Day: December 13, 2010

Turkey Tracks: Tami’s Birthday Socks

Turkey Tracks:  December 13, 2010

Tami’s Birthday Socks

Tami’s birthday is in February.

Here are the socks I was making for her.  They are a cotton-wool-nylon blend as all wool is too hot for Charleston, SC.  I finished them in while we were in Charleston over Thanksgiving.

They are the 4-stitch, double moss pattern from Charlene Schurch’s SENSATIONAL KNITTED SOCKS.  I really like the rough nature of this particular double-moss pattern.

But, I’ve been stuck on the 4-stitch variations for over a year now.  I’m definitely going to try one of the 5-stitch variations next.  One reason I really like the 4-stitch version is the elegant heel treatment with the row of garter stitches along each side of the heel.  Here’s a blow-up picture of what I mean:

Of course I could not resist giving them to her.  And, you can see that the socks fit Tami’s elegant long feet perfectly!  Feet that go with her elegant tall body!

You were right, Barb Melchiskey.  I did have enough yarn.  I had about 20 inches remaining when I was done.  So comforting in the end!!!!

Turkey Tracks: Ailey Sydney Enright

Turkey Tracks:  December 13, 2010

Ailey Sydney Enright

Ailey Sydney Enright came into this world November 25, 2010, Thanksgiving morning in 2010, a few minutes after 5 a.m.

Bryan and Corinne arrived at  the hospital at 4 a.m. and were shocked to discover Corinne was fully dilated.

We were staying with Mike and Tami and the grands, and they called us about 7 a.m.   

Ailey is Gaelic for Helen, Corinne’s beloved grandmother on her mother’s side.  Sydney is for my beloved uncle, Sydney Hoke Bryan of Reynolds, Georgia.  Both Helen and Sydney have been formidable influences in Corinne and Bryan’s lives. 

Ailey looks like a tiny, unfurled rosebud.

Here’s a picture in the hospital later that morning:

Here’s a picture of the proud parents and their beautiful daughter on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. 

Here’s a picture of my three Enright men with their new daughter/niece/granddaughter.  Because Ailey was born on Thanksgiving, Bryan got that long weekend and the following week off from work.  I think he held Ailey most of that time, which gave Corinne time to rest and recuperate and work on being a new mom who is breast feeding.   Occasionally he’d let each of us hold Ailey, but he’d pace back and forth behind us if she wasn’t completely happy–especially during the time before Corinne’s milk came in and Ailey was hungry and wanted to nurse all the time.  

The other grandchildren are completely enchanted with their new cousin.  As is first-time aunt, Tami.   Here’s a picture of the kiddos introduction to Ailey:

And, another:

Corinne and Bryan are going to make excellent parents.  I always knew they would, but it’s nice to see my dreams for them in action.  Like about 25 percent of all couples today, when they decided it was time to have a child, they had trouble.  Corinne quit an engrossing, but killer job in the DC area, and they moved to Charleston and simplified their lives.  They worked with an environmental doctor there, and learned that they had some nutritional imbalances and some serious toxicities (aluminum and mercury).  They set about detoxing and cleaning up their food and cooking habits.  (Aluminum cooking pots, aluminum cans, aluminum foil, too much fish, mercury fillings, etc., are all problems for humans.)  They spent a year getting ready to get pregnant, and when they did, whammo!  Almost right away Corinne conceived.  And, Corinne, because she is so healthy, had a terrific pregnancy, a quick birth, and is now breast-feeding Ailey.  GO CORINNE!

I am so proud of both of them, and of Mike and Tami with their four beautiful children!  Both Tami and Corinne are seriously into learning about and practicing healthy lifestyle choices.  Both are sourcing local, organic, nutrient dense foods in Charleston.  They are the wave of the future!

Turkey Tracks: The Charleston, SC, Farmers’ Market

Turkey Tracks:  December 13, 2010

The Charleston, SC, Farmers’ Market

We flew to Charleston, SC, on November 19th, a Friday.  Son Bryan picked us up at the airport, and daughter-in-law Corinne, who was 9 months pregnant, joined us for lunch.  Bryan and Corinne hosted a gathering for all the family that night, so oldest son Mike, daughter-in-law Tami, and their four children (Bo, Kelly, Talula, and Wilhelmina), and old friends just moved to Charleston, Leighton and Tara Derr-Webb, all came.  We sat on B&C’s  big screened porch and ate Bryan’s beer-can chicken.  Delicious!  The grandchildren have grown so much since last July.

Corinne took us to the Charleston Farmers’ Market early Saturday morning.  This market is ranked as the 5th best in the nation, and it is wonderful.  It sits on two sides of a central downtown green square, which means each leg of the market is nearly a city block long.  Many venders sell on-the-spot freshly cooked food, and the smells from the market are heavenly.  It’s one of my favorite places to go.

We made many purchases for Thanksgiving dinner on the following Thursday.  (We start cooking early in Thanksgiving week.)  I think we go through six or seven dozen eggs while cooking Thanksgiving dinner.  The family dressing alone takes two dozen eggs.  Pies take eggs as well.  And, cornbread.  We were able to get  really good eggs at the market.  And, Corinne was really wanting apple pies, so we loaded up on apples.  And, on greens, particularly kale.  We drank coffee and tea, ate chocolate croissants from a downtown store–a favorite of Corinne’s–and sampled and sampled market offerings.

Here’s a nice picture of John at the market:

And, a nice picture of a very pregnant Corinne:

 Ailey Sydney Enright came into this world a few minutes after 5 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, 2010, on November 25th.

Turkey Tracks: Giovanna’s Shawl

Turkey Tracks:  December 13, 2010

Giovanna’s Shawl

This fall I had the great good fortune to meet Giovanna McCarthy.

Giovanna’s husband, Tom, went to high school with John in Sommerville, MA.  Sometime last year, Tom and John reconnected, and Tom and Giovanna rented a house here in Camden, Maine, for the fall.  They wanted to explore living here, and they bought a home the first week they arrived.   They will move here for good in January 2011, and we are excited about them coming here.  Giovanna has already come to two of Coastal Quilters’ monthly meetings.

Giovanna came to America from Chile as a young woman.  And, Giovanna is a master knitter.  Her hands are always busy with handwork.

Look what she gave me not long ago:

 Here’s a close-up:

 Giovanna used one of the Noro yarns from Japan.  These yarns have the most beautiful colors and fibers.  Noro yarns can be pure wool or blends.  Noros often use a lot of silk and some of the softer animal fibers, like angora.  And, the yars come in various weights.  I made a scarf and matching hat from a silk and wool Noro when I started knitting again here in Maine.   It’s wearing beautifully.  I did a pair of socks, though, that I detest.  I couldn’t match the colors from one sock to the other, and to my eye, they don’t look pretty.  (Friend Amy Fischer loves them though.)  Giovanna, clearly, knows how to use these yarns.  She says this pattern is easy.  Ha!  And, that one works a hole when there is a color change so the colors are even.

I recently bought a book on knitting with Noro yarns that excites me.  There’s a chunky cardigan in it that has my name on it.

This blog will have more on Noro knitting down the road, I’m sure.  And I’m sure there will also be more on Giovanna and her work.

Turkey Tracks: Steve Melchiskey’s Earring Holder

Turkey Tracks:  December 13, 2010

Steve Melchiskey’s Earring Holder

I’m a member of Coastal Quilters, a chapter in the Maine State Pinetree Quilters’ Guild.  CQ is based in Camden, Maine, and it is a lovely group of women.  I treasure knowing each and every one of them.  They are generous to a fault, astonishingly talented, and devoted to this quilting group.  We learn a lot from each other.

Our spouses are no slouches either.  Many of them help us set up our meeting space at the Lion’s Club each month, which involves putting up lots of tables and placing chairs around them.  And, for our annual fundraising auction, one spouse–Steve Melchiskey–made several, very clever, pierced earring holders, using frames and window screen.  I had been searching for something to organize my earrings–especially since I have a new-found passion–making earrings with the help of the staff at Aboca Beads in Damariscotta, Maine, about 40 minutes down the road.

Here’s my terrific earring holder, and my heartfelt thanks to Steve Melchiskey for supporting Coastal Quilters:

 

Look at all those earrings, both VERY old and new!  The top three on the left are made from folding clay by the most amazing artist who displays at Alewives Fabrics in Damariscotta Mills.  How does she make such intricate pictures????  Some readers will recognize earrings they have given to me.  Some of the earrings I remade from old, outdated earrings, giving them new life.  One of the amber-like ones on the lower left got dropped and cracked.  John glued it for me, and I love it still. 

Turkey Tracks: Big Beautiful Bug, New Granddaughter Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  December 13, 2010

Big Beautiful Bug, New Granddaughter Quilt

Before leaving for Charleston for Thanksgiving, I wanted to complete our new granddaughter’s “welcome to this world” quilt.  She was due the first week of December–maybe even while we were in Charleston.  We were due to return December 6th.

Corinne found what would be the backing fabric when she was here this summer, and we both loved it.  There was a limited amount, however, and all the internet fabric searches in the world did not turn up more of it.   For some odd reason, I never did get a picture of the back of the quilt–and the fabric before I cut some of it up for the front.  Here is a BIG picture of part of the front, and you can see the fussy-cut featured bug fabric, combined with lively, bright prints.

Here is border detail:

And, here is the finished quilt:

This is a pattern I clearly love.  I’ve used it three times now.  One for my great-niece Fiona Whittle, and once for my daughter-in-law, Tamara Kelly Enright.  Each quilt is uniquely different.

Turkey Tracks: Ask And You Shall Receive: Synchronicity

Turkey Tracks:  November 9, 2010

Explanation:   This entry is out of order.  In the flurry of getting ready to go to Charleston for Thanksgiving with our children and grandchildren, I didn’t publish this draft to the blog.  I wrote it after the November 8 entries about wild yeast breads and cooking with honey. 

Ask And You Shall Receive:  Synchronicity

Have you ever thought or voiced a need for something–some information perhaps–and within a few days it appeared?  This magic is called synchronicity.  Some kind of energy goes out into the world and, like magic, the universe/god/whatever delivers what you need.

So, yesterday I was writing about wild yeast and making my macaroon cookies with honey instead of maple syrup.  This morning I was reading Yes! magazine–the current copy Fall 2010–and ran across a two-page article called “Can You DIY?”   This article talks about how to sweeten with honey, how to capture wild yeast into a bread starter, how to darn a sock, how to save kale seeds (a four-season crop in mild climates), and how to refrigerate without electricity.  There are demonstration pictures, too.   Take a look?   http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-resilient-community/can-you-diy

Yes! magazine can be read on-line, and you are free to use its articles however you wish.  It’s mission is to support its readers in building a just and sustainable world.  The quarterly issues are devoted to specific themes, like, for instance, this Fall 2010 issue:  “Ready For Anything:  Building Resilience Now For Hard Times Ahead.”  This issue features explanations about the Transition Movement, which is growing by leaps and bounds across the world as people are beginning we have to make radical, structural changes in how we are organizing and living our lives.