Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine woke up to the yard all frosted...

We are due for a few more dry sunny days, though the tail end of the tenday forecast shows precipitation that could be snow or rain or wintery mix. Do more laundry that needs dealt with soonest, such as the duvet cover and assorted bedding. Line dried in the sunshine has a fresh pleasant smell, if fugitive...

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~ on your mark ~

While on the zooms Saturday, I turned unused mask making wires (leftover from 2020) into twenty new stitch markers for current knitting. I've lost track of where my tiny box of stitch markers went, but even when/if found, more will be useful.

Saturday I removed the knitted sleeves I've begun in the last two weeks from the cardigan bodice. (yes this seems backwards, but they just weren't playing nicely with the already completed body.) I have a Different Plan for this ongoing challenge of a knitting project - the body will return to vest status (I wear the two knitted vests I've made in the past often, and this will be a welcome addition), and the armscyes will have a double row of I-cord (teal and black) to echo the front borders. The knitting already done to begin the stripey sleeves will be saved, and will eventually be part of a multicolor cardigan or pullover, thereby still making use of all the various random single and partial balls of yarn

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Spent about an hour today doing some yard work... mostly scraping loose some of the wood chips (now in a large frozen heap in the driveway) one spade full at a time, filling a white bucket, and dumping them over atop the cardboard on the lawn. Another few hours and all the cardboard I have down so far will be covered, and I can try and extend the area. Not sure where I can get more cardboard... I also walked around the backyard a bit, to think gardenish thoughts, and start to figure out what the next steps will be...

I need to order garden seeds, primarily greens: asian mustard/cabbage, bok choi, peas, pea greens, cilantro, purslane, claytonia, the Aunties suggest dragon tongue beans, and I really want to find a good spot for attempting asparagus...

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It was a very zoom-intensive weekend. combining my regulars (sewing nomads, Ariadne, and Crafternoon) with Eva's talk on "Growth Mindset", several online scribal presentations via vKWHSS, and a The Way Forward evening "sewing bee"

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Today I went to my workbench and retraced the shape I need to cut out again, but this time did it correctly with all the edge adjustments. (this being the very first step in actually getting work done, the doing of first steps almost always leads to further progress) I carefully made a sample of the tiny angles needed for the pearl brackets and cups, before marking the rest of the outline. Ready to do more cutting tomorrow.

Since the Milliput I ordered arrived late this afternoon, I put the rest of the bench work on hold in order to use it to make new handles for the cutting broaches. Glad I have protective gloves, as spending that much time kneading epoxy together would not have made the skin on my tiny paws happy. There are now three turquoise handles doing their chemical thing, and should be totally hardened by the morning, and I will hopefully be able to enlarge the holes in the pearls (a necessary step) prior to fitting them into the fabricated brackets.

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blood orange marmalade	bike headlamp	yard waste bin
2	heraldic enamel	passport photo	recycle bin
3	crayon roll	crystal necklace	recycle bin
4	xp2 undies	pattern longjanes	-
5	pot lid rack	passport applied for	-
6	aluminum stitch markers	pear tree planted	x
7	x	stripe sleeves	x
8	x	milliput handles	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. the fresh scent of line dried laundry
2. I SAW A BEE in the snowdrops today
3. finally made it back to the workbench
4. our peculiar weather has meant that I have been able to fit in a daily bike ride almost the entire month

Time of Isolation - Day 1656