Pickles, Curtains and a Warping Board

Yesterday seemed like a very winter doldrum-ish sort of day. It started out cold and dreary and I was not in the right mental place to get anything done. I was curled up on the chair beside the fire and had no intention of moving for the duration of the entire day. Jeremy found me that way and tried to suggest a few activities to get me going, but I was grouchy and in a funk and decidedly against all productivity.

Then the sun poked her head out and everything changed. In a whirlwind of madness I grabbed the sewing machine and quickly threw together some curtains for the living room window, something I'd been meaning to do for days. They're simple white flannel- something to let the light in but to keep what remains of the draft out (after an inside and outside layer of plastic haphazardly taped up).

Of course, making curtains wasn't enough. I tromped into the kitchen to find something to do and spotted a small bag of brussel sprouts calling out to me.

I've never pickled anything before, but last week I had pickled brussel sprouts at a local restaurant and it was a life changing experience. After googling a few recipes, I decided to try a sweet recipe of my own.


I didn't have a lot of the spices needed, but I knew I wanted a sweet pickle so I used the recipe's ratio of sugar/cider vinegar/water/salt and added my own spices: something akin to curry!

When I finished with those, I quickly scanned the kitchen for anything else to pickle and my eyes fell on a lonely head of romanesco that had been given to us by a lovely gentleman over at the Tantre Farms booth at the farmers' market. I had no real use for it, but it was a nice gesture. Why not see what it's like pickled?

The whole experience was a great one. The curry spices add a great, warm flavor to the cider vinegar. These pickles were perfect right out of the pot. I can't wait to taste them after they've been in the fridge for a week!

They're really quite beautiful, as well!

My final project for the day came to me just as the sun was going down. For days now I've been putting off warping my loom because, due to my lack of a warping board, it usually entails stringing up warp all over the house to get it measured out and prepped for sleying. In an random "I can do that!" moment I dashed into town for some dowel rod (stopping for groceries as well) and came home to make myself a not-so-scientific warping board. It's for my own use so it doesn't have to be all that accurate in measuring warp length as long as I know the measurements to some degree. I used 5/8ths dowel and drilled holes in a frame of four pieces of furring strips (3'x4')... When I finished, I wound my warp in less than 10 minutes and by standing in the same place! Winding on a warping board is a wonderful and meditative experience.


I almost wish I had more to wind, just to continue in the gentle swaying and humming to myself while standing next to the wood fire...