How very considerate of the shoe designer to put a tension loop on my sneakers. It is just right for anchoring a braid so I can use my foot to apply tension so the braid comes out even and straight. I do appreciate thoughtful design.
I love my spider plant, and love the curtain of off shoots it sends out around the perimeter. However the top starts to get thin, and the parent plant droops. It is under a vent, so gets dry. I’ve increased the amount of water I give it, but it still doesn’t fill in. I used to root out the baby spider plants in water and replant, but they wouldn’t always take. So I have a new method. I keep the baby plant on its lifeline and set it in the soil. It is still getting support from the mother plant, but its base is touching the soil and moisture, which promotes root growth. When the baby is firmly established, then I cut the cord. It has worked several times so far. In the picture below I have used a twist tie to secure the cord to keep the little plant pressed into the dirt (else it goes flying back out with its siblings).
A good way to neaten up the last bit of yarn from a project is to take the label, roll it up, and wrap the yarn nostepinne style around the label. Then the information stays with the yarn bit, and the yarn stays neat in your stash. I’ve mentioned this before, but it came up again in my life, and I discovered if the label is small, wrapping it around a pen gives a temporary handle, and makes winding yarn easier.
Here is the video I did on nostepinne style wrapping a year ago.
I do have a sewing basket. Inside that sewing basket are a couple pin cushions. Is that where I store my needles? No, it is all the way in the other room most of the time. I do have a cloth divider in my side table, and the needles go well there, and are at hand when I need them.
I first discovered button hole elastic in clothes purchased for my kids. This ingenious addition to the inside waist of pants helps harried parents tighten the waist band of their offspring’s pants without resorting to a belt, which is particularly important during the bathroom independence revolution. I purchased some for my stash, and have used it to adjust clothing, for mask elastic (during the cloth mask years), and now to hold together a rolled mat. Sewing a button on both ends of the elastic allows an adjustable way to secure the roll, and the elastic between acts as a carrying handle.
I would put forth that button elastic deserves a place in any crafter’s stash, along with hot glue and duct tape.
Critters and Craft 