Emmalyn's New Explorations

Well, really it started yesterday. My husband had a doctor's appointment. The street was parked full. I had the Jetta at the bottom of the driveway since it bottoms out and cannot go up. Yeah, we live on a hill. I was trying to figure out how to manage Hubby and a vehicle. The van was turned the wrong way. Finally folks left to go to work and I was able to move the car. I grabbed the keys and was going to drive the van out and turn it around so Hubby could get in. He is mobility impaired.

The van wouldn't start. The ignition sounded like a rapid fire machine gun. I had to allow extra time to get Hubby safely down the hill and into the other car. All good. Appointment happened. Everything was good. I called my mechanic and explained the noise. He said it meant not enough current was reaching the starter. Just jump it. As we tried to open it, the hood latch jammed. Decided to run errands first. We ran errands in the other car. A storm was coming in with a lot of snow. We got the Jetta gas after trying more than one station. Joan, the Jetta is a picky eater. She currently has a taste for Shell gasoline, 93 octane. Give her some slack, she is 23 years old. She knows what will keep her running. There are no stations near us. We hit up a grocery store first near a Shell station and headed over around 3 pm. No gas, pumps are being worked on. At this point, the next closest station was all the way over near my mechanic. I called him from there. Explained that the van's hood release was jammed. He recommended percussive maintenance. As soon as I got home and groceries were put away, we grabbed a bite to eat (plus fed Hubby) and headed out to try again. Bingo. Hood up, van jumped. Now for a ride to recharge.

I headed to the pharmacy to pickup Hubby's prescription. It was a drive through. Then on to fill up a tire with air. I left her run while filling up on air at Sheetz. Rush hour traffic was in full swing. We headed north, away from traffic. Chrono had a hankering for Baba Ghanoush (effectively hummus but made with roasted eggplant instead of chickpeas). We went to our favorite Lebanese restaurant and ordered take out. Chrono stayed in the running van. Then we headed home. We drove for over two hours. I was getting low on gas.

Got into the driveway. Turned off the engine. Decided to see if she'd start again. Nope. We need a new battery. Tuesday morning, I, at least got in a shower. There are 4" of snow on the ground. I called the mechanic. He agreed with my diagnosis. I told him I'd be in after the snow stopped. I called off work. I will miss the income but I needed to deal with the battery issue. I have more gigs this weekend. It needs to be fixed by then.

In theory, I could have walked to AutoZone and bought a battery - however, been there and tried to do that before. One needs a very long extension to a wrench to remove the battery. Not happening in the snow. Last time they almost lost the nut. It really needs to happen indoors from underneath. But, I can't just jump the van. I have to clear snow first. I spent a good hour clearing both vehicles and shoveling the street so the vehicles could move freely. It isn't going above freezing anytime soon. The heavy/slushy snow will freeze into a solid block. Both vehicles got cleared as well as our long driveway and the street area.

Time to eat something. I reheated leftovers. Then I headed with the gas can over to a filling station. I gave the van a drink. Now I could manage the 16 (or 20) miles to the mechanic's. He lives above the garage so no worries there. I went over her specific needs. Yes, it's also time for an oil change. With the snow, honestly, the most important thing was to get the windshield fluid fixed. Somewhere there is a leak. It shouldn't hold a whole gallon of washer fluid. I have a hunch I poured it onto the ground. Evelyn the Eurovan gets a spa day tomorrow. She's my baby, only 22 years old with 381,000 miles at least.

From 2010


But the day isn't over. We were out of water. Living in fracking country with a huge number of strange cancers, we don't necessarily have safe water. They'd like us to believe it, but somehow I don't.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/families-demand-answers-pa-health-dept-cancer-cluster-findings/

We headed to a different grocery store to stock up on meat, cheese, and water. Tomorrow we'll head back to get the results (bill) of Evelyn's spa day. Thursday we load the vehicle and Friday is setup at the craft fair. It's been a week and it is only Tuesday. Chrono has a hernia from surgery earlier this year. I need to be her road crew. She really shouldn't lift stuff.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRV--Rsjd3l/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

That is how I smelled yesterday after babysitting the fire pit with the natural dye (walnut). My clothes, my hair, all reeked afterwards. Aschenputtel means Cinderella in German. At least she had a chimney for the smoke. It was hard to control the height of the flame. The wind was low but I worried that I'd scorch the yarn. It never occurred to me to grab the pasta strainer that came with the kettle. That would have gone a long way. Instead I stirred and moved the pot. I added vinegar to prevent felting. The yarn turned out lighter than I'd hoped. I will run a few mini skeins in superwash. It'll pick up the color a lot darker.



The wool yarn is called periwinkle which has nothing to do with the color. It goes thick/thin.


The weather forecast is constantly changing. Now there is talk about NASA closing Goddard. I just can't watch this train wreck. People will get hurt.



With a few nice days, I was able to get at a few things. Two batches of yarn got scoured, meaning the processing oils were removed or degreased. I still use a product called synthrapol. We set up a double boiler on the kitchen store to run some experiments. Jaggerspun went out of business last January. I picked up undyed yarn before they closed. I am working on a few things. One was to match a dirty gold that I am out of. We use it in hat-making. In the process I achieved a lovely acorn color. I also achieved a brass yellow.



Currently in the pot is a green. I am waiting for it to cool. There is more yarn to wind and to scour, then dye. I am working on a range of colors. The dye needs to be used up. It has a shelf life like everything else. I killed the yellow but I will be making more. I want to do gradient dyeing in green, varying the amounts of green and black. The mini skeins are good for that. People seem to like the mini skeins. It's an inexpensive item and can be used in many ways from mending to hex-a-puffs. Yes, some of us are still working on hex-a-puff quilts. Google Tiny Owl Knits or Bee Keeper's Quilt for more information.

This is Chronographia's collection so far: