podcasts

Episode 4

September 6, 2013April 14, 2017 by Sara

This week’s episode features the following segments: Backstory, A Little Bit of Learning, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Gratitude Journal.

Since Episode 3, I have been working on intentional spinning. Here is half of my mixed BFL (bluefaced leicester) from Beesybee Fibers. Hopefully next week I can report on yardage. This fiber certainly has been a joy to spin. The colors are lovely earth tones. I’ve been spinning on the porch of Yin Hoo, watching the first orange leaves come floating down from the canopy. When I need a break from spinning, I look for the heron’s elegant form at the edge of the creek. We’ve seen as many as nine female Merganser swimming together and we have seen a few different bears walking along the path along the water’s edge.

Ever-Expanding Skill Set

As promised in Episode 1, I’ve recorded a segment with my steps for making kombucha. In June, I received a scoby from my friend Gwen, and have been practicing all summer. Finally, I have a refreshing, effervescent, not-too-sweet fermented tea. Instructions for kombucha begin at twelve and a half minutes into the podcast.

Begin by pouring off and straining kombucha. Always leave a small amount of tea in the fermentation container with the scoby (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). I’ve been fermenting mine for 10 to 14 days before preparing a new batch. I store the brew in swing top bottles in the fridge. Be sure to use food-grade glass for both fermentation and storage. Make a new batch of tea by boiling one gallon of filtered water.

Add about 3/4 cup of sugar and stir to dissolve. Remove the pan from heat and add 6-10 bags of black tea, or 6-10 tablespoons of loose black tea. Allow to steep for 5 minutes and then remove the tea bags or strain the tea. I put loose tea into a small cloth bag that acts as a tea bag. When tea has completely cooled, pour it into the container with the scoby. Sometimes this disturbs the scoby. I handle my scoby with clean hands. Keep the smooth, white surface of the scoby facing upwards. Cover the fermentation container with cheesecloth and store in a cool, dark place. Those who praise the benefits of kombucha usually mention its probiotic properties. I’d love to hear from you if you make kombucha at home or have a great recipe to try.

“What is a teacher?

I’ll tell you; it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give her best in order to discover what she already knows.” — Paulo Coelho

One thought on “Episode 4”

Lara Moody says:

September 6, 2013 at 2:01 pm

You do have a soothing voice, Sara! As a former teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed your learning/teaching episode, and you’re thoroughly inspired me to work my way up to a home brewed batch of hooch.

Arrows and Doorways

The design for this super-cozy cowl was inspired by textiles in a hotel lobby. Concentric geometric shapes kept playing in my mind until finally I was able to chart the pattern and get it onto my needles. The interplay of this chevron-like patterning has a mesmerizing effect–while you’re knitting and when you wear the finished accessory.

Knit up a cowl with yarn from your stash, adding some magical new mini-skeins from your advent calendar, or exchange leftover yarn with a friend. The design invites frequent color changes, and makes an ideal knit for the advent season. It could be just as striking knit with two high-contrast colors.

While most cowls of this type are seamed within a band of a single color, this pattern incorporates a technique called stranded donut grafting, an incredibly clever and completely seamless graft that allows you to maintain colorwork patterning so that your starting and ending rounds are undetectable. Really! With many possibilities for color play and a new technique to add to your skill set, this cowl pattern is really an opportunity for knitters to level-up!

NEW PATTERN DESIGN!

ONE DARK BLUE NIGHT

This hat is the third in a series of patterns inspired by teachings in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. This time, I drew inspiration from Estés’ retelling of a Japanese tale, Tsukina Waguma or “The Crescent Moon Bear,” in which a young woman travels to the cave of an incredibly intimidating and ferocious bear. She makes several journeys to the cave, leaving food and quickly retreating, until “one dark blue night,” she musters the courage to stand her ground and ask for what she seeks--one hair from a moon-shaped patch on the bear’s chest--which she is granted. The young woman returns, triumphant, to the old healer who has sent her on this quest. She believes this single hair is the magic ingredient in solving the problem that plagues her. She holds it forth, but the healer tosses the hair into the flames. The young woman is in despair until she realizes the true lesson of her quest: that using her determination, courage, and patience, as she did with the crescent moon bear, will help her to confront the challenge at hand.

The moon phase motif of this colorwork hat is meant to capture the magic of a dark blue night--when the moon shines brightly overhead, the frosty air sparkles with possibility, and we succeed in summoning accumulated wisdom from deep within ourselves so that we can apply it to our own healing. Choose colors to conjure a wintery night sky, or select a palette of your signature colors.

Available on Ravelry December 20th.

Yarns at Yin Hoo

Episode 4

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