Author: Karen

Tuesday Project Roundup: Still Using The Good Fabric

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I decided to keep sewing up the good fabric from that Australian order last year (of course I got more than one cut; you have to make the most of shipping!). Because Doops Designs does custom print runs, you can pick your base–and they have an athletic/swim base, so I have some very cool gym pants now:

That was just a snap during class so here’s a better idea of the print. I love those goofy leopards!

The fabric didn’t quite have enough stretch for tights so I used the Greenstyle Brassie Joggers pattern yet again for something looser. The waistband and cuffs are some white rib spandex left in the stash; I like the contrast but it might also be a little pajama-y? That’s ok, though–anything goes in the gym.

Frosting!

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I followed the plan I figured out last year for an Easter without my mom that feels right: Go to brunch (this time we got my brother’s family to go along!) and bake and decorate and deliver a wild amount of cookies.
The frosting used a pound of butter and took a couple hours but I was feeling pretty good about my piping skills.

Of course, then a few internet left turns took me to the world of PANORAMIC SUGAR EGGS and, well–I think I have a new project for next year. 

Friday Links

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1. A live (baby) colossal squid was filmed in its natural environment for the first time last month, so I went down a rabbit hole of squid lore, including the difference between a giant and a colossal squid and this amazing quote from a squid expert:

“The giant squid, to an extent, I was bored with, because it was just a large, very dull squid,” he says. “It’s got no real charismatic feature other than its size. And here I am dealing with something that’s got these swivelling hooks on the arms and a beak… considerably larger and considerably more robust.”

 

2. Well this is useful: “Ten Commandments” of nonviolent resistance by Czechs and Slovaks against the Soviet troops.

When a Soviet soldier comes to you, YOU:
1. Don’t know
2. Don’t care
3. Don’t tell
4. Don’t have
5. Don’t know how to
6. Don’t give
7. Can’t do
8. Don’t sell
9. Don’t show
10. Do nothing

 

3. Have you ever thought, “I wish I could hear the Kmart muzak from my childhood again”? It’s your lucky day! Someone who worked at Kmart in the late 80s/early 90s kept the cassette tapes the store played and has uploaded them to the Internet Archive, complete with the store announcements about no smoking and what’s on sale. I just picked

Le Poisson Steve

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There’s another musical trend on TikTok–not a sea shanty but remixes of the incredibly catchy little song about Steve the Fish:

@vigzvigz steve le poisson steve musique par @tomo ♬ STEVE tomomp3 – vigz

 

And because this is FrenchTok, people are reimagining the song in the style of Erik Satie

@vanillefleurcannelle Steve le ✨poiiiiiii✨ le poisson Steve ! allez écouter la version longue de @tomo #lepoissonsteve #stevelepoisson #piano #cover #tomo #parodie #piano #cover #pianocover ♬ son original – vanille.guiri

 

Or medieval polyphony

@musica.antiqua Le Poisson Medieval Steve #lepoissonsteve #poissonsteve ♬ STEVE tomomp3 – vigz

 

There’s even reggae–“Le poisson le plus chill du monde” as a comment says.

@dubsilence Le poisson Steve 🐟 Reggae Version 💚💛❤️ Big up @tomo & @vigz 🤝 #poissonsteve #reggae #dubsilence ♬ Poisson Steve Reggae Version – Dub Silence

Wednesday Poem

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This is a good one for spring and for remembering we weren’t meant to work until we die.

 

Giving Notice
by Joy Sullivan

One day soon, you’ll rise from your desk or quietly excuse yourself
from the meeting or turn the car around in the middle of the street.
Anything might trigger it. An open window. A sunny day in April.
Daffodils panting in a mason jar. Call it madness. Call it glorious

disappearance. Call it locomotion. Do what you should have done
years ago. Let your body out to pasture. Fill your calendar with nothing
but sky. Surrender to the woods. To cicadas and sap beetles. To the moths,
the color of memory and dream. Wear dusk like an ancient cloak. Hurry—

there’s still time to creature—to pluck all the wild cloudberries and carry
them home. Even now, you can hear coyotes crying at the canyon’s edge.
Grow back your hackles and howl. This was always your first chorus,
the mother tongue, a feral hymn you know by heart.

Happy Birthday, Mom

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My beautiful mom would have been 77 today, an age she would have hated on paper but would have enjoyed the hell out of nonetheless. 

I picked some of the spring bulbs she planted and loved when I visited my dad on Sunday. It’s not even close to having her here but the idea that these same flowers are still blooming–it’s something. Happy birthday, Mom. We miss you.

Friday Links

Karen

1. Wait, Utah did something good?? “Utah families who currently pay reduced prices for school meals will soon get them for free after Gov. Spencer Cox approved a bill Tuesday that eliminates reduced-cost lunches.”

2. This is good info to have in your head: General guidelines on how to help if a wheelchair user falls out of their chair.

3. The first trailer for the Murderbot adaptation on Apple TV is out! I don’t talk about books a lot here these days but the Murderbot series is one of my favorites–I go back to it whenever I’m between other books.

4. Mood:

Toby The Self-Healing Cat

Karen

How is Toby, you ask? Reader, he cured his own diabetes.

We just finished a round of him wearing a glucose monitor, like we do every six months, and–despite not having any insulin since his hypoglycemia scare–his blood sugar is absolutely normal. His vet tells us that cats can go into diabetic remission, but it’s usually sooner after diagnosis. Toby clearly just does what he wants.

He’s also acting just fine since his appetite loss/possible thyroid issues the week after the hypoglycemia scare, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he fixed his thyroid levels, too.

A senior orange cat with crumpled ears in his bed, looking smug.
“What? Like it’s hard to fix your medical issues.”