Dying Alone, a Memorial Cairn

Dying alone...it is a phenomenon that is not unusual. Perhaps you have not thought of this issue.

One provocative post can be read at the "Elderly Living and Dying Alone. Sadly, too many of us leave this world with no one at our side. "Elder orphans" are discussed in the article:

"the number of Americans between the ages of 70 and 85, without a living spouse, without any biological or stepchildren, and without living siblings or half-siblings, will total more than 2 million people by the year 2030."

One such person who died alone yesterday was Leona Taylor. Although I did not know Leona very well, the facts were that she had no family still living, having had her husband precede her in death ten years ago. She was 92 years old, and had few visitors come see her in the nursing home other than hospital and hospice staff. She must have been a Christian, since she asked that the Bible be read to her in her last days. And Leona liked dogs. Therapy Dog Libby Sweetpea and I visited her in working with the local Hospice & Palliative Care over the past few months, and knew that only health issues occupied her time during our visits. No funeral services were planned.

Thinking about her life and knowing she had few mourners, it seemed some tribute should be made to her long life.

On my morning walk yesterday, I constructed a rock cairn memorial (a place of meditation and reflection according to Rock Cairns). Although it looks a bit crude, it was made with respect as a memory to her life; it is a tangible awareness that someone is thinking of her as she continues her journey into eternal life.

In Memory of Leona Taylor (1916-2009); Rest in Peace

What will you leave behind as your legacy? It is a thought provoking question.

Microwave Baked Potato Fabric Bags

Have you tried a cloth bag for baking potatoes in the microwave?

Potatoes baked in the fabric really are delicious, and have a different texture than the usual baking process from sticking a naked potato in the microwave.

There is no trick to it (other than using the bag); just wash and dry potatoes. Then wrap them in a paper towel. DO NOT PIERCE SKIN! Place potatoes in bag and microwave, as usual, for about five minutes (for one potato) or until done. You can put up to four potatoes in one bag. Remove the potato(es) from the bag and fluff with a fork, applying your favorite slathering of fattening delicious toppings. They taste like those slow roasted stuffed potatoes popular on restaurant menus.

If you want to get one for yourself or as a gift, you can purchase a baked potato bag here at Country Collectibles Microwave Bakers on the internet.

Or make one yourself with directions from Garden Web.

I was lucky and received one from a relative. This is the one she made: Baking potatoes in a bag is a novel idea, and the potatoes are delicious...there must be some magic in the process!

Pictures of Knitting Madonnas

This picture may not be new to you, but after Googling "Knitting Madonnas", this was one of my favorite renditions. It was painted around 1390, according to Howard Schwartz. This website gives a concise history of not only the artwork, but also of the knitting craft.
The above renedition, found at WikiMedia, dates the wood cut at 1400-1410 AD.

Other pictures of knitting madonnas can be found at The Shawl Ministry. This site will link to each US state that has a shawl ministry. This is their picture depicting their mission:

On Flickr, you can click on the link and see the rendition dated from 1345, entitled "A painting of the Holy Family"; it is attributed to Ambrogio Lorenzetti (ca. 1345) of Siena. Size 54.5 x 25.5 cm.

This search was a fun find for me, and the illlustrations can be used in a number of ways with knitting projects.

Creamy Pesto Chicken and Pasta

Here is an easy and quick recipe using pesto sauce with chicken and pasta. How can you go wrong with those ingredients? I came across this recipe over at Purpled Sky's blog a few months ago. It is tasty! (Feel free to use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts for more flavor.)

Creamy Pesto Chicken Recipe

2 chicken breast fillet, quartered and sliced ...or dark meat!
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Prepare chicken slices thick or thin enough for a quick pan fry. Season with salt. Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Fry chicken slices until brown.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup creamer
3 tbsp pesto sauce
pinch of salt

In the same pan, heat olive oil. Saute garlic. Once fragrant, pour in stock. Bring to a soft boil. Add creamer little by little, stirring as you do. Turn off heat; then add pesto sauce. Season with salt.Place the pan-fried chicken slices onto the pan and turn the heat back on. Coat the chicken slices with sauce. Once the sauce starts boiling again, turn off heat.

Boil up your favorite pasta or risotto. Serve atop the starch. Yum.

It is almost time to make bunches of pesto sauce for freezing. This post explains how to make up basil or arugula pesto to freeze and use later.

Preparing Fleece for Spinning: Dog Hair and Alpaca Blend

In knitting-with-dog-hair, written about a year ago, the subject of knitting with dog hair was discussed. It was then I started saving my pups' fur for knitting into a new project. Like the book says, "better a sweater from a dog you know and love than from a sheep you'll never meet". The book Knitting with Dog Hair can be purchased at this site on Amazon. It is on my reference shelf, and is full of information about this rather esoteric subject.

Once the fur was gathered from our two dogs and their home-style groomings over the past 18 months, the obvious next step was what to do with it to get it into shape for spinning. It would need some other fiber to mix in with the fur in order to make a good blend.

Luckily, here in western Colorado, there is a farm with 14 alpacas on it. Shearing time was last week, and new acquaintance Cori Elam saved me enough alpaca fur (all white) for the blending. We rendezvous last night at our first weekly summer Farmers' Market in Grand Junction, and I gave her my bag of saved dog fur. It looked like this, and I had about a pound of it:

This fur will be mixed with Cori Elam's alpaca fiber. Cori's website can be accessed at Cori's Western Colorado Alpacas. She has all kinds of alpaca products for sale. Many of her alpaca fibers are imported from Peru; beautiful products were on display at her booth last night.

Back to the preparation process of the fibers: from the site how to prepare fleece for spinning, easy and concise information was gathered regarding the next steps:

Step 1 Take a chunk of fleece about the size of a basketball. Fill your sink with hot water and some dish soap. Step 2 Put the fleece in the sink and let it sink. If you are impatient, you can gently push it down. Slowly move it around but do not "agitate." Agitation will cause it to felt, making it useless for spinning. .... further steps .......remove the fibers and you are ready to spin.

Another website packed with information about using animals' fur is Spinning Straw into Gold. Take a gander at that site if you are interested in reading about one person's vocation with animal fur products. It is amazing.

But what would a knitted project with dog fur blended with wool look like? Sure enough, that source on the internet Ravelry with over 400,000 members world-wide was my best source for tracking down someone who had pictures AND and an explanation of her process of collecting fur. New friend Avedaggio on Ravelry from Boulder says about her dog Mulan's fur:

My mom has a shih-tzu, whom she keeps long-haired. Mulan’s fur is about 8 inches long. To keep her from becoming a matted mess, mom combs her every day and gives her a bath (complete with blow-dry!) every week. Since Mulan was a puppy, mom had been saving the fur she combed out in little plastic bags, and a couple years back she and my dad took it to the Estes Park Wool Market and got someone to spin it up (this was before I learned how to spin). Then I got 1200 yards of 2-ply Mulan yarn for Christmas! It smelled like Mulan right after the bath. It was so funny when we put a skein on the floor to let Mulan investigate– she sniffed and sniffed, and then picked it up, carried it to her favorite corner and curled around it as if it were a puppy! So cute. I ended up knitting a lap blanket for my mother out of it.

So the next steps of blending the alpaca and dog fur are in process. After the washing, carding, and spinning steps are completed, there should be more than enough yarn to whip up something as special as a Mulan's lap blanket shown above!

(Thanks, Avedaggio, for the use of your picture and your entertaining story.)

Hellen Keller: "In Light of a Brighter Day" essay in memory of Gale Barnwell

A brief acquaintance passed away this week. In memory and honor of her life, here is a podcast that I would like to share, written by Helen Keller, and found here at This I Believe:

I choose for my subject, faith wrought into life apart from creed or dogma. By faith, I mean a vision of good one cherishes and the enthusiasm that pushes one to seek its fulfillment, regardless of obstacles. Faith is a dynamic power that breaks the chain of routine, and gives a new, fine turn to old commonplaces. Faith reinvigorates the will, enriches the affections, and awakens a sense of creativeness. Active faith knows no fear, and it is a safeguard to me against cynicism and despair.
After all, faith is not one thing or two or three things. It is an indivisible totality of beliefs that inspire me: Belief in God as infinite goodwill and all-seeing Wisdom, whose everlasting arms sustain me walking on the sea of life. Trust in my fellow men, wonder at their fundamental goodness, and confidence that after this night of sorrow and oppression, they will rise up strong and beautiful in the glory of morning. Reverence for the beauty and preciousness of the earth, and a sense of responsibility to do what I can to make it a habitation of health and plenty for all men. Faith in immortality because it renders less bitter the separation from those I have loved and lost, and because it will free me from unnatural limitations, and unfold still more faculties I have in joyous activity.
Even if my vital spark should be blown out, I believe that I should behave with courageous dignity in the presence of fate, and strive to be a worthy companion of the beautiful, the good, and the true. But fate has its master in the faith of those who surmount it, and limitation has its limits for those who, though disillusioned, live greatly.
It was a terrible blow to my faith when I learned that millions of my fellow creatures must labor all their days for food and shelter, bear the most crushing burdens, and die without having known the joy of living. My security vanished forever, and I have never regained the radiant belief of my young years that earth is a happy home and hearth for the majority of mankind. But faith is a state of mind. The believer is not soon disheartened. If he is turned out of his shelter, he builds up a house that the winds of the earth cannot destroy.
When I think of the suffering and famine, and the continued slaughter of men, my spirit bleeds. But the thought comes to me that, like the little deaf, dumb, and blind child I once was, mankind is growing out of the darkness of ignorance and hate into the light of a brighter day.
As an infant, Helen Keller was struck by a fever that left her deaf and blind. But with the guidance of her teacher Anne Sullivan, she learned to communicate through the eyes and ears of others. After graduating from Radcliffe College, Keller became a renowned author, activist and lecturer.
In memomy and honor of Gale Elida Bardwell (February 15, 1940 - June 8, 2009)

Baby Surprise Sweater

That little Baby Surpise Sweater is completed. It turned out smaller than I had hoped, but it gives me a reason to knit another in a larger size. The pattern is available from Schoolhouse Press.

Its dimensions on a size 6 circular needle are: body width at middle: 8.5 inches; length 11.5 inches.

An applied I cord was attached around the edges, a single crochet edging was used for the sleeves, and three purchased buttons in accompanying colors to the yarn (Tuscany Colorway, hand dyed 100% superwash Merino Wool, 330 yr/skein, approx. 4 oz) completed the project.

Thanks, Marie at KnittedGems, for your help in pattern interpretation, as well as from the Ravelry Forum group!

Indian Rope or Indian Hoya Plant

Last year, this post had a topic of the Indian Hoya Plant. Ten comments from readers over past months showed this was a fun plant to display on a blog posting.

Dave says this house plant can grow to 4-6 feet in height. However, this elderly plant has never grown over about 3 inches tall. Its weight does cause it to drape attractively.

This year, sure enough, it bloomed again! Now in its 26th or 27th year in my home, here is a picture of its tiny porcelain looking blooms:

It is still going strong, needs little care and thrives on neglect. It is outside on the patio this summer soaking up the filtered rays and enjoying the high desert air with its lack of humidity.

The free program called picnik helped make the border and text on the picture. It is a fun little gizmo to play with; picnik has my full endorsement!

Three Colors for the Baby Jacket

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket (here is the first link) is in progress.

This is the basic yarn used for the EZ SBJ; 100% superwash merino wool, in the Tuscany Colorway, a hand dyed fiber from ShopYarnLove.

The other two added yarns are DK weight wool in lavender (10% cashmere) and another skein in rose/purple from New Zealand that incorporates possum fur into its merino wool.

Colors did not show true in the picture below, but I wanted to play with picnik, a program that allows tweaking of photos, including borders, text, colors, etc. Here is the picnik picture:

This shows the lavender yarn just being incorporated into the sleeve area above the cuff. It is an innovative pattern, complete with instructions available on You Tube here:

The videos (there are six of them) surely help in figuring out this challenging pattern. Kudos to L2Belt on YouTube for this step by step assistance.

Anne Taintor: Thanks for the Picture

Today is a pretty full day of volunteering for me, so craft projects are on hold.

This picture from the 2009 Engagement Calendar (Anne Taintor) says it all:

But in another vein of awareness, here are some truisms:

How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment: we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make a contribution toward introducing justice straight away. Anne Frank

And

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die. Eleanor Roosevelt

And

Learn to lead in a nourishing manner.
Learn to lead without being possessive.
Learn to be helpful without taking the credit.
Learn to lead without coercion. Lao Tzu, philosopher

Scrabble

Hope you have a good Wednesday! I'll be playing Scrabble today at my kitchen table with fierce opponent, Allen, getting ready for the National Scrabble Tournament in August in Dayton, Ohio.
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