Not tardi-good, tardi-great

Just bear with me on these puns, also, apologies for being tardi last week I was doing a massive amount of clearing out and I was knackered.

But two runs to the recycling center and two runs to charity shops later, and it’s looking good! There’s still more to do (there’s always more) but with a bit of shuffling, we have turned the wool-servatory into a cattery.

We have taken on a bit more than expected with Pablo, now named El DiPablo, as he is nearly entirely feral. Joys. But enough of that, let’s get on to some chaos!

Now, for those who work in labs, you will be aware of a certain kind of madness that settles in over the years. Perhaps naming the machinery, or being sure to sweet talk the equipment and give it a pat of encouragement before turning it on, or becoming aware of all the little critters that mess up your day…

I have worked with the pleasant lab fairies, the irritating gremlins in the delicate equipment, the annoying goblins that make a mess of your work station and leave unwashed beakers everywhere. I’ve had the more site specific creatures of mayhem like the Poultry-geists who move anything and everything they get their wings on, the metal pigeons that tap dance across samples, the crocodile that messes with the autoclave water valves, the guinea pigs in the extractor system… And at the very end of last week, it was revealed to me by a work colleague that she had clearly had tardigrades running amok in her SEM samples.

Yes. Tardigrades. Or waterbears. Or mosspigs.

But after the 20th time saying tardigrades with now multiple people, I had the absolute burning desire to knit one.

No, I needed to knit one. But what colour? And then, I saw it.

And with that, I abandoned all projects and went wool hunting in the wool-servatory.

Amazingly, there was a free pattern for this cutie on Ravelry – Water Bear (Tardigrade) by Luna Adelt, and, small world, she has knitted one of my axolotl patterns! Clearly the love of aquatic oddities is strong amongst us knitting nerds!

In other news, I have borrowed a drum carder from one of the vikes and hope to make good use of it over the coming days and get on top of my fleece stash. I also have some woad and weld seeds germinating so who knows, perhaps some natural dying will be featuring on here at some point in the coming months!

I frogged a project that was given to me unfinished along with someone’s stash years ago and have ended up with my wool count going up by 15, but I have also used some wool too. I’ve finished a few things as well and started a ton more, so the creativity is high in the house right now! Felix has been joining in with cross stitch and painting which has been really lovely. We both enjoy the content calm of crafting next to each other.

And with that, I bid you farewell and to stay safe. After one last photo because how could I resist recreating that amazing image I found?

Wool Count

Starting total – 841

Wool used – 26 (Up by four!)
Wool unaccounted for in my stash – 15
Wool bought – 10
Wool given to me – 19
Wool gifted to others – 2
Wool handspun – 6

Total – 864 (Net difference: +23)