The Greys

Sir Thomas: Oooh, can we eat it?

Lady Jane: Get out of the photo! I'm trying to pose here!

Lady Jane: I want to look slimmer than the last photo

Lady Jane: And taller. Slimmer and taller. That's it.

Sir Thomas: Nope, no food. (Walks off in disgust).

And I am pleased to report that her Ladyship and the good Sir have been coming individually to my balcony this week. Normally they are always together. There can only be one conclusion: they are nesting! Yes folks, somewhere nearby are a couple of eggs or chicks that the Greys are anxiously watching over. I think they are first time parents, cause they are much later than the McGraws, who already have teenage chicks this spring. I wonder what the Grey's chicks will look like? So exciting to wait and see. I think it should be about 4-6 weeks before they can fly enough to follow their parents to visit me :)

Beaks McGraw

After some negotiation the other day, Beaks and I came to an agreement about whether I could take a portrait of her to put on my blog. She was finally persuaded after I told her she would be famous. Turns out pigeons are as fond of the limelight as reality tv contestants. So we tried a few photos and she tested her best angle and a few poses. She was at first not too sure of the camera and eyed it nervously and considered whether she should slap the camera up a bit to teach it who is boss, but decided against it.

So how did Beaks end up with her name? Well, sometime before 7am on Tuesday the 19th of April, Beaks and another unknown pigeon had a fight. In pigeon fights they often go for the beak and hang on tight so as to swing the other pigeon around. I think what happened with Beaks as she somehow got swung so hard that her lower beak snapped off. So I woke up to find a shocked and bleeding pigeon, puddles of blood all over my balcony and a bunch of other pigeons wondering what happened and trying to look innocent. Before I could get a good look at Beaks, she shook off the blood and flew off. I saw her later that day when I took this photo:

Amazingly, she was still trying to eat despite not being able to pick up food. She stopped dripping blood a few hours later, but was spitting blood for a day or two later. I thought she would simply die from shock overnight. That night the temperatures dropped below zero and we had a hail storm. But next morning she was back with the rest of the flock looking for food. As she couldn't eat by herself I extended a hand of bread to her. At first she simply run away from me. But two days later she was hungry enough to try. Several hours of cold fingers later we managed to work out a system. So we have a routine now. Water soaked whole wheat bread in the morning (half a slice!) because she also can't drink properly (pigeons suck up water through thier beaks like a straw). Then I have a little container of seeds and lentils and peas for her in the afternoon. She's a messy eater though:

Seed carnage! And, not on any terms am I to take away the container before she is done or I get a slapping (she grunts and slaps me with her wing when she is not happy). Pigeons also slap lower rank pigeons away from food (I guess I'm a lower rank pigeon to her!). I've started to grunt back at her though :P

Regardless of weather, Beaks comes to visit for breakfast. I get very cold fingers.

If you look closely in this picture Beaks has her eyes shut and she is licking her chops. Pigeon tongues are long and thin and seem to be partly retractable. Beaks uses hers for grabbing hold of seeds now she has no lower beak. The injury seems to be healing nicely. She is also now able to eat a bit on her own. My aim is to ensure she can eat well enough to feed by herself by the time I have to leave Montreal, but I don't know how possible that is.

Beaks looking demure and kind.

Beaks trying the head to one side 'kawaii' look

Beaks brings the whole family to visit. Just before her injury she laid two eggs and hatched two chicks. Fortunately dad 'Chubbs' was able to step in with feeding the little ones after Beaks was injured. Chubbs is in the middle ground of the photo, Beaks in front and the chick's behind Chubbs. Apparently pigeons share parenting responsibilities and marry for life. Though, I must say that Chubbs has made more than a few passes at other females in the last few weeks and shortly after the injury was ignoring Beaks quite a lot. Though to his credit, he did bring her back to see me after the injury, perhaps knowing I could help. Since then he as stuck by her (and eaten by her without pushing...well, not pushing much) and has been very snuggly these last few days. Chubbs may have plans for another set of chicks before the summer is out...

Anyway, I've named the two chicks Ariel (after the little mermaid, as she has big eyes and is very cute) and Spotty (cause she has lots of white spots on her tummy). I've no idea of course if the chicks are male or female, so Ariel could be Arthur for all I know. The chicks have big eyes and big beaks like they haven't grown into them yet. They also have paler feet and legs than the parents. They are growing fast though and learning the ways of the pigeon world. Spotty is now pushing with the rest of the adults for food and even chased Lady Grey the other day! (Lady Grey fought back and pecked Spotty behind the ear, to make sure Spotty learned her lesson). The chicks still chirp though rather than coo. Which is very lovely.

Meet Lady Grey

A frequent balcony visitor of mine, Lady Jane Grey. Lady Grey and her husband Sir Thomas Grey drop by a few times a day to check if there might be food and to hang out. They spend hours grooming themselves and each other and napping. Last night they hung out until almost 8pm before flying home to roost. They were here first thing this morning, ever hopeful the concrete had materialised seeds.

Lady Grey is the perfect colour grey for a pigeon to my eyes. She's all lavender and pinky grey at the neck and light on the body. She has two black wing stripes which set off her grey nicely. She looks all cute and kind, but has been known to chase other female pigeons away (both from food and her Mr.).

Yet she is no where near as cantankerous as the Female pigeon currently going by the name of 'Beaks McGraw'. Beaks is the maddest, baddest female pigeon on the block. She takes on the boys and shows them who is boss. She gives them a right smacking and they stay away. I'd show you a picture, but she might smack me too.

Summer Knitting

How to wear the camisole: in the woods and slightly disheveled?

Front View of the Pattern

Progress on the Pattern

The Pattern is from a Japanese book called 'Tricotage de Lin'. As I can't read Japanese, I'm using the pattern as a guide only. I have worked out the measurements and number of stitches, so I can make it fit the schematic diagram. However, I decided I'd like slightly thicker straps than the ones shown. The pattern also calls for crocheted straps and trim, but I'm going to knit the straps in, then trim them like the neckline. I'm using some cheap acrylic to try out the shape and my modifications, but if it turns out nice I'll make another one in bamboo or linen. Those should also drape nicer than the acrylic, which is a bit stiff and maybe too warm, but not unwearable. We shall see!

Of Birthdays & Happy Things

I just had a significant sort of birthday. A goal evaluation and re-setting sort of birthday. I celebrated quietly and went back to working on my essays. But today I got myself my birthday present: a Singer SewHandy Model 20 Sewing Machine. It came with its original box and instructional booklet. The booklet is copyright 1953, so I guess the machine is of a similar age. I saw it in an antique shop and it was love at first sight.

(Teapot is for comparative size)

With its Box, Booklet and Packet of Needles (empty, but original)

Yes, I will want to sew on lace, and ric rac

And of course children should learn how to make proper seams

The introduction concludes with this comment: 'You'll want to take your machine with you on vacations with the family, weekend visits with friends, and finally to college. Ever ready for mending or making a simple garment.'

Yes, I might just want to take this little beauty everywhere. Its really light (despite being a rather solid chunk of metal) and you never know when you have to do some emergency shirring or pin-tucking.

As far as I can tell it is in working order with all the necessary moving parts moving. But I will have to thread it up to see.

I think it needs a name...

Grey is Not Boring

Grey is Not Boring!

The love affair I have with grey continues. This delightful hat is made from handspun alpaca that I got from here. Its pretty rough handspun and still contains lots of little bits of straw that I had to pick out while knitting. The spinning is also uneven so some parts of the hat are thicker and some parts thinner. Also the colour is not consistent, if you look closely you can see the top of the hat is slightly darker than the edges. This is all part of the charm of handspun for me. This wool was spun by a human not a machine. A human with hands and alpacas and bits of straw everywhere and probably she stopped for lunch and the family dog slept on it as well. Its real and that's what I like about it. Wabi-Sabi sort of beautiful.

One of my professors recently said that the most rebellious thing you can do now in terms of design and art and theory is to simply make something because its beautiful. I like this because its something I've been feeling for some time. Why must art be ugly to be poignant and thoughtful and interesting? Why can't it be beautiful?

This wool is beautiful. I think the spinner intended it to be so despite the straw and unevenness. This I hope comes through in the hat. I just wanted a texture that would show off the wool as it is. The cables of the hat kind of fade away into the background and the wool and greyness of it come forward.

The pattern is called 'Gretel' by ysolda in the latest Stitch n' Bitch book. Even though I haven't done much cabling before the pattern was really easy to follow and went without a hitch (except for not being able to do the tubular cast on successfully even with 5 attempts!)

The Underside of the Hat.

The Trials and Tribulations of the Hat for the Mr.

The two photographs below present Hat Version 1 and Hat Version 2. At first glance they look identical and for the most part they are identical. I used the same width of ribbing, the same open staggered increases and decreases and the same bottom up construction. The key difference is the size. This is not a lesson in the importance of checking your gauge (I think sometimes you need to and sometimes you don't!) but in the possibility for a well-considered knitting project to still turn up something unexpected.

For this project I did check my gauge and I calculated the amount of stitches per inch and worked out the size accordingly. I even calculated for the stretch of the knitting at about 10% and so made the hat 10% smaller than the measurements indicated.

This is where I went wrong because the knitting was much stretchier than I calculated it at. I did think at first that this was due to the difference between a relaxed and a tight tension. But after thinking it over for a while I don't think this would account for such a great difference in measurements. The lesson here is the difference between gauge measured flat and when measured stretched. Unfortunately this little issue did not present itself during the making of the hat.

The hat was tried on many times during construction (with a patient Mr' wearing knitting needles on his head) and it fit just nice. But when I took it off the needles and bound off, it turned out about 4 inches too big! So after a couple of heartbreaking moments I resolved to undo the hat and start again. Because I chose bottom up construction I had to go back right to the beginning. I also discovered I finish things too well, as it took ages to find the ends I had so nicely woven in!

Remaking the second time was much faster because I: a) knew what I was doing and b) the hat was 4 inches smaller. This time the hat fits perfectly and does not make the Mr. look silly. Since I was remaking, I also took the liberty of curving the decreases at the top in a slightly more so as to reduce the bulk of fabric at the top of the head.

Hat Version 1. Sad Hat.

Hat Version 2. Happy Hat.