Gilding the Stephenie
Here's a story about Oaxaca...
Stephenie asked about local healers, and Demetrio's aunt is a curandera.
Well, I'm always up for an adventure (especially if I'm not going it alone...) so I asked if I could go along. Eric, our tour guide, drove and Demetrio acted as interpreter and local guide.
When we got there (oh why didn't I write down her name???), her house was like a typical house in Oaxaca. The tall masonry fence is right next to the sidewalk, and there is a sliding gate that allowed the van to pull right in to the yard. The house has a courtyard in the middle, and all the rooms open onto it.
The yard was quite large, unmown but not overgrown at all. I got the impression that they have quite large gatherings in that yard. Demetrio led us to an open garage-type area. (hmm- I may be showing my cultural biases here.)
The curandera invited Steph to go first. Steph sat in a chair, and the Curandera rubbed her head, shoulders, arms and legs with an egg, as if she were giving Steph a massage. After that, she broke the egg into a glass of water.
After swishing us all over with damp eucalyptus leaves, as if to cleanse us, she'd read the egg to divine what was wrong with us, physically. She could see that I have digestive troubles, but read them in the hiatal hernia area instead of the lower intestine/bowel area. And she didn't say anything about my back problems.
Interestingly enough, she did prescribe a tea for me, that is the same herbs as the herbal laxatives I already take every day! (on a doctor's advice, no worries.) And just remembering it all gives me the same kind of goose bumps, the kind I get when I hear a great piece of music.
The session ended with the curandera spitting a mouthfull of water and rubbing alcohol on us, front and back. It wasn't as icky as it sounds, I promise! More like being spritzed with a spray bottle, and feeling very cooled.
Stephenie went back again, on the advice of the curandera, and that's when she got the gold plaster. Doesn't it look cool? It did wash off in the shower the next day.
Hey, Mister Tally-Man...
Time to tally up my progress over the holiday break.
And I am determined not to dwell on the things I wanted to get done, and didn't!! Ah, setting impossible goals and feeling bad that I didn't meet them is a habit of mine. If I have a resolution for the New Year, it should be to keep setting wonderful goals, but instead of regretting that I haven't reached them, to rest and tackle them again.
To it, then.
Finish theses projects: (see pictures on my Ravelry Projects page if you're a member)
- Garter Stitch Raglan -- not much progress, if any. I did tear out the middle section of the back, in order to reknit to a smaller size.
- Poppy Sweater (Elsebeth LaVold pattern) -- Progress: I got the body done, and the hem bound off. Tried it on, and like the fit. It's a big sweater! but (sigh) it fits me. Got pictures up on Ravelry.
- Shards socks -- little progress. I did get the first sock done up to the point of starting the heel.
- Something I hadn't listed was the Koolhaas hat. I started it as travel knitting for the Oaxaca trip, and quickly decided I really don't like twisted traveling stitches. That first pattern row was a real booger. I didn't pick it up again until faced with the prospect of going to the Midwest on a road trip. I'm not happy with the decreases I've done-- need to re- re- rip and do over.
Card and spin enough wool to reclaim the dining room. Right. I'll need another month of holiday break to do that. BUT!
Progress:
- Carded and spun four skeins of red thrummed yarn from Oaxaca dye sessions.
- Carded enough for four skeins of yellow yarn, from Oaxaca workshop.
- Final tally on the white Romney: five bobbins of singles.
- Logwood-dyed Romney, dyed last spring. I should have dyed it as spun yarn, but wanted to do a gradation. Problem was that the sawdust was extremely hard to get rinsed out. So, I rinsed out 3 skeins' worth and got it re-carded. Finished: washing, carding and spinning 2 full skeins.
And the newly started pair of socks? Got past the heel on both socks.
OK, so what do I work on now? Good question. I'm going to upload more Oaxaca pictures, and try to get all caught up on that. That's a definite.
(coming back to add)
I also dyed bit of mohair - from the STASH! I got this cone of Henry's Attic laceweight from the Dizzy Ewe a couple years ago. I wound off about 250 yards, and dyed it in periwinkle (which isn't as purply as it sounds). It's earmarked for the Ice Queen from Knitty, but not until I actually finish something else.
I'm doing better on the gotta buy gotta buy mentality. We went up to Morrow Bay on Sunday, came back on Monday, and I DIDN'T BUY ANY YARN!! (fanning myself)
