The hardest part about letting this blog sit idle for so long is trying to figure out where to begin… So I’m going to mostly start with what I’m up to now, and over time try to go back and fill in what’s happened while the blog has been quiet.
One momentous change is that I finally bought a new computer. For a while I was doing the blog from my iPad – workable but not ideal. Then my husband bought a new laptop in 2019 and I got my laptop back. But… it dated to 2013 and was getting pretty slow. Like I had to set an alarm 20min before family Zoom calls to have any chance of turning it on and getting logged in before the call started. And I still was frequently late…
So, once the major moving expenses were over (eg: apartment, office, car, shipping costs…) I bought a new laptop. And wow is it nice to be able to boot it up quickly. Or edit more than 2 images before it crawls to a halt and freezes in protest… or be able to just load a webpage quickly. Anyway, the new laptop is definitely going to help reduce the inertia in the way of starting to blog more regularly again.
Recovery of my Craft Supplies
My craft supplies are also finally fully reunited. When I last posted in October, I only had one of the two boxes I shipped home. In late November I submitted a “missing package” report to DHL, who opened an investigation with USPS. Just before Christmas, DHL emailed to say that the package had been deemed lost and unrecoverable, so I would need to submit proof of value of the contents to get my insurance payment. Between holiday events and some other stuff going on, I was making slow progress on pulling together as many invoices as I could (hey! it’s a good thing I don’t throw out emails!) to show what the value was of as much of it as I could. Then, on Monday my husband and I left for a quick grocery run. When we came home there was a BIG BOX on the front porch. One that looked suspiciously familiar.
That’s right… it was the box DHL had declared permanently missing. Woot! My original shipping labels were in perfect condition, so that can’t be what caused the delay. But the box was otherwise in pretty rough shape. It had clearly been taped back together in places, and when I opened it, there was a layer of shredded paper across the top. As I started to remove things, I realized what this was – it was the paper I’d used to fill in the top of the box and mice had been having a field day. I have never been so happy about the way in which I’d obsessively packed my belongings into plastic bags and smaller containers.
WARNING: gross stuff ahead…
First – it meant nothing fell out of the holes where the cardboard was damaged. And secondly, it meant the mouse damage was contained. They focused their attention on the paper, not my yarn, and the feces and urine didn’t make it into the yarn. I did throw out one wool beret which had been munched on, and the foam felting pad (value $4). One hand spun skein has a little damage, but it seems to be confined to a couple strands and I’m going to wash it. The plastic bags? Yeah… every one of those was carefully emptied of it contents using one hand while my other hand held the bag. They were then immediately placed in the trash bag I had sitting next to me. Each and every one was covered in mouse urine and slime which I can only guess was like, mouse diarrhea? They were nasty and I hope never to do that again. The whole box was also sprinkled with little brown mouse poops.
Some things were inside fabric project bags, which prevented the contents of the bags from getting gross. But the bags themselves all went in the wash under the “fuck it” or “hope and pray” approach. This means I washed them all together without consideration for color, fabric content, or actual washability. Because I wasn’t letting bags soaked in mouse piss sit around fermenting in the house, or even the basement. And I did not have the patience for multiple tiny loads of laundry. Nor were they getting washed with anything else. Apparently the craft goddesses were with me though because they all survived. My Williamsburg bag lost most of it’s print design, but that was a small price to pay.
GROSS SECTION OVER
On the whole though, all of my craft stuff made it here safely. I have a bit more reorganizing to do to integrate this final shipment of goods. I also have a few things coming because when DHL said everything was lost forever I decided that I should fill the biggest gaps in my craft supplies quickly. Namely, I bought a new swift and a set of interchangeable needles because winding yarn without a swift was driving me nuts, and what with Covid and irregular yarn store hours, I did not want to be stuck without common needle sizes. I also got some needle felt things, one of which is a nice big foam felt pad. Since that’s one of the things I did lose, I can’t feel any guilt there. But now I am back in business. Yay!
My Current Craft Project
While I was waiting for my craft supplies to arrive, I was looking for a new project to start. The things I brought with me were too complex or just not holding my interest in the hectic first several months of reentry to the US. My challenge was that I didn’t have many of my tools. I did have a few of my crochet hooks though, and one of the yarns AwesomeE was storing for me was the Pride Shawl Blank from Neighborhood Fiber Co. This was perfect as I could crochet straight from the blank without the need for a swift and ball winder or nostepinne to cake it up. So I looked for a fun crochet pattern, and settled on “Birds of Paradise”*. I loved the look of it, it was designed around a gradient, and each section would provide a little challenge while also being something I could memorize for the length of the row.
I did need quite a bit more yarn than my one shawl blank, but by the time I got there the first box with all my Undercover Otter yarn had arrived. The leftover singles from the Fireworks shawl I made were perfect for filling out the last few rows. This is what provided the orange/pink mix, some of the bright orange, and the final blue border. The only alteration I made was to do half-double crochet instead of double crochet at the end because I didn’t have quite enough of the reddish orange. I adjusted for this by then doing a row of single crochet in the blue before the final edging row. Otherwise, I did the pattern exactly as written.
My sister really loved the rainbow yarn and the pattern, so I bought another (their last) shawl blank of the Pride rainbow and a skein of “Oberservatory Circle” since I knew I’d need more yarn and started one for her:
I’ve been working on it pretty steadily to try to finish it so I can get it to her shortly after she returns home after being in Romania (I’ll tell you more about that in another post… but she’s been helping our family and deserves an awesome rainbow lacey bouncy shawl). I’m on the final row of blue edging, which she requested expressly be repeated in this one.
So my goal is to finish up the edging this weekend. Hopefully my new blocking mats (err yeah… I ordered some of those too while replacing the things it turned out I hadn’t lost – might have fallen into a little retail therapy by accident. urg) arrive in the next couple days and I’ll be able to block this sucker and pop it in the mail soon.
Stay safe and stay healthy out there – wear your masks, get vaccinated. And I hope your crafts help you stay a bit more sane through the winter.
*Note: while available for free on the website, I found purchasing the PDF to be totally worth it.