My sewing and craft area is in our basement. Like you I was trained to go out and play on sunny days, so on rainy or gloomy days I feel less guilty "playing" inside.
I have taken up cross-stitch. Well, my daughter got a humorous cross-stitch project kit as a gift and I'm making it. It really is pleasantly simple-minded, but I want to take the next step to real embroidery. And wondering what the best way to proceed is. My great aunt had incredible embroidery skills and I have all her books, I suppose I should go check those out. It's been awhile!
I was also taught to embroider and cross-stitch by my grandmother. I have picked it back up in the last year thanks to embroidery kits with pre printed fabric or stick-and-stitch templates. There are loads of designers on Etsy - here in the U.K. I especially like Amelia Stitches (theatre themed designs) and Embearoidery, plus Niamh Wimperis who sells through her own website.
I love doing hand-embroidery. Not so much cross-stitch. I found youtube videos plus my books have helped refresh skills.since I'm just getting back to it after years away.
Went downstairs to the gym and listened to the NYT profile of Annette Bening while I worked out. (Using the term "worked out" loosely.) Then came back upstairs to my apt and kicked myself for not getting to the end of the Connections game successfully. Felt like a dumbass till I finished the minipuzzle in under a minute. I guess the rain makes me feel competitive. xo
Michael Chabon posted on Threads yesterday about the Connections game, and I agree with him...and I paraphrase, but:...It's more about understanding the puzzle-makers brain than actually solving the puzzle.
Oh, so true! But you might say that's true even with the Spelling Bee, which refuses to accept some words the puzzle-maker deems unworthy. Though that one's probably a Bot.
I, too, tuck into a book I’ve been wanting to read, bake, maybe cook... but especially, I allow myself time to sit and knit. As a retired English teacher, I don’t envy you the need to grade papers!
Do you do other things while you knit? Listen to music? Watch TV out of the corner of your eye? And thank you for understanding the awesome task of facing a pile of papers. Well, a list of entries into our online homework system.
I do watch tv while knitting - more listen than watch! Or catch up on pod casts... I’m a solitary knitter, which I sometimes regret. Knitting g groups are lively, but I find it hard to focus... I have so much sympathy for the grading. I loved teaching - just loved it. But the grading was an ever-present chore. And yes, then the update to the online grade book. Sigh. Save time for you!!
I sit in my window chair overlooking Monterey Bay and watch the water change from silver-grey to blue and back again as the clouds move and strings of pelicans float by, all while pretending to read the book in my lap. Right now it’s not raining so I’m enjoying Cathleen Schine’s “Kunstlers in Paradise.”
1. Finished a book (100 most important players in baseball history) while cuddling a cat on the couch.
2. Made a batch of pear butter in the crockpot--an excellent solution to "thanks for these free 30 damaged pears" (now what?!). The pear butter becomes an ingredient in my take on my grandmother's Depression-era applesauce cake recipe. So now it's "pear squares!" I think she'd be proud.
Rainy days are a very welcome respite in Southern California. Like you, I use them to my advantage by baking, reading, and mostly just not talking to other people! It's amazing what a day of 'pulling in' can do for your state of mind.
Going back to bed is one of my favorite rainy day activities. Also reading in bed. Making David Lebovitz's Parisian hot chocolate is a good thing to drink while reading in bed (although it's necessary to prop oneself up, so as not to spill it all over the bed).
I read Killers of the Osage Moon a few years ago, and was blown away. The amount of history that doesn’t get taught in this country is appalling. I’m reading Demon Copperhead now, and ditto for that in terms of untaught history. I like to read or sew on rainy days, and make soup!
I made no suggestions. Just commenting on the need for the media to wait before they declare something. What they did this week by each one trying to come out first with who was responsible caused riots in the Middle East. All while the truth was still putting its boots on…
My sewing and craft area is in our basement. Like you I was trained to go out and play on sunny days, so on rainy or gloomy days I feel less guilty "playing" inside.
I have taken up cross-stitch. Well, my daughter got a humorous cross-stitch project kit as a gift and I'm making it. It really is pleasantly simple-minded, but I want to take the next step to real embroidery. And wondering what the best way to proceed is. My great aunt had incredible embroidery skills and I have all her books, I suppose I should go check those out. It's been awhile!
I was also taught to embroider and cross-stitch by my grandmother. I have picked it back up in the last year thanks to embroidery kits with pre printed fabric or stick-and-stitch templates. There are loads of designers on Etsy - here in the U.K. I especially like Amelia Stitches (theatre themed designs) and Embearoidery, plus Niamh Wimperis who sells through her own website.
I love doing hand-embroidery. Not so much cross-stitch. I found youtube videos plus my books have helped refresh skills.since I'm just getting back to it after years away.
The chese curdled
Sleep and rainy days go together. Followed by soup or stew or chili. And then sleep.
I think you've nailed it!
Went downstairs to the gym and listened to the NYT profile of Annette Bening while I worked out. (Using the term "worked out" loosely.) Then came back upstairs to my apt and kicked myself for not getting to the end of the Connections game successfully. Felt like a dumbass till I finished the minipuzzle in under a minute. I guess the rain makes me feel competitive. xo
Michael Chabon posted on Threads yesterday about the Connections game, and I agree with him...and I paraphrase, but:...It's more about understanding the puzzle-makers brain than actually solving the puzzle.
Oh, so true! But you might say that's true even with the Spelling Bee, which refuses to accept some words the puzzle-maker deems unworthy. Though that one's probably a Bot.
100 percent true. I have many words it deems unacceptable. And IT'S wrong. Not me. No no no.
Rainy days are perfect for wearing soft pants, doing yoga and reading. We get relatively few in sunny So Cal, so I relish them!
"soft pants"
yes!
I, too, tuck into a book I’ve been wanting to read, bake, maybe cook... but especially, I allow myself time to sit and knit. As a retired English teacher, I don’t envy you the need to grade papers!
Do you do other things while you knit? Listen to music? Watch TV out of the corner of your eye? And thank you for understanding the awesome task of facing a pile of papers. Well, a list of entries into our online homework system.
I do watch tv while knitting - more listen than watch! Or catch up on pod casts... I’m a solitary knitter, which I sometimes regret. Knitting g groups are lively, but I find it hard to focus... I have so much sympathy for the grading. I loved teaching - just loved it. But the grading was an ever-present chore. And yes, then the update to the online grade book. Sigh. Save time for you!!
I sit in my window chair overlooking Monterey Bay and watch the water change from silver-grey to blue and back again as the clouds move and strings of pelicans float by, all while pretending to read the book in my lap. Right now it’s not raining so I’m enjoying Cathleen Schine’s “Kunstlers in Paradise.”
Rainy day activities today:
1. Finished a book (100 most important players in baseball history) while cuddling a cat on the couch.
2. Made a batch of pear butter in the crockpot--an excellent solution to "thanks for these free 30 damaged pears" (now what?!). The pear butter becomes an ingredient in my take on my grandmother's Depression-era applesauce cake recipe. So now it's "pear squares!" I think she'd be proud.
Rainy days are a very welcome respite in Southern California. Like you, I use them to my advantage by baking, reading, and mostly just not talking to other people! It's amazing what a day of 'pulling in' can do for your state of mind.
Marissa! You wear your rain boots well! And you write about the news even better!!
Going back to bed is one of my favorite rainy day activities. Also reading in bed. Making David Lebovitz's Parisian hot chocolate is a good thing to drink while reading in bed (although it's necessary to prop oneself up, so as not to spill it all over the bed).
I almost don't know what to do on a rainy day. We're 20 inches below average this year. When it does rain, I smile and watch it come.
I read Killers of the Osage Moon a few years ago, and was blown away. The amount of history that doesn’t get taught in this country is appalling. I’m reading Demon Copperhead now, and ditto for that in terms of untaught history. I like to read or sew on rainy days, and make soup!
Actually it‘s not complicated. The truth is obvious. I hope you are not suggesting that Israel is doing anything other than defending itself.
I made no suggestions. Just commenting on the need for the media to wait before they declare something. What they did this week by each one trying to come out first with who was responsible caused riots in the Middle East. All while the truth was still putting its boots on…