Cabin Crafted

Author: Cabincrafted1

  • Windfall

    During the harvest season, canning jars and especially lids were impossible to locate. Yesterday when we went to meet up with Son 1 and Grandson 1, part of the exchange was taking them 16 pint jars of pickles and salsas, 6 quart jars of Tomatillos, plus two of the chickens from our freezer, along with some herbs grown here and dried, and strings of the drying Thai peppers. I had asked if they could return a similar number of pint jars from prior years.

    The day before we left, our curbside grocery pick up did not have the soft drink brand and style that hubby enjoys, so we went to the other larger grocer in town and I masked and slipped in to see if I could purchase them and came out also with a flat of a dozen new pint jars with lids and bands.

    When we were preparing to end our visit yesterday and head home, we made the exchange of goods, their filled jars, their old pressure canner that has resided here for 15 years but needs parts available at Rural King, and a few other items, and son loaded a huge box of empty jars in our car, including a brand new still sealed flat of half pint jars, my other go to size. Though the pantry shelves look less full, the jars were filled for them with love and goodness, but the supply for next year is great.

    I have 3 dozen empty pint jars, 2 1/2 dozen empty half pint jars and since about half the jars have brand new lids and rings, they can be used for the goodies I can for them for next year. The reusable lids will go on jars that are destined for out use.

    The afternoon was gorgeous. After making the lining for the Christmas stocking, blocking the stocking and sewing in the lining and tag, I gathered the dried pepper plants that were hanging in the utility room and carried them with a basket out to sit in the sun on the back deck and clip all of the peppers off of the branches. They will be strung to finish drying, it appears like another couple strings, and the tiniest ones will be infused in vinegar for winter greens.

    A walk as the day was fading was added to the day then home for dinner, left in a delayed start oven.

    Part of my sadness yesterday was notification that a young member of our extended family has passed away. It isn’t my place to share more, but my thoughts and heart are with the family.

  • Happiness and sadness

    I am happy for the most part today. Last night I finished the knitting and cross stitched tag for the newest grandson’s Christmas stocking. It needs to be steam blocked and the lining made and sewn in.

    I’m happy today because we drove a couple hours to the Skyline Drive and met up with Son 1 and Grandson 1 and had a socially distanced, masked visit, and picnic in the woods. We hadn’t seen them in person since last Christmas and miss them terribly. The grandson is now 15 and taller than his 6’1.5″ tall Granddad, but he hasn’t caught up with his Dad yet. It was a chance to take them some of the pickles and salsas that I canned for them and to deliver part of their Christmas gift that we couldn’t mail. We are going to try again in about a month and do another meet up. The time on the road was so worth it.

    The drive to and from gave me some spindle spinning time as hubby drove the interstates and while we sat on picnic tables to visit.

    Sadness, because we are approaching two holidays where our family tries to gather and won’t this year. We learned today that DIL’s 90some year old grandmother had passed during this pandemic with Covid but we just found out today. I will have to send her Mom a note.

    Slowly, through local artisan shopping and online shopping, gifts are being gathered to be wrapped for family members for local delivery to daughter and her kiddos, mailed to the sons and their families. What a different year this will be. Son 1 and his family got me a native bee house to put up in the spring. I enjoyed watching the native bees in the garden this year and look forward to seeing if they occupy the house and produce baby bee families to enjoy the flowers in the gardens. More flowers will be planted in the new walled garden bed next year to expand the options for them. The more flowers available will bring more bees and butterflies.

  • The Stockings

    This started a long, long time ago. I grew up with a felt stocking with glued on decorations that exactly matched my siblings stockings except for the name on it. By the time I had my firstborn, it was faded, tattered, and discolored. I wanted my son to have a special stocking, and I hadn’t taken up knitting again (not for another 24 years). I found a crewel work stocking kit and made it for his first Christmas, but I also needed stockings for us, so hubby got a crocheted one from a kit I found and I then used that pattern and modified it to make one for me too.

    When daughter was born, a second crewel work kit was found and another stocking made for her first Christmas. Son two is a February baby and you would think I had plenty of time to plan and make his, but it didn’t get done for his first Christmas, but a third crewel work kit was made into his stocking for his second Christmas, each one of them different from each other.

    You can see part of daughter’s behind her son’s left shoulder. I thought I was done. When grandson 1 was born, it never occurred to me to make him one, his parents weren’t really into celebrating holidays at that point, then daughter had a January baby and close to Christmas, she asked me if I was going to make his stocking. I still hadn’t begun making the intarsia knitted stockings yet and his is the quilted on far left in the photo.

    Son 2 adopted his wife’s firstborn and they had a little girl the same year daughter had a little girl and I started knitting the intarsia stockings. That year I made 4, one each for the two little girls, 1 for Son 2’s son, and one for grandson 1.

    Each one is different, each one has a cross stitched tag inside as seen above with the message and the year. Each one is lined to preserve the stitching and the shape. Every grandchild has a stocking.

    Last year for Christmas, we learned that Son2 and his wife were expecting a baby boy in January, just days after Christmas, so the most recent stocking is in the works.

    I have made 3 crewel work ones, 2 crocheted ones, 1 quilted one, and this is my 9th intarsia one. I have run out of vintage patterns. If Son 2 and his wife have another, I may have to duplicate a stocking that went to a grand not in his brood. In addition to these, three years ago at the New Year’s Eve party at Mountain Lake, I was knitting a shawl in the lounge before dinner and a woman asked me if I would knit up a Christmas stocking kit she bought for her grandson. I agreed and gave her a price which was way too low. She mailed it to me and asked if I would use the same pattern to make a second one for her other grandson which meant going out to purchase the yarn for it. I made those two also and mailed them back to her. I will make them for family, but never again for a contract. So those two were two of the 9. I hope they are all treasured.

  • Oh, The Spice

    Not the kind from “Dune.” The smaller Jalapenos and Serranos were sliced and spread on a huge baking sheet covered with Parchment paper and put in a 200 f oven for 2 hours. At the end of the two hours, they weren’t quite dry enough, but I needed the oven for a casserole, so I took the pan out on a cooling rack and cooked the casserole. After turning the oven off, I put the pan back in over night.

    That dried them to only about 2/3 of a pint jar of nicely dried hot peppers that can be used to spice soups, chili, or ground if a bit of spice is needed on another dish. I will divide the spoils with Son 1’s household for their cooking. The first two hours in the low oven filled the house with the hot spicy scent of capsaicin. One slice ended up on the counter as I was filling jars and I popped it in my mouth. MISTAKE! There is no milk in the house. A swig of plant based creamer and a slice of bread helped calm the fire.

    The remaining green hot peppers that had any size on them were pickled, another half gallon jar. One entire shelf of the refrigerator is full of quart and half gallon jars of cucumber pickles, dilly beans, and pickled hot peppers to enjoy through the cold dark months ahead.

    The red Thai peppers were strung, another couple strings with the ones hanging in the utility room beginning to turn, so more will be strung. There are 8 plus one of Serranos hanging to dry in the kitchen/dining area.

    I tried last night to get a photograph of the gorgeous moon as it rose above the ridges and trees. I lack the photography skills or camera to get a good shot.

    It was so large and beautiful.

    I retook the photo for my November fiber challenge start on the fall tablecloth with the pumpkins and gourds. The only color we really had this year, the leaf colors never materialized and were short lived.

    This morning I pulled off the first length of the “Apple Picking” braid and divided it lengthwise and started the two spindles that will spin it. The other two live in my bag and travel everywhere with me to be taken out when sitting in the car or as a passenger. The different textures of the two fiber give me variety.

    A few more rows were finished on the sweater. The decreases every other row shaping the shoulders make it go faster the farther up I go. A few more rows and I have to begin the neck placket which will slow things up again as I will no longer be knitting in the round, but back and forth and each row makes the pile in my lap heavier and more awkward to turn.

    It is a cool, rainy day, so more knitting will get done, there is no more produce to be prepped. After not being able to get jars or lids during canning season, the shelves at the grocer are restocked. I may buy a flat or two of jars to set aside for next year. I purchased the reuseable canning lids, so I should be okay there as there are enough on hand for the jars currently on hand. Now I need to figure out how to get the pickles, salsa, peppers, and dried herbs to Son 1’s family without a whole day in the car.

    Have a great rest of your weekend and don’t forget to vote if you haven’t already.

  • Saturday Morning Routines

    The big pup has been reluctant of late to do the stairs. He is almost 9 years old and over 200 pounds with weak or painful back hips or knees. Once in a while, his urge to be with us overcomes his reluctance and he comes up after I’m in bed, sits with hubby, then comes to our room to the doggie bed pads. Yesterday he was very hesitant to come down in the morning, whining and putting his front feet on the top step, then backing up and whining more. When he did finally work up the courage to come down the steps, he stumbled some but caught himself. I figured he wouldn’t come up last night, but he did and this morning, as I was getting ready for the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market run, dressed, called the pups and headed down the steps. The German Shepherd came right down, was leashed and taken out as the hunters had arrived only minutes before and I didn’t want her chasing down the field or exploring around their car. The big guy stood at the top of the stairs and whined. I cooked their egg, filled their bowls with kibble and his meds, topped with half a scrambled egg each and tried to urge him down with that. No go! I put the leash on him hoping he would come down with me, but he tugged back instead. I feared we had a major problem on our hands, two senior citizens with a 200 plus pound dog upstairs that needed to come down stairs. Hubby dressed and got in the act without much luck. We were about to just leave him upstairs and go on to the market, hoping he would come down on his own while we were gone, when he finally came down. He was taken out on his leash and both pups fed.

    It was right at freezing when we left for town, the car windows had to be scraped. Because we were still in the first hour, the market wasn’t crowded in the frigid morning air, the guest CSA bag of veggies picked up (I really need to take a large bag with handles as it is in a large plastic bag with no handles and is heavy), turnips and red onions from another vendor, some beef, some pork, and lots of Chevre as this is the last week for it from them and from the local dairy that serves the Natural Foods Store. From market to breakfast to the Natural Foods store for more Chevre (it freezes great), hard extra sharp cheese, sweet potatoes, and a few other supplies, then on to the grocer. I don’t like going in the grocer with the number of Covid cases in the area, but I also don’t like the curbside store shopper picking certain items, so a quick run through there supplied us with some non perishables and a small turkey. Even though it will just be the two of us, I am going to make a real Thanksgiving meal for us and as cases are rising, I may not want to go in the grocer in a few weeks, so I got what I needed now and stashed everything aside once home.

    The garden took a hit as expected last night. The peas were uncovered this morning after we returned from shopping and they did fine. The ground cherries are done in, the marigolds are burned. The peas will be covered every night now and uncovered during the day as we harvest fresh peas for a while. I am hoping to have fresh peas for Thanksgiving dinner.

    The mountains look stark, the wind ripped the last of the leaves from the trees, so the drive from town has no color, just the bare skeletons of winter already. The hunters were gone when we got back. They apparently took a shot at a huge buck but missed. They left to get food and mourn their missed shot.

    For now, I need to go process the basket of hot green peppers bought in yesterday. Some are going to be pickled. some dried as thin slices.

    Last night I finished the sleeves on grand daughter’s sweater and knit them on to the body. I see an end in sight.

  • Pre Freeze Salvage

    Yesterday was in the 70’s and pouring rain from Zeta going just south of us. In the afternoon it partially cleared with some sun peeking out, a gorgeous nearly full moon last night until just after 9 p.m., then the wind kicked up and it poured again as the front moved through to drop the temperature into the mid 40’s where it is staying under thick cloudy skies today. Tonight it is going down to around 30 f. The peas have pods and they can take that cold if it isn’t too windy. The peppers and ground cherries won’t, even covered. After a run out to grab drive thru lunch and go to pick up my sewing machine that was kindly repaired by a friend’s Mother-in-law, a former “Home Ec” teacher, I pulled up my hood on my wool, grabbed a basket, clippers, and sheets of plastic and headed to the garden.

    The fig was covered again, the figs still aren’t ripe and may not ever ripen, but I’m going to keep hoping. The peas were covered to protect them from the wind tonight. The pepper plants stripped of all the ripe Thai’s, all of the Serranos and the Jalapenos. The still green Thai’s were cut in branches and all brought in. I am a popsicle, though I need to go do a better cover job on the peas.

    The basket was sorted, the ripe Thai peppers will be strung, the ripe Serranos were strung, the Jalapenos and still small green Serranos will be pickled, maybe a few chopped and frozen for winter use.

    The green Thai peppers still on the branches were strung across a rod and hung over two hooks in the windows on the north side of the utility room to ripen or dry green. As they ripen, I will pull them and string them. The red Thai peppers become the crushed red peppers and used whole in stir fry, ground to make chili powder as a substitute for cayenne. As there will be 8 or 9 strings of them, Son 1’s family will get a couple for their use. They had a new garden this year, but somehow ended up with mild Jalapenos, mild Habeneros, and very hot Ghost Peppers, so some hot peppers will be welcome in their household.

    This morning, I emptied my 4th spindle onto the bobbin of singles and chain plied the yarn on the bobbin. I haven’t measured it out yet, but it is 7 WPI so Aran or Bulky weight, a good weight for a Monmouth style hat. And while my spindles were idle, I decided on November’s spinning challenge fiber.

    The two Aegeans, the larger two will be used to spin the “Apple Picking” braid of Merino/Baby Camel/Mulberry Silk. The Honduran Rosewood Finch will work on the Alpaca/Coopworth fiber that is white and burgundy and I want to learn to ply on the fly with it. The Olive wood Finch will continue on the rare breed mixed Jacob. I want to end up with enough of it to make a Monmouth hat and a pair of fingerless gloves. I had decided that those 4 spindles were enough to keep me busy when the Jenkins group posted a pop-up lottery of 11 Masur Birch spindles and two of them are Aegeans in the weight I like, so needless to say, I put my name in for the two I would like a chance to purchase. The drawing will be Monday. If I get lucky, I will have to decide if I want to keep all three or let one go, that is going to be a difficult decision because I love the two I have.

    In the meantime, I will knit on grand daughter’s sweater. The sleeves need another inch plus then knitted on to the body and continue on up to the neck and the hood. When it is done, the Christmas stocking for Son 2’s youngest born January 5 needs to be made. Each grand gets a Grandmom made stocking for their first Christmas.

  • Who needed electricity?

    The leather drive band for the old treadle sewing machine arrived today and since it is gray and drizzly out, I fought with cutting it shorter and putting in the staple that holds it in place. I think it is still a bit too long, but it was adequate to tackle the last three masks for hubby. Because the belt was a little loose, it caused more work on my part, but there are three completed masks.

    I would love to know the age of this machine. The machine is a Minnesota brand from Sears, Roebuck Co. The wooden cabinet has the Sears tag in it. I have tried in the past to figure the age based on the Model number. I can identify that is was manufactured by the Davis Company in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1900’s, as a catalog sale for about $18, but that is as close as I have been able to get. It works beautifully when the band is tight enough and it is clean and oiled. There is a box of attachments in the cabinet drawer, but as the needle hole is a single hole, I don’t know that it can do much more than straight sew.

    Somewhere along the way during one of the moves from the house we sold to a rental, to storage, to here, the square knob on the right hand drawer was lost. The veneer on the top isn’t is perfect shape, but the machine works. So it is at least 100 years older than my electric singer that is broken for the 4th time though it gets only light use.

    I think I will just keep using my foot power when I need to sew. When not in use, it is a downstairs hall table with a sculpture done by DIL 1 and a small wicker sewing basket that belonged to great grandmother atop.

  • I Fibbed a little

    and my obsessive compulsive side partially won. As I pulled the rough, quick, down and dirty basket down off of the refrigerator to take out a couple potatoes tonight, I decided I couldn’t live with it that way. Not having a finishing rim on it and the ovalish shape, bothered me. I had plenty of the thicker reed that is flat on one side and curved on the other, and I didn’t like the tall handle that was disproportionate to the diameter of the basket. While waiting for the oven to heat, I soaked a piece of the thick reed and a couple strands of chair caning reed, cut the handle off level with the top of the basket, bent the heavier reed around the basket and anchored it on with the caning reed.

    Still far from perfect, but I’m happier with it, it is more round, more rigid, refilled with potatoes and covered back with the tea towel on the top of the refrigerator.

    Only two hens are laying, two Olive eggers, so all eggs are green and have good hard shells. With the extended free range time, the yolks are dark orange, firm and round, but because they are feasting on grass seed and insects all day, they don’t want to go to the safety of the run before we let the dogs out to run.

    Another basket of peppers were picked and strung yesterday. There are at least 100 ground cherries, but they are all too small to pick and it is going down to 31f Friday night, so I guess this isn’t the year that I get to try them. I will plant early next year. The pepper plants will be pulled Friday afternoon and hung upside down in the garage so the remaining peppers will ripen. The peas will be covered with plastic in hope for some fresh peas as the daytimes will still be mild.

    The bees were busy on the marigolds, the only flowers still blooming except for one errant Stella day lily.

    The lawn area should be mowed one last time before freezing nights. That means purchasing more fuel and pumping up the tire again. It may get done, it may not.

    I finished the monthly Jenkins spindle challenge with 182.04 grams of singles spun for the month. The entire 4 ounce braid of Shenandoah colorway purchased at the virtual fiber festival with two small samples of BamHuey, a bamboo/merino blend, and 4 turtles of rare breed fibers, Moorit Shetland and mixed Jacob to round out the month. Now on to ply the Shenandoah Falkland on my wheel in preparation for the November challenge. The scale says 187.04, but I had to subtract the weight of the two plastic cables and two paper tags.

    Another month in the life on the farm with the fading garden, many walks while the weather is nice, lots of spinning, a bit of knitting, and sewing mishaps. The sewing machine that wouldn’t work is being checked out, the new leather band for the antique treadle machine should be here tomorrow and I will finish sewing the masks cut out over the weekend using foot power instead of electricity.

    Stay safe everyone. “Chose science over fiction.” Joe

  • And the spirits have retired for this year

    The Wilderness Road Regional Museum for the past 3 years has had an afternoon/early evening event near Halloween, with two gorgeous Belgian horses pulling a wagon through the Museum property and streets of Newbern to be greeted by “spirits” of historical figures from the region, including 3 tiny, young kids portraying the Shawnee and an equally tiny Werewolf. The first year, I volunteered to help with tickets as no reservations were required that year, and to help with serving hot cider and directing some crafts for the kids in the outdoor kitchen, but the elderly woman who I had driven over to portray Mary Draper Ingles got cold very early and had someone take her home. I stepped in to do dual duty, helping to get the wagon loaded, then running in period clothing around the museum to be Mary on the opposite side of the property before the wagon got there, then back around to help prepare the next load.

    Last year, I was asked just to be Mary and enjoyed playing the role of an anxious woman, fearful of getting caught out after dark. Then going into the museum and demonstrating spinning between the wagon loads.

    When it was announced that they were going to do it again this year, with reservations and masks for all visitors, knowing that I was outdoors on the porch and in the front of the building, that I felt safe enough to dress in my period outfit, grab my shopping basket, and visit the spirit of the proprietor, Henry Hance, the founder of the town and shop keeper. We tweaked our part a bit to include more conversation between Doug (Henry) and me (Mary) and twice he caused me to turn to the wall laughing when he told Mary not to worry about the “Indians” that they were adorable. I didn’t set up to spin indoors this year, the museum part was closed to control the number of people inside, and to allow us to close off the old store for us to be able to safely go in as part of my skit sends me in while Henry finishes his part. This worked well, except for one “Karen” who felt entitled to come in with her group even after being told the museum was closed and the area we were in shut for our safety. She had donated something in that room and felt it was her right to bring people in to see it. Though she had to have a mask for the ride, none of them had them on in the museum. I stayed on the porch, wrapped in a wool shawl and masked between skits that occurred every 30 minutes for 8 wagonloads (about 70 people total).

    It was good to get out and do some living history, see some of my living history friends again. I look forward to the day that I can return to more activities over there, to set up and spin, to work with camps and school groups on spinning and fiber usage during the late 18th and early 19th century.

  • Market Day and Repairs

    Another week has drifted by in isolation with a few woods, pond, and rail cut walks. Another gray and drizzly market day. It was raining lightly when we left the house, but it hadn’t reached town when we got there. There was still some sunshine and a few broken clouds, but it was raining lightly by the time the market pick up was done and breakfast in the car eaten. There were more vendors at the market today and more people that were just browsing, too many people not respecting social distancing. Social distancing is difficult when you stand back 6 feet, then have someone “cut” in line in front of you because they don’t realize there is a line as happened to me today. I allowed it to happen instead of saying something to the two young women who shouldn’t have been there when I was as they hadn’t pre ordered, nor were they 55+ years old. Then a young man, also not meeting the prerequisites to shop that hour stepped right up next to my shoulder, again, no respect for distance. Everyone is masked and I know the young volunteers at the information table don’t want to challenge everyone with a question about whether they had pre orders or were old enough. Today made me somewhat uncomfortable in the crowd. I guess I need to go back to the beginning of the first hour and take my chances that everyone is set up. But this below is why I like our Farmer’s Market.

    This is a sampling of the goodness that was brought home today, thanks to Riverstone Farm and Greenstar Farm for the veggies, Whitegate Farm for the butter and sausage, and Williamson Farm for a pound of grass finished ground beef. No bread this week since I baked during the week. As we were heading off to get breakfast, I was discussing with hubby how some of the issues could be handled, not that anyone asked me. There are three rows of vendors in an L shape. One row is under the shelter below, facing the green.

    The second row backs up to them and the third row is across the lot from them, no cars are permitting on Saturday mornings except for the vendors to unload in the morning and reload in the afternoon. About where the roof changes heights, there is a two way opening to try to direct traffic that causes congestion and has people coming and going between the rows. My idea is to close in the first row with vendors filling that opening and the corner opening and making traffic one way. You enter at the first vendor in that row anyway. If they did that and shifted the last vendor in that row a couple of feet to open a path to the rear rows as the exit is currently in line with the entrance behind the first row. One way traffic would help alleviate some of the congestion.

    Once the goodies were home, a basket to hold the potatoes on top of the refrigerator was sought from my supply. It needs to be away from the sunny window where the wire hanging tiered basket is that holds onions and garlic that isn’t in a braid. The one I was going to use was one of my earliest ones made and stained with Walnut stain. I used to be very good about hosing my baskets off about once a year to remove dust and dampen the reed to keep it from getting brittle, but I don’t think that most of my handmade baskets have been given that treatment since moving in to this house 15 years ago. I had noticed some broken reeds in the weave of several of the baskets, but that one was the worst. When in the basement to pull out ceramic pumpkins and the ghost to decorate with a couple of weeks ago, I spotted a plastic bin with a partially made basket and reed in it. That unfinished basket must be 18 to 20 years old. I remember the day I was teaching Son 1 and friends how to make baskets, in the back yard of the house we sold in Virginia Beach prior to building the house here. We spent a couple of years renting while plans were made, house was started, and finally completed.

    The reed was checked for soundness and size. I needed narrower reed than what was there, so after soaking it and the most damaged basket, it was cut to width and the basket was repaired. That inspired me to inspect the other baskets and do more repair. There was some narrow chair caning reed that worked perfectly on the blue and natural apple basket that was made by my friend that took the class with me. The wider reed was right to repair the largest basket. The odd shaped unfinished basket was made into a very crude, misshapen basket that went on the top of the refrigerator for the potatoes and covered with a small tea towel.

    Two baskets still need a rinse, but they are too large for the sink, so they will go out to the yard and get a quick hosing down. It would have bothered me when I started making baskets to not make the one on the right perfectly shaped and properly edged and the unstained reed on the stained basket would have stressed me, but it shows that repair and keep using is more important than perfection and I kind of like it.

    The two winter squash with the last pumpkin from last year’s harvest were put in a wooden trencher that hubby gave me years ago from a craftsman at a fair. They will be used for meals in the next week or two and the pumpkin will make pies for our isolation holiday meals as we can’t have our kids here and since the garden did not produce pumpkins this year. The local pumpkin patches are open but they aren’t any fun without grandkids along.