Month: January 2022

Ancestral UFOs

On By CarynIn Craft

Boy, is that title going to be misinterpreted. UFO in this case is “Unfinished Object”, and refers to my Grandma’s knitting projects. I finished one in 2018 (which was before this blog started). Rather than try to match Grandma’s knitting (or rip out to the point the pattern needed, which was probably why she abandoned the project), I made it a patchwork of knitting and crochet, even using the same brand but different colors of yarn. It came out nice and long and finished!

Conglomerate blanket finished in 2018 using sections of knitting and crochet (Grandma’s section is the third from the bottom)

I have another project, which does not appear to need any ripping. It is the start of a beautiful cabled blanket. Grandma laminated the pattern and took notes each time she made a version. It appears that she used this pattern 10 times before this cream one, the first being made in 1974. If I am reading her notes correctly, it seems that she started this cream version in 2006, but then restarted in April of 2013. She passed in November of that year. She marked each row of the pattern with a minus when she started working on the row, then made it a plus when she finished the row, so she could tell exactly where she was (I know because she stopped mid-row, and it corresponds with the markings).

Grandma’s unfinished blanket with laminated and marked pattern, and cutout magazine photo

Yes, I am going to attempt to finish her project, but there are some preparatory steps I need to take first. I need to make a swatch to get the feel of the pattern under my fingers (and make sure I can), and I need to wrap my head around a project that will take me months to finish. Grandma wrote on her pattern that it took her “35 minutes to do two rows, 10 min back row, 25 min front row”. So only the center section of one of these blankets took her 63 hours to complete. And I am not the knitter she was.

The portion of work my Grandma completed on this cabled blanket

I am glad she left notes on her pattern, not only for her own memory, but so she could share that information with me. It would have been better to sit with her to receive instruction, but I am happy that I am still able to learn from her experience.

American Woodcock

On By CarynIn Wildlife

Well here is something new on the trail cam: an American Woodcock. We were quite shocked when we saw the long beak of a shore bird in the camera footage. The camera is situated along a mostly dry creek bed on the edge of our property, but we’ve been here four years without an identifiable picture of one of these (also called timberdoodles). We are on the western edge of their territory. I rather hope it likes it here and we get more sightings. It is such a curious looking little beastie.

American Woodcock

It worked!

On By CarynIn chickens

And then it didn’t. The saga of the in and out web cam in the coop continues. It was working on the 4th, then not working today. Maybe someday I will figure out under what circumstances everything works, rather than just being buffeted by random happenstance. The camera is on the edge of the wifi range, even with an extender plugged in at the corner of the house closest to the coop, so things are going to be a bit wonky. I am not ready to invest more money into the system, as the chickens are really predictable, going to bed before the automatic door closes, and not getting up and about until well after the door opens, but it is nice to be able to check on them without hauling down to the coop. (Especially when wearing a boot brace. Yes, I’m still shackled.)

Hens in their run seen through the surveillance cam

Color changing spinning top

On By CarynIn Craft

I made another toy top on my lathe. This time I painted it with red, green, and blue to see what would happen when it was spun. Our standard school book learning that red and blue mix to make purple doesn’t quite hold when it comes to reflected light. So the color is different when I spin the top than when I mix the paint, which is fascinating. The coolest part is when I made a video of the spinning top. Because of frame rate, the colors shift and spin through a rainbow in the video. To the naked eye, the spinning top remains magenta, cyan, and gray until it topples. Very interesting phenomena.

Top painted red, green, and blue
Acrylic colors mixed on a pallet (aka paper plate)
Colors as the top is spinning

It really is worthwhile to click on the video link, so I’ll give it to you again.

Overload

On By CarynIn Life Hack

I have reached the max capacity of my media storage for my blog. Oops. As a temporary fix, I upgraded (because that is what they want you to do), but going forward I need to not upload photos directly from my photo album (which saves things in the MB range), but reduce the size first, which is hard to figure out without using a sketchy third-party app from overseas. I retreated to my “poke it until it goes” method of computer programming and was able to put together a shortcut in iPhone to make my photos smaller and put them in a special folder, so I don’t over write my originals. Why is this not easy I do not understand (oh, wait, just addressed that, more money for more storage). Any who, here are the shortcut steps, if any of you need the information. I can’t give you more specific instructions, because I literally just kept trying until something worked. Bah.