Fiber Fool

Wednesday…

Yesterday…

I’m afraid that due to weather FO Friday will have wait. It was windy and snowing on and off for most of the day so the photo shoot was unable to occur. I also wasn’t much in the mood to get all dolled up to take photos. In fact, I don’t think there would have been a single photo without red, puffy eyes. I hope you enjoy these photos in the meantime.

Thanks also to all of you who have left your condolences on our loss of Gizzy. It means the world to my sister and I! Fortunately it sounds as though my sister will get another cat, but she feels the right cat will find her when it is time. I’m kind of hoping it isn’t too long, as I think she feels her place rather empty and lonely right now and she is such an animal person. My heart is breaking two ways - for the loss of Gizmo, but also for the pain Amber is going through. Last night she said she can’t believe that her heart really, physically hurts. *sigh* I wish I could give her a hug and cry with her. Crying over the phone isn’t nearly as cathartic I don’t think…

I was originally planning to have a happy, upbeat, perhaps even silly post here today. However, yesterday I arrived home from a great yarn crawl with Lynne to a rather somber voice mail from my mom. When it rains it pours and things happen in threes so I’m waiting to see what number three shall be…

Firstly, my eldest cousin on my mom’s side lost her home on Tuesday night (article can be read here). Somehow, her son started a fire in his bedroom and the entire home when up in smoke. They are both okay. I guess my cousin has a small burn on her thumb or something. But, they have nothing left. She is a single mother who struggles to make ends meet under normal circumstances. I cannot even fathom what they are going through today. It seems blathering about where all I’ve seen the cover of Spin-Off on display is trivial, silly and totally unimportant.

Secondly, my sister’s 9 year old three-legged cat, Gizmo, is not doing well. She had stopped eating (and she’s very demanding when it comes to her food) so Amber took her to her vet (she used to work as a tech for this vet) thinking it was a hairball or that. At first they thought it was a bowel obstruction of some sort, but now they are worried it is a tumor. She is also very anemic and the mass is rather large so there is likely nothing to be done. I haven’t heard more from Amber since last evening, but at that time they were waiting for some more concrete answers and were talking about “if she made it through the night.” Now, 9 isn’t a spring chicken for a cat, but it isn’t that old either. I love Gizmo and if it is her time already I’m going to be broken hearted. Gizmo is one of those cats that is bursting with personality. I know everyone says their cat has personality, but Giz seriously talks to me on the phone. She is a vocal cat and vocal in a way that is actually rather communicative. Whenever I visit the farm when she is also staying there and my sister is away she orders me around just like she orders Amber around, LOL! She is a very demanding and bossy cat, LOL!

Again, the troubles and decisions Amber has to face in the hours/days to come seems so much more important that any of my stupid blathering I had originally planned for today…

I’m sorry I don’t have a happy upbeat post. One filled with beautiful photos of great tasting food or fun projects taking shape. It just isn’t in me today.

EDIT: Giz is gone. The test results last night came back as FIV and this morning just as my sister was about ready for her day she started to stroke so she took her to be put down. They are burying her on the farm where her life started and where she lost her leg.

We got yet more rain overnight last night. The sun is out this morning, but looking west over the foothills it seems its time is likely rather limited. We often have a bit of a rainy season in the spring, but this is nearly 2 months early. It rained all day on Saturday too. So, what is one to do on a rainy and chilly Saturday afternoon? Bake of course!

Some of you may recall my chocolate chip cookie woes of last year. I followed the recipe off of the Ghiradelli bag of chips and had some of the worst chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. Most everyone said they like the toll house recipe and Bakerina shared some fabulous recipes. But, when the bug hit on Saturday I didn’t feel like looking up recipes on the Internet (the Mac doesn’t work with our current printer, making it a bit of an “activity” to print out things). So I turned to our old stand by - Better Homes and Gardens Old-Fashioned Home Baking. It is long out of print, but is in pretty wide circulation amongst the used book shops and online stores. Every recipe we’ve made out of this book has been fantastic. The only exception I might make would be the champagne cake, but knowing the fantastic skills of the baker I’m sure it is just that I do not champagne cake.

When it came time to make the cookies I turned to this book and it once again did not disappoint. I did accidently put too much baking soda in. I was able to remove some of it, but I would guess it ended up with more like 1 teaspoon rather than the 1/2 called for. I put slightly less chocolate chips in as the Ghiridelli chips are rather large. I also used pecans for the nuts and put in fewer of those as well. These are some of the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve had in a while. Obviously I don’t make them too often as my woeful experience was almost a year ago. But, these cookies have an outside crunch and stability to them, but the insides are still nice and chewy. They are kind of small and highly rounded, but it makes for a nice 3-bite cookie.

Now, who is going to come eat the remaining of the 71 cookies so that I do not gain 100 pounds this week? ;-)

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On a slight side note, many of you may know that Lynne of Yarnivorous is in Fort Collins this week as her husband interviews with HP. I have tried to call the hotel for which she gave me the number, but when I ask for her room by her last name I am told no one by that name is staying there. If you have further information that might get me in contact with her (such as the last name of her husband or room number), please drop me an e-mail - fiberfool AT gmail DOT com. Thanks!

Perhaps you recall a little over a month ago a silk edition of Eye Candy Friday? Well, this is what it grew up to be (so far anyway). It is rough 135 yds of fine silk singles. I have no idea what I’ll do with it. I also don’t know how much it weighs as I still haven’t gottena new battery for my scale. But, really my scale is a postal scale and isn’t as accurate as I think this small amount of silk would require. It is probably roughly 1/3 of an ounce as the hankies it was spun from were part of a 1 oz sampler pack that included two other colors. Though I did spindle spin a few layers too.

If you click on the top photo it’ll take you to Flickr where you can click on “All Sizes” and then set it as some springy desktop wallpaper if you would like.

I haven’t measured the WPI either. I know, I’m slacking on the job :-) But, the dime in here should give you a good idea of the weight. Definitely of the lace variety. This yarn has actually been complete for some time now, but I only just pulled it off of the bobbin over the weekend. We had rain on and off throughout the night and it looks as though the clouds are going to persist today so it seemed like a nice idea of have the shiny yellow silk as a bright spot in my gray day. If you are also having a gray day I hope you find it to be a nice pick-me-up as well.

I completed the knitting portion of the Ribs and Lace Tank last night. I grafted the straps this morning. I still have ends to weave in and then need to wash and block it. But, it fits! It fits well actually. I would prefer a bit more coverage in the back. I think I’ll need to get a low back bra to wear it without a shirt underneath it. But, I suspect it is much cooler to wear without a full back coverage.

I used less than 4 skeins of Cotton Fleece for the second largest size. Just in case anyone was wondering. I have a good share left of the fourth skein, though definitely less than half. My scale ran out of battery juice and I haven’t procured a new one just yet, but I’ll have that info when I do the official FO post.

Now, is there a chance I could get at least one of the two skirts that go with it sewn this week? The single fabric one I should be able to whip up in a couple of hours; the two fabric one would still take less than a day so it is possible I think. Then I have to figure out where and how I want to photo style it…