Mermaid Fin

I had a hard time making the mermaid tail for the blanket turn out correctly. Lots of decrease and increase stitches. Fortunately, YarnUtopia included a detailed video of the entire blanket so I was able to follow along and crochet the tail. Tail was sewn to the blanket.

I made a small change to the instructions for the blanket. I thought the waist needed an edging to finish it, so I added a turquoise 5 rows of single crochet. 

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Himself and I enjoyed the premiere of Season 3 of Outlander. It didn't disappoint.

2. Paid off the loan we took out for the Eldest's education. Woo hoo! One down. Two loans for the Young One to go!

3. The Young One had a visit with the GI. There is slow improvement, he wants her to continue another round of antibiotics and super probiotic.

4. Her blood tests came back normal.

5.Happy mail in the mailbox.

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

At that time, the Arnolds lived in a two family house, a short distance from the bus barn and next door lived a family that owned their house and they had two daughters and a son. The younger of the daughters was my age and we began to get friendly. She was a nice blue-eyed blonde. They were Irish and her name was Elizabeth. "Betty". At the time, she worked at New England Telephone and Telegraph.

On some nights that I was off, I would ask Doris to go to the movies with me while Charlie baby sat. Sometimes I would babysit.

Eventually, I asked Betty if she would go to dinner and the movies with me. She accepted.

I told Doris about my date and she said "wonderful" and also said to get her a little corsage, not expensive and to make sure that I held doors for her and not to let the restaurant waiter seat her. She said make sure you do this.

So when the hour came I went next door to pick up my date and it was a nice evening.

And other nights, I would play ball with her brother.

Betty and I began dating more often and we began to become a two-some.

In the Fall, I began taking college courses, which was the start of my getting credits for graduation in the future. Anyway, it put me on the route to become a social worker. Which made Charlie happy, that I would follow in his footsteps. He was also becoming more and more my mentor.

In the meantime, Betty and I began dating more often and this would cause some fears for her parents. That our relationship would lead to a situation where they felt that it would take time for me to complete my studies and while she and I did not consider any future plans. Her parents were not happy that she was not dating other young men.

Our relationship continued and it looked like more of a courtship.

Anyway, unbeknown to me at the time, her parents talked to Charlie as to my prospects and how much time would it take for me to complete my education. Of course, at m y rate it would take more than 4 years. [ed: Dad was enrolled in Portia College and taking classes at night]

The talk with Charlie occurred in December of my second year. We were still minors at the time. [ed: under the age of 21]

At that time, Charlie had moved much earlier that year, after some difficulty with his landlord and most of the year was spent at Brigham Road in Waltham. A much better place as it was a single family house.

I had bought some presents for her and gave them to her. Not long after Christmas of that year, I went home. When I got back to the Arnold's, I went directly to my room and saw on my bed, the gifts that I had given Betty and wondered what the hell the problem was.

I went downstairs and Doris was distressed. She told me that I had gone up too fast and she didn't have time to be able to talk with me. And she explained. But that crushed me. I wondered why for weeks. And that was when Charlie explained the confrontation with Betty's parents. But he did leave it with them. That if we disregarded the decree of her parents. Who were concerned that it would take too long a time for me to finish my college with a daughter that would also be older who was ready for marriage at that time. And in the interim would I still be there for their daughter as I would find someone else at school.

The situation shattered me and Charlie said I should not hold anything against Betty as she probably felt the same way. Big deal it didn't help me.

[ed: Dad had told me this story before, but had mentioned something else that concerned Betty's parents. He didn't put this in the Notebook. The main reason Betty's parents wanted to break up the young couple was that Dad was Italian. There was a lot of prejudice against Italians at this time. The sensational trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was probably still fresh in people's minds.]

Wordless Wednesday

T Stands For Open House

Last Thursday, the Worcester Art Museum held its annual Fall Open House to coordinate with class registration. The Open House was held in the Higgins Education Wing. Down this corridor, to the left and a sharp right into Studio 100. 

The corridor is lined with student artwork from the Summer classes. The student artwork is amazing. So much talent.

Faculty members were assigned seats. (Usually, we have festival seating where you sit where you want). Faculty bring artwork to display or do a demonstration for prospective students. My studio assistant, Ben Dover, held my table sign. He got tired of walking up and down the table so he made himself comfortable on an illuminated wooden block. 

On my table is my travel mug. Light refreshments are served, but tea or coffee is not available. I'm in the habit of having a cup of tea after dinner. So this time, instead of dying for a cup of tea, I brought my own.

Some of my work on display. An exemplar, the illuminated quote on my blog header, homework for Reggie's class, a book of commissions I've done, Wish, a handmade book, and a Rolodex of ATCs. The one displayed is on a piece of Sumingashi paper with a silhouette of Ink, and the card reads I play with Ink

Light refreshments of vegetables and dip, candy, and flavored seltzer water. No tea. I was glad I brought my own. I don't like eating at this event as someone usually comes up to chat while my mouth is stuffed. I did have a fun-size, Nestle Crunch bar.

The event was sparsely attended. Probably due to the fact that the New England Patriots football team were playing their season opener which was going to be televised. The guests that did attend were enthusiastic so that made up for the low numbers, and

it gave faculty members a chance to wander around and socialize. We don't get much of a chance to get to know each other or 

to watch the demonstrations.  Some former students stopped by to say hello which was nice.

There's still time to register for classes. Visit the registration page. Seats are still available in both sessions of A Taste of Calligraphy.   😸

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Mermaid Tail Blanket

Besides the baby blanket, I mentioned I was also making a mermaid tail, and I was asked what a mermaid tail was (is). A mermaid tail is a blanket shaped like a cocoon or a pouch. You slip your legs in to keep you toasty. There's a decorative, tail fin sewn to the bottom of the cocoon.

The front of the blanket. The shell pattern and variegated colors of yellow, white, blue, green, aqua and yellow are supposed to resemble fish scales.

The back of the blanket is opened to make getting into the cocoon easy. The bottom of the cocoon is sewed from the feet up to the ankles or mid-calf.

I've picked turquoise to crochet the tail. I thought continuing with the variegated yarn would make the blanket too busy. I'm having some difficulty with the tail. I can't seem to get the triangle shape right.

This is what the blanket is supposed to look like with the tail attached. The pattern comes from YarnUtopia. Fortunately, the author also included a video tutorial so hopefully, I'll be able to follow along to crochet the tail.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This mourning dove enjoys sitting by the water.

On early morning rounds to fill the feeders, the moon was still out.

Nearly 2 inches of rain this week.

A mourning dove was sitting on Ink's statute. Byt the time I took the picture, he was taking off.

The squirrel sat on the perch to get the seeds, but he's too heavy so his weight closes the hatch.

The grackles arrived en masse at the back feeder for an afternoon snack. They are preparing for their winter migration. Usually, they arrive in mid-October. Don't know if their early arrival portends an early or bad Winter. I hope they just found an easy food supply. Maybe sometimes a grackle is just a grackle.

The front feeder sees some grackle action, too.

The oak trees leaves are starting to turn yellow. The oaks drop their leaves late in November.

The leaves of the tall maple are starting to turn red. These will be the first leaves to fall within the next week or two.

How does your garden grow?