Oh deer!

We have been taking pictures with my Canon digital camera out the back door but I only just downloaded for the last month. Hm. I found the deer pictures my eldest took, when she spotted a doe in the back woods!

Photo description: deer in the backwoods, squirrel tree circus in foreground
Photo description: Zoom in on the deer, watching the house

Do I ever see deer in the yard with my own eyes? No. I see them on camera: either the trail cam or someone else’s picture. Hm.

This may be a deep one

I have stated before that this blog is a collection of rabbit holes, a written account of my exploration of craft related warrens. I have never been a frilly kind of person, not into ruffles and ribbons, but that might change as I have found a reason to be interested in lace.

Photo description: two pieces of lacy fabric, on the left a crocheted square made from natural colored cotton yarn, on the right a section of machine made lace curtain made from white synthetic thread

I have a few pieces of inherited lace in my craft room. Mostly crocheted doilies and machine made lace. My husband and I went antiquing and I found a couple new-to-me kinds of lace examples. It made me want to know how to tell hand made lace from machine made lace. Here is the rabbit hole. I was lumping machine made lace into one big discardable pile, but not only are there varying ratios of hand/machine made, there are different machines that produce different lace, and ways to tell them apart. Ooo, craft identification: lace edition. I see the rabbit hole, have taken a peek, and there are more tunnels. I need to do more reading, but hope to scratch the surface enough to share my findings.

Breakfast puzzle

My sister recently visited and she had a great game for our anxious dog, Missy. She put treats in a hand towel, rolled it up, tied it in a knot and gave it to the dog. Missy loved it, figured out how to get the knot open and the towel unrolled to get to the food.

Photo description: treats, medicine, and kibble spread across a cotton towel
Photo description: small black dog eager for the knotted towel

I’ve started to use the towel trick for Missy’s breakfast. The snuffling helps calm her in the morning, and the puzzle keeps her occupied for about four minutes. The small amount of food stimulates her appetite for the rest of her breakfast.

Kits!

I read that Sally Pointer, an expert in Heritage Education in the UK, had developed a new pamphlet on making cordage and although I know how to make cordage, I wanted to see how she recommends construction. Since the kit is coming from the UK, with air mail prices, I maximized my kit to mailing cost ratio and bought four kits for the same mailing cost as one kit. So excited.

Photo description: string bag kit, braided belt kit, flax cordage kit, and hemp cordage kit from Sally Pointer

I follow Sally on Facebook and YouTube and thoroughly enjoy seeing the historic recreations she makes and appreciate her dedication to education.

Throwback Thursday: combo craft

Back in December of 2014 I decided to combine crochet and jewelry making to create a light weight but bold necklace with pearlized cotton in shades of purple.

Photo description: crocheted circle necklace with hand made button clasp using four shades of purple pearlized cotton on a leather couch cushion

In 2014 I really had started to embrace taking pictures of my creations. I even took a picture of the CD case I repurposed into a guess-thwarting jewelry box.

Photo description: same purple crocheted necklace in a clear double CD case to keep it flat and give the recipient a moment of “hm?” before opening

I’m pretty sure since this is purple it went to my Mom. I’ve done more crocheted jewelry since. It is much lighter than traditional bold jewelry pieces, but does have to be laundered, starched, and laid flat to dry on occasion. I can personally tolerate a crocheted necklace for a little longer, if it isn’t too tight.