My Father, The Bonsai Master

Gentle reader,

I love my folks. I’m properly close to my Ma and Pa. Sometimes I suspect I’m adopted because they’re far more awesome than I could ever hope to be. My Pa is one of those people who are so talented at everything that it makes the color drain from your face and throw up in your mouth a little bit because you may as well pack up and go home, but in a good way.  ^_~

One of his more recent hobbies is bonsai plants. The other week he sent me an email with some photos of his plants as some of them were in flower. I was so taken with them that I simply had to share them with you.

Here’s what he had to say:

Hi Ralphie,

Not sure if this is going to work, but here goes.
I have attached some photos of by bonsais, the bougainvillea is just gorgeous and my desert rose is just starting to flower, it’s pretty too.

Luv Pa.

His nickname for me is Ralphie. None of us remember why. When I asked him if there was any info he particularly wanted me to include, he said “Just point out that my bonsai  skills are still in their infancy.” If these are his amateur bonsai, I’m fairly certain that his expert ones will make my eyes bleed with awe and incredulity. But anyway, here’s the bougainvillea; isn’t it a thing to behold?

The little thing in the corner of the pot is a little ceramic pagoda. I also feel a bit bad for cropping of Buddha’s head! Oops! Sorry, B-man!

This one is the desert rose. Isn’t it wonderful!? I wish I’d inherited Pa’s green thumb, but unfortunately I haven’t had tooooo much luck so far. Maybe I’ll have another attempt at gardening at our next house. But, I’ll leave the bonsai to him… that’d be biting off a bit more than I can chew, I think!

Pa has lots of other amazing hobbies that I’m sure I’ll share with you sooner or later. He also does decorative knot work (more in the maritime knot tradition rather than macrame, I think. It’s a bit different) which is kind of amazeballs. I have a rope mat that he made me, and some key chain charms. I love ’em!

Thanks for letting me brag about my Pa! I do adore him so. I’ll have some more knitting and crochet for you very soon! The last few posts have been all sorts of different things – I hope you liked ’em – but don’t worry, the yarn-iness will be back, I promise!

What interesting hobbies and talents are there within your family? It’s your turn to brag about your famz in the comments! Sharezies!

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Instagram Catch-Up!

Gentle reader,

I have a confession to make. I’m addicted to Instagram. If you’re a fellow addict, you can find me there as theshylion. But, the good thing about Instagram is that it keeps me snapping pics whenever I get the chance, which I can’t always do specifically for the blog. I’m just not gelling with my new camera, and I end up having to do way more post-processing that I usually do, and it doesn’t like low-light which isn’t helpful because I’m a night-owl. Eugh.

 

Anyway, I figured that to keep up with y’all and show you some sneaky peaks at some of the stuff I’ve been working on, I can do a little Instagram Catch-Up and share with you some of the little snaps I’ve taken along the way. So, here goes!

 

One of the first things you need to know before you follow me on Instagram is that I snap pics of these two brats a LOT. I’m a crazy cat man. I’m not even ashamed about it.

 

But, I also take pics of all my projects in varying stages of completions, like this sock. I’m a big fan of train knitting so that happens fairly often. (To the top left of the finished sock pic, you can see a bit of cat-butt. See!? I even snap them when I’m not even trying!) I just made this pattern up to test out doing afterthought heels. Pretty happy with the outcome!

 

I’ve been playing Civilization V on my iMac a lot lately since our consoles were stolen. Which is rarely a good idea on school nights because I may or may not have been up playing well into the wee hours of the morning on a few occasions. It’s a pretty epic game, y’all!

I’ve also had a voracious appetite for some delicious, shimmery pop so I haven’t strayed too far from my K-Pop and J-Pop playlists. This one features Meisa Kuroki, Crystal Kay, Perfume and Sophia (who are more rock, actually).

 

I made some fingerless mitts for my friend Seth! The pattern is “Swirling Gauntlets” by Susanna IC and I have to say, it was a super fun knit. I gave them to him before I could take decent pics, but I did snap a few on IG. I found that my cast on stitches for the thumb hole were a bit loose and messy even though I even did them on a smaller needle. I think next time I’ll just knit in waste yarn, rip it out later and bind off the live stitches with a stretchy bind-off.

 

I also take random shots while I’m out about. Here I am looking rather pleased because the weather finally allows me to rug up and wear scrummy warm things. My eyes are so beady! Oy. That fair isle hat – though you can’t see it very well here – is incredible, and it was made by friend Jen over at Little Yellow Cat. I’m somewhat obsessed with it. Then we have the lights of Melbourne! I’m completely enamored with good ol’ Melbs, and I’m loving the miserable, wet, cold weather. Yeah, I’m one of those people.

 

Here’s a sneaky peak of the Dartmore hat that I’ve been wrestling with. Well, I finally finished it and it’s in the post as we speak to my bestie, Panda! I miss her a lot, so I decided I’d send her a big ol’ care package stuffed with goodies including this hat. I sewed a little tag in the back so she can tell the front from the back easily, because there’s a slightly visible squiggle up the back where the rounds join. I’ll write more about it when she models it for me and sends me some pics.

But that’s all I have you for today! I have another project that I’m properly dying to share with you, but I need to get some decent pics.

But how have YOU been!? Sharezies!