Brrrr!

The cussing heat pump is rattling like a jar of pennies and we think a bearing is on it's way to the big HVAC in the sky, so we've turned that heat pump off. Good news: two zones! so the second floor is comfortable. Bad news: it's about 50 degrees down on the first floor. Maybe colder. Really chilly down there. Instead of catching up on our Tivo recordings (downstairs) we're hanging out in my lair (upstairs).

Help me name my office/craft room/place where I spend 8+ hours of my day Monday thru Friday. I telecommute from this room. My knitting stash is here. My spinning stash is here. Sometimes my spinning wheel is here, too, but lately it's been in the dining room. My silversmithing equipment is here. My sewing equipment is here. My flutes and music are here. My ginormous Ikea Galant desk is here. And right now I am here. It's a good big room. It has no name. Calling it "my office" sounds a little pretentious. "My room" sounds presumptuous, although it is my room and DH has his room/office/playroom wherein resides his computer(s), misc electronics, big honkin' man desk, theatrical paraphernalia, and Yamaha keyboard.

I also need a name for my spinning wheel. I've been referring to it as Betty but that just doesn't have the right ring. Also, I would like to tattoo the wheel. Or, paint tattoo-type images of Koi and Japanese waves and things.

I don't know why I like this so much: So Now You Know: World's Heaviest Snow Plow, but this blogger shared an amusing caption written for an old wood block print: Cupcakes?

I upgraded my laptop to Windows 7 last week. As if I didn't already have enough on my plate what with trying to launch that darned scorecard I mentioned in the last post I wrote in 2010, oh back in August. Yes, since that time I've been pushing developers, negotiating with stakeholders, and writing project documentation all in a race to launch a new online executive scorecard before the end of the calendar year. We would have made it, too, if one of the developers hadn't (a) resigned and (b) failed to actually complete (like he said he did) some key components of said scorecard prior to leaving. He was supposed to leave at the end of December and decided to leave ten days early. What a smeg head. I worked over my Christmas vacation on this. My manager worked over her Christmas vacation on this. We discovered last week that even if the defects we found had been resolved by 12/31, we never would have been able to launch it because, lo and behold, our erstwhile developer did not build the space on the production web server and the new owner of the web server says "oh no, server not stable, can't use it, go elsewhere." No amount of escalation was able to break through that barrier. We have a solution, we repoint the URL to a different web server (found one, owner says "sure, come on in, mi casa su casa," then build the new space, load the code, and test. It was an eventful week.

But you know what? It's friggin' done. The code is complete, all the functions work, the interface is as clean as my stakeholders have allowed (we disagree about flashy thingies) and I'm getting ready for a JAD session to design requirements for the next release. I gave life to this monster but did I mention I have to feed and water it? And, I expect that sometimes it will poop on the floor and I'll most certainly step in it. This has been an enormously valuable learning experience. I've learned that it's okay to break an egg as long as you say "yep, my egg. Does anyone have a towel?"

I wonder how many other metaphors I can mix and destroy tonight. DH will be counting.

I need to upload pictures but there are obstacles. Windows 7 upgrade. Right. Photoshop isn't loaded, but I'll probably do that tonight before bed. MyPad won't sync with iTunes on the laptop. It wasn't syncing before the upgrade so not a step backward. I have an assortment of lovely photos on the iPad from Christmas and, lamer that I am, might have to...I don't know...upload them to a cloud and then download them back again. Google Docs might be the ticket and I haven't tried that yet.

Cya anon.
Erin

New Year, New Blog Goal

That being "do more blogging." We'll see how that works out. I sure do like the idea of doing this while sitting in bed, though, and it might be the perfect incentive.

Christmas at Mom's in Silverdale was relaxing and lazy and full of good cheer. We walked through their neighborhood of Klahowya, visited one of the best yarn stores I've ever seen (Linda's Knit n' Stitch has a WALL of Koigu, dude), spent some time with my grandma and Uncle Stan, we ate Ivar's at the airport before we bothered to pick up our luggage, and didn't go to Seattle at all. We did some shopping, naturally. One must aquire accessories for one's new toys. Best Buy was conveniently located across the parking lot from Costco. The Silverdale Costco positively dwarfs ours here in Norfolk. You could put two of our Costco's inside theirs.

Note to Mom: My Costco has that yummy sheep's cheese and hopefully not just for the season.

Our plan this year is to really get moving on our kitchen remodel, but we'll be doing it in stages. We agreed to sacrifice some important events this year to make this all happen. This weekend we'll be scouting ranges, and two base cabinets. We badly need a new range, and the base cabinets allow us to make the first major modification: moving the sink from the peninsula to the wall and getting rid of the butt-ugly peninsula. Did I say butt-ugly? What I really mean is grossly, sadly, spectacularly butt-ugly. Hyperbole: not a thing of the past.

So unless I get a really spectacular bonus (I did well but not five-figures-well), and no more horrible automotive issues, I won't be getting a second spinning wheel this year, I will only be going to a little fiber festival locally, and am scaling back my fiber purchases this year. It's not a fiber diet, just a tightening the belt thing. DH is giving up a couple of conferences, although we might still be able to do the yoga teacher training.

Meanwhile, I've been configuring the heck outa my new iPad. I love these apps right now:

• Flickpad because I can see all photos my friends have posted this by the week to Flickr and Facebook.
• Flipboard because I can do basically the same thing with this and the blogs I follow as I do with Flickpad. Flipbook formats it all into a magazine-like format, which is very lovely. If only I could drop Flickpad into Flipboard...
• Angry Birds. What's not to like? It's so fun!

And I'm going to stop right there and post the damn thing! And by the way, typing on the iPad isn't nearly the headache I thought it would be. It works just fine, thanks.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I'm in the scorecard business again

Remember once upon a time I mentioned that I had a j-o-b? Most of the time the stress or worry from my job doesn't interfere with life outside the office (other than the fact that I telecommute). This week, though, has been a little different.

I picked up some new responsibilities at work recently. One is to propose and manage enhancements to a monthly scorecard, and the other is to actually OWN and manage the scorecard. Since the time I began working on the enhancements, the scorecard has gone to twice-a-month. Getting the scorecard published isn't particularly time consuming - oh, sure, at first it is because I'm learning all the ropes, but soon enough it'll be second nature. No, the real challenge about this scorecard is that even though we have a stated service level to get the scorecard published by the 10 calendar day of the month, in reality we are trying to get the scorecard published ASAP. Which means that as soon as all the data is ready to be validated, at least two people have to drop what they are doing and make this the #1 priority in their day. If there are errors, the developers have to make fixing it the #1 priority of their day. After it's been reviewed, then I have to review the scorecard and physically upload it to the appropriate directory, and then generate a scorecard communication and have it sent to the scorecard audience. And that becomes my #1 priority of the day.

So you guessed it: twice a month at least four people have to go through a scorecard fire drill.

My frustration is that ASAP isn't a service level. The 10th day...that's a service level. If we can get the scorecard published by the 5th day, or the 6th day, or whatever, then we should say so, and plan to that. There has to be wiggle room for correcting errors, and unanticipated delays, but from a business process point of view, this shouldn't be a fire drill.

And yet for some reason I've yet to fathom, we haven't fought back hard enough, or with the right arguments, to change the situation. And oh by the way this is not a customer-impacting event. There are others who depend on the information that is produced through the scorecard, but they can't really plan either because we produce it on a different day each month. There is a trust that develops when you bring consistency to a process. You can count on certain things happening at certain times. The garbage is always picked up Thursdays. Mail is always delivered by 5pm daily. Street cleaning is done the 2nd Wednesday of the month. And maybe it's just me, but how can I plan anything around a delivery date that changes for each cycle of an event? Does it do me any good if it's earlier? What if, as the recipient, I can't get to it until the 9th or 10th day anyway? Producing it on the 5th or the 7th doesn't do anything for me. Is the 10th day really the best service level? I don't know if we know that for sure.

I'm still trying to put together the right argument. This is helping.

And here's another bit: because of this self-imposed-by-the-team fire drill, I am probably electing to NOT take a planned vacation day Monday so we can "maybe" produce an update if a certain set of data is published because that certain set of data wasn't available to us in time for the fire drill. If we were marching to our original 10th day SLA, it wouldn't be an issue and we wouldn't have to do this twice. I'm still up in the air about Monday. I don't feel good about it, though, and I actually lost some sleep about it last night. It's been a very long time since that's happened.

What's special about Monday? Nothing, really, just an opportunity to spend some time with a couple of women I like and a road trip to the Outer Banks for the day. That's not really the point, though. More, the point is that this is a brand new (as of last week) set of responsibilities for me and I don't want it to fall apart the first time I take time off.

On the other hand, this isn't life or death. I think I'll take the vacation day as planned :)

Yogurt, Revisited

I think I finally got it! The last quart of yogurt I made (before I made the one last night) I shared samples with VaPurl and Knitstx (aka Vicki and Cheryl). So I only had a little left and was compelled to make more. Twist my arm. I had read on a cheese making website that recommends holding the milk at 185 degrees for 10 to 20 minutes for yogurt. even if you are using store-bought milk that's already pasteurized and all that. Apparently this process prepares specific whey proteins to help produce a thick gel. In most of my previous attempts there was no separation of the whey. Well, actually, there was once when I accidentally let the milk cool too much and heated it up again...

Well, sure, okay, let's try that, says I.

Wow! Whey! And the yogurt WAS thicker. And I decided that instead of pouring the whey off I'd drain it through LOTS of cheesecloth to achieve the good thick consistency I would LIKE to have once in a while. It's easier to use it with fruit when it's thicker, I think. Anyway, it's in the fridge. I think I finally have a winner.

Adventures in Old World Crafts Part 2

The arrival of a pound and a half of freshly shorn and processed 100% Cormo wool top from Juniper Moon Fiber Farm lit a small fire under my ass. This is not dyed fiber. It's a beautiful creamy, pale ivory. I watched this fiber get separated from it's collective owners in April, and eagerly awaited my share. While I do like the natural color, I will want to color some of it.

Enter the old world craft of dying fiber!

Oh, well, maybe not soooo old world, because I'm using acid dyes and cake decorator's dyes. If I were TRULY old world I would be using cochineal and indigo and brazilwood and dandelion. But not this time. Eventually, but not today. A girl has to draw the line somewhere.

Oh, the adventure of dyeing. I'll try to avoid all the obvious and not-so-obvious puns but you have to know they are there.

The first round was done with a product called iDye. It's a union dye, which means that it has combined the appropriate types of dyes for both animal and plant fibers. You can either use it on the stove top or in the washing machine. I used stove top. The dye pack dissolves in water, so you just drop the dye pack into a pot of water with 1/3 cup of vinegar, add the fiber, and heat to barely a simmer, then hold it at a simmer for about 30 minutes. Drain, wash the fiber, and hang to dry. You'll find, when you use this dye, that it doesn't "exhaust" the way other dyes do. That's because of the "union" quality. The animal fibers soak up dye meant for protein fibers, and leaves the plant dye behind. So there's this huge pot of colored water. It's confusing, especially after reading extensively about exhausting the dye, which means that all the color has been absorbed and leaves behind clear water. I really wanted to try some kind of tonal color. Among fiber enthusiasts it's referred to as tonal or monochrome, and there is subtle variation within the color, as opposed to a solid color with no variation. It can be very pretty. Yarn referred to as Kettle Dyed has this quality. I decided to start with Deep Orange and then over-dyeing for a very brief amount of time with Fire Red. I also chose to not pre-wet the yarn. Pre-wetting, whether you do so with or without additives, helps the fiber take up the dye. I had read that using dry fiber was one way to create more random variation in tone because the fiber will absorb the dye.

The thing with acid dyes is that the equipment you use cannot be used for anything else, ever. It has to be dedicated pots, stirs, etc. I used a cheap dark blue enamel-coated pot from Wal-Mart, like that granitware stuff. You don't realize how dark it is until you get it into a kitchen with poor lighting and dark, dark dye.

I wish for white enamel or stainless steel.

Results: more red than expected, but there was some orange observable. Let me tell you, too, that dye goes everywhere, and it looked like someone dyed. Ha ha. I couldn't resist just one.

Food dyes don't have the same constraints as acid dyes. They are non-toxic so it doesn't matter! Easier to clean up, too, actually.I have cake decorating dyes from a previous fascination with cake decorating. Problem was I had to make a cake in order to decorate it. Just for fun. So I had all these colors and who knew they were so great for dyeing fiber? It's pretty straight forward: mix up about a 1/2 tsp of concentrated food coloring with about 2 cups of hot water (hot helps it dissolve), apply to fiber that's been pre-wetted in a room-temperature 1:3 vinegar to water soup, gently squeezed and laid out on plastic, and then heat set in the microwave in what I call the 2 minute method: 2 minutes on high, 2 minutes wait, 2 more minutes on high, or 2+2+2. The colors came out beautifully. The execution by the dyer (me, and maybe the dyer should be executed but not today) is questionable but if I keep practicing I think I'll get it a little more finessed. I have lots of natural fiber, so I'll have lots of opportunities to practice.





I had Spectrum Gel Food dye on hand, and used 1 tsp violet for the purple, 1/2 tsp super rouge for red, and 1/2 tsp orange. Yes, I'm kind of into the red side of the color wheel. The first two skeins were my hand-painting experiment. You lay out your pre-wetted fiber and apply color to it. Sounds simple enough, and it really is. The trick is (a) deciding on your colors or color sequence and (b) mixing them up and (c) getting them where you want them on the fiber. I got (a) and (b) but (c) was definitely challenging. I've seen pictures of dyers using sponge paint brushes, and it seems like a good idea - a little more control. I might try that next time. So the violet was more royal blue than violet, which has given my skeins a somewhat patriot look, especially since I missed a couple spots. So the color sequence goes something like this: orange, red, tiny patch of white, blue, tiny patch of white, red, orange. The base fiber was bright white superwash (meaning it CAN be machine washed) wool that I spun and twisted into a 3-ply yarn. It's a sock weight yarn, but I wouldn't knit socks with it because of how I spun it. I would, though, do lace with it. I'll definitely add it to my current "sock blanket project." Or maybe I will defy convention and make socks anyway. Just for the helluvit.

The color is a little messy but I had fun with it and I learned some things. I made lots of notes.

I had leftover dye, and used up the orange and the red over-dyeing some ugly fiber, and the violet to over-dye a pale pink cowl that I knitted. The pattern is beautiful, and the yarn is gorgeous, but I don't look great with that much pale pink next to my face. It's just not me. However, that violet...that VERY BLUE violet, broke and the variation it created is not attractive at all so I'll have to run that one again. I'm wiser, now, and it won't take me two hours to decide my strategy.

Did I mention that I did this the same night I did the goat's milk yogurt? Man-oh-man I had some creative energy going. DH is in South Carolina for the week. Is there a connection? I'll let you decide. I'm thrilled that he'll be back Sunday night.

Update: I wrote this last weekend, and when I got the yarn wound into a ball, I decided that I hated it. So, I went back and dyed over it with blue. It's a little more monochromatic but it still kinda sucks. If I overdye it one more time it might become black-ish, which might not be such a bad thing. The yarn itself is pretty lovely, if I may say so myself, having spun and plyed it. I like how the orange and the red run together. I like how the purple/blues go, but I don't like how all three are co-existing, and therein lies my lack of knowledge in color theory. Yeah, yeah, I have the color wheel and I can figure out what is complementary and tertiary and secondary and all that. Values and tones and saturation...this is where I am weak. Ok. I get to keep working on it!

Doggie Pictures

Because they are cute, and they sleep cute.

Tasha, under my desk.

There's a dog here...

And she finally lifted her head when she heard the camera click.

Adventures in Old World Crafts Part 1

There is a certain satisfaction to engaging in crafts that might be considered "old world." They are the kind of crafts where you make a thing almost totally from scratch. I like making things that are commercially available but don't really meet a specific need. Too expensive, wrong style, whatever. And there is some other element I can't define, that is satisfies some elusive personal need. Sometimes it succeeds, like spinning. Sometimes not so much, like my latest foray into yogurt making.

I am not making yogurt because it's cost effective. It's not. Not even a little bit. I'm making it because my blood tests show that I have a significant sensitivity to everything cow's milk-related. Yeast is also a major player, but that's not really part of today's story.Sensitivity is different from an allergy. Allergy is immediate, sensitivity is delayed, and might be characterized as a "slow response allergy." Martin Healy, an Irish naturopath and acupuncturist, has written a couple of books about this.

First off, I wasn't able to locate any non-cow's milk yogurt at any of my local stores. Soy products are temporarily off limits until the middle of August so that wasn't an option either. You see my dilemma? I even went to the Organic Food Depot and they have everything BUT that. I learned later that I didn't look hard enough.

Back to the yogurt. First I went in search of a cow's milk-free yogurt culture. Custom Probiotics had one and I shelled out my earnings for a paltry amount of culture. Big bottle, tiny amount of...looks like very fine sawdust. It dissolves in liquid so it must not be sawdust.

Experiment #1
Get the goat's milk. I didn't order the culture until I knew I had a source. My good friend and fellow enabler VaPurl belongs to a CSA and obtains fresh goat's milk on a regular basis. She obtained a sample for me, 1 quart. Perfect. Fresh goat's milk has the most delightful taste! I was genuinely surprised at how wonderful and rich it was. Anyway, into my pot goes the milk, I followed the instructions from my yogurt book to the letter, added my culture, and popped it into my yogurt maker (really a yogurt hibernator...if it were really a yogurt maker it would heat up the milk and add the culture for me, dammit). Wait four hours. Check. Not set. Wait another four hours. Check. Not set. Wait another four hours. Check. Not set, but it was decidedly think. Kefir thick. Take it out of the yogurt maker, stir it, put it in the fridge.

Result: thick, lightly tangy in a good way, goat's milk. I wouldn't call it yogurt the way we all think of yogurt. But technically I guess it was because it had all those good live cultures. Very usable, though, and I put it on cereal, fruit, and added it to my post-workout recovery drink which made THAT taste like an creamcicle. Wow! Then I ran out so it was time to contemplate how to obtain more goat's milk.

Cost of 1 quart of goat's milk (not including the cost of the yogurt maker): $55.00

Experiment #2
I figured out that I could order a case of pasteurized goat's milk from Organic Food Depot. So I ordered a case of Meyenburg Ultra-pasteurized low fat goat's milk (cut me some slack, it's what they had). I have 12 quarts of goat's milk taking up space in my fridge. We'll be making cheese, too.

So, last night here we go. Milk in the pan, add 1/3 cup of dried goat's milk (to assist in thickening),heat it, cool it, add the culture, put it into the yogurt maker, wait ten hours. I learned my lesson the first time.

Result: thick, lightly tangy goat's milk. Same as the first time. I'm beginning to think that either I'm doing something wrong or my culture ain't for shit. I checked the temperature of the resulting "yogurt" and it was within specifications, so the incubator is okay. The only variable I really can't control is the culture. Everything was spotless clean, which is a rarity in this house but I was fanatic about the pot, the utensils, the incubation container, and everything used to make this stuff.

For Experiment #3 I will try using goat's milk yogurt from Organic Food Depot. Ah. Yes. When I was picking up my order I realized that they had this huge refrigerated room in the back of the store, not just the small wall of shelves for perishables. Then I found out that they carry goat's milk yogurt as a stock item. So I'll try using some of that for the culture this time and see if that works. If it doesn't, then it's me.

Cost of the second quart of yogurt:$38.00 At least the price went down.

Newport News to Baltimore, Train #94, Track 1

I really love riding the train. Today I'm taking my second ride, this time to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, or MSWF.

When I first heard about MSWF, I thought it was up on the Eastern Shore, and I thought it was...well...probably pretty lame and small time.

Little did I know.

This is a big deal, probably second only to the NY festival in Rhinebeck. Folks just call it "Rhinebeck." MSWF is alternatively referred to as just "Maryland Sheep and Wool." As in, "Are you going to Rhinebeck this year" and "No, only Maryland Sheep and Wool." Go figure. I know people who go to multiple festivals each year. I just go to Maryland. Although, if I were in the vicinity of one I would go. There are two other festivals I would like to attend, though, and are on my wish list. One is SOAR (Spin-Off Artists Retreat) in Portland, OR, and the big jewelry conference in Albuquerque, NM. Artistically, there's a great deal going on west of the Mississippi and another compelling reason, among many, to move back West.

MSWF ain't small time and is anything but lame. There are a couple hundred vendors spotting everything from raw fleeces to spinnable to fiber to pinning wheels to needles, yarns, dye supplies, and, yes, sheep and goats. There are herding demonstrations (missed it last year, WILL watch this year), Alpaca available to pet, Llamas too if you can get close enough without being spit upon. The angora bunnies are fluffy and adorable. And fast. Last year I helped catch an escapee. There are lamb kabobs galore and I can't bring myself to eat it. I'm not big on lamb anyway, and eating them during a sheep festival seems a little weird. Not wrong or right, just weird. For me. Y'all do what you want.

I cannot help but compare last year to this year. Last year: complete newbie, totally overwhelmed. Doesn't mean I didn't spend some money. I bought my first 3 ounces of merino/silk fiber and an awesome tote bag. I got home and realized pretty quickly that the only thing to do with that fiber was spin it...but with what? And so it began. First a spindle. Then a little more fiber. Then a new magazine subscription (Spin Off) and a bunch more fiber. Then a spinning wheel, then DH gives me three pounds of beautiful Gotland locks, and now I have to buy more tools to manage that (oh darn). It takes over your life. I was totally unprepared for how attending the MSWF would alter my world.

This year I'm a pro. Or, at least not a complete newb. I have a wish list of yarn and the hope that some of the big name yarns I want are marginally on sale through the larger vendors. It's mostly sock yarn because I dig knitting socks, and love using the thinner yarns. Why yes, I think I will get some spinning fiber. I've been saving up for this. I went on a yarn diet so I could splurge at MSWF. And I have a pantry full of yarn so I'm not exactly starving. I was only planning to get a couple of tools - a really nice Golding spindle, a pair of Signature Needle Arts knitting needles (or at least eye ball them, they look delicious). I thought about getting a Charisma print, they are so so so cute. And I want to test some of the spinning wheels. A wheel is not in my budget. Nothing that large is in my budget unless it washes and dries clothing.

Until last Saturday.

Knitters are enablers, and they love shopping vicariously. The very definition of a modern major enabler: Knitter. Spinner. Vicki. Probably crocheter too but that's a different breed we don't discuss.

Saturday was the Sheep Shearing Party at the Juniper Moon Fiber Farm. Shepherdess Susie has done an outstanding job of creating a relaxing, fun, and informal environment for us shareholders. I know that raising sheep and goats is serious business but when we all decend onto her farm you almost wouldn't know it. She smiles. She laughs. She invites you (insists, actually) that you remove your shoes before you enter the house. No sense in tracking sheep dip everywhere.

So,: Kent, me, Cheryl & Rick, Vicki and Cuin, Romelda & John...we're sitting around in our folding captains chairs, laughing and talking about everything, and somehow we get to the topic of drum carders. We're fiber freakazoids so this isn't exactly a stretch. Drum carder=expensive piece of equipment that brushes shorn sheep locks into beautiful spinning fiber...and no, you can't just use a hair brush BUT I TRIED. A drum card is to spinners what a pneumatic drill is to a mechanic. You can use a wrench, but the pneumatic drill is so much more efficient. Anyway, turns out Vicki is in the market for a "little" drum carder. Let's call. it a sporty little compact, like a Prius. We throw idea that around for awhile, and she says how the one she really wants is the Lexus. I suggest how it would be cool to have five or six people buy "drum carding shares" to make the price palatable and be able to afford that Lexus.

Vicki is a world class enabler. I am too. We do it to each other. I bought a netbook and she drooled, then bought a netbook. She had a wheel, and I drooled, then bought a wheel. this is the big stuff. Let's not even talk about the small stuff. I learned my skills from the Mother of All Enablers, my DH. "Of course you want that honey. Go ahead." "Just get the whole thing, no sense in paying more for bits and pieces." You know these people who encourage you to do it, spend it, grow it, make it, attend it. And it's fun, so I'm not complaining. Vicki got to see my maker in action. I am not complaining too much about the Lexus drum carder I will likely take home with me from MSWF. There are, in fact, more expensive drum carders out there, but a girl must draw the line somewhere, even this girl.

I bet I get to spend more time with Vicki. Because why buy it now when Erin has one?