Yarn Goodies!

New goodies for the shop are finally here:

Beautiful silver grey Romney blended with silk.  Slightly textured handspun lace yarn, has a smooth, sensual texture.

Sock weight, superwash marino.  Fibre was originally dyed by Knitted to a T (who's blog address I've lost somewhere along the way)

And this stunning, hand spun silk thread.

Haven't been able to do much online lately.  But at least I'm starting to turn the corner with this latest setback.  Might take a break from posting new items on my shop and do some sewing just for me.

On an entirely unrelated topic: anyone know the ratio of fresh stinging nettles to wool and if it needs a mordant for the colour to take?

Tea is good

Spent most of the last three days in bed (don't ask) with a good book and lots of tea.

Although it's nice to get a bit of rest, it's also right at the busy time on the farm. The weeds are growing like stink, and I have no end of seeds wanting to go in the ground, and the poor old chickens need mucking out. Have a little bit more of the garden left to dig, and here I am frustrated that my body won't respond to the pain pills.

I figure I will probably feel just as bad doing nothing in bed as pottering around, so I've been preparing some more yarn for the shop. Here's a teaser:

Did you read the label that talked about handpun thread? I spun that up about two years ago for embroidery. Only I didn't realize how small amount you need to decorate a hot water bottle cosy. It's gorgeous, but I don't see myself using it any time soon. I can always make more if I really want some, so I'll stick it in the shop just as soon as I get some proper photos.

Next job is to start writing the text for May's Crowing Hen Guide to Household Management. Thinking of writing an opinionated survey on different methods of small scale composting, how do to them, what kind of lifestyle each one is suited for, pros/cons of each method. Either that or a booklet on how to clean floors properly without chemicals. Any requests?

Spinning in the yurt: green fibre make happy sock yarn

Finally, a post with photos. What's the point of having a camera if I don't take any photos for you all?

Whether I'm travelling, waiting for an appointment, or moving into a yurt, one of the most important things is that I avoid getting bored. Boredom leads to thinking which is only sometimes a good thing.

So to keep me comfortable in the yurt I have my alarm clock, mp3 player, Kindle, light and well...self defence system

Actually I do know how to use a sword. There was a lot of self defence classes when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. I like this one because it has a nice curve to it, is double edged, sharp enough to cut through rope in case of emergency, and the scabbard just the right weight and can do almost as much damage to an attacker as the blade if you know what you're doing.

Surely all that is not enough to keep me entertained. Need a spinning wheel.

Have a closer look at this beautiful fibre.

One of the braids is soft Marino, the other blended with silk. These are hand dyed by Ryan of Knotty by Nature. I figured I needed an extra special treat so I dug into my special occasion fibre stash.

I'm starting with the Marino and spinning my standard sock yarn - comfort yarn - as who doesn't like Marino sock yarn? Problem is, I have the hardest time talking myself into selling sock yarn in my shop. I tend to hoard it in hopes of someday learning how to use my knitting machine to make socks.

Second night in a yurt

Second night in the yurt went better. I think I might be able to get use to this.

Now thinking about getting a yurt of my own. I'm very fond of the Mongolian Yurts as they have many layers of cloth and wooden doors. I imagine it would feel very cosy and secure in there. They also look fantastic.

I could have my own yurt, it would be like having my own sanctuary. I could be like a snail, with my own portable home if I ever needed it.

This would be the yurt for me. It's a 3-walled (12' across) yurt, which is the same size as the one I'm borrowing from OB1. It's big enough to live in but not so big it would be a bother to heat. I like how many layers of cloth it has around the frame. I think I would invest in the 4th rain proof layer given the tenancy towards rain in these parts.

Looking at the price, however, makes me realize how much more yarn I'm going to need to sell. Wow. And these are the affordable yurts. Still, it's a good goal. It would make things much easier in my life. Wonder if I can save up enough by next summer?

Yurt is cool, however...

...I'm not convinced it would be so much worse in the house with the fumes than staying up all night in the yurt playing 'guess that noise'.

The frogs I like, there are so many of them croaking away that it sounds like one beautiful background music - albeit a very loud one.

The owls are okay, whot, whoooot, whoot. I don't mind them.

The dogs are far away.

That high squeaky noise, like a rusty swing, well, that's bats. They are good except for the rabies.

Neigh, that's the neighbour's horses.

There are sheep somewhere near by, and possibly a cow.

But worst of all are when the deafening chorus of frogs suddenly stop and the world goes deathly silent. A slight wind creaks against the yurt, and not so far away an animals ye-owe-els. There aren't any good options. It is too big for a cat. Too feline for a dog. Could it be a raccoon in heat? I think they usually hiss, and besides, the sound has too much depth to it for such a small critter.

The only real possibility is a cougar, not very far away, muttering to itself.

It might just be the tiredness speaking, but outside alone in the yurt, all by myself with nothing but a flashlight and a sword for company: first night is a dismal failure.

It may be comfortable and very, very cool; but I'm not happy about being out in the cold when my bedroom is within sight. Feeling very woe-is-me right now and a little bit bitter towards the lack of sympathy I've had from a certain family member (who does not read this blog so I'm just venting right now) who seems to think I'm acting like some little kid that wants to camp out in the back yard.

Sorry about that. I'm sure the yurt experience will improve as I get use to it. It's 3am and I just needed to come in the house for a few moments and warm up. Back to 'happy' self when sleep happens.

Moving into the Yurt later this week

The yurt looks so cosy from the outside. You just wait 'till I fill it with rugs and bedding and yarn and stuff. I think it's going to be quite comfortable. It certainly is roomier than I expected.

It's 12' across with the wall about 5' high and the centre 8'. Plenty of room for a bed, some furniture, maybe a little table.

The question was Why am I moving into a yurt in the first place?

It's a good question, and to be completely frank, on I've been avoiding talking about. It's not because I don't want you to know. I avoid it because it reminds me of how bad things are in my life at times. I try very, very hard to keep this blog on a positive note (thus the long periods of silence when I can no longer think of anything good to say). I don't think it adds anything to the Internet if I just complain all the time.

Over the last few years, I've had very serious health issues. After a year of tests and uncertainty, it was discovered that I have Lyme - what's more, I've had it for over 20 years. It could have easily been treated if my doctors had taken me seriously when I was a child, but as the infection had been left unchecked in my body for 20+ years, it's done rather a lot of damage.

Lyme has been around for ages (BBC said the other day that the Ice Man from the Alps had Lyme in his system) but over the last 10 years or so, it has become more a political hot bed. The number of (confirmed) cases are increasing rapidly every year. Yet there is no procedure in place in BC that allows doctors to treat the long term cases.

The methods for testing the body for Lyme are inaccurate and it needs to be a diagnosis of exclusion and symptoms (aka, a clinical diagnosis). So no only are people going undiagnosed, but there is no accurate way to study the bacteria in the body, because there is no clear cut he has it, she doesn't.

It's way more complicated than that.

What it means for me is that I was no longer able to follow my career, finish university, work a normal job, and many more of those little life expectations we take for granted gone. The strain that having an unchecked infection for so long in my body has triggered several other illnesses. Most of which are simply pain full and make me grumpy. Even now that the Lyme infection is sort of in hibernation and not having a direct effect on me, these secondary problems appear to be permanent.

The problem that effects me the most is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

The symptoms are very strong - basically vegus nerve thing with the restricted blood flow to brain, shut down of non-essential systems, fainting, confusion. It takes only a small amount of chemicals to set it off.

Off the bat, I'm not sensitive to smells or dust particles, but rather fumes. These cannot be captured by filters or masks. I'm not sure exactly what it is that causes my symptoms, but it is derived from petro-chemicals. So many plastics, all perfumes, most detergents and soaps, anything scented, and PAINT.

Guess what they are doing to the house this week. Painting.

Guess who just arrived while I was writing this. Looks like tonight is my first night in the yurt. Better go get it ready.

I'll be out there until the fumes dissipated enough for me to move back into the house. Might be a few days, might be a few weeks. I promise to keep an eye on the internet but I won't be online as often as usual until this clears up.

More about my experiences with Lyme here - although I don't write there very much these days. It reminds me how much in the shit my life is (sorry for the bad language, but there really isn't a better word to express it).

I really hate having to write such sad things, but I think you deserve to know why. With any luck I can keep my spirits up with the pure excitement of yurt. Yurts are totally cool, and with an extension cord and a heater, I think yurt is going to be quite comfortable too.

Little Frog Croak Moon - April 2012

According to my calendar, tonight's full moon is called 'little frog croak moon'.

Let me assure you, the little frog do croak. Moonlight is bright enough to cast a shadow to rival all but the sunniest of days; though the moon steals the colours from us. The sound of the frogs gives true realization to the word reified. The sound of innumerable frogsong so heavy in the air, it's like a weight in your chest making it difficult to breath.

Wonder what it will be like next week when I move into a yurt beside the pond.

diagram for mystery project - fountain pen is not what makes it steam punk

The fountain pen is not what makes this project steam punk. It's just there because I have trouble writing with a ball point.

This is a diagram of what I originally thought my mystery project would look like.

Okay, no I don't mean it's going to 'look like' as a final finished project. There's a lot of aesthetic elements I want to add. By look like, I mean this is how my brain thinks of electrical stuff. My brain wants to think of Section 'A' being the 'power in' section this same brain wants to think about it as being almost completely isolated from section 'B', the 'power out' section. Now I'm beginning to wonder if these two halfs are really that disconnected.

I am beginning to understand that there needs to be lines to indicate how these items connect together and items that go in between what I've drawn here. I am learning, albeit far slower than I use to learn new things. I'm beginning to realize just how much damage my illness did to my brain. Oh well, I'll keep worrying away at it until the neurons start making good pathways and I can see things clearly.

Sharing this diagram with you does not diminish the mystery of my mystery (increasingly steampunk) project. Lots of people have made things like this, like that cool system of how to use your bike to charge a battery that can run electronics that Natalie linked to in yesterday's comments. It's the aesthetics and materials that I hope to use that will make this project steampunkish and unique. As there is no coal or steam involved, it's hard to know if it will fit squally into steampunk but then again, neither does putting a brass pipe and some cogs on a USB drive (not that I'm saying anything against putting brass pipes and cogs on a USB drive - quite the contrary, I would love one of those, but I have to sell some more yarn first).

Let it snow...tomorrow night.

The world is beautiful outside and for once in my life, I'm disappointed that it's snowing.

The moon may be almost full, but the night is deep and dark. A slight pink, almost purple glow illuminates the clouds to the south, where the city lives. Already the world is unfamiliar. A dust, ages the grass, like the floor of an abandoned house. The wind has just begun to howl and I plug the cracks in the front door with the welcome mat.

It's all perfect weather to be huddled next to the fire, playing with wool. Hot, mulled apple juice, warms the cockles of the heart while it burns your tong. My favourite kind of weather.

This is the weather I pray for almost year round. And yet, I don't want it today.

Because tomorrow I go on another workshop. Another SAORI weaving workshop to be exact.

I feel like a little kid getting ready for tomorrow. I've packed and unpacked what yarns I want to take so many times this week. Sometimes several times a day. I think I've finally decided on these ones.

A collection of handspun yarns leftover from previous projects.

That's why I don't want it to snow too much tonight.

You see, going to this workshop means more to me than just learning exciting new yarn related techniques. It another step towards participating in the world again. It's a step towards good health.

an idea for Lyme

This is cross posted from my Lyme blog. Since it's fibre related and has a positive tone to it, I thought that maybe you guys would like to read it as well.

Knitting, spinning, weaving and crafting in general has done so much good for me over the years. Especially since I became really ill, it has provided me with nourishment that no medicine or food ever could.

Being a member of the yarn related community, both local and online, provided me a link to steadfast friends and wonderful support.

Yarn encourages me to accomplish something in my day. I'm not just wasting time waiting to get better, I am making socks, or a skirt, or something else. I create something tangible - and I know that's nothing to most of you who can do that any day, but to me, that's a huge accomplishment! It means the world to me to be able to pull on a warm sweater that I knit myself, or to adorn myself with vibrant socks that I not only knit myself, but I spun the yarn. It fills me with a sense of love and self worth that otherwise leeches out of someone with a long lasting illness.

But it's more than that.

When I am so ill, I'm nothing but a useless waste of space, I can still create something. I can knit a few stitches, or pull myself out of bed to lay on the couch and spin yarn. Even if my arthritis is so bad that I can only manage sparse five knitted stitches, it is still a contribution. It's marks the difference between being a worthless waste of skin to being human.

I wish I could explain it better.

Lately I've been spinning some yarns for sale. I want to make a bit of money so I can afford Christmas. One particular yarn, is rather challenging. It is involves making two yarns at once and plying them together simultaneously. I feel like an overtaxed octopus trying to do all this at once, but the results are gorgeous. And, it gave me an idea.

Now, this is just an idea at the moment. As I said yesterday, I'm not an organizer of big things. I realize that of myself. Give me grunt work, and a task I can do in the background, and I'm happy!

The idea:

It began by thinking that making yarn and other crafts to sell is one of the few things I can do to make my own income. I don't make very much - just enough to buy more supplies for my hobbies - but even that little bit says to me that I can one day become a functioning member of society again.

This got me thinking about how much better things will be when Lyme is understood. When the political controversy no longer governs treatment and an accurate diagnosis method is available. Organizations like CanLyme are working towards this, and wouldn't it be great if I could donate money to help them help people like me?

So I imagined myself spinning a special series of yarns, all different kinds and colours, all with at least a fleck of Lime Green in them to symbolize Lyme. And I take this yarn and put a little write up about Lyme in Canada and how lack of research is causing harm...stuff like that. I sell the yarn, and take a good percent of the profits and give to CanLyme (or the like) and a percent to pay for my health care. (note: most Lyme patients in Canada have to pay for their own medical expenses!)

That could be a nifty idea and a great project for 2011. It would help raise Lyme awareness, help support my health care costs, help raise money for charity, and most importantly, make me feel like I'm doing something to both help my state in the world and help the greater cause.

I think I might do this. I know I can usually get fleeces for free, and I don't mind washing and preparing the fibre for spinning. Dyeing the fibre might be an expense and it's beyond my skill set, but perhaps someone might volunteer their time and facilities? If I want a long wool like Cotswold, Romney or a Leicester, I might have to pay for that. But all in all, it's a low cost investment as all it would take is my time (something I have plenty of) and my energy (a resource that waxes and wanes) .

The more I think about it, the more I feel it's a good idea.

But, what if...

What if it went a step further?

What if several people with Lyme did something similar, all organized under one umbrella? Not just spinning, but knitting and weaving as well? Then we did as above? Sell the yarn, give a percent to a Lyme related charity and a percent towards our own treatment. Could this work? Could, given our illness, we do this? Would a project like this not only raise awareness of Lyme in Canada but also give those victims this this vicious pathogen a sense of purpose and a way to feel empowered?

It's not just the people with the illness who feel hopeless, their family, firends and support network also need a way to help. This might be the kind of thing.

I see problems with this greater idea: One thing that comes to mind is that I'm not a leader of men, woman or children. If we did this, I would need someone to take the lead, but I would still want to be consulted in it's organization and implementation. Not to mention, the leader of this movement would have to have a non-Lyme brain. There are other problems I see already, mostly where money is concerned. And who would do the write up about Lyme awareness and the project? How would it be presented to the public? Free knitting, weaving and spinning lessons would be needed for those who do not yet know how to do these things. Plus equipment: spinning and knitting are affordable, but weaving certainly isn't.

There is a lot to think about.

Thoughts anyone?

Drat and Tat

It's been a pretty difficult few weeks. My health has set me back to about where I was this time last year. Hopefully it won't take me that long to get back on the right track again. But enough about that. If you are interested, you can read more on my other blog.

Because I'm trying very hard to be positive right now (despite everything being so blah) something good did come out being in hospital. My room mate taught me how to Tat.

And, because tatting is something I can do with yarn that does not bother my arthritis, I'v quickly become obsessed with it.

It's absolutely amazing. You make this knot, and then with a slight flick of the wrist, you make the knot jump from one thread to the other. In that way, you can make knots with your working yarn, send them jumping to the other yarn and pull the working yarn though the knots it made. Sounds complicated. But I tell you, it wasn't difficult for me to understand once I saw it done. The moment I saw that first knot jump from one thread to the other, I knew this is what I wanted to do.

It's funny when you think about it - I'm not a big fan of lace. But I love tatting.

After playing around with some of the patterns in Mrs Beeton's needlework book (which are really easy to understand, not like modern day patterns) I decided that I wanted to make this (pdf).

To acquire the skills I need to make a TARDIS, I've been working my way though these AMAZING tatting lessons. Once I've perfected the split ring, I'll have to head down to my local yarn/needle work shops in search of some dark blue cotton (or silk) and probably more tatting paraphernalia.

Knitting funk

I've got myself into a bit of a knitting funk. I've only picked up the needles once since New Years and that was simply to finish off a pair of simple socks that I keep in my handbag for knitting at the doctors office or anywhere else I have to wait.

I admit that some of this knitting funk is due to my health. Some mornings I wake up with the most terrible arthritis and simply cannot hold a mug of coffee level on use my computer mouse or hold the pointy sticks. But I put that down to it being winter and wet. Especially since last winter was just as bad. Plus my joints are suggesting that we are going to get snow in the next two weeks, but I don't believe them.

The Lissajous Sock pattern has been in progress for a few months now. It's a true delight to knit. The pattern is easy to follow but challenging. It is the kind of pattern that goes well with an audio book or some classical music but is difficult to knit in public or in front of the TV.

I have other works in progress bumming around the place, but non of them really capture my attention right now. What I want is something fairly simple to knit. Perhaps with a couple of lines of colour work here and there, but not too much.

What I really want to knit is this:

It was spun with the intention of being a sweater and should knit up nicely on a 4.5mm or 5mm needle size. The trouble is that I don't think I have enough. I only have 607 meters total (light plum - 192m, dark purple - 139m, blue - 128m, and grey - 148m). I am small or extra-small these days so I wonder if it would be enough for something.

Holiday prep.: The Marshmallow and the Pudding

I am in love with my kitchen.

Even though it was a stay at home in my PJs kind of day, I still managed to do a little bit of baking.

I made some plumb pudding for Christmas by modifying a combination of one of Mrs Beeton's recipes and a recipe I found here (a sight that seems to have vanished over night but I'll link it here just in case it comes back - it was really awesome and had all sorts of holiday foods that are free of the common and not so common allergies). It's so yummy. Only instead of making one pudding as I expected, it instead made five. I'm not complaining.

I also made marshmallows. As icing sugar is out, I dusted the marshmallows with cocoa. I think that corn starch might have worked just as well. They taste incredibly sweet and I just can't stop eating them. In fact, I'm off to eat some more pre-breakfast marshmallows right now. Chow.

Holiday prep.: The Gingerbread house

I've been working hard on getting ready for Christmas. It's going to be quite the adventure making a 'traditional' Christmas that I can participate in, especially giving my food limitations.

Foods to be excluded include soy, sugar (from the cane plant), all dairy products (save from goat), peanuts processed grains, barley, and eggs. Foods to be limited included yeast, garlic, sesame, tomatoes, and potatoes. I tell you, this is one heck of a challenge. I was tempted to simply let everyone else have bought treats, but it's so depressing to watch everyone eat foods that I use to love. It reminds me of how ill I am and that's the last thing I want to think about at Christmas.

So, I've been baking gingerbread. I took the ginger snap recipe from Vegan a Go Go and modified it to become a ginger bread that I can eat. It's really yummy and if I roll it out extra thin then I can cut it into shapes that will be hung on the tree.

Of course this is just a practice run to see if it can be done. What I really want to do is to make a gingerbread house that Peggy Sue (my on line name for her) and I can decorate together a few days before Christmas. Which leads to the next challenge: How do I make icing that does not have any sugar in it? I've seen lots of recipes for sugar free frosting but all of them so far have other forbidden foods like Splenda (made from sugar) or sugar free pudding mix (made with soy). I've seen one recipe that might be acceptable at Nook & Pantry that uses only cream cheese and maple syrup; however, I don't know how sutible it would be for a gingerbread house. I can make the cheese from goats milk, but would it hold up the house? Would it go bad quickly? Would I have to keep it in the fridge and if I did, would the gingerbread go soggy?

As I understand it, sugar does three things for icing - it makes it taste sweet, it helps to harden the icing and it helps to preserve the icing so that it lasts longer. How do I get these three qualities without using the one ingredient that is so good at producing them? Any thoughts?

M.I.A.

I know I haven't been around the blog much. I'm just going through a rather rough patch just now, what with my health and everything, and I don't really want to talk about it.

I feel confident that I'll be back to blogging once things settle down in a few months.

So long 'till then,
Truly Trampled

Handspun handwoven blue scarf

I would like to tell you the story about this scarf.

It began by carding fibres at Knotty by Nature with Josiane. We blended together some merino and silk noils with the hope of making some textured and very interesting yarn.

Then I found some silvery grey corriedale and spun a warp which Kitten kindly let me measure out on her warping mill. Warping mills are cool and I want one just like hers.

As I've been house bound most of the last few weeks, venturing out on occasion only to over do it, so dad rented me a Knitters Loom from Knotty by Nature.

This is my first time using a Knitters Loom, actually, this is my first time using a ridged huddle loom all by my self. (oh darn, look! It's snowing again. Has the ice age started? I'm told we missed the last one in these parts, so we are over due for a glacier or two.)

It wasn't love at first sight with the Knitters loom, but I think if we got to know each other better, we could become good friends. But, I do like the ridged heddle more than I thought I would. They really took advantage of the qualities of the yarn.

With this scarf, I didn't try to do things the right way. Actually, I did everything as wrong as I could and still make fabric. I didn't set the yarn, I didn't fuss over math, I didn't beat evenly, &c. But I did, or didn't do, all this for a reason. Partly because I wanted to show off the texture of the blue yarn but mostly because I tend to obsess over technical aspects of fibre arts. With both knitting and spinning I've learnt all I can about technique, structure, and different ways of doing things as I can get my hands on. I tend to do this. I try my hardest to get the technical aspects of the craft as perfect as possible. I deliberately didn't do this with weaving. I wanted to see what happens when I play around with this, an inherently a technically focused fibre art, and see what happens. I also wanted to see if I could overcome my perfectionism.

Happy Home Maker

Over the last few weeks, I have had a similar kind of conversation with several different people. It's about what can I do with my life; how can I take my new chemical sensitivities and make something positive from them? I tell you, it's a pretty difficult topic. There is a reoccurring theme and it has come up over, and over, and over again. It is Domesticity.

I'm not talking about your 19th Century ideal of an angel in the house, nor even the 50's ideal of a stay at home mom who spends every hour of the day preparing the house for when her husband comes home from work. I'm talking about reclaiming the word homemaking so that it becomes a non-gender-specific term to describe the process of simple every day living.

Look. If you have a roof over your head, by my standards, you have a home. Quite often, the people you love most share this place with you. It doesn't matter if you are male or female, single or married, a single parent taking care of a child, or a single child trying to take care of your parents. How you care for them, how you care for yourself and how you care for your home, speak volumes about your life. Your choice of food, how you cook it, how you clean up afterwards, &c.. All these things and more are a statement of who you are. It's about taking pride in where you live. It's about empowering the individual with the knowledge of how to live well. This is homemaking.

About a year ago I read an article in the local paper. It said that in our city, the average four person household requires over 60 hours of labour at just under double minimum wage (so that would be 100 hours at minimum wage) to provide the basic necessities of life. These necessities are things like rent, clothing, and food, but didn't include such luxuries as TV or bus-fare. That's a lot of work for such a small return. I thought certainly they must have got their numbers wrong, so I read on. Apparently, most of the money went into food, then rent, then clothing, cleaning supplies, and so on down the line. But, what really astounded me was how much these people (as it was an actual survey of people living just above the poverty line) were spending on all these items. They were spending more than three times the amount of money it actually costs to eat and up to ten times the actual cost of cleaning supplies. Were they exaggerating what they spent? I don't think so. What they were doing was wasting money by buying the wrong things. They were doing things such as buying ready made meals at, say, $6 a plate instead of cooking a nice oven roast at $2 a plate. For four people, that's a waste of $16 for just one meal. Multiply that by three meals (one day) and you get a waste of almost $50 a day. Not only that, but by buying prefabricated food, they are hurting both their health and the environment.

I wondered, do people do this because they are working too hard to prepare a proper meal? Maybe they just don't have enough time? Then again it takes as much effort to make an oven roast or a slow cooker meal as it does to make a prefab meal. Even less effort with the slow cooker as it is ready to eat as soon as you get home from work. So why then would the average working class Jo or Joanne waste that much money on something so damaging to their health?

Then, someone mentioned to me, maybe people don't know how to make food. Maybe their mothers (or fathers, or uncles, or aunts, or grandparents, neighbours, &c.) never taught them how to roughly chop some vegetables to make a soup in a slow cooker or how make leftovers yummy instead of depressing. Maybe they never learnt to buy vegetables when they were in season so as to get the best value and the highest nutrient content. Maybe they don't know what the best cut of meat is or how to cook it.

Just think what a family of four could do with 50 extra dollars a day. They could buy some of those little luxuries like bus-fare. Or perhaps, even better, they could work less. And that's just food. Imagine what could be accomplished by saving money on all other aspects of homemaking.

Perhaps, a person would say, that it takes too much time to live this way. It doesn't. If you can afford the time to eat at a restaurant or to open a packet of food and stick in the oven, then you have enough time to keep a good home. Not to mention, with the money you save by proper homemaking, you can work less and thus have more time for yourself.

Perhaps you think that helping the environment and saving money just don't go together. That's just not true. You can save money, help your health and help the environment. This is the trifecto. These three things go hand in hand. And they can be customized for vegetarians, vegans, omnivores, meat eaters, raw fooders, anything. Homemaking is just learning how to live the way you want to, only to do it smart.

Homemaking is old fashioned. No! And yes, people have been homemaking since the first shelter was built. This is not something that goes out of fashion. It is not something that is restricted to the middle-class stay-at-home-soccer-mom. Homemaking is empowering. It is taking back your life from the clutches of big businesses. It is "sticking it to da man". It is a powerful way to do your part for the environment and for yourself, and in my book, that never goes out of style.



So, why the big long rant? Well, if you are still with me after such a long blog post, maybe it was interesting.

The idea is that I would love to write a book about this. A book that would take what I have learned from 19th Century domestic manuals and make it applicable for people who live in the world today. I want to write something that would empower individuals to take back their lives by learning about good homemaking. I want to abolish the stereotype that a homemaker is chained to the stove, barefoot and pregnant.

When I think about the books that have changed my life more than anything else, I think of Frugal Indulgence and The Fabulous Girls Guide to Decorum. I want to write something like these, and when it comes to what I know best, it's homemaking.

Now, do I pitch this to a publisher first, or do I just start writing it? I've already made an outline.