Sandy claws

On By CarynIn Cats

Izzy is not happy with the new kitten and does not appreciate having to share litter boxes. Thor loves his litter boxes and is very good at digging and burying. Izzy has been marking and ruining rugs. To help Izzy out, I put down sand in the catio. The long summer heat killed all the plants in there and left hard packed clay, so I cleaned up the debris and spread bags of all-purpose sand in the main area.

Photo description: Looking down at raked sand on the floor of the catio, rake and sand bag visible in the foreground, and an XL covered litter box with clumping litter in the background.

I’ve read that owners should have the same number of litter boxes as cats, plus one. We have that, except at night when Izzy and Sophie are separated. So I added a nice large corner litter box to Izzy’s nighttime area (our bedroom).

Photo description: Large corner litter box in the master closet.

I also picked up all the bathmats that were being used inappropriately, and replaced the most critical mat, right outside the shower, with a bamboo wood mat.

Slow ideas

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop, Life Hack

Each summer I put up a sunscreen in the coop runs to keep the afternoon sun off the feeder and the side of the coop. Each winter I take it down so the sun can warm the coop. Both operations are a pain, wrestling with the large triangle of fabric. Until this year, when one of those slow ideas finally bubbled to the surface and I thought to just roll up the sunscreen. It took a few moments to secure the roll, but should only take a few moments again in the summer to deploy the screen.

Photo description: View inside the chicken runs, under an awning, with a roll of fabric stretched across the upright posts.

I do believe that there are many ways to accomplish any task, and find it interesting how often the thought “why didn’t I think of that earlier” happens.

Kitchen gift packs

On By CarynIn Craft

I combined all the kitchen aids I’ve been making into a bundle to sell at a local craft fair. The produce bag is the packaging, and inside are two cotton washcloths, a dish scrubby, and a towel holder. I even did them in a variety of color combinations.

Photo description: Stack of filled and labeled hand-made produce bags, with the contents of one bag displayed in front, all sitting on a kitchen counter with a basket of apples in the background.

Crochet towel holder

On By CarynIn Craft

Here is a versatile little towel holder! It uses one metal ring, which is covered with single crochet stitches, a band that can be any pattern of stitches with a 2-4 repeat, and a soft loop made by making a chain long enough to go around the metal loop, then is also covered in single crochet stitches.

Photo description: crocheted towel holder hung over an oven handle with a cotton hand towel threaded through both loops.
Photo description: Same towel holder, but with the hard loop through the soft loop over the oven handle. This configuration is nice because the towel holder will stay on the handle even without a towel.
Photo description: Same towel holder hung from a cupboard knob.

On the holder pictured, row 1 is a single crochet (sc), chain 2 (ch2), sc, ch2, sc. Then row 2 is ch2, double crochet (dc) in first sc, 3dc in next sc, 2dc in last sc. Row 1 and 2 are repeated. After making the soft loop, I like to sc across the top of the band as well, then tack the edge down to make the circle a little neater. These can be made with any yarn, and different bands. They are quick and useful!

Crochet washcloth

On By CarynIn Craft

I have a new favorite way of making washcloths. Although I love the diagonal knit cloths, I really am a slow knitter. It takes me literally hours to knit one washcloth. Crochet however takes half the time for the same size cloth, and a simple single crochet, chain one pattern is easy to remember and makes cloth with a nice texture that is not so thick that it takes days to dry.

Photo description: Natural white cotton crocheted washcloth with loop.

I use a hook one size bigger than what is recommended on the label, then chain 30. In the second stitch from the hook, single crochet (sc), then chain (ch) 1. Skip a chain loop, and repeat the sc ch1 across. Turn the work, sc in the previous sc, ch1, repeat across. Continue rows until the fabric is square (test by folding it diagonally.) Sc around the outside, making a ch7 loop at one corner. I find 2sc in the other corners is sufficient to turn the corners.