A Tutorial: How to Dye Your Own Playsilks

Wish you could hear us now. Ryan is yelling Bowie's "Five Years" in a horribly fake British accent, pounding through ukelele chords, and then I met him with the harmony. A night in our house. 

Anyway, this post goes out to a little lady who busies herself at a monastery each day. Inspirational!  ; ) Michele outlined her Easter-basket plans (lots of DIY, including playsilks) and asked her readers what we all put in our kids' Easter baskets, so I gave a quick rundown. 

I've done the Dharma-Silks thing — TOTALLY WORTH IT. I even did a rainbow-ish one. It'll still cost you some money, for the silks, shipping and containers for the dye. I used Ball jars with large mouths (because I didn't want to risk making a mess of any of stuff I already owned), but I reused the jars for something else later on. Kool-Aid and vinegar for the dye, I think. One of the colors was a pain to rinse. Red probably. One of the colors was hard to find from Kool-Aid. Blue, I think.  

I'm going to post in the next week or two on our Easter basket traditions. We do one big family basket. All the treats are chocolate eggs (for new life) and lambs (for duh). And I get something religious for each of us. Cruncher usually gets a Magnificat/Ignatius Press book and coloring book (I recommend any of those), Ryan gets a book (I've bought his already — Not Your Average Joe), and I usually get something pretty (this year: a veil). I dye our eggs red, hang the Alleluia (some sort of DIY I do last minute), and put out a potted flower. That's about it. Oh, and starting last year, we go on an Easter Monday hike. It's based on some old tradition that's escaping me right now.

So, here's the aforementioned post on dying playsilks. I basically ripped this quasi tutorial out of a Facebook album I made last spring, with some edits. Without further adieu: 

A Tutorial: How to Dye Your Own Playsilks

I had wanted to make some playsilks for some time. I was starting to hate plastic toys, and was just off the high of donating a bunch of Cruncher's things. Yeah, I'm that mom. You can buy playsilks retail at about $15 a pop, but no. Not when I can make my own. 

I had recently contracted someone to make a play stand for Cruncher, and if I wanted the full crunchy-montessori-Waldorf experience, there had to be playsilks. After all, his play stand needed a roof, and I wanted him to look up and see the sky. 

I bought the Habotai silk scarves from Dharma Trading Co.: a big silk for the roof, some hankerchiefs, some long ones, plus one really long one (a freebie for ordering so much) for an experimental rainbow-dye job. If you want to know the exact sizes I bought, let me know, and I'll check out my order history. My intentions with the longer silks were to tie them on little wooden rings I bought from Casey's Wood Products. I TOTALLY recommend both companies for DIY fun. Solid products, great prices, fast service.

(Aside: Now we're working our way through a Ben Folds set, currently singing "The Luckiest.")

I bought Kool-Aid packages in red, orange, blue, green, yellow and another red that I was hoping was purple. Oh well. Find grape if you want purple. I bought Mason jars for the project, but I planned to reuse them to organize crafting notions and whatnots. I ended up making these instead: 

Here's a better playsilk tutorial than the one I used. I probably could have stood to let the red ones soak longer. It took foooooorever to rinse them to clear.

First step (top left): Soak silks in hot water with a splash of white vinegar for 10 minutes. They were in my medium-sized pot in my sink. Step 2 (top right): After mixing half a jar of hot water with a splash of vinegar and three packets of Kool-aid per jar, I placed the silks in the jars. I filled my stockpot about 1/3 full and let the jars simmer in my stock pot on the stove for 15 minutes. The water in the jars should get milky, like the blue looks. Step 3 (bottom left): Rinse each silk in cool water until the water runs clear. Oh. WEAR GLOVES FOR THE ENTIRE PROCESS. I made the mistake of removing mine when hanging the playsilks to dry, and my fingertips looked like I'd recently got a messy spray tan. Step 4 (bottom right): Admire your pretty colors. : )  As I rinsed each silk, I also rinsed the silk's jar and put the silk back in, so the colors weren't touching each other. 

Step 5: And then hang to dry. I was careful to not let the silks touch each other. On a perfectly lovely day, drying won't take long. And I would certainly dry them outside, in case there are drips. The tutorial shows the silks drying on a shower curtain rod, but I'd hate for the dye drips to get on the tub or floor.  In the pictures above, the clothespins really are that ginormous, also from Casey's Wood Products. I later used those clothespins to clip the large sky silk on the roof of the play stand. The playsilk pictured on the left was my try at a rainbow scarf. 

Does it look like the sky? I think so. I'm glad I still only used three packets of Kool-Aid for the sky's dye. There was more fabric to absorb the dye in that jar, which caused the color to come out softer than the small blue ones.

Finished! Left: There are the wooden rings. The silks on rings are good for pretending to be birds, butterflies and other flying creatures. Top right: Fire. Watch out — it's HOT! Bottom right: A river runs through it.

Cruncher used the blue silks for water in his sink, and the red one for washing and drying dishes.

Right now, the play stand and silks reside in a room downstairs, which we are supposed to convert into a playroom. Hopefully, that happens before Cruncher is too old to care.

Yay — another post for the "Homemaking" tab!! Thanks for the inspiration, Michele. In a later post, I'll outline the Easter traditions I mentioned in that original comment.

What I Wore Sunday, or The One in Which The Kids Think I'm Cool

by Shannon

Editor's Note: We'd love to have you subscribe to The Sword and the Stein, whichever way is easiest for you. The Facebook button, other subscribe buttons and doodads are to the left. We're trying to post more regularly through the week, and I've featured fashion on days other than the Sabbath (shock!). I'm excited about a post I'm going to do in the next day or two called "Balancing the Fashion Equation," and I also plan to rant about how difficult it is to dress a little boy. Ryan's conceptualizing a post about spiritual poverty, since he's our resident swordy poster. We get bored, so swing back in sometime and say hello! 


I ran some women's errands after Mass today, and a young cashier told me my outfit was "super-cute," so I guess I'm cool with The Kids these days. I know she was über hip because she was wearing a literal hair bow (where all her hair was forming a big bow atop her head), and she had Pinterest eye makeup with sparkles. What do you think: Did I dress 15 years too young? I felt modest, modern, feminine and fun, so a win-win-win-win.

My right pinkie finger has gone rogue.

Deets:
Rose Earrings: 1928
Black shrug: Dress Barn
Exaggerated Chain Necklace: Target
Gold Lace Dress: Jessica Simpson, Macy's (bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding — I totally wore it again!)
Black Belt: Simply Vera, Kohls
Tortoiseshell Watch: Fossil
Black Tights: Target
Black Ankle Boots: Report, Zappos

My women's errands included grocery shopping and BUYING A NEW APPLIANCE!! If you don't get excited when brining home a new appliance, I do believe you are lying through your pretty little teeth. Or you're just not doing it right.

Let's tell her what she's won! A braaaaand neeeeeew...

VACUUM CLEANER!!

There's a little dust bunny right ... over ... there — oh, HEY! How nice to see you!

I'll be especially efficient around the homestead now that I have a new lightweight vacuum cleaner. It's so light, I can carry it all by myself. My husband is very excited about the prospects of dinner being ready a few minutes early each evening, now that I have a new lightweight vacuum cleaner. This new lightweight vacuum cleaner gives my life new purpose. I think I'll invite my girlfriends over this week to show them how awesome my new lightweight vacuum cleaner is. I know they're dying for a new lightweight vacuum cleaner that will save their marriages.

I'll get those vermin if it's the last thing I do, y'all. Crazy bunnies...

On a more serious note...

I veiled for the first and second times yesterday and today, and I'm sold. It's been a long time since I've felt so focused and reverent during Mass. Yesterday, my Divine Intimacy reading was amazingly poignant. 

"O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine. ... The exterior attitude and the humility of our words are useless unless accompanied by lowliness of heart; many times they are but the mask of a refined pride. ... First make clean the inside."

A few other notes from the weekend's homilies. 1. Turn to God and ask for humility of heart. 2. The only thing to fear in God is losing Him. 3. Take God's love to heart so it may bear fruit on Earth. 

Oh, and if you're interested in amping up your prayer action for the Conclave, Adopt a Cardinal! We got His Eminence Paolo Sardi. He's not likely to be elected, since he's nearly 80, so Ryan and I are really excited about the prospects of Cardinal O'Malley. We still need to put together our blog roll, and he'll be near the top.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure Cruncher sensed the veil was important to me, so he bothered Ryan more than me during Mass. Worth. It. 

Mosey on over to the ladies at Fine Linen and Purple for less snarky posts.

Sola Scriptura on the Road to Emmaus

by Ryan

St. Martin of Tours, St. Gregory Chapel, Louisville, Kentucky

There are times in life that a word or idea won’t go away — what composer Richard Wagner might have called a leitmotif. If something reoccurs enough times, and you are already a bit of an odd ball, you begin to think: Surely, this is a sign. My sign? Emmaus.

• A church's outdoor sign on the drive to my school, featuring the Emmaus Road Quartet. This Sunday only!
• A fellow teacher asking me if I was attending an Emmaus Walk this year.
• My latest Bible study taking me to Luke 24, where a passage about the road to Emmaus is found.

Well, Emmaus it is! I try my hardest to read each chapter in my Bible study as if I were reading it for the first time. My most recent study of Luke 24 unearthed something rather unexpected — a harrowing challenge to sola scriptura — the idea that any Christian can understand, without error, the things of God with the Bible and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is not my goal, however, to refute sola scriptura point by point (there is already abundant material available to that end), but rather to reflect on this reading and the aforementioned challenge it would seem to give the subscriber to that theological viewpoint.

St. Louis Bertrand, Louisville, Kentucky

The account of the road to Emmaus can be found at Luke 24:13-35. Two travelers (one who is named Cleopas) are returning to Emmaus from Jerusalem and are recounting amongst themselves the events of the last few days — involving Jesus, his death and seeming disappearance from the tomb. During their conversation, Jesus joins them on the road; the eyes of the disciples are obscured from recognizing their Savior. The next few lines of the story struck me as peculiar:

“Then he said to them, Too slow of wit, too dull of heart, to believe all those sayings of the prophets! Was it not to be expected that the Christ should undergo these sufferings, and enter so into his glory? Then, going back to Moses and the whole line of the prophets, he began to interpret the words used of himself by all the scriptures.” (Luke 24:25-27)

For the subscriber to sola scriptura, the following text must come as a shock — the disciples do not yet realize that Jesus is in their midst — they have not been brought to all understanding by hearing the scriptures. Even though their hearts “did burn at his words” (Luke 24:32), the glory of God remained concealed. An objection might be made on the grounds that the travelers did not yet have the Holy Spirit; indeed, that the Spirit did not yet have them. This objection would seem to be nullified when considering that it is God-Made Man, Jesus Christ, who was teaching the travelers, and even the Word of God from the Word-Made Flesh does not open the eyes of Cleopas and his companion. It is in the next turn of events where these disciples finally see:

"And then, when he sat down at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and offered it to them; whereupon their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and with that, he disappeared from their sight."(Luke 24:30-31)

This, to me, has to be the difficulty of difficulties in this passage: Jesus reveals himself through the appearance of bread. Not only that, but he uses a prayer formula very similar to that found in Luke 22:19. This Passover prayer is where he equates the bread with his body: "This is my body." Here, a handful of hours after his resurrection, Jesus seems to show us that his Passover sacrifice is in continuance — not as a repeated sacrifice, but the same sacrifice in perpetuity. It is in this re-presentation of the Passover meal that Cleopas and his companion meet Jesus; they come into contact with Christ in the flesh — not merely a symbol. What the scriptures anticipated, in mysterious and clouded ways, as “through a glass darkly” is now seen “face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12) — the physical reality of Christ, revealed in simple bread. If the travelers met Jesus in this bread, then is it such a stretch to think that we, weary travelers on the road to life, still meet Jesus in this way?

St. Louis Bertrand, Louisville, Kentucky

So, are the scriptures then unimportant next to the glory of God manifested in this bread? I think that would create a false dichotomy — these things do not oppose each other, since they are both of Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God (the scriptures) and the Word-Made Flesh. The incident on the road to Emmaus shows us that these realities reside together, belong with each other, reveal each other. Indeed, it is these two ideas that we find bound together in the Mass. Or, as found in scripture under the appearance of marriage: “…what God, then, has joined, let not man put asunder" (Matthew 19:6).

Seven Quick Takes

by Shannon

"I have not been called to be successful, but to be faithful."

~Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

This is our blog's first dive into "Seven Quick Takes" with Jen Fulwiler at Conversion Diary. Knowing me, they won't be quick.

~1~

First off, this:

source: Catholic Memes

We will dearly miss him so, but he will continue to be an inspiration, which is such a blessing.

~2~

So, this happened tonight:

Yes, there was beer involved, but not nearly enough beer to justify it.

Speaking of beer, this is my companion tonight as I blog.

Ryan picked it out for me, this being his inspiration. Cruncher pretty much knows all the words to "The Saga Begins," because every 5-year-old Catholic boy should. 

~3~

This week is a break from school, so the before-and-after-school program asked us for $30 extra if we wanted Cruncher to attend a few field trips. I was thinking zoo (if we had a warm snap), art museum, science center. You know — the educational stuff.

Instead, he has gone to an animal shelter (not bad) and Build-A-Bear (pictured), and tomorrow is GattiLand. I repeat — GattiLand. For serious? It's the ghetto Chuck E. Cheese, and they call that a field trip? [Insert snarky comment about the public school system here.]

At least Cruncher likes his new bear, Nolen. (Yes, with an E.)

~4~

Got my boots! The brown ones are going back. But I'm getting the same pair. You see, I'm the type who examines things before I buy them, picking the item that looks least touched, and I refuse to buy something if there's anything that needs fixing. I always pull my groceries from the back of the shelf. So there are a couple things about the brown boots that aren't Just. Quite. Right. So, I'm going to give it another whirl. Kind of a gamble, but here's hoping. 

The black ones are great, though. 

Deets:

Cape: Vintage, consignment shop in town

Skirt, H&M, consignment shop in town

Tights: Target

Boots: Report, Zappos

Since it's the end of the season, I also bought a new coat. It's actually more of a fall-jacket weight, but I prefer my coats light for layering. 

I'm pleased as punch with it, and I've been able to test it out in the cold this week, since we had flurries twice! I was perfectly warm.

Deets:
Coat: Daughters of the Liberation, consignment shop in town

It was $30, and I gather the brand is sold by Anthropologie, so I'm pretty sure I got an amazing deal, especially since it looks as if it's never been worn.

~5~

I'm ahead of schedule on Easter prep because I'm actually using my planner this year. I'm usually scrambling through Holy Week, so I'm feeling pretty confident. We do a family basket instead of individuals, and I always fill it with books, so I went ahead to our favorite local book store yesterday to pick up everything. I can't enter that store without spending at least $20, and I found a couple additional non-religious books to give to Cruncher yesterday:

Cruncher's teacher has encouraged non-fiction stories since November, so the Ben Franklin book for $1 was a good find. Also, Ryan's had his eye on the Merriam-Webster Pictorial Dictionary for Cruncher, but thinks he might yet be too young for it. When I found this Mother Goose in Hieroglyphics book for $1.50, I knew Ryan would get a kick out of it. He actually said, "Oh, yay!" when I showed it to him. There's a key in the back to answer the picture riddles, so it'll be fun to see if we can guess the right words for the rhythms and rhymes. Also, Cruncher should be able to read most of the printed words on his own.

Next items on my Easter Preparation List: Cruncher's outfit (he wants a mis-matched suit), DIY plans for a door wreath and some sort of sacred artwork. I'm hoping for a new Stations of the Cross picture or a vintage icon of the Last Supper. I'd also like to get our front door painted before spring and start working on the garden around St. Patrick's Day.

~6~

It's Friday afternoon, and you realize you didn't plan head for your meatless meal. No worries — if you have a carton of eggs, you can make a frittata! A frittata is a fantastic way to clean out your fridge, getting rid of anything and everything that's about to go bad, or known as "borderline" in our house (commence singing Madonna here). Ryan and I love to serve frittata with tasty things, though, as we did this past Sunday. Here's the step-by-step, but you actually can use just about any combination of cheese, veggies and meat (or no meat) that you please.

Ingredients: Italian mix of shredded cheese, spinach (1 bag frozen or fresh), 9 eggs, 4 or 5 green onions, 4 oz. of goat cheese, 1/2 a cup of sun-dried tomatoes and 4 oz. of mushrooms

Heat an oven-safe skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil on a medium heat, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the mushrooms, and slice them (unless you're lazy — ahem! — resourceful like me and bought the pre-sliced ones). Chop the white and light green part of 4 or 5 green onions and about half a cup of sun-dried tomatoes. 

Throw the veggie mixture in the skillet, and sauté until the mushrooms are a little soft. At this point, I added some pre-cooked breakfast sausage, but it's optional. Sauté until everything was warmed through. While this is going on, chop up the rest of your green onion, then throw the spinach and green onion in the skillet. The spinach is fluffy, so I threw a random lid on top to help steam the spinach. 

While the spinach is shrinking down, crack nine eggs in a mixing bowl, and pour in 2 or 3 tablespoons of half and half, milk or cream. Then throw in about 4 oz. of shredded cheese (I prefer white cheeses when including goat cheese), and whisk it up until mixed. 

The spinach should be shriveled up, so pour the egg mixture on top. Use a spatula to pull up the fried mixture so the eggs can seep underneath. No need to mix and swirl it. Crumble the goat cheese all along the top, like your dressing a pizza, and sprinkle some pepper up top. As it cooks, run your spatula along the edges of the skillet to keep it from sticking. When the entire thing is about halfway set (to where it's no longer liquidy, but the mixture still jiggles like jello when you shake the skillet), throw it in the oven for 13-15 minutes. 

Ta da! You'll know it's finished when it's a little brown around the edges and no longer jiggly.

Since our frittata was dinner for guests (though it would make a fantastic breakfast), we served some local truffles and caramels, toasted French bread, blueberries and cheeses. 

And a few pictures of our Sunday guests, Isaac and Tenille with their sweet children:

Our most recently baptized Godson, Little Bear.

I think Isaac was more than a little pleased to see Boo-Boo so enthralled with Cruncher's Star Wars toys.

A couple years back, we first met Isaac and Tenille was with Boo-Boo at our favorite bookstore. As all six of us hung out in the Catholic section, Isaac turned to us and said, "Do you go to St. Martin"? Why, yes we do.

Visit again soon!

~7~

I was talking about veiling with Ryan today, and it's just ridiculous that I care so much about what people think. I'm judging people for judging me, when I should be giving people the benefit of the doubt. After all, "You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could only know how seldom they do" (source). I need to remove the pressure to be successful in everything I do and not claim the power to control things. Trust God, and be the best version of me I can be.

"Blessed is the servant that does not think himself any better when people make much of him and exalt him than when they consider him worthless, ordinary and contemptible. For what a person is before God, so much he is, and no more."

~St. Francis of Assisi