An amazing journey with Gerhardt Knodel and other incidents

Today was eye exam day, all fine, no work needed other than new glasses. The little drawback is that you can't do any close work, reading, stitching, any of that, until the dilation goes away. I tried writing one short email a bit early and promptly developed an ocular migraine. Oh 

So instead I made a batch of pancakes on the grounds of entitlement. Also on the grounds of having missed lunch because that's when the eye appointment was.

Strawberry ginger jam as a sauce. 

These did not last long.

I noticed my neighbor had uncovered his new Toy for Boy, a three wheeler, like a Jet ski on land. What fun.

Before all this  I was picking out which of my many white tops to wear, chose a lovely fine cotton shirt and realized I'd shortened it ages ago and neglected to hem it. 

So why not now, I sez, and you see the Tunisian Mitered Square working as s scissor fob already.

And here's the shirt. It's soft, very fine, buttoned roll-up sleeve. 

Perfect for hot weather which we haven't had much of yet. I probably got it from Dharma Trading, judging from the nice quality. It will go with that skirt I haven't made yet.

Then finally, later in the afternoon, after eye doctors and pancakes and vehicle spotting, I could see again.

So I checked into HGA Textiles and Tea, on Zoom, Tuesdays at 4. Since I don't have a fine craft background, the artists are almost all news to me, and a revelation of textile art.

Today it was this man, very congenial and skilled presenter on screen, retired Director of the Cranbrook Academy, prestigious fine craft school. 

He does enormous weavings, often using a Mylar warp, which is strong enough to hang two story high artworks. Google on him for more info, his work is amazing.

And here's his current loom,  in the studio, hi in Pontiac Michigan

And his latest book, not yet on sale

He's a great explainer of the evolution of his works, from early ideas to influences to drawings to finished artwork. Definitely worth checking out.

He's in his early 80s, and having finished the book, is planning on a return to his loom.

This was a much more interesting day than I'd expected.

Experimental food continued, with various flours and other ideas

So today I decided, since I had a huge eating apple to take care of before Tuesday's farmshare, and I had the oat and almond flours ready to go, I'd combine the two.

So I made a kind of pancake mix, using oat and almond flour, and the usual eggs and leavenings.  Let that stand a while, and diced fairly fine the apple, sprinkled it with lemon juice to keep it from browning.  

Then I made not exactly pancakes, not bound enough for that,but a lovely dessert on the pan, batter poured out, partly cooked, apple dice added, then turned almost cooked through, and spooned out onto a plate with a honey drawing on it.  I like this touch.  You don't have to wear a chef's hat to do this!

And it was really lovely, with the almond taste along with the honey and the touch of lemon and the apple flavor.  Grinding the dried almonds into flour really released the taste, as I'd hoped.

Next experiment with the rest of the apple and the batter: poured it into a buttered ovenproof dish, and I'll bake it later and see how that works out.

If I'd wanted a really pancake-like mix, I'd have added regular flour, but I wanted to see what this would be like for flavor.