The end of Udolpho, the beginning of a new Listen, Spring, Blackberry Brandy, and aaawwwwww

So, I finally finished listening to The Mysteries of Udolpho. I have to give it to Ann Radcliffe, she tied everything up pretty well (though I still think the string of coincidences that brought everyone together strains credulity). I'm not sure that I have the lineage of everyone down totally (and wouldn't Montoni have known who Emily was? And wouldn't that have changed his behavior at least a little bit?), and I somehow missed the identity (and relevance) of the man who visited Sister Agnes on her deathbed, but otherwise, the questions were all answered. Well, except for why the women fainted all the time... and why Radcliffe felt the need to insert really bad poems everywhere in the text.

It's finally spring here, and though many mornings are still frosty, the afternoons are warmer, the grass is greener and the deer now have something else to eat, besides my crab apple tree.

Which means that it's time to run outside again. Except for my trips to CA and AZ, I've used the treadmill since last October, which gave me plenty of time to let Udolpho develop ssssslllloooowwwllllyyyyy. Now that it's pleasant, I won't be listening to books as I run. But on the dreary, cold, windy, or stormy days, I'm going to take Frequent Poster joannamausalina's suggestion and listen to Vanity Fair next. It's been a long time since I read the book, and I'll enjoy getting reacquainted with Becky Sharp. I probably won't get too far with it until fall.

The Blackberry Brandy finished steeping (or macerating, or soaking, or whatever it did while the booze extracted the goodness from the blackberries), so I strained it (like my fancy filtering setup?), and added the Everclear (which is illegal in several states),

and bottled it.

Oh my...

Side Note: I got the date wrong on the labels, but didn't feel like printing more. And I saved the berry leftovers for ice cream topping. Delicious, drunken, ice cream topping.

Last week, son, wife, Voracious Reader and Superhero Boy visited. VR made me this:

all together now:  aaaawwwwwwww

Udolpho, S'meep Update, Undeniable Signs

So, I am nearing the end of The Mysteries of Udolpho- I have about 6 audio chapters left, and by the time I finish those, it'll be time to start running outside again (I listen to the traffic when I run on the highway. Much safer that way). It's been an interesting, and often infuriating book. Poor Emily has a chance to rid herself of Valencort, who is not only manipulative, passive/aggressive, and deeply stalkerish, he's also massively stupid, but I suspect that she's not going to, and our young lovers will end up together in the end. On the other hand, Emily isn't the brightest bulb in the lamp either, so they're probably well suited.

SPOILER: It's interesting that Radcliffe spent chapters (and in my case- weeks and months) detailing every evil committed by Montanari, and yet, Emily escaped from him rather easily, and he didn't even chase after her. And then he's permanently dispatched off-screen in the space of a couple of paragraphs. Count Morano seems to have disappeared as well. And the string of coincidences must have strained even contemporary readers: Emily just happens to be shipwrecked near a castle where the housekeeper has a secret to tell her, Ludovicco, who disappeared mysteriously awhile earlier, just happens to have fallen in with robbers who just happen to be in a fort where Blanche (and why the hell are we spending so much time with Blanche and her family anyway?) and party stop by for shelter because there just happens to have been a nasty storm. From which they just happen to escape.

And then, there's the poetry... every chapter a poem of some kind (did people sit down and write them at every whim back then? about everything?)... and the scenery- there is no bit of action so intense that it can't be interrupted for a long, detailed description of the surrounding mountains and the "verdure". And the delicate women- my God!  They're like fainting goats, falling senseless at the slightest provocation.

And yet... and yet... I still want to know how it comes out. I want to hear the end of the story. Go figure.

On to much more delicious things: my young testers tried out the S'meeps today. We learned that breaking up the bunny and melting it a bit on the graham crackers before assembling and then nuking again, makes for a much less poofy treat. It's still extremely sticky though- better suited to eating with a spoon and fork, than the fingers.

And finally, these:

are tulips. Spring IS here.

Rain!, Udolpho, Socks

We have had snow on the ground since Thanksgiving, and I think Sioux Falls went 93 straight days without the temps getting above freezing. I know that other people have leaves and grass and flowers and blossoms, but The Prairie is a long way from spring. However...

Do you see that? That brown patch under the tree? That's lawn. Not snow. Actual lawn. Which I have not seen for over three months. It rained last night, and the snow is melting a little. Unfortunately, we have to wish for a very slow thaw, or the record amounts of snow we got this winter will cause even nastier problems in the liquid form. But for this morning, I am happy just to see dirt and dead grass. Wet, sloppy, slushy dirt and dead grass. (btw- no one thinks this is the last of the snow- our heaviest snowfalls usually come in March, but spring will get here. Eventually).

So things are finally happening in Udolpho. After a month of glacial pacing and travelogue descriptions, suddenly we have dastardly doings, treachery, sword fights, near abductions, and something terrifying glimpsed behind a mysterious curtain that is, of course, never described or explained in any way, shape or form, but by cracky, it's scary. It's about damn time.

Sock of the Day: I bought this yarn at Great Yarns in Everett, WA, a few vacations ago. It's Monarch Sock Yarn from Angora Valley Fibers. I love love love this yarn, it's pure pleasure to knit with, and the colors are fantastic. I chose the wildest neon that I could find (though Pat Fly dyes all sorts of color combos).

Of course, these are the famous Monkey Socks. I knitted this pair exactly to the pattern (this is a slightly heavier yarn, so the socks were a bit big, but I didn't care). Subsequent pairs (and there have been many) were tweaked to omit the twisted ribbing cuff, and flap/gusset heel (I do short-rows whenever I can). It's a wonderful pattern, and if you haven't made a pair, you should.

These socks have held up extremely well. However... and I want this understood from the get-go, I ignored the label instructions and machine washed and dried the socks (they're superwash, but the label absolutely says to hand wash and dry). I was encouraged by the fact that Koigu and Noro Silk Garden seem to wash and dry perfectly, and they're not superwash (or labeled so). That worked just fine for about the first 15 or so launderings, and then they felted. Not a lot, mind you. Not enough not to wear them. Just enough to make them a little thicker and a little stiffer. So, I hand wash them now.

That has happened with a couple of pairs of socks (machine washing and drying for a period of time just fine, and then felting slightly), though in each case, I ignored the washing instructions. I no longer do that...

Wine and Whine

Last night, before AI, we took care of some wine duties.

The Barbera (L) went into the 3-gallon carboy for secondary fermentation. The Chablis (Center) has nearly finished the secondary, and is already starting to settle (note how much clearer it is than a week ago). We racked it to a clean carboy and then took it to the basement so it can sit in the cool and dark. In a couple of weeks, we'll rack it again, and add a clarifier, and after that it's a  matter of waiting until it's clear and ready to bottle (though it won't be ready to drink for at least 6 months after that, if then). The 5-gallon Gewurtz (R) sped through the primary fermentation extremely quickly and was also ready for the secondary.

We ran out of our preferred fermentation lock (the one on the right), which allows the fermentation gasses to escape without letting any oxygen back into the vessel (secondary fermentation is also called anerobic fermentation), so we had to use a taller, goofier one (on the left). Our preference has to do more with shelf head-room than anything else, though the *other* style (aptly called a Bubbler) is much harder to clean. It's also noisy- each escaping gas bubble makes a little plock sound as it moves through the lock. There are a LOT of escaping gas bubbles. It's sort of like having a dripping faucet. drip drip plock plock plock plockplockplock

We're going to start a batch of Rhubarb/Riesling next, and that will probably be it for this wine season (so far, we have 90 bottles a brewin'. Home winemakers are allowed to make 200 bottles per year, so we're well within the legal limit... hic...)

On to the Whine- though it's less of a whine than a constant, complaining observation (which is pretty whiny, come to think of it): the plot is finally beginning to thicken in The Mysteries of Udolpho. Our heroine is threatened with an action she most definitely does not want to take, by selfish (and possibly evil)(Evil, I tell you) people, and for all intents and purposes, she's being kidnapped. Of course, we take plenty of time out to admire the scenery (The Apennines don't appeal to Mrs. Radcliffe as much as The Alps did, but she finds much to describe), and even for poetry, which I have no choice but to listen to since this is an audio file and I can't figure out how to fast forward without losing my place in the story (my good friends will tell you that I am Poetry Deaf).

On the upside- we caught our first glimpse of Udolpho Castle, a dark and foreboding place... of course...  Maybe in a week or so, we'll actually get there.

P.S. And just so you'll know that it's not all w(h)ine and American Idol around here, between Friday and yesterday, I knitted 3/4 of a sweater. An adult sweater. An adult Fair Isle sweater. Worsted weight, to be sure, but... still...

Workingworkingworkingworking, DVDs, Udolpho

I spent a good 24 hours at the needles over the weekend, and accomplished much. Not enough, mind you, but still a lot. And I'll head back to the needles as soon as I finish some other work (patterns to draft, yarn to sort out, The Book Crisis of the Day to deal with, that kind of thing). It feels odd to have other knitters working on projects for this book- I am used to knitting everything myself (which I have done for all of them, except for projects in Knit One, Felt Too). But My Team (I love that term) is comprised of wonderful knitters, and I have more confidence in them getting their assignments done than I do in completing my own list. Which means, I need to get back to work.

Luckily, I had DVDs to carry me through the weekend marathon when I wasn't watching the Olympics. Harper's Island is trash, but it's enjoyable trash. I just have 1 disc left to watch, which has not yet arrived (Blockbuster: get on it, willya?). I really loved the little Harper's Globe webisode mystery that was included with the latest disc, however. Very well done and quite mysterious (though the plot doesn't hold up to even a cursory examination)(which, I suspect, will apply to the series as a whole). I'm waiting on the next Tudor disc too- I assume that Joss Stone will make her appearance soon. If neither dsic shows up today, I do have Season 2 of Rome, and the final Deadwood season that I can watch.

On the audio front: the word Udolpho was finally utterred in The Mysteries of Udolpho. It's a castle, not a person. And poor, put-upon Emily is going to be dragged thither (followed, I suppose by her preferred lover, and the one she doesn't like, the pushy Count Whatshisname). I can't begin to imagine what Catherine Moreland found so romantic about this book (though I'm so glad that Jane Austen decided to write a parody).

Udolpho, Wine, Sock of the Day

 I sort of wish I'd read The Mysteries of Udolpho when I was 12. That's how old I was when I first encountered Jane Eyre and Rebecca. Back then, I was romantically enchanted with brooding, passive/aggressive heroes. These days, I want to tell Jane and The Second Mrs. DeWinter to run like the wind, and find themselves someone previously unmarried, with a sunny disposition. That's how I feel as I listen to TMoU (and listen and listen and listen- I'm on the 19th audio file, each running from 20-40 minutes long, and we're just now getting to some mildly foreboding stuff).

We're supposed to love Valencourt, and root for his and Emily's eventual Happily Ever After, but really- his passive is annoying (accusing Emily of not loving him because she won't elope), and his aggressive is worrisome (he's more than a little stalkerlicious). And he's massively stupid, sending letters openly to Emily, begging her to sneak away from her cruel Auntie, knowing full well that Auntie Cruel, and her ooky new Italian husband, both hate him, and that they inspect every piece of paper that comes into the palacio.

Of course, sweet, faintable Emily seems short a few bricks herself. And if she thinks that Valencourt isn't skulking along behind them as they travel The Alps (gorgeous scenery), she's even dimmer than I think she is.

But they're in Italy now, and I think we may finally be getting to some mysteries. And maybe we'll finally meet (or at least hear about) Udolpho.

On to less mysterious subjects (though so far, nothing could be less mysterious than The Mysteries of Udolpho). The 3 gallon batch of Chablis is in the carboy for secondary fermentation.

And we started a 3 gallon batch of Barbera, which is sort of an underdog red varietal. I'm more of a white wine person (and a sweet white wine person at that), but I like the occasional red, and we like to have it on hand for company, and for gifting. This is the first time we've tried Barbera. I'll be curious to see how it goes (and tastes, of course).

Next in the primary, a 5 gallon batch of Gewurtztrauminer, one of my favorite wines. And for the record- we don't make this many wines every year, just when we're in the mood. Evidently, we're in the mood.

We get all of our wine making supplies, including grape concentrates, from Northern Brewer, btw.

Sock of the Day- my friend Melanie gave me the yarn for these socks a few years ago. It's Marks & Kattens Clown cotton/wool sock yarn (and it took me about a dozen searches to find it- I lost the bands long ago, and didn't remember the name exactly enough for Google). The good: the socks have worn pretty well (I had to repair the heels, but I have to do that with a lot of my socks), they machine wash and dry easily, they're not quite as warm as wool/nylon socks so they're nice for spring and early fall, they look good.

The bad? These suckers bled like a dying animal. The yarn was deep red and pure white when I knitted the socks. They're pink and pinker now. And for many months, I had to wash them alone because it took forever for the excess dye to wash out.

I'm perfectly happy to have pinkish striped socks that I can wash with the rest of my laundry, but that's not what I expected when the yarn arrived.

Getting Caught Up, Sock of the Day, More Udolpho

It has taken me a couple of weeks, but I'm finally caught up on the paperwork (well- computer work) for the new book. I should slap myself upside the head for putting off the pattern writing and sizing until I had a whole stack of projects to deal with. I've been doing this for a long time, and I know better than that... whack.

But, I'm caught up now, at least for the projects that are done, and patterns are written for those projects that are currently going to other knitters. Tomorrow, there may be more, but for today- I'm done. Which means it's time to hit the needles. And some DVD's for entertainment- I have the Joss Stone Tudor Years to watch (historically speaking, Henry was a fool for not seeing that Anne of Cleves would have been a sturdy bearer of children, even if she did smell), and more discs of Harper's Island, which is pure fluff, but enjoyable.

It's only 4 degrees out there, but my tootsies are nice and warm in these Socks of the Day. Every book has a few projects that don't make the cut, and this yarn ended up being not quite right for Yarns to Dye For, which is okay since I've worn these socks for several years now. This yarn is superwash, but I can't remember if it's Henry's Attic, Mission Falls, or Brown Sheep. I do know that it's superwash (nicely so- these have been machine washed and dried repeatedly), and that it took the dye well (this was one of those 40' skeins).

I have had to repair the heel, but that's not unusual for 5 year old socks. And they pill a bit (I think there's some Mohair in there), but otherwise, they still look pretty good.

So, finally we're getting to something interesting in audio version of  The Mysteries of Udolpho- a selfish (and maybe cruel) Auntie has shown up, and she may well make poor, orhpaned, in-love Emily's life unbearable.

It's interesting to listen to the different readers pronounce things- I've heard Emily's last name said: San Oh-BEAR, Sant Oh-BEAR, Sanober, and Saint AW-bert. And one reader thinks that the leader of a team of mules is a mullah-teer.

But the 1500's French scenery sure is purty.(Side note: I don't ever get the sense that this story is set in the 1500's even though it's supposed to be- it feels and sounds exactly like the Austen and Bronte settings to me).

Sock of the Day, Chablis, Udolpho

Sorry it took me so long to get to today's post- I hate when work gets in the way of playing online (which is so much more fun than working). Not that I have a whole lot to say today, but here goes:

These socks were knit with yarn hand-dyed by my friend Betty, from Betty's Loft. If I remember correctly, she only had one hank of this mauve/gold/brown variegated worsted weight wool/mohair yarn (probably Brown Sheep), which isn't enough for a pair of socks. But I fell in love with the colors and bought it anyway, and then happened to find a ball of solid mauve Brown Sheep wool/mohair in my stash, plus some solid brown for the heel and toe (gotta love big stashes). The cuff and foot were knit in stripes (which you can't see- that's one good accidental color match). I used my usual worsted weight pattern (48 sts, size 5 needles, short row heel over 24 sts, star toe).

These socks have held up very well (it's the mohair- that stuff wears like iron), and they're very warm, cushy, and comfy, and they have a nice halo (which didn't show in the photos). Betty often has one-of-a-kind hand-dyed yarns in her shop, and they're always gorgeous.

Since we're in wine mode in Taylorville, we started a 3 gallon batch of Chablis too. This one will be a lot less fiddly than the Chokecherry/Riesling, since there's no fruit-pulp involved (and therefore no straining through pantyhose). We began with a can of Chablis concentrate, and only had to add water and sugar, and the usual additives (acid blend, and yeast nutrient). I stirred the yeast in yesterday afternoon, and by this morning, it was bubbling merrily away. We get most of our winemaking supplies from Northern Brewer, by the way. We are very happy... hic... customers...

And The Mysteries of Udolpho are progressing, if progress is the word I want to use. Probably, it's not. But finally, something spooky happened: a doggie startled the heroine.  wooooooooooo