An update (with pictures!)
Hello there good people! I hope anyone who observes Easter, Passover, and/or Ramadan has had/is having a good/joyous/generous one. We had my brother and SIL over on Sunday for a chill brunch that was very pleasant.
Overall, things have been pretty good here. Mum and I are both suffering from the Spring flare-ups that happen every year. I don't know how kidney stones can have a flare up, but I swear they do. Before that, though, things were going super well and we were getting a lot accomplished and working on projects, and we're still doing that, but less so because we're a little under the weather.
But I've managed to knit two purses for myself. My beloved old one finally could no longer function, so I decided to see if I could just make one for myself. I'm the worst about patterns; I can never follow one to the letter. I start one and if it's not beautiful in, like, five rows, I go 'nope!' and start on something else. About halfway through I decide it's terrible and I hate it and my mum very patiently encourages me to go onwards and then finally I end up with something I like. Here are the products of this hectic, artistic process:
The one on the left is one I kind of winged the pattern for, taking the stitch count and flap decreases from one pattern and making up everything else myself. It's a bit wonky, but overall I like the look of it, and I'm not as proficient in knitting as I am in crochet. You have to be wonky while you're mastering a skill. The other purse is somewhat closer to what the actual pattern I chose for it called for, but I scaled it down and changed the handle and added the top i-cord trim, which took forever and essentially called for knitting with two crochet hooks, but I enjoyed the process. I like the second guy better--I think he's more uniform--but I feel like the first guy is more my style. Well, they both are, I guess. Sometimes I'm boho, sometimes I'm sparkly.
The other thing we've been working on is trying to grow some milkweed for the monarch butterflies. We want to make a butterfly/bee garden in the backyard. A friend of my mum's from her exercise class gathered milkweed pods from around where she lived and my mum gave me them for Christmas, along with a little indoor greenhouse. It's a process to get them going, and our first batch produced only two seedlings, one of which spontaneously died for unknown reasons, but our second batch looks a little healthier.
My much put upon kalanchoe has also decided to perk up. Mum got me one as a Valentine's Day present a few years ago and despite my loving care, she grew mould on her and I genuinely thought she was dead, but in completely ignoring her, she somehow fought off the infestation and recovered and has been slowly getting bigger and bigger by me sneaking up behind her and putting a little water in her and then ignoring her so she doesn't get too overwhelmed. Now she's growing a flower again! She's very nervous about it, and hasn't opened it yet even though she's had it for quite awhile now, but I hope she'll work up the courage to bloom soon. If she does, I'll take a picture. I think she's very pretty even without any flowers, and I'm very proud of her working through her illness to shine again, so whatever happens, I will support her life choices.
We've been having good TV around here lately, though, as always, the only three shows we watch in a week are on on the same night, so we DVR them all and spread them out through the week. We've been watching Sullivan's Crossing on CTV, which is new this year and based on books Mum and I have read. It's very enjoyable, very Canadian, a little bit cheesy, but in a good kind of way. I prefer cheese to angst. We're also watching Sanditon and Call the Midwife, but the DVR had a meltdown one night and refused to tape them, and we couldn't find Call the Midwife anywhere to catch up on it, so we'll have to wait until it comes to Britbox. PBS wants you to think you can use Passport, but if you're in Canada, you can watch, like, two shows on it and the rest are region locked. Sanditon we were able to buy from Apple TV, at least.
I have some new glasses on the way. I had my yearly check-up and mentioned I was still having trouble reading, especially when I'm tired, so my doctor suggested reading glasses with a higher prism than my multi-focals to try to get my eyes to align together since my lazy eye is such a bitch about teamwork. You can't put more than one prism strength in a single lens, unfortunately, and I need a different one for distance, so I'll have my multi-focals for most things, then the reading glasses specifically for...you know, reading.
I think that's all! Happy Spring, I hope you will get some good weather soon if you have not already. The sun has abandoned us here. It's been the darkest winter in 78 years, apparently, but we made it through.
Overall, things have been pretty good here. Mum and I are both suffering from the Spring flare-ups that happen every year. I don't know how kidney stones can have a flare up, but I swear they do. Before that, though, things were going super well and we were getting a lot accomplished and working on projects, and we're still doing that, but less so because we're a little under the weather.
But I've managed to knit two purses for myself. My beloved old one finally could no longer function, so I decided to see if I could just make one for myself. I'm the worst about patterns; I can never follow one to the letter. I start one and if it's not beautiful in, like, five rows, I go 'nope!' and start on something else. About halfway through I decide it's terrible and I hate it and my mum very patiently encourages me to go onwards and then finally I end up with something I like. Here are the products of this hectic, artistic process:
The one on the left is one I kind of winged the pattern for, taking the stitch count and flap decreases from one pattern and making up everything else myself. It's a bit wonky, but overall I like the look of it, and I'm not as proficient in knitting as I am in crochet. You have to be wonky while you're mastering a skill. The other purse is somewhat closer to what the actual pattern I chose for it called for, but I scaled it down and changed the handle and added the top i-cord trim, which took forever and essentially called for knitting with two crochet hooks, but I enjoyed the process. I like the second guy better--I think he's more uniform--but I feel like the first guy is more my style. Well, they both are, I guess. Sometimes I'm boho, sometimes I'm sparkly.
The other thing we've been working on is trying to grow some milkweed for the monarch butterflies. We want to make a butterfly/bee garden in the backyard. A friend of my mum's from her exercise class gathered milkweed pods from around where she lived and my mum gave me them for Christmas, along with a little indoor greenhouse. It's a process to get them going, and our first batch produced only two seedlings, one of which spontaneously died for unknown reasons, but our second batch looks a little healthier.
My much put upon kalanchoe has also decided to perk up. Mum got me one as a Valentine's Day present a few years ago and despite my loving care, she grew mould on her and I genuinely thought she was dead, but in completely ignoring her, she somehow fought off the infestation and recovered and has been slowly getting bigger and bigger by me sneaking up behind her and putting a little water in her and then ignoring her so she doesn't get too overwhelmed. Now she's growing a flower again! She's very nervous about it, and hasn't opened it yet even though she's had it for quite awhile now, but I hope she'll work up the courage to bloom soon. If she does, I'll take a picture. I think she's very pretty even without any flowers, and I'm very proud of her working through her illness to shine again, so whatever happens, I will support her life choices.
We've been having good TV around here lately, though, as always, the only three shows we watch in a week are on on the same night, so we DVR them all and spread them out through the week. We've been watching Sullivan's Crossing on CTV, which is new this year and based on books Mum and I have read. It's very enjoyable, very Canadian, a little bit cheesy, but in a good kind of way. I prefer cheese to angst. We're also watching Sanditon and Call the Midwife, but the DVR had a meltdown one night and refused to tape them, and we couldn't find Call the Midwife anywhere to catch up on it, so we'll have to wait until it comes to Britbox. PBS wants you to think you can use Passport, but if you're in Canada, you can watch, like, two shows on it and the rest are region locked. Sanditon we were able to buy from Apple TV, at least.
I have some new glasses on the way. I had my yearly check-up and mentioned I was still having trouble reading, especially when I'm tired, so my doctor suggested reading glasses with a higher prism than my multi-focals to try to get my eyes to align together since my lazy eye is such a bitch about teamwork. You can't put more than one prism strength in a single lens, unfortunately, and I need a different one for distance, so I'll have my multi-focals for most things, then the reading glasses specifically for...you know, reading.
I think that's all! Happy Spring, I hope you will get some good weather soon if you have not already. The sun has abandoned us here. It's been the darkest winter in 78 years, apparently, but we made it through.