Energy Audit

I went to a class the other week on energy conservation. I learned quite a bit that I didn't know and was able to apply that knowledge to our lives. Some things I didn't know:

It's not safe to run an oil heater (space heater) from an extension cord.

Most heat is lost through the ceiling, not through windows (this probably depends, but typically).

Pulling a refrigerator just a few more inches from the wall can make it much more efficient (depending on where the coils are).

If you use compact fluorescent bulbs, they should be somewhere you leave the light on for at least 15 minutes at a time, otherwise normal light bulbs are more cost effective (example: closet).

You should use a nice surge protector (over $20-30) to have it be effective, the cheap ones won't protect your things.

If you heat your house with propane, natural gas, oil, kerosene or wood you should have a CO detector installed.

For attending the free class I received a bag full of all sorts of good stuff; foam insulating tape, a shower head, light bulbs, caulk and a caulking gun, spray foam, etc. I also received a home energy audit, where they guy who teaches the class comes to your house for 2 hours and checks everything out. He made sure our fridge was at the correct temperature, that our water heater was set at 120, he also used an infra red camera to look all over. This showed where there was insulation, where there wasn't and showed where there were leaks letting cold air in.
But the coolest thing he did was hook up this blower fan to our front door:

It creates a negative pressure, so you can walk around the house and feel where and how much air is getting through places like cracks and window pulleys (this was by far where the biggest leaks were in the main house). Honestly for a house built in 1923, it performed better than I thought it would.


It was amazing to feel how much air could get in with the fan going. He could see how much pressure was there, and how much leaking should be happening (houses need to breathe a little bit) and our leaks were equivalent to an entire wall being open, if you added up all the little holes. We did all this with the addition closed off, with it open it was crazy how much air is being lost. The addition was done very poorly, perhaps some of you remember when it was 96 degrees in our house? He said it was so bad there was no way to easily make it sealed, so we just keep that part of the house shut off.
He also installed new weather stripping around our front door for us, gave us and installed a really nice CO monitor and gave us all the stuff to fix our problem spots. It was pretty sweet and I think we both learned a lot about our house.
Thank you Benton County, you are awesome!

Discharging

I tried my hand at discharging with bleach (next stop Home Depot to pick up a respirator...) on Christmas Eve. I started with a black strip of cotton and accordion folded it and clamped it. I actually ended up using 8 clamps, not 4. I'm sorry for the horrible quality of this picture. My goal was to make a scarf like this (scroll down) from Malka Dubrawsky's blog for Aaron's mom for Christmas.


I ended up with this:
Pretty sweet! My second strip did not turn out the same color however. I think there were two reasons for this. I moved the bleach outside, due to ventilation issues, so the bleach was much colder than the first time. Also the discharged dye was in the bleach, which contributed some color to the second piece of fabric. So I ended up making up a new bleach bath to get the same color and it worked.


Then I dyed it tangerine to get a bright orange color. The resulting color is very red though. We march on (time is ticking). Aaron sewed a thin quilt filling to the back of the red fabric then sewed it all to a piece of black fleece. We gave it to her unfinished, I just had the feeling it was too "ladybug". So I decided to sew spirals inside all the circles.


I'm really happy with how it turned out. It feels nice and it was a good introduction to "free form" sewing for me. Next project a camera strap from my own batiked fabrics! I got this book for Christmas - so excited!

At this point we have no plans for fringe, but I feel like it could use something. Beads? I'm not sure, any suggestions?

Christmas Day in Photos

A frosty morning hike through the old growth...lots of cookies...time with family...new treasures and good food!

Cookies!

Jam filled oatmeal


Aaron's famous ginger cookies



My favorite from today (even though they look like slugs), with almonds, cardamom and lemon zest.

Super Awesome

Boiling out the bluebird shirt:


The results of the previously mentioned super awesome dye bath:

Busy Busy!

There is no way it will "all" get done before Christmas, but we are going to have fun trying. I have had at least 3 projects going at any given time, so it has been pretty messy around here, I need a craft room! I've been batiking in the kitchen, and it's obviously not ideal for many reasons. But I've gotten quite a bit made including two shirts for me (gasp!), a shirt for my dad (in the works for a year), some onesies to sell and I've also been throwing in quilt squares with my dye baths.

Today Aaron is making Three Hearted Ale, I've popped out to help a few time, it smells like it's going to be good!


Adding the malt extract


Santa dropped this scale off early and I got my first experience as a hop dealer.


Aaron whipped together this wort chiller, the last time he made beer they lost a carboy because it was too hot. This shall happen no more.

My super awesome dye bath:


There must be 8 different colors in there, I could not get it quite right...but then I did and added a ton of stuff to it. There are some exciting things coming out soon!

I went out to check on my garden today (also in response to you Julie), I am astounded that just about everything survived that hard freeze we had for close to a week. I can not believe that my lettuce lived! The only things not looking so good are my snow peas...go figure! I need to unbury some other things, they don't like being covered in leaves with all the rain, but it has been so nice and warm the last week. It's nice.

I'm off to make cookies, boil batiks, clean house, finish up presents, help make beer and generally be merry!

Itajime

I finally got to experiment with some itajime today...it did not turn out perfect, but I didn't expect it to on my first try. I also didn't follow the directions exactly. I only let it sit in the dye bath for an hour or two instead over overnight, so the dyeing didn't come out very even. I think I will also use only 2 layers instead of 3 or 4 until I get better at it.





The edges are pretty crisp for my first try, I was surprised how many clamps it took! I used 6 and still had a bit of leakage.

I also broke out the old batiking supplies yesterday and got some projects started, along with a new toy - an electric tjanting tool. I do not know how I lived without this thing! I ordered a large and small tip and should be able to do everything I want now without limitation. I'm trying to take advantage of this creativity, as I know it won't be back until summer time unfortunately.

Ravioli

We had a lovely dinner at my parent's house last night with my sister. She made pasta and ravioli filling and we helped assemble it all when we got there. She sent us home with the extras and we recreated it tonight. Aaron also made some pesto chicken and sauteed up some leeks (from the garden), mushroom and tomatoes for the top.



They are filled with spinach, beets and potatoes with cheese and a hint of nutmeg. We made a variation of pumpkin pie that turned out really good as well.

Aaron scored this sexy Santa from Germany!

I took two finals today (A's in both classes!) I have two finals tomorrow and two on Thursday. I also spent a few hours outside trying to salvage what's left of my garden. This cold cold weather is taking its toll. I'm not sure what will be left after two more 12 degree nights. I gathered leaves and packed everyone in to try to keep them a little warmer. The more delicate peas got a sheet on them as well, but I think it may be futile for them for how cold it's been.
Up at 5:30 tomorrow to head to school and for now I need to finish carving those damn wax teeth. I swore I wasn't going to leave them until the night before...whoops.

The Pits

Well it's been a terrible, awful, horrible week with no less than 3 breakdowns. I'm so glad it's over. I'm starting to feel like I just can't catch a break, but luckily my classmates are so supportive. I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to share hygiene school with. We are always willing to help each other out and without them, I would not be making it right now.

I started this wax tooth project today...I have been putting it off for weeks. Getting to this point wasn't too bad, but now that I'm trying to form the cusps I'm having a hard time. I have one more to make after this, hopefully it will be easier after the first one.


Aaron made this easy, delicious meal tonight. Sunburgers on homemade buns with lettuce from our garden (how is this possible after several hard freezes? I'm not sure, but it's perfectly fine, even without having been covered) and yams. Oh and a salad from our garden.


We are off to Salem tomorrow for dinner, my sister is visiting. Then it's finals all next week and then a well deserved 3 weeks off.