I have knit 2.5 wool soakers for Miss Rosalie over the weekend. Of course, they are in Northshield/Von Kulmbach colors.


The first set is a pair from the "Frantic Mama Soaker" pattern. (The pair NOT worn by the bear...)


The second is the well known "CurlyPurly Soaker" pattern. Both patterns were acquired on Ravelry.com (Again, the pair not worn by the lovely "model."


And yes... Those are socks knit by Mistress Giovanna that the bear is wearing in both pictures.

I'll post a picture of the black wool diaper wrap when it's done.

see more dog and puppy pictures

Dear Santa,

If you were wondering what I'd like this year... wonder no more...

Size XL or XXL would be lovely. KTHXBAI

Yesterday's bus-ride home involved my sister txting me with a migraine and a tension headache of my own. I tried to cheer her up with a little filk, but she couldn't read the screen on her phone for more than a few minutes, and I couldn't get anything relevant to a migraine to rhyme with "spew." Plus, I don't remember that much more of the tune. But there you go.

To the tune "It's Amore:"

When the pain in you head,
Makes you wish you were dead -
That's a migraine!
When the sun in the sky's
Like a nail in your eye -
That's a migraine!
When you want to cry,
When you're turning green,
If Self-Trepanation
Has become your dream -
That's a migraine!

And also, I ordered this for myself in an attempt to cheer up and do anything other than sit on the couch and feel miserable.

You know you've let the laundry get out of hand when you are no longer measuring it in two dimentions and have to resort to using THREE.

In other words, NORMALLY, the laundry is considered "out of control," if it has overflowed the basket and is now covering the bedroom floor... Since my body has been taken over by life forms that care not for my opinions on food OR appropriate times to sleep, the disgraceful state of the bedroom has gone beyond two dimensional sloppiness. I did laundry ALL DAY yesterday, and instead of measuring progress by how much of the floor I could see, I had to go by HOW DEEP the layer of dirty clothes on the floor was.

Disheartening, let me tell you. But I'll be damned if I'm going to resort to buying new clothes because all the other ones are dirty... Nevermind the fact that none of them fit me. I will have clean clothes as soon as I get my body back. In the mean time, most of the mess has been washed and put away. I think there are probably about 3 more loads in process, but that should be something I can complete tonight while Zig is watching the Packer's game with his Mommy.

Sadly, just the "non-activity" of doing laundry (SRSLY... It's not like I actually have to SCRUB the clothes. I just carried them down the stairs and put them into the machine...) wore me out and I was OUT COLD on the couch by 8:00 pm, only to be AWAKENED by a headache at midnight. The Tylenol with codeine helped me get back to sleep, but the headache is back again this morning. How much of that stuff can I take without becoming a junky? Will being a junky be better or worse than being driven INSANE by the constant pain of a 3 month long headache?

"Amputation is the only way," is supposed to be a joke, but lately I've been giving it serious consideration. OW.

I shall refrain from speculating as to whether or not that mole on your face is, in fact, a malignant tumor; if you, in exchange, will refrain from speculating about the status and disposition of my body parts.

I need to have a t-shirt made up. For serious.

Well. ( Health overshare. )

OK... So Spermyse is a period cheese, the modern equivalent of which is an herbed cream cheese. I like working on period cheeses and all, but when asked what I am offering, I keep telling people "herbed cream cheese" because... Well... "Spermyse" just isn't an appetizing word to me.

This aside, my herbed cream cheese went over quite well at WW for 3:00 AM drunken larder raids, so this morning, I threw a batch together to "percolate" while I'm at the office. Around 8:00 tonight, I should be able to start draining off the whey while I frantically pack for Pennsic.

Which is the point at which I ask you, dear friends... What kinds of herbs do you want in your cream cheese? This question is of particular importance if you're on your way to Pennsic and think you may end up getting some of this cheese...

Dill?
Chive?
Cracked black pepper?
Rosemary and garlic?

Something I haven't thought of? If red pepper was period, I'd be all over it... I might even make a secret so-wrong-for-period-but-so-right-for-my-tummy stash...

Stole this from fieryredhead, HRM Ansteorra.

Where are you camping, and where else will you be findable?
As per my usual, I'll be down at Vlad's Pleasure Pavilions in E19. Stop by the Coffee Shoppe, Group Therapie & Assassin's Guilde for an Irish Coffee some evening!

When are you arriving?
We will be arriving on Friday, 24 August to help the Land Grab staff. We will likely be leaving on Saturday, 8 August.

What fun things are you planning to do?
Opening and Closing ceremonies, waterbearing for all the Armored and Rapier War Points, first week parties at Vlad's (I'll be hiding in the Coffee Shoppe.), classes pertaining to string/weaving/spinning, and a variety of lovely parties and teas thrown by my old Aethelmearc posse (a.k.a. our Hosts!) in BMDL, and the 20th anniversary celebration of my beloved Clan, Kindred of the Wolf.

And, if there's any chance I haven't connected LJ names and SCA names, what's your SCA name?
Previously, I was Elizabeth of Bright Sands. Since the wedding, I've put in for the name Elisabeth von Kulmbach. Currently, I'm also HRH Northshield. (Though I doubt there's anyone on my flist that DIDN'T know that...)

I think this is the first time in 10 years that I don't feel ready for Pennsic. I don't have enough garb, and all of the stuff that I cleaned and re-packed last year needs to be re-sorted and re-packed this year, to minimize redundancies between my own kit and the regalia that we now must bring. In thinking it through, I think that the only regalia we really need is the crowns and the thrones... But they take up plenty enough room, where we didn't have enough space as it was.

Last week, I made a new black tunic for sirzig and hopefully in the remaining portion of this week, I can make myself one to match. ( Blah, blah, blah, CHEESE! )

Tonight I need to make more cheese and yogurt for WW's Baronial Showcase. Last night I made yoghurt (strained greek style), cream cheese (it's draining out... if it's made of fail, it won't be shown...), and mozzarella (after 3 failed batches, I finally succeeded. Note to self: Morning Glory brand milk does NOT make cheese. It makes a mess. It's apparently pasteurized at too high a temp to be cheese-worthy.) I also cracked open my cheddar from April and have found it to be display-worthy, so there will be a very small quantity of that available as well.

Tonight, I need to stop at the store and get crackers upon which people may place my cheeses/spreads, more milk, and some contributions for a colleague's birthday celebration. I also need to clean and pack all my garb, and decide what all needs to be taken out of the "camping stash" for WW. (French press!!! COOOOOFFFEEEEEE!!!!)

Tomorrow night, I'll have the husband (I know, I know... I didn't write about the wedding... There was just too much of it...) help me load all the pavilion parts into my wee car, and I'll pack whatever I can in around the edges.

Thursday, it'll be a full day at the office, and then off to WW! Wheeee!

I has new phone. I hope the reception and coverage area prove to be acceptable, 'cause I'm already in love with this phone!

Over the weekend I put together two cheeses. One was a portered cheddar. Before pressing the cheese, I soaked the curds in a porter that I boiled until it was "double strength." The goal was more a flavored cheese than an alcoholic one, so I figured it wouldn't much matter if I evaporated all the alcohol from the beer.

I'm moderately pleased with the outcome, now that the cheese is out of the press:



The marbling is light, but you can still see it, and the smell is very much "portery." I want to eat some nownownow, but it won't be done aging for "3-24 months." ... If I can just make it until Christmas, I figure that should be about right.

I also made a lingonberry cheddar which is in the press at this moment. There will be pictures as soon as it's out this evening.

Sile and Jock helped me crack open the dilly jack cheese I made last month to make sure it wasn't poison.

It's actually quite tasty! Sadly, though it passed the taste-test, my cheese didn't hit the right acidity and didn't melt in the microwave-trial... Actually... it kinda poofed and turned into an odd sort of styrofoam peanut, and then tried to set the nuker on fire.

I also began an experiment in porter cheddars, and my beery-curds are currently in the cheesy-press being squished under 50 lbs of iron. I need to buy a notebook for recording my cheesy processes so that in the event I have a success that I care to repeat, I CAN... There's no way I'll remember what I did to a cheese, 6 months later, when I find out whether or not the cheese is yummy... Heck... I wasn't really paying attention to what I did last night and couldn't tell you how long I left the curds "curing" while I futzed around with the porter...

Saturday, I want to scrub the carpets and make another cheese. I need a nice "short aged" cheese so I'll have something to crack open at WW. Anyone want to come help?