The Good, the bad, the ugly and the dribble...

Forgive me while I climb up on my soap box.

Oklahoma is trying to get rid of it's A.P. History program and it isn't the only state. One of the reasons stated is "it omits American Exceptionalism" and "focus on the negative". If that is truly the reason either they didn't listen in their history classes or they should get rid of history in school altogether.  If it is the former I pity their teachers and our forefathers.  If it is the later, I weep for the future.

Now history can teach us, it can entertain us and it can destroy us. By studying history Secretary of State William Seward saw that the U.S needed to attain the Hawaiian Islands,  Midway Island, Guam, as much of the Philippines as possible and Alaska. He was laughed at. In fact Alaska, his big purchase from Russia, was called Seward's Folly. His reason for why He U.S. should acquire all these places was to protect the States from Russia,  Japan and China in the event of a war. Alaska, with the discovery of Gold paid for itself before it was even officially purchased.  That was in the 1860s.

It can entertain us by just reading it. It may not seem it but stories like the Odyssey by Homer, fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or Hans Christen Anderson, or The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer tell us about the culture and the fears and hopes of the people.  The Odyssey tells us about the Greek social system and what was expected of families at the time. The fairy tales tell us of a changing social world. Where scullery maids could become princesses and a dark world was expected for all who didn't listen to their parents. Chaucer gives as one of the rarest looks into social classes in Medieval England. In fact not much is known about 130Os beyond the Kings and Lords of England without his glimpse into a very dirty minded lower class view of the world.

the Subjects of the Canterbury Tales

Yet in the right/wrong hands history can and has been used to support ill gains. Hitler, Lenin, Hussein, Napoleon, and Cesar all studied their predecessors to learn how to best bend and keep the people in their power. Some were better than others. Slave holders throughout time used it to justify the act. Men have used it to suppress women and women to control men. It has been used to justify war, to support violence, and too put one human over another.

John Brown and the War against Slavery. the original is in the Kansas State House but a copy resides were John Brown made his finial stand, Harpers Ferry, WV.

When we teach it we should not omit it, not one part, because when we do we succumb to the dark ages once more. History will never be simple, never be easy, and that is because humans aren't. We have killed and suppressed each other, we have led with heavy hearts and yet we are still here. We are still learning and still growing and without telling the good, the bad, the ugly, and the useless dribble that can't continue. So yes America is amazing but we aren't perfect, and we still have aways to go and so does the rest of the world.

Purple Thang

At a sewing show I came across a magical tool for $5. I had seen it in quilt stores once or twice before and thought... "what a waste of money". I was wrong, so, so wrong. Here is the thing when it comes to life we are always looking for ways to make our lives easier. It is why we have everything in our lives. Now this tool I have used to fold seams, iron seams,  push difficult cloth through my machines foot and feed dogs, pull elastic through the band and a few other tasks. A simple tool but it works and I don't have to worry that I might accidentally melt it with the iron.

Baker gonna bake

So last summer I learned how to bake bread. I even got an assistant baker job at my day job. This resulted with me spending the next two months practicing in my tiny oven in my apartment on my one good  counter space. I used one recipe just to practice the main kneading method we would be using in the bakery called folding. it called for a dutch oven to bake it in. I called my mom and she had a dark glass one I could use.

Unfortunately it broke a few weeks ago. I did briefly think about buying a new one but while home for Christmas I used my moms baking stone. This helped me decided I would rather have a baking stone. After I did some research I bought a 15" pizza stone from Hartstone. Not only was it made in the USA but also under $30 so my wallet also did a happy dance.

No knead bread just coming out of the oven.

Now I have used it a couple of times and I am in love. Now all bread used to be made in brick/stone ovens, sometimes called beehive ovens. They would typically be in a dome shape with b a small opening in the front. A fire would be set inside for an hour or more heating the oven. Once the ashes are cleaned out the operator (baker, baker's assistant,  housewife) would stick their hand in. For me 5 to 8 seconds is about 450° to 500° Fahrenheit which is what most bread recipes call for. If I can hold my hand in that long it is good to go. Now this method goes back as far as risen loaves.

Bread going into a stone oven. The woman is using a peal to insert the bread. 14th century

The idea of a baking stone, which a lot of people use for pizza, goes back to that idea. The dutch oven is supposed to give it the seal an original stone oven would but the stone helps with even out the heat. It also has shortened my cooking time down from 30 to 40 minutes to 15 to 20.

3 century B.C. Roman mosaic Note the pipe in the back, most likely the baker keeps a small fire going in the back or on the side while he is baking.

So here's to the old ways and fresh bread.



Recipe used: No Knead bread from motherearthnews.com

Making mistakes. ..

I'll let you in on a secret, we all make mistakes.  Alright it isn't that big of a secret but it is a true one. Yet we as a society demand and expect perfection.  There is something that I was told though when it comes to making anything. It is never a mistake but rather a personalization.

This skirt was supposed to be white linen until I put it on and found it see-threw. So I fond this mesh fabric and put it on top. Not what I had planed but it worked our better.

You may think I am pulling your leg but I am not. Here's the thing I have cabled front when it should have been to the back. I have sewn sleeves on backwards, put buttons in the wrong spot and purled when I should have knit. I have even run out of fabric and yarn. Now sometimes I will go back and correct them, sometimes I am lazy and don't, sometimes I repeat the mistake creating it's own design and sometimes I just make it work. Sometimes I don't realize what I did until I am wearing the garment. This is usually when I realize I swapped the sleeves, made the collar too big,  or I forgot that the yarn I used stretched worse than a Stretch Armstrong with no chance of it returning to normal.

The sweater that stretched like stretch arm strong. I have to modify it once a year as it out grows me.

It is these garments however that I get the best complements for. I have a skirt that has a pieced together waist band because I ran out of cloth. I have one sweater that is a tad too tight on my upper arms yet I always get asked where I got it. Another one is way too big, I have been asked by several different people if I can make them one like it. (The answer is no,  I knit about 1 sweater a year, each taking me about 2 to 4 months.)

So this was a Christmas gift for my aunt. I finished the Celtic knot only to run out of yarn.  So using some left over black yarn from my brother's hat I made the top intermingling what little of the original yarn I had left.

The thing is other people don't notice that you made a mistake. They think it is done on purpose if they even notice something off. I have sold and know people who have sold items with these personal touches. So the next time you mistakenly run out of cloth or yarn don't go straight to the store and but more. Start by saving your scraps and then using them when you find yourself in these sort of situations. In the bigger picture you've made it yours and no one will know the difference in the end or you won't even notice where it happened.  Not all mistakes need fixing.

So this is a wedding veil I have been working on.  One of the loops has five picots instead of four. In the end no one will notice which one.