Another Friday

 It's a gloomy Friday morning so far, but it's supposed to be sunny and 55 later.  In mid-winter, I'll take 55 and sunny!  Wiley and I will go for a ride and a walk later, but this morning, I've been weaving.  

This past week, I finished the white and green towel warp.  I've really enjoyed the "walking" treadling:  1-4, 4, 3-4, 3, 2-3, 2, 1-2, 1.  But after 8 towels, I was ready for something new.  I've had a box of hand-dyed pink and green bobbins following me around for at least the last ten years, and I love Ancient Rose from the Davison book, so I wound an 8-inch warp of white bamboo, and teamed the bobbins with some 20/2 tencel for the tabby weft.  Of course I beaded the hem-stitching, but I tried once again to bead both sides.  It went a little askew, and I'll have to fix it when the scarf is done.  I'm not sure I'll do that again, or work to perfect the technique.  It would sure be easier to bead one side then go back and bead the opposite side when the scarf is done.  But I do like a challenge.

The Waldenweave shawl is progressing well.  I'm at 60 inches, only 14 more to go.  I'm thinking about a dye day next week to dye the alpaca-tencel and the tencel for the weft to make the pattern stand out more on the next shawl.  There is some lilac in the warp that doesn't show up very well with the white and white of the weft right now.  I have some lilac dye, so I'll have to see how that works with it.  

Today, I'll also be cooking.  I have granola, bread, tuna noodle casserole, making pasta and stewing some greens on my to-do list, so my lunches for work are well-stocked.  I do love having "fresh" food for lunch at work!  And my granola is so much better than store-bought!  Why wasn't I making it before?  The recipe I'm using is Molly O'Neill's, published in Saveur a couple of months ago:  https://www.saveur.com/story/recipes/molly-oneills-longhouse-granola/  It's so good!  But I would add this:  Bake it at 275, NOT 350!!!  350 is just way too hot an oven to dry granola.  Stir every 10-15 minutes, until the oats don't feel soggy anymore, then let it dry at room temperature until it feels cool.  Store it in an air-tight container, and it will keep for at least two weeks.  I've changed the fruit, added different nuts and seeds, used different syrups...  It's all delicious!

Earlier this week, it snowed on Sunday and Tuesday, and I took time to smoke some meat while it was snowing fat, fluffy flakes.  It turned out so well.  If my freezer wasn't bursting already, I'd smoke some more!

I'm also doing my taxes, hoping to have enough of a return to build two raised bed gardens and maybe buy a little yarn.  Fingers crossed!

But right now, Wiley wants to go for a ride.  That boy loves riding in the car!