In March 2018 my eldest received a corn snake from her grandparents for her birthday. She requested snake themed cupcakes for her cake, and so we made little fondant corn snakes with air brushed patterns.
I remember the snake themed cupcakes, what I didn’t remember were the tiny fondant baby mice.
Oh yes, we set up the cupcakes with the snakes and the mice.
I found this copper disc lying in my washing machine.
It is an old penny, by the evidence on the other side.
The year is completely worn off, as is Lincoln’s face, but the fact that it is still copper colored and not silvery zinc tells me (according to the internet) that is was made before pennies were only copper plated, around 1982.
I think it was stuck in my washer until it was worn thin enough to escape. I’m keeping it because the wear pattern looks like a tree and roots, very similar to my graphic design logo.
There are so many applications for the word “twining” in crafting. I was going to start this blog post talking about twining wool, but I think I have to specify that I was making twine from wool. Typically twine is made from plant bast fibers: cotton twine, jute twine, hemp twine, for example, and forms a dense strong string. I took a long staple wool, Teeswater, and twined it in a similar manner. Twining wool could also refer to construction techniques in weaving or knitting, but not in this case. Here I am making yarn, nålbinding a few stitches, then making more yarn (I’m going to call it yarn because it is softer than typical twine, yes, I’m splitting hairs (haha)).
The problem I encountered was a strong twist in the small pouch I was constructing. I experienced this with a different project, so decided to try twining the opposite direction, by switching hands, but the twist still happened. I think it is in my nålbinding stitch. I do not enjoy twining with my left hand as much, so I halted the project.
Then I had the problem of what to do with the abandoned project. Undoing nålbinding is a difficult, sometimes impossible task, which is what makes it good for items that need to be sturdy. So what could I make from a small bit of wool? Well, a cat toy, of course. Thor the cat loves wool, and steals socks and doll clothes that are made from wool. So I sewed up the seam, stuffing it with un-spun wool as I went, and ended up with a little roll.
The new cat toy was a big hit with Thor the cat. He loved it and it was very difficult to get a photo of him as he carried it around the house, flipping it and chasing it at speed.
We found a good place to watch the fireworks on Saturday, and there was a gentle breeze that carried the firework smoke off to our right, without overly disturbing the original form of the explosions.
I focused my picture taking on the smoke ghosts, waiting for the active fireworks to light up the ephemeral tracings in the sky.
I have had an idea twirling around in my head for a while about having a drop spindle combined with a wind spinner for when I’m walking and spinning. The idea is that the walk and wind will give a little more power to the spindle spin. I needed a material that was easy to work and light, so chose finished leather and cut it with my laser cutter.
The cool thing is that this spinner only spins one direction when wind is blown across it, so it is easy to tell which direction I have been spinning, and suspended on freshly spun yarn, the wind absolutely spins it. Until the power in the twist in the yarn is greater than the push of the wind, which doesn’t take much. Hm. I have some ideas on how to improve the design. I’m hoping to have something working by fall when I can go out walking again. It is too blasted hot right now.
Critters and Craft 