Food Mourning Scrumble

 

The day's prompt at the NatCroMo Freeform CAL was about food.

I’ve been a nonmeat eater for 41 years, now. I’ve been vegan, vegetarian, macro, lacto-ova, pesco-veg. Sadly, I haven’t had ice cream for 15 years, when I became lactose-intolerant. Since I’m from NYC, I’ve enjoyed expresso/cappuchino/lattes from teenage onward. My great treats were to go to Greenwich Village and sit in the beautiful Italian cafes, write, watch, muse, flirt. The grandchild of West Indian immigrants, avocados, mangos, plantains and bananas are part of my soul food. We are rice people – my first potatoes were sweet and plain yams. My other starch — boiled green bananas —are an unexplored taste treat. And as a child of the great metropolis, I’ve eaten outside our root cuisine all my life as monthly treats included Chinese food, Italian food, or trips to the Jewish deli.  My high school sweetheart and I discovered Indian cuisine and came to love falafel, stuffed grape leaves, moussaka, hummus, tahini at our favorite haunts. I cooked to earn money in college, both freelance and as the cook for a house.  My Algerian friend taught me cous-cous – now a part of my staples. I love Pad Thai as much as sushi and miss injera and wat, foo-foo and jook, sfogiatelle and hammentaschen, West Indian bun, rotis and gazadas –  delights that none of my neighbors know. Though the mega grocery store now has a sushi stand, so something has reached these hinterlands and they import panettone in season.  Still no mooncakes, rugelach, or decent cannoli, no  place to order blackbeans and rice with kingfish, no service, codfish and ackee, or revoltillo bacaloa, until I get a care box from the city.  So, loving so much so widely, I decided to hook about loss.

This piece is about the hole in my heart when goat milk turned on me last month as have caffeine-coffee, soy, nuts, and  raisins. It is about bereavement missing long-lost cheese, whipped cream, fondues, grilled cheese sandwiches, omelets. No more the joy of dark brewed liquid swirled with light.


 

The Stitching Challenge

The Stitching Challenge-A different kind of CAL/KAL “Create Your Own Motif” guidelines said in part:
1) Measure out 30 yards/27.5 meters of the yarn of your choice.
2) Use your knowledge of increases, decreases, stitch variations, short rows, long rows, and all the stitches and motifs you care to include, and make your own motif.
3) You may work in any direction you choose -- in the round, linearly, standing on your head...

My first effort didn't quite finish within the parameters:
Improv A Long Motif

5.0 mm (H) used about 30 yds of Red Heart SS in Ocean.Ocean

My next and favorite is the Pockets and Pillows Motif used dk Knit picks Merino Style and a F hook/3.75mm

 My third, Swirled Square used 3.75mm/F and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Cloud




My fourth one, Caribbean Window, used a G/4mm and Knit Picks Swish Worsted






 

 This was great design calisthenics!

Day 25

I was DFAD - designer for a day and I shared and illustrated three stitches--- slanting puffs, pockets and  orange wedges. Here's the piece I made yesterday using all three:

DAY 24

Day 24
sewing and moving stuff around and creating more letters including my own S. And then trying to write down how to make the letters, because I wanted to remember the solutions and keep a record of sizing. The new word is HEAL in letters 20% smaller than my first ones (starting chain of 12 vs. ch 15)

I no longer had room for the unassembled pieces. And sewing was a great physical challenge for me -- I think i need another table…. I tried sewing pieces together vertically, and them switched to putting pieces in the tray and sewing.

I was sad when some solutions left out the plan -- because pieces were dropped or had run away and then reappeared too late to be included.

If i hadn’t used wire and metal, I might have considered a garment, as it over all 3 feet by six feet (approx. 1 meter by 2 meters). I ordered material to hang/mount it and hope it arrives in time.

One of the forgotten pieces that reappeared was the frame. It will fulfill my Irish piece prompt  though there will be a another bunch of sewing to attache the netting and the letters (sigh).