Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Boa Constrictor Among the Plants

Finally, at the end of winter, I killed three birds with a draft snake. He's lumpy, so I call him the boa constrictor who just ate a few (three) birds.

the birds:
1.  small amount of blue wool yarn in my stash (a felted dishcloth would not be cool)

2.  a very large crack in our old Victorian house windowsill

3.  wool felt scraps in A's shop that she was thinking nobody wanted; I thought long and hard about what to do with them:  some of the scraps are big enough for applique, but most of them would be perfect as stuffing for pillows and. . . .draft snakes.


I just knit a long rectangle in garter stitch, then stitched it together into a tube and stuffed it with felt scraps.  I'm sure there are other names for this thing.  What do you call it?


Related:  my ancestral jade plant is growing so happily and lustily, I feel like a proud new mama.  I also feel a connection to my grandmother, since this is the only plant left; the original jade that my sister had died.  So, no pressure, but mine is the only ancestral jade left.


I pinched off some tips and stuck them directly back into the pot soil.  They are growing! 
Joy. 
Everything feels possible.

3 comments:

Tracy said...

Oh, good for you! Perhaps you can share a little bit of the jade with your sister now.

beth said...

Lovely jade plant. I have some of that here too. By the way...you left a comment on my blog...but I can't answer your question because you are set to "no reply". send me an email if you're wondering "what" I'm talking about. :/

jenny_o said...

When I started looking for instructions for making these, I found them called several names besides draft snake: draft blocker, draught blocker (British spelling of draft), draft dodger, draft stopper, and draught excluder. Take your pick! Yours is stuffed in a similar way to the ones I sew; I stuff them with scraps of T-shirts and fleece suits. It's a way to use up the good parts of an otherwise worn-out garment. You can only make so many rags :) I like that you used leftover yarn, too; I would like to try that sometime.