Category: projects

Julie Clone Originally uploaded by jwordsmith This one’s for fifona  who keeps freaking me out by posting pictures of her daughter Julie looking exactly like herself. This one actually IS fifona , leading her almost-15 year old and carrying her 10 year old. The 12-year old clone is not in this picture. fifona

So, I heard from someone anonymous the other day, informing me that she is my Secret Pal and that she was off to read my questionnaire and think of ways to spoil me. I had not, until this point, thoroughly thought through the mechanics of the Secret Pal Swap. Obviously your pal spoils you and… Continue reading Secret Pal Addendum

Yesterday was great. Number One Son suddenly decided that he needed to find pictures of cars from an old favourite movie of his, print them out, cut them out and stick them together in a book. With very little input from me (beyond stapling together some pages of construction paper for the book, finding a… Continue reading Dyeing To Knit (Sorry)

Later than it should have been (sorry, organizers!), but here’s my questionnaire for the Secret Pal 11 knitting swaparoo: 1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love natural fabrics, and have been exploring tencel and bamboo, which feel great. I like small guages for stuff… Continue reading Secret Pal 11 Questionnaire

About sixteen years ago I read a book by one of my all-time favourite writers, Douglas Adams. He and a naturalist (and a team of BBC radio producers and sound folks) had headed off to find examples of some of the most threatened creatures on the endangered species’ lists. Adams’ title was not lightly chosen:… Continue reading No Chance To See

So, I’ve signed up for Secret Pal 11, a knitting goodies swap. I keep reading about this all over the Internet and envying the packages of goodies people get the sense of camaradarie, yes, that’s what it is. I should know who my secret pal is by about the middle of this month. So expect… Continue reading Secret Pal

OK, so the journal finally has a proper name. “Ankle-bitten Authoring” was acting as a place holder while “Footloose and Freelance” was taken back to its desk with a filing box and a pink slip before being escorted off the premises. Now, at long last, we have, Occupation: Mother which is, I think, close enough… Continue reading Occupation: Mother

I’m using my laptop  manufacturer’s chat function to talk to “customer support” (which, although it provides a name, seems like a robot). I’m pretty smart, but I can’t find my way around computer help files and technical specs because they tend to tell you what things are, but not what they do, and certainly not… Continue reading Incident

I’ve been doing some Potter catch-up this week. I started reading the sixth book (about which I remembered very little except the obvious bit at the end). As I read into the first few chapters it became apparent that I didn’t remember much about The Order of the Phoenix either (a book I had found… Continue reading Potter

Dutch Wonderland is an ‘only in America’ kind of place. For one thing, the Dutch in Dutch Country (from which the Wonderland takes its name) never were Dutch. They were Deutch, German. This may be why Dutch Wonderland is fronted by a turreted castle. It doesn’t explain the purple dragon, though. Dutch Wonderland is in… Continue reading Dutch Wonderland