Before and After

Before

After

It's been another long week at the Folk School, Scandinavian Week, full of happy people discovering crafts from that region of the planet.  It's been fun incorporating Scandinavian food through the menus, but keeping in mind that all-too painful Scottish Week fiasco of too much of a "good" thing.  I kept it in my comfort zone, using mostly baked goods to convey the theme.  Last night, in the finale dinner, sweet-sour cabbage was in the main menu, and dinner was finished with Danish Apple Cake, a lovely little item that will make it into the regular dessert rotation.
But the week started off with re-dyeing the jackets I dyed way back in the fall.  I used Procion dyes on polyester. Don't do that, dear reader!  It just leads to heartbreak and wasted dye.  This time, they came out--and stayed--vibrant and lovely, after 3 washings.  I love them.  No matter how bumpy the week got this week, and it got kinda bumpy, my jackets cheered me up.  They're drying in the sun on the deck after their second wash, and stayed those colors after their next.

I had to let someone go who I had come to consider a friend this week, someone who was very, very good when he was good, but who was very, very, very bad when he was bad.  It hurts to trust someone so much, and to believe that they can be great, if only they would let themselves be great, but that's not my doing, not because I didn't believe in him enough.  He's angry and saying mean things about me now, which is part of what happens every time I let someone go, but it stings more this time.   He's young, and he can still learn from this, I hope, and I do wish him well.  Someone else is training to lead the evening shift, and she is off to a rough start.  The seemingly never-ending quest for my own team to run the kitchen is again in search mode.
 When I came home early this week, a sure sign of spring was waiting in my kitchen window.  It's big.  Fortunately, it was between the window and the screen, definitely outside.  In the morning, she was gone, but there was a smaller version in the dining room window.  As long as they stay on their side of the glass, we can co-exist.  If they come in, and survive Weftie, they will be escorted outside.



After such a week, what do the crafty do to pick up their spirits?  They start a new project!  I'm almost done with the turquoise socks, but they're too fussy for this week.  Matt's sweater is moving along, but too much concentration needed this week for such a thing.  Oooh, look at the lovely pastel sock yarn sitting over there!  Maybe a simple lace pattern?  Toe up?  Okay!  Go!