Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Plurkette Hencircle

Computers have always been an obsession for me. I learned to program in FORTRAN in high school in Japan in the 60's (not very well, I might add). My husband bought us Radio Shack Color Computers (COCOs) when they first came out. I can remember spending hours programming, writing the code for green circles, intricate designs, music. I spent months on my 286 trying to get to the center of the pyramid in an early written word only, no pictures game. Jump to now, we live in a fairly isolated part of the Southern Oregon Coast and if I didn't have my internet connection I'd be batty. But I miss my DOS!

In reading Google News one day earlier this year, I saw an article about the incredible amount of "Twittering" that had occurred during an interview with an apparently vocally reluctant Facebook creator. So I had to check that out. Since Ravelry had by then become a major source of info for me, I looked for Twitter there, found Ravelers who were also Twittering and I was off. Then Twitter was really OFF - just as I was getting the hang of it! I re-grouped, googled Twitter in an attempt to find a replacement. Came to Plurk and within a day found most of the people I had found on Twitter. I am a happy camper.

I kept reading items from Eliza and Steph mentioning the "Plurkett Hencircle". Checked it out and joined. I like the idea of farmgirl living and sharing a sisterhood of knowledge. It is interesting to look at the path to women's spirituality that Barbara Walker (the saint of knitting stitch dictionaries) took in later years.

I looked into ordering the book by MaryJane but in reading the description at Amazon, it rang bells to me. I have the copy of "The Encyclopedia of Country Living - An Old Fashioned Recipe Book" by Carla Emery that my mother gave me in the early 70's when I had my first child. I find I needn't buy another book, I have the original. It is well worn, loved, and even though I never plan to actually butcher a cow, make root beer, or make savory soybean patties, it is comforting somehow to know that I could and have the instructions should I ever need to!.

I tend to go off in tangents in my creativity/homemaking. I am the original "little red hen" and like to do it all, from start to finish. I don't throw anything away, love handwoven linen dishtowels, still have all my mother's knitting magazines, and as a rule my eyes are too big for my stomach. I have been thru the canning/breadmaking/sewing all the clothes/ change my own oil/vast vegetable garden phases. I do dip back into them on occasion. But my current obsessions are fiber and old roses. And I got a rock polisher for my 35th wedding anniversary, one of the BEST gifts ever!

I have had sheep in the past, still have a bit of their fleece. We had chicken in the past, I loved having chicken. But the fight with the raccoons here would just be too much for me to handle. I have knitted and crocheted since my grandmother taught me on those summer visits to South Dakota when I was a pre-teen. I learned to spin in a course I took at my local community college, the first night of which was my 40th birthday. I have been entranced since. I spin, weave, dye, card, comb, crochet, knit, knot, but I DON'T tat! Saving something for my old age! I love books and seem to be collecting them with a real fervor lately. I make almost all my meals from scratch and have a cookbook collection to beat the band, but that doesn't mean they are always wonderful. And every once and again I actually do give the 100 or so roses I have a shot of magnesium and alfalfa and they bless me with such wonderful blooms. Right now I am finishing up cooking their petals in an iron pot to make rosary beads, just because I can.

I believe in family farms, and would love to adhere to the 100 mile rule, but that is very difficult where I live. Or, at least in my case would involve a diet of largely huge quantifies of lamb, cranberries, blueberries, wild blackberries and salmon (with the occasional fast growing vegetable thrown in).

I'm in! And at 59 I wager I'm the oldest Plurkette! What a distinction.

4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Hey there!!I'm close behind you at 47----
OMG your lace is GORGEOUS!!!! Inspiration!!

Have a GREAT DAY!! Cheers- Elizabeth

Lisa said...

I'm 47 too. At least in human years.

Have you read "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" by Barbara Kingsolver? Fascinating, and makes me want to run out and plant a half-acre garden.

I want to shop the local "farm" markets, but the closest two advertise Tennesse tomatoes and S Carolina peaches. Not exactly local here in Ohio.

Mo said...

Had to drop in and say hi :)
If you want to read about farming and that sort of thing, other authors besides Carla Emery are Gene Logsdon and Wendell Berry.
I look forward to plurking with you!

2Cats said...

Love your laces! I'm new to Revelry. I have some British Kidd Mohair and want to knit a shawl. Have been looking at patterns but just haven't made the plunge. Do you have any suggestions? I have done a lot of cotton dishcloths with lace patterns for "practice" on knitting a lace pattern.

And - it's nice to know others have gone through phases. I've sewn since 4th grade (4-H) and when my daughter was little I did a lot of smocking and heirloom sewing. I've even taken a class on tatting; now I know why it's so expensive! I've knitted off and on for about 35 years but have really gotten into in the last couple of years.

And Lisa needs to know that Tennessee tomatoes and South Carolina peaches are among the best! I'm from Alabama and know such things - ha! On Revelry, I'm cottonblossom. take care