Strings & Yarn

There will be a new fiber shop in Eugene! Suzie Liles will be opening the Eugene Textile Center focusing on weaving and surface design.

It sounds like there will be Looms, weaving supplies and classroom space for classes, including a dye kitchen for cellulose and protein fibers. It will be located on Highway 99 south of Beltline highway.

As much as I haven’t really had any interest in weaving yet (yet being the operative word here), I will welcome new fiber related businesses any day!

Anthony and I have been getting Kumquats in our CSA lately and sometimes it’s hard to find something to make with them. They are so cute, like minature oranges. Plus who doesn’t like saying Kumquat (especially since is seems like it should be a dirty word.) Last time I candied them. We didn’t make the cupcakes, just candied them and ate them. They were really good, and easy to make, but not the sort of thing I wanted to eat often.

This time we made them into cookies.

Kumquat Oatmeal Cookies (lots more recipes here!)

2/3 cups margarine
2/3 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups oatmeal
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup chopped kumquats (pureed)

Beat margarine and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs to the mixture and mix well. Combine oatmeal, flour, baking soda and salt. Mixing well. Add chopped kumquats and chocolate chips. Drop by large teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes at 375 degrees or until golden brown. 2-1/2 dozen.

Instead of making them with the white chocolate chips we used regular milk chocolate and they are so good! It’s like having a chocolate orange cookie. From now on this will be the kumkuat recipe I use.

I’ve been busy here, and not with knitting. It actually seems that I only get to steal a few stitches of knitting here and there. Thank goodness for knitting every Monday night! I might not knit at all if I didn’t head down to Midtown(Perugino kicked us out) for a glass of wine, some chat with the awesome knitting group and a few stitches in between.

So what have I been so busy with? Work (a very good thing) and trying to finish our bedroom. Only one more coat of mud on all those drywall seams. Last night we finished up the second coats on everything. That means we are that much closer to painting! Woohoo! It’ll be nice with the construction part of the job is done and the color oriented designing part is in place. Plus I try to get distracted from mudding by spending a little time in the garden here and there. With work, I counted and I now have close to 35 students. Of course that doesn’t count the 4th and 5th grade that I work with twice a week. I’m feeling like the schedule is filling up and I am definitely closer to having an actual pay check.
On a crafty note, I thought I would pass this along. I got it from Thimble. It looks like it mostly focuses on the more “trendy” or “young” DIY. Don’t get me wrong, I love the at the craft movement has covered many generations. However, I also think there is so much more to explore in the crafting world than the more trendy pieces.

Although, I have to say I was thrilled to see some spinning in there at the beginning. Maybe I can slip in a little spining before I’ve got to go fill the world with music!

I know this has been in the news a while, but being that I’m a musician and a violinist, I can’t help but add my 2¢. (Dave this is different for Mac users. Alt and 4 will do it.)

So Joshua Bell decides to dress ordinary and play in the Subway to see what happens. Everybody should recognize the celebrity, give him a ton of money and appreciate his playing, right? Of course this didn’t happen and everyone is in shock. How could we live in a society where we cannot appreciate true art? Can we not take the time out of our commute to listen?

I do not feel that this lack of appreciation or obvious recognition proves anything. First, the context of this experiement is very important. When you decide to go to a concert, you pay for your ticket, you may dress up, you may go to dinner or cocktails after, but most importantly, it is something you’ve decided to listen to. In our society (especially in larger cities) we have media, music, art thrown at as constantly. It is only a matter of survival to block some of this out. Otherwise, we would walk around like over stimulated zombies all the time, and many of us already do. The fact that this was in a large city also contributes to how much people will respond. If they were to try this in a smaller town (lets say our Saturday Market for example) where art isn’t constantly being thrown at us, they may have gotten a larger audience and more recognition.

Secondly, I want to point out that the difference between Joshua Bell and many other performers is going to be subtle. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to belittle what the “superstar” performers do. It’s just that many people won’t hear the differnence between him and another performer without extensive training in music or listening. The beauty of what he does compared to the average performer (be it in the subway or on the concert stage) would be the subtlties. I just can’t see that being recognized to someone who is preoccupied with getting to work.  It may have made a considerable difference if it was the lunch hour or the afternoon.

I do think it’s important that our society gives people exposure to art and music. However, I also believe in the importance of choice. After someone has had the proper exposure to something, isn’t it wonderful that they can choose to make it important in their lives? It is equally wonderful that they can choose to never look or hear art again. That choice shouldn’t make them more or less of a person.

Washington Post - Joshua Bell in Subway

It’s been so long! Things have been crazy here in the land of Jodie. First I went away for Spring Break. I have some pictures from a hike we took (the first hike of the year!). We went to Sun River with a few of our friends.

When I got back I had a ton of stuff to get ready for the last term of the year. Lots of planning and lots of homework writing. Plus a few recitals, a concert and a gig. I worked so hard last week that I didn’t really read blogs and I hardly knit a stitch. The only time I really sat down to knit was at knitting on Monday.

I’ve also been busy getting the Charity Blanket Swap together. I haven’t been posting here, but I’ve posted all sorts of stuff there. I’m having so much fun with it, I’m already thinking about when I’ll do it again.  It really helps that there are such awesome participants!

On top of all that, I had my birthday on Sunday! We had a party on Saturday (a potluck. My friends are such great cooks.) where I got to hang out with many of my good friends here. We brewed a belgian wheat beer (we called it Joegaarden) which turned out great! This is the third batch (First- NW Mocha Porter, Second - Get Down Brown).

I’ve been saving up many photos to share of Finished objects. Here’s what I’ve been keeping from you.

This is the Kepler Sweater I started over a year ago, and yes, I got it done in time for St Patrick’s Day. It is a light sage green and I love how it fits! I’ve already worn it several times, and I can tell this will become a regular part of my wardrobe. I highly recomend this pattern.

I used Galway Yarn (cheaper than Cascade, but about the same) and I love it. It’s warm, soft enough to wear against my skin (with a bra) and easy to work with.

This is my finished Clapotis! I haven’t quite integrated this into my wardrobe yet. I still want to soak it in a little conditioner to soften it a little. I also need a good shawl pin for this baby. It’s a smaller than the pattern, and really needs a pin to stay on properly. This is made of my handspun and I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

My last FO is my Pomatomus socks. I really enjoyed knitting this, although they did take longer than most socks take me. They are also a little big on me, but I love this anyway. I knew they would be too big immediatly, but I wanted to make them so badly it didn’t matter. This was Lisa Souza sock yarn that I over dyed green. It was originally the Jonquil colorway.

Everyone has talked about her yarn being super squishy, and they are absolutly right! I loved this yarn, and will be sure to get more in the future. Thanks to Cara for giving me the yarn in a haiku contest.

I’m so glad that I was able to take these pics in the garden.  All the green can be my first April/May contribution to Project Spectrum.
Whew! That was a lot. I have gardening, blanket swap, and many more pictures to share at a later time.