Category: Crochet

The beauty of caring for indoor plants is that you are privy to lusious greenery or perhaps brilliant flowers at any time of the year. Although I do revel in seasonality and try not to choose fruits and vegetables long since past their prime harvesting time, my inability to tend to a real garden prevents me from growing anything outside the walls of my house. There’s no point in bemoaning the invariable fate of my outdoor plants however, so instead I try to enjoy maintaining more summery plant as the weather grows increasely friged just beyond the thin glass panes of our windows.

Careful to preserve my mementos of a warmer season, each pot bearing the fragile blooms is scheduled to receive nourishment regularly, every other day. Diligently preparing to complete this task mid-afternoon, I filled a pitcher with tap water with which to feed everything from the newborn sprouts to the sturdy roots 0f my collective plants. Overburdened by the copious amount of liquid, reaching almost to the very top of its container, I struggled to bring it into the next room without splashing water all over the furniture. Eager to lighten the load, I hastily dumped some in each pot as I made my way down the line, when something peculiar caught my eye. Thank goodness it wasn’t a second later that I noticed there was something unusual taking shelter under this one flower, because one false move and the resident would have found themselves completely soaked!

A quick glance may yeild nothing out of the ordinary here, but looking deeper there is unarguably a tiny teddy bear enjoying the shade of this flower! Green like the vivacious foliage surrounding him, I’m even tempted to believe that this fellow did indeed grow here where I found him that day. Why else would he be so comfortably situated in the most peculiar location, and more importantly, how else did he get here?

Luckily, he understood the difficulty I was having with my heavy jug of water, and quickly vacated the area so that I could provide his guarded flower with food. Taking care to keep the leaves as dry as possible for him, I quickly concluded that it didn’t matter where exactly he came from since he had never bothered me or my leafy assemblage before. With all the hospitality I could muster, I invited him to stay in his cozy green bed for as long as he’d like. It will be a long winter after all; There’s a reason why these things won’t grown outside anymore!

Besides, you can never have too many friends close by, right?

Birthdays abound this time of year for some reason, and the mass concentration still has yet to pass. I’m only starting to hunker down and prepare for the onslaught that I’ll soon be facing in addition to the holiday madness! Beginning to get the process in motion, my Japanese teacher was celebrating another year of life not so long ago – Although she chose not to disclose the updated total. While I don’t normally worry about teachers’ birthdays too much, sensei is a person I’ve known for almost four years now, and she’s had to put up with all of my crap for that whole time. [I commend her patience.] A fellow crafter herself, often sporting hand knit and crocheted garments, I figured she would appreciate my work more than most educators anyway.

On a shelf in her classroom, I had noticed previously an impressive array of various daruma otoshi in all sizes and colors. Traditionally made of wood and sporting a face on the top block, it is an old-fashioned toy found only in Japan. It comes with a small mallet, and the object of the game is to whack pieces of the body out from under the head without the whole thing toppling over. A difficult prospect, indeed – I own a real set of my own, and have yet to make even one successful move.

Going the route of exaggerated cuteness, my yarn-based daruma otoshi is topped by a round like bear instead of an old man’s head. Originally my plan was to make it functional with all of the pieces separate, but simple attempting to photograph it proved that it would never work out. The whole structure would end up on the ground, scattered apart as far as the eye could see before I could even raise my camera! Accepting the fact that it would get little use in the first place and serving primarily as decoration, I forced a thin wooden dowel through the center of each block. Mission accomplished; My creation could now stand independently.

I must say, never have I received a more enthusiastic reaction to any of my handmade gifts. Sensei practically shrieked, leading up to a hug that was so tight, my already unhappy tragus piercing actually began to bleed. I swear, I’m not making this up.

I’m thrilled that she liked it so much, but next time I give her a gift, I really hope that I can find a way out of her crushing embrace.

After such a strange encounter only days ago, I would have thought that nothing out there would have surprised me anymore. Well… I guess life was just out to prove me wrong!

Trying to finish up a roll of film for photography class, I was poking around outside, snapping pictures of anything that seemed remotely interesting. There’s hardly anything extradinary to capture, but deadlines beckoned and with time running short, all I could really hope for was to have any negatives to develop on Monday. Expecting to quickly shoot and run off to my next engagement, I wasn’t paying very close attention to much else other than what was in my view finder. In all my haste, I nearly missed the unbelievable sight mere feet away from where I stood – A genuine warthog, in all of his pig-like glory!

Peeking through the tall grass and fallen leaves, he looked away hastily and pretended to have not seen me, pushing around dirt and twigs, snorting up an acorn or two every so often. Never having witnessed a warthog in action before, I wasn’t sure if this was such a natural pursuit or not, but it was fascinating nonetheless. With such determination did he hunt his prey! Although the acorns had practically covered the ground in a thick layer only weeks ago, much of what remained was nothing but shells and rotten nuts at this point, having been snatched up by the squirrels already. Still, this particular hunter/gatherer seemed to be quite skilled at rooting out the few that were left untouched, as if they had simply been waiting for him alone.

I wondered if this was a baby I was seeing, as he was rather diminutive in size, atleast in comparison to how I had an imagined a warthog would measure up. Not a parent or sibling in sight, the little guy made no fuss over the absence of an accomplice, preferring instead to reap all the rewards for himself. Young as he may be, such an independent young hog has no worries about being unable to protect himself or find his way back to the rest of the group, I suppose. I don’t think anyone would bother him out here, either; Most animals around here wouldn’t even know what to think of his presence!

Maybe I should start putting out free nuts or seeds for all the unusual creatures that have been visiting my house since it seems to be such a popular destination! I don’t know what it is that makes my particular area so attractive, but I’ll certainly remain vigilant and attempt to catch any other oddities in action.

After a long, exhausting day at school, I always look forward to coming home and seizing my rare opportunity to do nothing but sit and read with a steaming cup of tea. It’s not something I can do every day, so when I finally get a chance to rest and do close to nothing, I find it to be a true delight.

On one particular occasion, I had just steeped my tea bag to create a rich, dark color and aroma, waiting for it to cool a bit. Deeming the cost to be clear and momentarily abandoning my drink, I absent mindedly went into the next room to find adequate reading material. Returning to reclaim my small cup of black tea, I was un prepared for the scene I was about to witness. I jumped nearly a mile in the air from the shock of discovering someone else dipping into my cup! Where on earth did he come from?!

Not the least bit disturbed by my entrance, he went right on slurping up the piping hot liquid without even pausing or raising his eyes in my direction. How thirsty he must have been! The way he continued to draw more and more of it into his mouth, you might think the cup itself had been bottomless! Unsure of how to proceed, I merely watched, figuring that if he had needed a drink that badly, I would hate to be the one to deprive him of proper hydration.

Walking around to the other side of the table in hopes of catching his attention so that I wouldn’t have to make the first move, I was surprise for a second time by another unexpected visitor!

Seemingly content to allow his friend all the tea he wanted, this other little fellow appeared to be thoroughly enjoying himself playing around on my spoon as if it were a see-saw. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it!

After an interminable length of time had passed, the first duckling finally took a deep breath, sated and full of caffeine. Opening his beak to explain, words failed him to explain exactly what had come over him, thefting my perfectly brewed cup of tea. I understood that it can be tough for critters to get enough of anything out in the wild, and an unguarded consumable is just asking to be taken.

Filling a seperate bowl with more water than either could ever finish in one sitting, I made sure they enough to drink before sending them on their way again. What a strange encounter, indeed!

Merely glancing outside towards the more heavily wooded areas of my backyard, it is no secret that the natural preparations for a long freeze are already in full swing. Scores of various types of wildlife can be seen all over, and sometimes in impressive numbers as well. Most commonly found are deers and squirrels of course, but I’ve also observed the activities of foxes, hawks, flocks containing hundreds of tiny birds, and there is even rumored to be a coyote somewhere around these parts. The trees may appear barren and naked, but acorns and other edible plants are still plentiful, waiting to be stored away for harsher times.

With such an impressive array of animals visiting my home, I didn’t think that anything would be too surprising to discover out there. That was before I noticed an unusual creature shuffling about the base of a large tree, just on the fringes of my peripheral vision. Thoroughly intrigued, I ran outside to get a closer look to better identify this mysterious newcomer.

Not even my wildest guess would have come close to the truth that was revealed as my eyes focused in on this curiosity. It was none other than a Totoro, a creature previously considered to be a myth! Rotund and jolly, my new acquaintance appeared to be very friendly, not the least bit perturbed by this odd looking human hoovering over him. About to tempt fate and reach out to him, I stopped short when I noticed something quivering strangely behind him…

It was a second, smaller Totoro! For all his shyness, he still managed assert his position and make himself seen, attempting to gather all the bravery he could summon to continue the task at hand. I couldn’t help but wonder if Totoro hibernate for the winter, or if they simply make themselves scarce like usual. There was no time to ponder this however, as they were both in quite a hurry to return to the safety of the dense tangled brush at the perimeter of our property.

I doubt I’ll ever see them again, but I still hope that they find a warm and welcoming shelter in time for the colder weather. It would be a tragedy to loose such a rare species to a cruel season.

My internal clock is ticking again, but it has nothing to do with having relationships or screaming, drooling babies. Forget about people, all I want to associate with for the next month is my trusty stand mixer and oven.

Every year I begin making a pile of holiday cookies, cakes, and other baking ideas as soon as January begins, so by the time it’s appropriate to make them, I have a literal heap of papers to sort through. Buche de noel, gingerbread houses, sugar cookies… I must make them all. So many new recipes and ideas of my own, I think I’d having to start baking from sunrise to sunset until the 25th to get through even half of them! But never mind that, I’m still going to attack with vigor as if it wasn’t such an impossible aspiration.

Strangely enough, my first cookie out of the oven wasn’t edible at all, and was made intentionally so! Before you think my head is still clouded from those Thanksgiving spirits, take a look for yourself, because sometimes the best treats are ones you actually can’t eat.

Pour yourself a comforting mug of hot coffee and grab a giant gingerbread man, the holidays have just begun! All I need now is for the snow to come down and the whole scene would be perfect. I must say, I make a mean vegan gingersnap, but I think I should give my poor oven a rest after serving me so well for my feast only a few days ago. Instead, my hook has been lonely during all of the preparations for my big dinner, and only too happy to help me create a new yarn-based treat.

My “icing” around the sides is a bit messy, but I was rushing to finish before the sun went down so I could get decent pictures. Besides that, I’m not so fabulous at doing crocheted edgings in such tight twists and turns, especially when the two layers are thick with stuffing between them. Nonetheless, I think he’s a wonderful cookie, real or not, and a great way to start easing into the mad rush to work through my stack of waiting recipes!