I Know Why the Caged Bird Bites

I'll get back to the title in a moment. I'm going to start with a different bird.




Mom finished crocheting this a couple of days ago. This is Kate Alvis's  Funky Little Owl Potholder, made with dishcloth cotton.






Then she got on a roll and started looking online for more crochet patterns. This time she found Doni Speigle's Flower Coaster pattern. I think she's planning to make more. They may be gifts.






I lent Mom some dishcloth cotton for for the flowers. She picked some out when I went to storage to get more yarn for the Epic Adult Surprise Jacket. The different yarns looked so pretty together that I had to take a picture.






The Epic Adult Surprise Jacket is coming along nicely. I'm glad I found these colors. There's a lot of blue and green, and a big red and orange section. I think these pinks and purples will balance those colors out.






This jacket is going to look a little crazy, but I think I can pull it off.






I'm ending with something sad. I don't think I've ever mentioned Dewi, the family parakeet, on this blog. Our family had her for 11 years. Last Saturday she quit eating. By Sunday morning, she was gone. The video above was filmed just four days earlier.

We knew she had been having some problems. We took her to a bird expert at Tomlinson's back in May after she started pulling out the feathers under her wings. He contributed the itchiness to old age, and he said she was thin. We knew her time was short, but we didn't think she'd be gone so soon.

I've debated whether the title I used for this entry is mean. Since we found the other bird, which Katie and Aaron have named Pico, I've wanted to write about Dewi. This was the title I had in my head.

We wanted a male bird, since we've always read that male parakeets are friendlier and more likely to talk. We've had several parakeets over the years, and all but Dewi have been male. Dewi surprised us.

Dewi was always angry and easily frightened. It was a long time before she showed any interest in interacting with us or even leaving her cage. And she was a biter.  These are traits I've always attributed to her sex.

After we had Pico in the house, I thought maybe we had been too hard on Dewi. Pico is sweet and didn't seem afraid of us, very different than Dewi. Maybe it wasn't fair of us to expect Dewi to conform to a role created by humans. The qualities that make a good pet bird aren't the qualities that make a good mama bird. Perhaps she was programmed to be more concerned with protecting her "nest" than sitting on our fingers.

I started to wonder what other birds would have thought of Dewi. What would have her role been if she lived with a flock of birds?

I had planned to expound on this further before we lost her. Now that's she gone, I can see that we accepted her, even if she wasn't what we were expecting, and in return she accepted us. Over time she began to come out of cage and sit on our shoulders while she picked at our shirts and our hair. She would get on our plates and try to eat our food, and we would let her. We were friends, and that's what mattered.

FO: Not-So-Blue Snowflakes

Cross posted at Sally Comes Unraveled and hot pads! and potholders - the swap.

My potholders are finished, and tomorrow they're going for a ride to Hello Yarn via the US Post Office.

Once again, this is the "Blue Snowflakes" pattern from Woman's Day Prizewinning Granny Squares. I used a G Crochet Hook.


The pattern is for an afghan, but I just used the large square pattern and added a Biscuit Edging. I gave them all a light blocking so they would lie flat.

The yarn is Patons Classic Merino Wool Yarn in the following color combinations:

"That's Pink" and "Too Teal"
"Too Teal" and Red (exact name unknown)
"Leaf" and "Harvest"
"Old Gold" and "Rich Red"
"Leaf" and "That's Pink"
"Harvest" and Purple (exact name unknown)

I'm keeping the purple and Harvest one for myself.


Tomorrow the rest begin their journey.

Block Party

Cross posted at Sally Comes Unraveled and hot pads! and potholders - the swap.

With my bathroom sink recently cleaned, and some spare room on my bedroom floor, this evening was a good time to do some blocking. I blocked my swatches for Decimal (I tried several different KnitPicks yarns) along with the potholders.

The Decimal swatches took a nice long soak in Grapefruit Eucalan. I have all the info on the yarn and the needle sizes here.

I was concerned about the small amount of lanolin in the Eucalan, however. I don't know if it will make a difference as far as flammability. But everyone in the swap is being extra careful about the materials they use, so I just dipped the potholders in plain, lukewarm water. After a few seconds I gently squeezed out the excess and pinned them to the towel.

I imagine most people won't need to block their potholders. But after I added the edging, these got a little curly. Hopefully this will flatten them a bit.

FO: Mardi Gras Potholder

Remember this potholder?


It's finally felted and finished.

The Ravelympics' WIP Wrestling event is designed to help you finish projects from the very bottom of your knitting bag. This one was really far down in my bag. I finished knitting it nearly a year ago, but stalled on felting it.


I threw the potholder into the wash with my Dad's Topo Chico Cozy in May. It felted some, but there was still some stitch definition. This wouldn't have been a problem if the edges were straight. I needed to felt it more so I could trim the edges with out it unraveling.


Here is the potholder after I threw it in the wash with my sheets yesterday. (The penny is added for scale.)


As you can see, I was able to trim the edges and even things out without worrying about it unraveling.

I used US Size 9 needles and leftover scraps of Dancing Fibers Serendipity. This potholder will go in my craft show bin.

WIPs and stuff

I'm behind on my blogging, so I'm just going to start with some WIPs.

I've been both inspired and overwhelmed by Stash and Burn's One Skein contest. I have so many ideas and I'm debating how to match them up with yarn. I started to cast on Calorimetry in Artful Yarns Fable, then decided the cotton silk blend was a) not stretchy enough for this pattern and b) too nice for a headband. So now I'm debating what do with the yarn and what to use for Calorimetry.

I went back and forth on the bits of Dancing Fibers Serendipity leftover from my Mardi Gras scarf. It ended up being itchier than expected, so I decided felting was the best choice. I finally settled on the basic potholder, thinking that there wasn't enough for a set of four coasters. I think I was wrong. I still have some yarn left.

I also had debates about my Bernat Galaxy, and finally decided to use one of the skeins for a simple garter stitch scarf to see how it knits up, then use the other skein for something more creative. It's nicer than I expected. Too bad it's discontinued. Actually, it's probably a good thing, because then I'd buy more, and then wonder what to do with it all over again.

Someone on Ravelry called the scarf she made out of it a Snot Scarf, and I'm trying not think of it that way. But in this colorway, it looks even more "snotty." What do you think?

The scarf was also a good chance to pull out the Knit Lite needles Mom and Dad gave me last Christmas.

Now I want to go to the movies and see how well they really work.It's not like you can see your entire project in the dark, but if it's the type of this that you can almost do by feel (like a garter stitch scarf,) you can manage in the dark. It's also good for novelty yarns, as a way to see through fuzzy yarn.