Wilson River Gal

  30 November 2016 I can't believe it's been 12 days since I've updated! I've been busy working on a couple of things and building muscle memory skills with the Griffis wheel. WIP #1: One of B's co-workers has a baby girl due in February, so I'm knitting a 3-6 month size sweater for her. The yoke will be an ecru yarn (not sparkly), and you can see the main yarn above. I'm really enjoying this pattern and finding it a fast knit. Last night, I joined the body and two sleeves on the circular needle and knitted the first yoke row. Last weekend while we were in Salem, we bought some beautiful pink glass bobble buttons for this project. The yarn is a superwash merino with just a bit of nylon. WIP #2: Still working on spinning the merino / silk yarn for B's scarf. I've got just less than an ounce of fiber left to spin, then I'll two-ply the singles. It looks like it will ply out to about a fingering weight. Once the yarn is plied and washed, I...

Time to process apples! Our apple trees (one each of braeburn, rome, King Cole, and spitzenburg) have out-done themselves this year. We've had one branch on the spitzenburg propped up for most of the summer - its applies are huge and heavy, so propping was necessary to keep the limb from being damaged. We finally remembered that we've got a perfectly serviceable food dehydrator in the garage. In this year of full freezers (and having to make room for half a beef next month!), we're now drying stuff to keep from putting more into the freezer. We've got a bunch of pie filling and applesauce stashed away, so, we're happily drying apples. The spitzenburgs seem to make the nicest dried apples: large slices, with a sparkly zing and plenty of sweetness. King Cole apples are drier than the "spitzs" - at least this year, anyway - and are good dried, but have a more subtle flavor than the spitzenburgs. The slices are sturdy, leathery. The coles seem to be a good ba...