The Best Laid Schemes

We’ve been having an adventure. You may remember we were planning to go on vacation to Arizona with the trailer. Well, we put our things away in the trailer, but when Charlie checked the lights, they weren’t working. Not an auspicious beginning!

As you probably know, when you pull a trailer, the lights on your tow vehicle can’t be seen by other drivers, because the trailer is in the way. That's why they put lights on trailers. If they aren’t working, though, you can get a ticket. He had to fix them. By the time we left, it was already afternoon, so when we stopped for gas in Burns, OR, it was already time to start looking for a place to spend the night.

The place where we had planned to stop had something called "full hookups." That meant you can connect to power, water and sewer. When we drove in, though, none of the empty spots were cleared of snow, and we were concerned about trying to pull through snow that deep. I found another place online, and Siri took us there. There were several cleared spaces and an attendant, who suggested we take the spot next to the dog park. We backed in and hooked up. The power worked right away, but no water came out of the trailer faucets. Charlie said that there must be some ice in the pipes. They decided just to bring in some water from the campground faucet to use for washing and only hook up to the power. We would just be there overnight. I used my phone to register online, but their system put us in a different spot. The attendant said he would notify the owners of the change.

The next day, we unplugged the power, and we rode off. All went well until early afternoon. Suddenly, we heard a loud noise. It didn’t stop as we rode on. It was making our ears hurt. We had to continue driving, because there was no place to pull off. Finally, we came to a pull-out and called AAA.

We were in the middle of nowhere, roughly halfway between Burns and Winnemucca. The nearest town was 15 miles ahead, but no one within miles and miles had the capability to take both our truck AND our trailer. After several phone calls back and forth with AAA and different repair places, they finally found us someone back in Burns who could, and was willing to, pick us up and take us to Winnemucca where there was a repair place that could look at our truck and an RV campground where we could stay. The tow-truck driver suggested we call right away to make a reservation for the trailer, because the office was due to close soon, and then call the recommended auto shop, to let them know we were bringing in a disabled vehicle. 

It was well after dark when he got there, because it was a long drive from Burns. We got into the cab, while he loaded the truck onto the bed of his truck and attached our trailer to the back of his vehicle. (I learned that the truck would be “hauled” and the trailer “towed.” I didn’t know the difference in these terms before.) Here's the view out the back window of his cab. The red lights were flashing:

He would drop the trailer off at the RV campground in space 64, which we had been assigned when we made the reservation, and we could expect a map with the codes in a drawer in front of the office. The campground office was closed by the time we were picked up. When we got there, however, someone else was in that spot and there was no paperwork in the drawer. Our helper put the trailer in the next spot, which was empty, and we would do without the codes the first night. (We found out the next day, that the people in our assigned spot had signed up online right before the office closed. They had been assigned space 62. Apparently they assumed the paperwork was for them and someone in the office forgot to make up another map with codes and space indicated for them.) We still had to eat, so it was very late when we got to sleep. 

After leaving our trailer at the campground, we took the truck to the repair shop and left it. That was Thursday. Friday morning we called the repair shop. They would not be able to look at it until this week, though, so we don’t know yet what the damage will be or how long we will have to stay here, but the Arizona plans are out.

When we went outside the next day, this is what the place looked like.

The facilities are very nice. They have a billiard table and a library in the building with the office. There's a laundromat, but I don't think we'll need it any time soon.

They have a heated swimming pool that opens May 15th, but I'm sure we won't be here still, and we didn't bring our swimsuits.

It’s very cold and windy in Winnemucca. It has been a struggle to keep the trailer warm, but fortunately, we brought a little electric space heater, which runs pretty much all the time. We have a furnace, but we use it sparingly, because we don’t want to run out of propane in the middle of the night. We're making use of the warm fake fur blankies we got for the puppy.

We got the water running, but it freezes up occasionally. We keep the cabinet doors open, and Charlie switches out the hose from the water connection to the trailer periodically, so any water inside can thaw. We've been here less than four days and already we've had strong gusts of wind, as well as rain, snow, sleet and this stuff, which looks like someone killed a Beanie Baby.

We are stuck here with no way to drive to the store. The campground has a little grocery section in the office, but it’s pretty much just canned and packaged stuff. The nearest grocery story is a mile away, not a bad walk...in warmer weather. There is a store in town that delivers, though, if we decide there is something we absolutely have to have. We should have enough food to get us through at least another week.

I had planned for this week’s story to be about Billy and Emil’s adventures, traveling with “The Writer” and her husband and camping in Arizona with the trailer. All that went out the window, of course, but the story, as told by Emil in a letter to his friend Holly, is going to be way more interesting.

When things go awry in life I have been known for years to comment, “This will look good in my autobiography.” No no one wants to read a story about how someone planned a trip, everything went as planned and they did fun things like hike, swim and watch movies. They like to read about all the things that went wrong. A happy ending is always nice, though. We’ll see!

I did manage to get some knitting done during the short time we were actually driving and then holed up in the trailer. I’m through the yoke of the Talvinen sweater now, done with the divide for the sleeves and am ready to work my way down the body. Here's the front:

The back:

I tried it on, and I think it will fit nicely as a cardigan. (The vertical stripes down the front are the steek, so about an inch of that will be gone in overlapping button and buttonhole bands.)

We also have had excellent internet, both here and the place in Burns, allowing us to watch the news and movies, and I’m ready to download another novel or two to my phone, having finished the one I was listening to. We also were able to Zoom on Sunday with two of our kids and our daughter-in-law.

One other happy event. The last time I checked the mail before we left, my bag for the Rose City Yarn Crawl had arrived, so I transferred my current projects to the new bag.

Our neighbor is picking up our mail, as the PO never seemed to register my hold mail request. The book purchased during the yarn crawl and the yarn to make one of the sweaters in it both arrived the day we left, and our neighbor has them.

"The best laid schemes of mice and men gang oft agley" ––Burns

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Talvinen cardigan and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating, but I may get to it yet).

What's on my loom, sewing machine: How would I know?

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Pippa and Pauly wonder about the strange pink creature sitting on the bed in “Pink Floyd.”

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Just finished The Governess of Penwythe Hall by Sarah E. Ladd. Looking to download something else just for me. While driving, we listened to The Very First Damned Thing and My Name Is Markham, both by Jodi Taylor. We finished the first one. The second one has 38 minutes left. We may have to back it up a bit after we get on the road again.

What's in my wine glass: Villa Di Mare Sangiovese Rubicone IGT 2020. Excellent!

What's my tip of the week: Don't travel south in the winter.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>  

Short Days, Long Nights

We went to Run-A-Muk Dog Park twice this past week.

Dusty really needs to run and play with other young dogs. It's good to see Rocky running, too. He doesn't run as fast as Dusty, but he seems comfortable galloping along the trail, so I guess his joints are holding up all right. We had several sunny days this past week, but we also had a lot of snow, mostly Thursday afternoon and evening.

Thursday morning Vintage Stitchers met at Diane's. She had asked us to bring 2" strips for the Adopt A Native Elder program. They use the strips to tie up fabric pieces for the aging Native Americans in the program. Several of us brought stacks of strips or folded fabric for one of the volunteers to cut. Volunteers meet a couple of times a week to put together packages of food and other necessities to take with them during their periodic food runs.

Diane had finished this afghan. Several of the ladies in the group have made this or are making it. The pattern is from the Building Blocks pattern by Michelle Hunter. She used Swish Worsted by Knit Picks.

Rebecca, our appliqué queen, is working on some of the last blocks to go into her current quilt. It's supposed to have 24 blocks, but she says she thinks 20 is enough. She uses a freezer-paper method.

Here's another one:

Marilyn had finished her Falling Charms quilt. She planned to drop it off at the quilter after the meeting.

Here's the back:

Barbara had made this microwave bowl holder. It's designed to hold a bowl you put into the microwave, so it won't be hot when you take it out, but she likes it for holding her sewing supplies.

Here's a look from the side:

I took my "Peggy's Sistine Chapel" to show my friends. They remember when I was looking for the fabrics for it. I worked on my ZickZack scarf at the meeting.

I have been sewing, though.  I had made a pleated skirt for Vroni before we left on our Christmas trip, but I wasn't very happy with how it looked from the back. Also, I had to alter it to fit the skinnier Götz dolls. I thought I would "tweak" the pattern, but ended up redesigning it, modeled here by Lotte.

The grey skirt on the left was the first one. The pattern had you sew the top/yoke to the pleated skirt section, then add the elastic and sew up the back. The top/yoke was supposed to be cut on the bias, but I didn't have enough fabric to do that.

For the remake, I used homespun, which I think looks a little like thin wool flannel and comes in nice plaids. I cut the top/yoke on the bias using my rotary cutter and ruler to the size I ended up with for my altered version of the skirt (3 1/2" X 12"). I cut the skirt section on the crosswise straight-of-grain, making it 1/4" longer, because these dolls are 1" taller than the American Girl doll the original pattern was designed for (3 3/4 X 35"). I finished the top/yoke section, elastic and all, including the back seam. Then I hemmed the skirt and sewed the back seam. When I made the pleats, I made the pleats using the lines in the plaid, starting by folding the seam inside where it wouldn't show. It doesn't matter how big the pleats are as long as they just touch on the wrong side. Then I pinned the two sections together, easing in any fullness and using lots of pins. After sewing the two pieces together, I topstitched the way I did in the first skirt. Here you can see the difference:

Theoretically, you can piece the skirt part, as long as you have an equal number of what I would call "pattern repeats" in the plaid, so the seams can be hidden in the folded back part of the pleat. You can also make the pleats larger or smaller, as long as they just touch in the wrong side. Of course, this will change the number of pleats.

I finished the pattern testing for "Lotte's Lotta Colors." I found some mistakes and issued a revision. I had long thought a self-striping or multicolored yarn would work for this project and simplify the knitting, something people who have never worked a Faire Isle project before would appreciate. I used Palette in Black (25g) for the ribbing and darker color and On Line Supersocke 100 Living Color (24g) for the lighter color (color #1051). By using a multicolored or self-striping yarn you lose control over where the colors appear, but I like the effect, and you only work with two yarns throughout, eliminating the cutting and adding of new yarns at the center front and at the end of round for the sleeves.

Here it is as a cardigan, worn over my Wonderland Turtle turtleneck:

And as a pullover:

For comparison, here is the same sweater knit with the traditional changing yarn colors at the center front every few rounds:

Definitely a more structured look.

Late Thursday night, Dusty was barking incessantly. I went out to see what he was barking at. There was a young man standing at our gate, and two more out in the street with a vehicle. The young man said they were on a ski trip from Minnesota and were staying at the house up the hill (the one we call the "nightly rental house"). He said that even with 4X4 they couldn't get up the hill to park in their driveway and wanted to know if they could park in our drive. (We have a driveway wide enough for three vehicles, but only a 2-car garage.) I gave him permission. The next morning, they were out early, shoveling away the berm from our driveway, something produced when the snowplow comes by. I think they were planning on staying for a week, but they had no more problems, as of this writing.

I'm always looking for easy recipes for classic vegetarian dishes. With a little research online, I made a few adaptations and came up with this version of Huevos Rancheros.

Per person:

1 corn tortilla
1/2 C refried beans
2 T canned green chiles
1/2 small cooked potato, shredded
1 egg
1/4 C shredded Cheddar or Mexican cheese

1/2 avocado, sliced
1/2 green onion, chopped
Salsa to taste

Preheat oven to 350º
Line an ovenproof soup bowl with foil for each person. Spray inside with cooking spray. Place corn tortilla inside and top with beans, chiles and potato. Make a well in the center and break egg into it.
Bake for 25 min.
Top with avocado, chopped green onion, and salsa.

(If you're serving this to someone who can't chew tough tortilla, you can cover it with foil for cooking.)

What's on my needles: ZickZack Scarf, about 1" further than last week.

What's on my Featherweight: Slacks for Götz dolls.

What's on my loom: Scarf to use up last of the warp.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is still awaiting her next task. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Dean Koontz’ Midnight. Now listening to Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens. Seems very good so far. I'm about halfway through. Someone at Vintage Stitchers recommended The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez. It was chosen as the book of the year by the libraries in Salt Lake City.

What's in my wine glass: Green Fin Red Table Wine, Vintage 2016. From organically grown grapes. Very, very nice!

What's my tip of the week: We shop for groceries at about four different stores. I made up a list of things we often buy at each store and saved it as a document in my word-processing program. I print off a copy and attach it to the fridge. We circle things as we find we need them and write in what isn't on the list. Then when one of us goes to the store, we just grab the list and go.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

A Winter's Tale

The "So-not-my-palette Cardigan" is finished.

I elected to work two "afterthought pockets" in the front. I did this by picking up stitches where I wanted the pocket and working a ribbed band. Then I picked up stitches two rounds/rows above those stitches to make the pocket lining. 

If you pick up and knit at least one row before cutting the center stitch in the round/row between the two sets of picked-up stitches, it's easier to deal with the floats (strands that hang out in the back) created during the process of knitting with two colors. 

For blocking, I got out the wooly board. It took a few minutes to figure out how to put it together again. I set the wooly board with the washed (still wet) cardigan under a ceiling fan. In the morning, I added a smaller, tabletop fan to help finish the job.

When it was dry, I added some reinforcement stitches to some of the steek facings, using my sewing machine. Then I trimmed close to the stitching, and finally I sewed the facings down to the inside of the sweater using a blanket stitch.

With most of the family gone, I had a chance to have a look at some of the craft supplies I received for Christmas and birthday, which included a stack of fat quarters from The Stitchin' Post in Sister, OR, a special presser foot for my Featherweight with a built-in quarter inch (on top of the fat quarters) and some lovely yarn to make...a shawl, maybe? I sense a theme, colorwise.

Winter has continued to attack. This was our back deck after two days of sunlight and before this weekend's storm. That table is 60" in diameter, which should give you an idea of the depth of the snow.

DGD1 came here, not just for fun, but to work, doing photoshoots with models in SLC. She had to cancel a photoshoot on Thursday because of the snow. She has a two-wheel drive car, useful in California but not so good here in January. Wednesday, she couldn't even get back to the house, but had to park at a gas station down by the freeway at the foot of the road to our house. I had to go pick her up, and I felt as if I were taking my life in my hands, even with 4X4. I had to drive her back down there at 8:00 AM to get her car. Finally, on Friday (between storms), she packed up and moved to stay with a friend down in Salt Lake Valley, where they don't get so much snow.

Dusty is missing her. He evidently knows she hasn't left the state. He keeps going to the door and whining, but he doesn't want to go out.

What's on my needles: The Trickle Brick socks, again, but no progress so far this week.

What's on my Featherweight: Ready for new quilting. I used her to reinforce the steek facings for my "So-not-my-palette Cardigan," so she's still sitting out.

What's on my loom: Working on the scarf I started more than two years ago. 

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is set up again with more Full Circle spinning fiber.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor, a delightful story. Now listening to Agatha Raisin and Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton. A cozy mystery. I think there may be more in the series. Now reading Lord Haversham Takes Command by Heidi Ashworth on the Kindle app. There are a lot of grammar/typesetting errors, but the story is entertaining and sometimes funny.

What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec, always a good value.

What's my tip of the week: If you live in a place where you're subject to extreme cold in the winter time, leave the cabinet doors under the bathroom sinks open to enable heat to enter and protect your pipes from freezing. We learned this several years ago the hard way.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Groundhogs, Wheels and Bowls

Last Monday the American Girl Knitters Ravelry group started its February knit along (KAL).

We were given a discount on any pattern by Una Hendry (from lots of choices) and had to finish one item from any of the patterns, post in the KAL thread and link to the KAL from our Ravelry page for the project.

I wanted to use leftovers and found Stroll sock yarn among my scraps in “White,” “Flagstone Heather” and “Rabbit Heather.” These last two are tweed. They were left over from three pairs of socks. It’s the middle of winter here, so I couldn’t see a sun dress or baby doll PJs, so I picked this one of the three ski sets. 

I made the ski pants from the “Rabbit Heather” first, because there seemed to be more of it, and I wanted to make them all one color. Dolly is holding her foot up so you can see the stirrup that goes under the foot.

After finishing the body of the ski sweater and as I was making the first sleeve, I realized I might run out of the “Flagstone Heather.” I decided to stop the first sleeve at that point and knit the second sleeve using the other end of the yarn. I got through the second pattern row at the shoulder before I ran out. I could have substituted one of the other colors without too much difficulty by altering the pattern slightly, but I had a skein of Essential sock yarn in “Ash,” which is pretty close to the “Flagstone Heather,” although not tweed. I substituted this for “Flagstone Heather” in the last two pattern rows on the sleeves. Some of it disappears into the seam at the shoulder anyway, so it wasn’t noticeable.

I used the leftover “Rabbit Heather” as the main color for the hat and used the Essential “Ash” along with the Stroll “White” for the contrast colors. Also not noticeable.

Part of the fun is the staging. As I did with the January KAL project, I used the chair and ottoman I made last month and the iPad for a roaring fire.

I added some “popcorn,” crushed styrofoam peanuts (an idea I found on Pinterest) and a cup of cocoa, with “marshmallows,” (also styrofoam peanuts, a couple of pieces that turned out the right shape). The perfect setting for après-ski.

I still have some things I need to make for Dolly before I put her aside to finish my hand-quilting and other projects.

The Spin Along started Friday and is still going on. I started out with this lovely fiber from Christina “Aloha Blu.”

We started Friday at noon. I chose to start with the two ounces of Targhee “Saturated Spring.” As of Sunday evening, after the bowl game, I had this much done with still about 45 minutes worth of spinning left to finish the 2 oz. bump of fiber.

If you’re reading this Monday morning, I am still spinning away. I plan on Navajo-plying, also called “chain plying,” because it’s similar to making a crochet chain. The loops are much bigger, and you make them as you spin in the opposite direction from the direction you spun the “singles,” which is what you call the individual ply.

Here in the high mountains, the sun shone brightly on Groundhog Day. I know that’s supposed to mean six more weeks of winter, but I wonder if it means ONLY six more weeks. That would turn out to be a short winter for us. To keep warm (even in the house it’s cold) the pups wear their sweaters and soak up the sun when they can.

Rocky’s sweater is made from left over Swish in “Lava Heather” with some “Squirrel Heather” and “Dove Heather” for contrast. Sunny’s is also made from “Lava Heather” and “Dove Heather,” but with “Dusk” as the other contrast color.

Even after a couple of warmer days (high 30s) we still have about three feet of snow on our roof.

Common Threads was cancelled because we had a blizzard, which creates a parking problem, but some of us managed to visit Joanie on Friday. Quilters: Vintage Stitchers meets again this coming Thursday, so there’s some hope for some quilting eye candy next week.

What's on my needles:  Still the “Time for Tea” party dress for Dolly. The Trickle Socks, waiting.

What's on my Featherweight: Still doll socks, tights and undies. Will start on Regency outfit for Dolly soon.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz, his latest novel, which came out in December. I really enjoyed it and think it’s his best so far. Then listened to Her own Devices by Shelley Adina. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. I never thought Steampunk would appeal to me, but it does. Now listening to From a High Tower by Mercedes Lackey. Good so far. Still reading A View to Die For by Richard Houston.

What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec, one of our favorites.

What's my tip of the week: If you know who won the Superbowl, don’t tell anyone the result unless they indicate that they already know. They may have recorded the game.