19 March 2024

The Drawing Board

Store-bought hot (cayenne pepper) birdseed shapes can be pretty darned pricey, but they are doing a great job of keeping most mammals away from my birdfeeders. I thought I'd try making my own.

I looked up a few recipes, boiled some water, dissolved the gelatin, poured the mixture in my emptied yogurt container, then stirred in lots of cayenne pepper and a couple of cups of bird seed. I used a plastic knife to "drill" a hole down the center of the pressed seeds for both my first and second attempts so the final product might fit on the feeder my sister-in-law gifted me two years ago. Stir, chill, then cut off plastic yogurt container and hang.

My first attempt wasn't too successful in holding its shape, but the birds don't mind.

Neighborhood squirrels don't care much for the crumbled cayenne-pepper-soaked seed chunks I deliberately spilled on the retaining wall to test the tastebuds of my wildlife visitors. Each day, I watch squirrels taste and then abandon the spilled seeds. Three days after the shaped mess crumbled on me, most of the seed chunks still remained on the retaining wall, which means overnight raccoons aren't biting into it, either. One sleepless night, Lizard watched the deer briefly sniff and then walk away from the spilled seed and not even sniff the feeders. I guess they turned their peppered noses up at my free food!

I went back and re-read a bunch of blog posts about making your own birdseed ornaments and found one who had the same problem as me. Melting messes. I can't remember the name of the blogger now, but she recommended letting the cookie-cutter-shaped ornaments she was making as Christmas gifts for loved ones cure longer, perhaps a week or more. I can do that.


No, that's not spaghetti sauce! It's two tablespoons of cayenne pepper!

So I tried again. This time, I have a bit more self-confidence, and I added in a few nuts and raisins, as I'm still hoping to attract blue jays nesting right now in our area. I'm still going to have to keep a sharp eye out for bears, because I do not think for even one minute the cayenne pepper is going to be a deterrent to them at all. After first bear sighting, which could come any day now, I'll probably be done feeding the birds until November. Darn it. But if my second DIY seed shape works, perhaps I have a less-expensive great winter of birdwatching season on the horizon!

18 March 2024

Snowflake Monday

I was seriously hoping to get some snowflake inspiration from our 30-inch blanket last week. I'm SO sad we had 30 solid hours of snow, and all I could shoot was five minutes here and there when work slowed down, which also coincided with slightly warmer temps, causing the snowflakes to melt in flight. I even tried freezing my glass to help the flakes maintain shape while I tried to focus.

We don't often get this much snow in one storm anymore, and this was the biggest one we'd had since 2021, when we got 19 inches, also on Pi Day. That reminds me I wanted to make a pi or pie snowflake, but I will try to keep that inspiration on the back burner for now. I have to come up with something meaningful to commemorate Winter Storm Qadir.

I've been through all 123 of my photos (most not clear or clean enough to share or even bother editing). I really need to crochet a capped column because this storm brought the most I'd ever seen. Capped columns are very difficult (for me) to photograph because so much depth of field is lost in macro photography. That means the amount of focus between the foreground and background. But it's so exciting to see them, even when they melt too quickly. They are just so unusual, in my opinion. Until this storm...

It's going to take me a while to figure out how to make a column that can hold its shape, so I'm sticking with two-dimensional snowflakes for now. Rest assured the challenge is not going unanswered!!! I will create a capped column. But today's pattern is inspired by one of three snowflakes I captured. Can you see which one influenced today's crochet?

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Finished Size: 7 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Winter Storm Qadir Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in ring, [ch 12, sl st in 5th ch from hook, ch 7, 2 dc in ring] 5 times; ch 12, sl st in 5th ch from hook, ch 5, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2. Don't pull magic circle to tight.

Round 2: [Ch 2, sk next 2 dc and next 2 ch, sl st in next ch, 1 sc in each of next 4 ch, ch 8, sk over ch 4 picot, * 1 sc in each of next 4 ch, sl st in next sc] 6 times, ending * on final repeat; 1 sc in next ch, yo and draw up loop through each of next 3 ch, draw up loop through top of Round 1 final dc and 1st loop on hook (tunisian sc), [yo and draw through 2 loops on hook (tunisian sc)] 2 times.

Round 3: [Ch 3, sk over 2 sc on next spoke and sl st in 3rd sc, 1 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 4 ch, ch 5, 1 sc in 5th ch from hook, ch 5, sl st in sc, ch 4, sl st in sc (tri picot made), 1 sc in each of next 4 sc, sl st in next sc] 6 times.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 4: Ch 7 (counts as 1 dc and ch 5), [sk next 3 ch, 1 dc in next sc, ch 15, sk over tri picot and next 4 sc, 1 dc in next sc] 6 times, omitting last dc of final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 7.

Round 5: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc) [1 dc in each of next 5 ch and in next dc, sk next 3 ch, in next ch work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), sk next 3 ch, in next ch work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc, ch 5, 1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), sk next 3 ch, in next ch work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), sk next 3 ch, 1 dc in next dc] 6 times, omitting last dc of final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: I've been stiffening my flakes with undiluted, full-strength water soluble school glue for quite a while now, and I've been squishing the glue onto and throughout each flake with my fingers (yucky mess!!!) instead of gingerly painting the flakes with glue. Yes, it's a mess. But it's faster. And stiffer.

Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

14 March 2024

A Whole New Fab


(affiliate links to my designs)

Spoonflower had another fat quarter sale, so I had to make some new fat quarters.

I'd made a valentine card with six weeks of heartflakes on pink in digital temperature quilt style.

If I made the blocks three inches wide, I would need only a handful more to complete a fat quarter panel.

The pink version turned out so well, I decided I should do the same thing with the blue digital snowflake temperature quilt blocks I've been doing each day this year to see how an all-blue temperature quilt would look. I LOVE IT!!!

I most definitely will crochet a blue temperature project one day using my own hand-dyed blues. Yes, I have enough, and now that I know I don't want to use up all my hand-dyed thread, I don't have to ration my hand-dyeing anymore. I just have to make time. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

Gosh, I made the coolest greeting card, too. I could do a whole series of these and never get tired of them.

I cannot wait to begin sewing these new fat quarters. I might have to add them to last year's digital snowflake patchwork fat quarters for perhaps another quilted jacket!!! I would have the coolest jacket in the galaxy!

12 March 2024

A Different Breed of Sag...

I should have taken a photo. I guess I could run snap one really quick before the large-item pickup comes...

Back in our bicycle touring days, my motto was "Death Before SAG." SAG stands for "Support and Gear" and is the affectionate and/or comical term for being picked up when unable to ride any further. I've never really liked the word. It has a negative connotation all the way around. But I see SAG in a whole new light now. Sagging isn't just for weary cyclists. It can mean SO much more.

I was beginning my daily task of adding the previous day's high and low temperature squares to my 2024 digital temperature quilts when I noticed my external computer keyboard was not level. I looked beneath my first home standing desk set-up, which consisted of a very inexpensive short table atop my old sewing machine desk, and was horrified to see two of the table legs leaning so far inward, I was shocked they hadn't yet collapsed.

All four screws on the bottom side of the table had completely stripped their housing, dramatically tilting all four legs. Two legs were severely skewed. If I had leaned on my desk, which I sometimes do while closely inspecting photo details via my (now four-month-old) computer monitor, that little table probably would have squished my year-old laptop and perhaps even destroyed my camera, which was nestled atop the sewing machine desk. I'm sure my computer monitor would not have survived the crash. The keyboard would have been usable, but I'm not sure any of the rest of the electronics would have lived to tell the tale. If I'd leaned just right, I think the resulting disaster probably would have physically injured me, as well. Especially if I'd been vintage me and had tried rescuing my camera, which you can darn sure bet I would have risked just about anything to successfully accomplish.

The old desktop table had lasted a good six years of perhaps way too much weight whenever I leaned on it. I couldn't really have asked for a longer life for the $40 or so I spent on it back in 2018, long before I ever knew I might one day be working from home most of the time.

I knew the desktop standing desk my bosses bought for me in about 2012 was very expensive; that's why I had such a cheap model at home. I was blown away when I looked at the post-pandemic prices of new desktop standing desks and new standing desks. I had initially thought it's probably time to just replace that old sewing machine desk. Now that I've thoroughly explored potential standing desk (scary price) purchases, I think that approximately $90 1984ish sewing desk has quite a few more years of very precious life in it!!!

Last summer, a variety of furniture from our old work office was offered free of charge to anyone who wanted it. I asked if any standing desks were available. Lizard wasn't using his work desk anymore, so he gave it to me for my work-at-home office. It's tough as nails because he bought it way back when he was in college, back when we weren't expected to replace everything every time something new came out. I just love his desk, but, it doesn't go up and down. And I couldn't afford to purchase a new desktop standing desk in 2020. Or now...

I had given the desktop standing desk my bosses had given me to Lizard for his virtual LOUD therapy a couple of years ago. It wouldn't fit on the desk he gave me, and we had to make it fit on the little desk we set up for his laptop. I quickly claimed one of the available desktop standing desks at work last summer, and that's what I'm using for my work computer at home now. PERFECT setup. Absolutely perfect. (At our new office, everyone has motorized standing desks, which also are absolutely perfect but absolutely unaffordable for me at home.)

Once again, Lizard told me he doesn't really need a desk anymore, even though he still tries to use his computer now and then, particularly for virtual doctor visits. He helped me move the desktop standing desk I had given him onto the old sewing desk. My new personal computer space takes some getting used to because it's pretty cramped compared to what it was before the old desktop table nearly folded. There was no room for my mouse if I centered everything!!! It's a tight squeeze, but my re-gifted desktop standing desk is free, and it works. I will adapt. I'm getting pretty good at adapting these days!

11 March 2024

Snowflake Monday

We call it graupel here in the United States. But I think I like the Swedish word better!

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Finished Size: 6 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Kornsnö Flake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in ring, [ch 6, sl st in top of 6th ch from hook (picot loop made), 2 dc in ring] 5 times; 1 sc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2, ch 2, 1 dtr in sc to form 6th picot of Round. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of dtr directly below, [in next picot loop work (3 dc, ch 8, sl st in 8th ch from hook (picot loop made), 3 dc)] 5 times; 3 dc in next ch 5 loop, 1 sc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2, ch 3, 1 trtr in sc to form 6th picot loop of Round.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 3: Ch 1 (counts as 1 sc), over post of trtr directly below work (1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 tr, 1 dtr, 1 trtr), [1 tr in gap between next 2 3/dc groups, in next picot loop work (1 trtr, 1 dtr, 1 tr, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc, ch 8, sl st in 2nd ch from hook and in each of next 4 ch, [ch 6, sl st in 2nd ch from hook and in each of next 4 ch] 4 times, working back down spoke sl st in next 2 ch, * 1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 tr, 1 dtr, 1 trtr] 6 times, ending * on final repeat; sl st in starting ch; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: I've been stiffening my flakes with undiluted, full-strength water soluble school glue for quite a while now, and I've been squishing the glue onto and throughout each flake with my fingers (yucky mess!!!) instead of gingerly painting the flakes with glue. Yes, it's a mess. But it's faster. And stiffer.

Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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