Birch Aquarium visit + craft photo dump

Last week, I spent a wonderful morning with my mom and nieces at the world-renowned Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (locally known as just the Birch Aquarium). It’s situated in a spectacular location in La Jolla, on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I feel so fortunate that I grew up with this (and so many other treasures) in my “backyard,” and I never tire of exploring it.

The aquarium’s inception was in 1905, but not until 1992 did it reach its current size and capacity. There are more than 60 exhibits showing sea life from various regions of the Pacific, including a Little Blue Penguin habitat and an endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtle rescued in 2014 from a New Jersey power plant. There are also some very cool interactive displays, one of which educates about various types of whales.

I feel like a kid again when I tour this special place, especially when I’m with my nieces, who see everything with fresh eyes.

I’ve also been going a bit turbo on my crafting, which includes cranking out a few mandala decorations that I’ve been meaning to do for some time. For the ones pictured, I used Lion Brand Mandala String, which is a super-neat yarn I’ve never worked with before. It has not-too-rapid color changes and a nice sheen that shows the colors to their advantage. I sewed two of the mandalas into 14 inch gold rings. I will keep the sunset-colored one, and add a few tassel embellishments once I get back home to Korea. My sister keeps the green/yellow/blue one.

Two other crochet projects involve wearables – one of them is a very pretty sapphire-hued cap, made from the hand-spun alpaca yarn I scored at A Simpler Time a couple of weeks back. The cap’s pattern has an interesting texture made with front-post double crochet stitches that radiate out from the center. It fits close to the head and just over the ears; I might have turned it into a beret if I used a slightly bigger hook. The yarn is a fingering-weight and I used a 3.75mm hook.

The other wearable is a WIP that uses a bright pumpkin shade of DK acrylic that I’m making into a granny-cluster shawl. The granny cluster is a simple motif, and I’ve been able to work on it as a “mindless” project. I’m not quite sure what kind of border I’m going to use for it, though. I may look through a book of crochet borders that I have back in Korea to help me decide. The shawl’s color is a stunning Autumn shade that I can’t wait to toss over a weekend outfit.

Another craft that I finished a few days ago is a gorgeous peony image made from a Japanese paper-cutting kit. I bought this kit at Ozu Washi when I visited Tokyo this past February. Now I have two such prints that will be displayed on my little kitchen gallery wall. I love these kinds of kits, as they are incredibly meditative, and the results are so satisfying.

Even though the instructions were in Japanese, the directions for making it are relatively easy to figure out from images. I’ve learned that one of the biggest keys to success is to cut out the smallest sections first, then move outward to the larger sections. This general order of cutting tends to reduce the chance of ripped paper.

A second trick comes at the end, when affixing the cut-out to the background paper. A basic glue stick, gently applied to the back of the cut-out in sections, is the easiest way to prepare it for sticking. I carefully center the image on the background, and starting from the bottom, work slowly upwards to adhere it and prevent any wrinkles or bubbles.

I’ll be back soon with more hometown images and a look at my embroidery practice. Until then, be well!