The poncho is generally progressing well. I’ve done the green part, and the gradient from green to blue, and then some plain blue. Now it’s time to start the snowflakes, white on blue.

Another pair of patches on another pair of trousers. These I’ve mended before but Adrian keeps wearing out the knees. Apparently they’re really comfortable, I had to confiscate them and promise Adrian he’d get them back the same day before he let me have them.

Polar fleece is the ultimate fabric for patching children’s clothes. Soft, stretchy, comes in a multitude of colours and doesn’t fray at the edges.

I was aiming for “the scream” but it came out more like an “aww”.

I ripped my spring/autumn coat some months ago. A fold of fabric literally got caught on the end of a door handle and I kept walking and tore a great big L-shaped hole in it. (This fabric looks pretty and feels nice but is way too flimsy for a coat; it’s already wearing thin around the edges of the buttons as well.)

Now I’ve finally mended that rip and I’m quite pleased with the result. The two arms of the L were easy but I couldn’t come up with a good solution for the corner. In the end I just sort of fudged it, which is luckily not too noticeable.

I learned this stitch from a book. They called it the paratrooper’s stitch, recommended it for field repairs of tents and such and demonstrated it on heavy duty canvas. I think it worked pretty nicely for this case as well.

There are books about mending things. I own three.

At what point does something I like doing become a hobby? When I start buying books about it, maybe?

The chestnut animals are collapsing, one by one. The elephant lies dead on its side. Others have lost limbs. Only the worm has mostly kept its shape, although it has shriveled and shrunk.

Three-legged man meeting a cow.

I also made a velvet worm (having recently watched the jungle episode of Our Planet) and something that might have been an ammonia molecule.

Adrian loves chestnuts. He often walks around with all his jacket pockets full of chestnuts. Literally dozens of them so the jacket is heavy to lift.

It’s peak chestnut season right now, and on top of that today was very windy, so there were extra many chestnuts to be picked. Adrian emptied his pockets into a bowl and we made chestnut animals.

P.S.
I managed to stab myself in the hand with an awl when I was trying to make a hole in a chestnut. The darn thing split in two and the awl just went right through. It made just a small hole that barely bled. But the day after I could barely move my finger. I must have caused bleeding or swelling in some tendon sheath or something. From time to thime I had to use my other hand to move the finger into a suitable position. Once it was in position, though, it worked as well as ever – I had no trouble holding on to heavy objects in the gym. I kept exercising it, assuming that the usual advice applies – gentle exercise is a better cure than rest – and it worked normally again in another day or so.

The knitting of Adrian’s poncho is proceeding, but slowly. I wonder if maybe I’ve come up with a slightly too ambitious design… Adrian would be happy with something simpler, and it would be done faster. But then I probably wouldn’t be so happy with the result.

I learned a new technique for mending holes in an aesthetically pleasing way (from reddit) and tried it out on a knitted vest that some wool-eating bug had nibbled a hole in.

I’ve been knitting and crocheting most evenings recently, and both Ingrid and Adrian have been inspired to try out crocheting. Ingrid has undertaken to crochet a pouffe for her room.

Right now I should be doing my weekly review and getting on top of my to do list, because I know there are important things I should be doing. But I don’t even want to look at my to do list so instead I am procrastinating very productively by knitting on a poncho for Adrian. It’s nice, easy, soothing stocking stitch in a soft woolen yarn, and this early in the project there’s no fitting or adjusting to be done, so it’s all pure pleasure.