Places die too...

...according to George MacDonald.

A church building that I put in many hours helping to renovate and enlarge, once upon a time, has been sold, and the church has moved. Given its location, the building is certain to be torn down and replaced with something looming and modern, just as it replaced the original house on the site, where the church began.

The good news is that the church sold the building because they have outgrown it again. They have started another round of place-making in a very visible, can't-miss-it location with lots of potential.

Usability testing

I paid attention during the holiday gatherings at our house, to see how the re-arranged spaces were working.

For the most part, things went well. The wisdom of simplifying furnishings and of using fewer, larger pieces of decor was confirmed. Even during normal times, there is a lot going on in our house; the background needs to be beautiful, simple, and easy to maintain.

We don't have many Christmas decorations, only two small boxes plus the tree stand. I didn't buy a pine garland this year; last year's was nice, but really too much for our house. Our Nativity set, Advent calendar, Christmas tree, Joy sign, and Christmas cards hung up over the fireplace were enough seasonal decor, when we added Christmas music and food and guests; basically the same decor as in this past Christmas tour post.

One thing I did notice was that the conversation area that I made around the fireplace was cramped, when we were using it as a gift-opening space for the entire family. But we managed. There were enough places for everyone to sit, but the floor space just disappeared under gifts and wrapping paper.

I've been busy

The public comment period for our electric utility's latest 15-year plan ends next week. I've been working hard on my letter.

Their filing with the public utility commission contains a lot of information, but I also kept finding pages and documents on their website that give a fuller picture of their plans.

I learned that they did, or are now doing, a pilot project on shifting electricity demand, where they charge six times more for electricity from 3 to 8 pm on weekdays than they do from midnight to 6 am.

They are actively working on building up electric vehicle support systems and adoption.

Also, apparently they are rolling out some of their advanced metering and other new technology in Colorado before they do in Minnesota. The same thing happened with the push for low-emissions vehicles; first California, then Colorado and some other states, and now Minnesota is thinking about following suit.

I was able to scientifically calculate that even if they accomplish their ambitious plan of going completely "carbon-free" by 2050, it would reduce climate change by maybe 0.005 degree Celsius, if that.

Recycled child's bog jacket

A year ago, I made a lap blanket. But since then, we were given a number of quilts and other blankets, and it ended up in the closet.

Meanwhile, one of our smaller children began to need another winter sweater. I thought of using the lap blanket to make a little "bog jacket" or "bog coat", which is a simple and ancient jacket pattern that can be made from a single square of fabric, using the entire square. It is best known to weavers, but is called a "bog jacket" because one of those bodies found years ago very well-preserved in a peat bog was wearing one made of leather.

Knitter Elizabeth Zimmermann adapted the design for knitting, and put it in her book Knitting Around. At one point I knitted a baby-sized version, which has worked out well and was not quickly outgrown.  I might as well add here that I accidentally mixed in a little wool yarn with the acrylics in this project; the wool felted and shrank, while the acrylics didn't, but I was able to give the shrunken areas a good pull and restore some of the lost width. The lost length didn't matter, because the design runs long on the baby.

There's an example photo here, without the extra fullness in the lower part that Zimmermann added to make room for a thick diaper.

Anyway, in her design the vertical slit that needs to be made is accomplished by dividing the knitting onto separate needles and balls of yarn at that point, while the horizontal slits are made by knitting in a strand of contrasting yarn, which is removed later, with the loose stitches being grafted elsewhere to make the seams for the sleeves and across the chest.

Since I was working with a finished piece of knitting, and I was in a hurry, I decided not to unravel and graft, but to sew and cut, and then sew again.

Knitters really hate cutting into their knitting, because they have a great fear of unraveling stitches, but if you sew in a line of short stitches along every edge that you want to preserve, before you cut, then it is safe to do.  Some of my washcloths are portions of sweaters that I have sewn and cut in this way. I've had no problems with them unraveling. I've also altered sweaters.

In this case, because I wanted to keep the edges a little stretchy, I chose to use a short zigzag stitch. Be warned that this tends to make a curly "lettuce" edge, especially if you stretch it out while sewing, which is sometimes a desirable effect. After sewing around each cut I was going to make, I carefully did the cutting.

The final sewing was a little tricky, in making the right parts go to the right places, but it also went quickly.

To finish it, I found two old coat buttons, and crocheted yarn chains long enough to loop around them. I sewed on the buttons and loops, and it was finished--except for picking off a number of little bits of yarn, the loops that were severed when I did the cutting.

It came out a nice size for the child, with lots of room to grow.

Holiday interlude

I spent a bit of time thinking about how to spend my Christmas money, and ended up at the used book store.

Most of the time, I buy books from a thrift store or from the little book sale area at the library, so going into a real bookstore is like a trip to the candy store--except better, because you can read a book more than once.

Within the wider selection of books, I found a number of books that related to areas that I want to branch out into more.

My second stop was the craft store. I don't visit these very often either, because so many of the things in them, I could make for myself, if I wanted to put in the time and effort. What I did buy was basic materials:  leather remnants, wool roving, and fabric paint.

My third stop was for the really mundane things:  socks and a new toilet brush. I've had a remarkably hard time buying socks in the past, either because they weren't quite what I was looking for or needed, or because they were beyond my budget. I've settled on buying ankle socks a few pairs at a time, and using them as the feet for homemade knee-high tights.

I decided not to buy a new dish drying rack yet, but to just turn the old one around, so that the more worn-looking parts are at the back.

Also, I received a box of garage sale fabric from a visiting relative. There is a large piece of fleece that should be good for one or two pairs of child-sized pants, one and a half bedsheets, and more than enough upholstery fabric to cover the chair that I brought home from vacation. While I was busy with holiday preparations, my mending pile outgrew the small amount of cupboard space that I allotted for it, so I'm going to have to get to work on that again sometime soon.

Bedwetting hack

A book I have on natural remedies contains testimonials from several people on the power of honey to stop bedwetting.

The treatment is to give the child somewhere between one teaspoon and one tablespoon of honey before bedtime.

I'm pretty sure that the way that it works is to raise the child's blood glucose levels far enough that their body has to keep additional water in their bloodstream to keep their blood sugar from going too high, instead of sending the water to the bladder. So I don't consider this a very healthy solution for regular use, just one that is useful for those I-really-don't-want-to-deal-with-this-today situations...such as during the holidays.

Since the active ingredient is a form of sugar, plain table sugar should have this effect as well, and so should Christmas candy.

Santa's workshop

I finished making three Christmas gifts today, and while I was out Christmas shopping, I had ideas for about four more projects.

I have to balance those with cleaning the house before our family gatherings, and also some rest, though.