snarl

I had what I am sure was an award-winnningly funny post written for today with links and pictures all embedded and ready to go. I punched the publish post button and it disappeared, without saving a draft or any evidence that it ever existed. I am too crabby to rewrite it. Give me an hour to stop feeling sorry for myself, and I'll try again. [insert many bad words]

Books

I Love You, Beth Cooper

by Larry Doyle

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061236179/ref=dp_proddesc_1?ie=UTF8&n=283155

Okay, so most of us spent at least part of our adolescence pining over That One who was totally out of our league. But most of us didn't declare that love during our graduation Valedictory speech. Denis Cooverman did. And what follows is a romp. Or a caper. Or one of those wildly funny, profane, sad, hopeful coming-of-age comedies that show up every once in awhile. I Love You, Beth Cooper made me laugh out loud several times, and I enjoyed it enormously, though I have a feeling that it'll seem just a bit twee on a re-read. So I'm not going to reread it. Only complaint: I really disliked the line drawings at the beginning of each chapter. I found them distracting, downright ugly, and hard to ignore.

Stardust

by Neil Gaiman

http://www.amazon.com/Stardust-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0061689246/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231189498&sr=1-1

Here's another coming-of-age story, though this one is a literal fairy tale for adults (or slightly more grown up kids- there is a bit of profanity, and a shade more naughty than you might want to read out loud to your eight year old). Tristran Thorn, another young man in love with someone out of his reach, makes a promise that he can't actually keep, though he tries mightily to do so. It's a lovely adventure, and a delightful and surprising read, by a writer who never disappoints.

Nature Girl

by Carl Hiaasen

http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Girl-Carl-Hiaasen/dp/0446400661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231189812&sr=1-1

If you've ever read anything by Carl Hiaasen, then you know pretty much what to expect from Nature Girl, though this book is a little darker and more somber than his others, with heroine Honey Santana suffering from a (treatable) mental illness. You have your odd characters, your beautiful women, your laughs-out-loud, your beleaguered hero(ine), your plucky kid, and your great outdoors, woven into a story that you'll believe even as you're not believing it. The heart of the book, as with nearly all of Hiassen's work, is a love letter to Florida.

The Given Day

by Dennis Lehane

http://www.amazon.com/Given-Day-Novel-Dennis-Lehane/dp/0688163181/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231190232&sr=1-1

I'm not sure what to say about this book- it's so much easier to be snarky. But I have no snark when it comes to Lehane- he's a flat-out amazing writer, and this long, and sometimes difficult, book is wonderful, and was well worth the wait.

Ghost Story

by Peter Straub

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Story-Peter-Straub/dp/0671685635/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231190434&sr=1-1

I bought my copy of Ghost Story from BOMC, back in '79 when it came out, and I've reread it about once a decade since then. I still think it's overwritten, and a tad overwrought, and the style is fairly dated now, but it's also the second scariest book I've ever read, and the chills translate to this century just fine. I'm not entirely certain that Peter Straub isn't another of Stephen King's many pseudonyms (see what I mean about snark?)

What are you reading these days?

In which I learn that I am a yarn snob

I have prided myself on having nothing against acrylics- in fact, standing up for them made me feel rather noble. Patting myself on the back for my ability to look beyond yarn content. Being pretty much insufferable about it.

...until I decided to contribute to the Special Olympics Scarf drive (http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Features/Special+Olympics.htm ). The cause is lovely: each athlete in this year's Winter Special Olympics will get a handknit scarf in their colors of blue and white. I did almost no charity knitting in '08, and this gave me a chance to focus my skills on something outside my own career and circle.

Thing is, they only want scarves knit with Red Heart Super Saver yarn, which is far from my favorite acrylic yarn, and only in the colors Delft Blue and Soft White, which is pretty low on my color combo totem pole. But it was for a good cause, and the yarn is cheap and readily available, and scarves knit up quickly, so I bought a large skein of each color.

Big mistake. Do you know how long it takes to knit up 2 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver yarn? Forever, that's how long.

Do you know how boring Red Heart Super Saver yarn is? Really boring.

Do you know how much I didn't love knitting these 4 scarves? You do now.

That said, I plowed ahead, determined to use up every bit of that yarn, and I did (with about 18" of each left over). The first one was worked with a double strand, 14 sts, on size 17 needles, in plain garter stitch. The second used 18 sts on size 11 needles, and I did a slip-stitch pattern that worked out pretty well. The third, I crocheted (something I rarely do), in a goofy looped design, that not only came out pretty well, but ate up that yarn like nobody's business. With the last bits of yarn, I made another garter stitch striped scarf with 14 sts on size 11 needles. That last scarf is smaller than the requested size (4" x 50"), but I'll send it off anyway- maybe someone can use it for a teddy bear.

So I feel good about knitting those scarves, and I hope the athletes know how much we are rooting for them. And I feel bad that I really am a yarn snob because next time, I might just donate money instead...

Betty's Loft

Betty Clay is one of the founders, and is the life blood of our knitting group- Knitter's Etc, which meets the 2nd friday of each month (Sept-May) at The Red Rooster Cafe in Aberdeen, SD, 1-3 (everyone welcome!). She also has a lovely yarn shop in her house, where I've spent many hours and dollars.

Last month, she took pictures of our Christmas meeting and posted them on her blog, including a picture of me in the Dakota Earth and Sky sweater. Check it out:

http://bettysloft.blogspot.com/

It's January- you know what that means...

11 days and counting!

Yeast Poop and Bee Barf

And Blackberries.

We started a 6 gallon batch of Blackberry Melomel yesterday. Mead is a honey-based wine (hence bee barf) and alcohol is the by-product of the yeast eating the sugar (in this case, honey), therefore yeast poop. And blackberries, which makes it heaven.

Meadmaking is a bit fussier, and one helluva lot stickier, at the start, but otherwise like all other winemaking enterprises- ferment the sugar and fruit in an open container (primary fermentation, aerobic) until the Specific Gravity drops to the proper level, ferment in a closed container (secondary fermentation, anaerobic) until the specific gravity drops to the proper level, clear(allow the sediment to drop from the wine, either naturally, which is sllllooooowww, or with the help of clarification agents), bottle, age.

But the start is fiddly- the blackberries (10 packages) were placed in a mesh bag and put in the fermentation bucket, and a little sugar was added to the top to help the juices flow (thawed frozen berries are good for winemaking because the freeze/thaw cycle breaks down the cellular structure), strong tea (from 18 bags in 6 cups of water), lemon peel, tannin, are added.

The honey had to be prepared specifically for meadmaking because we used raw honey from a local producer. This honey was 3 years old and rock solid, so it had to be reheated, and all the little specks and pieces (bee poop?) had to be skimmed from the top. Then the honey was diluted and stirred, added to the blackberries in the bucket and stirred some more. After the liquid cooled, activated yeast was added, and from there it's the same process (except removing the bag of disintegrated fruit before it all goes into the carboy).

I used the recipe from Ken Schramm's The Complete Meadmaker (http://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning-Variations/dp/0937381802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230910471&sr=1-1 ), and our earlier batches came out perfectly.

If all goes well, we'll be toasting New Year 2011 with this wine.

Thursday Tab- 1983 Golden Butterscotch, #1984-44

Butterscotch is very Tatum O'Neal Channeling Nancy Drew... in a Harvest Gold '70s kitchen...