Friday, 28 November 2008
A Charlie Brown Christmas
It is a lovely snowy day with the temperature hovering around the freezing mark, and I am taking my time waking up. I should be dressed and getting ready for pottery, but it feels too good right here, and I know I will have to shovel out and brush the car and then deal with bad road conditions all the way from here to Mud Pies ... so I am being lazy.
Kenya is lying in her favourite spot hanging over the edge of the hill down to the lake. She is nudging a large stick and when it rolls down the hill she chases it and starts her game over again. She had a wonderful play day with Remi yesterday. Both dogs needed to get rid of pent-up energy and they were like healthy little kids going out for an hour rough housing and then coming in for cookies and heading back out to play as soon as they were warm and dry.
I have decided not to have a tree downstairs this year. I will decorate down there, but everything will be up high. This Christmas holiday Mud Mama and her whole brood will be here for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then for the rest of the holiday it will just be me, the two adults, their husky, and the baby who is into everything and apparently delights in being naughty just now. And the dogs I will be boarding ... probably one more large dog in the house from the 23rd till mid-January.
I love Christmas ... everything about it ...the tree and its decorations ...the twinkling lights ... the snow ... the turkey feast ...the bustling of family ... the sharing of food, drink and gifts. But this year I am going to keep things simple so that the kids and dogs will not get themselves into trouble.
So ... Instead I am going to have three Christmas trees upstairs ... one in each of the windows facing the lake. They will be tiny tabletop trees from the woods and will be wonderful night lights for children heading to bed and lovely surprises for us whenever we go upstairs. I may even put one in the bathroom.
My father was the world's best tree decorator and I don't remember a single shoddy tree from my childhood, but his best tree was a tiny Charlie Brown specimen that he cut on his farm and decorated with miniature lights and tiny wooden decorations. It had about ten branches and each one had been lovingly festooned with carefully placed foil that reflected the lights. I loved that Christmas when the goose was larger than the tree.
Kenya is lying in her favourite spot hanging over the edge of the hill down to the lake. She is nudging a large stick and when it rolls down the hill she chases it and starts her game over again. She had a wonderful play day with Remi yesterday. Both dogs needed to get rid of pent-up energy and they were like healthy little kids going out for an hour rough housing and then coming in for cookies and heading back out to play as soon as they were warm and dry.
I have decided not to have a tree downstairs this year. I will decorate down there, but everything will be up high. This Christmas holiday Mud Mama and her whole brood will be here for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then for the rest of the holiday it will just be me, the two adults, their husky, and the baby who is into everything and apparently delights in being naughty just now. And the dogs I will be boarding ... probably one more large dog in the house from the 23rd till mid-January.
I love Christmas ... everything about it ...the tree and its decorations ...the twinkling lights ... the snow ... the turkey feast ...the bustling of family ... the sharing of food, drink and gifts. But this year I am going to keep things simple so that the kids and dogs will not get themselves into trouble.
So ... Instead I am going to have three Christmas trees upstairs ... one in each of the windows facing the lake. They will be tiny tabletop trees from the woods and will be wonderful night lights for children heading to bed and lovely surprises for us whenever we go upstairs. I may even put one in the bathroom.
My father was the world's best tree decorator and I don't remember a single shoddy tree from my childhood, but his best tree was a tiny Charlie Brown specimen that he cut on his farm and decorated with miniature lights and tiny wooden decorations. It had about ten branches and each one had been lovingly festooned with carefully placed foil that reflected the lights. I loved that Christmas when the goose was larger than the tree.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Bringing Home Your Travels
What do you bring home from your travels?
I bring home recipes, hobbies, kitchen utensils, household goods, and clothing.
Every time I use a Kenyan wooden rolling pin I am taken back to the market.
Whenever I pass the wall hangings from Mongolia I return to the steppes, to Ulaan Baatar and to friends I made there, especially Seema who gave me the second of these.
Each time I make something felted I am back in a dining room in Wolfville where Mud Mama taught Arrow, Max and me how to felt.
Most of the clothing I bring back I wear, and when I do, I remember its origins, but there are several pieces of clothing that I almost never wear. These hang on closet doors and are simply reminders of wonderful trips and experiences.
One is a Palestinian hand embroidered black dress that I bought in a store in Amman. The mother of one of my students gave me a richly coloured silk sash and creamy lace hejab to go with it and showed me where she kept the key to her house. She was a wonderful feisty woman who refused to be a hidden woman when her husband died and was by tradition, to move into her son's home to be under his care. She insisted on a key of her own, and she created a secret pocket in the embroidered bodice of her dress to hold it.
I have three African dresses and as many Mongolian traditional dresses or dels, and each has its own story to tell, but I will save those stories for other posts.
I bring home recipes, hobbies, kitchen utensils, household goods, and clothing.
Every time I use a Kenyan wooden rolling pin I am taken back to the market.
Whenever I pass the wall hangings from Mongolia I return to the steppes, to Ulaan Baatar and to friends I made there, especially Seema who gave me the second of these.
Each time I make something felted I am back in a dining room in Wolfville where Mud Mama taught Arrow, Max and me how to felt.
Most of the clothing I bring back I wear, and when I do, I remember its origins, but there are several pieces of clothing that I almost never wear. These hang on closet doors and are simply reminders of wonderful trips and experiences.
One is a Palestinian hand embroidered black dress that I bought in a store in Amman. The mother of one of my students gave me a richly coloured silk sash and creamy lace hejab to go with it and showed me where she kept the key to her house. She was a wonderful feisty woman who refused to be a hidden woman when her husband died and was by tradition, to move into her son's home to be under his care. She insisted on a key of her own, and she created a secret pocket in the embroidered bodice of her dress to hold it.
I have three African dresses and as many Mongolian traditional dresses or dels, and each has its own story to tell, but I will save those stories for other posts.
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Kisses on the Lake
This morning the lake looks as if it has been kissed randomly all over its surface.
And those heated kisses (like some I have known) have been explosive, creating spider webs all over the smooth surface.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Happiness is Unbloggable
November 25, 2008
Some things are just not bloggable ...
I am pretty open about what I consider bloggable ... perhaps too open for some tastes. Menopausal symptoms and other details about aging, minutiae about felting projects and doggy clients, and my weather updates, for instance, may be too unpleasant or too boring to warrant posts. I do, however, lead a pretty tame life, and if I am to blog, it will be about what is in my own restricted world, a world that shrinks each year.
It occurred to me yesterday that my interests have changed considerably since I moved to the lake ... blogging ... dogs ... cooking and baking ... felting and knitting ... and raising healthy house plants. I have never raised healthy house plants before and this is my first blogging experience, but animals have always made me happy, and the other housewifely pursuits are all reminiscent of the things that gave me pleasure during the most contented time in my life ... when I was living in an old school house in the country and raising children. But I am discovering that happiness is not very bloggable.
I won't be blogging about my new love interest because I have no idea where that is going, and that is about the only interesting thing happening in my life. I feel a bit like the woman in "You've Got Mail" every time I turn on the computer, and it is fun to feel as if my sap has begun to flow again. But I won't blog about that ... at least not until he becomes a fixture in my life ... and then he will probably be one of the boring things I blog about.
Old Tango went home yesterday and I feel as I always do when a dog I like leaves ... partly relieved of the extra work ... partly sad because he became part of the family for a short time. I have received a few inquiries about sitting during December and January, and my pocketbook will certainly be happy about that. Kenya will be too. They are all young dogs who will play with her: a 7 month old Bernese, another 3 year old Bernese, and Remi, the Golden Doodle pup and her best buddy. We get to meet Maggie the three year old Bernese on Sunday afternoon.
I have finished four pairs of felted slippers: two for adults and two for children. I like three of the prototypes and have learned quite a bit as I have progressed. One thing I have learned is not to use the bootie pattern again. It makes a wearable slipper but is knit on too small needles and I don't like the way it felted up. Sort of bloblike in appearance. I will post a photo as soon as my dial-up connection allows me to. I think the dog geegaw saves it from being tossed aside as just too ugly. I am going to cut inner soles for it so that it has more body, but I will wait till I have Max's feet here to do that.
Today I will shovel the new snow, go for a real walk with Kenya and finish up the leg warmers. And maybe I will discipline myself sufficiently to finish Max's striped sweater. I should because tomorrow I am going to buy more wool and then it will be even harder to finish up the tedious work of sewing in threads. It is always much more exciting to start a new project. I can't make any more slippers till people send me their footprints ... but I do want to get started on tea cozies.
Some things are just not bloggable ...
I am pretty open about what I consider bloggable ... perhaps too open for some tastes. Menopausal symptoms and other details about aging, minutiae about felting projects and doggy clients, and my weather updates, for instance, may be too unpleasant or too boring to warrant posts. I do, however, lead a pretty tame life, and if I am to blog, it will be about what is in my own restricted world, a world that shrinks each year.
It occurred to me yesterday that my interests have changed considerably since I moved to the lake ... blogging ... dogs ... cooking and baking ... felting and knitting ... and raising healthy house plants. I have never raised healthy house plants before and this is my first blogging experience, but animals have always made me happy, and the other housewifely pursuits are all reminiscent of the things that gave me pleasure during the most contented time in my life ... when I was living in an old school house in the country and raising children. But I am discovering that happiness is not very bloggable.
I won't be blogging about my new love interest because I have no idea where that is going, and that is about the only interesting thing happening in my life. I feel a bit like the woman in "You've Got Mail" every time I turn on the computer, and it is fun to feel as if my sap has begun to flow again. But I won't blog about that ... at least not until he becomes a fixture in my life ... and then he will probably be one of the boring things I blog about.
Old Tango went home yesterday and I feel as I always do when a dog I like leaves ... partly relieved of the extra work ... partly sad because he became part of the family for a short time. I have received a few inquiries about sitting during December and January, and my pocketbook will certainly be happy about that. Kenya will be too. They are all young dogs who will play with her: a 7 month old Bernese, another 3 year old Bernese, and Remi, the Golden Doodle pup and her best buddy. We get to meet Maggie the three year old Bernese on Sunday afternoon.
I have finished four pairs of felted slippers: two for adults and two for children. I like three of the prototypes and have learned quite a bit as I have progressed. One thing I have learned is not to use the bootie pattern again. It makes a wearable slipper but is knit on too small needles and I don't like the way it felted up. Sort of bloblike in appearance. I will post a photo as soon as my dial-up connection allows me to. I think the dog geegaw saves it from being tossed aside as just too ugly. I am going to cut inner soles for it so that it has more body, but I will wait till I have Max's feet here to do that.
Today I will shovel the new snow, go for a real walk with Kenya and finish up the leg warmers. And maybe I will discipline myself sufficiently to finish Max's striped sweater. I should because tomorrow I am going to buy more wool and then it will be even harder to finish up the tedious work of sewing in threads. It is always much more exciting to start a new project. I can't make any more slippers till people send me their footprints ... but I do want to get started on tea cozies.
Monday, 24 November 2008
I love living on a lake ...
It snowed last night and the black, just frozen surface of the lake turned white. I really do love living in a land of seasonal changes and on a lake where those changes are so immediately apparent.
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Geriatric Meanderings
Every time I walk Tango I am reminded of how closely my own aging life parallels his elderly meandering strolls.
Kenya bounds all over the place playing with sticks, chasing wild life and generally exercising every muscle. When I walk alone with her my own progress is more energetic and I have a sense of purpose, a destination.
Tango strolls and seldom in a straight line. We avoid changes in elevation as much as is possible in this terrain. He simply follows his nose from one interesting patch of snow or grass to the next, stopping to pee every so often, and I follow. His peeing seems random but it is likely some almost forgotten memory of sex or power that starts the flow. And when it starts it is seldom any kind of purposeful stream that emerges. Rather he dribbles absent mindedly in a sort of zig zag pattern walking and peeing simultaneously.
Occasionally he seems to be on a trajectory whose destination has been pre-determined and he forges ahead, sometimes fast enough that I have to let go of his leash or risk being dragged off my feet on these slippery hills.
Every since I really retired (a couple of years ago, not 11 years ago when I quit my paying job), my life, like his walks, has become somewhat aimless. Oh I sniff the flowers and pay attention to things that catch my fancy, but the energy and purpose that marked every aspect of my life have dissipated, like perfume in a breeze. Today I choose whether to exert myself or to take on a project, and I have no interest any more in the bigger projects that demand months or years of my life.
I quite like this stage of being. I like small felting, knitting or pottery projects that can be picked up or put down at will. I like being able to rest or play in between.
Tango goes for a walk and then sleeps on the warm floor for double the time he exerted himself outdoors in the nippy air. I was once a Type A personality whose work was her play. Now I am more like Tango ... a little exertion ... a lot of relaxation.
I like my life but I do not feel nearly as productive as I did when I was teaching or writing seriously. A big difference now is that I am content to say "I am" rather than "I am a teacher or a writer".
Like Tango who is content to be a dog whose greatest pleasures are to be found in a food bowl or a caring human friend, I am content to be a woman who enjoys friends, food and wine ... with a few spices like felting slippers thrown into the mix.
And like Tango, I can be fooled into thinking my life is more exciting than it is if someone offers me a handful of kibble and tells me the bits and pieces are treats.
Kenya bounds all over the place playing with sticks, chasing wild life and generally exercising every muscle. When I walk alone with her my own progress is more energetic and I have a sense of purpose, a destination.
Tango strolls and seldom in a straight line. We avoid changes in elevation as much as is possible in this terrain. He simply follows his nose from one interesting patch of snow or grass to the next, stopping to pee every so often, and I follow. His peeing seems random but it is likely some almost forgotten memory of sex or power that starts the flow. And when it starts it is seldom any kind of purposeful stream that emerges. Rather he dribbles absent mindedly in a sort of zig zag pattern walking and peeing simultaneously.
Occasionally he seems to be on a trajectory whose destination has been pre-determined and he forges ahead, sometimes fast enough that I have to let go of his leash or risk being dragged off my feet on these slippery hills.
Every since I really retired (a couple of years ago, not 11 years ago when I quit my paying job), my life, like his walks, has become somewhat aimless. Oh I sniff the flowers and pay attention to things that catch my fancy, but the energy and purpose that marked every aspect of my life have dissipated, like perfume in a breeze. Today I choose whether to exert myself or to take on a project, and I have no interest any more in the bigger projects that demand months or years of my life.
I quite like this stage of being. I like small felting, knitting or pottery projects that can be picked up or put down at will. I like being able to rest or play in between.
Tango goes for a walk and then sleeps on the warm floor for double the time he exerted himself outdoors in the nippy air. I was once a Type A personality whose work was her play. Now I am more like Tango ... a little exertion ... a lot of relaxation.
I like my life but I do not feel nearly as productive as I did when I was teaching or writing seriously. A big difference now is that I am content to say "I am" rather than "I am a teacher or a writer".
Like Tango who is content to be a dog whose greatest pleasures are to be found in a food bowl or a caring human friend, I am content to be a woman who enjoys friends, food and wine ... with a few spices like felting slippers thrown into the mix.
And like Tango, I can be fooled into thinking my life is more exciting than it is if someone offers me a handful of kibble and tells me the bits and pieces are treats.
Carlos' First Slipper
This one is a challenge because one of the woollens I used did not felt well so it is floppy rather than stiff. No smart remarks about this or Carlos will be ticked off. Anyway I will post a photo in a few minutes.
Maybe someone out there has a suggestion that does not entail starting over!
Maybe someone out there has a suggestion that does not entail starting over!
Friday, 21 November 2008
Yip, yip, yippee ay oh!
At 2 a.m. Kenya and I were awakened by a party. It was one of those moving parties. You know the block parties at Christmas where people have one course in each of several houses on the street. In this case the participants were moving very quickly using our woods as a conduit to get to the main course.
The yipping went on for only a few short minutes and then there was silence. That was when Kenya came over to me and asked to go outside. "No," I said firmly. "You are not wild enough."
She climbed into bed with me and went back to sleep leaving me to think about the party.
It was likely coyotes chasing deer. Rutting season sees a lot of deer on the run and on the roads (and partying themselves).
Last year one ran straight into my almost stopped car so OW gave me a pair of deer deflectors. They sit on my front bumper and apparently warn deer away. Since I have put them on I have seen several deer who watch me intently from the bush near the road. They stop, watch and then move in the opposite direction. I think maybe the deflectors hurt their ears.
I wonder what they think of the coyotes' yip,yip,yippee, ay, oh. Do they imagine the Lone Ranger coming to join the party? Do they even hear them when they are in a state of high sexual excitement?
I love it when I am awakened by a party in the woods, isn't everyone?
The yipping went on for only a few short minutes and then there was silence. That was when Kenya came over to me and asked to go outside. "No," I said firmly. "You are not wild enough."
She climbed into bed with me and went back to sleep leaving me to think about the party.
It was likely coyotes chasing deer. Rutting season sees a lot of deer on the run and on the roads (and partying themselves).
Last year one ran straight into my almost stopped car so OW gave me a pair of deer deflectors. They sit on my front bumper and apparently warn deer away. Since I have put them on I have seen several deer who watch me intently from the bush near the road. They stop, watch and then move in the opposite direction. I think maybe the deflectors hurt their ears.
I wonder what they think of the coyotes' yip,yip,yippee, ay, oh. Do they imagine the Lone Ranger coming to join the party? Do they even hear them when they are in a state of high sexual excitement?
I love it when I am awakened by a party in the woods, isn't everyone?
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Forgotten Woes and Warm Legs
This morning Tango again woke up feeling frisky. It is as if he forgets his age after a good night's sleep. He bounced, was very interested in Kenya's nether regions, and insisted on the patriarch's right to be first out the door. Then reality set in when he discovered once again that he needs to lean on a rock if he is to pee standing up instead of squatting. But after several dribbles he was happily on his way back inside to enjoy the warmth of the in-floor heating and some kibbly bits which we have conned him into thinking are cookies.
Kenya wakes up much as I do ... slowly. There is a cadenced rhythm to her mornings. First she climbs into bed with me and curls up against me so that I can stroke her head and neck. After that we both relax and just enjoy the comfort of knowing we have bed buddies. When I go downstairs she heads out to pee and I set the kettle on to boil. She arrives back and eats her Dentistick in her crate. Then she is quite content to follow me up to the den where she hangs out with me till I have had my tea, read my emails and written some morning words.
I am sleeping well again. I think it is CBC's recommendation of daily lentils and rice to settle adrenal glands plus the extra water and the homeopathic whose first ingredient is Bushmaster snake venom that I started taking for hot flashes and night sweats.
I am making leg warmers so that I can wear skirts all winter long even with sub-zero temperatures and dogs. This pair is a jewel-like purple with a multicolour section at the top (or bottom). I had made fingerless mitts for myself with beautiful wool from Nova Scotia and had lots left. There are strains of mauve and gold and all colours in between in it and it feels good in my fingers as I knit on bamboo needles.
Today I may start Carlos' slippers or maybe start on a tea cozy. Or perhaps I will discipline myself and sew in the loose ends of Max's striped sweater and put it together.
Kenya wakes up much as I do ... slowly. There is a cadenced rhythm to her mornings. First she climbs into bed with me and curls up against me so that I can stroke her head and neck. After that we both relax and just enjoy the comfort of knowing we have bed buddies. When I go downstairs she heads out to pee and I set the kettle on to boil. She arrives back and eats her Dentistick in her crate. Then she is quite content to follow me up to the den where she hangs out with me till I have had my tea, read my emails and written some morning words.
I am sleeping well again. I think it is CBC's recommendation of daily lentils and rice to settle adrenal glands plus the extra water and the homeopathic whose first ingredient is Bushmaster snake venom that I started taking for hot flashes and night sweats.
I am making leg warmers so that I can wear skirts all winter long even with sub-zero temperatures and dogs. This pair is a jewel-like purple with a multicolour section at the top (or bottom). I had made fingerless mitts for myself with beautiful wool from Nova Scotia and had lots left. There are strains of mauve and gold and all colours in between in it and it feels good in my fingers as I knit on bamboo needles.
Today I may start Carlos' slippers or maybe start on a tea cozy. Or perhaps I will discipline myself and sew in the loose ends of Max's striped sweater and put it together.
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
A Very Short Post
I have eaten well today, taken several short walks because it is slippery for poor old Tango, finished one leg warmer and the second Tammy slipper as far as I can go without her foot for the final fitting.
Of course I have done more than that since 6 a.m. but I am hard pressed to tell you what!
Swept and shoveled the 61 steps outdoors, got rid of compost, dealt with recycling, scraped my windshield with my fingernails because the trunk was frozen shut, moved the car to its safe winter location, borrowed lock de-icer and a scraper from Clare and Tom, delivered a movie to them, watched a movie (Forest Gump) while knitting ... and generally had a pleasant day.
Tomorrow I will go to town to see what the alternative health care clinic has to offer, buy a few grocery essentials, try to get my trunk open, write emails and look after myself and dogs ... and start on Carlos' slippers.
His will be made of felted sweaters like Tammy's but will be more like moccasins I think. He is very handsome so I think perhaps charcoal grey or black ... but what kind of special trim or signature for these ones?
Tomorrow is another day and I will make those decisions then.
Now it is time for the last outing of the day with my dogs.
Of course I have done more than that since 6 a.m. but I am hard pressed to tell you what!
Swept and shoveled the 61 steps outdoors, got rid of compost, dealt with recycling, scraped my windshield with my fingernails because the trunk was frozen shut, moved the car to its safe winter location, borrowed lock de-icer and a scraper from Clare and Tom, delivered a movie to them, watched a movie (Forest Gump) while knitting ... and generally had a pleasant day.
Tomorrow I will go to town to see what the alternative health care clinic has to offer, buy a few grocery essentials, try to get my trunk open, write emails and look after myself and dogs ... and start on Carlos' slippers.
His will be made of felted sweaters like Tammy's but will be more like moccasins I think. He is very handsome so I think perhaps charcoal grey or black ... but what kind of special trim or signature for these ones?
Tomorrow is another day and I will make those decisions then.
Now it is time for the last outing of the day with my dogs.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Felting with Dogs
There are felted sweaters on every counter top, the table is covered with pattern pieces, buttons, felting needles, inner soles, thread and wool, and I cannot see the floor for the scatter mats and sleeping dogs. I alternate food preparation for all of us with short burst of walks and craft projects now that Old Tango is here.
Kenya has adjusted to his presence in an interesting way. She doesn't even think of asking if he wants to play. She realizes he is a different species of being. But she has also become very quiet in the way she deals with her role as mom dog. Tango invariably comes into the kitchen when I am cooking and there just is not room for him to be there safely so I tell him , "Out of the kitchen," and herd him out. A few minutes later he is back but Kenya is hovering behind him. I tell her to leave and she does and I praise her. Then I tell him to leave and he obeys and gets praise too. The third time Kenya sees him heading back in she gets there first and walks him gently back out. No yippy bitching, no noise at all in fact ... just doing her job in a way that works well.
She is an amazingly adaptable girl ... and very bright.
I have finished the first of Tammy's slippers. I used a loden green sweater and cut three pieces plus the inner sole to create a slip-on that is cooler than the bootie types are. Tammy hates shoes and this is the closest thing to barefoot I could come up with. One of the top pieces laps over the other and will be secured with a very pretty piece of jewellery that goes well with the green. The inner sole is felted to the slipper sole. Right now it is a different colour from the slipper but I could felt something onto it that works better with the loden than dark red does. The problem is that the felted covering would get rubbed off by the friction of her feet. Hmmn! Need to do some more thinking about this.
This kind of work is all consuming for me. Everything takes much longer than it would take someone with inherently different skills. I have no sense of spatial relationships so going from a sole to a slipper requires an intelligence I don't have. I have to try things out and actually have the finished pieces in my hands to see what I have done wrong. I am using newspaper to make patterns first so that I don't destroy too much of the felted material, but it doesn't always work.
It also takes me much longer to thread a needle these days! And I managed to break five felting needles at once by not holding the tool perpendicular to the material. Mud Mama did warn me when she was giving me my first lesson in felting.
But I am having fun. I couldn't make a whole bunch of slippers that were alike but making each one unique is proving to be fun.
Don't forget to send me your soles if you want a pair in the basket to greet you when you visit.
Kenya has adjusted to his presence in an interesting way. She doesn't even think of asking if he wants to play. She realizes he is a different species of being. But she has also become very quiet in the way she deals with her role as mom dog. Tango invariably comes into the kitchen when I am cooking and there just is not room for him to be there safely so I tell him , "Out of the kitchen," and herd him out. A few minutes later he is back but Kenya is hovering behind him. I tell her to leave and she does and I praise her. Then I tell him to leave and he obeys and gets praise too. The third time Kenya sees him heading back in she gets there first and walks him gently back out. No yippy bitching, no noise at all in fact ... just doing her job in a way that works well.
She is an amazingly adaptable girl ... and very bright.
I have finished the first of Tammy's slippers. I used a loden green sweater and cut three pieces plus the inner sole to create a slip-on that is cooler than the bootie types are. Tammy hates shoes and this is the closest thing to barefoot I could come up with. One of the top pieces laps over the other and will be secured with a very pretty piece of jewellery that goes well with the green. The inner sole is felted to the slipper sole. Right now it is a different colour from the slipper but I could felt something onto it that works better with the loden than dark red does. The problem is that the felted covering would get rubbed off by the friction of her feet. Hmmn! Need to do some more thinking about this.This kind of work is all consuming for me. Everything takes much longer than it would take someone with inherently different skills. I have no sense of spatial relationships so going from a sole to a slipper requires an intelligence I don't have. I have to try things out and actually have the finished pieces in my hands to see what I have done wrong. I am using newspaper to make patterns first so that I don't destroy too much of the felted material, but it doesn't always work.
It also takes me much longer to thread a needle these days! And I managed to break five felting needles at once by not holding the tool perpendicular to the material. Mud Mama did warn me when she was giving me my first lesson in felting.
But I am having fun. I couldn't make a whole bunch of slippers that were alike but making each one unique is proving to be fun.
Don't forget to send me your soles if you want a pair in the basket to greet you when you visit.
A little of this ...
The slippers in the last photo were knit and then felted ... and then I added a pair of toucans I had hanging around. I still have to add a hidden button for anyone who wants really cozy.
Today I will be working on the second idea. I start with felted wool and cut out the pattern pieces and then sew the slipper together with a blanket stitch. I have a feeling they will be bulkier and also sturdier, but I am afraid they might not be as neat and tidy because the process of felting covers a lot of mistakes, and these new ones have been felted before the mistakes are made.
Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained and besides I will have lots of adoring eyes on me as I work. Old Tango is doing fine and Kenya realizes he is too old to harry as she does younger dogs. I think she is confused by the juxtaposition of infirmity and calm assurance that he is still THE GUY.
After breakfast we will go out for a walk. ( I expect Tango and I will walk while Kenya plays and chases sticks.)
Today I will be working on the second idea. I start with felted wool and cut out the pattern pieces and then sew the slipper together with a blanket stitch. I have a feeling they will be bulkier and also sturdier, but I am afraid they might not be as neat and tidy because the process of felting covers a lot of mistakes, and these new ones have been felted before the mistakes are made.
Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained and besides I will have lots of adoring eyes on me as I work. Old Tango is doing fine and Kenya realizes he is too old to harry as she does younger dogs. I think she is confused by the juxtaposition of infirmity and calm assurance that he is still THE GUY.
After breakfast we will go out for a walk. ( I expect Tango and I will walk while Kenya plays and chases sticks.)
Monday, 17 November 2008
Finally ...
Kenya has been sending me strong messages since yesterday.
"It is no fun playing by myself," she said this morning as she flipped a kong under the table, and stomped to the back door where she flopped down heavily with a hard done by sigh.
"I just want to finish knitting this slipper foot," I told her finally, "and then we will go out."
Well then I had to do some seams. All the while Kenya glowered at me from her doorway.
Finally I went upstairs to wash and dress. Kenya followed me into the bathroom and from there into the bedroom. Each new location was announced noisily with a thump as eighty pounds hit the floor.
Down to the front hall. Bundling into a jacket and my hiking boots. Putting a couple of good cookies in my pocket. Then the camera. And finally her collar and leash. Only then did the suspicious glowering look leave completely. Suddenly she turned back into my cheerful fellow adventurer.
But she made sure as we headed up the hill to pull me away from the direction of the steps because that way led to the car. And she wanted to walk.
As soon as she was sure that we were indeed going for a real walk her ears perked up and her step became light and bouncy.
We stopped to say hi to Tom enroute and then we headed up to the gated logging road by his place. It has woods on both sides and lots of hills. There is a fast moving stream and most importantly ... lots of sticks. It has been off bounds for the past couple of weeks because of hunting season, but today the gate was locked to strangers and safe from hunters, so it was our destination.
As soon as I unhooked her leash she was off, nose to the ground, following a trail. Then her head rose as she sniffed the air expectantly. A grouse hurried out of its hiding place and she made a half hearted attempt to chase it, but it was not a serious thing. She learned long ago that birds have wings and she doesn't.
She found some large sticks and allowed me to break them into manageable pieces and then we played her favourite game.
"Drop one," I commanded.
No response except for a bounce away from me.
"Drop one please."
She nudged me so that I held one stick lightly. Then she delicately dropped the other one. I picked it up and tossed it into the woods. She watched carefully where it landed, dropped her other stick by the edge of the road and made her way over logs and brush to get the one I had thrown. On her way back she picked up the second stick and arrived at my side panting around the two sticks in her mouth.
"Drop one."
This time she dropped one immediately and bounded off in pursuit.
After a while she became more alert and the sticks became secondary. I sensed that something unusual was in the vicinity. I call this road the bear road, so we turned around just before we got to the stream she likes. When the gate came into view I attached the leash and we headed back sedately to our own road. Then I removed collar and leash and we played fetch all the way home.
I went in but she chose to stay outside and take a swim in the frigid waters of the lake. By the time she asked to come indoors her coat was stiff with ice.
Now she is curled up on her couch drying off and warming up. It has been a good morning for both of us.
In a few minutes I will go down and make banana bread and pear clafouti from the fruit that need to be eaten up, and then I will knit the second cuff for the prototype of the first kind of felted slippers I am making. Once that pair is put together and ready to be felted, I will start on the second type which is made from felt I have made from old knit goods. All the insoles will be made from a mohair blanket I felted. I have to figure out how to give the slippers a bit of grab on the bottoms ... maybe leather?
Any ideas? Or do I need them for adults' slippers? My floors are not slippery slidy unless you are an eighty some year old dog whose hind end doesn't work well. He comes this afternoon by the way.
"It is no fun playing by myself," she said this morning as she flipped a kong under the table, and stomped to the back door where she flopped down heavily with a hard done by sigh.
"I just want to finish knitting this slipper foot," I told her finally, "and then we will go out."
Well then I had to do some seams. All the while Kenya glowered at me from her doorway.
Finally I went upstairs to wash and dress. Kenya followed me into the bathroom and from there into the bedroom. Each new location was announced noisily with a thump as eighty pounds hit the floor.
Down to the front hall. Bundling into a jacket and my hiking boots. Putting a couple of good cookies in my pocket. Then the camera. And finally her collar and leash. Only then did the suspicious glowering look leave completely. Suddenly she turned back into my cheerful fellow adventurer.
But she made sure as we headed up the hill to pull me away from the direction of the steps because that way led to the car. And she wanted to walk.
As soon as she was sure that we were indeed going for a real walk her ears perked up and her step became light and bouncy.
We stopped to say hi to Tom enroute and then we headed up to the gated logging road by his place. It has woods on both sides and lots of hills. There is a fast moving stream and most importantly ... lots of sticks. It has been off bounds for the past couple of weeks because of hunting season, but today the gate was locked to strangers and safe from hunters, so it was our destination.
As soon as I unhooked her leash she was off, nose to the ground, following a trail. Then her head rose as she sniffed the air expectantly. A grouse hurried out of its hiding place and she made a half hearted attempt to chase it, but it was not a serious thing. She learned long ago that birds have wings and she doesn't.
She found some large sticks and allowed me to break them into manageable pieces and then we played her favourite game.
"Drop one," I commanded.
No response except for a bounce away from me.
"Drop one please."
She nudged me so that I held one stick lightly. Then she delicately dropped the other one. I picked it up and tossed it into the woods. She watched carefully where it landed, dropped her other stick by the edge of the road and made her way over logs and brush to get the one I had thrown. On her way back she picked up the second stick and arrived at my side panting around the two sticks in her mouth.
"Drop one."
This time she dropped one immediately and bounded off in pursuit.
After a while she became more alert and the sticks became secondary. I sensed that something unusual was in the vicinity. I call this road the bear road, so we turned around just before we got to the stream she likes. When the gate came into view I attached the leash and we headed back sedately to our own road. Then I removed collar and leash and we played fetch all the way home.
I went in but she chose to stay outside and take a swim in the frigid waters of the lake. By the time she asked to come indoors her coat was stiff with ice.
Now she is curled up on her couch drying off and warming up. It has been a good morning for both of us.
In a few minutes I will go down and make banana bread and pear clafouti from the fruit that need to be eaten up, and then I will knit the second cuff for the prototype of the first kind of felted slippers I am making. Once that pair is put together and ready to be felted, I will start on the second type which is made from felt I have made from old knit goods. All the insoles will be made from a mohair blanket I felted. I have to figure out how to give the slippers a bit of grab on the bottoms ... maybe leather?
Any ideas? Or do I need them for adults' slippers? My floors are not slippery slidy unless you are an eighty some year old dog whose hind end doesn't work well. He comes this afternoon by the way.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Swirling Snow and Grey Skies
Today is a day to cozy up to the fire, read and work on craft projects, but yesterday was a busy day.
Saturday Outing
Yesterday was fun, and I surprised myself by being able to stay awake past my usual bedtime.
We started the day at the pottery show. I didn't buy anything ... just looked and got ideas and wished I had money and space for some of the pieces. I met my daughter Soozoom, my pottery teacher and a fellow student so it turned out to be a very social occasion.
Our little entourage of four continued on to the bead exhibit at the RA Centre. Whew! Wonderful creations but most were well beyond my budget. (I had a pocket full of loonies and toonies.) But I did buy a handful of $2 beads to use as part of my slipper felting project.
Then we went to Manotick Station where we ate deli sandwiches out in the cold and then went in to the bazaar. It was wildly coloured, frenetic and crowded ... a little overwhelming. Mandara raced from one display to the next gathering goodies, while Tammy, Carlos and I were a little more selective. Tammy bought a musical instrument made from a gourd and shells and I bought an Afghan rug to put in front of my leather couch.
Afterwards we drove Mandara home and we brought all the dogs up to the lake where we had dinner and drank wine till 10 p.m.
Later this afternoon the ancient Sheep Dog will begin his weeklong adventure.
Saturday Outing
Yesterday was fun, and I surprised myself by being able to stay awake past my usual bedtime.
We started the day at the pottery show. I didn't buy anything ... just looked and got ideas and wished I had money and space for some of the pieces. I met my daughter Soozoom, my pottery teacher and a fellow student so it turned out to be a very social occasion.
Our little entourage of four continued on to the bead exhibit at the RA Centre. Whew! Wonderful creations but most were well beyond my budget. (I had a pocket full of loonies and toonies.) But I did buy a handful of $2 beads to use as part of my slipper felting project.
Then we went to Manotick Station where we ate deli sandwiches out in the cold and then went in to the bazaar. It was wildly coloured, frenetic and crowded ... a little overwhelming. Mandara raced from one display to the next gathering goodies, while Tammy, Carlos and I were a little more selective. Tammy bought a musical instrument made from a gourd and shells and I bought an Afghan rug to put in front of my leather couch.
Afterwards we drove Mandara home and we brought all the dogs up to the lake where we had dinner and drank wine till 10 p.m.
Later this afternoon the ancient Sheep Dog will begin his weeklong adventure.
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