a little red hen

2013 & what's to love?

It is as if I have bought into the worldwide, or at least nationwide malaise of the end of 2012, the start of 2013.  That's about how long it's been since my last appearance here. Do you look for reasons for how you feel--something in the air, something beyond your personal space? I do.

There's the personal/political that always envelops me.  There were so many things pleasureable in December 2012.  Introducing two granddaughters to the idea of giving to others as a way to mark the New Year.  We spent a December Saturday night looking at the possible animals that could go from Mercy Corps to help families in other parts of the world.

Elie was convinced she was getting her very own sheep.  That's a four year old.  Zoe, always the older, clarifying sister, explained otherwise.  Later the two of them visited our retirement community which surprised me with a screening of the original "Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs"  film.  Elie was only momentarily frightened by the Wicked Queen, and probably the menacing music.  Then enjoyed it along about 20 other children.

Family--I am very fortunate-- was a soothing distraction from Hurricane Sandy and the gun violence here in Portland and in Connecticut. Stunned by all that, it turned out that sulfa medication was part of the reason for my two-week lethargy.  I'm beginning to return to a more energetic feeling.  And school started again! 

 

Tale of two knitters, or unexpected consequences

Very slowly my fingers have returned to the needles, absent my attention for the past several months.  That space, however, has been filled by my spouse.

Some time in June,  I completed my latest knit vest.  The yarn is "Kudo" from Plymouth.  Happy to find a mostly cotton yarn--55% cotton, 40% rayon, 5% silk--I did not pay attention that all styles designed for its use required 200 or more stitches on the needle.  Not me!  

If this was not one's choice, it knitted up as horizontal
stripes.  Not flattering for chunky old ladies.  Thanks to the internet, I found "Sideways Sweetheart," designed for #6 needles; I used #7.  A mother-daughter team provided  easy-to-follow instructions. Their company, Live.Knit.Love, located in "the charming town of Kalamazoo, Michigan."

At the Black Sheep Festival in June, I purchased a wood pin that works better as closure for lighter weight yarn like Kudo than metal ones I have for bulkier yarns.  Made out of found Yew, native to the Northwest, same wood as Ron's spinning wheel by Wallace Van Eaton.

Always in search of more vest ideas, I will order the duo's "Twisted" pattern. Would be a just-right fit for the word that best describes where I live. Preferable to the popular adjective on bumper stickers everywhere,  "Keep Portland Weird."  May it catch on.

Ron Bloom, however, since his discovery of the wheel ten years ago, has filled our space and heads of many with knit hats.  Seems to be found his creative space.  Some of the recent ones for all ages, mostly using yarn he has spun.

 

 

 

Last spring he was seized with the notion of trying out other shapes. Several monochromatic styles emerged.  Followed by a great bursting out in color.  It's cold in Portland these days, so he has unlimited opportunities to heal the world with hats.  That's just my take on his trip.

Quack, Quack, my old friends

Sure, you have signed a zillion petitions to move along the Congressional craziness.

Today at Time Goes By, I found another.  A "Lame Duck Watch" from--inhale, it's a long one--National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM)

One click takes you to the  

Petition to the Leadership of the 112th Congress...

now it's your turn.  As Ronni points out, this one seems to have a bit more oomph:

 

Unlike most online petitions, the NCPSSM will print hard copies of signed online petitions to combine with mail responses they have received to deliver to Congress members and the White House.

Thanks from the chickens here.   "Sarah" has been a favorite for our granddaughter Zoe to apply to all dolls this year--maybe even for this tooth.

 

 

"Super Gonorrhea" calls for Condom Amulets, this Grandma sez

Only one antibiotic left to treat gonorrhea we heard yesterday on local NPR station.  Scary news.  Another 20th century problem--like birth control, women's right to choose, equal pay--that we thought were secured.

Wrong.  Graphically described by the Atlantic's James Hamblin, an M.D.

Did you know gonorrhea can kill you? It can, and it's also tragically effective at making women infertile. According to her journals, my great aunt Mabel was "barren," and my grandmother always told me it was probably from gonorrhea. The only reason we don't hear about these awful complications more often -- and we instead think of it as a little oops of an infection ("Can I still drink on these antibiotics?" "Yes." "Cool.") -- is because we've been able to kill it early with relative ease.

Back into my public health mode, here's a copy of a page from my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet, originally posted in 2007, when I still lived in New York City.  Its purpose was and is to share pattern ideas with knitters for a way to begin conversations about safe sex.  Original focus was on HIV awareness for women over 50--a problem we learned about in 2005--its applicability is unlimited.  

Condom designs may be different now (NYC iconic package has changed but FREE availability still holds).  56,000 page views since Knit a Condom Amulet began.  Many more through its group at Ravelry. 

In 2012, will we talk to our grown children about talking to their children, our grandchildren?  

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CONDOM SIZES FOR KNIT AMULETS

Because there are a variety of sizes and shapes to condoms, this is a general guide.  Sometimes this will determine how you knit an amulet.  There are so many knit designs yet to be explored--by you.

These are variations on the most familiar size, 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" squares.

Another square one--lights up in the dark--packaged in a 3" x 3" box.

From a dispensing machine (North Carolina, unisex rest room), the "Black Jack" measures 2" x 1-1/4".  Just 50 cents but not latex. 

Round condom, 2-1/4" circumference.

 

Lengthwise, smaller container,1/2" x 1" suited to this double-knitted amulet with beads to be worn around the neck.  Or, it could have a pin back.

And the largest package contains the female condom,   measuring 3-1/4" x 4-3/4".  The condom itself is smaller, so the package can be folded up at bottom. It will then fit into an amulet like this one.  Funky yarn here is a excellent re-use for yarn mistakenly purchased for a garment.  Many possibilites for many gifts of Condom Amulets for friends, family. neighbors--room for several condoms too.

Its bright colors and loop make it easy to locate in a purse.  Or, hang it on your bathroom wall--tuck the female condom behind a Post-It pad if discretion is a concern. Kay Gardiner, designer of the Ballband Key Chain Amulet, suggested this alternative use.

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Summertime & the jammin' is easy...

Only for my spouse.  Making jam never claimed my attention.  Maybe I have a less sugary early history than his in Brighton Beach, the 20th century one so different from today's changing Brooklyn.  But, he says, Becky only made a simple compote from summer fruits. He claims it's my influence.  Curious.                                                                             This photo from last month cannot truly represent the extent of his enthusiasm for peaches, apricots, blueberries as their seasons arrive.  Our supply is only limited by a very small freezer drawer.  Always room for more, however, as he gives a jar away to friends and neighbors.

My favorite this year is peach-apricot jam.  Just a little sugar.  He went to a free how-to evening at one of Portland's vintage co-operatives, People's Co-op (sorry the link only gives first paragraphs to Oregon Historical magazine article).  Afterwards he tried the suggestion to add a little lemon juice.  Not pleased with result...back to his way.  

Cooking jam takes the place of some winter knitting of button hats.  And there is always the opportunity to give one of these away in warm as well as cold weather.  Here's a neighbor in one he selected at the April arts & crafts event at our retirement community. As we left to travel north to Vancouver, B.C. and surroundings, Ron selected more hats to take along for women and men we will meet along the way.  

Myself, the non-driver, will be knitting a blue cotton sweater for youngest grandchild, Eliana, almost four, who has reached a behavioral milestone (no details, please).  We are very lucky feminists, spouse and I.  Beneficiaries of a lost mid-20th century time, we craft, we politick to bring a saner 21st century to the lives of those we will leave behind.  

Here's something just in about a darker side of Canda and people trying to protect us and our environment.  We'll see what more we can learn in our travels north.

Black Sheep Gathering with Zoe, day one

If...if...if only all my days could be something like the past weekend lost in fiber.  In Eugene, Oregon, of all places.  Nothing against Eugene, please, in the 1990s the publication site of "The Worm Digest."  On one of our visits to Portland before relocating, we made an unforgettable overnight stop when I was their east coast correspondent.  

Zorba was the intense and gracious Editor whose futon we slept on in his living room.   Ron has never forgotten this; we were only 60-something then.  Very granola place, still felt like the1960s.  So it's no surprise that the vibes are different--even from the perspective of Portland.

In 2008, we took our oldest grandchild, Zach, with us when he was six years old.  We discovered then that a child companion alters the experience.  Shepherds, sheep ranchers are eager to encourage children to touch the animals being prepared for showing.  Now his younger sister Zoe was six; it was time for an out-of-town overnight to "see the sheep."

Thursday afternoon we took her to get a haircut. She had one side braid her mother had made when we arrived.  Clueless grandma had no idea that "braids" at a salon would turn into a glam "French braid" production.  Cute but did not last through swimming practice.  They were gone by Saturday morning when we picked her up.

By late afternoon we were in Eugene and braidless Zoe met her first sheep up-close.  Joanie Livermore of Double J in Oregon City noticed that she did not need much encouragement to help clean the sheep's coat  for showing the next day.  Busy taking pictures, I missed out on touching the animal's skin under the curly white fleece and feeling, as Ron reported, its warmth.

How do the old folks engage with the Gathering?  Ron has a special fondness for Black Sheep as the place he bought his beautiful spinning wheel from Wallace van Eaton of Yakima, Washington. Already in his eighties back then, Wallace has not been a vendor for the past three years and we learned he still lives there though retired from hand crafting wheels.

Ron looks forward to buying roving at the event for his spinning.  It's a good place to have exchanges with other fiber enthusiasts about his knitting and weaving.  He always carries along some button hats and small woven tapestries.  Zoe was a willing model.  Several people will receive a hat for the winter in the mail.  No,  never sells them.

 

Slow Knitting: ten months for a blue vest

If you really, really were my friend (my 7 year old granddaughter has learned bff* from her more sophisticated peers), you'd say in a very supportive way, 

"How wonderful that you spent less than a year to knit the vest you talked about on your blog last June."

You would be lying in a kind way to an old lady with a habit. It went with me to New York last September. One day I decided to look up the "errata" for the pattern on the Vogue Knitting site.  I had finished the back. Turned out there was an error in the directions in the very first row!

[What follows is geeky knitting talk.]  It was not something crucial, so I let it go.  Other things were:  how to follow the directions for the special style of the edging around the armholes.  Especially a challenge on the second armhole when, in true current pattern mode, "reverse what you did on previous side" appeared rather than written out instructions.  Even challenged Adrienne, my helper at Close Knit, who had the wit to decode it for me.

Much as I like this distinctive look, I doubt that it's something doable on my own another time.

Then it was too big to carry around.  I began to knit another, more colorful vest with better instructions. Got caught up in knit toys--too many little pieces.  I'm about to return to them.  

Realized I needed to add seed stitch gussets at each side for a better fit.  Finally the knitting was done. For the 5 buttonholes, I used five different vintage buttons in the same family.  Nope. Sewed up bottom buttonhole and removed three buttons.  Usually my style is to wear the front open.

Way too much angst for a vest--maybe for an elaborately figured Nordic sweater but not a one-color vest. Looked pretty good after blocking.  I've worn it often, works well for our uncertain spring weather.  I have noticed that the surface pills.  Still wish there were more choices in yarn of this weight and mostly cotton to use with #7 needles--even #8.

*best friend forever

Beads from my son...

Somehow it had moved.  The old cream bottle filled with beads, all from Florence when our son was in Italy.  He brought back a great selection of them and more on a necklace. I'd never take it apart, only wear. It was the 1980s; all dates escape me more and more. I spill them out to look again--it's been a long time.

We'd arranged that I'd give him $100 to buy beads for the jewelry I was making then.  People ask, on the few occasions I wear one of my Ceremonial Neckpieces, the collection of weathered shells, hardware, beads--below with a coin from Bhutan--why don't you do this now?  Why would I?  There's not enough room to keep the ones I have; not interested in selling them; each required intensity, better vision.  

On our recent visit to northern California, on our first day in San Francisco, we threw ourselves into Chinatown walking and looking. We felt at home again, each of us connecting to our early histories. 

Mine as a child in the 1930s, Manhattan's Chinatown entirely different, more crowded, fewer tourists. Eating in tiny restaurants with my father who would later try to teach himself Chines.  Ron's first high school teaching was at Seward Park on the lower east side, near Chinatown.  Many of his students--in the 1960s-- were recent immigrants from southern China. Much was familiar from the Chinatowns in Manhattan, and the newer ones in Queens, and Brooklyn.

Primary-colored cords in a shop window drew us in. This one is silk, adjustable.  Would not require a closing or stringing of beads.  If I'd simply wire on some shells as in this picture.

.

Once in a while the idea of making more another neckpiece, far less labor-intensive than what I did 20 years ago.  I still have so many beautiful beads and shells.  Maybe.

 

HAPPY CUP COFFEE..."Mom Marketing" moves on

Outside my political concerns, there's my "job" of promoting our daughter's new company, Happy Cup Coffee, batch roasted in Portland by people with potential who are  clients at Full Life.  There have been a couple of developments since the roaster was visited on a morning TV show in February. 

HAPPY CUP has added to its signature tee-shirt and coffee cup a large canvas tote bag (only available in Portland with purchase of two bags of coffee).  Of course, I want a smaller one for knitting.

All their roasts, including an espresso blend are on the shelves at the five Whole Foods Markets here. We were excited when the little brown bags went on the shelves at the first one, the Fremont store in the Northeast.

"Our" Whole Foods, below, is in the Pearl district, close to where we live.

Then there's the hands-on contest, "Roaster for a Day," described here on the blog,  Caffeinated PDX:

"If you live in Portland for very long, the city’s culture starts growing on you. Whether you start to feel the urge to “put a bird on” everything, or to raise chickens in your back yard, spending time in Portland gives you a new perspective on life...Happy Cup, a new Portland coffee company, is holding a contest that sits at the intersection of Portland’s coffee culture and its DIY culture....

"The prize for the contest is a free class on how to roast your own coffee. Mr. Green Beans, a.k.a Trevin Miller (who currently does the roasting for Happy Cup), will hold a private roasting class for you and three of your friends. During the class, Miller works with you to create a signature blend customized to your own taste preferences. You will spend up to half a day with him, learning how to select the right beans and how to roast them to just the right point for full flavor."

And go home with 52 bags of coffee!  Portlanders can enter at the Happy Cup Facebook page.

HAPPY CUP has been selected as a wholesale coffee provider by several local non-profits, including our own favorite, Planned Parenthood.

MOM MARKETING continues to be my distribution method for giving out samples of Happy Cup Coffee beans. Kathryn LaSusa Yeomans is the talented chef we met two years ago on our first visit to Saturday Portland Farmers Market, in the Park Blocks on the Portland State campus.

She cooks up hot specials, most using mushrooms from Roger Konka's Springwater Farms next door.  We usually overindulge; her egg and mushroom sandwich is hard to resist.  In these photos the Market is at its Winter location, a few blocks south at Shemanski Park.  Though a smaller venue, there are still a wide selection of locally grown raised vegetables.  Ron and I have become serious kale eaters.

Kathy has printed recipe hand outs for dishes prepared.  After eating Hungarian Mushroom Soup, we tried it at home.  Terrific.  Here's the menu for that day on her website, The Farmer's Feast, always on my blogroll. 

 

 

Mormon feminists + LDS Church: blog marriage

Thanks to Hattie's Web for inadvertently creating this post mash-up.  She mourned how feminists might respond to women followers of Ladies against Feminism, a Christian blog "under the oversight" of a male minister. Not content with its misleading title, its true spirit hides by only using the initials LAF in its banner.  Yes, pretty funny--and sad.

The War against Women has been alive and well while some too many women think otherwise.  Why the nasty turn in the public space of Congress without complicity by women?  A Facebook friend of Feminema wants us to use our inside voices about anti-abortion efforts: 

 “I don’t like to use hyperbole like ‘war on women, “I just don’t think liberals should respond with the same overwrought language as conservatives use.”

"Battered Barbie," commentary and image,** appeared in last week's Portland State student publication.  I was about to write about it when I read Hattie's post.   Unknown to those of us outside academe (because it had not been reported), a local community college experienced a creative effort to raise awareness about domestic abuse.  According to the article, Becca Ellenbecker, a student,

"...admitted she was looking to shock and awe her audience..by using abused Barbies and dispersing them throughout the campus."

Guestbooks for student and staff responses accompanied the Barbies.  The reaction at Rock Creek Community College was "the display was going too far.”  Becca was very courageous.  The Portland State Women's Resource Center could not give the columnist a "concrete answer" about doing something similar on the PSU campus.  What images will work?

This has been my own challenge.  Unlike Becca, my choices are not dark, they're quirky--like this Bra Condom Amulet from my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet. Does it matter, does the content skew the attention of our hoped-for audience more than the style used to craft our images? I'd once considered offering the PSU Women's Center a workshop on how to KNIT A CONDOM AMULET. The amulets started as my way to get conversation going around a difficult topic:  HIV in women over 50. Of course, the notion works for all ages.  Start with Princetonian from College Series, move on to regional

 

OSU (Oregon State U.) Condom Amulet from 2008, the one returned without comment when I entered it in a local yarn shop competition.   Or update the old Condom Amulet Zine.  Invent another for U of U (Utah).

"Mormon Feminists, LDS Church Unite"  is a headline from last week's  Salt Lake City Tribune.  And I was reminded of another case of the "F" word being applied to women with no clue to the goals promoted by second wave and first wave Feminism.  The story tells how Tresa Edmunds, "Mormon writer, activist and blogger" decided to engage the followers of the blog, Feminist Mormon Housewives, to raise money.  To help a divorced Mormon mother of three finish her final term of college.  She'd been abandoned by her LDS church's support--ended one presumes because her marriage did also.

"Terrific" you think.  Have you ever read FMH?  Few years ago I discovered it in the statistics for Knit a Condom Amulet.  They seemed interested in these.  Great.  But when I read the blog, it was unclear why. Same as reading the Tribune story is confusing about how the LDS Church supports the fund-raising for a woman whose divorce it could not condone. Made my head spin. Similar to LAF, Feminist Mornons Housewives, an apparently well-educated group, live in some universe very far away.  Tell me if you undertand the post, "13 Articles of Healthy Chastity." 

There's also a blog called Feminist Ryan Gosling:  more girls wasting time IMHO.  How will we get your attention about the War on Women unless you give up your focus on men for a minute or two?  

___________________

**"Battered Barbie," PSU Vanguard, written by Emily Lakehomer, illustration by Elizabeth Thompson.