reptile style

 Even though it's been bitterly cold, we've still enjoyed a little bit of outside beauty.

Unusual for this time of year, deer have been flocking to our front yard in droves.  

I noticed that several of them had what I thought were bloody spots on their hind legs.

When I started doing some research, though, I discovered that this was the tarsal gland, present on both bucks and does.  They urinate on this gland and then rub it so that the gland absorbs certain components of the urine.  The gland then emits a powerful scent, telling others about the dominance of the males and the mating readiness of the females.  Pretty interesting stuff!

St. Patrick's Day was on the 17th, and I made my usual roll-and-cut rainbow cookies.

They're kind of a pain to make, because you have to separate and color the vanilla dough before combining it in a "rainbow log," then encasing that log in chocolate dough.  The proportions were a little off this year, making them look more like peacock feather eyes...

...but they still felt festive and tasted great!

I've been working on a few other projects.  I planted lots of sweet pea seeds in yogurt containers and left them in the attic to sprout.  We've got liftoff! 

The sprouts are pale when they first emerge, but I expect them to green up after a few days under the lights.  Then they'll go out in the garden...in maybe 2-3 weeks?  Ditto these anemone and ranunculus, which I've been pre-sprouting in the attic for the past few weeks.  I thought they might be goners, but they sent up anemic fingers this weekend.  Bingo!

I finished the front panel on my Shadow sweater.  I'm measuring it against a sweater that fits in the way that I want Shadow to fit, and I think it's a pretty good match so far, especially considering that Shadow will grow a bit when I block it.

Phew, that's a lot of cables!  Now I will make an identical panel for the front.  It's coming along nicely!

I saw a really interesting woodcut of a snake last week.  I'm not a huge snake fan, but I love seeing them depicted in relief printings, like woodcuts and linocuts.  After all, I grew up with a pretty famous one:

I've found some beautiful ones online, although the internet being what it is, it's not always easy to find the original artist:

Tyler Krasowski

artist unknown

artist unknown

artist unknown

I think they're really beautiful, and I decided to try stitching one.  I chose a chain stitch for the scales, to give them a bit more detail, and a simple stem stitch for the outline.  I went with a monochromatic color scheme.

I need more practice with "fill stitches," so I'm especially pleased with how the tail and head turned out.  It's not my favorite, but it was an enjoyable-enough small project.

Another small project...I was so pleased with how my Darth Vader Scrabble bag turned out...

...that I practiced another lined bag this week, too.  Not as scary as I'd expected...practice makes perfect!

Looks like we have a cool, wet week coming up...more time for indoor projects, I guess.

Have a great week!