it’s working . . .

Posted on annePosted in designing, food and garden, lace/shawls, projects

this morning i lifted the flap of the newspaper tent i built over the green tomatoes. wow.

i’m doing something different this year. in other years, i wrapped them in newspaper and put them in a box to ripen. they did ok, but we never got that really good red. and i picked them all off the vines before getting wanda’s email about ripening them in the cellar on the dead plants.

so i decided to try the magic pool table method.
this is the method invented by my mom. my dad probably thought she came up with it just to make him crazy, but she really believed in it, and now, so do i.

i’m sure she started doing it this way because the pool table looked to her like a vast expanse of unused space. but when the tomatoes ripened reliably and more beautifully there than in any other spot in the house, she returned to using this method exclusively, pronouncing it “the right way”. she was pretty sure the 100% wool pool felt had something to do with it.

my dad was pretty sure that all he would get out of it was rotten tomato juice on his pool felt—not the best thing for it. but he knew better than to complain.

anyway, when my mom sold the family home after my dad died, and moved to a condo, guess who inherited the pool table (you didn’t know i love to shoot pool did you??).
the table needs to be reburbished very badly—in the years since my dad could last use it, it has suffered through what must have been the grand moths jamboree. and numerous other indignities.

so until such time as we get around to bringing it back up to snuff for playing, i will use it to ripen my tomatoes.

i really REALLY wanted to show you photos of the raven shawl on the dress form today, but i did not get it photographed before dark. tomorrow—i promise

instead you get this lovely photo of my stockinette swatch in totally accurate colors. i have spent the last two days glued to my computer, trying to get that pattern out to the test knitters and i just finished. yay.

and because liz is convinced that i can make pattern writing look sexy, i give you this

i dunno liz . . .

24 thoughts on “it’s working . . .”

  1. My husband would take away my yarn and knitting needles if I did that to the pool table with out the cover on in.

    As it is he grimaces when I use the surface for laying out and cutting fabric.

    Maybe a nice basket lined with felted wool for Pool Felt Wool……

  4. I don’t know, Chocolate-covered strawberries and a glass of wine might make pattern writing look sexier. Of course chocolate and wine make almost everything look sexier.

    Looking forward to this pattern!

  6. Moms – they are the smart ones (uh, not including myself in that comment 🙂 What colorway is that? I’ve been staring at the site recently and I’m still not sure.

    The raven is coming, the raven is coming! 🙂

  8. Thanks for sharing the pool table, tomato, mom, dad memory. I love those moments! Can’t get much sexier than coffee and. . .pretzels???? Oooh, look at the pattern just lying there, waiting on us!!

  9. pool table tomatoes – how sweet. It sure appears that your Mom is right!
    Sexy pattern writing?hmmmmm maybe it needs a nice glass of cabernet, some yummy blue cheese, fresh crunchy bread, and a glimpse of David in the background lifting a toast to you (grin)
    this photo is lovely, but the coffee and pretzels don’t quite strike me as ‘sexy’

  10. anne -you make me laugh – coffee and pretzels, thats what makes pattern writing sexy?- too much! – glad to hear the pattern is done , good for you – It still amazes me how many thing you do and get them to work out -looking forwrd to this next shawl

    pat

  12. It’s sexy alright!!
    Do the pattern come as a kit with the yarn or must I make my own kit? (because I really, really want to knit this shawl – my own mythologic birds of omen)

  15. The pattern looks very sexy at least, mayble not the pretzels. But I wonder..what is that rather interesting jar (cream of some kind?) in the swatch photo, top right corner?

  16. Ahhh moms. They sometimes have the BEST ideas, don’t they? 🙂 My gram always had some thing that was just perfect for the task, but when you first saw it, you kind of had to look at it several times to see the brilliance behind it.

  17. very creative…..the tomatoes look great though – a wonderful way to eek out the last of the bounty, and multitasking for the pool table!

  18. I put my tomatoes in a bowl and on a cookie sheet on the dining room table this year. Almost all of them are ripe now. I don’t have a pool table to use.

    Sexy pattern shots should always include a glass of red wine and truffles.

  20. Wonder if craft felt would to the same in lou of a pool table. We picked a huge bag of green tomatoes since it was going to frost. Next year I will have to try your technique sans the pool table.

    I can’t wait to see what gorgeousness you have come up with this time.

  24. See! and you doubted… I think there are more than a few that are in agreement here… and maybe it’s the pairing with pretzels and coffee, but I am going with it being All about the pattern writing… being sexy that is…

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