6/17/2022 Gotcha, covered.
Yesterday, I was waiting at a bus stop when, with about 15 minutes until the arrival of the bus, a man approaches the stop and joins me on the bench. Almost immediately, he opens his wallet and hands me a day pass for the bus in the form of a plastic card about the size and shape of a credit card or hotel room key. I told him that I already had a day pass and thanked him all the same when he suggested that I keep it to use the next day. So I thanked him again and told him that I really appreciated it, and he started explaining how and where he got it. There is an organization here in town that, first and foremost, connects people with holistic health care services, respecting Indigenous values, but they also offer a number of social and economic services like after school programs, diabetes awareness, advocating for Natives and fighting Native stereotypes, alcoholism counseling, help with rent and utilities, and...providing bus passes. Established in 1971 or so, they mainly serve Native Americans but have recently begun serving non-Native Americans as well. So the man explains, "I'm Native, so they give us bus passes." And I told him that I had seen the office when I was out, but I didn't know that they handed out bus passes. He repeated that "we're Native, so they give us the bus passes because," and as he struggles to complete the thought, I offer, "Sort of like a 'Sorry we killed your ancestors' thing?" I can tell by the immediate nod of agreement and "Yeah." That that's what he was having a hard time saying. Reparations. "Yeah, a coupla bus passes should cover it," I add sarcastically.
The organization is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so I assume some of their funding comes from government grants of money, so indirectly perhaps a form of reparations, but the fact that this type of organization is necessary in the first place says it all. 6/5/2022 Save Your Water, Eat Your Eggs!
I've discovered that I can still get terrific hard-boiled eggs with much less water than submerging the entire egg! I thought I would share photographic proof. I first discovered this when I decided to save time and water by plopping a few eggs in with the pasta I was making. Sure enough...the eggs do not need to be submerged, they just need to be exposed to heat while contained in their shells. Later, I thought I would try a batch of hard-boiled eggs by just filling the pot with water to only halfway up the eggs instead of letting the eggs swim in deep water. It worked, so several months later, I did it again but took pictures!
The procedure is the same as usual: boil water, reduce to simmer for 10 minutes, remove eggs and crack them open. I did discover that I needed a few extra minutes of cooking time, especially when I crowded the pot with so many eggs that a couple of them weren't even in the water. In this case, I simply rotated the eggs so that each one got some time in the water and added 5 minutes to the total cook-time.
On the occasion that I took photos, I was still learning the ropes of our new wood-burning stove, so I think I had the heat a little too high, and a couple of the eggs cracked which leaked some of the whites. I just went with it, and the whites cooked like normal with no problems. We just ate these eggs first.
So to save water, not only can you just use less of it when boiling eggs alone, but also, you can throw a few eggs in with rice or pasta or anything else you'll be simmering for at least 10 minutes. Hooray! 6/4/2022 Pattern: Chunky No Clunky
Click here to download the .pdf directly. Pattern is also available on Ravelry.
Chunky No Clunky was one of the first patterns I designed. It was born from a desire to make something from rag yarn that wasn't a rag rug. I like rag rugs, they're quite comfy and can be durable, and I've made one, and it was fun and very pretty, but I longed to go beyond the confines of the rag rug. As it turned out, the design was fairly popular among friends and strangers whenever I wore it. In fact, in the 12 years since I designed it, I've never worn one more than once because each time, someone commented on how they liked it, and they seemed so intrigued that I felt compelled to take it off my neck and give it to them. The way I'm saying this makes it sound like I've done this a lot of times, but in reality, it's only happened twice, but those two were the only two I had ever made until recently. The first was a friend who had come over to hang out and the second was a girl about my age (at the time) who was sitting next to me on the bus I was riding from Ohio to Indiana. I'm still kinda bummed about having given that one away as it used some fabrics that had high sentimental value to me, but in the end, it's a good exercise in non-attachment. When I designed and made the original, I had a certain cousin in mind as a recipient because she has always been a funky-chic type of person (at least by my judgement), and I always wanted to make one for her. Fast forward to last summer, and I finally got around to making more spun rag-yarn again so I was able to carry out my decade-long intention of making and sending one to her. She never acknowledged that she received the package, so either she thinks it's fugly or she is just busy and forgot...or the package was stolen from her porch! At any rate, it sure feels good to check that one off the list! Over the winter, I was able to make a few samples and make a start on what will hopefully be a version for myself which I will be KEEPING, no matter who makes what comment on it. The one I intend to keep has rag yarn spun from one of my favorite t-shirts and one of Adam's old shirts (pictured above-right), so that has particularly high value for me. I am still waiting for my purple shirt to wear out enough for me to justify cutting it into rag yarn so that I can finish spinning the purple yarn that I want. So far, I've got three rows made which is what inspired the 3-row version pictured in the pattern's gallery. Quick Facts: -96 yards/91.5 meters total super bulky yarn or rag yarns (amount of each of the 4 colors used ranges from 18-31 yards/17.25-29.5 meters -10 mm hook or size to obtain a fabric that pleases you -finished wingspan and depth: 39"/97.5 cm x 16"/40 cm -starting chain in multiples of 4 makes it relatively easy to customize the wingspan and depth |
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