Monday, September 16, 2013

Coffee Anyone

Jim and I were in Calistoga, California a few weeks ago and stayed at a phenomenal bed and breakfast, Luxe Calistoga.

Brent and Chris are wonderful hosts and their attention to detail are extraordinary.


 
It is a bed and breakfast and the food that chef Josh prepares for said breakfast is wonderful.
 
 
The one thing I can confidently replicate at home is the French press coffee that was served.
 
My one disappointment with French press coffee in the past has always been it cools off so quickly in the normal glass carafe.
 
Luxe uses Frieling insulated coffee pots and I am happy to report we are now proud owners of a Frieling french press coffee pot.

 
Oh happy days!




 
 
 


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Burn Testing

Living in California there is currently a great concern about wild fires.
 
The latest in the news is the Mt. Diablo  fire which has covered over 3,000 acres and is now thankfully  60% contained.
 
Although I currently live in the Sacramento area this fire struck close to home for me as I have some great  memories of living in Concord and the Mt. Diablo area before we moved to Texas when I was ten.
 
And so today I was concerned when I did my testing of yarn to make sure it was wool that I didn't start my own wild fire.
 
Testing to see if your yarn is wool involves putting a match to it to see how it burns.
 
I had a water bowl for dousing ready if needed.
 
I am going to be knitting some felted slippers for a member of my family as a gift and I want to use yarn I currently own if possible.
 

 One skein still has a tag of Cascade 220 but I wasn't sure the other two skeins were also 220. I really couldn't remember why I had purchased three skeins of 220 as I normally buy with a project in mind. I recently had a friend knit a bag she felted in the washing machine and didn't realize all the yarn she used was not 100% wool and the shrinkage was not very consistent. 
 Didn't want to go there!
 
 
Anyway, it looks like the two unmarked skeins are also wool as both barely burned and became ash and did not have a plastic ball finish.
 
And I am happy to report I did not start any new wild fires with this test.
Pyromaniac I might be, wild fire starter I am not!!!
 
 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Bear Sightings

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions on how to retrieve my needle.  Unfortunately we have still not been able to get it from under the deck.  The limited amount of space between the deck boards has made it hard to maneuver but we are still trying to recover it.  Thank goodness I had a set of five so I'm still able to knit socks with the four I have I'm just being a lot more aware of where I am knitting and any potential hazards.
 
On a happier note, today I boxed up another 14 bears I knit to ship to the Mother Bear project in Minneapolis.
These bears are given to children in Africa whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS.
Last year I knit eleven bears.

whosebear
yarma

miekbearyarma
And here are sightings of six of those bears that have been given a new home.yarma
It makes my heart happy!