Quilted wool batting in Civil War (repro) overcoat

I've been asked by a few reenactor friends to photograph my largest and warmest Civil War era paletot (overcoat).  The pattern I used was from Katerina Gnagey under her pattern name "Kay Fig".  I have added a foot of length to the bottom of the pattern all around.  All of Kay's patterns are very well researched, documented, and contain notes and information for an accurate reproduction of the original garment or garments used to create the pattern.  The paletot is shown to the right, and I made it bigger than usual so it would accomodate a thick wool dress, a knitted sontag (vest) and another unlined wool shorter paletot.  The day was very cold, and I had to stand outdoors at a memorial ceremony for over an hour, yet I stayed warm except for my feet.

I put the wool fabric for the body of the paletot together and then added the velvet ribbon trim.  I put the lining fabric right side down, put a layer of wool batting on top of it, and then flipped each piece so that the batting was on the sewing machine bed and I stitched on the fabric in a square pattern.  I didn't need paper or any type of stabilizer, but you might if you're using a finer fabric such as silk.  I had made my first paletot ever in a class with Carolann Schmitt, and when asked if the batting should be "sandwiched" between two layers, she had replied at that time that the original garments that she'd seen only had one layer of fabric attached to the batting. 

I was using real wool (from a fleece) batting that I had processed (washed, picked, carded, and made into a batt) by McClellans's Frankenmouth Woolen Mill from some fleeces I bought from a shepherdess.  I'm a spinner so I always have wool fleeces around the house.  I love these batts in quilts as well, they're warm but not too warm.  The consistency of this wool is different than the wool batting you buy at a fabric store but either works just fine.  My lining fabric is cotton.

I did each piece of the lining separately and then when I was very close to the edges, I put the pieces together to form the lining.  Then I went back and finished up the quilting to the edges of the seams.  I hate hand work, the entire paletot is done by machine except for sewing on the buttons, hooks, and eyes.  Here is a view of the batting quilted into the coat. I put the body of the coat together with the lining and sewed it together around the edges at the sides and top, leaving the bottom hang free.  I hemmed the lining and the wool separately.  Don't forget to add your collar while you're sewing together the lining and the wool.

Here's another view of the inside of the coat.  The piece sticking out at the bottom is from the front side of the coat, it just happened to be lying that way.  You can see where I opened up the seams and then quilted them in that position.  Also I usually turn back a portion of the front edges (lining and wool together after they're sewn together) on each side to make a nice opening treatment but since I was making this paletot to go over a lot of clothing I didn't do it this time.  This allowed me plenty of room for all that other clothing underneath.

Here is one of the armseyes.  When I was applying the batting, I tried to keep the wool out of the area that I knew I would be sewing into the seam.  You can see that I've done the same type of quilting in the sleeve lining.  I did this in the same manner as I did the body, I added trim to the outside of the wool, then I added the batting to the lining (before I sewed it into a circle) and then sewed the lining to the wrist portion of the sleeve, carefully matching up seams.  At this point I pulled out a bit of the batting that had expanded into the armseye area, sewed the sleeve into the armseye, and trimmed down the excess batting.

This photograph shows the buttons and closure of the paletot.  I used large hooks and eyes for the closure since I don't like to make buttonholes by hand, and I wasn't sure if I'd need to change the fit for the future.  The area in which the eyes and buttons are located is the area which I would normally fold in half down each side and whip stitch to the back to have a smaller front piece as well as a nicer opening.  This one looks just fine though, so either way will work.

I added a piece of velvet ribbon in the mid-back at the Civil War waist and put two buttons on it, but I'm glad I promised to do a photograph, I noticed that I'd lost one of the buttons and need to replace it.  I probably would have worn the paletot again with a missing button if I hadn't really looked at the entire piece.  Please let me know if you have any other questions by replying and I will answer you as soon as I possibly can.

An Olympic knitting project

As the 2012 Olympics progressed from the opening ceremony through the competition to the closing, I watched and enjoyed what I could of the games, and worked on a knitting project.  The local yarn shop near me that I love the best had a "Ravellenic Games" in cooperation with www.Ravelry.com (which is a yarn lover's website) promotion where anyone that wanted to signed up a pledge to try to finish a project of our choice during the games. They awarded prizes randomly to people that had a complete entry, but the biggest prize for me is to have another finished project!

I did a lot of knitting this summer since I took the semester off from school.  I also did a lot of cleaning and cleaning out, I moved my office and sewing room from a bedroom on the top floor down to the basement, though I'm still in the process of unpacking it all and going through things that were pushed into boxes.  The office part is usable, but things are very cramped down in the basement.  That will take time to finish up.  The best part, though, is that we have a guest bedroom again, it's a very sunny and cheerful room and makes me happy to look in as I pass by.  Our orange cat, Oliver, also spends time in that room since we have to separate him from the other resident felines.

But back to knitting.  My Olympics project this year was the February Lady sweater that I'd wanted to make for several years.  First I had to complely frog the back of a large aran sweater that I'd started for my husband (but was too awful to finish) and then I started my sweater earlier in the summer and decided that I wanted to finish it during the games.  It was lace and took quite a number of hours stitching but it's finished and I love it.  I can't wait to be able to wear it.  I lightened the picture a little much, it's actually a deeper, pretty turquoise color.

In other news, school has now started again for me this Fall semester.  I'm taking a full time schedule so I will probably not be knitting much if at all.  I'm going to try to use knitting as a de-stressing strategy, but with 12 credit hours this semester, I doubt that I'll have a whole lot of time to knit or anything else.  Oh yeah, I will have to make time to work full time, too!  Oh, and clean, cook, and do all of the other things that life entails.  But still, I'm excited about having finished two sweaters this summer, besides two wraps, two berets, a pair of mittens, and a large shawl.  Knit (or study, in my case) On!

My windstar and an academy award

So what in the world does my Windstar (which looks a lot like the one pictured here, but isn't exactly the same because I couldn't find a perfect picture and was too lazy to get off the couch to go outside and take a picture) have to do with winning an academy award?  It's kind of complicated.  It's also kind of amusing, in a 50-something seeing right through her 20-something's plotting kind of way.

You see, my 20-something year old son is living at home right now (did I say rent-free but temporarily while he supposedly gets on his feet?) and using my Windstar.  It's a great car, but it's nearing 300,000 miles right now, and I need it to last me a few years more before it gasps its final breath.  It just got a brand new transmission a month or so ago which has really set us back a ton, but that's another issue.  To make this a little shorter, I'm trying to preserve the car.  I've told my son repeatedly when he's assumed he's going to drive his Boy Scout troop to a camp out, or drive to somewhere other than the necessary days at work, that he is not to take the car anywhere, anytime, for any reason that is not essential.  I thought that was pretty straightforward.

A little background here.  He dated/got engaged/moved in with/broke up with/had to be rescued from with all of his stuff a similarly aged female in the short span of September of last year to moving in with us in April of this year.  They were "in a relationship" on Facebook after one day. They were engaged in one month.  They moved in together within 2 months.  Then they were broken up in about 4 months but he still lived with her for awhile since he was using her car. September-April.   That's a total span of 6 months for those that are counting.  We packed and moved his stuff out of the apartment over Memorial Day weekend.  That was 6 weeks ago.  She lived in the next state.  I didn't want my car going up there.  He plotted and tried a variety of ploys to take my car up there but eventually had her come and pick him up on weekends prior to his moving in with her in that neighboring state.  I caught him in a couple of lies and figured I'd let it go since he was moving out of my house , butat that time I didn't see him moving back in with me after only 6 months.  His girlfriend, or should I saw fiance, was really different.  There, that's how I'm going to put it.  But I guess when you get engaged in a few weeks, and move in within a couple of months, you don't notice that kind of stuff beforehand.  Some people also drive their significant other nutso and I wasn't there to see it so I can't say what happened.  Either way, they were both to fault for moving so fast.

So fast forward to now, 6 weeks past that girlfriend, son is home again, and still without a car.  There are many excuses why he has no car, says he's saving, so he's been driving my car to see the NEW girlfriend who thankfully lives really close by.  He's told me three stories about how he met her, and three versions of how long he's known her, but supposedly he just spent time with her for the first time over the weekend, and on Tuesday they were "in a relationship".  Are you freaking kidding me?  No, I guess he didn't learn anything last time around.  Then, on Thursday she posted on his page that she wanted to spend her life with him.  Sounds like a middle schooler that's desperate, doesn't it?  Just like the first girlfriend he had, but there are a couple of differences.  This one is nearly 5 years younger than him, and has a child that's under a year.  She or her parents (or grandmother) that she lives with should know better than to get the child involved with my son so quickly, but maybe they're looking for someone to step in as a dad for the kid.  I don't know if I should giggle or gag, only this is serious, for not only the child, but for my kid.  Deja vu?

He says when I ask about the Facebook stuff that they're casually dating, yet he's been there every day this week.  Yeah right.  Casually dating.  And he tries to tell me that I'm out of date on what status changes mean.  I'm laughing now.  I'm friends with a ton of people in their 20's from our kids and co-workers, reenactors, and other people I know.  So duh, no, I'm not out of date.  And don't get me started on how many versions of how the girl got pregnant with the child I've heard now.  Nothing against the child, but just get the story straight, it's taking me too many brain cells to keep the stories straight.

So he goes to see her last night, and I tell him to be back by 9.  At 11:25 he texts to say he's on his way.  He finally makes it home after 1am.  He's driving my car, which I told him wasn't going to happen for anything but work again because he can't be considerate about getting home at a decent hour...before I go to bed.  My bedroom sits in the front of the house and the car coming in wakes me up.  Plus I don't sleep until my ancient Windstar comes in because it's ancient.  Needless to say I was up until 4:30am because I was so pissed. I yelled, he tried to placate me, and I calmed down.  He's burning some pretty important bridges with me. 

So here's where the academy award happens.  He texts me today from work to say he will have to work until 8pm.  (Really, I think, raising my eyebrow.)  So I tell him to do what the boss says and that I might drive out to his job and see him around 7pm.  Then he starts going on about how burned out he is (he's been getting off rather early this week to go spend time with the new girlfriend.)  I'm thinking "burned out?"  He's gotten off early (for him) every day and didn't work this past weekend at all. Do you think it's sleep deprivation from him getting in so late?  NAH, he says he functions better on only 4 hours of sleep.  So even when he's in his room, he's messaging with her anyway.  She lives at home and doesn't work.  She has help for her parenting duties because mom and grandmom, dad, and brother live there, so she can sleep if she needs to.  But he is getting tired, admitted or not.  He's never mentioned being "burned out" at this job until this point...just kept saying how much he loves his job.  I guess having this girl makes him 'burned out".  Go figure. 

So the texting conversation continues.  I told him to keep his social activities to the weekend, separate from work during the week, and the response is that he might have to work on Saturday.  (There is still a lot of time on the weekend.)  Then he gets into how he needs his social activities and his friends to keep sane when he's burned out.  He's worked 60 hours a week in the past and it was fine.  He's worked 50-60-70 hours a week before the girlfriend and everything he said was about how he loves his job.  Now he needs to have social/friends to hang with or he's going to get burned out.  Now mind you, he hasn't had any friends to "hang with" besides girlfriend #2 and #1 and his former girlfriend from North Carolina since he moved back from North Carolina June 2011.  He sees this friend occasionally for a few hours, but that's been it.  I asked him about friends when he moved back,  he told me he didn't keep in touch with anyone from High School, he didn't fit in, and didn't really like anyone from that time period.  So all of a sudden he's got all these friends from his High School to hang with.  Really? (Imagine the eyebrow raise now.)  I didn't even respond.  Why bother? 

And that's after trying to link a co-worker with meeting this girl when I know he met her on the internet.  That's no big deal to me, but why the elaborate story?

What a performance.  Honestly, the whole conversation was such great acting that I almost (just almost) felt badly about seeing right through it. Come on, it's not like she's going to de-materialize if he doesn't see her every moment.  I'm sure they text all day anyway, I just hope she doesn't cause him to lose his job.  Then he'll be homeless, carless, and jobless.  Maybe he can move in with her big happy family. 

It reminds me of my daughter sneaking around in middle school to see a boy because "She had to see him".  Emphasis on "had to".  But middle school is middle school, he's in his mid twenties.  That gut wrenching drive to do anything to see that person...even if it means your head goes completely up your ass and you stop thinking logically, it's just not smart.  It's tough to be enfatuated and lose all of your brain cells to the point that you don't realize that when you make things up, people are on to you, and you start doing stupid things in all other areas of your life.

I told him point blank that if he takes my car to her house against my wishes there will be serious ramifications. (Like as in "Move your Ass out right this minute".) and that I will know.  Trust me.  I will know. It's not like he isn't very close to getting a car...but it's always "I don't have enough money this week."  That story is best left for another day.   And it has nothing to do with her per-se, she's just another desperate young girl that has been charmed by someone paying her some attention.  A desperate young (19) girl with a baby.  But I just don't understand anyone that can be totally in love to the point of already proclaiming that she wants to "spend the rest of my life" with someone after less than a week.  Even a week, even a month, really screams desperation.  What kind of dating website is he using where he's finding these girls? Why don't girls realize how important it is to really get to know the guys they date over a period of time?  Why doesn't she realize that her child depends on her to make sure this guy is a keeper over a period of time.  I would imagine that abusers and creeps hone in on these types of girls, and that's alarming.  No, I am not calling my kid one of those kinds of guys.

Perhaps girlfriend #2 should talk to girlfriend #1 who thought the same thing about everything being perfect immediately and has a different opinion now.  I actually feel sorry for the girl because she seems nice, and I know that he's leading her on.  And her family seems to like him too.  I hope they slow her down if not for her own sake, for the sake of the child.

But I digress again, I apologise.  So I decide to take a drive over to visit his work site this evening.  I figure I'll leave at 6:15 or so and miss most of rush hour and go say hi to him at work (if he's even there) but he calls at 5:30 to say that he's going to be able to leave.  He gets home and he's not hungry at all and wants to go to bed right away.  Since there has been so much deceit, I'm wondering if he didn't get off early again (he can get off after 3ish) and have dinner with her on the way home.  But he brought the car home and is home before I go to bed so I'm satisfied.  But I can't wait to see his pay stub for his hours.  lol

So I can't wait to see how this plays out over time...it's pretty amusing so far.  And my Windstar is sitting outside.

News from my waistline

I hate to admit it, but I've been slowly gaining weight, especially since my sister passed away at the end of June last year. We went to Hawaii in April for our son's wedding and when I saw the pictures I easily saw that I was the largest woman there.  It broke my heart.  I knew that I'd been gaining but I didn't come to terms with how bad I was looking until I saw the pictures.  It was just a little bit here and there, but it was getting difficult to button my pants and my knees, back, feet, and ankles were screaming at me! I just got off the scale, I have now lost about 8 pounds in 15 days. It's no gimmick.

 I'd done weight watchers many times before, but I would always feel sick while I was doing it.  .  They really push processed foods on people, selling their own brand of bars, smoothies, and snack foods, as well as pushing their yogurt and such found at the grocery store.  I'd read "The China Study" and seen the fantastic documentary "Forks over Knives" so I knew how harmful dairy foods are, and that there is more calcium in plant milks, something that Weight Watchers fails to mention.  The science is there to link animal foods to disease, heart disease, stroke, cancer, alzheimers, diabetes, the list goes on.  So I had to rethink what I was doing as far as food was concerned.  I knew I was snacking a lot, and grazing on a lot of breads and things like that because I wasn't eating animals (but I WAS eating seafood which is horrible for you...it's higher in Cholesterol than meat!) but I didn't have a direction in terms of what to do about gaining weight or reversing the trend.

You know I'm very committed to the vegan lifestyle, and I found that I was using too much of the meat substitutes that were mostly made up from oil. I was also eating a lot (A LOT!) of carbs, and not being careful about things that had egg or milk in them like I should. I kept getting vertigo and would be able to look back and see why (maybe butter on the veggies or something like that). I was talking about looking for a book I'd heard about called the Engine 2 diet.  Hubby said he wanted to look over the Engine 2 diet http://www.engine2diet.com/  as well so I bought the book one day at whole foods. It gave me a very easy to do and consise clean up of my diet.

So far it's been great. I have lost a little bit daily, and my mood swings are gone, I feel good, and the only issue that I have is if I don't drink enough water while I'm flying to keep me hydrated which is certainly not the fault of the diet. This is basically an easy one, it's just vegan, but tells you how to get the amount of fat (oil) and salt and sugar out of your diet...very well put especially for the men in the audience. Their website (link above) is fantastic and you can food journal there and ask for help from the community if you'd like. The science and studies behind their diet are included, so you can do more research if you'd like. The science and studies are linked to their website, and they follow the same recommendations as all of the University studies that have been coming out. 

Best of all, I am NEVER hungry! I'm hoping to be able to get back into my reenacting clothing by the time our Conference on the Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860's comes around in March of next year again.  Hubby keeps asking me if I miss anything (he's doing the diet as well) and I honestly can't think of anything that I miss.  Even eating at resteraunts is very doable, the waitstaff has been great about making meals for me that are all plant based.  I don't know if hubby will continue to improve his health, but his blood pressure is already down to within normal limits from being high enough in the past that his doctor wanted to put him on meds.  I can't wait to see how much his cholesterol numbers have improved!  I've seen my hematocrit go way up...that's a measure of the red blood cells in your blood, or anemia.  It's perfect now.  I feel great...and I don't ever want to go back to feeling like crap after eating again.

Color Affection Finished

On the knitting/crochet website http://www.ravelry.com/ there is a list of "trending" patterns that are very popular.  One of them was the wingspan pattern that I finished up a few weeks ago, and another is the "Color Affection" shown here which is a really neat wrap or shawl pattern.  I just finished it a couple of days ago and got it blocked and washed over the weekend so I thought I'd post a picture.  I did my Color Affection in Louet MerLin Wool and Linen yarn and it has a very nice feel to it.  It is cool enough to use for a slight chill on a summer evening, yet also has enough wool in it to be used in the Fall and Winter.

This wrap had so much knitting to it (it's huge, but it was impossible to photograph the whole length of it) that I've made sweaters that had less stitching to them!  It took me a little over three hours just to bind off the last row.  I used linen grey, burgundy, and eggplant for my wrap, and yes, that's an eggplant plant just above it in the middle of the planter!  It's a quick and easy knit that got too large to take to work, though I did do the majority of stitching on breaks at work and in the car going exploring in Philadelphia with hubby driving.  Now, on to the next project!

YAY, Another fleece carded

I've been trying to have a meaningful relationship with my Patrick Green Super Card here, but it's been challenging with working and other things on my agenda this summer.  This morning, I finally finished carding another of my stash of shetland fleeces.  It's been a long process trying to work on the fleeces that I've had stashed in my basement and there is still work to be done.  A couple of weeks ago, my dear hubby picked two of the fleeces for me so that I could card and not worry about having to do the picking as well.

For those not familiar with the wool processing process, here is a quick overview.  Sometimes I send my fleeces to be processed by a woolen mill, and I get the finished wool back as long "snakes" of roving, ready for the spinning wheel.  But when I have small fleeces, the woolen mill can't process them, or when I'm poor, I opt not to pay the $8.00 or more per pound to have the work done for me.  My personal favorite woolen mills are "Gurdy Run" outside of Harrisburg, PA, and McClellan's Frankenmuth Woolen Mill in Frankenmuth, MI.  I really like the way each mill processed the wool, but the fleeces I'm working on are too small to send to them.  But I digress.  Here's the "by hand" process: 

When I buy a fleece from a sheep and wool show or a shepherd, it's dirty and greasy, so it needs to be carefully washed in hot water and dawn soap (the best thing I've found) to get rid of most of the natural lanolin.  This is a time consuming process since the wool will felt if it isn't handled properly. Then the fleece is dried on a screen either on my back deck or when the weather isn't great, in my living room.  After that, it is picked which means that the locks are separated in some way.  I have a picker which is a scary thing that has incredibly sharp points that pull the locks apart, but some people do this step by hand.  I wear a welding apron and welding gloves when I do this because the points of the picker are scary dangerous.  I keep the picker locked with a padlock and key when I'm not using it.  The picker has been living in my dining room with my carder but it will need to go back to the basement prior to school. 

Then after the fleece is picked and looks like the fiber next to the carder, After picking out the small ends and pieces of hay and brambles by hand, I run it through the carder which will line up the fibers in a pretty straight line, open up the locks, and basically produce a "batt" which I then take off the carder drum and roll in a tube so that I can spin from it later.  The carder also gets rid of a lot of barnyard matter like straw and grass that has gotten stuck in the fleece.  The bag to the right is made up of batts from the fleece that I just finished. 

I have three more Shetland fleeces under the table ready to pick and card.  Shetland sheep are fairly small with the largest fleece being around four pounds, all the way down to two pounds.  It's been taking me a couple of weeks per fleece to process them and get them ready to go to the basement to wait for winter when I will hopefully have time away from my school work to start spinning them.  I have the three shetland fleeces you see here ready to pick and card, plus one that is already picked to card.  I also have a number of other fleeces and portions of fleeces ready to pick and card, but my goal this summer was to get all of the Shetlands ready to spin so I'll forgive myself if I don't get everything I have finished.  The ones remaining are tan and brown, beautiful colors indeed.  Then i have to begin to work up the Corriedale, Rominov, Finn/Romney, and CVM fleeces I have already washed that are ready to be processed, as well as the colored wools I dyed a number of years ago that also need to be picked and carded.  I think that the CVM and Finn will probably be sent to the woolen mill to do, they're huge fleeces.

Somehow I think I'm not going to get it all done prior to going back to school August 13th.  I've been knitting too, but the biggest thing that has cut into my time working on the wool has been work.  Still, I'm happy to have a job, and to have some time at work to knit. :)  That's what getting the wool ready is really about, using it to knit beautiful things!

Two more projects off my "to-do" list

I've been flying, that is, working a lot lately.  My trips have all had a 3-4 hour layover somewhere, so I get myself a sandwich or something to eat and then go find the gate for my flight and sit and knit.  The lighting is better in the concourse than it is in the crew lounge, and the people watching makes having to sit in public with the passengers all worth while.  I finished a couple of projects this week and got ends woven in and them washed and dried so I could photograph them. 

The project to the right is called "Wingspan" and it is something that I just started recently (so it doesn't qualify for being a long-term unfinished project), but I'd been wanting to make one of these since I saw the pattern pop up on Ravelry.  This was a big trending pattern (12,000+ downloads so far) especially this spring, and I finally got the yarn and got around to getting mine done.  It was a very quick knit, and took all of 10 days total to make.  I used a size 7 needle and Noro Silk garden Sock yarn, 2 skeins.  I added one extra triangle since I wanted it to be very cozy, it's a perfect size to cover my shoulders when I wear a summer top or sundress.  I think it came out nicely.  It is still wet in this picture, the actual colors are a tad lighter and brighter when it is dry.

This is the kind of project that I could actually see myself making another copy of.  That's very unusual for me, I usually only want to make one item using a pattern so that I keep doing new things and learning new skills.

I also got out a very old project that had been in the back of my car for a couple of years, I was so bored with all the straight stitches on huge needles that felt like trees to me that I really didn't want to work on it..  I started that project when we had only been reenacting for a year or so.  I had made a triangle shawl before reenacting and wore it to an event before I realized that it was much too small to be accurate for the era.  This one is much larger, and though it looks like lace, it's just a simple garter stitch done on a big (size 13) needle.  The yarn is all handspun, and the fringe took me nearly a day to complete. 

I still have more research to do to see if this would be accurate for Civil War reenacting wear (that is, did the people of the era really wear shawls like this during their time?) before I wear it to most events.  True, there are plenty of people that just put things on and figure those items "look" old but what they're wearing is inappropriate for the era.  The term that reenactors use for people wearing things that didn't exist or were the wrong material, pattern, etc. for the era is "Farby".  There is a lot of "Farby" in the reenacting community, but I pride myself by improving the accuracy of my impression as much as I can every chance I get.  Everyone learns as they go, and I wore some Farby things as a newcomer to the hobby.

I'm on to the next project...now I'm making the Color Affection shawl and February Lady sweater.   The sweater is using up yarn from a horrible attempt at making a sweater for hubby some years ago, the shawl yarn is from my stash.  It'll take awhile to clear out the bin of unfinished projects, but I have until August 13 before I go back to school to work on it. :)

Off the Roller Coaster for awhile

I decided to take the summer semester off from school.  It was a huge decision because I'd like to be finished with this BA earlier rather than later since I'm likely going to need to begin my MA work immediately thereafter.  But I was so burned out I couldn't see straight and though I'd already registered for classes for summer, I withdrew from them and felt immediately better. 

I'd been knitting again since about February when my son was in the hospital.  With my best friend here visiting, I discovered a yarn shop that I hadn't been to in years, and began to make hats for the family, and because I needed to have something to do while sitting in the hospital with my son.  I also needed to keep my hands busy so I didn't get frustrated with my son's (now ex) girlfriend at the hospital.  Eventually I knit about 8 hats like this one, all in Noro Silk Garden light, using a free pattern from Ravelry to make them all.  I could do one in about a day.  They made great gifts for the kids and grandkids, I've now given most of them away..

Then after my son had surgery and got out of the hospital (he's all better now), I began to look toward our trip to Hawaii in April for another Son and Daughter-in-law's wedding / renewal of vows.  I always look at trips like that as knitting opportunities.  I'd bought the book of Noro accessories and found this warm and wonderful cowl in it, so off I went to the local Yarn shop for two different colorways to use for the project.  I'd intended to knit while on the plane on this, but it was so quick to make, and such an enjoyable pattern that I got it finished before we were ready to leave.  I ended up taking a pair of mittens that I'd worked on long ago as an airplane project, but I was so stressed over schoolwork that I barely made any progress on them.  I ended up having to spend hours a day on schoolwork each day that we were in Hawaii.  Although it was wonderful to be back on the Island (Oahu), I was really stressed out by my class.  We've both spent a lot of time on Oahu, so we did enjoy our time, but it was difficult with the stress of the schoolwork hanging over my head.  But I digress.

So my intended summer projects are to work on unfinished projects and to get some of the stash of fiber and yarn gone through, organized, and hopefully to use at least some of it. 

 Hubby and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May and bought a couple of new fleeces because I couldn't resist...so I got those washed up, dried, and they're waiting for me in bags in the basement.  I will take them to the fiber mill eventually since they're large enough to have processed there.  I have plenty of smaller fleeces in the basement to process myself since the fiber mill requires 4 or 5 pounds of fleece to process per run.

I do have my picker and carder out and on my dining room table since I'm working slowly through my collection of Shetland fleeces that are too small to take to the fiber mill.  The progress is pitifully slow but I know I need to work at it if I'm going to get them finished.

Then I went into my large collection of other wool to begin to spin yarn for a sweater.  This picture shows some of the yarns I decided to use for the sweater, the white is from a moorit-a corriedale with the moorit gene which makes it eggshell colored, a dark brown romeldale, and the darker grey is from a CVM (California Variegated Mutant) fleece that was a mixture of cream, darker, and lighter grey.  I already had some of the yarn on a bobbin, so I plied it up with some newly spun yarn and was letting the yarn all "rest" before I put it into yarn balls for use.

So which sweater did I choose to make?  It was a tough decision since I haven't knit a sweater since I was a new spinner and made the one out of the "Ashford Book of Spinning".  It was so horrible and bumpy from my inexperience at spinning that I gave it away a few years back.  I went onto http://www.ravelry.com/ to look at simple sweater patterns, maybe something with a bit of Fair Isle, and discovered that I really liked Elizabeth Zimmerman's seamless yoke sweater which is found in her "Knitting Without Tears" book.

 Ravelry is fantastic, I've got all of my books, magazines, and patterns entered into my library on the website, so it gives me lists of all the patterns in them all and makes it easy for me to look through the patterns to decide what I want.  Anyway, I decided to do the dark grey as the main color, with Fair Isle in the other two colors.  I got started as soon as the first couple of skeins of yarn came off my spinning wheel.  I took the sweater and it's parts everywhere I went and knitted as many hours each day as I could find to knit and finally finished it within a month's time.  I think it came out well, but it's a little tight to remind me that I need to lose weight.  All in all, it was an enjoyable project and  I will undoubetly make another one some day with this pattern..

Keeping Busy

Queen Belle Supervises while I work

Spring is upon us now and everything outside is in bloom.  I'm enjoying the extra hours of sunlight with Daylight Savings Time to get some projects finished that have been on the back burner for a long time.  I've been outside walking a bit, doing schoolwork (this quarter I have "Sociolinguistics"), sewing and working on some more knit hats.  As you can see, Belle spends a lot of time in the bed on my cutting table making sure that she's the first one to see any thread stealing opportunities.  I've already found my edging tape strung into the hallway, that's the beautiful thing about cats, you never know what they'll get into.  I like her being at my side when I'm sewing, that way I know what she's doing.  The others aren't quite so miscevious.

I finished my linen sun dress last week and found this great short sleeve lacy sweater to go with it.  The dress is perfect for the warmer weather and I'm planning to wear it when we're in Hawaii for the wedding.  It's a little bit sheer so I decided that I wanted to get a slip for it.  I checked all of the places that one would think you'd find a half slip and I found were polyester and very clingy and short.  They'd be perfect for a very form fitting dress in the winter, but that slimy fabric is so hot in the summer and I'm not going to need anything clingy.  So after not finding what I wanted, I decided to make a slip for the sundresses out of 100% breatheable cool cotton.  Slips are easy, I just made a smaller version of the simple Civil War over petticoat.  No pattern needed.

I've been trying to use fabric out of my stash only as of late so I don't have to purchase any more fabric.  I know that's not in keeping with stash building, but my fabric stash has truly gotten out of hand.  Tthis linen was left over from making my daughter some maternity clothes when she lived in Texas and needed cool clothing for the heat there.  The linen has a lot of body so it's not going to wrinkle too much which is nice.  I have a couple of other nice linen prints that I intend to sew up eventually, more fleece, some silk, wool, and tons of cottons. I don't think I'm going to run out of fabric any time soon, in fact, not at any time during my lifetime. 

This is the slip I made for the sundress.  Once I started working on this simple garment, I went all "Civil War" and added tucks for body and even some edging on the bottom with a little bit of lace.  There is embroidery above the tucks, though since it isn't for Civil War reenacting use, I went ahead and used my sewing machine to create it.  The fabric is just plain 'ole ecru or off-white muslin, the same stuff I use for so many of the linings in my Civil War dress bodices.  It's pretty thin (I bought it online and didn't realize it wasn't a tighter weave) so it'll be nice and cool for the summer.  I had to make myself get away from the sewing machine or I probably would have continued to add more embroidery and such...it's just a slip, after all, and it needs to be finished and off the table. I'm not going to promise that I won't fiddle with it again at some point.  I see a lot of room for more embroidery and I
 have so many lovely floral patterns on my machine to choose from.

I also had in my mind that I wanted to make myself a new bathrobe.  The one that I had been using was falling apart and every time I washed it I think it got a little bit smaller. I've been needing a new robe for a long time. I have a lot of polarfleece in the stash (omg I just admitted that publicly!!!) that I bought to do throws and such so I figured I'd find a pattern and make a fleece robe.  This was a fairly easy pattern, but because it's so big and long and it's very thick fleece, it was a real pain to work with.  It took a lot of fabric, and it is a bit big but it's very nice and warm and cozy with a hood on top.  I plan on making at least one more and won't add the sleeve cuffs and will make it smaller.  I hate it when you follow the measurements on a pattern and make the size that is closest to your own measurements and the thing ends up way too big or small.  I try things on and adjust them as I'm sewing with things like dresses but a robe didn't seem to be an issue for fit.  That's ok, though, I'd rather it be too big rather than too small.  It'll no doubt shrink up a little bit as it's washed and dried more. 

Next up, I have a wrapper (Civil War) pattern cut out and want to get working on that, and I have a couple of possibilities for what to do with some more of my linen fabric.  Oh, and there is always schoolwork and flying.  Busy, Busy!

Happy Spring

I just love my weekends, hubby is home and there is a world of things out there to do, especially in the spring time when the weather gets warmer.  But sometimes the week in between the weekends is especially busy and fruitful, and this past week was one of those.  Monday morning was busy with getting laundry done and things put away from the Conference we'd attended over the weekend, but I took time from all that and went to meet some of the lovely ladies that I attended conference with (see my last blog post) at an exhibition of Titanic Era clothing put on in cooperation with the Shippensburg University Fashion Archives Museum, and the Hanover (PA) area Historic Society at the Warehime-Myers Mansion.  It was a private showing of the exhibition and showcased the fashions of the era (1912) as well as the wonderful home and some other colectible items pertaining to White Star Line and the Titanic that were on display. Please feel free to google either the SUFAM work or the Hanover Historical society for more information.  The exhibition is open through the end of April if you want to view it, check the Werehime-Myers website for hours that they're open.

After the exhibition, I left the Mansion and headed to one of my favorite antique malls in Hanover where I purchased a few small display cases to house my antique comb collection.  I also found a couple of broken combs for 99cents that went into the collection because they are examples of types that I didn't already have.  The one at the left is most likely tortoise, and I didn't have any metal combs in my collection, though I think this one is relatively recent. 

Since I hadn't really looked at my combs in a while and had bought the cases to house them, I took each one out, looked it over, catalogued each in a database that I built, and put them into a case.  Unfortunatly I found a couple that had the celluloid virus that will end up turning them to dust eventually.  I'm very sad about that as I very much like both of the combs that are infected, and the larger one is one of my favorites.

This one has the virus starting to eat away the comb on the left side (your right).  I'm really upset about this because when I put it away after purchasing it I didn't notice that it was having any problems at all.  I had to take the two infected combs out of my collection and make sure they are stored separately so their virus won't spread to the others.  I found this reference on a bulletin board about hair combs, written by "Heidi W" and though I don't know Heidi, I want to say thank you for the information on what the "virus" is: 

One thing to know about any celluloid combs:"they do have a tendency to get what is termed the "disease" sometimes referred to as the "virus." When purchasing a newly acquired celluloid comb, it's important to quarantine the comb for maybe as long as a month, I would suggest. This is for collectors in particular of celluloid combs: real celluloid was made with camphor which outgasses. The outgassing is how other celluloid combs can become infected. Today's plastics do not contain camphor and it's generally believed that these later plastics wouldn't be so infected. Same is true for real organic combs derived of horn, bone, shell, and so on (they can get other things sometimes).

What to look for - how to tell, you ask?


Typically a circular like area will be a high yellow color, in stark contrast to the rest of the color of celluloid (which is typically a brownish color although celluloids were dyed differing colors, and I have yet to see one with the "disease" that is a colored or dyed comb, such as red, for example. It may well exist: I just haven't seen it yet and can't be sure how that would appear.) The other accompanying detail to this high hue of yellow is that inside it appears as though there's a crackling effect, but isolated to that yellow zone. It appears splintery.
In time, some combs completely break down and even disintegrate in that spot; often, though, they just break. Combs that have this can be dipped to stall the progress. Sometimes it never progresses, but one never knows the future. Sometimes a comb with this is still worth keeping yet separated from a collection (unless it's all over your house as mine is becoming) because the design of the top piece can be unique. (Sometimes it can be worth it to buy 'damaged' goods.)
We have people who are watching their diseased combs to check on progress, just to see how it all works since little is understood and little is written on the subject.
But this disease can spread (the name disease or virus is derived from the concept that it can spread from celluloid to celluloid although not to humans or animals). This is important to know if you have two or more."

So, after putting all my combs away, I moved on to the next project, studying for my Physical Science final which was coming up on Saturday.  (It's now 2 days post final...it took me about 7 hours to do the final exam, and I got an 88.6% on it...I needed only a low "C" to get an "A" In the class so I'm happy, but I digress.)  I also flew to Denver and back for work, and cut out and sew up a sun dress for myself this week.  Oh, and I also had to completely rearrange my office/sewing room to move my study table to the other side of the room and put up my cutting table so that I could actually cut out some patterns.  The cat children were particularly happy about that as they've missed having their cat bed on the cutting table in the sun streaming in from the window.  It was quite a week.


Belle and Rose enjoying the sun in their bed


We have a wedding, or more accurately, a renewal of vows of our son and daughter-in-law to go to in Hawaii in April so I thought it would be nice to have a sun dress for the occasion, especially since little that I own fits anymore.  The fabric is actually a civil war era reproduction but I didn't think it was light enough to be festive for a wedding so I decided to go stash-diving again.  I found some linen that I liked, so I cut out and started to sew another sun dress using the same pattern that will be lighter colored and hopefully more festive for the wedding.  Over the weekend I found a light lace short sleeve sweater to wear with both dresses if it's a little chilly in air conditioning so as soon as I get the other sun dress finished I'll post the picture of that as well.  Along with sewing and studying, I also finished another Noro hat for the pile to go to the kids and grandkids. I have just a few more to finish up and then I'll be able to get started on some other knitting projects that I've been wanting to work on.  These hats are so easy because I nearly don't even have to look at what I'm knitting, and I'm really proud of myself for getting them done without putting them aside and never getting back to them.  Being an ADHD knitter and sewer means that I have tons of unfinished projects everywhere all over the house.  I have another one on the needles that is just about ready to start the decreases at the top of the hat.  But of course, I do have to work this week.

So back to the final, since I got it finished on Saturday, we had Sunday to go and explore and enjoy the beautiful weather.  We went antiquing and went through three or four large antique mall type stores (various vendors have stalls inside).  We even found a couple of places in New Oxford, PA that we didn't know existed, because they were behind the main street through town.  We love looking at the old things even if we don't buy a thing, it's just one of the things that we love to share together.  Sure, there are a few things that we collect such as "Kitchen Cats" from the 1950's, hair combs as I mentioned above, a certain china pattern that is hard to find and is called "Hawaiian Flowers" which is self explanatory,

and I especially love looking at all of the period and vintage sewing accessories.  I didn't think we were going to find anything new when I happened to see this sitting in a very poorly lit and very full display case in one of the antique stores, this comb.  I have a similarly colored one that is more angularly shaped, but this one was really affordable (everything I collect tends to be really cheap!) so it got to come home with me.  Not bad for all the hours we spent looking around and enjoying each other's company.  I figure that the entertainment value was definitely worth the price of the comb.  And now I have a nice new item for my collection.  And we stopped and got my dear husband some clothes for work...and then had dinner at one of our favorite places.  All in all it was a wonderful day after a busy but productive week.

Conference 2012

The beginning of March always marks one of our favorite events: The conference on Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860's in Camp Hill, PA. We spend a couple of days doing workshops that are hand's on and then spend a couple of days attending presentations and lectures by historians and researchers about the material culture of the 1860s.&
This year I took workshops on making personal flags, which were very common especially in the CSA, and also a class on making wristlettes for wearing with any attire but mainly dressy. I also took a class on making weighted pincushions (my pincushion has already come in very handy) and a beautiful belt. I took pictures of those with my phones so I don't have them handy for this post.  I ended up making 3 sets of different wristlettes, two flags, two pincushions, and a belt.  It was a very productive conference for me, though I ended up sewing all the time I was listening to presentations after the workshops had ended.

The biggest problem I encountered this year is that I've gained a bit of weight and when it came time to figure out what to wear for the fancy dress ball, the only thing that I had that fit was this mourning dress. I spent quite a bit of time working on making this silk taffeta dress for an event two years ago but something or other happened and I didn't end up wearing it so I'd never actually had it on.   It was hard enough getting laced into the corset that I've had since about 2005 when I was 30 pounds lighter, but when I went to braid my hair and put it up, the motion of lifting my arms tore out the sleeves from the bodice.  Thankfully some friends were staying in the room next door and were gracious enough to whip stitch me closed.  Luckly I had made a lightweight paletot for the occasion as well.

Here's the back of the paletot...I spent the better part of two years off and on putting the braid on this paletot. It was a lot of work and very frustrating but it ended up coming out nicely.

Here's the silk dress without the paletot, I love the shine and the way the fabric moves. It was a wonderful conference, and as usual, I'm looking forward to next year.

I just don't get it (a rant)

I just don't get people, I guess. A person the age of my kids starts telling me about something I have an intimate knowledge of...taxes and the possibilities of audit, and how this person is going to add this and that onto the business expenses (car payment, gas receipts (without receipts), unsubstantiated mileage, etc.) for a job that she was paid to do "under the table" without having withholding taken out.  I explain how that isn't legal and will likely get the interest of the IRS and an audit to follow. So then she's going to report the work as income to "stick it to her boss" for paying her under the table.  It all seems pretty shaky to me, and I so don't mess around with my taxes that I pay a very good accountant that is also a tax lawyer to do my taxes every year.  I sleep much better at night that way.
Been there with the audit thing, done that, made a simple arithmetic error in a very different situation, but it triggered a not so pleasant trip downtown to substantiate every penny on my return just because of the math error.  What a nightmare.  I had no clue what it was all about when I was "asked" to come in.  It isn't smart to do anything that you don't fully understand on your tax form, so I didn't. I didn't count on being unable to hit the right keys on my calculator being such a problem, so I can only imagine what they'd do with a more complicated situation.  The IRS isn't kidding around, even if you think you did everything right.

So after talking to this person, my frustration level went up as the conversation continued.  Just shoot me, ok?  So you'd think that the voice of reason (me) that advised "talk to someone that knows what they're doing...not Liberty tax for free" before you send it in would have some weight. But no. I get told that "I don't want to talk about this anymore" because I wasn't saying what this person wanted to hear. Great, huh?  That kind of attitude really puzzles me. At least get a handle on some of the questions to ask when you go wandering into the "free tax prep place".  And please remember that you get what you pay for.

I felt like saying "then why even mention it to me if you already were sure that you knew everything that there was to know", but I stayed polite.  Heck, google your questions at the very least prior to running off and doing something that you could really get in trouble for. And in the future, don't even bother to ask me anything, ok?  Because although I have 30 years of life experience on you, everything I say is "stupid" and instantly discounted.  Ok, rant over.

From a sociological point of view, I think that this type of attitude is endemic in society today anyway.  I've seen it more often in the people younger than I am more so than in people my age (and if anyone wants to know, I only admit to being 29).  If a person comes looking for pats on the back and instead they get some good old fashioned feedback that perhaps they should look at the situation a bit differently, then they don't want to hear it.  Heck, I don't care if you take my advice or the advice of any other person on a subject, but at least listen and look into any concerns that you hear.  I don't know if the inability to listen to concerns from another person all the way through is because we're such a "soundbite" society with no attention span anymore due to technology and the constant stream of information coming in that dulls our senses. It sure seems that those that seem to know it all often do the least good research and have the least accurate information.  Ok, I feel better now.  Remind me in a couple of years when this person gets audited that I wrote this post.  :)

On a Noro Kick

I've been on a knitting kick lately, thanks to the visit of my dear friend, Loraine. I always thought Noro yarn was pretty but had no idea what I would be able to "do" with it so after I bought a few skeins years ago, they sat ignored in my stash while I was knitting all kinds of socks and such.  While Loraine was visiting recently, we went to three different yarn stores and looked at all the pretty Noro.  She wanted to find some of the Silk Garden Lite to make some easy hats for gifts.

     This whole Noro kick I'm on right now, actually started a year or so ago when Loraine sent me two skeins of a Brown/Grey/Black Silk Garden Noro yarn. The yarn was really pretty, but I couldn't think of what I was going to make from it as they really weren't my colors and I thought they were way too dark.  She suggested that I pair those two skeins of yarn with some yarn I had in my stash that was pink/blue/purple Noro Silk Garden Thaw, I think, and gave me the site to find the pattern. (It's called Brooklyn Tweed).  It's available on Ravelry as Striped Noro Scarf, or feel free to look at my projects on Ravelry, my Ravelry name is "Gator".  It's basically K1P1 all the way across using two rows of each yarn alternating.  As you can see it makes for a very pretty scarf, and it's really soft.  I did 3 rows of the first color and then started the second color on the side opposite of where the first color's row ended to make a very nice edge.  After the first row, you do 2 rows of each color, alternating.  That's it!  All I had to do, since the colors ended on opposite sides, was to wrap the working yarn around the tail of the other color and keep on with the pattern, no slipping stitches required.  The edges came out really well, very consistent, and very soft.  I love this scarf, it's become my favorite go to scarf for the winter.  Even though I'm allergic to wool, especially scratchy wool, I enjoy using this soft and warm scarf.

     As I said, when Loraine was here, she was on the hunt for Noro Silk Garden Lite yarn.  We went to the local yarn store that is about 5 minutes from my house looking for some the first day when she got in town, while we were driving, she told me about the simple pattern she uses to make hats for lots of friends.  The pattern is "Snowflakes on Mulberries Hat" and it's by Amy Klimt.  The pattern is free on Ravelry and there is a Silk Garden Lite version as well as one for the slightly thicker Noro Silk Garden.  It is really easy and quick to knit.  This one is the first one I made.
     Since my son went in the hospital and was there for 6 days, I took my knitting with me and just sat with him and talked to Loraine, my son, my husband and my son's girlfriend while knitting in the hospital.  When this one was finished, I decided that it was long enough for one of my grandsons, but for an adult, I'd add more to the body of the hat in order to make an area large enough to flip up into a brim.  This smaller one had the 5 inches before the decreases started as per the pattern.  Loraine is making one of these for my son...she's been his "other mom" for years and had promised him one of the hats.  She's also making him a cowl. 

     This pastel colored one has about 5.75 inches of body prior to the pattern.  I had enough yarn to finish the hat, and even some left over.  This one has such pretty colors, it might end up being for me.  But never fear, I have a few more skeins of the same yarn in different colorways, and I know where to get more.  We went to another fairly close yarn store that I hadn't been to in 20 years, and there was a good selection of the Silk Garden, and Noro Sock yarn (beautiful colors, but I have so much sock yarn I didn't buy any THIS time).  It was less expensive than the first shop that we went to so I was happy, and they offered a punch card for anything bought in the store, and they were very nice and helpful, unlike when I was there 20 years ago.  I got a book called "Weekend Hats" there which has a bunch of really fun looking patterns for me to work on in the future.  I also got "Knit your own Cat" which is hilarious and I might just knit up a cat that looks like one of the "kids".  Anyway, this one was finished in combination of time knitting at the hospital and time knitting while watching TVat home after leaving the hospital in the evenings so my son could sleep.  The time when he was in the hospital and during his surgery was rather stressful, so I was happy to have my knitting as a de-stressing tool.
    

A couple of days later, my son was to be released from the hospital.  We knew that it was going to be a waiting game for him to be discharged, so Loraine and I loaded the food we'd cooked for him the day before and took it to where he lives via another yarn store that was kind of on the way.  Ok, it was in the same state.  This time we hit the mother lode of Silk Garden Lite, and it was another 50 cents cheaper than the second shop, a full dollar cheaper than the first one.  I bought three skeins of this darker blue with green and burgundy yarn...but if you're not familiar with striped yarn like this, you can't really tell completely how the yarn is going to look when you knit it up, and the pattern you use will really change the look fo the yarn.  Anyway, I digress.  The first thing I did with my three skeins was to make up a hat for myself from it.  I have to wear a navy blue coat to work so I thought these colors would look nice with that.  I somehow messed up counting so the hat ended up being 4 stitches short and I had to fudge the decreases.  It's a little tight, but it still fits me fine.  I made this one with nearly 6 inches of  body prior to the decreases so it makes a nice brim.  I had enough yarn to finish, but I don't think it would have been enough if I hadn't had 4 stitches less than the usual 120 for the body of the hat.  I'd say that 5.75 inches of body is probably a good point to stop doing the body of the hat and switch to the decrease pattern.

This is a cowl pattern that I found for free on Ravelry.  It's called "Stacked Eyelet Cowl".  I did it on Size 6 needles, though the pattern calls for 7's.  It's CO 120, then P the first row, the second row is YO, K2tog, the third row is all P, then 10 rows knit.  I used a cable cast on and bind off with size 8 needles, but I would use the same size needles in the future as for the knitting since the CO and BO edges were too big, enough so that the edges roll.  I did the cowl with 2 skeins, and is long enough to pull up over my ears and head if I forget my hat.  I wore it the other morning and it's really  nice and warm and soft.  It's the same colorway as the hat above it.  Sorry about the lighting in the pictures, though.

So now, my son is back to work, he's much better since they took his gall bladder out, and hopefully he won't have any more episodes of abdominal pain in the future. Loraine is back where she lives, and I have another hat on the needles.  It feels good to get back to knitting and since I have a lot (A LOT!) of unfinished projects on needles all over the house, I hope I can sustain my enthusiasm in order to finish some or most of them.  I'd really like to make a sweater, but I want to get some of the numerous knitting bags I have out with projects in them put away before I start anything else.  And of course, there is always schoolwork, housework, and the job to contend with. :)

Quick and Cheap hummus

I ran out of hummus the other day. Bummer. I love putting it on bread rather than another spread, it's low in fat and high in protein. Have you seen how expensive it can be? Are you kidding me? It's so cheap to make it's ridiculous and it takes about 5 minutes. Here's the recipe...

Plain hummus, add more spices or whatever you want for more flavor...

1 14 ounce can garbanzo beans
OR about 1 cup of dried beans that you've soaked overnight, drained, added 4 cups of water to, and cooked (bring to boil and then simmer for about 2 hours.) This gives you about 2 cups of cooked beans. Add about a cup or so of their cooking liquid. Dry beans are even cheaper than canned.
1/4 cup tahini. You'll find it in the peanut butter section. This is sesame seed paste.
2 TBSP flax oil. You can also use olive oil, grapeseed oil, or even canola, but flax is best.
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped, more if you'd like.
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin. I like more than that, I use about 2 1/4 tsp in mine.
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth. Add garlic, red peppers,spices, or anything else you'd like to make the hummus more flavorful.

Enjoy!

Do it yourself cat tree

I just had to post this, it was on the "Life with Cats" website. This was billed as a "college cat tree" but my husband pointed out that there was no beer cans involved so that couldn't be right!

Research paper: Banning Convenience Declawing

I'd promised to post the research paper when it was finished and proofed.  I ended up getting a 98% on the assignment and have now corrected the errors that took points off.  I hope this paper does some good for the cats in this country.  Thanks for your interest.

Banning convenience declawing
April, 2011

From the increasing popularity of pet spas and pet day care “camps” to the billions of dollars spent on premium food, toys, accessories, and treats, Americans show that devotion to their animals continues to grow. Most pet owners treat their animal companions as family members and would never purposely hurt or disfigure them. Yet some owners hurt and disfigure their cats by declawing them. Convenience declawing is done for such non-medical reasons as “we just got new furniture”, “we don’t want to take the time to train the cat”, or other reasons that have nothing to do with the welfare of the cat. This controversial surgery is considered as cruel, painful, and mutilating, though it is still performed by many vets in the United States. More humane vets educate clients about non-surgical alternatives rather than providing declawing. Official policy statements against declawing have been issued by numerous national and international animal welfare groups and veterinary medical associations. Pet owners are wise to question the ethical position of vets that offer elective declawing strictly for the convenience of an owner and not for medical reasons, as vets have pledged to alleviate animal suffering and not to cause it. There are a few medical reasons to declaw a cat such as an owner having a compromised immune system, or if a cat has injured a paw so severely that the claw and lower toe must be amputated. However, most declawing surgeries are requested to keep the cat from possibly clawing in the future. A ban on declawing for owner convenience should be supported because the procedure is cruel, mutilating, and painful for the cat, because there are non-surgical alternatives to keep the cat from scratching, because most medical and animal welfare organizations publicly oppose the procedure, and because there are already proposed and enacted laws in the US and abroad to prohibit the surgery unless it is medically necessary.

Owners are frequently told that declawing is a simple procedure and is easily done. But declawing is certainly not a simple and routine surgery such as spay and neuter. (Broder, 2003) “It seems there is a big difference between neutering to prevent unwanted animal births and performing a surgical mutilation for our own comfort.” (Ben Shaul, 1994) Declaw surgery is complicated and extremely painful and is often the cause of medical and behavioral complications. Declawing is so cruel that it is termed “inhumane” and an “unnecessary mutilation” in England, where it is banned. The entire toe is amputated up to the joint, including the claw, the bone, nerve, joint capsule, collateral ligaments, and all of the tendons. The surgery consists of “ten separate, painful amputations of the third phalanx up to the last joint of each toe”. In human terms, it would be having each finger cut off at the last joint. (Schelling, Technical Facts) The recovery is long and extremely painful, and the rate of complication is very high compared to other surgeries, fifty percent of the declawed cats had one or more complications immediately after surgery. (Feline Onychectomy at a Teaching Institution: A Retrospective Study of 163 cases, 1994) Using a laser rather than a knife does not change the level of pain or the result of the surgery, though some vets try to convince their clients otherwise. Vets that have spent upwards of forty-five thousand dollars for the laser machine frequently promote declawing in their practices. (Jan's Kitten Kids) Veterinary Doctor Nicholas Dodman said that partial digit amputation (declawing) is so horrible that it has been used as torture for prisoners of war. (Syufy, Declawing: Disclouse and Wait, 2011) The cat is designed to walk on the portion of the toes which are cut off during declawing. Removal of the last joint of the toe changes the animal’s balance and gait. This change of gait causes later arthritis and pain in the paws, shoulders, and spine.

In addition to the pain of amputation, the declawed cat is likely to exhibit behavioral problems that may lead to the animal’s surrender for euthanasia. Aggressive biting and litter box avoidance are common problems in declawed cats surrendered to shelters. While cats with claws are surrendered to shelters for human-related issues such as the owner moving and not being able to take the cat, declawed cats are surrendered for behavioral problems. Most declawed cats that entered shelters were euthanized because of litter box issues. Animal behaviorist Carole Wilborn quoted a study of a Delaware animal shelter that found “more than seventy-five percent of the cats turned in for avoiding their litter boxes had been declawed.” (Wilbourn) Other shelter studies report percentages of declawed cats euthanized for behavioral issues as higher, some as high as ninety percent. (Goldstein) Veterinary colleges do not even teach the ethics of declawing along with the surgical technique, nor do they teach the new vets the possibility that the surgery itself often leads to problems that end with euthanasia.

Scratching is a normal behavior that provides psychological comfort to the cat. “Vet students should learn the long term effects, along with why the cats need to scratch, along with their anatomy lesson.” (Syufy, Anti-Declaw Advocates Score Major Win: What Lies Ahead on the Declawing Front?, 2011) Cats relax through kneading with their claws extended. Claws additionally allow cats to climb and to fully stretch out their legs and back. Through scratching with their claws, cats also create a visual and scent identification mark, and condition their claws. (Swiderski, 2002) Scratching behaviors are instinctive to the cat. Humane alternatives to declawing surgery allow the clawed cat to enjoy these behaviors and still live in harmony with home furnishings. Nail trimming will lessen damage from scratching, synthetic feline facial pheromone sprays artificially mark territory and lessen the cat’s desire to mark with claws, and scratching posts and mats provided to the cat preserve furnishings. Behavior modification training and use of anti-scratching items also teach the cat where it may or may not scratch. In addition, easily applied plastic nail tips called “Soft Paws” protect all surfaces from the cat’s claws. Each or a combination of alternatives will eliminate the cat scratching on furnishings and other household items, solving the issue with little effort from the owner and without declawing.

A small percentage of declawing supporters say they would surrender their cats if they could not declaw them. Yet owners in countries which ban the procedure have millions of companion cats. The owners in non-declawing countries have no choice but to train their cat, provide alternative solutions such as “Soft paws” and scratching posts, or not adopt at all. Inconvenience of the owner for a time does not begin to compare to the pain and behavioral issues of the cat recovering from the amputation of its toes. The AVAR (Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights) notes that “some veterinarians have argued that some people would have their cats killed if declawing was not an option. We should not, however, allow ourselves to be taken 'emotional hostage' like this. If a person really would kill her or his cat in this case, it is reasonable to question the suitability of that person as a feline guardian, especially when there are millions of non-declawed cats living in harmony with people.” (Syufy, Are there any states in USA where declawing is illegal ? Which ones?, 2011)

Declawing is considered so cruel that numerous animal and veterinary groups have issued statements against the procedure, especially for non-medical reasons. The leading animal welfare organization is against declawing. “The ASPCA is strongly opposed to declawing cats for the convenience of their guardians. The only circumstance in which the procedure could be condoned would be if the health and safety of the guardian would be put at risk, as in the case of individuals with compromised immune systems or illnesses that cause them to be unusually susceptible to serious infections.” (ASPCA) Some other organizations that have issued similar public policy statements are: the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR), Cat Fancier’s Association (CFA), World Small Veterinary Association, Humane Society of the United States, American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (Sturges, 2005), and the American Humane Society. Even the public position statement of the American Veterinary Medical Association says that declawing should be “considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when its clawing provides a zoonotic risk for its owner(s).” (Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2003)

Though the American Veterinary Medical Association says in their position statement that declawing should always be a last resort, (Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2003) some member vets continue to declaw strictly for owner convenience. Departing from its own published position statements, the organization continues to fight efforts to ban convenience declawing. Declawing for non-medical reasons also contradicts the Veterinarian’s Oath in which the vet pledges to relieve animal suffering, not cause it. “I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.” (Journal of the American Veterinarian Medical Society, 2004) One vet commented, “As a profession, are we not giving a mixed message to the public in advocating companion animal health and welfare on the one hand and not abandoning such practices that are considered unethical by veterinarians and their clients in many other countries?” (Fox, 2006) The American Veterinary Medical Society has stated that it encourages educating clients about the actual procedure and what will actually happen to the cat. Unfortunately, many veterinarians do not fully educate owners about the procedure when promoting convenience declawing. Sadly, some owners also do not care to know what will happen to the cat. The only way to be sure that veterinarians are truly treating cats humanely is to ban convenience declawing.

Laws exist to protect animals in the United States from cruel living conditions, poor treatment, abuse, and neglect. Yet there has been no ban of declawing. While declawing is most commonplace in the United States and Canada, in many other countries declawing is either illegal or considered extremely inhumane and only performed under extreme circumstances. Declawing is banned in Europe, the British Isles, Bosnia, Slovenia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, and Israel. (Schelling, Outlawed Countries) Declawing is a money making procedure for the vets that provide it, and many of those vets have fought against a ban of the procedure. Pro-declawing vets say they want the decision to declaw to be between the vet and client, and not regulated. It seems that these vets are also motivated by loss of declawing as a source of income. Some pro-declawing vets use this reasoning, “Since destructive clawing behavior can sometimes lead owners to euthanize their cat, the procedure can be a lifesaver.” (Syufy, Anti-Declaw Advocates Score Major Win: First Declawing Ban in US - West Hollywood, CA, 2011) But shelter directors, volunteers, and other vets state that surrender and euthanasia is much more common for litter box avoidance issues seen in declawed cats than for scratching behavior in clawed cats. In countries that ban declawing, owners use alternative non-surgical methods to counter destructive clawing behavior, driving euthanasia for litter box avoidance to low rates.

The movement to ban declawing has been growing with support from vets, animal owners, and animal welfare organizations. In California, some cities in which have introduced legislation are: Santa Monica (Drug Week staff editors, 2009), San Diego, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, and West Hollywood. West Hollywood’s ban initially passed in 2003, was subsequently overturned, but upon appeal was upheld. As recently as last year, Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood, CA) “introduced legislation that will prohibit veterinarians from declawing cats in the State of California.” (Goldstein) Legislation has been introduced to ban the procedure in other states; some bills have also focused upon the illegality of landlords requiring that cat owners declaw their cats. Attorney Brian Pease said of the fight against the practice in Massachusetts: “There’s no way that a federal law or any other law would require cats to be declawed because it’s such a cruel procedure.” (Wilbourn) Grass roots efforts in small municipalities to pass a declawing ban help other areas to pass bills to ban the surgery in these other communities. Many individual communities banning the procedure will help the United States join the long list of countries that have humanely banned declawing.

It is estimated that 93.6 million cats live as household companions in the United States. From seventy-five to eighty percent of cat owners do not declaw their cats. Some vets continue to perform declawing surgery despite causing long lasting physical and behavioral problems that often lead to surrender and euthanasia of the animal. The United States lags behind the rest of the developed world by delaying banning this cruel procedure. Since humane and non-surgical alternatives to declawing are available, there is little reason to consider declawing a cat. Public outcry is becoming more vocal as laws are introduced to ban declawing surgery as cruel. Though slow, the movement to ban convenience declawing in the United States is gaining momentum. The humanity of a people is illustrated by how the least of the creatures in their care are treated. It is up to owners and care givers to protect and treat humanely the beautiful cats that have been living with people for thousands of years. “If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain

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