read the part where she realizes that her sisters are squabbling over something meaningless- burnt toast- and that there are more important things to worry about in life. It does wonders to help girls stop being so self-centered!
Linda says
Thank you so much for visiting Leila. I love meeting new friends – it is especially nice to meet a fellow knitter. My stash of yarn has gone way down ever since my granddaughters decided they wanted to learn to knit! Often when they visit I let them take home whatever they want.
I've saved lots of little bits to use in an afghan I've been crocheting for years. There is no particular color scheme to it – just whatever I have on hand. It us looking very homey!
Only in Louisiana says
It is refreshing to see “true life” in your pantry! I usually get discouraged about how my cabinets look but seeing this post makes me feel better! Thanks for showing us that not everything is “perfect”
Shayla says
For the little skeins, I thought of booties, but then I know nothing about knitting and how much yarn it takes to do such things. 🙂
Tracey says
I think you should try maple sugaring! If I didn't live in the deep south I would have every tree tapped. I think the whole idea sounds great. This is all coming from someone who has never done it so I could be wrong.
Love, love, love your pantry.
Warmly,
Tracey
nt12many says
Well, my goodness Leila…sometimes I think we were twins separated at birth! I read Mrs. Mike oh, I don't know, maybe twenty-five times in high school? That book gripped me. Although I grew up in New Mexico my father was an archeologist who specialized in Alaskan so I (somehow) identified with Mrs. Mike.
DON'T bother finishing the second book! I gave it to a daughter for Christmas and then read it after I gave it to her (a practice I usually avoid since I read most of the gift books as I wrap them) and I was sorry I gave it to her. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
Jill Farris ” target=”_blank”>http://www.generationalwomanhood.wordpress.com ” target=”_blank”>http://www.jillcampbellfarris.com
_Leila says
Jill, thanks for the reverse-recommendation/confirmation of my suspicions.. I think I'm not going to continue with it. It seems dumb. I have so many books I need to finish!
herbwifemama says
Can I call you Auntie Leila? Because I kind of wish you were my Auntie. I think the green and heathery yarn will go great, and all I can think about is some variation on this: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTmrsbeeton…
jenletts says
Those are gorgeous! And I love the reference to Mrs Beeton's twin Virtues of Economy and Frugality…bookmarking now!
TessaDiane says
I'm so boring….I just make washcloths with my little bits of yarn.
Breanna says
Oh, the bit of yarn–wristlets for the arthritic crocheter/knitter/typist/painter/etc. (Little joint-warmer wristbands, but you can throw in some lace or make them ruffled for the femme crocheter/knitter.)
Erin says
Thank you so much for stopping over at my place. 🙂 I can't believe the yarn deal you got! I'm hoping to find some of that same yarn luck soon.
You and I have the same yarn stash philosophy- only as much as the one box- if it starts to overflow I need to get knitting before I can buy anything else!
Rochelle says
Hi!!
I'm pretty sure I read Mrs. Mike as a girl, but now I'm not sure. I guess I'll have to pick it up at the library just to be sure. BUT….Wikipedia says that it is a true story.. .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Mary_Flannigan“ target=”_blank”> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Mary_Flannigan” target=”_blank”>.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Mary_Flannigan. 🙂
Love the yarn. No ideas, but I'm sure whatever you make will be lovely.
Rochelle
PS: I'm tired today, (8 weeks pg with 2 toddlers is exhausting….) so my writing is suffering, but I want to let you know that my friend Jen and I adore your blog….you know we read you a good bit when I saw Dr. Pepper with SUGAR at her house and told her about Rose's recipe….and she of course knew who “Rose” was. 🙂
_Leila says
Rochelle, in this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Mike it says it is a novel, but based on Katherine Flannigan's life. The authors keep calling it a novel in the information on the other book. I feel like I have to be in denial about it all in order to get through the day!
Thanks to you and Jen!
Joy says
Oh, I love “Mrs. Mike” although I cry buckets every time I read it. My mother gave it to me when I was about 16yo.
I really want to work through Euclid with my oldest son next year. He has already worked through a “normal” geometry book but I think Euclid would be a jewel in his math crown for his senior year. We're probably going to use a book called “Euclidian Geometry: A First Course” for *my* sake because I need the hand holding although I'd love for us to read through Euclid on the side. We'll see. My poor firstborn is always my guinea pig in these things.
Beautiful yarn. I look forward to seeing what you make with it.
Joy
Liz Nichols says
Hi Auntie Leila! Since you asked…
Don't read the sub-par book because there are just too many good books and really good ones, so you should read those.
Also, don't sugar the trees because while it does sound lovely, it seems like…well, exhausting (but I just made many dozens of cookies with little Max's “help” for my sister-in-law's bridal shower this weekend, so I am pretty exhausted myself)
Drink tea and make dish clothes out of the yarn.
Now that I think about it, though, maybe I'm just giving you the advice I'd like someone to give me. Off I go to the tea and baby blanket #2 (which I think it going to a friend, but it is really fun and easy. I'll make sure Annie gets a picture she can show you and the pattern if you'd like it.)
Nancy says
Thank you for taking pictures of your pantry. Your home looks like a home..in the midst of Lenten Spring Cleaning myself.
Michelle Reitemeyer says
Why tap the trees? You can buy real maple syrup at most any store…for $50 a gallon.
Lisa says
You do have an adorable pantry and yarn stash..cute..cute!
Lisa
Cherie says
We tapped our maples this year, in a completely half-hearted effort. By “half-hearted” I mean this: I “identified” maples last fall on a quick tramp around with the then 2-year old and then a few weeks ago we tapped in some $1.37 plastic taps and hung some old milk jugs on them. We got three gallons of sap, which we boiled down over our fire pit in a day into about 8 oz. of syrup.
We will definitely do it bigger and better next year, but this rather lackadaisical effort suited what the energy we were able to muster at this moment in time. It was encouraging and now our daughter knows that syrup comes from trees.
So I say: do it.
Ginger says
Cherie, I help people begin their businesses…or at least I used to before children. Anyhow, this is exactly the advice that I gave people when the began their venture. I would advise them to begin small while aiming at the big picture.
I bet that was the yummiest syrup ever!
Catherine says
Auntie Leila,
I love your blog! First time commenting, although I have been reading it since about Oct. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us (I need all of it). I am a young mom of two, with a 3rd in heaven. My oldest is 7 and I am homeschooling.
I am VERY interested in your thoughts on Euclid (never heard of anything but Euclidean Geometry – is Euclid a person? – I'm sure I am screaming my ignorance with that question). I am right now trying to decide which direction to go in our homeschooling. I love the Sayer's essay you link to, and like the idea of classical education (but never experienced it myself so wondering if I can do it at home), but also loving the idea of learning from real quality literature (those may be mutually attainable). Your comment that Euclid is more important than literature really hit me. I know we are years away, but I don't want to waste precious time heading in wrong directions, so this topic is pertinent now.
Thank you for taking the time to answer all our questions and pass on your wisdom!
God bless, Catherine
_Leila says
Catherine, I will try to gather my thoughts about Euclid. To clarify, it's not that I don't think LITERATURE is important, but I do think that “literature” as a subject in high school — with all that is implied in criticism and analysis — can backfire and tank the effort to foster a love of good books. A little goes a long way. Whereas thinking clearly — well, what can a high schooler need more than that?
April says
As for the yarn, I was thinking more along the lines of a cowl or 3 (since most cowl patterns are around 100 yards each). Ravelry has a ton of free cowl patterns. I've made this one: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ripple-co… and this one http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ridged-la…
And, by the way, my ravelry name is aprilwknits
Deirdre says
Yay Euclid!!
Rosario says
Leila, I found your blog over at Joyfilled Family. I was inspired by your ideas of homemaking that I got started in my own home. Come over to my blog beads4prayer and look what I did with my space above my sink. Thanks so much for your wonderful posts.