The blog io9 posted a collection of the top science stories of 2014. Many of them are more along the lines of “how marble is quarried” and “how honey is harvested in Nepal” (both very carefully) than hard science reporting, but they’re all cool to read about–especially if you need perspective or a reminder that the world is an awesome place. Because it is. And now we have another year to be in it and see more of it. Happy 2015!
December 2014
Tuesday Project Roundup: Christmas Stockings`
Here’s the first of two post-Christmas gift sewing roundups! For my brother’s family, I made stockings out of wool felt. I used a template from Martha Stewart to get the stocking shape and then printed and cut out different clip art images of the botanicals to decide on a design before cutting out the felt freehand. Then I sewed all the felt pieces on with the sewing machine.
Once I started these they went pretty fast, and I was pleased they turned out how I pictured them. I tried to make the colors match their living room and the plants relate to their interests.
My brother loves corn, so he got corn:
My sister-in-law got a sunflower, which appears in their house a lot and ties back to her wedding:
And my nephew got wheat, because he is 3.5 years old and loves to play with his farm toys and the combine (his favorite) cuts wheat.
(I took these photos in a hurry before I wrapped everything–the colors in the first photograph are the most true but I wanted to show some stitching details on the others.)
Goodbye, Christmas
I took down the tree and the rest of the decorations yesterday and had this line from William Carlos Williams’ “Burning the Christmas Greens” in my head:
Their time past,
relief! The room bare.
Happy Christmas
Tuesday Project Roundup: Thomas the Elf Hat
I needed a project to work on for November so decided on a hat for my nephew. I used yarn I already had (in Thomas the Tank Engine colors) but decided to make it a silly shape, so went with a long, pointy elf hat.
(Yarn is Cascade superwash and pattern was adapted from this one. I see the point of the purl rows now; without them, you can see my decreases at the top and bottom of every stripe.)
I didn’t mean for this to be a Christmas present–just a fun winter hat–but timing means he’ll be getting it with the rest of his Christmas loot. I’ll try to get a picture of it on.
“The darkest evening of the year”
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Happy Solstice
Sunday is the Winter Solstice in this hemisphere–the shortest day and longest night of the year. This last week I’ve just wanted to hibernate, so I’m going to use this hippie thought to justfiy it:
The Holiday of the Winter Solstice celebrates the presence of Spirit and the power of faith and hope that our visions of the future will come into manifestation…Winter Soltice is not about having the light. It is about carrying hope and moving toward a vision that we will work to make a reality.
We must wait in the darkness of Midwinter, and this is not easy for most of us who are not comfortable with the dark, silence, resting and dreaming. Under the ground the earth silently sleeps. Seeds rest in suspended animation, and the animals hibernate. In contrast, we humans rush frantically to the malls, stressing ourselves with activity when we really need to rest, dream and gather strength in our bodies for the coming season of renewal.
One Week Countdown!
Christmas is a week from today. I am trying very hard to not leave the house this coming weekend so that means epic list-making–although if we’re honest, I’ve been in crazy planning mode since early November. I just found this Elizabeth David quote, though, and I feel a little better about my organizing going overboard:
“Christmas does tend to unbalance people, particularly those people responsible for the catering, the coking, the presents, the tree, the decorations.”
Christmas Cats
Happy Birthday, Doc
It’s the birthday of this guy, who “came into my life and made the living fine”:
As per usualy, I can express my feelings best with a quote:
You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.
Happy birthday, Doc!