Strawberry Season

This is what 14 pounds of strawberries looks like.  It took me less than an hour to pick this tray.  My back was killing me when I was finished.  From this I made 5 pints of freezer jam and a strawberry cake.  Ed and the kids ate a good portion of the berries also.  They were fantastic!

The strawberry cake was my maternal grandmother's recipe.  I had to ask my siblings for a copy of the recipe.  My sister took a photo of the recipe and emailed it to me.  It was written in my grandma's own handwriting.  My sister has the original.  I think things like that are family treasures.  The last line on the recipe is 'It's Delicious!'  Grandma was absolutely right.  I did something wrong with the icing, but it didn't detract from the cake.  Somehow it was more like a glaze when I made it, but it is supposed to be a frosting.  I might have let the butter get way too soft.

I have a long car ride coming up soon.  I dug through my bins and pulled out a couple hibernating projects.  I can't decide which one to take on the trip.  I can't remember when I started this Print O' The Wave stole.  I remember buying the yarn one summer to make a mystery shawl.  I fell behind on the clues.  Once I saw a few of the finished shawls, I decided I didn't want to continue so I frogged it.  Sometime after that I started this but it hasn't gotten very far.

Another candidate is the Pi Shawl.  This has only been hibernating a few months.   

I also have a couple socks on the needles.  They probably need frogged because I don't remember where the patterns are.

I finished spinning half of the alpaca (I think) - mohair that I got from the fiber festival a couple weeks ago.  I'll spin the rest onto another bobbin and ply then together.  Hopefully I'll get about the same yardage.

I love the halo that it has.  I'm already thinking about making a cowl out of this.

Inflation

This blog doesn't get many views.  Most of the views originate from Ravelry.  I look at the number of page views each time I log in to create a new post.  Today I was stunned to see that on a day last weekend I got 17 page views.  My heart leaped with joy.  Then it was crushed.  I realized I was the viewer.  Last Saturday I updated my projects on Ravelry and had been bouncing back and forth to the blog.  I inflated my own numbers.  Oh, well.  Maybe my efforts will spawn some real views.

One project that I wish to share and hope gets noticed in the afghan I was making for my personal trainer.  I finished it Wednesday evening and wrapped it in pretty wrapping paper.  I delivered it to him yesterday morning when I went for my 6:00 am workout.  I hope he and his bride like it.

I steamed the edges a little because they wanted to curl.  Because of the cables, it wants to draw in a bit, but when stretched out it covers nicely.  The recipients are both around 6 feet tall (she a bit under, he a bit over).  It won't cover them head to toe, but it will be a nice lap afghan.  Something to snuggle under when watching TV or reading a book.  This went to them with many wishes for a long, happy marriage and an eternity of love.

Now I need to decide what my next project will be.  I'm very close to finishing the Taize shawl.  I should just buckle down and get it done before I start anything else.  What I really need is a nice, long car ride.  That would give me uninterrupted time to work on it.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get out in the morning to do some strawberry picking.  The place I hope to go is closed today to allow their fields to replenish.  Rumor has it that the crowds have been larger this year.  I'll need to get up there right when they open to get a good spot.  Blake put in a request for strawberry freezer jam.  I also want to make a strawberry pie.  I have my mom's recipe and it is delicious.   It does not use gelatin, rather corn starch to create the glaze. The recipes that use gelatin just taste strange to me.  I wish I had my grandmother's strawberry cake recipe.  Some of my sisters have the recipe, but I've never gotten it.  I'll have to call my mom tonight and ask for it.

Last fall, after Kristin went away to college, I bought her a plant for her dorm room.  It was a succulent.  I figured it didn't need much water and would be easy to care for.  Boy, was I wrong!  When we picked her up before Christmas, that poor plant looked pathetic.  When she went back for second term, I told her I would keep the plant home and nurse it back to health.  My attention has been rewarded.  The plant is now blooming.

There doesn't seem to be any fragrance to the blooms.  They remind me a bit like the plant from Little Shop of Horrors.  If I hear a voice calling for Seymour, I'll know we are all in trouble.

June Already?!

The school year has ended for all of my children.  The two high schoolers finished their exams yesterday.  The girls have jobs but Blake, since he doesn't yet drive, hasn't gotten one.  Ed and I are trying to convince him to apply at the grocery store down the street.  It is only a mile away.  There is a bike path the entire way so he could ride a bicycle there and back.  He is going to spend a week with his cousins.  After the vacation we will push him a little harder to get his first job.

My sister recommended a book, which I got from the library yesterday.  It is called Proof Of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander.  In the book he relates his near death experience and how it changed him from a non-believer into a believer.  In the book he tells how his NDE taught him that the fundamental element of the universe is unconditional love.  What I found most interesting is that his description of this love reminded me of the talk Aron Ralston gave at the conference I attended in April.  Aron Ralston is the person that the movie 127 Hours is based upon.  Before freeing himself, Aron told of an experience he had, describing it using the words 'unconditional love'.  Both men mention also meeting someone during their experience that at the time was unknown to them, but enters their life later.  As someone who already believes in the Divine, I don't need to read/hear these accounts to change my belief.  But it has given me some clarity and comfort when I think about my dad.  Having a glimpse into how beautiful and glorious the world beyond ours is helps me to know that he is at peace.  If you ever have a chance to read the book by Dr. Alexander or hear Aron Ralston speak, take it.  

Speaking of love, I have less than one week to finish the afghan for my trainer and his bride.  Their wedding is next weekend.  I am in the final stretch.  According to the pattern, I have only 7 rows to go.  However, he is 6'3" and she is 5'11".  I think at least one more repeat of the pattern and then the final 7 rows are needed.  I have enough yarn and time for that.  I actually have enough yarn for 2 more pattern repeats.  If I want to give this to them before the wedding, I won't be able to do 2 more repeats.  I'll make a decision Monday.  I'm a master at pushing the limit of deadlines.

Great Lakes Fiber Fair

Every Memorial Day weekend, the Great Lakes Fiber Fair is held in Wooster, Ohio.  Several years ago I went for the first time.  I met up a friend who lives in Canada.  She and I hadn't seen each other in over 15 years.  I really enjoyed the show, but since I wasn't into spinning I didn't find much among the vendors to purchase.

Yesterday I went back and took a friend with me.  Since I am now spinning, I came home with bags of goodies.  The show seemed larger than it had been last time.  There were more vendors and a lot more people attending.  The only part that didn't seem to grow was with respect to lunch.  There were only three food vendors and only a handful of picnic tables.  Parking was also interesting because there seemed to be another event at the fairgrounds also.  But the weather was perfect and we enjoyed our adventure.

Here is what I came home with.

Fiber Optic was at the show.  I got a skein of lace weight in Milkweed.  Very pretty green color!

This is a skein of unknown fiber from an unknown vendor.  It seems to have a little silk in it.  The colors caught my eye and I bought on impulse.  My friend is an enabler! 

On our first pass through through the market, I noticed this blue roving.  Since it was the last of its kind on the rack, I bought it because it probably wouldn't be there when we came back through.  While waiting to pay, I noticed the green.  It had to come along also.  I can't decide if I want to spin these together or separately.  I'll have to think it over.

This roving didn't photograph as beautifully as it is in person.  The vendor had a sample of it spun up.  It was very lovely.

Just as we were ending our journey through the market, the lady at the last vendor booth told us that she was selling her entire inventory because she was getting out of the fiber business for family reasons.  She mostly had raw fiber, but there were a few bags of roving.  I took two.  The first was 20 ounces of Rambouillet.  There are 5 balls in the bag.  That was the price for the entire bag, not just one ball.

The second bag I purchased was 40 ounces of Mohair.  The price was unbelievable. The lady said that it has been sitting for a while and it a bit smashed.  I'll have to carefully tease it apart when I spin it.

I also rooted through a grab bag of roving odds and ends.  The blue-green roving below came home with me along with 10 of his twin brothers.  It feels very much like colonial alpaca that I spun a few months ago.  The white on the right is a bit of the Mohair. 

I decided to try spinning them together.  Since I don't have a carder to blend them, it is a bit fussy, but I am liking the results.  The Mohair is giving it a nice halo.

This should keep me busy for a while.  Now I have to figure out where to store all of these goodies.  Time to head out to Target for a few more plastic bins.

Flower Power

The project I've been involved with at work is wrapping up.  My life should become a bit less stressful soon.  The co-worker issues from a few weeks ago are slowly resolving.  A good sign for an enjoyable summer.

I received a very sweet surprise on the Friday before Mother's Day.  A gentleman that I work with, who lost his wife this past year, came around and gave every mother in the department a rose.  He said he would give his wife dozens of roses on Mother's Day.  He wanted to honor her memory by sharing the roses with the moms in the office.  It was such a sweet gesture.  I started crying and gave him a big hug.

This is the rose he gave me.  My family added a dozen more yellow roses on Mother's Day.  I don't have a picture of that bouquet but they were very lovely.

Saturday night was Trisha's prom.  She was absolutely beautiful!!  I'm glad she had a nice date for the dance.  There was quite a bit of drama leading up to the event, and it looked like she wouldn't have a date.  This young man surprised her with an invitation.  They have been friends for years and made the evening low key and no pressure for them both.

My oldest daughter, Kristin, spent a good portion of Mother's Day baking for me.  She made me blueberry scones for breakfast.  I don't have a picture of them because they didn't last long enough to pull the camera out.  As a family, we went out to an early dinner and then had dessert later in the evening.  Kristin made a Red Velvet cake with a layer of cheesecake in the center.  She said she had eaten this dessert at one of her sorority banquets and loved it.  It was yummy.  I especially loved the cheesecake center.

This weekend is decidedly less eventful.  I took off work early on Friday because the project completed on Thursday.  I got the screens replaced in all of the windows in the house.  I spent part of Saturday with a group of friends quilting, which is something I haven't done in years.  Today has been focused on knitting the blanket for my personal trainer and planting these hibiscus plants in pots on the front porch.  I love the color and hope they bloom all summer long.