Darling, you're stronger than me

Time for more weirdness, the second weird thing about me. I recently posted about how I am a better parallel parker than my husband, but while that is something that feeds my competitive streak, I don't find it all that weird. However there is something else I can do better that I do find weird. I cannot explain it.

What do all these items have in common?

They all have lids that can be a challenge to open. These sorts of lids can stump my husband, but I can open them all. Why? He is definitely stronger than me. He can do push-ups, move full sheets of plywood, lift a kayak onto the car roof in one motion, all things I cannot do easily. Yet when we have waffles, who has to open the syrup? Me.

It's not just him either. A typical situation. He tries to open a lid somewhere with other people present. He fails, so he looks around for me. Another guy intercepts and says he'll do it. (thinking, of course, what a wimp) Franz lets him. He fails. Franz then passes it off to me. I succeed. (who's the wimp?)

Fortunately for our relationship, Franz is a good sport about it --- he really likes maple syrup.


(and yes, I've been listening to Patsy on my iPod. How did you guess?)

a sky on a saturday post

Photo taken on Wednesday.

noodly oodly oodles

Noodles for dinner can be a messy proposition.






Or not. For this tasty treat we owe thanks to Mr. Momofuku Ando who recently died at age 96.

A homage.

Small Town Seattle

Imagine that you and a pal go to the downtown Goodwill Outlet where everything is $1.29 a pound. You sift through the bins, looking for wool sweaters to felt. Maybe you make an unexpected score and find those foam letter puzzle pieces you've seen others use for blocking lace. Have to dig through three bins of toys to collect them. Your eagle-eyed friend helps and between the two, you collect all but the outside of the Q. Who needs a Q? Now you can knit that shawl you've been thinking of. Maybe you can even convince your friend to try some lace knitting.

And the sweaters. Several 100% cashmere. Think of the goats who suffered on the steppes of Mongolia just so folks could wear and toss a sweater so easily. How many of these were gifts or shopping as entertainment? Well, that's another rant for another day. They don't felt, some have little holes, but there's plenty of luxury to line hats, back pillows, edge a throw. An Alpaca pullover to experiment with also. It's itchy. Who knew? And a pile of wool to felt.

And your pal and you each find some wearable clothing. Unexpected pleasure. She gets an argyle V neck in just her colors. You find some silk tee shirts. One has a ripped seam but the other is in perfect condition. Just the thing to wear under a sweater. They even still have drycleaning tags.

You wash them anyway, because, well, you know. In your front loader, delicate cycle, cold water with your own wool sweaters. Taking advantage of the fact things don't felt well in a front-loader, you've figured out it is as safe as handwashing and a lot less hassle.

So the silk tees are clean and dry and then you remember to remove the safety pins from the cleaners. Oops. Then it occurs to you. Took a while, because you don't use the drycleaner very often. Don't they put a customer's name on those tags? What's the chance you recognize the name?

You recognize. Most definitely. Someone you have dealt with. Professionally. So has your husband. And you both found him obnoxious socially and professionally clueless. Can you wear his wife's shirts?

Stopping the running

Well, it seems that I finally got my Red Scarf Project submission to stop running. How? Three separate soakings in Synthrapol with rinsing and drying inbetween. Then an overnight soak in Synthrapol and vinegar. Yet each rinse water just turned red, red, red. After allowing it to dry I tried a new tactic. I got out my dye pot to cook it. Then things got weird. I filled the pot with lukewarm water and a good glug of vinegar then immersed the scarf. And the water stayed clear! Perfectly Clear! Suspicious, I heated it up anyway, brought it to a simmer and it still didn't run. After it cooled back down, I had to remove the strong vinegar odor, so I emptied the water, refilled with fresh water and a squirt of lavendar eucalan. Added the scarf and goddamn it the water immediately turned pink! I put it back on the heat, brought to a simmer, left it simmering for an hour and the water was still pink. But from my dye experiences, I know that sometimes the dye only fully sets during the cooling phase. Sure enough, when the water had cooled it was clear.

The scarf is still beautiful, the yarn held up well with all the washing and cooking. But it is not the scarf I made. The photo below shows the scarf with a swatch that has not been washed. For another comparison, check out this entry in Norma's photo gallery. The third scarf is also a Mountain Colors in Ruby River. Different yarn composition (she used 4/8 wool and I used Twizzle, a merino silk blend) so there is some inherent difference in the colors, but still. sigh.