Secret Pal Package

I received a package from my secret pal yesterday. It is wonderful and it lifted my spirits. Pictures and descriptions will be posted tomorrow. Thank you so much, secret pal. This post is just to let you know that I really loved the package.

I haven't been feeling well the last few days - nothing serious - "just" a sinus infuction. It has sapped my stamina and muddied my thinking. I haven't been on the computer much lately. I have stuff that I want to post about and plan on posting later this weekend, including the beer labels I put together for the brown ale and wee heavy.

Irish 2000

This last weekend was very busy for us. On Friday night, we bottled the brown ale. I'm working on the label and will post it when it's finished.

On Saturday, we went to Irish 2000. The music was great! We saw my two favorite bands: Gaelic Storm and Hair of the Dog. Both bands had new cds so, of course, I purchased them. Hair of the Dog's is called Donegal and I think it is the best they've done so far. They said it was two years in the making and it is very apparant when you listen to the cd. The harmonies and sound are spot on.

We also heard Kevin McKrell's new band: Hard Road Céilidh Band. They were excellent! All of the members are from other bands and they are all very good musicians. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Another band we really enjoyed was Teada (pronounced Tayda), a traditional group from Ireland. They were all very good but we were especially impressed by the bodhran player. He got more sounds out of that drum than I've ever heard before.

We were at the festival for about 12 hours. We don't normally stay so long at these things. I have an onion allergy so we usually have to leave early because I'm not feeling well. This time I brought my own food and it made all the difference in the world! I was still dancing at the last song!

I have more to stuff to blog about but will do another post in the next day or so.

Wool Wanderings Update and more

I updated Wool Wanderings today. I removed some broken links and updated others that had moved to a different site.

I'm on row 88 of the Rose Trellis shawl. The picture shows a closeup of one of the diamonds.

A few weeks ago, I was poking around the net, looking for knitting sites, as I often do, when I came across a page that mentioned Sacred Harp and shape notes singing. I became intrigued and did a little research. I found a local group that meets regularly. I went last night and had a great time. They are a very welcoming group. I'm not very good at it yet but I think it will get easier as the tunes become more familar. The next meeting is the first Saturday in October.

We went to Bennington, VT tonight for supper at the Madison Brewing Company. They've got great food and the beer is very good. It's only about 30 miles away from here but far enough away that we don't get there very often. It's fun to do something a little different now and then.

More Brewing

Yesterday we brewed a clone of Newcastle Brown Ale. It should be ready to bottle in two weeks. We used some of the yeast from the wee heavy we brewed last week. I've started working on label ideas and planning for next month's brewing. We tend to brew more this time of year in preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It's Labor Day here in the US so I have today off. We're planning on having a picnic later in a local park. The weather is perfect - sunny and not too hot.

I'm on row 78 of the Rose Trellis Shawl. I'll post a close up view in a day or two.

Secret Pal Package

I received a package from my Secret Pal today and it is wonderful. It included: a skein of plum JaggerSpun Zephyr, a pattern called Spring Things Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence, some Page Markers sticky notes (very cute), and some Mexican Spiced Cocoa (yumm!). I love it all - it's as if my Secret Pal already knows me. I've wanted to try JaggerSpun Zephyr and I didn't have the pattern.
Thank you so much, Secret Pal!

Update to Wool Wanderings

I updated Wool Wanderings today. There are over 500 new links, mostly in the category of Knitters' Home Pages/Blogs.

Brewing

In response to a comment (Hi, Secret Pal!), brewing is not difficult. If you can make soup, you can brew. Our best resource was our excellent homebrew store, Hennessey Homebrew Emporium. They were someone we could talk to if we had a question. The book we learned from is How to Brew. The first edition is online. We read the first chapter and then brewed. There are a few rules to follow. The most important thing is sanitation - everything must be clean. The start up cost for equipment is around $50.00. It costs about $30-$40 for a batch of beer - about 48 bottles. We get our bottles from the local beverage store - they sell us bottles for .05 cents each (the cost of the deposit).

I think homebrewing is a great hobby for a couple. We plan what we are going to brew and go buy the ingredients together. We visit breweries when we travel (as well as yarn stores, of course). We enjoy making the labels. We also make wine from kits.

This is a subject I am passionate about - I could go on further but don't want to overwhelm you. If you have more questions, let me know.

Scotch Ale

Today we brewed Scotch Ale. The gravity reading was 1.068. I'm working on writing up the recipe and will publish it soon.

I lost my notes for the hefeweizen we brewed a few weeks ago. I'll add those when I find them. I'm still working on organizing our brewing notes. It would be nice to see the notes from all the times we brewed a particular style. This will take some time.

Tatting

Yesterday I spent my lunch hour teaching someone to tat. What I learned: tatting is a lot harder to teach than knitting. At the end of the hour, she had one stitch formed. She's going to practice and then we're going to get together again. I think she had the hang of tatting but needs to teach her hands what to do. Beginning knitters also have to do this.

I learned to tat from a book when I was 19. It took me several weeks to figure out that the stitches form on the shuttle thread. If you can't slide them along the thread, you've got knots, instead of tatting stitches.

There are several free tatting sites on the net. I've got several tatting sites here, bottom of the page. I want to try this one. I think it will be pretty in a varigated thread.

Life Number

My life path number is 11 (see below). What am I supposed to do with that? lol Anyway, I've always wanted to be an artist. I work as a computer programmer for the state. I really love programming and have wanted to be one since I first met a computer (I was in seventh grade). My other passion is knitting so I thought at one time that I would like to own a yarn store. I could probably open one with just the yarn I own but it would have to cater to a specific crowd since I own mostly pink and purple yarn. But the actual running of a store doesn't appeal to me. My current idea of "what do I want to be when I grow up" is that after I retire (in about 12 years) I would make and sell jewelry and stained glass. With the remnants of stained glass from projects, I could make beads. See how it ties in? Of course, through out all of this, I would be knitting. My whole life, professional and leisure, will be crafting. Doesn't that sound loverly?

Your Life Path Number is 11

Your purpose in life is to inspire others Your amazing energy draws people to you, and you give them great insight in return.You hold a great amount of power over others, without even trying.You have the makings of an inventor, artist, religious leader, or prophet. In love, you are sensitive and passionate. You connect with your partner on a very deep level. You have great abilities, but you are often way too critical of yourself.You don't fit in - and instead of celebrating your differences, you dwell on them.You have high expectations of yourself. But sometimes you set them too high and don't achieve anything.

What Is Your Life Path Number?