Stargazer

My girlfriend, MJ, has many interests, ranging from paper quilling to Pre-Raphaelite paintings to remote-control vehicles. One of MJ's current interests is astronomy. She recently bought a Sky-Watcher telescope.

For her birthday in June, I crocheted her this ultra-portable telescope and some celestial objects:


The star, heart, Saturn and moon are strung from a mobile made of metal wire and fishing wire. The telescope's optical tube is reinforced by two cardboard tubes. The yarn legs are wrapped around a mini metallic tripod. The front lens was recycled from the plastic cover of a flashlight.


Here's a video of MJ checking out the telescope's features:

She took both telescopes to the park, where I photographed her stargazing:

In turn, she used my camera and her working telescope to photograph the moon during twilight:


She also captured Jupiter and five of its moons:


Happy Birthday, MJ! You prove that interested people are interesting!

Fridge Critter: Chelsea the Chicken

In 2001, I learned to use a pen tablet to colour eight baby animals. I put that drawing on my fridge eight years ago. Last year, I learned to crochet. To celebrate the spirit of learning new things, I spent this summer remaking my drawn animals into crochet critters.


The eighth and last Fridge Critter is the chicken.


For unknown reasons, Chelsea the chicken was never able to lay eggs. She didn't want to raise baby chicks; she just wanted to make her own eggs.

Sometimes she would admire another chicken's egg:


Other times, she would dare to get closer:


She had reoccurring dreams of hatching a carton-full of Grade AA eggs:


But this summer, Chelsea got tired of unfulfilled dreams. So she taught herself to crochet. What was the first thing she made with a crochet hook?

That's right: eggs.


Pop!

She makes eggs all the time now. She's happy when she's creating. At this rate, she'll have made more eggs than all the chickens in the coop.

Congratulations, Chelsea. We hope you continue to learn new things!



This summer, we met each Fridge Critter: Squire the Squirrel, Bleu the Blue Bird, Pandara★♥ the Panda, Darla the Duckling, Sherman the Shark, Turner the Turtle, Piki the Pig and, finally, Chelsea the Chicken.

There are now two photos of the Fridge Critters on my fridge:


To celebrate their completion, my girlfriend recorded me returning the Fridge Critters into the wild. Here's the video: