2016 review, plans for 2017

2016 was eventful in terms of my hobbies and life plans. I met Rachel and Eli and we are looking for property to purchase together. We had hoped to find something before the end of this year, but it will certainly happen in 2017. I finally got a chance to butcher a chicken (my sick Ameraucana), and then dispatched 6 Silkie roosters! My parents got me an Instant Pot for my birthday and it's made cooking many dishes way more convenient, plus I use it to make yogurt. I learned how to spin, purchased a spinning wheel, and learned how to knit. I was indeed better at setting aside time to craft, which is my favorite way to decompress.

Goals I'd set that I didn't complete: sewing up the 3 patterns for which I already had fabric sitting in my closet (I only did 1). Sewing with rabbit hides (I did a little but not as much as I wanted). Watch 2 hours of my dog seminar DVDs each month (it was the first thing I would reschedule when I was short on time, plus my computer sucks at playing DVDs).

So here are my goals for 2017:

• Buy property! Set up the new house and land with an eye to permaculture principles, but also make the house as dog-friendly as possible. Set up for and purchase meat rabbits.
• Rebuild my business from scratch in the new service area. Work hardcore on marketing until I'm living on a comfortable income again.
• Take more photos of the dog(s) with my fancy camera.
• Continue to set aside time every week for crafting (sewing, crocheting, knitting, miscellaneous projects).
• Try hang gliding (it's on my bucket list).

Aaand... that's it! The first two will be taking up so much physical and mental energy that I won't have much time for other stuff. Can't wait!

Custom end table

I was inspired by Pinterest to make a custom end table for my dad's favorite plush leather armchair. He has to lean way forward to get his coffee or the remote from the low coffee table. This table is intended to be placed right up against the side of the armchair, with the top part hovering over the armrest. The bottom has a caddy for his magazines and such.

It's not perfectly made - the cuts are slightly crooked, and there are a couple of extra holes from placing screws incorrectly. But I'm a woodworking newbie so I'm proud of myself. I borrowed a circular saw from the Oakland Tool Lending Library to cut the pieces. Then I sanded the edges, assembled it, and painted with the recommended 3 coats of sealant.

Crocheted shark socks, mesh shirt

My sister was very happy with the foot-eating shark socks I crocheted for her.

I also made a mesh shirt for my mom to wear over a swimsuit at the beach. She'd specifically requested it after we saw some for sale while on vacation at the Caribbean. I only got a picture of it getting blocked.

Recent projects: rusalka cowl, Pusheen amigurumi, bow ties

Rusalka cowl in alpaca & merino yarn:

Pusheen amigurumi for Rachel:

Bow ties for Rachel:

Learning to knit

I took an Intro to Knitting workshop from my friend Chase, who recently opened her own yarn store in Berkeley! It's called The Black Squirrel and I've already spent a few hundred dollars there. You gotta support your friends, right?

Only two other ladies were in the class, so we got plenty of individual attention. I brought a crappy polyester yarn, bought a small pair of circular needles, and learned how to cast on, knit, purl, and cast off.

I came home and started a new swatch and am spending a few minutes here and there practicing to keep it fresh in my memory.

I figured that my first knit project should be a simple stockinette scarf. I've been listening to a podcast about Harry Potter and decided that a Hufflepuff scarf would be perfect. (I'm a total Hufflepuff and proud of it.) I stopped by a yarn store in Lafayette (The Yarn Boutique) yesterday and found yellow and dark gray skeins of one of my favorite yarns, Classic Elite Yarn's Chateau/MountainTop Chalet.

Ravelry says that I have over 100 types of yarn in my stash. It doesn't look like that much...

Setting yarn singles

After procrastinating for months, I finally got around to setting the yarn singles I'd spun up during my introductory class.

Here they are hanging with weights (mugs) to stay stretched as they dry:

The really curly one (second from the right) was the first one I'd made, when I was having trouble with the twist getting away from me and making lots of little curls in the yarn. The left-most single is the most straight, as it was the last one I made from that braid of roving. Here are close-ups, from first to last:

And twisted back up into hanks:

I have much more of the pink merino/silk blend (on the left above) to spin up. The blue/purple one is all gone. I want to use this yarn for something, but it wouldn't do for a fancy project where the uneven twist and width would show. No ideas yet.

Painted spinning wheel

I really wanted to get my spinning wheel painted to make it one of a kind and increase its esthetic appeal (although I think the design itself is quite beautiful). My sister is an illustrator but she usually does her work on paper, not on objects. She still did me a favor and painted it for me with a simple but elegant pattern of leaves and flowers:

It's perfect - almost exactly what I had pictured in my mind. The only difference I would have made would be to make the flowers different types and colors. No complaints, though. Thanks, Sis!

Utility belt

I've gotten tired of having to carry a purse all the time, and I have too many necessary items to fit them into pockets. (And of course, women's pockets are famously tiny.) I decided to switch to a utility belt. For a while I thought that I would sew one up for myself, but knowing my history, it would take at least 6 months to get around to it. So I found a cheap yet fashionable one on Amazon. I've been using it for the past two weeks and it's perfect.

It fits my phone, wallet, keys, 2 pens, tissues, business cards, dog poop bags, and chap stick. I can easily attach and remove a dog treat bag, although I'm considering adding a small extra pocket to carry just a few extra/special treats.

The Black Squirrel's grand opening

My friend Chase just had the grand opening for her yarn and fabric shop in Berkeley! It's called The Black Squirrel. I'm so excited for her and of course I had to buy some things at the opening party even though I spent a lot on yarn and fabric last month and am supposed to be holding off for now. Here's what I came home with:

100% Targhee wool green and gray roving. I was looking at a yarn on the shelf that was a pale pink and green, and thought "how pretty if it were gray with flecks of green," and then looked over and saw this roving! It has a lot more green than gray but perhaps I will find another wool skein to mix it with.

A "wraps per inch" tool to measure the "weight" of the yarn I'm producing. The more times the yarn is able to wrap around the 1-inch cutout (without overlapping), the lighter weight it is.

A large tote bag with that adorable logo. One can never have too many reusable bags.

And a smaller tote that says "this is taking FOREVER to make." Accurate.

Homemade yogurt

I've been making and eating a lot of yogurt for the past couple of months. I'm still calibrating my vanilla bean recipe, but mostly I make it plain and unsweetened. Sometimes I add strawberries or raspberries for sweetness - or just the juice that drains out of frozen berries:

Bread in a jar

Having all the ingredients (except live yeast) already portioned out makes it easy to mix up bread dough on a busy morning.

It will sit on the counter to rise for 5-6 hours, and be ready for baking in the afternoon.

Crocheted cowls, sewn skirt

After having this pattern and beautiful fabric in storage for about two years, I have finally completed this skirt! Click on any picture to see a larger version pop up.

It's not a straight A-line - it's actually longest at the sides. The fabric drapes wonderfully and I'm very happy with how it came out, despite some of the pattern pieces not quite lining up and needing adjusting during sewing.

I also crocheted two cowls:

This one is quite cozy.

I LOVE those sparkly buttons! Thank you, Stonemountain!

Quinoa harvesting

Self Sufficient Life in East Palo Alto hosted a quinoa harvesting workshop, to provide education but also get some help with this time-consuming task. I sometimes use quinoa instead of (brown) rice for variety. I'd been pondering the feasibility of growing it myself to continue my own path toward self sufficiency.

Harvesting the seeds is easy but time and water intensive.

This is a quinoa plant that is almost ready to harvest - the plants ended up not being as dry as they should have been when the workshop rolled around.

You lay the plants out to dry further after cutting, then chop them into smaller pieces.

Grab a small handful of the pieces and roll your hands back and forth. The seeds and small plant matter will break away from the stems and leaves. A sieve will allow the seeds and small matter through. Toss the large pieces into the compost - no more use for them. This step is particularly time consuming and is better done with a group of friends.

This is what comes through the sieve.

 Place the seeds and plant matter into a bowl and fill with water. Mix with your hand. Most of the seeds will sink to the bottom and the plant matter stays at the top, to be skimmed off.

 Repeat a couple of times and you have what LOOKS like ready-to-eat quinoa. However the seeds are still covered by a coating of saponin, which makes them bitter.

The host said that he was taught to remove the saponin with repeated rinses, but it's inefficient. He found the best way to do it was by swirling the seeds with water at low speed in a blender.

 Very quickly the blender fills with the bitter foam!

 Rinse and repeat until you are not seeing foam come off the seeds.

After a final thorough rinse, we finally had beautiful, golden seeds!

I would like to try growing my own quinoa, but I will definitely have friends come over to help me harvest. Also during the demo the host let the rinse water soak into the ground but he said that it doesn't seem to harm plants, so I would catch and reuse the water.

Naturally Sweet Food In Jars workshop

Pollinate Farm & Garden hosted a workshop by Marisa McClellan of the blog Food In Jars and book by the same name. She also recently published the book Naturally Sweet Food in Jars. At the workshop she water bath canned a strawberry cocoa jam and talked about her methods. (See an interview and the recipe for the jam here.)

I signed up for the workshop as soon as I saw it on the schedule, because I was intending to, at some point in the future, buy a pressure canner (which can also be used as a water bath canner). Amazingly, my friend Rachel bought me one for my birthday! I have not yet used it because I am currently focusing my efforts on learning to use my other new toy, an Instant Pot (more on that in a future post).

Here are some things I learned:

• Sugar thickens jam, so if you're making a low sugar preserve, you need to use pectin. Marisa like's Pomona's Pectin the most, and the Ball brand is also good.
• Coconut sugar has an earthy taste and smell - I liked it. Agave and maple syrup are other examples of non-cane/beet sugar sweeteners.
• When canning, you can use fresh lemon juice for flavoring, but don't rely on it to increase the acid content of your preserve (and therefore make it safe for water bath canning). This is because fresh lemons vary widely in the amount of acid they contain. Instead, use bottled lemon juice, which is federally required to guarantee and minimum level of acid.
• You can use citric acid instead if you don't want to add extra liquid.
• Low sugar preserves will not last as long once opened, since sugar increases shelf life and preserves color (hence its use in so much processed food).
• Vanilla beans are worth buying in bulk; they're too expensive when you get the little packs. They last 12-18 months if tightly sealed up.
• Mix the pectin with your sugar/sweetener at the end and then add it to the hot jam a little at a time.
• Signs that the jam is done: you hear sizzling from the bottom of the pot, you can glimpse the bottom of the pot as you stir, and slow droplets fall from the spatula.
• The jars can take 24-48 hours to finish setting.
• You don't need to sterilize your jars before filling them IF you will be processing them for 10 minutes or more. (You still need to preheat them.)
• It's okay for the jars to touch each other within the pot, as long as you're using a trivet to keep them off the bottom. Marisa likes silicone trivets.
• Don't use metal utensils in your canning jars - they will cause micro damage when they scrape and your jar might someday explode.
• White vinegar prevents deposits from hard water on your jars/canner. Put "a couple good glugs" from the container into your canning water.
• When your processing time is up, turn off the heat but let the jars start to cool off in the pot for at least 10 minutes before removing them. If you pull one out and you hear hissing, put it back in for another 10 minutes.
• You can tweak the spices and flavors of recipes, but maintain the fruit to acid ratio for safety.
• Do not double recipes - it messes up the ratio of depth to surface area and will take a very long time to cook down, and may burn.

We got to taste the strawberry cocoa jam she made. I could definitely taste the earthy coconut sugar. I liked it, however it covered up the taste of the strawberries almost completely. I wouldn't have been able to tell what fruit was used. I probably won't make that particular recipe because it doesn't seem worth the amount of strawberries needed. However I did purchase her book and am excited to explore the other recipes!

Jackfruit seedlings

My jackfruit seedlings are less than a year old and already roughly 2 feet tall. One of them developed a kink and started to grow almost completely sideways, so I tied it to some PVC pipe to straighten it out.

Jeopardy! birthday party

I love puzzles and games. Two years ago I held a puzzle hunt to celebrate my birthday. (The posts about the party are here, here, and here.) This year I decided to host a Jeopardy game, with my guests rotating through as contestants, and myself playing the part of Alex Trebek. I even made myself a mustache.

(I called myself "Alexa Trebek.")

I already had a set of answer buzzers that made sound effects when pressed - I'd originally bought them as amusing props for dog training.

I created 24 categories with 5 questions each, for 4 rounds of Jeopardy. (Click to see a larger image pop up.)

My friend Rachel also created one round, so that I could be a contestant.

My set up was cheap - I just taped the cards to a giant piece of cardboard that I saved for future sheet mulching.

I crocheted extra mustaches and gave them as prizes. The winner of each round would get to pick theirs first.

(They're pinned up because I blocked them to reduce curling up. The long strands of yarn are for tying them around your head.)

The game was a hit even though some of the questions were too obscure for anyone to answer correctly. I may repeat this for a future party!