It must be the need to hibernate

I've spent three days stocking my pantry. Even more time will be put into re-organizing all of it and taking full inventory. Yes, there is enough to warrant an inventory list. I do love that my garage doubles beautifully as a cold storage room during the winter months, it makes where to keep the potatoes easier to figure out.
It's felt a bit odd stocking up. I've really been trying to balance the pioneer/country winter food with the raw food thing. I suppose it's become more of a seasonal eating thing, fresh/raw stuff most of the year, heavier, more traditional foods during the coldest months augmented by whatever fresh things I can get to grow or get my hands on. Once again, that rather old fashioned way of doing things seems to make the most sense to me.

There was also the almost over-powering need to go looking at yarns today. Wool, silk and alpaca, blended or separate, was calling to me today. Lovely bulky yarns that created visions of warm hats, mitts, and (even more ambitious) sweaters for everyone I know. Not a practical vision on that kind of scale, but there was a distinct desire to make sure everyone was going to stay warm this season.
One of the reasons this is decidedly impractical is the Holiday Stuff. The Holiday Stuff has put the brakes on my winter knitting for myself until probably early to mid-December, depending on how fast I can get things accomplished. The really good news being that about half of the most time consuming Holiday Stuff is complete. If I cut down some of my sleep time, I'll probably have it all done by Thanksgiving. Wish me luck?

Attempt at less consumption through spinning

I pulled out my basic roving and my drop spindle today to attempt to make yarn to knit with. The singles looked, rustic yet elegant. Almost like I had made them thick/thin on purpose. They stayed rolled in their ball and made me feel accomplished. Then I tried to ply singles together. The result was not nearly as pretty. It is very obvious more practice is needed.

I suppose it's my way of trying to combat consumer culture. The idea that store bought is better. The problem being, if enough people do this, what do we replace our consumer culture with? Do we return to the barter system? Lucky for us, humans are a creative and adaptive animal (there are how many of us on the planet?) If we think about it, some idea should come to light as to how to survive without mass produced disposable everything and pre-packaged heavily processed preservatives masquerading as food. Thus the real question becomes, can we get people to act on that idea?

New craft table!

I'm very excited. If I hadn't been overcome with enthusiasm for prepping my backyard for a proper garden before the first snow out here, I probably would be able to enjoy it much more. But then the table wouldn't look all lovely, it would be covered in fabric and pins, the same fabric stacked next to it, just waiting to become all sorts of lovelies. Someday the craft table and sewing machine will be accompanied by a loom,a spinning wheel,and maybe a potter's wheel (did I mention I like to paint and draw too?) but until I have a studio to house them, they will probably have to wait. I rather assume that my family has no desire to live amongst all my projects all the time, and might want some room for their own things as well. At least I still have my drop spindle to play with.

Last weekend was spent cooking. A lot. Hubby made 2 gallons of clam chowder, from scratch and Philly cheese steaks. The leftover meat from the cheese steaks got turned into nachos. I also did up a few pork roasts and 2 gallons of corn chowder. Soup is popular around here during the cold months, it freezes well, and usually requires only some fresh bread and salad to make an entire meal. Gotta love the simplicity. Too bad it means re-organizing my pantry to house all the dried peas, beans, rice, flour, and cornmeal. At least it looks nice with everything in glass mason jars. It also leaves me more knitting time. Woohoo!

Fieldtrip!

Friday, we headed down towards UNM to visit their Museum of Anthropology. The campus is rather lovely, and reminds me more of Santa Cruz than standard New Mexico. Chalk graffiti all over the place telling people to vote, bicycles everywhere, and people of every description, a few with the obligatory guitar slung on their back or in their lap.
We wandered for a good while and finally found the Anthropology building, enjoying ourselves immensely. The museum itself had some very interesting pieces, focusing mainly on local digs and the history of the Southwest. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves, particularly the designs on the pottery and the interactive maps.
There was a downside though. Two men, neither of whom seemed to know the proper protocol for having a conversation in a museum. They were far too loud for the surroundings. Hubby and I were irritated at their lack of manners. Due to their volume level, their conversation was easy to follow, (apparently the entire population of the museum needed to hear what they were discussing), I began to find myself even more annoyed as to the content of their conversation. One was in lecture mode. This would have been fine, at proper volume and if he had had a solid base in what he was spouting. Instead, I found myself clenching my jaw, forcing myself to look at the displays and not turning around to correct his faulty information. The Teacher in me had a very difficult time, especially as the topics they were discussing were things I have studied at rather great depth for the last decade, but it is bad manners to comment on a conversation not yours, let alone turn around and lecture them. I kept my mouth shut, and tried to distract myself with examples of gut skin parkas from Alaska.
Once we were done with the museum, we wandered a bit more. We found the campus duck pond, which tickled the kids but made them lament our lack of bread to feed them. As there was at least one rather large duck with what looked to be a double chin, us not feeding the ducks would be no loss to the ducks. All in all a very worthwhile trip.

As a bonus for me, we stopped into a used/vintage clothing shop across from the University. Loved it! I do have to say, if you're in town and like that sort of thing, Pink Rhino 50/50 is a place to visit. The owner and staff are nice, the selection is good and the prices are reasonable, which is why I felt no guilt feeding my velvet and wool obsession.

Knitting has ceased being a black hole, consuming my time and not producing anything. The Bat Shawl is done and waiting to be blocked. A pair of slippers have been finished, but need a touch of felting to make them perfect. Progress is being made on the first of at least six sweaters I have to complete. My new cat's eye, rhinestone tipped glasses enabling me to read the patterns without giving me a headache. Must. Knit. More. Now.

Ummm Happy Halloween?

I've been blogging in my head for three weeks now, does that count?

The kids went to a costumed birthday party the week before Halloween. Darling Daughter won the costume contest. Boyo went for a bit more elegant look. He wore the velvet cape we got him for about a week straight. We had a decent amount of trick or treaters, though still far too much candy left. The amount diminishes rather rapidly daily.

I held my breath with everyone else on Tuesday, unable to sleep until the last speech was done, toasting the television with my wine glass as tears rolled down my face, rather overwhelmed by the emotional outpouring from the crowd at the acceptance speech. (The crowd's reaction reminded me of the early video of Beatles' fans.) I am very thankful that things turned out the way they did. I admit to being rather disappointed in my home state for passing a ban on gay marriage. I suppose in a way it's a trade-off. One can only hope it's worth it.