Life, and Other Happenings

I submitted a manuscript in May for a competition. The blog post is here, for anyone who wants. The results came out a while ago, and I didn’t make the short list. I’m not sorry I tried, and I think it’s a good book, but finding a home for it is not going well. It’s a very local book, but it’s not what they’re looking for.

The Hairy Houdini is still doing well. We bought some mesh from the hardware store and put it up on some of the windows. It does look like a cut price version of Alcatraz (make that Al-cat-raz…), but at least we can open the windows and so are not melting in the summer heat.

Al-Cat-raz

Melting from a persistent piece of lap fungus is another thing entirely…

Lap Fungus

I’m still busy on the butterfly from Corticelli Lessons in Tatting (book 3) by Nellie Ellison. In fits and starts. I first did this pattern when I had only been tatting for a few months. Now I can’t remember exactly what I did and I have about three versions of the pattern along with my handwritten notes. The original can be found – along with loads of other fabulous stuff – at http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/. The specific book is here. This is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in handwork. They have everything from knitting to lacemaking and cross stitch. All the books and pamphlets are out of copyright and are free to download. They have been carefully scanned, and can be shared freely – just not sold.

I was happily going along with the butterfly when I started running out of thread. No problem, I thought. Let me get some more from my stash.

Um.

For some reason that seems to have been the only ball of 40 ecru I have, and I never buy only one ball. To add to my problems, the thread is not easy to get hold of, even online. So now I am reusing thread like you wouldn’t believe. I will do a post on my tatting blog on some tricks with going back, which is always an issue with tatting. Knitting or crochet can just be pulled out, but tatting is made up of individual knots which are nor nearly so cooperative.  I used to unpick each knot, but there are a couple of shortcuts.

I have already lost half of it and had to redo – the saga is here, on my other blog. I think I’m going to rename this ‘The Butterfly of Doom’.

In other news, up until recently we were in the grip of a serious drought. Then the rains came! We still have water restrictions, but things are coming to life.

Going Green

Note the rocks to keep people from driving on what grass there is.  Rocks have a variety of uses.

Kiewiet Nest

This a Kiewiet nest – more properly called Crowned Plovers (or Crowned Lapwings, according to Wikipedia). Someone has added the rocks to protect it from being driven over. They are very common birds around here – cheeky enough to dive bomb anyone who comes too close to their nest.

And that’s it from this side of the world, cats, butterflies, birds and all.