He came for the yarn

On By CarynIn Cats, Craft

Thor the tabby cat is fascinated with all things yarn. We are working on what is appropriate and what is not. The ribbon on the stick is fair game, the ball of yarn leading to my hands is not. He jumped up on my chair to watch some yarn unroll, was being very polite, and fell asleep.

Photo description: Gray tabby cat asleep along my leg, with his paws touching a bundle of tan colored yarn. Calico cat laying on my lap.

I’m experimenting with the overlay mosaic technique, but as a way to introduce texture. By using one color of yarn, and stitching in the round, I produced quite a nice basket weave type structure. I am also using a size G (4.0mm) hook with worsted weight acrylic yarn, which is smaller than recommended to make a stiffer fabric. This pattern uses two single crochets in the back loop then one double crochet in front loop of the previous row. The ruler is to assess the gauge.

Photo description: In the foreground a small swatch of crocheted fabric held against a ruler. In the background a gray tabby yawning next to a calico cat on my lap.

Thor slept through the whole swatching process, and Izzy the calico never noticed he was within an inch of her.

Then there were five

On By CarynIn chickens

Another hen passed. She was looking quite ragged and tired, but didn’t seem distressed. She was with the flock eating and drinking, until she couldn’t. I gave her access to one last grubbly treat, and helped her access water, then let her lay in the coop where she grew up, surrounded by her sister hens. It is a hard call, letting go or assisting. Since she wasn’t in obvious pain, I chose to let her slip away on her own time. I’ve done the final scramble before, with force feeding and medicines and stress, both for me and the hen, and it really isn’t dignified, and completely unnecessary to put her through that in her last days. Hatchery quality hens only have a life span of about 4-7 years, and she was there. May her next life be as peaceful.

Photo description: My five remaining Faverolle hens eating grubblies in the covered run.

Mosaic crochet flat rounds

On By CarynIn Craft

After experimenting with mosaic crochet in rows, I decided to try a pattern in the “round”. These are built in a similar manner to granny squares, working from the inside out and producing a flat fabric. I followed a terrazzo pattern from a YouTube video.

Photo description: Mosaic crochet square in purple and light pink with diagonal wavy lines and a wide border covering a sleeping Calico cat.

I have to admit that although I really like this pattern, it makes my eyes vibrate. I finished off the square with a solid round of pink, then a wider band of purple to offset the trippy. The neat part of mosaic crochet this way is that you don’t have to cut the ends of the yarn for each round. I switched colors, but didn’t cut, so it worked up without dealing with multiple ends.

Gingerbread houses

On By CarynIn Craft

I have to give a shout out to Target and their favorite day brand gingerbread house kits. They come with clips to help with assembly! Their instructions also recommend decorating prior to assembly, which made it much easier for my youngest. Icing is easier to apply on a horizontal surface.

Photo description: Various gingerbread house kits on a shelf at a Target store, including log cabin, barn, and hot cocoa stand versions.

We bought early this year because I missed the window for the Halloween houses and scrambled through the pantry for substitutions. Graham crackers covered in melted chocolate fitted the horror theme, but was more a Mom project than a youngest’s project. I appreciate a well engineered kit that needs minimal adult intervention.

Yes I did

On By CarynIn Life Hack

Amazon has been distributing non-woven gift bags for awhile now, and I have amassed a collection. I do reuse them, many times, and to organize them I sorted by size (which is conveniently color coordinated) and used one bag of the group to hold the others. That way, at a glance, I can tell about how much the bags inside will hold.

Photo description: Five bag sizes lined up vertically, each bag is full.

Happy Thanksgiving y’all. If you blink, you’ll miss it.