May is for green...

Project Spectrum: May==Green
I'm sick, so no softie making.. but I can try again at this sock thing.
After all, these are for me :o)

More coffee with anise today, and chicken soup.
I'm telecommuting again today,
and I'm listening to KBAQ out of Phoenix, AZ.

• Linky: Herbal teas, are they dangerous? geekad node
• Linky: more info on anise tea use spice world

Art

---

I have a friend in Phoenix. The other night he reminded me there is a 'painting' of a zebra that I made up in his house... and I couldn't remember it. Finally I did - it is one of a little series of monoprints on muslin I did in college! :o) I forgot that some of those monoprints were of zebras!

Print Technique:

• Get textile medium and acrylic paint.
• Get a large piece of modelling clay (the stuff that doesn't dry).
• Do this over a board or cardboard, as it will soak through.
• Mix your paints with the medium beforehand.
• You might want to paint the fabric with a white coat and let it dry first, or
  just go straight onto the plain fabric.

• Leave plenty of room at the outside so you can staple it to a board, stretch it over a canvas stretcher, or frame it archivally.

Carve out little pictures in the clay, and stamp away! Finish up with brushes and more paint and let them dry. You can use the same "stamp" several times if you are careful! They turn out really great after a bit of practice.

I haven't done any of those for a long time. In 2002 I had a 12x16" print of this type up in the student gallery at college, of a blue bird with lots of flying feathers on a copper background.

Knitting - socks and sock yarn

I got my knitter's tea swap last night!! I'm busy plotting!
At two a.m., I went searching for my unfinished purple sock. It was a long and harrowing search -- and the cats thought I had a screw loose. It is really hard to look for something when you have two cats who have to jump into every box or drawer you open to 'help.'

For my first sock-yarn sock... well, it's a sock.

look at that heel pick-up... *sigh*
Sally looks on
The toe of the sock.. it's wearable at least.
Sally-Mander caught in the act
of stealing a hairtie.

I wish:

---

• Agatha Christie's 'Black Coffee' on stage!
• I hadn't passed up on that book at the bookstore a few months back ;o) (see previous)
• Make one of these knitting needle bags
• I'll remember that I put the sock needles in the three-drawer cabinet, second drawer - keep them there!

I had enough energy to send calico kitty off to my niece in Minnesota today

So pretty.... I'm weak... I bought more sock yarn! And not for the swap this time! I can't wait!!!!

**There will be an unveiling of a very May oriented sock soon... but not too soon for me to kick up some progress on it!***

I pull out the Big Guns on Bronchitis

OK - you knew it would happen sooner or later -- here comes the 'home remedy' installment of KnitOwl...

My grandmother had all sorts of 'remedies.' When I don't have the ingredients for one of hers -- I make things up as I go along.

Red onions, elephant garlic and carrots.
I ate some of each raw.. and the rest went in the pot.
Which will simmer now for 2 or 3 hours with a little olive oil and a LARGE dose of dried basil from last year's garden.

Then I'll drink the broth,
and hope it helps.

This is what my 'sensibilities' tell me to do this time around ;o) I do know onion powder is supposed to help against bronchitis.. but it's one of those 'iffy references' from the past...

in case this doesn't work -- my own backlink to the licorice tea that worked last time... I don't have some of those things in my cupboard tonight.
Anise Tea <-- this was pretty good, my version was about 1 tsp anise seeds (ground up), 1 tbsp rosehips (dried) and some honey...

Blurry Night

Chinese character for 'tea'
is there -- first big character in yellow.
It was a dark and blurry night... err stormy night.. It's raining outside, I'm drinking this tea(I don't know what it says, if you know, let me know), and have come to the conclusion that I either wait a week to get better, or take something and wait 7 days.. or maybe that was in a movie somewhere...


anyway, that's me tonight. Hope you have a better one. Sally is doing her best to cheer me up by playing with her new ball (and coming dangerously close to gnawing on my server cable)...



Linky: I found this lady on Etsy tonight, via a flickr group -- I love the poppy relief cut she has made, and she made it into a beautiful pendant (although I liked the red version, and it is sold :o(

A little spider came into the room, just now, during the rainstorm.

I remembered what my Mother said, that his house was getting wet too, and it didn't have a good roof... most likely. So if he doesn't look poisonous, (that is important!) get over your fear and find a cup and a piece of paper or cardboard, to keep him in.

Hold the paper over the cup tight --
so he doesn't get out
and scare you more!

A spider crawling up your arm is not fun! (at least I don't think it is)

Then find a place outside that isn't wet right now, and let him go. You will feel better about it later, than you will if you squash him, and he'll feel better too --

That would make a nice little picture book, I think I might draw it later ;o)
As I've said before, sometimes I'm still just a little kid.

Case in Point:
I just put the spider out in J's tomato plant on the front porch.
~c. MLWM 2006

Calico kitty

I'm in progress with this little girl kitty.

I went back and added the catfish races pictures finally!

I knit a few rows on a brown sock from a while back, before I realized I had stopped knitting on it -- because it needed to be taken back a few rows. :o( Anyway, too tired to do that right now :o(

a little more progress...
And done! She has some issues though, that come with trying new things -- so she'll stay here at home with me, or maybe go to my niece in Minnesota in a month.
Not much else going on here..

Carrie K - I haven't forgotten about the sloth, it just took a little more energy than I found myself capable of the past few days :o( He's going to be complicated -- and I'm looking forward to prototyping him ;o) For one thing, his legs are much too short to be a true sloth... thinking about that, made a new sketch in my sketchbook (which calico kitty is lying on top of in the pictures). I did gather some materials, and make a short list of some other things to look for next time I'm in town ;o) BTW, when exactly is your brother's birthday again?

It was a failed tiny pincushion
but for Sally it is a ball/mouse
to be carried around and play keepaway from Willow.

Linky: Allsorts blog has posted a beautiful free Scotty dog pattern! and, because I think Miss I. still wants one, the lambkin pattern she links too as well.

Tea and POV-Ray

All of the POV-Rayed images here were generated by me. All but this top one were entirely hand-coded fromm mathematical coordinates in 1999-2000 during my job as an Administrator at the now gone 3dNation website.

The pic is from my old friend PoV-Ray, which I downloaded a new copy out of boredom, but didn't do much with. I just changed the colour of the tea in their 'start-out' image to green ;o) I used to be quite the POV-Rayer... I did a series of bookcases and teddybears that might still be out there somewhere, as well as a marionette (like the one below) I know someone else animated...Hi Thorsal!

Project Spectrum's colour for May is Green?!?! Green Tea might count ;o) I'm a little under the weather today - and again, my thoughts turn to tea. I am a great fan of strong green teas, and spicy black teas. The tea I keep in my cupboard at all times is a regular grocery store brand green tea... but sometimes I spring for exotics from health food stores or catalogs. We love to buy tea when we travel! We bought Chinese tea and Japanese Gen-mai cha (green tea with brown rice) when we went to Atlanta, GA this year. We hope to make another trip to Jackson, TN and check out their health food stores.

About the only kinds of tea, so far, I haven't enjoyed are Earl Grey and English Breakfast -- odd, as my mother has always called my (sometime) habit of pouring milk into my tea 'The English in us'... really, there isn't much English in us either ;o)

For now, I have my box of green tea in the cupboard, and a few bags of an economy-box black tea to take me through this. I used my peppermint and licorice yesterday to chase away part of the symptoms.

And now I'll dream of something more exotic ;o)
remember, just dreaming!

Gen-mai cha, is not for everyone, but I happen to really enjoy the taste of the toasted rice with the strong green tea. We got some when we were in Atlanta a while back and I was sad when it was finally gone :o(

This cocomint green tea looks quite different and appealing.

This Yunann Jig also looks interesting.

teaware website We have a little tea set just like this! We bought it in Fargo from a yard sale. The old couple said it was a souvenier of theirs, but they no longer used it. Ours has five cups and a similar pot with a bamboo handle. Our set is 'green tea' coloured, and has leaves and reeds painted on it. I use the cups all the time, but the teapot usually remains on the shelf unless we are having tea together.
Our garden this year has lavendar and chamomile growing in it -- hopefully there will be some tea experiences there too ;o)
link for me: Uline boxes

Larry, Moe and Curly say 'Hi!'