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Scrubbies

Many different kinds of fibre got experimented with to make up a scrubbie as shown here but the plastic twine, plarn (plastic yarn made from cutting up plastic bags), jute, wool etc. were not right for some reason or other.  This sisal works.  It is rough enough to do the job, light enough to not clog with soap, easy to make up, rustic looking and rustic scented (natural!). 

I use it to give the sink and taps a quick wash and scrub every so often, when I am using the sink, which then prevents it from becoming a chore.  No  harsh cleanser is required.  It also works to prevent bath tub ring if the scrubbie is smooshed around as the water is draining from the tub.
You can knit or crochet a little rectangle up in next to no time using a ball of sisal from the hardware store.  I like the look of Tunisian crochet and did this scrubbie on four stitches on four or five rows.  The ends could be woven in but I like the look of them left free with a few knots

Old suitcases : journeying

It's not that I collect suitcases - that suggests a purposeful endeavour - but I do have a collection of old suitcases; thirty-nine or so at last count. They present themselves and I scoop them up, usually at garage or church sales.

Over the years they have been most useful as storage of fibre - wool and material, art supplies and projects, clothing......  Etc!

These are the two most recent acquisitions.  Most have come singly but some do come as a set. That is the neighbourhood cat, Bombay, checking them out when I first brought them home.

 I like it very much when I also learn the history of the suitcases - like the one given to the woman for her high school graduation forty years ago and the one a young man brought from England when he emigrated more than sixty years ago.

A label such as this one also pleases me.

They can perform double duty.  These are now end tables beside the day bed that serves as a chesterfield. 

Vessel felted around balloon

I took a balloon, filled it with sand, wrapped raw wool roving around it and hand felted it in the sink (a very meditative process; highly recommended!).  After letting it dry for awhile I poured the sand out of the balloon, removed balloon .......

.....and when it was completely dry it became a holder for old crochet hooks.

Now I'm looking for a larger balloon to make a similar but much bigger vessel.

Trouble parking the Yaris

What a comfort to know I am not the only one who continues to have trouble parking my darling little Yaris.  Heck, I've parked station wagons and huge American rental cars and cars with wing fenders (that was some years ago, I admit) with far more success.  But after more than two years of continuing to park this mango-coloured cutie (Toyota thinks she is orange) and then having to get in her  again and move her closer to the curb, and then have her tires get too close to the curb and then get in her again and straighten her because she is on the most peculiar angle....well, I thought it was me. Then I got chatting with a man curbside last week about the Yaris - he has one too - and he pointed down at the wheels and said, "Yep, I scrape them just like that.  Don't know why.  Must have something to do with the design."  I thought the same: she feels wedge-shaped from the inside which is just fine for vision and aiming - but hard to park. What I find interesting is how I have not managed to adjust to this over all that time.  At least someone else shares the experience. 

Sometimes it's just too hot to knit

I thought of taking these characters back down to the ocean where I got the stones for their creation and  photographing them there - but - it was such a gorgeous sunny day and the beach would be so delightful - I thought they might not want to come back home.  Besides - they weren't wearing sun screen.

Tweaking Michael Pollan

In his most recent book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan sums up his advice with seven words:

Eat food.  Mostly plants.  Not too much.

I find it most worthwhile that he provides something to carry away and use once the book has been set down.

I suggest that full expression of what he says in the book  is achieved with these changes:

Eat food.  Mostly plants.  Just enough.  Enjoy.

Not too much has that negative connotation that the amount is finite and likely requires an expert to tell us what it is;  just enough suggests the amount is within our control and choosing.

Enjoy.  Let food be a pleasure.  With this as the focus all else falls into place.




 

Did It Myself (DIM) : Cosy hangers

Saturday I found this never-seen-one-like-it-before hanger at a garage sale and was more than pleased with how it looked put to use: the vest I hung on it looked quite chipper as well.

On Sunday, on a street lined with garage sales, this vest captivated me but in spite of it shouting "I would make several great cosy hangers!" and the woman selling it saying, several times, seeing my interest,  "Just try it on, I am sure it will fit, it will look very nice on you" - I passed by and did not buy.  It was in such good shape that I hated to cut it up for material. 

When I had visited all the other sales on the block I turned back and it was still there and I bought it.  Three dollars.

Within minutes (literally) of getting home I had the stitch ripper out and......

this was the result: three pieces of fabric, a separating zipper with a matching do-dad on the end and matching lining material.

The cut material sheds magnificently so I took it out onto the deck (hopefully not adding to the distress of any hay fever sufferers in the neighbourhood) and within a short time had this addition to what keeps garments off the floor.

It was interesting to sew:  I felt as if I were suturing an unshaved cat.

A purple jumper would look very nice on the green, don't you think.

And those two pieces that look like amber are sap from one of the plum trees; it is leaking out for some reason and turning solid in the air.  I brought these indoors to see if they will harden more and then maybe I can drill a hole in them and use them as buttons or beads.  Has anyone had experience of this?

Speculating on spit

Animals lick their wounds and I assume there is something in their saliva that helps with the healing. It seems humans must have this trait as well.  I am also wondering - having never seen an animal spit out after licking itself - if there is something in the wound that triggers the healing ability.

Flowers on a special day....

The bindweed got a glorious hold on the gloriously blooming shasta daisies so I got in the midst and began to untangle.  At times it is enough to find the base of the stems of bindweed, pull them out of the ground, and then, when the plant wilts in a day or so, pull them away from whatever they have been using as as support. In this case it needed quicker intervention: the bindweed was wrapped tightly under the chins of the daisies, choking them. This daisy got separated in spite of my trying to be gentle.  I tucked it into the pocket of my gardening apron and carried it around with me until I got back into the house and it got put into a vase of water. Daisies are very forgiving. It perked right up.
The patch of horseradish is shoulder to shoulder with the iris and the lavender and has gotten rather massive.  As I was staring at it and thinking the roots must be of a size to provide many roast beef dinners with the traditional accompaniment, I suddenly saw the beauty of the leaves.  They became the basis for this bouquet. 

Haiku: Moth

Brown moth; green floor.  Dead.
Blown gently out window,
Let go; final flight.