Knitting Conversation with Frida Kahlo



Frida Kahlo



(Nancy)

Graphic assistance and creativity by brother Chuck McCarroll.

The Sound of Onions Frying

I've become interested in sounds, thanks to Felix at her PhD blogsite.  She is studying sounds in Oxford, England.  She says, in part:

I am studying for my PhD at Oxford Brookes University. My PhD title is ‘The Domestic Soundscape and presenting everyday sounds to audiences,’ and my major interest is in our imaginative relationship with everyday sounds. I think of sound in a very material way, as a substance which is around us all the time, and a texture which can be played with, deliberately listened-to, framed, and celebrated.

I think the world would feel completely different without the constant wash of traffic, the chorus of birdsong, the snap of twigs when one walks in the woods, the happy pops that emanate from an open fire, the comforting drone of a boiler heating the house in Winter, the bubble of a stew when one is hungry, and the rasp of toast as it is being buttered. I love the busy murmur of the streets on a Saturday morning, the aggressive banging and hissing of a really good espresso machine in a coffee house, the pinging of pedestrian light-systems signalling that it is safe to cross a road, the strange noise my car makes when I drive over a cattle-grid, and the sizzle of pylons in a rainstorm.

Saturday nights are a favorite radio listening date night for my husband and me since we listen to Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion (PHC).  And this sound is one which makes me happy (click on arrow to listen):


Why does it make me smile?  Because the opening song for many productions of PHC contains the lyric "I smell the onions, I look around for you."  It is a familiar phrase, and I have been known to sing along with it as my husband often sautes some onions for a dinner sauce.

Go to the London Favorite Sounds website for more information about sounds.  (The project is also being carried out in Chicago, USA, Berlin, Germany and Bejing, China).

Dylan Thomas and a few Pictures from Laugharne, Wales

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) Poet
Hometown: Laugharne, Wales

Thirty-one Craftlit fans (thank you, Heather Ordover found here and here and here and here and thank you, Holiday Tour Guide Dianne Read-Jackson) saw Dylan Thomas' hometown, house, and boathouse in Laugharne, Wales.  His boathouse was where he wrote and spent the better part of his days.

A bit about Thomas:

Dylan Thomas, often described as a "classic Welsh writer", never actually learned the Welsh language himself. Though he achieved much notoriety during his short life, he received little financial gain. It was only after his death that his work truly began to be appreciated. There is no doubt, however, that he is one of the great English (language) poets of the twentieth century, arguably the greatest poet of our time. Dylan Thomas' incredible use of metaphor, meter, and a comic wit, allows his work to stand alone, balancing a reckless neo-Romantic sensuality against the more staid Puritanism of his time and culture. Thomas' lust for life and love of drink may well have contributed to his premature demise, yet his work remains, a testament to both his skill and mastery of The Word.

Are you familiar with this?  It is a quick reading by Dylan Thomas himself of one of his more notable works:


Dylan Thomas - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Uploaded by poetictouch. - Watch original web videos.

The stage play, Under Milkwood, was a mystery to me when I was first assigned it as a class project in a 20th century literature class.  So I bought the CD (an original New York recording from 1953 which Thomas narrates himself).  His voice is unique (yes, an understatement) and I get lost in his voice, but with a little concentration, it becomes more understandable with its mischievous use of language.



Peter Ffrench, tour guide extraordinaire, gives a blessing to Craftlit travelers at the end of our journey. Peter is a retired actor with a flair for the dramatic.  He was knowledgeable, friendly and a true extrovert who was thoroughly loved by all of us.

This 30 second mp3 file is definitely worth a listen, although it was recorded on a noisy tour bus.

Homemade Tomato Soup

For all these years, homemade tomato soup was not in my recipe file.  When you have good ol' Campbell's Tomato Soup in the can, why bother, right?  But friend Shirley convinced me that after I made tomato soup with garden vegetables, I'd be convinced it was worth the bother.

And Shirley supplied 6 orangish-yellowish heirloom tomatoes.

The how-to:

Peel 6 tomatoes by putting in boiling water for a minute. Retrieve, cool a bit and the skins fall off.

Saute 1/2 an onion in olive oil in one pan while the tomatoes are cooking on the stove top in another sauce pan.

Add 1 Tbsp sugar to the tomatoes

Make a quick roux by adding some flour into butter and stir along with some water until thick. You'll add this at the last to help the soup thicken.

Combine the onions to the tomatoes and then the roux and cook it all til thickened. Either dump into a blender or use an immersion blender to blend on top of the stove, leaving a few tomato chunks for texture.

Now add 1/8 tsp. baking soda, but don't ask me why.

Then add 1 can of evaporate milk to the soup and heat until it is hot, but DON'T BOIL the milk.  Salt and pepper and croutons on top!!

I'll make this again, especially if Shirley provides the tomatoes!

Watercolor on Heavy Canvas Paper

Several weights of watercolor paper are in my stash, ready to be used for painting with tubed watercolors.

This newly finished "PANSY in BLUES" was painted onto 170 lb. canvas paper.

A thorough explanation of why various weights of paper are used for watercolors can be found here.

If anyone with camera expertise can tell me how to get that flash blur off the glass reflection, please let me know.  I did take the flash off, but then the colors did not show through the glass.

Framed and matted, 9" x 12":

Remembering Rivka

Rivka, an amazing, generous, loving, faithful, Zionist (blogger friend) who went to Israel a while back, wrote a post Called "Choose Life" that can be found here.  She believed so much in fighting that dreaded disease of cancer that she made herself available to speak publicly about how to treat adversity while continuing to live the good life.  Rivka has several YouTube videos that can be viewed here and here and here and here.

In her words, on her blog, she says about herself:

Diagnosed with DCIS (stage ZERO breast cancer) at age 39 (June 2005). Three surgeries and 2 years later (July 2007)... I became a statistical anomaly: breast cancer mysteriously metastasized to my bones, liver and lungs. 2 years later (July 2009), we discovered metastases in my brain.

Diagnosis: Cancer is a "chronic illness." You can live with it.Translation: I hope to be on chemotherapy for a LONG time!

Sadly, Rivka's battle ended this weekend.  Her many friends sat Shiva for her and her funeral was Saturday night at 10 pm in Jerusalem at the Kehillat Yerushalayim Beit Hesped in Givat Shaul, Jerusalem, across from the Herzog Hospital (on Har Hamenuchot). Over 1000 people attended.  Loudspeakers allowed those outside the building to hear tributes to Rivka.

To learn more about Rivka and her strong faith, I would encourage you readers to go to her blog and read over her past few years of writing and encouragement.  Her blog can be accessed at http://www.coffeeandchemo.blogspot.com/ if you are not used to clicking on links.  Again, the web link is the same: CoffeeandChemo.

I did not know Rivka personally, but she had a very positive impact on my life.  Likewise, here is what Baila, another virtual blogger friend, said (go to Baila's blog here):

Some of my friends think this whole blogging relationship is just plain weird. They wonder why I talk to "strangers". They don't quite understand why I am so saddened by a death of someone who, in their mind, I barely knew. It's hard to explain to you non-bloggers. I don't quite understand it myself. But after blogging for some time, we find that the lines of our real and blogging lives somehow blur. RivkA wrote so honestly about her disease and her struggle that I feel like I did know her. I will miss her--I checked her blog daily, even before the last week. She posted almost everyday.

Baila said it well and I agree with her sentiments.

Rivka ended almost all of her postings this way:

Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism, RivkA

(June, 2009)

I believe this is what her friends say now and may I also say that her battle is over and Rivka, may you rest in peace.

Please daven (or send happy thoughts) for the memory of RivkA bat Yishaya.

Pumpkin Cake and Candy Corn Fingerless Mitts

Weezalana at Ravelry gives a free, quick pattern for fingerless mitts on this website. It was fun to put in a few cabled stitches, but the screaming colors in the yarn obfuscated don't let those cables shine through.                So why would you NOT wear fingerless mitts? (Don't answer that.)

Here is my pair:

Jelliebean sold me the blue Faced Leicester 4 ply sock yarn, individually hand painted by none other than Jelliebean herself.  We passed pounds under the table in Cardiff, Wales, at the Knit Up held at a pub this month for this and other yarn bounty. It was great fun and the beer and camaraderie made it even more festive!

Jelliebean Yarns and her dye partner can be found here on Etsy - All Things Handmade.  I previously purchased some yarn from her long before I met her in the flesh, so it was a treat to get to meet that talented young lady while traveling.

Now for more orange goodness, go to Cooks.com for a sweet pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.

Yes, it has lots of butter and cream cheese and sugar in the frosting.  That is why it is so delicious.  My bargain is that I won't eat any  too much leftover Halloween candy if I eat cake.  But, my, my, that pumpkin cake is good.  We'll see if we can keep it around a day or two.

Can you tell that Libby is not crazy about the doorbell ringing tonight for tricksters? She and Mercy get in such a frenzy over that noise.

Nephew Jackson McCarroll Williams Arrived!

Proud Grampa Mac put together this video.  God bless you all.

Susan Howatch and Knitting While Listening to her on Audio

Susan Howatch is another of my favorite authors.  Howatch was introduced to me (her writings, not her person) by my SIL Charlotte.  We both read one of her book set series several years ago.  That series is entitled "The Church of England", or the "Starbridge Series", and can be found here.  Howatch has many more books that I need to catch up on.

From that same site:

Susan Howatch was born in Surrey in 1940. After taking a degree in law she emigrated to America where she married, had a daughter and embarked on a career as a writer. She left in 1976 and lived in the Republic of Ireland for four years before returning to England. She lived in Salisbury - inspiration for the very successful Starbridge sequence and now lives in Leatherhead, Surrey.

Howatch's Facebook page has thousands of fans, and is fun to peruse occasionally to see how her thoughts are still effecting others.

All this to say that I just purchased a download of her book The Rich Are Different (recorded in 2009, written in 1977).  It is 28 hours long, so will be good company as I knit up The Sage Remedy Top from Ravelry in this Hyacinth Blue colorway from KnitPicks:

The hyacinth color has some red tints in the blue and is working up nicely. Wool of the Andes (a workhorse in the KnitPicks line) shows up the stitch definition.

This is designer Sarah Sheperd's version of the finished top:

I really like this pattern because it will hide my lymphedemic left arm and flat chest since it will be layered over a turtleneck, and has extra fullness to hide all kinds of body flaws.  You know what I'm talking about, girls.

Inspector Lynley Series of Books and TV Shows by E. George

Do you like mystery books?  If so, don't you love Elizabeth George?

You might like to go to George's website and peruse all the book titles she has written.

We have enjoyed  watching many of the Inspector Lynley shows on TV.  The Inspector (a titled British bloke) and his sidekick, Barbara Havers, do service to Ms. George's  main characters.

Fifty-one of George's stories and fan comments can be accessed at this site, so you, too, can be an active fan of Inspector Lynley and interact virtually with other fans.
BBC Mysteries has their own website where you can also delve into the characters of Lynley and Havers.

Over the past year, my husband and our two dogs and I have viewed these TV shows in the Elizabeth George Inspector Lynley series via Netflix:

• Guise of Death
• Know Thine Enemy
• Natural Causes
• Limbo
• Great Deliverance
• Word of God
• Deception on His Mind
• Blink of an Eye
• Suitable Vengeance
• One Guilty Deed
• Cry for Justice
• Traitor to Memory
• In Pursuit of a Proper Sinner
• Payment in Blood
• For the Sake of Elena

I just downloaded George's audio book Number 13 (With No One As Witness) on to my mp3 player, since it is not yet out on TV.  The reader has an authentic British accent and is an easy listen.

Most of my knitting is accomplished while Inspector Lynley and Barbara Havers are chasing murderers in the British countryside (while on the TV background).

Pennies Per Hour of Pleasure for Doctors Without Borders

OK, I was sucked in.  Again.  This time it was a knitting group from Ravelry that caught me:

p/hop (although it sounds like a rapper’s name) means pennies per hour of pleasure. It is a fundraiser for the international medical aid organisation Medecins Sans Fontieres (Doctors Without Borders). Lovely designers from all over the place have pledged to donate patterns to MSF, which you can download in return for a donation! Once you have your newly knitted/crocheted scarf/socks/sweater in hand, we ask you to donate an amount that corresponds to the amount of pleasure you got from making it… I think I’ve made this sound more complicated than it is! Hopefully you know what I mean…

p/hopping has grown from the original name and is what happens when someone offers and item and (hopefully) someone else decides they want it.  Visit www.p-hop.co.uk to see our patterns, catch up on news and share some virtual cake and a cup of tea.

Here is a picture of the pair of fingerless gloves I'm making, with my wages going to Doctors Without Borders in the US:

Designer Jane Lithgow says about the Cranford Mitts:

As the title suggests, the inspiration for this pattern came from the BBC adaptation of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Jane says, ‘This gentle drama, both humorous and touching took us into the lives of gentlewomen of certain age living in reduced circumstances. I noticed that many of their costumes included delicate mitts which they wore to ensure warm fingers in their draughty houses. I have adapted this idea to create some warm but delicately lacy mitts to take the edge off chilly spring mornings."

Further information about Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders:

MSF is an independent humanitariam medical aid organisation, committed to providing medical aid wherever it is needed, regardless of race, religion, politics or gender.  We currently work in over 60 countries helping victims of war, natural disasters, disease epidemics and those who simply have no access to even basic healthcare.  For more info, please visit http://www.msf.org.uk/