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Mystery of the sweater and the feathers.

There were even more feathers attached here and there and everywhere to this sweater purchased last weekend at a garage sale: some lost their grip on the journey home.   It was exactly like this - inside out -  and there were more feathers on the right side.

Since then my curiosity has grown and I plan to return to that house this weekend and solve the mystery of the feathers.

It will require tact.  One assumes (usually correctly!) that when one makes a return visit to a garage sale and inquires about a purchase, there was something wrong with the item.  Case in point:  not so long ago I bought a blender at a sale which the seller assured me worked fine.  When I returned less than an hour later with blender in hand the vendor saw me coming and started up the stairs to her house.  Her daughter called her back.  She did not say a word as I explained that when I put some water and soap in the blender, intending to clean it, and turned it on,  it leaked all over the counter and I might have been ELECTROCUTED.

She finally spoke and asked how much I had paid for it.  Tempted to double or triple or quadruple the price,  I answered truthfully (actually, I did not think of upping the price to cover the cost of my return trip etc. until later;  darn) and she handed over the money without another word.  Harumph!  Buyer beware.  That is why I value church sales where they offer to show you that it works and usually know who donated it.

Where was I?  Oh yes,  the need to be tactful when asking about the sweater.  It won't be hard because I love the sweater,  the colour,  the fabric and it sits cheerfully on the back of a chair as I think about how to repurpose it.

In the meantime,  I am wondering about those feathers and imagining how they got there.  The best I can come up with is that we are a neighbourhood of backyard chickens (I have heard we can have up to 99 hens but no roosters)  and for some reason this sweater was either used to line a nesting box or maybe transport a chicken.  Nancy Drew is on the case!

A very special memory involves looking over the back fence once and seeing a woman carrying a chicken around my neighbour's  garden and softly talking to the bird.  I learned later that the chicken was ill and the lady was soothing it. 

Urban orchards. Victoria BC

View Street  Feb 11  Facing west   From Cook Street to Blanshard.  

Balmoral Street   Already the pink 'snow' has begun to drift down

Valentine's  Day  Stanley Street  from Begbie to Gladstone

Feb 17  Richmond Street  facing north from Richardson

Richmond Street facing south from Richardson

Yates Street facing west toward downtown at Fernwood Road

Feb 21  Meares Street facing west from Cook Street

Princess at Cook looking east

Princess at Cook facing west

Haultain at Roseberry spreading toward the east

Haultain at Belmont

Haultain at Belmont

An old tie repurposed into a water bottle holder/carrier

One of the discoveries on a fibre archeology charity sale dig was this intriguing old tie.  I have used two or more such ties  before to make bags but this time wanted something to fit a water bottle snugly so decided to see what a single tie would be like following that yipppeeedeeeedooo design.

This is how you fold it before stitching and there are only three seams.

It worked just fine.  The tie took on a bit of a twist, as if seeking its best profile to offer for view.

I suspect there may be aspects of  '... can't just eat one salted peanut'  to this :  already I have strolled through the tie  stash   collection and have chosen a perky plaid.

 

Young Lady Champion

This book can be read here for free on Google books.

Hobbes and Hobbes?

Early Sunday morning, along the walkway to the Ogden Point Cafe,  I came across this pair.

The single leash securing both ... the knit scarf ... the waiting stance ...  the occasional bark ....  reaction of other passersby ...  I found the whole situation absolutely charming.  That would have been enough.

But then a young girl and her father came out from the cafe and the, um ... more active dog let it be known that this was family. 

Since I was obviously taking photos of their dogs I stated the obvious and was assured that was just fine and their names were both  "Dee Dee"  and  "They keep each other company."  When I mentioned that people had been enjoying the sight of the two pals the man said,  "I'm glad they might have cheered someone up."

Hangers

While looking through the closet  for a hanger to display a garment heading to an art show,  I took time to admire these. 

Some I adorned with yarn or ties or thrift store cashmere sweaters.  The hands-clasped one was a find at a fibre archeology  dig church sale.  The rest were collected here and there over the years.

It seems that the clothing that companions me through the day deserves to rest between outings on pretty or unique or interesting hangers.

Sprouting adventure continues

The same thrill I feel looking through a seed catalogue  is now happening when I stand in front of the bulk section of a grocery store choosing what to 'plant' in the sprout jars.  What started here continues!

Here are two sprouting (black and white beans),  two soaking (green lentils and mustard seeds) ,  and some chick peas about to be snacked upon. 

This is a day or so later. 

I like how the seeds,  even in the initial sprouting stage, are soft and edible. 

Here is a selection from those jars, mixed with some olive oil and sprinkled with smoked salt, making an impromptu salad.

If Bill Watterson lived next door ...

... I'd bake him an apple pie.

Scrumbs - and what to do with them

They seem like a harvest to me,  those bits and pieces of thread and yarn and fabric etc. that result from fibre projects;  sort of like seeds waiting on new growth and producing heinz hybrids. 

They get stored in jars on a kitchen shelf waiting on the next stage.  I either need to get another jar or cull the crop.  Actually there is a thought in mind so I expect three jars will soonest, once again, be enough.

For the moment they are eye bon bons,  a record of completed WIP's,  compressed energy.

I have used them on the front of cards -  stitched them onto card stock with the sewing machine - you can if you go slowly. 

The cards have all been sent but the decoration on this hat uses the same idea except the scrumbs are sewn onto a piece of linen instead of paper which was then pinned to the hat.  It's a fibre archeology piece made by the seller's aunt back in the Fifties.

Here the scrumbs were put on top of some raw fleece and felted in a rolled up sushi mat.  I think this is a form of nuno felting but maybe the add-ins have to be more blended in  to be considered as such.  It can be used as a hot holder on the table or under a clear glass plate it makes a pretty place mat.

I've put scrumbs in the bottom of paper slurry bowls. 

Wonder what would happen if I mixed them with something like a light glue and sculpted figures .....   chess pieces?   Hmmmm.

Knitting with porcupine quills

Never having knit with porcupine quills as the needles before I am very glad for the experience.

I didn't know they were porcupine quills;  the lady at the church sale thought they were tortoise shell hair ornaments;  I liked how they were sharp enough to go through the fabric of my blanket coat and would be handy as interesting closures either on their own or through shawl/scarf  pins. 

It was only when I got home did I take a  closer look at them and snap off a photo to Stephanie at KBN with a "porcupine quills?" query to which she replied,  "Yes!"  

Oh, yippee!  And my initial burst of delight at this intriguing identification was more than justified when I wondered what they would be like to knit with and did so.

It is slow knitting,  thoughtful knitting,  paying-attention knitting.  The quills feel warm in my hands.  The synesthesia part of me responds to the bands of light, the bands of dark under my fingers.  The sharp points demand more respect than the blunter ends.  There is the awareness that these were once attached to a creature who may well still be alive.

It is most interesting.