A Bluestocking Knits

(Not the tenth one, on the 10th …!)

I finished the knitting on the second Mora mitten late last night — now only have the weavings-in and they're done!

This is less successful — my nth attempt at a sontag, which every single time so far has either been far too big or far too small, curled mercilessly, shrivelled ditto (twin rib stitch), or just generally disappointed.  I keep varying the stitch pattern or the sizing, without yet finding the right balance.  This one is too small — again.

These, however, turned out exactly as I'd planned.  I have been continually dismayed at the ease with which the girls manage to dent and scratch the metal water-bottles they take to school daily for lunch and various after-school activities.  Most of our older ones don't stand up straight any more, from being dropped or knocked over, etc. etc. etc.  When I found these new ones at Costco recently — the mouth is large enough to easily get ice cubes or a bottle-brush into, and the lid has no moving or difficult-to-clean parts! — I decided that I should take some protective measures, and so of course being me I thought, "well, what about a crochet sling-type cover?"  These are a mash-up of two free patterns, Kat McCab's "Water Bottle Cozy" and Kelly Spenhoff's holder with a strap — I used the stitch and the shaping of the former, and the latter as inspiration for the carrying loop.  So far, so good!

I am also slowly doing some handy-man work on the dollhouse — regluing loose pieces of trim, mostly.  Am dreading sanding that dark-green paint from the upstairs room, which I am sure is going to be a challenge to cover up, but it is just not attractive — I should just get started, I'm sure it will give me great satisfaction once it's done!

A few weeks ago I joined Postcrossing, an international postcard exchange group.  Ireland is the latest country to issue a postage stamp in honor of the group.  I used to collect stamps, a very long time ago, found it interesting at the time but only from a distance once I stopped, but it is appealing to think of the occasional first-day cover like this one, to keep in a box or perhaps an album now.  I've just sent my second postcard, so am looking forward to my first arrival!

(I joined because I was feeling rather wistful about not really having anyone to exchange letters with any more, my oldest friend being hors de combat, as it were, and limited to e-mail as a result.  It's just not the same.  What a loss to the younger generation.)

I was delighted to see the Google Doodle for today — it's Nansen's birthday.

As for my current petitpoint project, the Turkoman is slowly coming into shape.  I like the design a lot, mind, and the "faded" colors I decided on — but it's tedious, I must say.  I've watched rather a lot of television, filling in all of that red background.

Goodness, I think I forgot to say that I started a separate blog over at Blogger (because it's free, to be honest) for the photos from our canal-boat journey.  We enjoyed it so much that David and I certainly plan to do another trip as soon as possible (Julia says wearily, "just not so many locks") — maybe another stretch, or the rest! of the Stratford Ring, maybe Oxford …?  I decided on making a separate blog so that I could play around with subject labels as well as focus exclusively on narrow-boating — plus of course it's more of a family thing than just my own natterings here chez Bluestocking.