Cabin Crafted

Author: Cabincrafted1

  • UFO’s

    In crafting terms, that is unfinished objects. The past week has been finishing those WIP (works in progress), making the UFO’s, finished objects. There was a skinny scarf on the needles for daughter and a hat that I started in mid February. Both were worsted weight hand spun yarn. Both are finished and blocked (though the photo is prior to that occurring). The hat went into the shop. The scarf is sitting here as I try to figure out how to get it to her without contacting her or her kids. It may get mailed.

    One of my travel projects became a stay at home project, a narrow triangular scarf, pattern is Easy Goes It by Finicky Creations. The yarn is Lollipop Yarn, Whirling Dervish sock weight that I won as a door prize.


    Each block of the blocking mats is 12″, so the scarf is nearly 6′ long and about 16″ deep at the point of the triangle. It was made with unknown plan. I have too many knits in similar colors for my wardrobe, but it is washable, so a potential gift for a family member or an addition to the shop.

    Now that all the needles are cleared, another skein or two will be tackled, a hat with a cabled frog in apple green is planned for the shop and a lacy skinny scarf for daughter. She wears lots of black and white and uses the skinny scarves to accent her work outfits without adding too much weight and can help keep the back of her neck warm from air conditioning drafts.

    Spinning for an hour or so on the drop spindles to make the fiber last as long as possible is part of the daily activity.

    I’m about halfway through reading The Dollmaker. It is a book I have wanted to read for a long time. The copy I am reading is from eldest son’s extensive library and is a paperback that is older than he is, so it is yellowed and fragile, but care is being taken with it and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It will be returned to their library next time we are able to visit.

    The seed starts are doing well. I’m awaiting a series of warmer days to sow some lettuce, radishes, and some direct sowed Chinese cabbages. I have three half barrels that held herbs last year that are close to the back deck, they are going to be my salad garden this spring.

  • Last Virus Post

    There are still no reported cases in our part of the state, but at least 20 people in this region are in isolation in the hospitals awaiting test results. After sequestering for a week, we made one last grocery run and hope that we have accumulated enough food and ingredients to last 8 weeks at home without having to go out again.

    We both got emotional as we headed back to our rural farm with the idea that we will be socially isolated for an unknown period of time. The hardest part of this for me is not seeing my children or my grandchildren for an unknown period. I want to come out on the other side of this healthy so I can get all the hugs and snuggles then.

    We have a treadmill and hand weights, a long hilly rural dead end road, and 30 acres to wander and get our exercise.

    It will soon be full on garden season, so I can spend mornings and evenings planting, weeding, eventually harvesting and canning. The area is beginning to show signs of spring.

    There are crafts to do, books to read, seed to plant, fields to wander.

    Maybe I will try some natural dying with lichen collected from the many rock piles or the hulls of the hickory nuts gathered before the hay field gets too tall to walk. Yesterday that was my exercise of choice and I came home with two tiny deer ticks. I need to be sure to spray my pants legs and tuck them in my socks before I wander off the road. I certainly don’t need Lyme disease. I was treated for it once before after we bought this farm but before the house was built.

  • A bit sad

    We were supposed to take a weekend trip this weekend, across the state to meet our newest grandson. Out of precaution for them and us, our hotel reservation was cancelled and they were called to tell them we love them, want pictures of all of their children, and we would reschedule when it is safe to do so.

    This is the second event we have had to cancel reservations on and postpone, the first an event with our other 3 grandchildren.

    As we stay at home avoiding other people, cancelling opportunities to see our children and grandchildren, people with nationally known names are posting “that this is a ploy to disrupt capitalism,” “if you are healthy, go to your local pub,” “it’s just the flu,” and other statements and tweets to try to diminish the severity of the situation.

    My extended family has many folks with underlying health conditions, compromised immune systems. My sibs, cousins, hubby, hubby’s sister, and I are over 60, several over 70. We are the folks that the CDC is most worried about.

    We can hope for a vaccine, but if like the flu vaccine, they aren’t fully effective for several weeks after it is given. We can hope for coming to spring will cause it to die out. But what we can do, is stay apart, whether you are healthy or not so that you don’t spread it unknowingly. Stay apart if you have any illness symptoms whether they are COVID-19 or not. Check on each other by phone, text, or other media.

    We are on a track that mirrors Italy and that is frightening. Be safe, practice safe habits. I want hugs from everyone when it is over. In the meantime, I love you children, grandchildren, sibs, cousins, BE SAFE.

    I hope this nation learns from this the importance of vaccines for communicable illness where there is a vaccine; the importance of self distancing when you are ill with a cold, flu, chicken pox, measles, or whatever; the realization that it isn’t about you.

  • It Means You, Too!

    Will live a few miles from West Virginia in SW Virginia in regions that have no REPORTED cases of COVID-19. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t cases. It means that they haven’t been tested or they are walking around with no symptoms, or “just a cold,” and possibly spreading it throughout the community that will suddenly show a handful of cases, then double that, then double it again in a few short days.

    The schools in Virginia have all been closed for at least 2 weeks to try to flatten the spike, try to slow this health disaster before there are so many ill the hospitals have to make decisions on who to treat and who might die like they have done in Italy.

    Yesterday, my social media feeds were full of “What time do you want us over?” “We will meet you at…” Pictures of local music venues where you were eating, drinking, and jamming. That is not social distancing. Maybe the person next to you is an UNREPORTED case. That doesn’t mean they don’t have it and aren’t spreading it, it means they have not been tested. You might get sick, you might heal, you might spread it to a child in fragile health who won’t survive it, or a senior citizen in the grocer who had no choice but to shop for sustenance, one whose immune system isn’t as strong and may not survive.

    If we can’t self police, the next step will be total isolation like Spain, France, and Italy. They have had it for a couple of weeks longer and it spread.

    I would love to have weekend time with my grand children and children. Love to have hugs. Love to go to my social places, but I can’t risk it, I am one of those senior citizens and I know that my immunity isn’t as strong as it was, my hubby’s either.

    It isn’t about you. Think of others. If you miss a few weeks or months of being in groups, you will get over it. If you give this devastating virus to a sick child or immune suppressed adult, they may not get over it.

    If you have to go to work, wash your hands often. Don’t hug or shake hands. Stand at least 3 feet apart. If you are trying to support a local venue, buy a gift certificate so they have cash now and use it when and if this passes us by.

  • Social Distance/Self Isolation

    As we made our last purchases of an extra bag of dog food, and extra sack of chicken layer pellets, and headed home to distance ourselves to avoid catching or spreading COVID-19, we heard that all public K-12 schools in Virginia were closing for 2 weeks. I suspect it will end up longer. It is going to be tough on working families. Our daughter who is local to us has an 8 year old and a 13 year old. Normally we chip in to help out when they need coverage, but daughter realizes the potential impact on us as we are both beyond 70 years old. Last night we wrote the kids an email and told them that we would miss the hugs and kisses until it is deemed safe for seniors to be around potential vectors. On our way back to the farm, I said to hubby, that I hoped we didn’t start sniping at each other. We are rarely apart, but we do go out. The house is large, the property is 30 acres, we live on a rural gravel road, it is getting to be garden season, so we can seperate from each other if we need to, we can still get fresh air. Nearby, only a few miles is a part of the National Forest with walking trails that are not heavily travelled, so occasional walks may be made there. We have self isolated for now. We purchased extra groceries and will refrain from eating lunches and a weekly dinner out. This is a change in our habits, lunches will be sandwiches or left overs.

    Our local grocer has the program where you can order and pay online and pick up in the parking lot. When we run low I guess that is the route we will take and avoid purchasing fresh produce from the grocer. Though I hate the idea of not going to our local Farmers’ Market, it is often very crowded. Some of the vendors are offering local delivery. I don’t usually grow salad greens and other salad vegetables other than cucumbers and tomatoes, which are still months off, I purchased lettuce and radish seed this year. I plan to sow a half barrel of salad greens and radishes close to the house and divide it into quarters, planting a quarter a week to spread out the harvest. Years ago, I kept a jar of sprouts germinating in the house but drifted away from doing so when I could readily get microgreens at the Farmers’ Market. Yesterday I started a jar of small spicy greens and this morning, a jar of crunchy beans.

    They can be added to sandwiches, salads, or stir fry to add some fresh vegetables.

    The seeds started for the garden are sprouting. The growlight down close to the lid to keep them from getting too leggy. The peppers haven’t sprouted yet, but tomatoes and Chinese cabbages are up as are the Calendula flowers. The coneflowers not yet.

    The cabbages are a bit leggy, I am hoping that they will make it, if not, I will direct sow a few when it warms a bit more.

    Once in a while, you see suggestions to resprout the bottom of the celery head. I had two celery hearts that were getting beyond prime, so I sliced the celery and froze it to use in soups and put the two stalk ends in water as suggested to see if I can at least sprout some celery leaves to use.

    It has only been a couple of days, but the centers are swelling, so they must be uptaking water. We will see if this experiment works.

    Of course, I can knit and spin to pass the time. I have several books and subscribed to the library app, so I can check out ebooks to read. I made laundry detergent and dishwasher tabs as both were low. I have soap to make for a B&B I supply, but am awaiting Shea Butter in the mail and if this goes on for very long, they may not need a big shipment.

    It is going to be a lifestyle change, probably harder for hubby than for me, I could easily become a hermit here, but know that socializing is important too. For now we will avoid and hope that this virus dissipates and doesn’t devastate our country causing small businesses to struggle or fail. I hope that people are responsibly. Watching the news last evening, seeing Florida cancelling spring break gatherings and asking people to be responsible, one young woman interviewed said she would ignore that. She may become ill and being young will likely recover, but will she infect others in the community who are not healthy or young who might not. We must all take this seriously and be responsible. Let’s hope for a vaccine or for the warmer weather to hopefully cause it to subside.

  • Plan Ahead

    It is spring break for the local University and as Virginia is now reporting cases of coronavirus, several colleges and Universities in the country have sent students home or are discussing doing so. We wonder if an announcement will be made for the local students to not return from spring break for a while. Though there are no reported cases in southwest Virginia yet, it will surely find it’s way here.

    Hubby and I are both over 70, so more at risk if exposed. We decided as soon as cases were reported in the USA, and since the summer stockpile of home canned goods runs low by this time of year, we started gathering a few extra items each time we shopped starting several weeks ago. Rarely do we buy frozen vegetables, but if we can’t go to the grocer or Farmer’s Market, we purchased bags of an assortment so we have vegetables until the garden starts producing. When we went in today to get a few items, there were many empty spots on the shelves, especially items like dry beans, rice, pasta. There was no rubbing alcohol, only a couple of bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide, and sanitizing cleaners were scarce or missing. There were signs posted by the grocer at the empty shelves. I guess panic buying has begun here. We are stocked enough to survive if self quarantined. Meals might get boringly repetitive, but we have the food to be safe. Until we see cases here, we will continue with our normal routine and resupply as we use up food but be prepared to spend a month or more staying on our farm, take our walks on our rural road or around our acreage.

    As I grow aloe, the base of hand sanitizer with isopropyl alcohol from our cabinet, I made a couple small bottles. I have begun using the sanitizing wipes provided at the entrance of the grocer to wipe down the cart handle and also my hands. We don’t have a lot of visitors, few deliveries, I make my own cleaners and soaps, and my all purpose and floor cleaners have alcohol in them, and plan on adopting the habit of wiping doorknobs. We are following the suggestion to not shake hands and avoid large crowds.

    We hope that this virus wanes as the spring and summer arrive, but want to be prepared without panicking. As parents, we worry about our children and their families. One lives near northern Virginia and works at a University there. One owns a medical transport company. One is in Human Resources as a new hire trainer for a huge hospital system.

    We hope for the health of all in our country and hope that those that are exposed will be responsible so as not to put others at risk. Keep a calm head and be responsible.

  • Slow I go

    My favorite knitting needles developed a flaw, a major flaw. The nickle plating on the brass tips wore off of the needle I was using on a scarf for my daughter. I fear that the set purchased from Amazon were seconds as they were about $30 less expensive than the same sets from online yarn shops. Amazon agreed to allow me to return them and refund my money. I ordered a new set from a well know national yarn store and now must await their delivery. I can work on one of the three projects I had on needles using a wooden circular needle I had on hand.

    This has provided more time to spin on my spindles. My two favorites are a pair of Wrens, turkish spindles by Ed Jenkins. One is cherry, the other Osage orange. The Cherry one has a substantial cop of plied silver Shetland wool, the Osage orange had just been removed from the smaller cop of dark gray Shetland wool that was a sample that came with the spindle.

    Lately, I have spent much more time with the spindles than with my wheel. I spun a braid that was about 4.5 ounces on the wheel while I was at the retreat two weekends ago, but this is the production on the spindles, plus another mini skein of the silver Shetland that must be in hiding tonight.

    Everything here were samples that came with spindles or with fiber purchased from independent shops, except the silver Shetland. I am working my way through a pound of it. It is delightful to spin, especially on the spindles.

    I had made good progress on getting through my stash of fiber before I went away. I scoured some Cotswold and brought it home, carded some Jacob that I had previously scoured. Then at spinning last week, one of the spinners brought a huge bag of various fibers that she wanted out of her house, FREE. I came home with two of her offerings. I will continue on the spindles, but some time needs to be spent on the wheel or I will run out of places to store my wools.

  • Yesterday repeat

    Today was even warmer than yesterday and another beautiful day for a walk. No photos of it today, but we did walk farther.

    First thing this morning, the seed starter flat was set up on the warming tray and seeded.

    The growlight frame was 3 inches too tall to sit in that position and as there is no other convenient place to put it, out came the jig saw and the frame was knocked apart, the legs shortened by 3 inches. Now we can get plates out of the cabinet above it. I never could understand why it was so tall in the first place. The light will be lowered to within an inch of the dome once seeds sprout, but if anything gets as tall as the light can be raised, they will be leggy and fragile.

    After the walk, two more boxes were built from the corners and boards from the deteriorating boxes. There are now 6 in two rows across the top of the garden. The mint box was removed, now to try to rid the garden of all the mint and put some of it where it can grow without over taking the garden. The remaining two deteriorating boxes will be rebuilt into two 4 X 4 foot boxes and any remaining boards will be stored to use for repairs or to build a box where the mint is, if I can get control there.

    The center top box with green mesh around it is the asparagus, the one closest to the camera is the garlic and onions.

    In the kitchen window is a confused Thanksgiving cactus, thinking it is an Easter cactus. It blooms a few blooms every year around this time.

    Tomorrow is still warm, but rain is expected, so the sore back from two days of garden can recover some.

    I still need to figure out how to deal with the fencing.

  • Walk and Garden

    A beautiful day requires a walk. As usual, it was along the Huckleberry Trail, a paved retired rail grade. Lots of signs of spring abound.

    Crocus, daffodils, unknown purple daisy like flower, crabapple buds, pussy willow.

    After the walk, I pulled out the box of saved seed, the new seed, the newly purchased seed starter tray. Grabbed some garden tools and headed to the garden, trying not to be overwhelmed because of the weeds, the wobbly fence, and the deteriorating raised bed boxes. The upper edge of the garden has the compost pile, the asparagus bed, and a 4 by 4′ box. A bit of weeding around the boxes, cleaning up the asparagus bed, and the box. After pulling the spoiled hay off of the box, I planted 4 row feet of spinach seed.

    The next row below is a sound 4 x 4′ box that is planted with garlic and perennial onions, some straw needed to be pulled back from the onions, the garlic comes up right through it. Next to that box was a 4 X 8′ box that had not been levelled well when built and was breaking apart. I took the drill and some screws out, dismantled the box, created a spot immediately below the top row box, in line with it with a slightly narrower aisle, laid down newsprint and cardboard in the aisle and bottom of the proposed box. Using the old corners and boards, instead of putting it together in the corner grooves, using screws the boards were fastened to the corner posts to make sturdier though a few inches smaller box. Soil from the dismantled box was shifted to the new box and between that box and the one above it, 24 row feet of dwarf shelling peas were planted. The aisles and beds are full of this.

    Fortunately it is fairly easy to pull and it attracts native bees, so it only is pulled from the boxes. It is not going down to freezing tonight and tomorrow is another beautiful day, so I am going to take the rest of the 4 x 8 box and boards and corners from another box to build a fourth box between the one planted today and the garlic. I will try to get more newsprint down under that box and move the rest of the soil. The chicken pen is full of good compost, so I will move a barrow or two over to the garden. If I rebuild the long boxes that are falling apart and level the spots where they will be placed, a little at a time, the garden should be ready for the warm weather planting after Mother’s Day.

    Two long boxes are sound, one has the blueberry bushes in it, the other will be cleaned up and compost added to it. One smaller box is the out of control mint bed. If the boards from that box are removed, perhaps I can dig up some of the mints.

    Now that dinner has been prepared and eaten, the grow light and warm mat are going to be brought up from storage and the tomatoes, peppers, Chinese Cabbage, and Tomatillos will be sown and started indoors. The cabbages can be planted in about a month, the rest will go in the garden after the last frost date.

    Now I need a strong body to help me remove the existing fence, reset the t-posts, remount the fencing in a stronger straighter garden fence. And while that is being done, the chicken pen needs attention too.

  • Mother Nature’s Joke

    Most of last week felt like spring. It looked like spring with daffodils, crocuses, snow drops, pussy willow all in bloom. With scrub beginning to leaf out, signs of swelling buds on the trees and bushes around the house and on our walks.

    This morning when I awoke, it was 41 degrees f, the sun was shining, the sky was blue. Two and a half hours later, it was doing this…

    If the temperature hadn’t hovered near 38 degrees all day, we would have 6 inches of snow, but instead, the ground would get coated, the sun would break through and it would melt, then it would snow again, repeat over and over.

    This was much later in the afternoon after several snow bursts and melts. The birds clinging to the feeders as the wind howled. As it got dark and the temperature fell, the snow accumulated. It looks like about 3″ on the ground. The wind driven snow has blown all the way across the 8′ wide covered front porch, right over to the front door.

    Tomorrow is clearer, no precipitation expected, but still fairly cold, but by Sunday, we are back in the mid 60’s.

    Stop already Mom, we got your joke.