I spend a chunk of money on sketch books, both for me and my kids. I want them to practice their art skills, and they enjoy it, so it is a worthwhile sacrifice of paper. But purchased journals are usually heavy as well as expensive. To help lighten up my youngest’s backpack, I made some simple blank journals from printer paper, card stock, and upholstery thread.
It is spring, which for us means that my eldest’s corn snake is on the prowl and not interested in eating. But he is a pet snake, in a secure enclosure, so try as he might to get out and go looking for ladies, it isn’t going to happen. Last year he went over a month without eating and we finally resorted to putting him in an empty cage with his thawed arctic mouse overnight to get him to take in calories. Here he is just being cute and peaking over his log.
I have been plugging away at my hand-spun Shetland wool yarn, learning how to make Shetland lace. It is full of mistakes, but I think for future projects it will just take some practice, and making sure I’m not distracted while I knit. Blocking the lace (getting it wet, and pinning it in shape to dry) made a huge difference.
Since I didn’t have enough yarn to make a long scarf, and I would rather start over than continue on this one, I sewed the ends together to make a cowl.
Alas, the wool is too itchy for my neck, but it does OK as a head cover. I think I put too much twist in the singles. When I spin the next batch, I will go a little easier on the twist. I rather like spinning fine, and that goes well with lace knitting, so is worth pursuing.
Mr Tom is the friendliest of the colony cats, and my neighbor’s favorite. Because of that, he received special treatment after his neuter, getting set up in our upstairs room for a couple days, rather than being in a trap until the anesthesia wears off. He eats and drinks and uses the litter box, so the prolonged inside time is OK for him. He’ll even let me scratch his chin. The more feral cats, who will not eat or drink while in our care, are better released. He is a beautiful boy too, a long haired flame point siamese with striking blue eyes.
My youngest noticed that when the microwave is going, her bluetooth connection from her iPad to her hearing aids gets glitchy. Then my husband mentioned that when ever I start the microwave, the TV connection goes out. Our microwave is in a strange location, tucked into a hole on the end of the kitchen island. Our router and internet connection are on the counter opposite. Options on moving either device so they don’t face each other are low, and all the possibilities involve drilling new holes. So I tried taking my largest cookie sheet and propping it up against the microwave to block the interference. It seems to work. It is an ugly hack, so I might design a decorative door with patterned perforated metal in the future. Conductive metal blocks microwave radiation. As long as the holes are smaller than the electromagnetic waves coming out, it should work and still provide ventilation. Here is an interesting article on microwaves and wireless devices from Wired, which supports my thinking.
Critters and Craft 