It's a thing. Start-itis. That irresistible urge to start something new. It often hits around Labor Day for many of us, because we that September is our "new year." I don't know if it's because for those of us of a certain age, school went back in session on the Tuesday after Labor Day, so we have those "new year" feelings associated from childhood. I don't know if it's the change of seasons. The leap from summer to fall often makes us feel invigorated with the color changes, cooler weather, changing length of days...all of it is a bit nostalgic and energizing at the same time.
I've finished a few projects and I need to think about what to do next. I need to finish a few single socks, and I need to finish the Precious Metals scarf. But I'm itching to start something new...
How about you?
Babies, I've got Babies...
So from 9 caterpillars, I'm back to two of them, one a brand-new baby. I hope that the big ones have gone on to begin their transition to Black Swallowtails. I've been seeing more of the Swallowtails around, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more of them as the season goes on. As you can see, my parsley has taken another hit! Oh well; if it's serving the butterflies-to-be, how can I complain? It comes back.
Toting up so far, I've had two batches of 9, and today I saw 2 more. Not a bad haul for someone who didn't expect anything from this pot of herbs.
I haven't seen anything on the dill. It's all dried up, which I think is kind of quick, compared to last year. Of course, the patch wasn't as large either, so maybe that's it. Or maybe they just like parsley better.
I'm hoping the weather holds out for a bit because the Brown Eyed Susans are now seeding, and the Phlox is having a bit of a regeneration with the rain and slightly cooler weather. The hanging plants are just about done; I'm thinking of doing mums or something else - not butterfly or hummingbird friendly, but the season is waning. There's a bit of life left in the coneflowers, and the butterfly bush is doing ok. But the bee balm is done and so is the lavender, which surprises me.
I've got a good crop of Rosemary, so a bunch of that will go into the freezer for winter time. Maybe I should resurrect the Rosemary Jelly I made a few years ago? The basil flowered almost immediately, so I figured that was "hummingbird food" and didn't even bother plucking anything for cooking.
Finished Projects...
So this is what I've been doing this weekend. I admit, I heisted this one from a post in my "Make & Take Group" FB page. It's little "oily bugs." I got some stiffened felt and bought a cutter - which I found won't cut felt... So I resorted to a biscuit cutter and pencil. Used my snips, as they're easier on the hands, and cut out 15 circles.
I bought larger pom-poms and used Tacky Glue to stick them on the base. I was looking for pre-cut, but all I found was foam, and I didn't want to use that. Had the Fiskars cutter worked, it would've been scalloped. But I'm not that dedicated...
After they sat for a while, I added some glitz. I saw these initially as "google-eyed" with little antennae. Nope. A bit too cutesy for me, frankly.
I got gems. Stick on, but some of them didn't come off with the glue on, so again with the Tacky Glue. I still want to add more around the backside, because I did three in a cascade, but they still seem to look like sparkly eyeballs. Not the look I'm going for. What the heck are these for, you might ask. Well. There are numerous ways to use essential oils in a yoga class or at work without a diffuser or direct application on the skin, though to me, on the skin works the best.
Some teachers use cotton pads, which are really nice. Some use sprays, which I've used. But I saw these, which were given out as party favors, and I thought, "How nice would these be to sit next to your mat?"Except right now, they look like scary-eyed space monsters. So - the answer to that is MORE JEWELS (channeling my inner Elvis here). This is for a Yoga + Oils class I'm doing with one of my teachers and we plan to use 3 oils. This will enable us to dot them onto the critters and set them next to the mats.
The students can take them home to use with oils they have at home or take them with them to work, to put on their desks.
They're handy, slightly adorable, portable, and cheap to make.
Next up is the most recent prayer shawl. Yes, in the background, you see about a zillion oils on my table next to my diffuser. Those are ones I use at night (not all at once, but as I see what I need).
I really REALLY wanted to do a picot bind-off for this one. But I didn't leave myself enough yarn. You need something like six times the length to do a picot bind-off. Knowing that would've saved me a lot of angst with the last Close to You Shawl, I gotta tell ya...So Hubby and I did the math. Did it again. And did it a third time, just to make sure. See, this is super-bulky yarn, so I had what I thought was an insane amount of yarn left - like over 21 feet. And it still wasn't enough. There were 105 stitches on the last row of this puppy, so that would've meant I needed about 3 times what I had. But I had plenty for my plain bind-off, and about 6 yards left. That went into the "oddments" bag, and I'll use it for something.
Pocket Priest has an idea for us to do "Prayer Squares" - instead of doing a whole afghan, which is a great idea. I mean, I was "on a mission" with this particular shawl, but overall, I'd like to volunteer for our church's Prayer Shawl Ministry. But with my crazy schedule? I don't want to take 6 months to do an afghan. And I'm not keen on doing a bunch of them in the super-bulky. I have a lot of worsted in stash, but that's what'll take me 6 months...
Squares are good for kids, elders who don't want a whole lap robe or afghan, and folks with sensory issues. I remember my kids used to love the tags on their stuffed animals. That's the same concept.
Storing My Oils...
For a few years, I had totes to store my Young Living Essential Oils in. As I accumulated more, I added more totes. It was getting out of hand, and I didn't always know where things were when I was looking for a particular oil.
Well. I was in JoAnn Fabrics the other day, buying the stuff for the Oily Critters, and I saw these storage things for sale at 50% off. I thought, "WOW, this might work!" I was hoping they'd work for the 15 ml. bottles, but they're not quite deep enough. That's ok. My totes work for those for now. So the bins are labeled: "Vitality" (the ones we can use to cook, bake, eat, etc.); "Singles;" and "Blends."
I did the same thing for the totes, and that basket up there holds the empties. Sometimes, I re-use the empties for samples or blends of my own (taking off the labels).
If you're an oiler, how do you store yours? I've toyed with the nail polish holders, and I've kept them in a basket. But I think this is better for me. I'm sure it'll evolve. Right now, they're on top of a dresser. Eventually, they'll move into my office.
It's fun to find new uses for things; that bin system is actually for scrapbookers, and there are indents in the top to keep paper clips, pencils, etc. Which means it'll be a pain to dust, but there you go.
Random Picture...
Ok, this time it's a funny. I saw this and sent it to my kid to share with my grand-cat...
I love to see some of the internet humor. It's clever. Memes - love 'em. Yes, some are pretty trashy, and yeah, vulgar.
But the great thing about the Internet is that you can almost always find what you want. If you want to watch cat videos for the next 2 months, you can do that. My friend Preston finds these awesome pictures that he posts as "series" on his FB page - cats + kids, cammo cats (cats hiding in obvious sight), and the latest one is rocks painted as pets.
It's all engaging. Yeah, it can get to be a total time suck, but only if you let it. Heck, I can "waste" a ton of time on Ravelry, looking for shawl patterns, but that doesn't always translate to a "waste." It's kind of engaging my creative brain, taking me away from the crap that's on the news, and giving me a respite from everyday stuff.
In moderate doses, there's nothing wrong with spending time on the internet. Like anything, you can go all the way to crazy-town. But you don't have to.
My mom now has WiFi (yeah, I know - stop the presses!), and she's a bit concerned about "frittering away" her time. She has friends who play games and spend hours online. I told her, "Here's the thing, mom. It's a machine. Set a timer, and turn it off." She has lots of hobbies, and she's a bit afraid that she'll get sucked into the vortex.
Remember: It's a machine. Turn it off. Unplug. Go outside, look up, enjoy the world off-screen.
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