You are all so smart!

In a recent post, I posed a question , ,,, so many of you guessed correctly........ It is a bakelite darning egg. I got a wooden one, too, although I have others like it. I don't darn socks, I'd rather knit new ones.

Collecting darning eggs is a tactile thing for me,,,,,,, I like the way they feel in my hands,,,,,,,, the shapes.

Most of the darners in my collection are wood, but I do have a green glass one, and some plastic eggs,,, but this is the first bakelite..

Thanks for guessing!

Garage Sale Goodies

Is it a fishing bobber? A toy? What is it?

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Clues:

1.I got it at a garage sale today

2. I have some of these things already, but none like this one

3. I NEVER actually use them for what they are made for

4. I think this one is bakelite

5. It is NOT "adult oriented", if you know what I mean

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Any guesses???? If no one guesses correctly before Monday, I will post the answer and the entire photo then.

Another goodie from a rummage sale today, a dish/basket thing that appears to have been carved from a shell...........It has a beautiful mother -of -pearl glow.......only a dollar!

Here is another look at it with some beads.

I am still trying to grasp the news of our friend's death, I kept busy with some knitting, but concentrating on anything is difficult. Here is my work for the Favorite Socks Club, this is June's Sock in progress.

Before and after

I acquired this chair somewhere last summer,,,, at a garage sale perhaps, a thrift shop.......I don't remember. If you recognize it, please let me know.

There is nothing in the photo to show scale,,,,,,,it is a child sized chair, covered in scratchy brown upholstery fabric and cat hair. The cat hair accumulated after I got the chair, the chair is the perfect size for Thunder to curl up in.

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I did some scrumbles in my favorite colors and TA-DA! It is now an ART PIECE!

For those of you unfamiliar with scrumbling, it is freeform knit and crochet,,,,,,,no patterns, no rules. I learned from a master, Prudence Mapstone. Check out her website here. Prudence is from Australia, but I was lucky enough to take a class she taught here in Wisconsin a few years back.
I love this technique, it's very "out of the box"! And it is a great way to use up small bits of yarn.

Here is a photo of the chair in progress,,,,,,,,the scrumbled pieces are fit together like a puzzle,,,, and then stitched down,,, If you compare photos, you can see that I moved a lot of the pieces around to different positions in the finished chair.

Come see the chair at the shop. I will be teaching a class on scrumbling on May 5th........just phone the shop if you are interested.

Gray on Gray

Here he is again, my elephant. There is a possibility that a fifty year old woman getting this much fun from a toy might signal senility.........I prefer to think it is just silliness! He makes me laugh, just looking at him,,,,,,,Anyway, yesterday I made a pincushion, but it looks better as a circus prop.
I bought this vintage apron recently at a thrift shop. Crocheted with cotton thread, I thought it would look nice in the window at Loose Ends around Independence Day.


Someone in my household keeps hiding my elephant! I suspect it is one of the cats, but maybe it's Dave. He is often found under a chair or behind the curtains, this morning I found him on the bathroom floor, looking like he had a rough night. (The elephant, not Dave)


Do you think Thunder looks guilty?

Report from the northwoods

It's dry in the northwoods! The snow has all melted. We spent the weekend opening our cabin for the season. A little cleaning, chopping wood, etc. It was good to get away. Spring has not sprung yet, Goodman is always about two weeks behind,,,,,,,, the lawns are still brown and the trees have yet to bud.

Despite the snow melting.........our water pipes had not thawed yet. Dave built a nice fire and soon we were just toasty. AND we had water. Dave loves to make a fire.......the cabin is not large,,,,so it gets warm quickly.........too warm sometimes for me, I have to go out and sit on the porch to cool off. Dave likes it warm enough so the butter on the table melts! That didn't happen this weekend, but it happens often enough.

In the morning, on the way to the privy, I saw this tree

Looks like the work of a pileated woodpecker to me.......... I have only seen one of the birds in my life,,,, but we hear them often in the woods near the cabin. They are really big, I wish I had seen this one at work.

After the cleaning I had some free time. I built a little "faerie house' in a hole in a tree near the cabin. The hole was there,,,,,,I just embellished it a little with some pebbles, moss and stuff.

My purpose for doing this? I plan for Emili to "discover" the faerie house on our next trip up north. ...........I don't know if it will work, sometimes she isn't very observant..........or maybe the chipmunks will remodel it to their own tastes.

I also sewed this felt elephant, just for fun,,,,,,,,, he looks like he is climbing a mountain in this photo, but he is really only a few inches tall! This pachyderm is made from a sweater I shrunk.

Guilty Pleasures

I am a little concerned about my status concerning the hereafter. What I mean is,,,,,,I am feeling guilty........................Today I did a bad, bad thing.. I really try to do my best and do unto others, and all that,,,,,, but I slipped today.



I blew off a lunch date with two of my dearest friends, (both of whom faithfully read this blog),,,,,,,,,just because Dave was in the mood! Dave is so rarely in the mood,,,and I have been waiting sooooooo long, I needed to strike while the iron was hot!

No, not that mood,,,,,,, get your mind out of the gutter........ ..........he was in the mood to hang curtains.!

Clay moved out last July. Since then the windows in this bedroom were simply bare. Well, not bare,,,,,,,they had the mini blinds. I am not a big fan of blinds,,but this room faces the street, so for privacy sake, we kept them. I found fabric for a swaggy, curtainy, drapey kind of thing at a estate sale some months ago,,,but the hardware needed to be installed,,,,,,, and have been waiting for Dave to do it. I know, I could have done it myself, but my skill with hammers, screwdrivers and such is very limited. If the job can't be done with duct tape, I leave it for Dave.

Anyway, I am enjoying my newly dressed windows, while begging for forgiveness,,,,, Lynda and Terri,,,,,,,,,,, please absolve me of my sin!