Before April Ends

Well, what a month it's been.  What I thought was a very nasty cold turned into pneumothorax.  My doctor put me on powerful antibiotics and I'm on the mend now, and though I'm not quite operating at full speed yet, I've started trying to get this house looking a tad more presentable.  My worst moments were last week-end when the pain was so bad at times I couldn't turn pages in a book.  Thankfully the boys were off at the Coachella Music Fest, freeing me up from the regular wife/mother servitude.  Huzzah!

Nigel shot a few videos while the music played, here's Santigold and, if you don't mind s bit of full frontal male nudity (back-lit, mind you), here's The Black Lips.  Ah, boys...

I've been knitting (very slowly), but it's too early yet to reveal much, but here's a tiny smattering:

Hmmm, I wonder what these could be?

While convalescing, I watched the film Small Town Girl on TCM, featuring a fabulous dance number that expresses exactly how I wasn't feeling.  Here's a clip:

Endless

I was listening to the radio this morning - a feature on how we develop habits - and they played an old toothpaste ad, which is now running endlessly through my head.

Is it mean to share?

My Radioactive Kitchen

For the last few years I've been amassing a small collection of Uranium Glass, sometimes called Vaseline Glass (though technically, the Vaseline Glass is the pale yellow variety)

This stuff is fascinating, it was at its most popular between the 1880s and 1920s and is made by adding uranium salts to the silica in glass production.  It stopped being produced during WWII, as the uranium was being used in explosives.  It started to be produced again in the late 1950s, but never on the same scale as earlier.

The best part of this glass is its fabulous green glow under black light.

It also reads positive on a Geiger counter, but, as I don't have one, I've never been able to confirm that.

This odd looking bulbous piece is a sock darner, probably 1930s - very unusual.

I discovered three of my vintage marbles were Uranium Glass.

I also found a small selection amongst my old buttons.

Check out these shots: here, here and here. 

Fabulous, yes?



Trippy Knittin'

Day 12?

Is this day 12 on my two weeks of blogging?  I think it might be.  I'm afraid I've left it 'til very late today and only have a few minutes left to post, so another video it is!

You'll need to watch to the very end to see the most awesome of bicycle sewing.  Look:

Top Hat



 Don't worry, I'm not going to link in any videos of Fred and Ginger. 

Completed this morning, is the top hat I started before Christmas.  The knitting only took one or two evenings, and the felting was done super-quick in the washing machine, but then it languished on my desk for ages.  This winter was far milder than usual, so there was no need for a big wooly hat, but last week I finally decided to block it.  I didn't have any fancy vintage hat blocks, so I had to make do.

First, an old piece of 1960's Pyrex,

topped with a salad plate,

and, seeing as I made my hat extra deep,  that all had to perch on top of a candle.

Then, I sprayed and sprayed with Speed Starch and heated the top with an iron on low to get it good and flat, left it to dry for two days, stitched on a deep crimson velvet ribbon, a splash of tartan ribbon and a gigantic shell button.  Now, when next winter comes around and starts nipping at my ears, I'll be ready!

A lucky, new find to share:

not a hat block, but a vintage hatstand.  Swish!

Another Video

This one is hilarious: