Spring things

It’s hard to believe it ‘s Spring in the Adirondacks. We have two feet of snow on the ground and the temperature was three degrees f today.

But the sun is stronger, the days are longer and I have heard a few new bird songs.

My gift to me is a fair isle vest, knit with three commercial yarns and three handspun skeins (one skein was dyed from all the onion skins we collected during our three month idyll at Deal Island Lighthouse, Tasmania).

My cleaning and organizing obsessions continue. This time in the spice rack. Last fall, I hung several bunches of herbs and peppers to dry and it was time to put them to use. One big mistake I made was not labeling them in the fall when they looked like the actual plant and not dry , shriveled weeds. I could confirm sage but the rest were more subtle. One I made into a tea to sample and am calling it Lemon. Perhaps it was lemon balm or lemon basil but Lemon it is. I’ve called two unidentifiable bunches parsley. One may have been parsley and the other possibly cilantro. Who can tell?

Once the herbs were store in jars, They needed to be easier to find. I keep my spices in two baskets: one with sweet spices for baking; and the other with savory spices for cooking. I could never tell from the top what was in each of the jars. So I decided I needed to label the tops. I was able to use a permanent marker for the later tops and opted for nail polish for the black tops.

The nail polish did not work so well so I had to get creative with the names. Chili powder became “Hot”, Rosemary became the picture of a rose, garam masala is GAR M. I hope I remember my creative code.

Snow is great and the private ski area right next door was open on Sunday so we threw our skis on our shoulders and walked next door to go skiing. Just pinch me. I had to relearn how to use a rope toe, a very fast rope toe. I brought old leather lined mittens for the task but they weren’t strong enough. I had to trade them in for a pair of industrial cowhide gloves which worked beautifully
.

To(o) Organize(d)

I hit a breaking point. My work area was a disaster. I knew I had crossed a line when Tim cleaned around my work area because there was so much stuff in piles on the floor. So I got to work. First I moved my weaving and spinning equipment off the floor. I haven’t committed to where I want to permanently install my warping board so I hung it with my rigid heddle loom for now. Wreath hooks hold it over a door when I measure a warp.

I was feeling pretty good after that first step.
My work table was cluttered with all my works in process. I considered two ways of organizing a work space. Leave everything out to remind me what I am working on or hide everything. Looking at all my plans was paralyzingly me so I chose to hide them away. I hope I remember all my projects. I left the quilt in process on a shelf with its quilting hoop; found a bag for my braided rug and material; stowed my yarn, alpaca and llama fleeces; put my quilt pieces and batting in a tub; and found a place for my rope collection for future rugs. I had a pile of tee shirts I plan to make into a quilt for me but they made a big pile. So, I cut out the logos out for the quilt and saved the bottoms for future rug strips. Somehow, the same amount of material seemed more organized.
I went from this

To this

Feeling real good!
To think all my quilting fabric used to fit in this little trunk.

I’ve come a long way. Now where is my measuring tape?