(still) the great white north...

it is somewhere near midnight and the stillness is intermittently broken by the sound of snow plows scraping against city streets. i know Canadians love their Winters, but come on already! inside, we are weathering the situation in classic us fashion: he is watching bad movies while working on a storyboard for some show, and i am dyeing yarn while drinking cheap champagne (from a coffee cup, because i am classy like that). clearly, my way makes far more sense.

i was anxiously awaiting the next phase of the balcony garden project, but this turn in the weather has dampened said excitement. i lowered the thermostat when it seemed that we were heading for an early Spring, only to be hit by a cold snap which seems to have damaged a few of the tomato plants that were nearest to the window. lesson learned. the heat has since been turned back up to 'still Winter' levels, and i am pleased to say that the survivors seems to be doing okay. [ignore my yellow-socked feet, left].

the zucchinis even appear to be thriving. 

note the (re)use of Perrier bottles as water reservoirs, which keeps the soil from drying out between regular watering.

on a related note, i recently purchased two fabric planters, and they (finally) arrived this week [here they are on Amazon, but i got them for about one-third the price on their Canadian site]. to be honest, i am not really sold on the "air pruning" benefits associated with grow-bags. yes, they are effective at preventing roots for becoming restricted, but this happens primarily because the roots die off when they come in contact with the air along the perimeter of these highly-porous pots. this does prevent the roots from becoming pot-bound (i.e., when they grow in a tight, tangled mess along the edges of a too-small pot), but the constant pruning also forces the plant to expend a great deal of resources in continuously replacing the dying roots. while i do like the concept of preventing pot-bound roots in plants that will linger for a long while, this is still Canada, and i would be lucky if it stays warm long enough to actually harvest anything before the Summer ends.

i did, however, specifically get the bags as the superior drainage they offer makes for an ideal setting for growing potatoes. apparently, it is also really good for growing cats.

seriously, i took one of the bags out of the package and walked away for a whole minute to find my camera, and she had already made herself comfortable by the time i returned.

and she refused to move, even as i was attempting to photograph the stitching inside of the bag.

then she took a nap, which is how all the best stories end.

all my secrets...

there is a giant cardboard box in the middle of my living room. there is a giant cardboard box in the middle of my living room... and it is filled with yarn. there is a giant cardboard box in the middle of my living room and it is filled with yarn... and there is even more yarn piled up on the chesterfield. there is a giant cardboard box in the middle of my living room and it is filled with yarn and there is even more yarn piled up on the chesterfield... and that is still only about half of my stash (if you include all the unspun fiber still lurking in bags and bins). i am almost ready to admit that i have a problem.

this was part of an effort to jump-start some much-needed spring cleaning. sadly, the effort derailed shortly after it began, so now there is yarn (and other random stuff) everywhere in my apartment. my mother would be appalled that i am admitting such a thing to the world, as she belongs to the 'what will people think' school of thought. fortunately, not only did the proverbial apple fall far from that tree, it rolled away and got lost... probably in pile of strings and other such silly things. i am at peace with that idea.

one would think that staring at so large a pile would put a halt to my fibery spending, right? one would have to be a newcomer to assume such crazy things. my recent trip to the yarn shop resulted in my most guilt-ridden purchase to date.

i feel like i am betraying my people by admitting this aloud, but i wear almost none of the items i make as i am (gasp) allergic to wool. this is not surprising when you consider the fact that i am allergic to all of the truly wonderful things in life (she says with great sadness, realizing that they are probably pulling tray after tray of croissants out of the oven at this very moment at the little French bakery just three doors down the street). what... where was i? oh, yes... allergic to wool. indeed. still, i walked in the yarn shop specifically because i wanted something special for myself—something that i could actually wear and enjoy. hello happiness!

this is Traumseide by Zitron (here on Ravelry) in the olive colorway (#17). it is 100% silk, but it feels like it is made from the smiles of baby pandas. it is that soft! this officially counts as a super-early birthday present from my favorite animator, though he is not allowed to look at the receipt (it is better that way, trust me). i am hoping to turn this precious-precious yarn into a Featherweight cardigan, which will automatically become the single most expensive garment i have made to date (the record currently belongs to the grey cardi/wrap i made last year for mom).

i also purchased some Luxury Collection Pima Lino Lace by Diamond (here on Ravelry). it is a cotton-linen blend, which means that i will be able to both knit and wear a garment without resorting to antihistamines and foul language.

i want to make a summery tee, like the Linum Tee, Starstruck, or sunny side [up!], but i am equally drawn to the sundress potential of the Shoals Tank and 003. the colorway is fuschia pink (#1792), which is a grand departure from my grey-scale outlook on life. strangely, the universe has seen fit to endow me with skin that absolutely comes alive in the presence of such ridiculous tones. well-played, cruel universe. well-played.

i also purchased a ball of multicolored sock yarn, as my favorite animator saw a photo of some hand-knit socks and decided that he is ready to echelon to such finery.

full disclosure: i buy a ball of multi-colored sock yarn every time i go to the yarn store, and i have yet to make a single pair of socks, but the very suggestion that such a thing may happen one of these days seems to keep him distracted from the growing stash. what's that you say, sweetie? you can't sit on the couch because it is occupied by many bags of yarn? just look at this pretty, multicolored thing. it may one day become a pair of socks for your very own feet. yep... works every time.

for now, i am genuinely afraid to touch the silk yarn, and i am indecisive as to what i will do with the other one, so i started a Bly cardigan (for self) with some yarn i found at the bottom of the stash. it is a cotton blend, and, yes, that is even more deep-pink lurking between the white fiber. clearly, i need help.

aside: i made a set of these stitch markers several years ago, and they are still my favorites.

on the domestic front, i may turn out to be the first person to get a restraining order against their own cat. she managed to get herself locked in a closet for a few hours, and now she refuses to leave my side. naturally, i am talking about the grey one, as mama kitty has far too much self-respect to engage in such antics... and too much common sense to sit in a closet for hours without making some effort to alert us to her predicament in the first place. in my defense, i was not the one who put the vacuum cleaner away in the dark, totally missing the cat as she slipped into said closet. furthermore, were it not for my insistence that someone (not me, of course) get out of bed and look for her before we fell asleep, she might have been there for the whole night. that was about three weeks ago, and she is still following me around... except, of course, when she goes off to the studio to nap in a half-empty cardboard box [which she enters by climbing on top, shoving her head through the small gap where the flaps meet, then allowing gravity to do the rest of the work]. this is a brand-new thing started in the wake of the closet incident, and it has me deeply puzzled. cat logic: i am so traumatized by being trapped in a closet, that i find it necessary to shadow you at all times. wait... gotta go sleep in a small, dark space. pretty much.

i was denied the joy of biting the face off my Easter chocolate sheep, and i have only my self to blame. i left it on a table near the balcony doors... the near eight-foot wide balcony doors... the near eight-foot wide, southwest-facing balcony doors. after a few hours of sunshine, there was a gaping hole where his face should have been. my favorite animator ate the remains and declared that i would not have liked it as it was too sweet for my taste. i will have to take his word for it, but i am not fully convinced. he did try to appease me with a chocolate bar from the Croatian store. full disclosure: it was also far too sweet for my taste, but i ate it anyway. such a cruel universe.

and, finally and most absurdly of all, he has an elderly relative who is convinced that we have secret children that we are hiding from the family... and she has apparently been voicing this nonsense to his other relatives. pretty much.

so, to recap:

1. i have wayyy too much yarn.
2. my place looks like it was hit by a tornado, and i could not care less.
3. i am obsessed with stuff that makes me sick. 
4. i spent two weeks worth of grocery money on yarn for one sweater.
5. it pains me to admit that i like bright colors. 
6. i am distracting my partner with the promise of socks (there is a joke in there if you look hard enough).
7. we locked the cat in a closet.
8. the chocolate sheep melted due to neglect.
9. we are the subject of a conspiracy involving secret children. [note: we do not have any children, and i doubt that we will ever be responsible enough to consider such a thing (because... see also #1-8)].

yep. pretty much. 

grateful...

after such a thoroughly rubbish week, i am grateful to say that life has been more of the same here at casa gnu.

picture the scene: it is somewhere around three in the morning. i am unpacking many small containers from a storage bin and lining them up on the kitchen counter. in walks my favorite animator.

him: what are you doing?
me: dyeing yarn.
him: now?
me: yep... wanna help?
him: sure!

i relinquished the role of dye-master and stepped aside with some trepidation. why? to understand that, you need to be familiar with a typical conversation in our home.

me: sweetie, would you describe this more as a purplish-pink or a raspberryish-magenta?
him: [after a quick glance] it's red.
me: worst. artist. ever!

so, yes, i was concerned. however, he did a stellar job and produced precisely the color i described. it was a bit darker in the dye pot...

but it lightened up with drying. behold the lovechild of Lucille Ball and Scully (from the X-Files)! do not get caught up in minor biological details. just look at the yarn and smile.

aside: note the use of wristbands (the type you get at concerts and other such gatherings) as tags. not only do they provide enough room to write all sorts of notes-to-self, but they are waterproof! i put them on before dyeing the yarn, and they held up nicely through the whole process.

the first skein was spun when i received the jumbo flyer as a Christmas present. i decided to go a bit thinner on the remaining fiber, so i dyed that first skein a different color. it kinda reminds me of dark-wash jeans.

on the botanical front, if you are in need of a grow project that will satisfy the impatient curiosity of small children, look no further than your friendly cucurbits (gourds, melons, and their friends). here are the zucchini seedlings just seven days after they were planted.

they are poised to go Little Shop of Horrors any day now, and it is only more frightening from the other end. note the one root that has grown through a drainage hole in the container.

we also took advantage of the warmish weather with a bit of wandering around the neighborhood. we were looking for Easter chocolates for his nephews when this happened. alas, i will eventually have to eat his little face.

i had my first visit in months to the bakery/café at the corner, and i walked out with only a coffee and a bag of meringues. truth.

there was also a trip to my local yarn shop, which did result in some more significant purchases. i was all prepared to photograph said items, but a cat got in the way...

then she decided to take a nap, so i will save that for next time.

it's a lazy afternoon...

it is an intensely lazy, late-Winter afternoon here at la maison gnu. one cat is napping on her hobo beanbag while the other one is staring intently at a patch of green light on the ceiling (it is actually the result of sunlight refracting (through, on, by...???) a half-empty bottle of Perrier, but i will not ruin her enthusiasm by pointing out that fact). then there is my favorite animator, fast asleep on the chesterfield (we are starting a campaign to bring back that term as it is so much more fun to say than couch) and possibly snoring, a suggestion which he will deny vehemently. while i would love to give myself credit for being the sole productive member of the household at present, the fact is that i have not slept since yesterday (for no particular reason), so i am not responsible for anything i may say.

i passed some part of this latest bout of insomnia by (finally) plying the alpaca/wool fiber that has been occupying my jumbo bobbins for far too long. now, instead of three bobbins of singles (crappy photo taken before dawn, hence the bluish glow)...

i have three two-point-five bobbins of yarn (equally crappy photo taken at like three o'the afternoon) ready for knitting... soon as i get around to washing, dyeing, washing again, and drying it all.

i want to go into greater detail about this fiber blend, but that may have to wait till i am slightly more alert. hopefully there will be enough yardage to make something interesting. it may not look like much, but those two jumbo bobbins are packed .

there may also be a recently-completed cardigan hanging out on the clothes horse (that is another term that needs to be used at every available opportunity). the million (or so) loose ends have been woven in (a task that i rank alongside washing a never-ending stack of dirty dishes as my personal vision of hell) and the zipper is installed and ready to go. i gave it a quick soak yesterday and left it to dry in a corner of my incredibly-arid apartment. all that is left now is to get it out of my home and my life.

there is also continued activity on the seedling front.  the peppers and eggplants are proving to be the slowest growers, but everything else is doing well to date.

i especially enjoy the shape on  the young multicultural basils.

there are even signs of life from the parsley (which is notoriously difficult to start from seeds, hence the pre-soaking).

i sowed some courgette (zucchini) seeds earlier this weeks, so hopefully there will be a couple-few of those plants ready to go when (or if) it finally warms up. despite all the prognosticating over the possibility of an early start to Spring, i am still in Canadaland and they do not let go of Winter without a fight. there was fresh snow on the ground this morning to prove that point. now pardon me as i return to staring at a cat as she stares at a wall in what may just possibly be the best afternoon i have had in a long while. until we meet again.

anticipation...

between awaiting the arrival of a much-needed new computer for the studio and the near-hourly inspection to see if any of our seedlings have reared their heads (they have not), the air tingles with great anticipation here at casa gnu. on top of that, the temperature has suddenly jumped above freezing, the snow/ice is melting, and the steady increase in daylight hours has even the kitties growing restless in anticipation of... anything. just, please, happen right now!!! 

i decided to seek distraction with yummy things. seriously. i had to find something to do, so i made a batch of stewed apples. it was either that or make soap. soap-making is fun, but... seriously... given the choice to stew apples and eat them in many different ways or make soap and use it to bathe...?  exactly. stewed apples win every single time, some of which i am presently enjoying parfait style. 

i used a total of six Granny Smiths. while it is one of my least favorite apples for eating out of hand, the Granny Smith is a go-to apple for use in cooked dishes (second only to the Winesap, which is, in my humble opinion, the gold medal standard for all-around-appleiness). due to the relatively high level of tartness in the Granny Smith, i usually skip the step of adding a splash of lemon juice (to brighten the flavor and, more importantly, to prevent browning). it is plenty bright on its own and, as for the latter concern, i employ a little bit of magic to keep the apple slices from going off-color. 

the trick to reducing browning in cut apples is to limit the exposure of the cut surfaces to the oxidizing element in the air. it really is that simple. i do this in two steps. firstly, unless it is a dish where the apple skin will get in the way, i do not peel the apples. the fewer cut surfaces, the less landscape for potential browning. beyond that, the skin is the most flavorful part of the fruit, so it seems wrong on so many levels to toss it away. secondly, i cut each apple in half, remove the core with a melon-baller, then store the pieces cut-side-down until i have all of the apple halves ready for slicing. 

once all of the coring was done, i melted a tablespoon (or so... did not measure) of unsalted butter in a skillet set over a low heat. the objective at this point is not to begin to cook the apples, but to get the slices into the pan and tossed in the melted butter before oxidation has a chance to set in. as each half was sliced, the pieces were deposited into the pan and stirred/tossed lightly to spread the insulating layer of buttery goodness. relax. it was like one tablespoon of butter and six large apples, so it is not nearly as decadent as it sounds, but that thin coating was enough to do the job. i also broke a cinnamon stick in half and added the pieces to the pan. 

the flesh of the apples stayed quite white, even as the skin was losing some of its characteristic bright-greenness.

but that did not last too long. i turned the heat up to medium and added a quarter-cup of sugar to the pan. brown is the default type of sugar around here, so the apples did pick up some of that caramel color. 

i also added a generous shake of ground cinnamon and ground ginger. 

doneness is a matter of personal-preference, as some folks like their apples to be crisp, while others prefer something along the lines of applesauce. i aim for something slightly left of center, closer to the crisp end of the scale, so i cooked the apples (uncovered) over medium heat for about seven(ish) minutes, stirring frequently (and carefully), then i covered the pan and removed it from the heat and let it sit (still covered) for another fifteen minutes or so. not gonna lie... i ate a small bowl of still-warm apples as soon as the resting period was over. the remainder was left to cool to room temperature before being transferred to a bowl and stored in the refrigerator. 

so, what does one do with a batch of stewed apples? i am glad you asked. you eat it!!! as is, over a bowl of oatmeal, atop a short stack of pancakes (if your world permits the consumption of such wonderful things), warmed with a scoop of ice cream, as a pastry filling, alongside slices of roasted meat (i maintain that this would make a far better accompaniment to turkey than the traditional cranberry sauce), or...

grab a cup, glass, bowl, whatever (we have a growing collection of these cups as there is usually one included with each box of our default bagged black tea)...

add a dollop of yogurt and a dash of granola...

spoon on some of the stewed apples...

and top with more yogurt and a garnish of granola. it is a perfect breakfast or dessert and makes for a wonderful pick-me-up when you are craving a touch of sweetness, but trying to resist eating the last of the chocolates that you hid in the pantry behind packages of dried goods. how do i know this? sorry... i am far too busy licking this spoon to answer that question. 

i have also been watching a bunch of making-stuff type videos on the You Tubes and checking out a few (new to me) blogs. full disclosure: despite my ever-mounting fascination with the making/doing lifestyle, i generally avoid blogs on the subject, unless i happen to come across them when looking for instructions or advice on a specific topic. moving on.

the first channel that caught my attention was Cold Antler Farm (here is her blog, which i love even more than her videos). she is a (sometimes) graphic designer who writes books, raises animals (for meat and fiber, so look away if you got problems with either of those things), and is the kind of all around bad-a** i hope to be when i grow up. 

then there was WayOutWest Blowinblog, an Irish vlog that left me in stitches after watching a few of their videos, so i had to hit the "subscribe" button. the narration makes you feel like you are back in childhood, listening to a favorite story. seriously, just listen to this video where she talks about giving the horse a haircut. give me a blanket and i am ready for nap time!

but the best is yet to come!!!

so, there i was watching videos about making charcoal—i really wish i could explain the thought process that leads me to need to look at such things at like midnight, but there is not enough time in the universe for all of that—when auto-play introduced me to my new favorite channel. it is called Primitive Technology (there is also a blog) and it is, simply put, experimental anthropology porn, and i feel no shame for being instantly hooked. 

this one comes all the way from the wilderness of Queensland, but there is no need to break out the Aussie-to-English dictionary, as he never talks. he just builds stuff. incredible stuff that reminds us of the ridiculous resourceful, inventiveness of primitive (hu)man. there was a hut of thatched palm, a hut of wattle and daub, then he fashioned a tiled roof hut using only rocks, wood, and the dirt/clay underfoot... and it was heated!!! as my favorite animator put it, he is all three pigs rolled into one. there i was, all proud of myself for recycling brown paper into a few plant pots, then he pretty much builds a combination lighter-drill from a rock and a twig. clearly i need to step up my game.