Fun Little Fellow

I've been helping out as a daily volunteer in my granddaughter's classroom. That commitment has left precious little time for crafting which in turn leaves little to blog about. But there HAS been one fun little addition around here. 

I HAD been selling off my ball jointed dolls, intent on leaving the hobby. This little Dream High Studio "House Elf" enchanted me and convinced me that I was missing out on too much fun.

My original intent was to style him as a drab "old man next door" type of character -- a quiet loner into books, newspapers and other solitary activities. He went along with that idea for a brief bit but is now demanding much more colour, pattern, and FUN in his life. 

With his direction and supervision I've made him a fun new chair. Now he is refusing to get into his drab old man clothes.  He wants a new wardrobe too! "Lots of colour, pattern, and FUN, just like the chair!", says he.

Oh. And apparently I'm to make another chair. He says he's intent on wooing a lovely lady he has just met via the Internet and when she comes visiting she'll need a place to sit. 

March in April

Now that April is well underway I am finally getting around to posting a picture of the March section of the "My Year in Temperatures" scarf.

With March bringing warmer temperatures than we saw in February the scarf got a little more colourful! The "tomato" red is the warmest weather we've had so far this year. That was March 12, with a high temperature of 18°C (64°F). We saw 7 days with lows of 0°C (32°F). Those lows are represented by the dark blue green dots (Knitpicks Palette in "Rainforest"). The black garter stitch ridges divide March from February and April. 

Retired After 44+ Years

After more than 44 long years of dedicated service --

-- the squeak of the handle of this well worn lunch kit will no longer be announcing my husband's return from work as a telephone lineman.

Today is the first day in over 44 years (not counting vacation time and the very rare sick day) that both he and his lunch box will not be heading off to work. The two of them have now officially retired. I'm so thankful for all the years he worked to support our family and to secure a comfortable future for us.

Enjoy your retirement Brian, you deserve it!  ahem  Are you ready for your "Honey Do" list?

(Full disclosure? This lunch kit wasn't  quite with him the entire time. For the first few years he had a shorter one just like it.)

Boro Progress

Looking back through previous blog posts I see that I started the work on this boro vest almost a year ago. Since the last update I've added many more patches and a whole lot of stitching to the front.

It's still not "complete". Some of the patches don't have their reinforcing stitching done.

And I have plans to eventually add patches to those lower pockets as well.

In the meantime I wear the vest almost daily, as an added layer as one would a favourite cardigan,

and that has added some wear to the front button band which, in the true boro style, now needs patches on its patches! I hope to keep repairing this garment as the need arises. I think it has an element of "wabi-sabi" to it. Quoting a Wikipedia's entry on wabi-sabi: "The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete."

Finished at Long Last

I've been far busier lately than my non-existent blogging might suggest! Knowing how the computer can be a time sucking vortex I've been avoiding it, preferring to spend my time in more productive pursuits. It's working, I have finished projects!

In the last while I finally managed to finish sweaters for BOTH of my granddaughters. The girls have been waiting for their promised "back to school" sweaters for quite some time! I lost my knitting mojo part way through and the projects stalled for months on end. Then when I had the knitting nearly complete I discovered that both cardigans needed some adjustments to fit properly. That was rather discouraging and again the knitting stalled.

But now, finally, the delayed projects are complete and have been delivered -- a full six months later than I originally intended, but still large enough for both girls to wear them for quite some time yet. Years perhaps! In other hobby news: Work continues on the "My Year In Temperatures" scarf, my denim boro vest is constantly being added to, and my large cross-stitch picture is nearly complete with only the back stitching yet to be done. I work on that last project every single day, without fail.

February All Knit Up

The work on the "My Year in Temperatures" scarf continues. February is now all knit up. The section you see from black garter stitch ridge to black garter stitch ridge is February's section.

Each day is represented by three rows in a colour that coincides with the day's high temperature in Chilliwack. The dots that are placed every 6th stitch on the 2nd row of each day are in the colour that represents the low for that day. Kapisch?

This photo of the knitting since the beginning of the year is probably the last shot where you will see the project in its entirety. A little more knitting and it will be too long to capture in one photograph! At the end of the year my calculations have it at a length of about 10 feet! Perhaps not a practical length, but fun!

At War With Himself

After about 48 hours in his new home Solomon discovered he had a rival next door.

It wasn't long before the war began. He spends well over an hour each morning flaring aggressively at his reflection in the glass, even attacking that annoying mimic at times.

Some flaring is rumoured to be good for a Betta fish, something like flexing one's muscles, but too much time spent flaring and charging back and forth must be stressful for the poor fish. I can just imagine the strain caused by the need to defend your home against an aggressive and threatening neighbour each and every day! 

I tried leaving the lights off in the tank but it didn't completely eliminate the problem, and what's the point in having a fish tank if you can't see the fish?!

Today, after reading about fixes for this kind of Betta behaviour, I went out and bought a bushy fern type plant that will fill the 6" x 10" end of his tank where most of the problem occurs. 

He's a very curious little guy and it wasn't more than a minute before he was over there checking it out.

Was that a nibble I saw? Hopefully now he knows it's fake and not edible.

But now there is another problem!

His curiosity may just get him into trouble!! I'll have to watch him carefully. I was worried about him there for a bit, thinking him stuck, but when I moved my hand closer he scurried out of there with no difficulty. Now he seems to have found a favourite spot, resting way up at the top near the surface of the water. 

I read on a spiritual site recently that if you pay attention to the animals and nature around you they can have a message for you. After watching Solomon fight with himself with such ferocity and persistence, possibly bringing harm to himself in the long term, I can't help but see that there is an important message in that for me.

Bonus picture! 

Solomon's Debut

Meet my beautiful new Betta fish, Solomon, just purchased today. His name means "peace" in Hebrew.

I'm not sure, but I think he'd be classified as a "Half Moon Fancy". 

I chose him for his striking colours, but I'm happy to find that he is also a very peaceful fish, not bothering his tank mates at all. 

With Love and Gratitude

My husband asked me to sew up a few holes in the safety overalls he wears at work. He's hoping to make them last until his retirement, which isn't too terribly far off.

He said it didn't have to be pretty. I think what he actually meant was "please don't make it pretty!!" as he has seen my ongoing work on my own Boro/Sashiko vest.

So here we are, a few discrete patches hidden in behind the main fabric, with stitching matched as close as possible to the overall fabric. 

Completely invisible mends were not possible since some of the rips, including this three corner tear, were large, gaping, and surrounded by fabric that was nearly worn through. I think I closed them up quite nicely. 

Once I had the overalls in my hands I noticed many more, smaller tears and holes and I stitched those up too. I made sure I sewed down the areas where the reflective safety tape was coming loose too. 

As I contemplated the 44+ years my husband has put in as a telephone lineman I couldn't help but feel an immense love, gratitude, and respect for this hardworking man of mine and his dedication to supporting his family and doing his best for his employer.

Dwindling Macaw

January in this area saw temperatures that remained predominantly in the grass to macaw range. Errm -- I mean in the 3 to 8 degrees celsius range, (37 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit).

I've been keeping up with the knitting of the "My Year In Temperatures" scarf by knitting 6 rows every second day. That's 3 rows to represent the high temperature for each day. The speckles in the scarf represent each day's low temperature. 

If you look very carefully you might spot a row where you would assume I forgot the speckles. I didn't. In my colour line up each colour spans 3 degrees. That particular day the high temperature and the low temperature were within 3 degrees of each other so they were both represented by the same colour.

I've been going through an awful lot of the colour "macaw", which is a problem because it was the one colour that I did not start off with a full ball of. I'll have to order more. Soon.

Hunger Games

I've been using my new Instant Pot pressure cooker for a few weeks now. I've had some great success with recipes that will now go into our regular rotation. I've made one or two meals that, while edible, won't be something I'll be repeating. 

Tonight I branched out, away from published recipes, and tried something I threw together on my own. Truly "threw together" since I made it up as I went along using ingredients I had on hand. Apparently, like the Hunger Games inspired sticker says, the odds were "ever in my flavour".

Ground beef sauteed in the pot with a small amount of onion. Add 1 can of mushroom soup whisked until smooth, 4.5 cups of beef broth, 1 can of diced tomatoes, and 16 ounces of fusilli pasta. All dumped into the pot together and then cooked on high pressure for 6 minutes. Quick release. Salt and pepper to taste. A variety of other spices could be added, but the important part, for me, was that I got the ratio of liquids and the timing right. It was perfectly cooked and neither too dry nor too moist. 

Yay! The odds aren't always in my favour, but they were this time.

2017's Bounty of Coin

I walk a lot. While walking I often find coins. A surprising number of coins!

I consider the finding of a coin to be a little wink and a nudge from my Guardian Angels or Spiritual Guides. Perhaps confirmation that I am on the right path? I often get goosebumps when I find a coin, like an angel is smiling down on me. I feel acknowledged and loved. It always makes me smile in return.

In 2017 I found over 40 coins! $5.24 worth. 

Was I walking along, nose to the ground, searching? Not at all! In fact, every time I found a coin I had only glanced momentarily at the ground. Often only because Kona, the dog that I walk, had paused to examine something.

$5.24 may not seem like a lot, but the feeling those winks and nudges give me is priceless.

I've started off 2018 right, finding 3 pennies all at once yesterday. Some people won't bother to stoop and pick up a penny, especially now that they've been discontinued. Me? I never leave a blessing behind.

This Will Take a Year

I have many projects on the go at once. I have so many textile hobbies that even if I do only one project in each area of interest it still adds up to a lot of ongoing projects and to spreading myself pretty thin. At the moment though I actually have 2 knitting projects on the go. One is the cardigan I am knitting for my granddaughter. "Am knitting" -- hmm, sounds so current, so active, doesn't it? Truth is it hasn't been picked up or added to for a while. I really must get back at that!

I have been doing a little knitting each day though. A VERY little. Three rows to be exact. This will be a "Year in Temperatures" scarf. I'll be recording the daily high and low temperatures for my area in what will become a very long scarf.

I have 17 colours chosen, and each colour represents 3 degrees Celsius. The main colour in each 3 row stripe represents the day's high while every 6th stitch in the centre row represents the low recorded for that day. I'll begin and end the scarf with 5 rows of black, and separate the months with 2 rows of black. Because there is a chance I might miss hearing the daily temperature or get a little behind in my knitting I'll be relying on a "past weather" page at TimeandDate.com. 

A Little of a Lot

I've been doing little bits of a lot of different things lately -- which doesn't add up to much progress in any one area!

Now and then I sit down at the loom to work on my weaving project for the Three Random Colour guild challenge. I finally managed to get this infinity scarf off the loom, fringes twisted, wet finished, and now hanging to dry. It will get a pressing and a final trim of the fringe tomorrow. The warp left on the loom still has enough length left for a second coordinating project though.

I've done a little knitting on my granddaughter's sweater. The pockets are knitted now but some sewing on one of them still needs attention. The button bands are also complete. I have stalled on the sleeves though. I'm just really not in the mood for knitting and only occasionally force myself to pick it up.

I've been getting a surprising amount of enjoyment out of simpler things lately. Like mending the worn knees of my son's work jeans.

During the patching a little Boro stitching may have spontaneously happened. He doesn't seem to mind. In real life his black work jeans are much darker than they appear here so the stitching isn't so noticable. 

Inspired by the success of patching his jeans I picked up a really inexpensive pair of artificially distressed and ripped jeans from Winners. My intent is to play around with doing some decorative Boro on them. I might add additional embroidery or other embellishment as well, as the mood strikes. 

What I didn't take into consideration is that the "skinny" jeans have a lot of stretch to them and I'll have to adapt my method so that even once stitched they will still retain their ability to expand and contract. I'm using a doubled piece of stretch jersey for the patch and I'm stretching both it and the jeans in an embroidery hoop, which is not traditional for Boro, which is usually just hand held. 

And finally I DO have one finish! The fabric for this simple v-neck t-shirt with 3/4 sleeves has been cut out and laying in a heap in my sewing room for months. I finally got around to sewing it up today. I've made this pattern, #2805 Women's T-Shirts, by Jalie before and it always turns out great. 

Oh! I nearly forgot to include the cross-stitching! I've been doing about an hour's worth on the train picture every morning as I have my coffee. No progress photo of that though, it's very slow going and updates will be few and far between. 

Do You See What I See?

This little book follows a big, but puzzling trend.

If you happen to shop at book stores, department stores, or craft stores, you can't help but notice the huge on trend "thing" that adult colouring books have become. I must admit, I don't really get it!

I have always had plenty of interesting, creative hobbies, and not enough time to enjoy them all, therefor colouring just has no pull for me. Looking through it I do find that some of the pages might work well as inspiration for detailed embroidery. I'm not likely to actually DO that though so off it goes!

My eldest daughter has more time for such things, and finds colouring relaxing, so I'll be passing this book, "Bliss Christmas Coloring Book: Your Passport to Calm", on to her.

This book was provided by Dover Publications Inc. that I might give an honest review. I receive no further compensation. The Amazon.com link is only for your convenience.

Saturday Evening Post-ers

This book delivers 30 ready-to-frame reprints of classic Saturday Evening Post holiday covers spanning the years from 1913 - 1960. Although many of the prints have an endearing Rockwell feel to them only three are actually Norman Rockwell reprints. Six of the reprints are of works by J.C. Leyendecker, while four are by George Hughes, three each by Richard Sargent and Stevan Dohanos as well as eleven others by various artists.

All are easy to pull from the book, ready to be framed. I'm considering having my favourites coil-bound flip chart style so that I can display them during the holiday season, choosing a new print for each day, much like an advent calendar.

The remainder of the book is dedicated to adult colouring book enthusiasts. Each of the 30 Saturday Evening Post reprints is presented as a line drawing, ready to colour. With so many other hobbies consuming my time, and grandchildren too young for so much detailed colouring, I'll likely give these pages away.

Dover Publications provided this book, "The Saturday Evening Post Christmas Treasury" at no charge, that I might give an honest review. I receive no further compensation and the link I have provided here is just for your convenience. 

Not Child's Play!

Well this one certainly hasn't turned out to be "easy-to-make", and I certainly wouldn't classify it as a "holiday activity for the whole family" as stated in the blurb on the back cover of, "Cut & Assemble Santa's Workshop". Nor would I suggest that it "would make a charming keepsake decoration", since a paper model would be difficult to store safely from one year to the next.

But despite the very misleading information in the blurb, I do think this publication, and the resulting 3D paper model of Santa's Workshop, would make a fun holiday activity for a very patient adult or teen that has a lot of time on their hands, good eyesight, and a steady hand, and also happens to love paper craft models. 

I just don't happen to be that person.

This is the first of three Christmas themed books I have received at no charge from Dover Publications Inc. in exchange for my honest review. The link I provided here is solely for my readers convenience as, beyond the free book, I get no further compensation.

Tree's Up

Ben got his tree up yesterday.

I wish mine was as simple to arrange. Maybe I'll get to that one later today.

Cleaning Crew of Two

Weekly cleanings and water changes were not keeping the algae at bay so I hired a cleaning crew.

Meet Zig and Zag, the two new Zebra Nerite Snails. 

They were chosen for their ability to clean efficiently while NOT reproducing. 

The fuzzy green sphere in the background of both pictures is a Marimo ball, named "Moe" by my granddaughter. She felt that the Panda Tetras, Eenie, Meanie, and Miny really needed a Moe to make a complete quartet. 

Happy Halloween!

Trixe and Flame are all dressed in their costumes and ready for a fun night of Trick-or-Treating. They are a little concerned that their dedication to collecting donations for the charity food drive might slow them down.

I hope Trixie remembers to bring Benjamin Bowser's leash. When the wagon is full of donations he'll have to get out and walk.