Month: October 2024

Toes

On By CarynIn photography, Wildlife

I have to share another pic from the zoo, because it is both fascinating and disturbing. This is a tree frog on glass, and the bizarre looking polyps are its toes all tucked up underneath. All those toes! But they look vaguely like slime mold, but toes!

Photo description: tree frog on glass with yellow translucent toes tucked under its body but very visible through the glass

Orthographic satiation is when you look at a word too long and it stops making sense. I currently have that with the word “toes”. I mainly get the written word variety of satiation, probably because I reread what I write many times over, and spelling isn’t my friend. The same effect but auditory is called semantic satiation.

There will be a new rabbit hole tomorrow.

Crochet star, first attempt

On By CarynIn Craft

Looking at the embroidered star I posted about a couple days ago, I wondered if I could crochet the star into the top of a hat.

Photo description: crocheted white star with blue background

I started with ten stitches in a magic circle with white yarn, and did the second row still all in white, increasing each stitch. On the third row I added in the blue for the background and did the increases for the round in blue. I carried the white and blue yarns around, and switched color on the last move of the prior stitch. I finished with a row of blue, then made alternating rows of white and red down the sides. (I actually managed to make a beanie this time, instead of a beret, because I found the white yarn that matched the weight of the red yarn.)

Photo description: alternating rows of white and red crochet for the sides of the hat

I think I can make the star better. The nature of crochet makes it twist a little left, I think I can use that trait to make the points pointier.

Hide my head

On By CarynIn meme, photography

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo, and in the MOLA (Museum of Living Art) there was a very relatable beaded lizard.

Photo description: beaded lizard with only its head stuck in a hole in the desert habitat, front legs are flopped backward, tail curved. I added the words “Not today.”

We see and feel you Beaded Lizard.

Texas beret

On By CarynIn Craft

There was red, white, and blue in the acrylic yarn I was given, and I had the idea of making a Texas flag beanie with a blue top and the sides red and white. My beanie-to-beret mistake here was I used a crochet hook a size or two too big, and the white yarn was a smaller diameter than the red and blue. The crown spread out flat instead of making a gentle curve, so once again I changed the plan to make a beret. The white yarn was the softest, so I used that for the single crochet ribbed band. To finish it off, I embroidered a star outline with the white yarn.

Photo description: blue crocheted circle rimmed with half white, half red, with a chain-stitch embroidered star in white on the blue
Photo description: band side of the hat showing the ribbed band inside the white and red sides

To get the two halves of the hat different colors, I didn’t work in the round, and didn’t carry the yarn, but rather worked half the stitches in white, switched to red, joined the white at the other side, chained 2, turned the work, and did the red back to the white, picked up the white and stitched to the red. All stitches are double crochet (American notation).

Throwback Thursday: silver buttons

On By CarynIn Craft

I did some experiments in button making in February of 2010, tiny silver buttons for my button-collecting Grandmother. One set fashioned from sterling wire, and the other set from silver clay and cubic zirconia, which can survive the firing temperature of the clay.

Photo description: five silver wire buttons on a square printed card with my tree logo and a superimposed branch with five green circles for the small buttons. There are two looped flower buttons, and three double spiraled buttons made of square wire, twisted square wire, and round wire.
Photo description: five small buttons made from silver clay in the shape of leaves, two with cubic zirconia inserts on a square printed card similar to the other photo.

All the buttons have shank loops for sewing, rather than holes through the buttons. It was a fun project, and I think they came out interesting, although they are mostly for show. They are functional buttons, but not practical buttons.