Cork restore

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

Something happened to the cork sole of my shoes. I’m not sure if it was damaged by something scraping across, or if the cork was already weak in that area, but it definitely affected the integrity of the shoe. I scraped out the soft cork until I reached solid composite cork at the damaged area.

Photo description: cork particles scraped from the heel of a cork shoe, the inside heel of the shoe shows the damage

I mixed up some two part epoxy, then mixed the cork particles with the epoxy and filled in the hole with the mixture, smoothing it with a piece of wax paper.

Photo description: fixing the hole with two part epoxy

I let it sit overnight then sanded the area. The result seems to be structurally sound, but time will tell. The patched area is darker, but I could treat the whole corked area with a sealant to help even out the color. I might do that in the future if the patch holds. Since it is on the inside of the heel, I’m not as concerned about it.

Photo description: heel repair complete and smooth, but the color is slightly off

A different round braid method

On By CarynIn Craft

I came across an influencer video doing a round braid on hair and had to give it a go. When I tried it, it was a fail, but I figured out why. They didn’t show the twist of the side strands, which is the magic that makes the braid work and not just make two three-strand braids at the same time (which could be useful for other applications later). So to remember what I did, I recorded a video using thick yarn, so it was easier to see the twist action. I like this method because it is similar to a three strand braid, which I’ve been doing since I was 8 years old.

Photo description: round braid section made with six strands of chunky variegated yarn

This would be interesting to do with six different colors of yarn too. Hm.

Rock it

On By CarynIn Garden

The idea started when I noticed that the grape hyacinth bulbs were poking up out of the ground. Not in a growing way, but that the soil was washing away. We have leftover native stone from the back porch project, so I hauled some rock to the front yard to redefine the flower bed and make a soil stop to keep the dirt from washing away.

Photo description: an almost before picture. I just started digging out the exposed hyacinth bulbs and realized I should take a picture. The old bed was outlined with brick.
Photo description: end of day one. The brick is gone and the new line of the flower bed has been set with stone.
Photo description: end of day two. The entire front bed has been lined with flagstone. This is the opposite view looking back toward the driveway.
Photo description: angry frog. This leopard frog was not happy that I took the lid off his home.

I’ve ordered some additional grape hyacinth and will replant the bulbs I removed and the new bulbs in the next stage, along with cleaning up the original bed area.

She’s in my bed

On By CarynIn Cats, dog

Izzy the cat has decided that Missy the dog’s bed is the place to be.

Photo description: calico cat curled up in a round pastel rainbow pet bed, small black dog sitting beside the bed looking sad and confused

Striped socks

On By CarynIn Craft

I finished a pair of socks in three months! This is much better than the year and a half for the last pair. It must be noted that I can only knit for about 15 minutes before I get distracted; I am not a power knitter. I usually knit as a time filler between other activities.

Photo description: newly finished toe-up striped purple socks with ribbed arch knitted from Cascade Yarns self striping yarn, toe and heel from Cascade solid color yarn

I knitted these by feel and measurements, rather by row, and that also helped save me time. The ribbed arch is a personal preference that I added to the basic sock instructions.

Photo description: socks on feet, ribbing is right on the arch

That the socks match almost perfectly is pure serendipity. Or fabulous planning by the yarn manufacturer. I split the skein of yarn in two by winding one cake until I reached half the weight, then wound the second cake of yarn. I knitted from the center of each yarn cake, one per sock. I used a coordinating solid color for the toes and heel to avoid disrupting the stripe pattern. To be honest, I’m a little sad that they match so well, I rather like coordinated mismatched socks. Hm.