Ok, I ripped

On By CarynIn Craft

So usually I am not a proponent of ripping out yarn work. If an item passes the 10 second rule (someone who is not an expert can’t find the mistake in under 10 seconds) it’s fine. I’ve put dozens of hours into knitting a fingering weight cardigan, finally getting it to the point it could be tried on. The intended target doesn’t like it. Honestly, I don’t either. The colors look fabulous in the skein, but I really dislike color pooling in knitting, and this one is particularly jarring.

Photo description: partially knit cardigan with arm holes, back, and sides in a variegated yellow and blue yarn with a small repeat, very visually busy.

So I had a choice: put a couple more dozen hours into an ugly item no one will ever wear, or rip it out and make socks that everyone will wear. Frog it time. (Rip it, rip it, rip it.)

Photo description: partial cardigan laying on the counter with the yarn attached to a wool winder.

I say “frog it” flippantly, but it is a heavy duty to destroy your own work, even when the intension is to make anew. To cushion the heartache, I shot some video of the deconstruction and posted YouTube shorts. It did provide some catharsis.

Photo description: yarn cake of fingering weight yellow, white, and blue superwash merino and nylon yarn.

Winding it back into a cake will help the kinks from knitting straighten out too.

Ice blocks

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop

After our hard freeze a bit ago, I decided to empty out and refill the hanging chicken water when the temperatures rose back above 40. The chickens do have access to unfrozen water in a heated dog dish, but I’m glad I dumped out the ice blocks that had formed in the chambers.

Photo description: 5 quart chicken water container open with the block of ice next to it on the ground of the run.
Photo description: block of ice from the 3.5 gallon poultry waterer.
Photo description: block of ice from the 3.5 gallon poultry waterer 5 days later.

Even though our temperatures were above freezing the week after, it still took over five days for the big block of ice to melt.

Hanging shelves

On By CarynIn Cats, Flora

Our front window at our house gets the most sunlight, enough that cactus are happy. This would be a great place to start seedlings, so I ordered some hanging acrylic shelves to put in the window.

Photo description: Three hanging shelves with pots of cactus, the top pot has aloe, the middle pot (yes it is a ceramic skull) has a succulent, and the lowest pot has bunny ear cacti. There is another hanging basket and, not shown on the left, another set of three shelves.

I received two sets of three shelves, and installed them centered in the right and left window panels. The idea is that it gives me more space for sunlight loving plants, and raises the plants above the windowsill so the cats too can enjoy the sunshine.

Photo description: picture out the window during the day showing the whole window. The acrylic shelves on the left are nearly invisible. Thor the gray tabby has enough room to walk across the windowsill under the shelves.

The shelves consist of formed acrylic trays, twisted-steel polymer-coated flexible cable, and tubes threaded for screws that act as stoppers. The assembly wasn’t difficult, but did take some time. Could I have made a wood and rope version? Absolutely. I like that the acrylic lets light through.

Cat post rewrap

On By CarynIn Cats, Craft

The jute rope wrapped around one of the scratching posts was really getting worn. I ordered some new 1/4” rope, then cut off the top of the old rope. The bottom portion was still in decent shape, so I stapled the old end to the back of the post (which is actually two 2×4 boards.) I then stapled the new rope on and wrapped it tightly around the wood. I cut off some of the carpet so I could take the rope higher, because I have a couple long cats. I used a heavy duty stapler designed for furniture, with 1/2” staples.

Photo description: carpet and rope cat scratcher post with new rope on the upper half of the post. Gray tabby looking like he is about to start something standing behind the post.

I found where they went

On By CarynIn Cats

I was down to two hair combs and a few pins. Where are all my hair ties? They usually end up on my side table after a long day, but there weren’t any where I usually leave them. At least, they weren’t on the surface. They were all in the side pocket. It appears Thor the cat (really a kitten since he isn’t a year old yet) has the “let’s push it and see where it goes” feline tendency. At least that is my theory on why all my bits and bobs were at the bottom of the pocket. It is a good thing he is cute.

Photo description: Approximately 20 elastic hair ties, a dozen hair combs, three dozen hair pins, and a couple barrettes on a side table with a pocket on the right where they were all hiding.

I haven’t checked under the couches yet. Hm.