Sunday betwixtmas

in which our plucky heroine has an unexpected visitor...

Early this afternoon, the doorbell rang! I practically jumped out of my skin, as I had been sitting and reading, but to my surprise and delight it was my friend Drusa (Kate). I'd not seen her in person in I don't know how long, certainly since before she moved away, so getting to exchange multiple hugs, and some porch visit time was really special. The knitted shrew I made earlier this winter was for her, as shrews are her special favorite animal, and she really likes it. And is enjoying the bonus Advent Swap treats. She gifted me with some homegrown eggs, and an assortment of her homemade goat milk soap. I am so happy she stopped by to visit!

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~ moar Advent Swap treats ~

an additional assortment of tiny treats, including a maneki neko bell, a lampwork pendant that is also a top, a crocheted/knotwork flower?, a star bedecked packet of rhubarb seeds, a hand painted gold star sticker, a box of red bead cubes that look like coral, and a delightfully painted mushroom depicting a tree in a floral landscape. That folks come up with such a wide variety of things that fit in 1¼" space never fails to amaze me!

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Today I found out that the Liberty-esqe fabric is truly Liberty lawn, and was a gift a number of years ago from my friend Cricket, purchased when she was in London. I shall treasure it even more, and enjoy adding it to my new sewing project. It will become the accent fabric for my teal plaid shirt

Speaking of which, Past Me cleverly downloaded all the many pages of the tower placket instructions and put them in a notebook, in the bookcase with the other sewing tomes. This will be everso useful when I get to that stage in the shirtmaking, since I have only ever made a tower placket once before,back in February of 2020, when I made the grey houndstooth plaid flannel shirt.

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Winter 6PAC Lucky7

dk neutral overlayer - dk neutral bottom - dk neutral coat - alt color overlayer - alt color bottom - alt color top - color link top-

- brown linen pinafore - brown jersey long janes - brown raincoat - teal linen pinafore - teal jersey long janes - teal floral blouse - teal/cream/brown plaid shirt

This is the current wardrobe sewing plan, subject to change as whim decrees, but this group of garments will be a very welcome and easy to integrated addition.  It's tempting to add accessories, a la Vivienne Files - thinking about an Alabama Chanin headscarf, or blue painted shoes to replace the pair that wore out...

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Thinking ahead to New Years, it seems like a good idea to do some cooking ahead. The menu is fairly set. Black-eyed peas, greens, carrot coins, and Sister Gigi's corn pancakes (an optional but delicious and appropriate addition). Since the big box of greens was on sale at GrocOut today, I will cook those today and freeze them. There may be room in the freezer for some of the corn pancakes as well, if I use frozen corn as an ingredient.

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	1 pair undies	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	2 alphabeast  drawings	one page of the embroidery transfer	recycle bin
5	1 alphabeast  drawing	daypack mended	recycle bin
6	phone pouch	cleaned keyboard	x
7	transit pass case	undie waistband	x
8	x	Otterbox case	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- a clear instructional tutorial for sewing a tower placket
- a surprise visit from Drusa
- "Digger", by Ursula Vernon

Time of Isolation - Day 2010

end of an era

in which our plucky heroine considers colors...

This morning I met Gersvinda and Ursel at the MetroPaint outlet. After over 30 years, the facility is closing down; they are selling all the remaining paint at 75% off: gallons are $4, quarts are $1, and some colors are already completely sold out. It seemed like a good time to pick up enough of this excellent paint for the Acorn Cottage exterior. Deciding from what colors were still available, (and what didn't match my immediate neighbors houses) the new future outdoor wall color will be "Pebble Path" a sort of warm taupe/grey. I also chose an assortment of their other colors for various uses inside the house; a total of 8+ gallons (and two trim brushes) for less than $45 total cost.  At that price for most of the paint, I can justify the future expense of acquiring a brighter color for doors and dark brown/black color for the trim. 

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~ days 14 to 17 ~

More delightful advent trinkets in the last few days: a translucent penguin?, a color changing ring, a sealing wax bas-relief, and a tiny jar of "cosmic pickles" no bigger than my thumbnail that will be a perfect addition to the tinyfolk's larder shelves.

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Last night I noticed that the stitching holding the shoulder straps on my denim daypack were coming loose, so I transfered the contents to the other one. Backups are useful. This evening I opened up the seams to get access to the attachment points, and stitched all the loose bits back in place. Both of my daypacks are looking "well broken in", not surprising since one or the other get used every day. The denim one was made about two years ago, and the black twill one was made back in 2019

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Gradually working my way through the assorted produce on hand, turning it into ingredients for dinners, freezer meals, or shelf stable preserves for the pantry. The kale will become more kale bulgur feta salad. The remaining quinces will be turned into 4 oz jars of sauce. The persimmons are being dried to last the year. There are cooked greens to be added to either a rice bake or a crustless quiche. All that remains is some carrots, and cabbage which will be added to the chicken broth made earlier along with some yard herbs and the drumstick meat to make a good soup...

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	1 pair undies	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	2 alphabeast  drawings	one page of the embroidery transfer	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Gersvinda and her trusty truck, who drove me and my gallons of paint back home from MetroPaint.
- a particularly timely break in the stormy weather
- I know how to cook, have a kitchen and all the tools needed

Time of Isolation - Day 1999

fragments and snippets

in which our plucky heroine accidentally sleeps in...

Somehow forgot to set the alarm clock last night, so slept in until well past time for our fortnightly sewing zoom. Which fortunately was still happening when I signed in, so I was able to see all the usual suspects as well as Glenda who just joined us. Always an inspiration to meet with friends online...

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~ day 12 and 13 ~
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Two more tiny treats... yesterday was a very small painting of fish attached to a magnet, and today was a carved crystal bead in the shape of a turtle.

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Yesterday I rode my bike to the hardware store to use the $5 discount coupon to help pay for a food grade storage bucket. My recently acquired 10# bag of lentils will be happier stored more securely. As, like yesterday, today was another unseasonably dry warm day, this afternoon I headed out to TAP Plastics to get a Gamma lid for said new storage bucket. (Gamma lids are wonderful! They are a two-piece secure mostly airtight lid for 3½ or 5 gallon buckets. The outer ring snaps into place, and the inner disc is threaded and easy to spin open and closed) I am tempted to invest in a number of bucket and lid combinations for water storage, as it would be eversomuch easier to deal with than other suggested options...

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I really want to turn Kestrel's kid art: "resipei for straberie ice cubs" into an embroidered panel to hang in the kitchen here at Acorn Cottage, which requires my transferring both 8½  x 11" pages of drawings onto the fabric.  A bit large for me to tape to a window and trace. It was possible long ago to buy a transfer pencil that let you draw on the reverse side and iron your motif(s) on fabric, but no one local has that particular writing implement. Then I remembered that several years ago, when sewing my quarter circle Viking banner, I did some sort of DIY blue transfer ink  made from sugar syrup and paste food coloring. Given that was a successful solution, my intention is to do it again, and take notes for future reference. Always useful to have an alternative option that does not require purchasing additional supplies!

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I didn't write this essay, but it makes some very important points and is worth reading...

" In the United States, the problem is not that people cannot read. It is that fewer and fewer people can remain with what they are reading long enough to understand it. We live inside words. Contracts, portals, policies, emails, headlines, warnings. And yet comprehension is slipping through our fingers. The nation that insists it runs on information is quietly losing the ability to sit with meaning.

America continues to reassure itself with a comforting statistic. By the most permissive definition, adult literacy in the United States exceeds 99 percent. That number measures the ability to read and write a simple sentence. It does not measure whether someone can understand a lease, a medical consent form, a ballot initiative, or an economic argument. When literacy is measured as functional literacy, the ability to use written language to navigate modern life, the picture darkens. Roughly 130 million American adults read below a sixth grade level. About one in five struggles so significantly that reading becomes an obstacle rather than a tool.

Federal assessments confirm that this is not a marginal issue. Nearly 28 percent of American adults perform at the lowest levels of literacy proficiency, meaning they have difficulty locating basic information in short texts. Even more unsettling, average adult literacy scores declined sharply between 2017 and 2023. This is not stagnation. It is regression.

This decline shows itself in small, dispiriting ways. I see it every time I publish a long form essay. Readers often engage with the first few sentences and then stop. Some comment that the piece is too long. Others argue passionately against claims I never made. The conversation detaches from the text almost immediately, as if the act of sustained reading itself has become too heavy to carry. What follows is not debate, but projection.

One example lingers because it was so clean. I wrote about a CNBC economic interview in which McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski described declining traffic among lower and lower middle income consumers. His point was stark. People under financial pressure were eating out less, even at fast food restaurants built on affordability. He framed it as evidence of a two tier economy. The essay did not argue about whether fast food was a good deal. It examined what it means when people who once relied on it no longer can. Yet many responses angrily rebutted a value argument that never appeared. The text itself went largely unread.

This is not a failure of manners. It is a failure of reading. It reflects the erosion of deep reading, the ability to follow an argument across paragraphs, hold context, and distinguish between what is written and what is assumed. When readers cannot do this, public discourse becomes hollow. Arguments float free of evidence. Meaning collapses into vibes.

The educational pipeline offers little comfort. Reading scores among American students have fallen to their lowest levels in decades. By the end of high school, fewer than one third of students meet proficiency benchmarks. These declines began long before the pandemic and continued through it. The damage was already done. COVID merely exposed it.

Literacy is often discussed as an educational outcome. It is something far more foundational. Low literacy shapes who can protect themselves in systems that do not slow down. Adults with low reading proficiency face higher unemployment, worse health outcomes, and diminished civic participation. Economists estimate that low literacy costs the United States trillions of dollars each year in lost productivity and increased public spending. But numbers do not capture the quiet humiliation of not understanding the document that governs your body, your home, or your job.

Literacy also maps neatly onto inequality. Communities with underfunded schools, limited libraries, and scarce adult education programs show the lowest proficiency rates. Literacy does not exist apart from material conditions. It rises where stability exists and falls where life is precarious. When people are exhausted, anxious, or scrambling to survive, reading becomes harder, not because intelligence disappears, but because attention does.

There is a cruel paradox here. Americans are surrounded by more text than any generation before. Notifications, disclaimers, captions, feeds. Words everywhere. What has vanished is patience. Digital environments train us to skim, to react, to scan for affirmation or threat. At the same time, institutions continue to raise the complexity of what they demand we read. Contracts grow longer. Policies grow denser. Responsibility for comprehension is placed entirely on individuals, even as the texts themselves become increasingly unreadable.

Adult literacy education exists, but barely. Programs are scattered across libraries, community colleges, nonprofits, and workforce initiatives, many with long waiting lists and unstable funding. Only a fraction of adults who need help ever receive it. The work is essential, but invisible. It does not trend. It does not scale easily. It simply helps people understand the world they are being asked to navigate.

None of this is inevitable. Research points to clear interventions. Early reading instruction. High intensity tutoring. Well funded libraries. Adult education tied to real opportunity. Plain language reforms that treat clarity as a public responsibility. But these solutions require something unfashionable: patience, investment, and a belief that understanding matters.

The United States does not suffer from a lack of intelligence. It suffers from a slow thinning of comprehension. As the demands of written systems rise and support for literacy erodes, the distance between those who can read the world and those who cannot continues to widen. That distance becomes power. It decides who understands the rules and who is punished by them.

When literacy declines, democracy does not fail loudly. It fades. It fades in unread paragraphs, in misunderstood arguments, in debates that happen against claims no one actually made. And beneath it all is a quieter loss, one that rarely shows up in policy discussions.

If we do not read, we never reach what comes next. We never arrive at the meaning that rewards patience. We never discover the story beyond the opening line. If we stopped reading, we would never know what comes after, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

And a society that no longer reaches beyond the first sentence should be deeply afraid of what it is choosing not to understand."

~ Genny Harrison 

December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	-	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -  
- double pane windows
- found the 5$ hardware store coupon
- Gamma lids

Time of Isolation - Day 1995

chatoyance

in which our plucky heroine, inspired by today's Advent swap gift, is thinking about hidden brightness that shines out depending on your point of view...

The Advent of A Better Year swap this year is doing a good job at encouraging me to get out of bed each day. Clever and or pretty wrappings and the contents that each person made an effort to find/make/purchase to bring sparks of delight to the (unknown) recipients. It really is my favorite thing in the whole year, many participants have come back each year so far, and I hope that all bodes well for finding more ways to build and maintain connection and thoughtfulness in 2026. 

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~ days 11, (and 10, and 7) ~
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Today there was a tiny cylindrical wrapped gift in drawer #11, which contained a beautiful chatoyant tiger eye sphere with a small dished base to keep it from rolling away. This will likely end up as a tinyworld mantlepiece decoration, either in the library/Advent shadowbox, or in the future planned sitting room. 

Yesterday, I was pleased to unwrap a Very Small golden maneki neko, that I am guessing is 3D printed. The only thing I "collect" are maneki neko that are less than 1" tall, and over the last almost thirty years I have 22, all different. Apparently this year the advent swap is doing its best to increase my collection, as so far I have added two more unique beckoning cats. I am just delighted!!

Earlier, on day 7, there were two corbies and a skull. I'm tempted to turn the pair of corbies into fireplace andirons as they are just the right size for a tinyworld fireplace. The skull will be added to the box of Halloween/Samhain decorations.

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Last month, since what would have been my regular biweekly dairy delivery fell on Turkey Day, my porch box was empty, and it was another two weeks before my next delivery. Yesterday I remembered to double my dairy order, as they don't deliver on Christmas day, and it was all in the box waiting for me today. Will repackage and freeze some of the half and half, as it spending an entire month in the fridge seems dicey

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The knitted shrew project (so SHREWd) is finally completed! So kawaii!! I hope that the recipient likes it as much as I do...

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	-	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -  
- remembered to double my dairy order, as they don't deliver on Christmas day
- shrew is finished and looks so adorable
- Today at lunchtime, a free educational zoom presentation by Ali (from 3 Dotted Penguins), an overview of the tools and supplies used for block printing. It was helpful to hear her compare and contrast the various options she has worked with.
- Brenda Dayne's Cast On has for years been my favorite if occasionally intermittent podcast. The combination of her voice and pacing, the assorted topics she chats about, and her particular point of view are so satisfying in a way I've not found anywhere else...

Time of Isolation - Day 1993

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine sits in on a free webinar...

Nature Journaling workshop online tonight sponsored by the Multnomah County Master Gardener Association. It was very well taught, the instructor gave good examples and also did well at tying concepts and encouragement to what folks would be likely already comfortable with. (Unfortunately, my internet was having connectivity issues, and kept dropping my online connection, which made for a choppy viewing.) 

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~ day 9 ~

Today's Advent swap trinket treat was this bundle of 4 bone "hair pipe" beads... wondering about using them to make earrings...

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"I've given it a lot of thought, and here's what I think art is: it starts with an artist, who has some vast, complex, numinous, irreducible feeling in their mind. And the artist infuses that feeling into some artistic medium. They make a song, or a poem, or a painting, or a drawing, or a dance, or a book, or a photograph. And the idea is, when you experience this work, a facsimile of the big, numinous, irreducible feeling will materialize in your mind."

~ Cory Doctorow

... from this essay from their blog.

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Much better progress on the knitted shrew. Both arms have been completed and stitched in place. Currently working on the left leg, which gets the toes added in a sort of stumpwork fashion rather than knitted on.

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While talking with Leslie this morning, I was telling her about my idea for a new 100 day project - "Objects of Affection" to start January 1st. She wants to also spend more time drawing, so I've committed to actually do the thing: one 15 minute drawing per day for 100 days. Probably the easiest way to prepare would be to get a bundle of index cards - having the project not be "precious" is best.

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I just love this artist's interpretation of the Lascaux horses... for more of their work, see Natee (they/them) on BlueSky

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	-	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	-	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- I gave my snacks to the young man at the bus stop who was cold. He was only wearing a hoodie and said he wished he had a jacket; I have a jacket, so I gave him the hot snack I'd bought. But what was impressive is that after he finished eating, he went all around the bus stop area using the bag from my hot snack to gather up the junk folks had left on the ground: old drink cups, deli containers and suchlike. There are no trash deposit bins anywhere near, so he put the trash in the little can at the front of the bus instead.
- Tried out the make rice "noodles" from a few layers of rehydrated rice paper wraps stuck together and cut into strips. Worked fairly well, though not as delightfully succulent as my beloved Chow Foon...
- Found pale peach color laceweight wool in my box of wool embroidery floss. Used double is perfect for shrew feet, toes, and fingers, and removed the necessity to dye yarn, which made the very slow project a bit faster.

Time of Isolation - Day 1991

Monday media and miscellany

in which our plucky heroine trusts herself...

I've been making toys for longer than I can remember, well more than fifty years, and should by now remember not to panic when pattern directions are lacking. A bit of restitching today (and not continuing to work on a project when it is really time for sleep) will yield much better results and a calmer happier self...

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~ day 8 ~

a pair of whimsical earrings, which appear to be little plates of faux sweets? (assuming that the spiral item is gingerbread roll)

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My left hand is still sore from stabbing the palm with the 4/0 knitting needle last night. Still, I went ahead and stitched up the shrew, doing my best to make front and back match up okay. I stuffed the body and head with bits of wool fleece prior to sewing them up. Little shrew-ling looks pretty odd without any front legs or rear feet, or tail...

Words of wisdom: add the eyes last, the placement is better. Since I'd sewed the eyes in place when suggested by the pattern (prior to knitting up the body back and body belly and assembling the torso) my guesstimate of eye placement was incorrect. It was easy enough to cut the yarn holding them in place and replace them more symmetrically, at the same time as I embroider the nose. Much cuter shrew face:

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Still sorting out the best way to substitute cotton lycra fabric as a substitute for waist and leg band elastic, since it varies so wildly in both lycra content and "stretch and return" factor. I thought I had it dialed in after the last batch of undies, but the current fabric seems to stretch more and not be inclined to return to it's original length. I'm going to have to redo the two pairs just finished, as knickers that fall down are not the desired finished product.

I miss when it was easy to know what to purchase for good waistband elastic; when one could go to Fabric Despot, or one of the other large independent shops and see the options for oneself, and buy it per yard instead of pre-packaged lengths. (I feel the same way about blister packed hardware, FWIW).

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current domesticated news: Prepared and brined another turkey thigh yesterday, and plan on cooking it for tonight's dinner (Roast at 350°F until interior is at 165°F) There is the last of the roasted sweet potato still in the fridge, and some green beans that will be steamed for veg. Managed to deal with Mt Washmore and Mt Dishmore, and will be putting things away while the turkey roasts this afternoon...

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	-	-	yard waste bin
3	-	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- having a new roof on the house means not having to fret about the "atmospheric river" of rain that will be dumping water on us for the next few days
- an idea: to start a 100 day art project in January: "Objects of Affection". (Very small 15 minute drawings of beloved artifacts)
- TIL that it is possible to place an order with Costco online without being a member, though it does require paying a non-member surcharge of 5%

Time of Isolation - Day 1990

Saturday and Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine enjoyed a sunny afternoon...

On Saturday I walked almost three miles (between transit stops) doing various errands, including a trip to Bolt Fabrics where I picked up a different sort of Clover chalk marker, and a half yard of cotton lycra for strips to use as lingerie elastic. By the time I headed home again the clear skies had turned back to drizzle, but the daypack was full of assorted supplies for the rest of the weekend

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~ Advent Swap day 5 ~

A little sparkly ornament, made from beads, glass crystals, and a mother-of-pearl button, with a handmade copper hook for hanging. By next year, with luck and effort, there will be some sort of wreath to display the myriad small decorative ornaments (like this one) from the Advent swaps, both from this year and the previous years...

~ Advent Swap day 6 ~

Kenya is as delighted as I am with today's Advent gift... a miniature throw pillow, beautifully embroidered with an ombré shaded mushroom motif, which will be a great addition to the tinyworld

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Yesterday I finished knitting the head of the tiny shrew, and started on the body. Feeling hopeful about finishing this project sometime this month, but today I am so frustrated with this project. I am unclear about how the back and the belly are meant to fit together. Then I somehow stabbed myself in the palm with one of the Very Small Very Sharp knitting needles. OW OW OW OW!! I refrained from throwing the unfinished shrew across the room and went to wash my hand off.

I wish that designers used line drawings instead of photos, so as to make it more clear to my brain. Reading ahead, nowhere in the pattern does it call for adding stuffing to the body of the shrew, yet I am pretty sure it should not remain an empty skin! Had I been a test knitter, I would have so very many many questions. Parts of the pattern are obvious, and others are "as clear as mud"

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One thing that is particularly inspiring to me is seeing the various creative ways folks come up with to wrap their tiny gifts. While our plucky heroine is partial to using origami (since my ability to "wrap" gifts seems to be a weak point in my skill set), I have seen everything from cloth wrappings, to paper cylinders, to reused gum ball containers, as well as tidy (or untidy) paper wrappings. Some fastened with plain tape, with washi tape of various designs, or with metallic or glittery tape, and even with sealing wax! It makes daily December dopamine even more of a delight!!

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David Byrne : Tiny Desk Concert

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	-	-	yard waste bin
3	-	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- my cranky side back seems to have settled back down, which makes me think that whatever set it off was something out of alignment, that magically realigned in dreamland
- the widely varied Advent Swap treats folks come up with to share, and the creative ways they wrap them...
- today the air was soft for most of the afternoon, and so my laundry got mostly dried. Tomorrow there will be a nice freshly laundered duvet cover, with the scent of line dried laundry, nicer than any perfume

Time of Isolation - Day 1989

throwback Thursday

in which our plucky heroine remembers when the world was different...

- 5 years ago was well into the first year of isolation, and a struggle.
- 10 years ago Acorn Cottage got a new refrigerator, the same one currently in use
- 15 years ago was the last month of the year of Tigress Can Jam, and I was busy making quincemeat preserves, yum! and thinking about making pear persimmon cake (recipe below scavenged via the Wayback Machine, dunno if I ever made it, but would be a good time of year to try it now)
- 20 years ago, I had not yet started writing in a blog, but I was busy with moving into Acorn Cottage, which happened in early December

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~ Day 4 ~

Not just the fridge door is steel, but so are the house doors, and the kitchen cabinets, so there are plenty of places here at Acorn Cottage for decorative magnets to live. This magnet might be vitreous enamel; the reflections and gradations doesn't really look like resin, and the blue is just right for me... Thank you unknown artisan for this tiny addition to my home!

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Got back to some knitting on the Very Complex Shrew pattern, and have finished knitting the head, which puts me at the bottom of page 6. I need to rummage in the bead bin and find some small black beads for shrew eyes, which get attached at this point. The next step will be to pick up and knit from the neck downwards, creating the back of the shrew...

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Pear persimmon cake with maple cream cheese icing

2½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 cups milk
1 cups pear puree or pear sauce (you can use apple, but the pears add a nice texture)
1 cups pureed soft persimmons (freeze and thaw fuyu persimmons to soften)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
1 tsp. ground cardamom

Prepare a bundt pan with buttter & a light sprinkle of flour. Preheat oven to 325°F. With a mixer, cream butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy, about 7 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine pear & persimmon purees with milk and ginger. Add ½ c of the liquid ingredients to the butter/sugar and mix for 30 seconds, then add ½ c dry ingredients, mix for 30 seconds and repeat, alternating between wet & dry, scraping the bowl down after each addition. Pour batter into prepared bundt and bake for 60-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, and the cake pulls away from the edges of the pan. Invert out onto a rack, cool completely, and glaze with cream cheese icing (recipe follows).

whiskey cream cheese icing

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. Irish whiskey
2 tbsp. powdered sugar

Beat softened cream cheese with powdered sugar, maple syrup, and whiskey until fully incorporated. If too thick to pour over cake, whisk in milk or cream, one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Pour over cake and enjoy!

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Being curious, I turned to the internet to find out what the writing on the medallion on Lucky Robot's torso signified. Apparently 招财 (Zhāocái) is an inscription meaning "to attract wealth/treasure", which is quite appropriate given the rest of their component parts!

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	-	-	yard waste bin
3	-	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- online image search
- steel doors (of various sorts) are a good home for decorative magnets
- the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive

Time of Isolation - Day 1986

Five-fold Lucky Robot

in which our plucky heroine is feeling satisfied...

So far, there have been a number of posts online of folks being pleased with their tiny Advent Swap treats, which makes me happy. I've done another admin task today, and a number of necessary cooking tasks: the quinces are all par-baked enough to cut up tomorrow for processing, and all the sweet potatoes have been oven roasted for future meals. Having soup cubes in the freezer has become a vital part of my everyday meal plans, and since there was one more leek hiding in the fridge, some more lentil barley leek soup will also be on the hob tomorrow... (I could put the lentils to soak tonight and start the day with kitchen tasks) 

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~ day 3 ~

Today my day started with this wonderfully personable tiny robot pendant as my advent treat! With a wishbone antenna, lucky elephant arms and maneki neko legs, they are a five-fold good luck charm, and I am pretty sure that someone had a lot of fun putting all the pieces together... 

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When it was obvious from the solar sign at the bus stop that there was a delay further up the line, a short visit to the art store filled the time nicely, and I was able to pick up a very tiny Rhodia graph paper notepad, and a really inexpensive pen, both of which will be good for EDC. Taking my regular Bujo with me is heavier than I want to carry, and a tiny pad to do things like write down transit routes, shopping lists, or note topics for next blog will be perfect. And supporting local shops is the best way I know to keep them in existence, at least the best possible for individual effort.

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Last week's produce box had a half dozen very green Bartlett pears, which are now at that just perfect stage... which usually lasts a day or two at most. Some were today's snacks, and one went into the faux cheescake. I might have to make a pear tart.

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- new Pentel pen has a pleasing somewhat triangular shape
- managed to get the remaining quinces par-baked tonight
- the delightful tiny flower vase (day 2) was made by dear Ariadne
- Bartlett pears

Time of Isolation - Day 1985

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine gathers mathoms...

and an assortment of "extra" advent swap treats, and wrapped everything that wasn't already wrapped. Why? Well one of my friends posted today that they never saw any of the FB Advent Of A Better Year group posts before today, and had been hoping to participate this year. While I can't send them an entire bonus box, I want to send them a container of as much random daily dopamine as I can rustle up. Gol-darn ay-eye eff-bee algae-rhythms are not sharing messages or posts on that platform in any kind of reliable way. Fortunately said pal is local, so we can find a way to connect in person! 

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~ Advent Swap day 2 ~
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The origami box was really carefully folded, with a clever use of washi tape triangles to seal and decorate the wrapping... inside, a less than 1" tall little amber colored glass vase, just right for the tinyworld! (a single rosemary floret and a wee sprig of chickweed were about the right size)

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I keep adding things to the shadowbox over the last several years. All the books on the shelves have content (not blank books). The fire in the fireplace is built atop an LED tea light, and flickers nicely. Now, after queries from Ashe & Co. about the two small drawers at the bottom of the bookcases, I am wondering what needs to be stored in there? I was thinking about a functional magnifying glass. Also maybe things like a deck of cards, and maybe I can find the box of dominoes I made a few years ago...

I realised as I was falling asleep that I could make a functional miniature magnifying glass. Long ago we got a few dozen very small clear quartz cabochons for an SCA project, where they were used as magnifiers. When I checked this morning, I still had a few of them left in the Box Of Rocks... Will need some design work, but the fabrication is all within my skill set

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Took a midday break to ride out to the St Johns Tiny (free little art) Gallery. I've learned that if I like the art on display that month, to head over there as close to the beginning of the month as feasible. There were still quite a few of the paintings from this months show to choose one from; 2½" square gouache "snapshots" from a road trip the artist took. I took home one that showed scenery in the Columbia Gorge, and left a collage and two spherical floral pompoms in exchange.

The weather today was a bit raw, and my hands would have been happier had I worn the naalbound mittens instead of the embroidered fleece lined mitts. I also need to make self either an earflap cap to wear under the bike helmet, or the triangular layered ear covers that attach to the helmet rigging

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -  
- handmade lampworked glass tiny advent gift this morning
- carrot coriander soup cubes in the freezer = easy breakfast
- found all my singular samples of my own homemade advent treats.
- at the post office, I didn't want to deal with locking up my bike when all I needed was to drop the bill in the mail slot, so I rolled it alongside me through the door. Then the kind woman who was heading in after me, held the door so it was easier for me to go back outside. She wasn't at all fussed, just friendly and told me to have a safe ride.

Time of Isolation - Day 1984

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine does small tasks...

The kitchen is a little bit cleaner, some more things have been put away, or discarded (including some science experiments from the back of the wee fridge). The vegetable steamer now has three solidly attached new legs made of hardware bits. I found the former Italian painted steel breadbox  and am considering turning it into a (temporary?) studio apartment for one or more of the tinyfolk, providing I can find a spot to set it up. 

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~ rabbit rabbit rabbit ~

welcome to December! With luck my month of awful annoying admin tasks will also include abundant small delights. At least I know that each day will begin with opening a tiny "Advent Of A Better Year in 2026" treat. This first morning, there was a ¾" maneki neko bell in drawer #1...

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~ ninja cat of double protection ~

>The internets suggest that right paw up attracts good fortune, left paw up attracts customers, and both paws raised is for luck, household protection, and prosperity, as does the black coat color (instead of the usual tri-color coat) May we all share our good luck throughout the coming year...

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Did two of the most pressing admin phone calls today, will do more of them tomorrow. The person I spoke with about the insurance denial was very reassuring, and gave me some additional numbers to call; apparently the denial is only of one "line item", not the entire ER visit. She couldn't figure out what was denied, hence there will be more phone calls.

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Ursel came by after work to pick up her Advent swap box, and we had a bit of a porch visit even though it was after dark. Then I had another idea for more tiny trinkets for next year - "No Face" ornaments from Spirited Away. I saw a Halloween garland online made from polymer clay and an old tee shirt, but cutting more egg carton ovals and painting them, and using some thin black silk or rayon should work well. Time to experiment!

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- TIL that Thai fish sauce does not need to be refrigerated, which saves space in my always crowded tiny fridge.
- the hardware store had the right stainless steel bits to continue fixing the vegetable steamer, available singly from the drawers, so could buy just exactly the number of parts needed for the repair
- being able to send a PDF to the local library, then ride over and have them print it out. Knitting the shrew will be eversomuch easier from hardcopy!
- my wonderful shadowbox Advent calendar...

Time of Isolation - Day 1983

sort of slow Sunday

in which our plucky heroine does a fair number of tiny tasks...

... because incremental progress is still progress

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~ many tiny owl boxes ~

All during various weekend zoom meetings, origami does not require much of my concentrated attention, but gives my hands something productive to do... After my earlier dive into making wee owls from painted egg carton cardboard, those owls needed to be packed away to become part the next Advent Of A Better Year swap at the end of 2026. Hence, many many two piece rectangular boxes have been folded. I'm going to put my notes from this year's swap, the master copy about "what the swap is" for including with bonus boxes, and the contact info from participants, as well as my origami box master models, the instructions and preferred sizes. It might be time to give the swap it's own notebook. And think/research setting up a Discord server for next year.

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After rummaging around found a suitable frame, just right for the Cuisine of the Angels print, and made a narrow mat covered in metallic blue and silver Japanese paper to set it off nicely. It will be a perfect addition to my "gallery wall" on the west side of the kitchen above the chest freezer. 

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Not yet attaching the toggles to the raincoat, but did a bit of faffing about with cut paper and the sample toggle. Next step will be making an actual sample of the overlap to sort out specific placement of the various pieces. This is what results from choosing to follow my own concepts rather than following a sewing pattern. I get to figure things out myself, particularly since the various design choices combined in this coat project are no more particularly standard than my own size and shape. When it is done, it may see me out, depending on how long I remain in the bright world. There are already so many aspects of this that make me really happy. The fit is great, the length is great, and the pocket location/style/execution are probably the best I have ever done. Now as long as I can get the front closure to work (and not somehow screw it up at the last minute) I will finally have the raincoat of my dreams. This image of a wool topcoat with leather toggles is my placement reference, since it has been ages since I had a duffle coat, and must needs be paying attention to where the various overlap vs edges vs parts of the toggle should be placed.

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	clothespin bag	horse kerchief dots	greenwaste bin
2	5 jars pickled beets	more chopshop repair	recycle bin
3	1# hand weights	printer connection	greenwaste bin
4	a dozen owls	black knit slip	recycle bin
5	many jars of Awesome Sauce	15 origami giftwrap	recycle bin
6	24 more owls	case for phone	x
7	7 jars of Awesome Sauce	horse kerchief details	x
8	8 dishcloths	much pruning	x
9	mat for angels print	angels print framed	x

today's gratitudes - 
- all the bits and bobs on hand to frame the kitchen angels print: a thrifted frame, bristol board, decorative Japanese paper, and glue stick adhesive
- visible progress on the knitted shrew, have made it all the way to the top of page 5 (of 19 pages, but still progress) 
- the new electric toothbrush is noticeably smaller and lighter than the previous one, hence more comfortable to use. 
- my weirdly achy ribcage pain (rolled over wrong in bed?) is less intrusive than yesterday, and there were brief chunks of time when I didn't feel it.  

Time of Isolation - Day 1982

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine is currently Fjorlief the Forgetful...

and absent-mindedly forgot to check my own box of treats (wen sorting out the many boxes for the Advent Of A Better Year) and came up 4 short.. I'll put in a few of my own extra items, which won't be a "surprise" but will be a treat nonetheless. Probably I was so busy double counting everybody else and forgot about my own box tucked out of the way over on the nightstand

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~ Portland Frog says: ~

Seen behind a bus shelter on the way to my physical therapy appointment, not Shepherd Fairey AFAIK, but references their message infused artwork

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In the interest of using up my market coupons while there still is a fair amount of produce available, this afternoon a trip to St Johns seemed a good plan. Brought home nine beautiful red jalapeño peppers for the next batch of Awesome Sauce, and a lovely leek (intended for soup). I'll prep and freeze the peppers, since the tiny fridge is rather full right now, and chop and cook down the leek while I do some more prep for tomorrow

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My talk tomorrow noon is entitled "Homegrown tree fruit can be easy -  Concerned about supply chain issues, or just want to reduce your food miles... Growing tree fruit in your yard, while not as instant as annual vegetables, is easier than you might think. Keeping trees short by pruning means that you can care for them and harvest fruit while standing on the ground." So far I have an outline, and some useful facts, but have not done my usual "write out the entire speech". May do a bit more tonight, but am thinking that early to bed tonight and more writing in the morning might be better. Could re-read "Grow A Little Fruit Tree" as my bedtime book.

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a few more potential ideas for next years Swap projects:

tiny robins made from egg carton cardboard
half circle book in a tin with eggs 
how to create a shallow origami masu box

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	clothespin bag	horse kerchief	greenwaste bin
2	5 jars pickled beets	more chopshop repair	recycle bin
3	1# hand weights	printer connection	greenwaste bin
4	a dozen owls	black knit slip	recycle bin
5	many jars of Awesome Sauce	15 origami giftwrap	-
6	24 more owls	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- it was cold but wasn't raining this afternoon for my excursion to the farmer's market
- Long ago Jen made me a Totoro hat, which covers my ears in a delightfully warm way! 
- The shadowbox Advent Calendar that Acantha gave me, which has become more whimsical year by year

Time of Isolation - Day 1975

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine finishes some things...

Almost all the Advent Swap boxes went to the post office yesterday and today. The final extra bonus box still needs mailed; it was sort of a last minute "can we do this" and so didn't have quite enough tiny gifts until a good rummage around added some assorted mathoms, which needed to be wrapped. The weather for the last two days cooperated with sunny if brisk temperature, good for bicycle transportation. Not quite 40 boxes total this third year.. Found the explanation in last years files, of what the Advent Swap (aka "daily December dopamine") is about, and printed out copies to include in the "bonus boxes" for folks who may be baffled to receive a small box filled with thirty-one tiny wrapped trinkets.

The Advent Of A Better Year swap is in some way the best thing I have done with other people, being a way to facilitate connection and whimsy in a timeline where we need all the counterbalance to the darkening world that we can create

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~ making it easier ~

Every year at the time of the Advent Swap, return address labels seem like they would be really helpful... Until today, occasional searching over the last few years, whenever the idea came to mind, only turned up unappealing commercial options, and adding the task of designing my own to an already busy time of year didn't seem like fun. While whinging about ugly fonts and tacky graphics to my pal Karen, she started searching and turned up some options new to me.  When this oak leaf and acorn motif showed up on Zazzle, along with the option of switching the given text font with a whole extensive library of fonts, it wasn't too long before it was "add to cart"... The actual labels will of course include the actual address on the middle line, and will save having to write out my return address over and over and over again on all the (this year there were thirty-eight) parcels.

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Origami containers are so handy, for gift wrap and for organising the material world. It is tempting to make up my own small hardcopy booklet of instructions for my most often used styles; online tutorials are very helpful but not at all resilient if electricity or internet become erratic, just like having a hardcopy cookbook of basic favorite recipes, another project on the ever expanding to-do-soon list. Maybe just using a ring binder? or index cards, if any could be found that are not flimsy?  

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There has been a lot of mulling over in my head lately about what to sew first in the refurbishment of worn clothing. While there is a definite need for some new pinafores, I suspect that a few new sets of long janes is even more necessary as we head into colder weather. Today it was chilly enough that rather then heat the whole house higher, I instead turned on the under the computer desk mini radiator, which does perzactly what is needed. Local heating helps, whether half size oil filled radiators, or the rice bags that visit the microwave before warming the foot of the bed at night...

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	clothespin bag	horse kerchief	greenwaste bin
2	5 jars pickled beets	more chopshop repair	recycle bin
3	1# hand weights	printer connection	greenwaste bin
4	a dozen owls	black knit slip	recycle bin
5	many jars of Awesome Sauce	15 origami giftwrap	-
6	24 more owls	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Photoshop on the memory stick worked tonight, without my needing to install it on the laptop. !!
- the Advent boxes have been mailed out and everyone has had their tracking numbers sent to them
- managed to find enough mathoms to fill out the final unexpected bonus box
- Karen found for me a source of address labels that are pleasing to look at, and reasonably affordable 

Time of Isolation - Day 1974