Smells Good!

DSC06475

Originally uploaded by hjaponi

It takes me forever to shop for groceries. I read the ingredients on everything and search for products that aren’t loaded with what I call Frankencrap – chemicals, preservatives and tons of added sugars, fat and salt. I’ve reached the conclusion that about 90% of what is sold as food is actually poison! So I find myself buying more basic ingredients (organic when possible) and fewer prepared foods. Much healthier and much less expensive. Yes, it takes time to make food from ingredients but honestly, I have a lot more time than money, and good health is well worth a little time spent preparing food.

What you see here is my third attempt at baking bread, and the first loaf that has actually risen! My other breads were tasty, but, shall we say, a little dense? Made great toast, but not so hot for sandwiches. This loaf looks a lot more like what I am after – we’ll see what I think after I slice it! The recipe came from a vegan baking book from the library. The book has so many great recipes that I think I will buy it for my personal library.

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Rainy Day Reward

Quite honestly, the weather has been quite bleecchhh ever since the first day of spring. Spring has actually been far worse than winter was! It’s been cold, grey, dreary and rainy almost every day. We’ve had a day here and there with the bright sunshine and warmth that makes you instantly forget all the bad days, but it just doesn’t stick around.

Today was another one of those cold, damp days. But tonight, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset sky right through the raindrops!

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Woven Napkins

Woven Napkins

Originally uploaded by hjaponi

Here’s the southwest napkins, washed and pressed. Starting from the bottom, there are four colorways, each woven with a different color weft. The differences are subtle but noticeable – much more so in person than in the photo. The small piece at the top was an experiment at the end of the warp. While the napkins are plain weave, the top piece is a twill treadling with white weft. It’s amazing how much more draw-in I got from the twill (two inches compared to a little less than 1/2 inch on the plain weave.) The top piece feels like it would be nice as a towel, so that will be my next project – 5/2 cotton plaid towels. Stay tuned!

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Goldilocks is finally a sock!

Yippee! My yarn is finally turning into a sock. Just a plain ol’ ribbed sock – but that’s ok!

I am trying a few different things on the heel and foot. First, I knit a garter stitch border on the heel flap (first three and last three stitches of every row are garter), which makes it easier and neater to pick up stitches later on. Found that tip in the Charlene Schurch book (the first one). Then, I decided to use the traditional slip 1, knit 1 heel flap stitch on the bottom of the heel as well as the back of the heel, which should add a little padding. And finally, instead of knitting the sole stitches, I am purling them so the inside of the sock will be a little smoother. And now that I’ve written all this here, I’ll be able to do it again on the second sock!

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