Kitten Wars!

If you are anything like my little sister (go ga-ga over anything cute, especially kittens) you will love kitten wars! It is a website where there are two cat pictures and you vote on which one is cuter. You do this until you're bored. There seems to be an endless supply of matches.
http://kittenwars.com

Random little things . . .

I haven't posted in a long time! I turned 16 over a month ago and I haven't posted since then. I had a chocolate chip cookie cake and my parents made the candles say 10000 (16 in binary!) which was so cool. And I got a huge bag of Lincoln wool to spin. It was from a sheep named Mary Todd. I made a PVC niddy-noddy and dyed some yarn red with Kool-Aid. Now I am trying to knit a simple lace shawl but keep messing up. Ugh!
A couple days ago I had a sleep-deprived EEG and an MRI. Luckily I fell asleep for the part of the MRI that scared me. I woke up and didn't have a needle in my arm anymore. Lucky me :) But I had to stay up all night so the tests had better SHOW something! Please pray for me about that.
We've had a lot of heavy rain that killed my lettuce and severely damaged my radishes, but I planted new radishes, sweet potatoes and chamomille, and now when it's about to rain I cover the radishes and chamomille with garbage bags so they don't get waterlogged or uprooted. I wonder if I can try again with the lettuce in the fall, since it a cool-season crop?

The Raw Milk Debate Intensifies

As I hear about how Wisconsin is trying to legalize raw milk, the other side seems to be fighting back tooth and nail. They launched a new anti-raw-milk website, which the WAPF advises not to look at. What I want to know is, if raw milk is already so hard to come by because pasteurized milk is the social norm, what does the factory-farm-loving government have to fear? I mean, think about it. The government is also very pro-evolution, or at least it seems that way. So, then, whatever happened to survival of the fittest? If raw milk kills all the 'idiots' who drink it, then won't the 'sensible' pasteurized-milk-drinkers proliferate, leaving all the raw-milk-drinkers dead and gone? But they don't seem to think that way, do they? Which, in my opinion, shows much inconsistency on their part. People can be SO illogical.
Unless, that is, they have something to hide. Like they're in cahoots with ConAgra, maybe, and are only pertending to care about our health. If that is so, then I have to hand it to them. They are very deceptive and almost had us convinced. Maybe we are just a little too smart for them. Maybe it's the raw milk . . . just kidding?

Adventures in spining: cotton balls!

So I figured out some tips for spinning cotton and spun some that came from a vitamin bottle. Now I bought two 200-pc bags of cotton balls for $4.24 at Walgreens. Two cotton balls makes this much yarn!

How to make a free item

I am fascinated by the concept of transforming free or very cheap materials into usable items. With this I made a dish scrubby, crocheted from 2-ply handspun cotton (it came with a bottle of vitamins) and 'yarn' made of plastic mesh bags. I don't know how effective this tiny scrubby will turn out to be, but if it's a total flub, who cares? The materials were free, and the work was enjoyable.

A Beginner's Triangle Loom Mistake

As soon as I saw a description and picture of a triangle loom, I wanted one. Who wouldn't, when you can do the warp and weft at the same time, and make shawls? It wouldn't matter how small the loom was, as triangles tessalate (they can be sewn together into a big triangle). And if I used handspun yarn, it could be an artisan craft! And the best part is, although they are quite expensive, you can make your own out of cardboard.
The cardboard instructions called for pins and a large piece of cardboard. I used a small piece of cardboard and toothpicks, yes, you got that right, TOOTHPICKS. Yes, my dreamy yet ever-frugal mind was convinced that every recipe, every pattern, can be modified. Well, let's just say it was a disaster. And did that stop me? No, of course not! I had to try making one of nails and a double-layer of cardboard. That was an even bigger disaster. The nails just popped out all over the floor. But finally, I managed to procure a $3 wood rectangle from Hobby Lobby, and Mom helped me put in nails. After my first attempt at weaving, it became clear that something was wrong. And then I realized that I had too many pegs in the hypotenuse! But finally, I got it right, and the picture below was the result. The picture at the top of the page is of what I made: a triangle that, when taken off the loom and pulled on the ends, made a BUTTERFLY! Now if I can only find a magnet to stick on the back, I'll be in business. Meanwhile, I will try more, using instructions for thicker triangles and weaving in the ends properly. But isn't it neat how mistakes can turn out with something cute? Well, at least every ONCE in a while . . .

Foraging fun - shotweed!

I saw a lot of plants growing in my apartment complex that looked suspiciously edible. I thought they might be chickweed. So I brought a sample into the house and compared them with images of chickweed. Well, nope. Not chickweed. But I still didn't give up. I googled "edible plants" and came up with the answer - shotweed! So I picked a bunch, pulled the leaves off the stems, and washed them. They are apparently related to mustard and have a pleasant, bitter, spicy taste. Even my veggiphobic brother tried a leaf (he said he would eat it if he was starving, but only then). All parts of the dandelion plant, young plantain leaves and many other plants are edible. So next time you weed your yard - think twice before throwing ALL the weeds in the compost!
This post is a part of Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade.