Owlet: 52 Months!

Or, the December 4 post covering November 2015. I lose track, so I figure you do, too.

The big accomplishment this month was that Sparky taught her how to play video games, and now she pesters him to play Disney Infinity (we have the Avengers set, and she likes playing Hulk, which is hilarious) or Skylanders (which is on the way out popularity-wise in this house, thank goodness).

We finished reading Little House in the Big Woods, and have moved on to Little House on the Prairie. Or, as Owlet calls it, “Mary and Laura on the Prairie.” It pulls no punches as it begins. I forgot that their dog vanishes during the unexpectedly dangerous creek crossing and is assumed drowned; I had to reassure Owlet that the dog wasn’t actually dead. There was a long discussion about what actually happened and why Ma and Pa were so scared about the creek suddenly surging in a flood while they were fording it, because it’s never explicitly described in the text; you just get Laura’s version of how it felt and sounded from inside the floating wagon.

(Also, wow, my respect for Caroline Ingalls has deepened now that I’m rereading this series as a mother. Sure, Charles, let’s leave a perfectly good house and support system and travel west for weeks in a wagon while we have limited food, in unknown, unpopulated country, while dragging three young children with us. Different times, I know, but when she says “Whatever you think best, Charles” I hear “Nothing I say is going to change your fool mind, so I’m going to conserve my energy and focus on keeping myself and my children alive.” And then their new home turns out to be three miles into Indian Territory and they have to up stakes and move AGAIN within the year.)

Owlet’s been fussing about choosing music to fall asleep to, taking longer and longer to decide, so one evening I made an executive decision and put one of of my playlists for her to listen to. It’s called ‘Ethereal Elf,’ and it’s all the elf music drawn from the LOTR and Hobbit scores. She wanted to know what it was, so I told her.
“The music sounds sad,” she said.
“It is,” I told her. “It’s about a beautiful e!f called Arwen Undomiel, also called the Evenstar. She is sad because the world is changing, and because she misses someone she loves very much.”
“Who is that?”
“His name is Aragorn. Good night.”
“But Mummy, how is the world changing? Why is it changing?”
“Well, it’s the nature of life to change. Change often isn’t good or bad; it just is. Good night, sweetheart.”
“Is Aragorn dead? Is he an elf, too?”
“I am not summarizing the entire Aragorn and Arwen subplot from the LOTR Appendices. You can read it yourself when you are old enough. I love you; GOOD NIGHT.”

This month she drew this charming picture of Jiji, starting from a circle someone traced on the paper for her:

And I leave you with this delightful exchange, which occurred when Sparky tried to tell Owlet a joke at the end of the month:

Sparky: Hey, what has two humps and is at the North Pole?
Owlet: An envelope!!!
Sparky: …
Sparky: No, a lost camel.

The joke totally lost all steam after her answer, because it was more out there than his punchline.

Kromski Mazurka Prototype Modification

I was recently asked on Ravelry about my modifications that turned a prototype Mazurka (with the wooden orifice cup, domed bobbin, single pulley/whorl, and small flyer) into one that accepts the current Kromski flyers, bobbins, and whorls, at which point I realized I hadn’t actually written up the process HRH and I went through one year ago. So I’m putting this here because it will probably help someone other than the people on Ravelry who own prototype Mazurkas and who can’t use them for whatever reason (broken flyers, bobbins, whatnot).

This was done just about a year ago, so my memory may be a bit off on some steps. I hope there’s enough info here to give you a decent concept of the process, however.

We didn’t attach the MOA extender permanently because I wanted to be able to reuse the original maiden and flyer. (I don’t know, historical value? I haven’t swapped the flyers out since this modification was done a year ago, so I may make the modification permanent.) If your flyer is broken, go ahead and make the MOA extender permanent by screwing/gluing it onto the original MOA. I suggest not doing the permanent thing until you’ve tested the new setup and know it works, though.

This concept uses the distaff bar as part of the support system, which you probably won’t need to do if you make the extender bar permanent. If you don’t have a distaff, don’t panic; you’ll be strapping the old and new MOA bars together anyhow.

Note that this mod reduces the amount of tensioning play you have, since the new flyer is wider than the original one included with the prototype, which reduces the amount of up-and-down adjustment you can make with the tensioning and support screws. I haven’t noticed a critical difference; I just made new drive bands.

Supplies:

New Minstrel flyer
New Minstrel front maiden
New Minstrel whorl(s) (NOTE: We’ve ascertained that the Symphony/Polonaise/Minstrel whorls are pretty much all the same; the ratios just change according to which drive wheel is being used)
Mazurka distaff support (optional; if you’re making the new MOA bar permanent, you won’t need it)
Hand saw
Metal saw (optional)
Level
1×2″ lumber, length about 8″
Clamps
Pencil
Sandpaper
Wood glue
Drill with large bits
Stain/wax (optional)
Velcro strap or small D-ring strap (cable ties would work, too)

New Minstrel flyer and front maiden. And more bobbins, because who doesn’t need more bobbins? Especially if you’re about to have a wheel that will be able to share your current bobbin stock?

1. Cut off the original all-wood maiden. Just the upright part; saw it off level with the MOA bar. Sand it down a bit to get rid of any scratchy bits.

Please use proper safety equipment and don’t cut toward your hand, as HRH is doing here. He is a trained professional and moved it after this shot. Also, respect your tools and just be extra safe while you work, okay? I don’t want to hear that anyone lost fingers doing this. That could negatively impact your spinning performance, after all.

(Optional: At this point, we inserted a wooden peg into the base of the original maiden, and drilled a corresponding hole in the MOA so I could insert the original wooden maiden and use the original flyer. This is beyond the capabilities of the average toolset, though, so I’m not going into it here.)

2. For the new MOA extender: Decide how long you want it to be. The rear end of my 6″ extender goes about halfway back along the original MOA bar, but an MOA extender that goes further back would probably provide more stability. Just give yourself enough clearance at the front to sink the new maiden into it. Hold your piece of lumber up next to the original MOA bar (making sure you leave about 2″ extending past the front of the existing MOA) and mark where the guide hole for the support screw should go. Measure the diameter of the support screw and drill a correspondingly-sized hole all the way through, at least 1″ from the end. It doesn’t need to be threaded, but it does need to be big enough for the support screw to fit through. Don’t make it too big, or it will rattle around a bit. (I know, I know, this is super imprecise. Drill small, because you can always enlarge a bit.)

(Look, HRH now has protective eyewear.)

Below you can see the MOA extender, well, extending way past the front end. We didn’t trim it down till later, because the new flyer is longer than the old, and we wanted to make sure we had enough structural integrity at the front end to support the hole for the new maiden. (Note also that this picture shows the front maiden is in; I’m putting it here to show the next step as well.)

3. Lay the new MOA extender against the current MOA bar. Take the new flyer with a whorl on it (important, as it changes the spacing) and insert the flyer shaft into the existing hole in the Mazurka’s back maiden. Slip/snap the new maiden onto the flyer orifice (you’ll probably have to hold it with your hand). Rest the bottom of the maiden screw on or against the new MOA extender and make sure it’s relatively vertical and straight, as well as centered on the extender bar. A level is helpful here. (You may need to play with the tension screw at the back that raises and lowers the Mazurka MOA in order to ensure the flyer has clearance. The bar is going to go under the existing MOA when it’s finished.) With a pencil, mark where the base of the new maiden has to go on the extender. Set aside the flyer and maiden.

4. Now, you have a choice, and it may depend on the measurements of your particular wheel. (And this is where my memory goes murky, which doesn’t help.) The screw of the new maiden is too long, so you can’t just put the screw alone into the new MOA extender, or the orifice cup will be too high for the flyer to be level and still maintain room for the tension to be increased or decreased. You can (A) measure the depth of your MOA extender and cut down the wooden peg and screw (yes, the screw base goes a long way up into the maiden; if/when you cut it, you’ll need to use a saw that can cut metal) of the new maiden to that depth with a metal saw, or (B) leave the bottom of the wooden peg and/or the screw sticking through the bottom of the MOA extender. (As you can see in the photo above. You can cover it with something. A decorative wooden cube? Pipe cleaners? Plasticine? Felted fibre? I don’t know; you’re artistic, right?)

Measure the width of your maiden peg and drill a hole that size in the new MOA bar where you marked it in the previous step; sink the bottom of the wooden peg into it, and secure it with wood glue. Let it dry. (We cut the screw off, as we didn’t need it, and we needed nothing to be in the way of the distaff bar that was going to serve as lower support for the new MOA extender. And when I look at the bottom of the MOA extender, I can definitely see the base of the wooden peg as well, so we sank the entire base into the MOA extender.) You’ll probably need to do some filing or sanding down of the new maiden’s wooden peg to fit securely into the hole; we had to sand/file down the bottom set of turned rims so it would fit into the MOA extender. And before we set the peg, we also filed some of the wooden base away where it was fitting against the front of the original MOA to create a flatter surface to fit more snugly against it. (That last bit is also optional, if you plan to make this permanent.)

6. Unscrew the Minstrel’s front support screw. Twirl the distaff support bar down a couple of inches, but keep it on the support screw. Place the MOA extender against the bottom of the existing MOA bar and rescrew the support screw up through the hole in the back of the MOA extender. If the distaff support bonks into the MOA extender before the support screw hits the original MOA, twirl it down a bit more. Once the support screw reaches the original MOA, keep holding the extender against the bottom of the original MOA while you twirl the distaff support up the screw again until it’s snug against the extender bar. If you don’t have a distaff, that’s fine! Use a Velcro strap or cable tie to keep the MOA extender snug against the bottom of the original MOA bar. (I use a Velcro or a D-ring strap to keep all three bars centered and snug together, anyway.)

7. Play with the tension screw at the back until the new flyer is relatively level. I find the front tends to be a bit higher, since I have the distaff support bar tight against the MOAs.

Finishing touches!

Sand the square edges of the extender to round them a bit, and do the same to the front of the bar. HRH works in a woodworking shop, so he cut the MOA extender in a fancy rounded shape, using the distaff base as a guide.

Stain and/or wax your new MOA bar to match your Mazurka prototype’s finish (and the new flyer and maiden, if you got them unfinished), let it all dry, and reassemble it.

Want to make the extender bar permanent? Attach it to the original MOA with good wood glue, clamp it, and leave it to dry. (I’d sand the bottom of the original MOA first, to get rid of any finish or coating. And I’d probably screw the new MOA bar into it, too, because I’m nervous. Except HRH would probably drill holes and peg it in instead, using wood glue in those as well as on the matching surfaces.)

Want scotch tension? Place an eye screw at the back on either side of the original MOA roughly even with where the bobbin groove is (or on your MOA extender, if you made it long enough that it reaches all the way back there), then drill a hole for a tension peg in the new MOA extender on whichever side you prefer. Set the peg in the front hole, tie a string to it, run the string back through the eye screw on that side, over the bobbin groove, and down to the opposite eye screw. Watch out; a large spring or elastic will bonk into the flyer arms. You may want to fiddle with this. I’m still not a hundred percent happy with the placement of mine. My MOA extender doesn’t go far enough back to place the second eye screw in it in line with the bobbin groove, but you might be able to place a third eye screw in it toward the front and hook the screw or elastic onto that. (I just thought of that, and it’s not a bad idea. I should try it.)

This photo taken on the day show the temporary jigging of a scotch tension with keys hanging off a paper clip while I tested it out. I’m so classy.

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask me any questions; if I can answer them, I will.

Happy spinning!

Santa 2015

The mall in which we usually visit Santa redesigned their holiday set and it’s uninspiring. We tried anyway on a school strike day, but the lineup and noise got to me before we’d been there five minutes, so we made the executive decision to try the Santa at Dix30.

Success!

Sparky shook Santa’s hand when he stepped up. Owlet was very serious; she did not want to sit on Santa’s lap, and because consent (I’m not going to convince any kid it’s okay to sit on a stranger’s lap these days), everyone agreed she could sit on the stool and hug a Christmas stuffie instead. I wish I’d been more with it; I would have suggested Sparky sit on the other stool and look serious as well, and then it would have been like an old-fashioned portrait where no one smiles. (Except Santa. That would have been even funnier.)

It was in a little cottage-type thing built right on one of the avenues at the Dix30 complex. That meant the line was outside, but there was an elf entertaining those who waited. (Although Owlet was highly suspicious of him as well. Sparky was moderately impressed; this guy was great at physical comedy and minor acrobatics.) The photo was digital only, but free. All in all it was a decent experience, and I think we’ve found our new Santa destination.

Fall Concert Announcement!

I am a victim of my own overbooked schedule and haven’t posted a concert announcement with adequate lead time for anyone to actually slot it into their own schedules. But better late than never, right?

The Lakeshore Chamber Orchestra’s fall concert will be presented at 7:30 PM this Saturday evening, 28 November, at our home base of Valois United Church (70 Belmont Ave. Pointe-Claire, between King and Queen). The theme of this concert is Short & Suite; rather than the more customary overture-concerto-symphony programming, it presents several shorter pieces.

Mozart: Overture Le Nozze di Figaro
Stravinski: Eight Orchestral Miniatures
Grieg: Holberg Suite
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on “Greensleeves”
Grant: Doncaster- La rivière et la randonnée (première)
Debussy: Petite Suite
Chants de Noël

(Yes! We are premiering a piece written for us! And yes, apparently we are also doing Christmas carols. It will be less than a month until Christmas by then, so I will grudgingly allow it. So if you’ve ever wanted to sing Christmas songs with a full orchestra, this is your chance.)

Admission is $10, free for children 18 and under. The concerts usually last just about two hours, including the refreshment break. The address and map are on the church website. Children of all ages are very welcome.

I hope we’ll see you there!

Owlet: 51 Months!

The big news this past month is that we are now reading chapter books together at bedtime!

Last Christmas I gave her a picture book based on a chapter or two of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and she ignored it for months. At the beginning of October she finally pulled it out and asked to read it. We read it three nights in a row, and she was particularly interested in the churning. Why could Mary churn to help Ma, but not Laura? So we discussed the physical demands of churning and the physiological limitations of little people versus bigger people. “You know,” I said, “there’s a whole chapter book about Laura and Mary and their family. Would you like to try reading some of it?” Yes, please, she did, and so I read the first chapter of Little House in the Big Woods to her the next evening. She asked to hear another chapter at her next bedtime, and just like that, chapter books were a go! As I read I realized I had to be prepared for lots of questions. Big Woods goes right into pig butchering and setting traps in the woods and shooting at bears. Fortunately, Owlet is mostly interested in the house and the chores.

She desperately wanted to churn butter after we read that chapter, which expands on the picture book experience. Sure, we could toss cream in the stand mixer and make butter (as my eldest goddaughter and I once did by accident while whipping cream for a tea party), but it’s not exactly authentic. I could put cream in a Mason jar and get her to shake it, except it’s the churn she’s really interested in. (And the wee wooden mould that makes pats of butter with the strawberry shape on top; that was very interesting, too.) It turns out that my awesome friend Megan owns an antique crank churn, so she brought that and a litre of organic cream over one Saturday after our daughters had art class together, I baked scones, and we made the best butter ever to top them with.

(It is worth noting for posterity that Owlet turned the crank for maybe two minutes before running off to play. You’d never have lasted in pioneer days, child.)

The kids found me watching an episode of the BBC Edwardian Farm series and got very excited about that, too, asking to watch the first two episodes in a row a couple of weekends ago. Okay, children! Here, let us appreciate our running water and refrigerator! (My children will never say meat originates in the supermarket, thank you very much.) It is worth noting that they both start speaking with British accents after watching BBC programmes. I find this terribly amusing.

Owlet dressed as Belle for Halloween, much to her joy. (Much to mine, she didn’t want the yellow ballgown, thank goodness. Belle-as-reader with her basket was much more interesting to her. I agree, kid.) The spangly chiffon overlay was the best thing ever. I made it nice and long so she can wear it for dressup as she grows, too.

Even princesses brush their teeth.

They had a Halloween party at school, where the most exciting part was apparently bobbing for apples. “My glasses got wet, so I took them off and Miss June held them for me,” Owlet reported. The Halloween decorations didn’t scare her as much as they did last year, too.

The little girl who used to pick up handfuls of sticks on walks as a toddler, then collected rocks, is now on leaf patrol; she will crouch to pick up almost any leaf she passes. We’ve had a handful of frosts recently, and when we get out of the car at preschool she crouches down to explore it, looking at leaves that are half in a sunbeam and half in shadow with frost in some places but not others, and examining blades of grass or twigs that are frosted. “Can I bring it inside?” she wants to know, and is sad when I explain that no, if she brings it inside, the ice crystals will melt, and it will just be a wet leaf.

Her October art consisted of lots of apple- and fall-themed things and Halloween-themed projects:




She’s still capricious with food; one day I gave her pot roast and she had three helpings, declaring it the best thing ever; I made it an week later and she insisted she didn’t like it, which she has done the last three times I have made it now. She still doesn’t like noodles or pasta unless it’s homemade macaroni and cheese, although she now eats tortellini at school. She loves pork chops (most of the time), but is right off chicken. Her dinners are still mostly vegetarian: cheese, tomatoes, cucumber… although now she has expanded her repertoire to include rolled-up slices of ham.

She sings a lot, just ongoing story songs that incorporate bits of other songs or tunes, describing what she’s doing or making up a story as she goes. Right now her very favourite album is the Broadway cast recording of Beauty and the Beast. In the car she is enjoying They Might Be Giants, especially Here Come the 123s (at last!), although No! has had a few playthroughs and she has rewritten “Robot Parade” to be “Kitten Parade,” which makes her giggle. TV shows she is into at the moment are Charlie and Lola (Sparky is enjoying that, too, which is great; to offset the times when he is irritated with Owlet, I can point out the times when he is supportive and helpful by saying “That a very Charlie thing to do; thank you,” which gets a smile), and Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.

We have started giving her an allowance, which means a chore chart. She makes her bed, sets the table, and tidies up her room and craft table if they need it; we also have things like “get ready to go” on there so we can remind her it’s a job if she dawdles. Being reminded that she doesn’t get “her moneys” if she doesn’t do her tasks is often a good motivator. And we try to give her as many coins to make up her dollar as possible, because slipping coins through the slot on her owl bank is a joy that she likes to make last as long as possible.

She’s wearing size 5 clothes, and shoes between size 9 and 10 depending on the brand and style. And I think we’re growing her bangs out, to be able to sweep them to the side more easily, as her glasses make bangs trickier than they were before. The next couple of months will be a challenge, but then they’ll be long enough to do something with. Christmas photos ought to be interesting…

Adventures With Jiji

Jiji is no longer a kitten, and I am sad. This photo was taken almost two months ago; look at the size of him compared to Gryffindor. Gryffindor is not a small cat. And now Jiji is even bigger.

Now Jiji is a teenage cat, and he is a jerk. He torments the other cats (especially Minerva), eats anything he can get his mouth around, drinks anything he can stick his head into, climbs into any bag he can (including schoolbags and grocery bags full of groceries), and pulls the ziplocked bag of bread off the counter to drag it around the house and gnaw at it through the plastic. You’d think we were starving him. (“Mummy,” Owlet said this morning, holding up the bag in question as she came into the kitchen, “I found a bread in my room.”)

Example: This past week I started making nice coffee for myself after dropping the kids off at school, to help me slog through my last project.

Me: NO, CAT. YOU MAY NOT STICK YOUR PAW INTO MY SALTED CARAMEL LATTE.
Jiji: Too late!
*cue caramel pawprints on the work papers all over my desk*
Me: …
Me: Guess I’m making myself another salted caramel latte.
Jiji: Those pawprints I licked up were delicious. Make it two.

And apparently neither of us learned, because two days later…

Me: CAT, NO
Jiji: Well, I didn’t stick my paw in it this time.
Me: No, you stuck your HEAD in.
JIji: Good job on the caramel latte, Mum. Two whiskers up.
Me: I wouldn’t know. I haven’t even tasted it yet.

I’m really looking forward to Jiji getting past this stage and mellowing into a proper adult cat. It’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, however.

Halloween 2015

I’m emerging from under a pile of work to polish and publish posts that have been sitting in draft form.

Halloween was fun!


Sparky designed his own costume his year (he’s a supernatural creature tracker and protector, complete with a homemade handbook and an “ivory flute so I can play music to soothe savage beasts”), and Owlet is Belle. I still can’t believe that I found the perfect dress to modify for her; it was a size 10 fancy sleeveless dress that I cut down and took in. It has a crinoline and a spangled chiffon overlay. She adores it, and to be honest, so do I.

The best part of the night? When a fire engine rolled up and firemen jumped out in full gear, carrying buckets of candy to pass out to trick or treaters! Although Owlet certainly enjoyed charging up stairs and banging on the doors with her mittened hand. “Mummy!” she exclaimed, running back each time, “I said bonjour! And merci!”

Speaking of basic common courtesy, I was really cross at a bunch of kids while we were doing the rounds. I teach my kids to wait at the bottom of the stairs or at the end of the path to the door so as not to crowd the kids currently receiving candy, and to go up the stairs on the right and descend on the left to make a clear path for others. There were droves of kids just shoving up and crowding the adults distributing candy with no thought for anyone else around them or order of arrival. It meant my kids had to stop being as respectful as I (and they) wanted them to be, because they were being run over. We eventually chose a different, quieter area to cover. I don’t think I’m expecting too much if I want kids to learn to be polite, consider others around them, and respect taking turns, even in an exciting situation like trick or treating.

Whatever; they enjoyed themselves immensely, loved their costumes, loved going to school in them, and that’s what counts.