Finito

The lamp is finished.

I used every single jump ring, but still have hundreds, if not thousands, of slides left.

The bottom row of slides attaches to a big ring, but I only had enough jump rings to attach one side of each slide. I had to use the smaller ones for that.

Not only will this lamp remind me of all those journeys and past adventures, it will remind me of COVID-19 and these days when you can't just run out to the bead store for more jump rings! 

Ta da!

More than three things I am using these days

Surprise, a post on a Wednesday!

It is too hot to knit, so I am spending a lot of time on the slides lamp shade.

Here's how it is done.

Go through the huge bag of slides and find different sorts.

I don't care what the picture is (though I originally was doing blue pictures: mountains and sky and seascapes) but look at all the different frames they have.

Step two, and the one I so often forget about, is put a bit of white paper on the back. This diffuses the light so that you don't get little lightbulbs in the middle of your picture. So, I cut paper, tape it down.

Then we get the hole punch. This is probably for scrapbooking or some delicate craft like that, and now every time I use it I think it is going to break.

I have 80 more slides, four holes on each, left to do. So, fingers crossed. I have recently discovered the slides that have blue frames and I want to include them, but they are a tiny bit thicker than usual and Mr Hole Punch has a hard time with them. Saving them for last, I guess!

Another thing to note is that it is hard to make the holes in the same place all the time. This leads to wobbly lines of slides. Precision is your friend, but perhaps too much work!

The slides are attached with 12 mm jump rings. Some, actually, use 10 mm rings, but that is a mistake and if I could do it all again, I would have bought a million rings at the beginning, instead of a wee bag of 50, and then another bag which turned out to be not the same. My recent purchase of 400 rings turns out to have been barely sufficient, so the few remaining 10 mm rings might just get called in to action.

The pliers are indispensable here. My lefthand fingers are kind of wrecked from holding the ring, and I wish I had two pairs of pliers!

The end, almost.

I hope to have run out of rings in a few days, and then we'll say this is complete!

Three things on Thursday

Baking.

When last we spoke I was about to go make some cinnamon buns. That didn't work and I will tell you why! It's because I put all the ingredients into the bread machine, pressed the button and let it do its thing.

Unfortunately, I pressed the button for "French bread" rather than for "dough." When I realized my mistake, I didn't know when I could stop it, was it mixed enough, had it started cooking it, what oh what to do? I left it to cook my sweet dough into something like French bread, and of course it was eatable, but not a batch of cinnamon buns!

Since then I did make a lovely chocolate coffeecake, but I have not ventured into bun territory again. My 5-kilo bag of flour is actually almost empty now, too!

Knitting.

Um... I guess I have been just working away at the baby blanket, which maybe I haven't told you about. It is getting to the boring stage, after the frustrating stage and the no-problem stage.

It's a 1989 pullover pattern from Vogue Knitting, just knits and purls arranged to look sort of plaid.

I think the baby will love it, especially if I soldier on and make it a decent size, instead of finishing it off now because it's beginning to bother me. (That picture is old; I have at least twice that length now.) I have another ball of the green, and the gold for a border, so it will be great, don't you worry.

I've also been swapping old patterns for new. Someone on Ravelry wanted menswear patterns, so I sent her a bunch, including my 2002 Vogue Knitting men's special issue. She, in return, sent me three electronic patterns, for fingerless mitts, for a big sweater and for a Stephen West shawl!

Someone else wanted doll's clothes patterns, so off went two booklets. She is stuck in some paypal limbo but I expect a little something from her as well.

I am reminded that I have this beautiful green laceweight yarn that I bought in Vancouver, just waiting to be made into something, perhaps a light and lovely cardigan for me. We'll see what comes of that!

Sitting around.

We do a lot of nothing. I have watched so many second-rate movies on Netflix! I have watched all the Murdoch Mysteries available.

I have got out my 9-year-old slides lamp project! Now I am waiting for more jump rings to arrive in the mail from my favourite bead shop so I can continue with that.

And so we continue with our lockdown lives. I have just learned that the second neighbourhood supermarket has closed for cleaning for the day because someone on staff has tested positive. Lucky we have a freezer and cupboards full of stuff, even if I will run out of flour in a week or so! And I did want some green onions... Ah, we will manage for a day or two! And while I was writing this, my jump rings arrived in the mail, so I can crack on with my lamp.

It is the best of all possible worlds, obviously.

Doin' it

Okay, it's Thursday, it's time.

A bunch of pictures of my new scarf.

It has a sawtooth edge and a couple of lacy bits.

It has many colours!

It's sort of crescent-shaped.

I quite like it!

We hope that it is getting to the end of scarf season, though! It snowed the other day. It's grey and crappy and not above 15 degrees. It's the middle of May, for crying out loud!

I have been going out more, trying to get in a decent walk once in a while. Today I should have been on the blustery north Norfolk coast, looking at rocks and waves and birds and pub dinners. If I was just now dropped into that situation, I would be so sore and blistered and aching, because I have not kept up my practising. I suppose I have another year to get to it, but I do mean to put a bit more oomph into my local walking.

Right now, I am making cinnamon buns. In, um, 1978 or so, I ate about a million of these while at university. We shall see if these match the cinnamon bun in my mind!

I hope everyone is keeping well. And not too stir-crazy!

What's new?

Here we are, another Thursday.

We came from Vancouver six weeks ago. Spring is finally coming to Toronto and colours are visible here and there, although we now have a week of cold weather.

I did finish a knitting project, after some fussing around.

This skein of yarn has flowers added in at random intervals. Random, yet somehow never in the right place! I made most of a cowl but a lot of the flowers ended up on an edge, and I knitted it a bit tightly, so I ripped it and tried another shape.

Now all the flowers ended up at the edge of the triangle. And I didn't have enough yarn to make the part around the neck very deep.

But it could be called versatile? You can certainly wear it in a couple of ways!

I saw a recipe for dragon eggs on twitter, involving chocolate, butter and eggs, so gave it a try. (You might have to click "show this thread" to get all the info.)

Actual dragon egg for scale.

Really, it's a rock

Today I might just take part in a zoom exercise class a neighbour is running. So, that's something to look forward to. We also bought a pot-roast on our last trek to the grocery store, so either today or tomorrow we will have a very nice meal. And I am very close to finishing another scarf, and starting a project that might just last me the rest of the summer.

Until next Thursday, then!

Thursday is a big day

Looking for some routine and steadiness in this crazy time, I seem to have latched on to Thursdays.

Thursday is the day I blog now, apparently. It's also garbage day, when one might actually see a neighbour, talk to someone across the street as we put our bins out.

This was a rather special week, as quite a lot of things happened. On Tuesday Stephen rented a van, drove to Ottawa, threw Arthur's stuff in the van and then they drove back. Five hours each way, so a big day. It is nice to have the big galoot back with us, but clearing off the fourth place at the table was a bit of work! The flat surfaces have become rather cluttered, even the end of the dining table!

Wednesday was Stephen's birthday. Our neighbour plays O Canada at 7 pm each night, on his tuba.

Tuba player across the street

He is definitely improving as time goes on... Earlier in the week I asked if he could handle Happy Birthday and he leapt at the chance to double his repertoire. Stephen was quite surprised, as I had let more neighbours know and we all joined in the sing-song. I wish I had a picture to show you! Not quite the house party that he has become accustomed to, having a birthday at the end of the university term, but satisfying enough.

Knitting... I am plugging away at the newest scarf.

My niece is having a baby later in the summer and so I figured a blanket was in order (though now I have the yarn I am having all sorts of different ideas: matching family hats?). I didn't have just the right yarn lying around the house, so I had to order some from my local yarn shop online, and go and pick it up. The danger with online shopping, as is well documented, I am sure, is that old impulse buying. I got another skein of crazy Studioloo yarn and picked one that was pretty, not to expensive... but it turns out it is mohair which I would never have bought in person; it makes me sneeze just looking at it.

So I guess I had better knit it up really fast to get it over with, right!? That will become a pick-me-up for the new mom, to go along with the practical blanket for Junior.

Big turmoil in my twitter feed is the Great Toronto Cherry Blossom issue. When we left Vancouver in March we were able to see ordinary residential streets lined with gorgeous ornamental cherry trees; there are a variety of types that bloom one after the other for a month or more. Here, we have very few and they are pretty special, for the week or two they bloom.

The biggest cluster of the trees is in High Park. Every year there are traffic jams as the whole population of the Greater Toronto Area tries to get selfies with blossoms. So this year, the city has closed the whole park, something like 300 acres of walking space, so that people don't crowd around the trees and breathe on one another. You can now watch the trees on a webcam, and you can see last year's blooms! This page has some nice pictures if you scroll down a bit.

Cherry tree in top-secret location

I do know of another smaller cluster of trees, and they are just as beautiful, although now right next to a big construction site. They will be in their full glory in a few more days, if it doesn't rain too much. I've been there twice recently and there were other people, but we all managed to keep our distance.

Today should have been the beginning of the Hot Docs festival. They are doing their best to put some of the films online. You can watch at CBC Gem, some are on Netflix or Apple TV. At least I know that spring is usually really and truly here by the end of the festival, so in 10 days, the sun will be shining.

Another Thursday, another three things

First thing: gardening, of a sort.

These are the bottoms of two leeks. They have roots, maybe they will continue to grow? It's still too cold to put them outside, but they have outgrown their little saucer, so now they are floating in shot glasses. I'll get them outside as soon as I can.

I wanted to buy a pot full of pansies from the corner store, but they were too expensive! I think the garden centre is open, and they have online ordering, but the whole shopping and payment thing is a bit funny. I'll have to go by and see what's going on. I really just need some little plants for the back deck, and they will have to be somehow raccoon-proof.

Second thing: knitting.

I have made two and a half things since the last knitting update! The one I mentioned, a lace scarf, was a tad frustrating but is kinda cool.

Rummaging around, I found a lone ball of sock yarn in not-very-exciting colours, and turned it into a quite hideous cowl. I guess this would have made a sock for someone who didn't want to make much of a splash.

The half-knit thing is another scarf. I think it needs a post of its own.

Third thing: reading

I ordered this book before we left Vancouver, I think. It just arrived on Tuesday. I have another book to finish and then I'll get right into this one! I've been waiting some time already -- I saw a copy of it, and maybe read the first chapter, when we went to Haida Gwaii in 2016! I didn't realize I could get a new copy, and couldn't find it used anywhere, and mostly I forgot about it, but was reminded of it in BC earlier this year. Love these small publishers.

Three things on Thursday

1. I have been out a few times in the past week, walking around, riding a bike. We have enough food, but we keep noticing we are out of eggs or don't have any horseradish or we ate all the crackers. The big grocery stores are too stressful, but there are smaller stores where you can find anything. 
2. Today I am going to give blood, for the first time. 
3. I bought a bag, made out of an old suit jacket. I like it!

Too busy to blog?

Where has the time gone? Who knows?

Chia head is perhaps even overgrown!

I wonder if the seeds used in these things are safe to eat. Quick google: This post from 2017 says you should eat chia, but at the very bottom it says "The Joseph Enterprises VP (the company that brought us the chia pet) said in an interview that the chia seeds that come with the pets aren’t cleaned well and don’t go through the same FDA compliance process as the ones sold for eating." Don't eat chia from a pet!
Tomorrow we will have been here for two weeks and will celebrate by going out for groceries. And I hope to show you a scarf I made!

Ah, the first of the month

You can see the great growth going on here. Right is yesterday, left is this morning. My eye-heart emoji will soon have a full head of hair.

Plans for the rest of April are... on hold. I will knit, I will bake, in a week I will go for a walk. Other than that, I can't really say!

While we were away, living in other people's apartments, we had great plans for decluttering and cutting things down, but now we are here, we can rearrange piles, but we can't put things at the curb or get the charity to pick up our stuff for the thrift shop. Listing things to sell online... who would come to a stranger's house to look at something?

So, we sit in our chairs and look at our screens. I did manage to knit another lace row yesterday, so am on a roll, knitting-wise. Still not much to see:

I have got into this shopping-online lark. I bought $85 worth of tea the other day, and it is being shipped right now! I bought a book I'd been looking for forever. Hint: go to the publisher, rather than Amazon! I bought a bag I am keen to show you. It is being custom made and should arrive in a couple of weeks, though, so not yet! Our neighbour gets a case of wine delivered every three months, so we signed up for that, too.

And that is April. Uncertain, full of tea and books and wine.

Updates of all sorts

This is day four of the Chia Pet project. Things are starting to sprout, for sure. It actually looks kind of icky right now, but just wait for that luxuriant green growth!

I also finished a knitting project. I think I started this Clapotis last fall for lineup knitting at TIFF before we went to Cambridge. It didn't make the trip with us, and was waiting for me when we got back from Vancouver last week.

I had a lot more yarn, but this is a fine length, and I actually want to use that yarn for something else now! My house, my rules.

The thing I have started is a fancy lace scarf. I started out by casting on, per instructions, 569 stitches. Five Hundred and Sixty Nine. That is a lot. Okay, though, I cast on the right number. I purled a row. I repeated the chart pattern 37 times. I made a mistake somewhere in there, had to unknit about 500 stitches and do it again. Made another mistake, unknit 400 stitches, did it again.

Purled one row.

I am about to do the next row of lace, which is in fact exactly the same as the first row of lace.

I will report back.