Treehouse Cottage

A couple of weeks ago when the heat was so bad we really had to stay inside, I moved all the furniture in our (air-conditioned) bedroom and renamed it Treehouse Cottage. Welcome!

The first edition was kind of stupid, with our tall headboard jutting out into the rest of the room and blocking the view of the window from the door, so I only intended it to last for a few days. Then I made this tweak, turning the bed to let more light through, and now I'm smitten! There are so many different places I can work in here now - two standing desk areas, a seated desk area, and a sofa to curl up on. 

But also, the bed converts into a tree-adjacent lounge and knitting area, complete with shifting sun patches as the leaves outside move in the breeze.

 

And how pretty will this view be, come autumn? 

Part of my motivation for this change was that my friend Caro's just bought her first house, and it's a stunning century home... I mean, so much swoon, and super inspiring to me to take a fresh look at our own place. It's fitting that I get to curl up today in my Cottage Nest (TM) and watch a bunch of her HIGHly recommended YouTube book videos while making some sock progress.

That strawberry mug on her side table was from me. So proud, ha!

I'll be going out later for more epic walking, which I've been doing tons of since the weather cooled down a bit again. Here are some random flower pix I caught on my travels:

 

Yellow and purple really are lovely together, aren't they. We also went further afield to the Toronto Islands this week, where I got a different look at the CN Tower than is possible from my usual vantage points. In case it's too subtle to register from here, it's the tiny vertical to the right of the setting sun that's beaming from the right of one of these heavy branches: 

I know, I know - more tree! I do love them.

Hard to believe our summer weather's getting close to halfway done. This year I intend to enjoy it a lot more than usual and do more of my writing at night. High time that outings got priority scheduling, right?

Hope you're getting in some fun outings and/or getting the most out of wherever you make your home. Thanks for spending this time with me and I'll see you again soon! 

(Not next Saturday though - it's a long weekend, and I might be kicking up my heels - but I'll definitely be here to share something crafty or otherwise fun on August 8.)

Meanwhile... doesn't this sock look perfect for summer? Or very early fall, when it's cool enough to wear them, but nobody's ready to let go of those lazy hours. Not that I have my eye on a pair of bright green walking shoes that would totally go with, or anything... 

 

 

 

 

Inside and out

This past week involved a lot of Inside Time (weather issues) and no knitting (who picked Jurassic Park for movie night? Nobody can knit with sweaty hands!) 

Thankfully the inside of our house is full of nice things to look at. These paintings are by my friend Wrona, and they are teeny tiny compared to her usual huge cloudscape canvases which she paints with her hands while sitting on top of them. There's a video of her at work, at the link!

Anyway: we had a fleeting few hours yesterday that were super nice out, so Pete and I grabbed our chance for a big walk into the ravine, and I took pictures for you.

This is a shared path for cyclist, dog-walkers, runners, walkers, and people who just want to be around a lot of trees. (me, waving both hands.)

There are often some really interesting species of fungi to look at!

From the edge of the path you can see it's quite a drop to the more groomed gardeny part of the park. It might not show in this picture, but I thought you might love it anyway. I do, especially from this safe distance, heh.

By contrast, this is the view looking up:

Forests: they are such classics, all over the world.

When you get to the bottom of the trail the bike path goes on into this meadow. It's different in every season but summer lush greenery is my fave... I'm always surprised by those tall buildings in the distance.

 

In reality, the ravine is bordered by busy roads with traffic you can trick yourself into believing is running water. Isn't it wild that in the heart of a big city, you can just wander into all this green space? I feel so, so lucky to be near enough to walk to it.

 

Water runs through the whole ravine, and the paths twist and cross over it in a bunch of different places. Those last two pictures are the view from either side of a bridge. I can never decide which I like best! Do you have a favourite?

Queen Anne's Lace dots so much of the path in this part of the park. They're super elegant. 

Here's another little section I love. These two trees that look like they're somehow dancing together!

Or maybe just talking.

Today the weather is terrible again so I'll be staying in and revising yet another manuscript. After all this time, I still love writing more than anything, which is saying something, isn't it? 

Hope your day is wonderful, whether you're stuck in or otherwise. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next Saturday! 

 

Flower power

Sooo... I was sick all week. Too sick for knitting or sewing or anything crafty, really. Instead of our usual Hugs fare, let's look at some gorgeous flowers!

A super talented friend arranged these wildflowers in dollar-store drinking glasses for centrepieces at a 50th wedding anniversary party and I absolutely loved them. 

Some of these petals are so tiny!

 

While I was sick I moved from sleeping, to listening to podcasts and falling asleep during them, to streaming shows and sleeping on breaks from them, until finally I was well enough to read a book. 

My pick: Rosemary's Baby. Not that I'm a horror girl, but I'd heard it was well written and I cannot argue that point whatsoever. It is FABULOUS. I might have to stop when it gets to the really scary bits but the opening chapters I've consumed so far are just so easy to read and hard to put down. Lucky I slept so much the last few days, amiright?

 

Ira Levin, who wrote it, also wrote The Stepford Wives which I had not known was a book. Definitely a theme there, for me and for him. But his first, A Kiss Before Dying, was such a fantastic film I am pretty sure I'll have to read that too. How did I miss all these greats? Probably because I was on the Classic English Lit track. Anyway: gifts for my future self, as I always think of them. If you read everything at once, what's left for later?

Since this subject is less Hug than Boa Constrictor, let's move on. The good news is, I'm mostly all mended now, and have celebrated by cleaning and dusting and washing my sheets and pyjamas for a fresh start that doesn't involve lying in or near the bed all day. 

And with luck, next week will include something craftable you'll enjoy more than my horror movie musings. Until then (and please note that I am not at all mentioning the tiny caterpillar I found on this desk a couple of days after bringing in these arrangements aiiiieeeeee don't worry we ushered it safely back outside) thanks for coming by and I hope you have a great weekend!

 

 

 

Knit n natter

Ugh the heat! You cannot work with heavy textiles in the heat. Not a big blanket, and not a mohair blend sock either. 

This one's up to the chompy stage and can't manage so much as a nip. Just limpness and a plea for water. 

So instead (after cooling and watering that poor blue sock), I've done work on a stripy, having been reminded by last week's photoshoot how much I love Vesper sock yarn.

Still haven't found a new sock yarn source. Really need to work on that. But it's so easy to distract myself from that problem by binge-watching some new series, or one I missed when it first came out. After I finished almost all of The X-Files, which wasn't quite the way I remembered it, I started in on The Mentalist. I hadn't seen a single episode of that and I wasn't especially interested to start, but whoa: loved it! Loved every season. Loved the series finale too, when I finally got to see it last night. 

And now I need something else to watch while I finish this sock. I'm thinking about the new season of Enola Holmes, or a re-watch of the last few episodes of Person of Interest, or a good sit-down with The Boroughs, from the Duffer Brothers. 

There's something about creepy crimey shows that's always appealed to me. Surely not as an outcropping of my childhood love of Nancy Drew mysteries... but maybe.

Oh, and by the way: did I ever give my black handknit cat her closeup?

She has a fish purse! (We're in my air-conditioned office for these pix, which I've renamed The Treehouse for the summer.  I love working at my desk here, with my fish-purse cat for company.)

Speaking of Nancy Drew, I reread The Secret of the Old Clock not too long ago and it held up so much better than expected. It was a 1950s tweed cover edition, so I got the whole tactile appeal of holding a real book that opens up easily to each page.

Sorry, just had to interrupt myself with a closeup of my beloved coaster from the gift shop at the (truly excellent) London Transport Museum. The 'm' uses the actual typeface from the Tube!

Usually when I'm reading these days, it's ebooks on my new Kobo Libra Colour. This week I finished Mary Stewart's Touch Not The Cat, from 1976, which now that I think of it is another creepy crimey story. She wrote so lyrically, I just sink into her work. I think only John Berendt, writing Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil, affects me the same way. 

That book, I read in a trade paperback I deeply regret loaning out or else packing into a box in the garage when we renovated, only to be lost to raccoons. The new editions either don't appeal to me or have a huge sticker over the otherwise fabulous cover. Ugh, amiright?

 

Anyhoo.... I've been knitting again, while watching things, and it's been really nice, and I didn't appreciate how much I've missed it. Do you find you have ebbs and flows with your knitting?

Either way: hope you have a fabulous weekend! Thanks for spending this bit of it with me and I look forward to seeing you again next Saturday. In the meantime, I'll no doubt be dipping into this second sock, and trying to grow it to the chompy stage. It'd be fun to have one of the pair face off with Mr. Mohair, don't you think? 

 

 

 

Busy bee

A real busy bee is actually accomplishing things, so I'm more of a faux version, but I'm okay with that. Spring is so fleeting, after all! Put on your smell-o-vision and imagine a blend of honey and vanilla, and you can appreciate these blossoms with me:

Come July with its leaf-withering heat I'll forget how gorgeous this flowering treeshrub can be, but right now it's the best ever.

I forgot to share my amazing score at the recent local rummage sale. No vintage linens this year but with luck you'll share my love for Susan Cooper and feel the wait was worthwhile:

 

Yep, Greenwitch AND The Dark Is Rising, in the paperback version of the same hardcover edition I read as a kid at our library! Same cover art, anyway. I personally prefer the updated paperback artwork for this newer edition (on the left) over the originals above and the ones in our local shops currently (on the right)

Still, the spine flop and print size on the new-to-me vintage ones are excellent so I might have to chase the rest of that set too!

 

Meanwhile, my sewing efforts continue, now in the form of stitched up sleeve rolls. I've been doing a cheat and running them through the sewing machine, but I've been stymied by this particular T, which I soooo want to wear, because I don't have any thread in its shade of green. 

I'm wondering about hand stitching the sleeve roll-ups with more of a tacking situation from behind, in my more plentiful off-white, so it doesn't show. Anything's better than constantly having to roll them up manually, as their natural length is exactly right to look maximum weird on my arms, but it would be nice if the whole thing didn't come off looking too haphazard. 

Technically, for a T, haphazard is the point. But my personal fashion goal is 100% 'pyjamas that pass for office wear' and sloppy sleeves don't really fit the bill.

Just this brief Hug today I'm afraid, as we have a busy Saturday schedule not exclusively involving Plants In Ground! Hopefully your weekend is equally exciting and I'll see you next Saturday. Thanks as always, so much, for stopping by to see me.

 

 

Time for some spring cleaning

Hello from my disorderly house to your hopefully very pleasant and uplifting one! 

This week I finished a huge writing project and promptly started tackling the mess that's been building up while I worked. So far I've tidied up some yarn, and accepted the fact that I don't need any more yarn.

I also cleaned up my closet and accepted the fact that I definitely don't need any more clothes.

Also that it's high time I learned to use the steamer I bought in January and never used, because I have a new dress and it's a bit wrinkled from the bag. In an unrelated shopping mishap I bought an over-door hanger, and I think that gives me the perfect setup to steam the dress on the bathroom door, standing open so any water drips onto a tile floor. Exciting!

Other things I don't need any more of: art supplies. But I am thrilled that I got these little rubber stamps in my Christmas stocking and certain I will find some fun projects for them. Eventually.

(the little bee might be my fave, what about yours?) 

 

While in the closet I tidied up some shoes and accepted that even after I donate the ones I ended up never wearing, I do not under any circumstances need more footwear. 

(Unless they are Birkenstocks. There are still a bunch of Birkenstock styles I am pretty sure I cannot live indefinitely without.)

Next up: the living room mantel, which mostly just looks like a pile of yarn ends from the perpetual crochet blanket, but some highland cows and a pair of very cute lobsters. Everybody has those things in their living room, right? So you'll know - they get into EVERYthing and don't always look quite right for a springtime Easter display. I honestly don't know where to put them for the holiday unless I get a big basket for the floor near said fireplace, and put a big pastel ribbon on it, and put all the animals inside like egg hunt winnings... except, all of them will be holding on to yarn ends and crochet hooks, like they're starting their own blanket.

Seriously, that's a pretty good idea, isn't it?

(don't answer that.) 

Hope you have had a super productive week, and that we all have a lovely weekend. Enjoy yours and thanks for dropping in to see me - see you next Saturday!

 

 

Sometimes legs are overrated

I am taking a break from blankets today to introduce you to Annie! My new apple friend. She is super sweet and so loving. 

 

One of the things one must accept in marriage is the broad landscape of what constitutes love language. Pete's is 'giving Jellycats and/or chocolate', among other everyday things like driving me wherever I need to be because I hate driving, and coming along when I want company on a walk. 

Obviously I love this situation a ton, but the Jellycat thing has gotten a little out of hand. We have a LOT of them now. I actually have to be careful about walking him past a store that stocks them, because he cannot help himself. This is hard because I also have a terrible weakness for them. A few weeks ago, for example, we were both magnetically drawn into a store with a shelf supporting the weight of a wombat, and I wanted to buy it SO BAD, and insisted we must not do so under any circumstances, and we left without him. Then on Valentine's day I found my very special wombat waiting for me at the end of a trail of square chocolates because wombats poop in cubes. 

Be still my heart...

Anyway, back to Annie. I eat a couple of apples every day and Pete can't go long without buying me something special, so: Jellycat apple. Fair enough: not complaining about that! But Annie had a problem, and one I've never stumbled across before with this brand. 

It was her cute corduroy legs.

And her equally cute corduroy stem.

 

They smell like burnt petroleum, or a dead tire in a heatwave.

If you're reading this you're probably to some degree a fabric nerd, so you may have come across this issue before. It usually happens with a cheap fabric that insists it's a cotton, or sometimes it's a stretch polyester blend. It can be random, too. I have been burned by fabrics that smell fine in the store but after you wash them, they have this headache-inducing odor that does not go away ever. And it's pervasive, getting into any other textiles stored nearby. 

Regardless of how Jellycat came to use such a suspect corduroy, something had to happen for Annie's well-being and mine. While I figured out what that might be, she sat on the arm of my favourite chair, safely away from the other Jellycats, where I could pet the part of her that wasn't stinky so she wouldn't feel totally rejected. 

I mean OBviously that wasn't sustainable.

Finally, she and I came up with the answer.

THE RIPPER. 

My mother's ripper, actually, which gave me the emotional fortitude to go in and shred the stitches on a $30 toy.

Doing this surgery gave me an even deeper appreciation for Jellycat quality. The legs were tucked into holes in Annie's body, but the fabric allowance on the depth of those cavities is so generous I will not have to stitch them shut unless I someday allow a child under three to gnaw on her. 

Seriously: still smiling. What a perfect patient! 

The stem was not embedded in a seam at all, but stitched into a deep depression in the top of her head, separate from her leaf, which was unaffected. 

And the thread was white, so once I managed to work it out into view it was easy to see what I should pull and what I should not. I used tweezers for the final part of the surgery. 

Annie was lovely throughout, and afterward she was so happy to be able to meet her colleagues properly. 

 

That's William, my wombat, on the right. The bee on the left is one of two on our New York Times Spelling Bee team, though I can't say she's helped me win, ever. (I'd like to be able to convince somebody that *my* love language is letting Pete win at Spelling Bee every day, and that it doesn't just happen because he's so much better at it than I am, but here we are.)

Annie is so happy to be footloose and fancy free now. She and Wendy, the bunny macaron Pete gave me ages ago, are having great chats about having no legs.

And she and Squash, the squash Pete gave me also ages ago, are giggly over their plan to infiltrate next year's Christmas display as baubles.

All in all, the surgery was a massive success, leaving Annie free to live her best life.

We both hope you're living your best life, too. Thanks for dropping by today and we'll see you next weekend!