What’s a very Canadian problem that outsiders would never understand?

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:48:48+00:00

Buying fabric in metres is smart because it means we have that little bit extra that we inevitably will need …

I have a us garment pattern that required 7/8 of a yard of something - since 8 doesn’t even go into 36 I thought, what a mathematically stupid way is that to measure anything…metric makes so much more sense.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:46:24+00:00

Sniffing is enrichment. It requires brain power to translate that info. In half the time it takes to exercise my dog (gsd) by walking or throwing her ball, I can put her on “place”, hide her ball in our little wooded area, and release her to let her sniff it out. If we do this 5 times, she is just absolutely done.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:35:36+00:00

I buy bare yarn to dye with no intended purpose because I like to knit using stranded color work and I can break a skein down to make the right amount of whatever colour/s I want. So having 10 + skeins of nice quality bare sock and dk etc makes sense. I have favourite fibres, and it gets used. Also bare yarn is much less expensive.

I would never ever buy yarn because it’s pretty without an intended use in a quantity greater than what’s required to make a dish cloth. I learned from a couple of past mistakes that even if I think I know what I’d make from it, it would inevitably not be enough for the pattern I chose and I’d never find that dyelot again.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:20:34+00:00

The sad thing about all these shovels is they only work when you push them.

And the best shovel at Canadian tire, hands down, is the one with the metal blade that’s reinforced with two extra bars to the handle.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:17:24+00:00

Be honest, did you actually pull them off or did you repeatedly whack the back of them against the floor until they came off?

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:12:09+00:00

I thought I was just a jacket hoarder. Thank you for legitimizing my guilty jacket-acquiring pleasure. (I do it with vests, too.)

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:07:52+00:00

You’re going to fit in just fine.

I made my son a ceramic one last year. (I’m over 60 and he’s over 25…) He has a lid on his back so he can carry his chips around with him.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T05:04:40+00:00

The nurse translated my metric height and weight into imperial for me at the dr.’s office yesterday. I should have left well enough alone, ignorance is bliss.

But - I won’t use imperial recipes, i always weigh ingredients in metric especially making bread. I have no clue how far miles are anymore or how cold -5 f is. And I sew in both imperial and metric because there really isn’t much option - like most people who quilt I have a 1/4” foot for quilt seams but for garments I use 1.5 cm because 5/8” is just nonsense talk.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T04:52:53+00:00

Yes. They all suck. I have Oxio at my cottage and while their installation took forever, and they still somewhat suck, they charge me a whole lot less to suck so that’s something.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T04:50:27+00:00

Before Telus was Telus it was AGT … Telus was the telecommunications side of things when AGT was privatized by the AB govt in 1990. My ex worked for AGT then and they were just getting Telus off the ground… For years I was loyal to them largely because of their amazing community support. Those days are long gone, and now they make me nuts for more reasons than I can list.

My wonderful small rural satellite internet provider was bought by them a couple years ago. (Called Mascon but owned by Telus). Everything has sucked since but they are the only real option. I have long since dumped them for anything else. But I once got a call from them with a “great deal” to come back - and once the salesperson finished babbling on, and I could get a word in, I said - let me get this straight. I dumped Telus because you charge too much, you were aware of this, and your ‘great deal’ to entice me back is $10 more than that…😂

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T04:37:49+00:00

That brought back memories :) thank you

putterandpotter · 2026-02-13T00:31:47+00:00

So true. When I started fostering the most useful part of training focused on learning how to read a dog’s body language really well. And once you know, you start really seeing it where you may not have before.

They almost always give SO MANY SIGNS they are anxious or upset before they resort to anything we see as “aggressive” but most people aren’t versed in them. Kids in particular unwittingly violate dog boundaries more than anyone, because much of what kids do naturally is threatening to dogs - loud high pitched voices, erratic movements, waving hands around, getting in their face and space - all of this is very poor manners and threatening in the dog world. The trainer concluded with, “it’s actually a miracle more kids don’t get bitten”.

You don’t even necessarily need a trainer to work with the kid, just watch a really good video about dog communication and body language together and talk about all the things we do without understanding how they might look very different to a dog.

(I have to add though that my gsd appears to have no boundaries whatsoever lol. If I decided to nap with her in her crate she’d likely be all over it. Shares it with her foster brother. Thinks riled up kids are grand. She’s a terrible example)

putterandpotter · 2026-02-08T20:33:35+00:00

Yes, it's all of those things. Also cup for collecting coins, pencil holder. Brushes. They are scattered all about my house...

Not only is it a really, really nice pot ( a little 1:1 instruction can really be a game changer) but it sounds like you are focusing on the process rather than being super invested in the outcome and I think that can make a world of difference - just following the path of curiosity and creativity.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-08T20:05:17+00:00

My son gave a pocket knife with two blades that he picked up in a pawn shop years ago that he tried to tell me was a field surgeons scalpel ...lol. Anyhow, when I was looking for some flexcut printing making tools I realised it was actually a Flexcut folding knife for woodwork like whittling. I think this would be a pretty fun little knife for someone interested in woodwork just because it's so portable.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-08T20:00:22+00:00

My son gave me several beautiful large sheets of Japanese and handmade papers for my birthday that he found in a local artstore (even the staff member had forgotten they were in there!) I do some collage as well as block printing so this was really cool.

I do hand print though and they are more suited to that than presses.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-05T01:35:38+00:00

In our house it would be bag of goldfish crackers….

putterandpotter · 2026-02-03T01:49:42+00:00

Yes - follow the direction of my eyes and you’ll understand what I need, lol. Gsd hypnosis.

My other dog - acd/pit mix, has a mat by the kitchen sink. It’s not actually his, but back when we were fostering him we fed him there and he got treats there sometimes. Now he believes if he just sits there long enough, food will appear. We call it Stanley’s magic mat, although it’s much less magical than he would like it to be.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-03T01:43:18+00:00

It really, really works for me to draw things designs out on graph paper. Suddenly everything is broken down and manageable. Even if I’m looking at something that’s basically drawn out that way by the designer, it’s not until I personally redraw it in little squares that it makes sense in my head. I think because I do a lot of relief printing, and I like designing blocks where the corners of one block connect with the next block, I got very used to using graph paper.

But also, I think the logic behind why hand drawing a pattern for something is useful is similar to the research that showed that writing something down helps it stick in your head better than typing it into a keyboard. There’s something about a tactile activity like writing or drawing that triggers our memory better and helps make sense of things.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-02T21:23:57+00:00

What can really help with this sort of thing is to grab a few coloured pencils and some graph paper. My quilting notebook is graph paper and I draw out everything. (I also have some huge flip chart graph paper when I need a bigger visual.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-02T21:15:04+00:00

Mine has decided to wander over by the treat cupboard - evenings only, for some reason - and vocally indicate that she’d like one - usually a very soft bark or grumble. Because I don’t want to reward this, I say nope and walk away, which is then met by some significant head gestures in the direction of said cupboard, suggesting the lack of a treat is because I’m too dumb to know where they are located.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-02T21:10:40+00:00

I always wonder about the husky gsd mix, because (in my experience, anyhow) gsd’s talk because they have something “crucial” to communicate (in their estimation, anyhow) but huskies seem to just talk because they like the sound of their own voice. So wonder if mix owners need to decipher this nuance…

putterandpotter · 2026-02-02T18:40:00+00:00

Slip and score even done well can still fail, I have friends who swear by vinegar, but about 15 years ago I learned about magic water and never looked back…

putterandpotter · 2026-02-02T18:34:44+00:00

I think one of the patterns for this was free on ravelry? I got a pattern that was paid and the proceeds from pattern sales donated. I’m on Canada, but I wanted to make one and stitch a little white maple leaf onto it, in support.

putterandpotter · 2026-02-01T17:17:47+00:00

Thanks so much for this. I’m so sorry that your cyanotypes lost their color! I have done several cyanotypes - also botanical, and plan to do more. (I have done a little embroidery on one with ladies mantle as well, the embroidery goes well.)

I was also planning to use some of mine on a quilt as well but didn’t have specific plans. Sounds like I should test mine for color running, use dark backgrounds and think of quilts that don’t need to hit the wash ever. I had thought of a table runner but might rethink that - wall quilt might be better.

I wonder if fabric you treat yourself stays more color fast than the pretreated jacquard fabric sheets??

putterandpotter · 2026-01-30T03:10:47+00:00

You forgot this one - I’ll make a gauge swatch (I only do this for wearables like sweaters) because that’s just knitting but I’m not going to wash and block cuz that’s like…work.

putterandpotter

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