Cat's Cradle

Ordinarily I keep my hair in a braid, as it's long and fine and tends to get in my way otherwise. Most of the time I go for a French braid, as it captures in more of my little flyaway hairs such as my bangs. (Said bangs stopped getting cut decades ago and now reach past my chin.) Recently I decided to mix it up and teach myself how to do a Dutch braid, which results in the ropelike impression of the braid resting on top of the rest of the hair. The pattern for a French braid is over-over-over, and the pattern for a Dutch braid is under-under-under. I've been practicing the latter during the past few weeks and gradually my braids are getting smoother and less lopsided.

The fun part comes when I try to switch back to a French braid and my fingers get all tangled up because they don't know where they're supposed to be going....

Fabric District, Redux

Every few years Wonderful Husband braves the fabric district with me. I have a theory that he does so as a reminder to himself about why he only goes with me every few years....

It was 96 degrees when we got there. Parking was dire; we had to turn the keys in at the rooftop lot I favor, and let them have the car to park it. Fortunately I'd remembered to grab my huge cotton carry bag with the thick padded straps, so we just kept putting the ubiquitous black plastic bags in there as we collected them. After trawling through numerous stores and practically doing the usual circuit twice, we ended up with 21 yards of fabric for the costume, the three and a half pounds of various fabrics I found at Michael Levine Loft, a pair of white gloves, a packet of petal pink fabric dye for the gloves, a white boa fan (for which I need to acquire fuchsia dye), and a sparkly tiara.

Now to find the energy to sew....

Green Healing

Spent the last of the daylight out in the garden putting tomatoes into (marginally) deeper and bigger containers. Feel much more recovered from the fabric district exertions. Was amused when opening a new bag of potting soil to discover small red worms throughout! I'm also quite pleased that all six rosemary plants I started from cuttings "took" and are indeed growing.

For now, dinner. And then sewing and eventually showering....