Every Inchie Monday: direction

Hello Folks,

Well I found one example of direction near the end of the book.  It may not be the one Trillian intended because direction is a fairly common word - but here goes.

It's been a while since we saw Zaphod, Ford and Trillian and for the life of me I don't remember why they are where they are.  I don't feel like going back to re-read again so here is the passage:

"...Zaphod was standing and scanning the horizon, because that was how far the gold ground stretched in every direction. perfectly smooth and solid.  It gleamed like ... it's impossible to say what it gleamed like because nothing in the Universe gleams in quite the same way a planet made of solid gold does."

Apparently the planet is only an entry in the catalogue of planets the Magoratheans can make and is on "Sens-O-Tape."



Some of these words are quite difficult to depict!  Obviously I was too lazy to draw a map.  Instead I chose a picture of one of those GPS finders you put in your car.  I really need one of these because I've always said I can get lost in my backyard.

Now how to quill direction?  I need first to show you a picture of what I was trying to make - a signpost showing different directions:

And here is my rather lame attempt:

Looks a bit like those twirler things you use in some board games, but it does have the cardinal directions, north, east, west and south.

Hope everyone has a good week.  

Every Inchie Monday: dinosaur

Hello Folks,

Arthur is in conversation with Slartibartfast about the construction of the new Earth.  The latter notes, "It's only half completed ... we haven't even finished burying the artificial dinosaur skeletons in the crust yet....  Arthur declines a trip to visit this new Earth saying, "It wouldn't be quite the same."

My -- and I'm sure everyone's -- favourite dinosaur is Dino from The Flintstones.  Isn't he cute?

And here is my quilled dinosaur.  He's kind of cute too.

Hope everyone has a large, outstanding week.

Every Inchie Monday: dinosaur

Hello Folks,

Arthur is in conversation with Slartibartfast about the construction of the new Earth.  The latter notes, "It's only half completed ... we haven't even finished burying the artificial dinosaur skeletons in the crust yet....  Arthur declines a trip to visit this new Earth saying, "It wouldn't be quite the same."

My -- and I'm sure everyone's -- favourite dinosaur is Dino from The Flintstones.  Isn't he cute?

And here is my quilled dinosaur.  He's kind of cute too.

Hope everyone has a large, outstanding week.

Every Inchie Monday: Brief case

Hello fellow space travelers,


(Well we are on a planet traveling through space)

Briefcase: Another tricky one to find.  It has to do with Deep Thought, the smart computer built to answer the question of  'Life, the Universe and Everything'.  "On the day of the Great On-Turning two soberly dressed programmers with brief cases arrived..."  This evolves into a discussion of whether or not Deep Thought is the smartest computer ever made, which, even though it has just been turned on, apparently it isn't.  All confusing and very Douglas Adams.


I can't find anything interesting to do with briefcase.  I once found a gorgeous grey leather briefcase In perfect condition  in a thrift shop for under $10 -- It must have cost ten times that new.  I used it for a while when I was teaching, but it turned out to be both too heavy and too small.  Similar story:  I once bought a beautiful hand painted leather purse, but it too was too heavy to use on a daily basis.  I get it out every now and then, use it for a day and then put it away with a sore shoulder.

So instead of a picture of that grey briefcase (mainly because I can't find it) I've chosen to go with a briefcase/portfolio that I would like to have.  The only ones in my local art store are black and boring.

I'm a little more pleased with my quilling inchie:

On the kitty front, Kaliko is a little better.  The vet gave her some anti-depressants to  make her eat (and make her happy) and they have worked.  She is eating and has resumed some of her annoying behaviours such as walking on my chest in the early morning and knocking things off of shelves.  I really thought I was going to lose her last week.  I know she is still sick and old, but it's nice to see her happier.  If only it were easier to make her swallow those pills -- anyone have any suggestions?

Every Inchie Monday: Infiinity

Hello Folks

Well according to Douglas Adams "Infinity itself looks flat and uninteresting.  Looking up into the night sky is looking into infinity -- distance is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless."  [chapter 24]

Another word not easy to draw.  But the first thing that came to my mind was Buzz Lightyear and his cry of 'To Infinity and Beyond!'

The only thing I could think of to quill was the symbol for infinity:

I'm a little late this week as I have a very sick kitty - she's 16, has renal failure and is not eating much.  I love my little fur baby to pieces.  That's her picture on my icon -- her name is Kaliko.  So sad. 

Every Inchie Monday: Sky

Hello Folks,

I found two references to sky (this week's word for Every Inchie Monday) in this part of the book Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.  Believe me - it was not easy.  The first is to the song Eddie sings -  "When you walk through the storm, hold your head up high....At the end of the storm is a golden sky" and the sweet silver song of the Lark (if memory serves).  This is the same song the word rain came from.  [chapter 17]

A little bit farther back in the book [chapter 16], The Heart of Gold is descending towards Magarathea  where "the suns now stood high in the black sky, the pyrotechnics of dawn were over, and the surface of the planet appeared bleak and forbidding...."

There may be another reference farther along in the book, but I couldn't find it.

When I was growing up, my father had me totally convinced that there was another colour called sky-blue-pink.  It was a sort of family joke and is very descriptive of the sky at sunrise or sunset:

Quilling skies are hard to do - so this time I have a bird flying in the blue sky with the sun, (or moon - it is a white button) in the corner.

Hope you all get the chance to see a sky-blue-pink sky this week.  They are truly beautiful and for me bring back such warm memories of my dad.

Lately I've been into crocheting amigurumi - small crocheted creatures.  They can be people, animals, fantasy, plants, inanimate objects - anything you can think of.  Here are a few of my early creations.  Most of them are for friends or family.

 Teal hungry hungry hippo with my helper.  She is eating cat food - mostly because this was the first one I made and I hadn't figured out yet how to make a heavy head stand up.

Squirrel with acorn.

Koala with green bow tie and fuzzy ears.

Purple variegated elephant.

More to come later as I get them all photographed.

Every Inchie Monday: Mice

Hi Folks,

Well everyone who's read The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy remembers the white mice.  Trillian keeps them in a cage on the Heart of Gold and they escape on Magrathea.  It  turns out that the mice are "hyperintelligent pan-dimensional beings," not  "little white furry things with the cheese fixation and women standing on chairs screaming in early sixties sit coms," as Arthur thinks. 

 All this time it was the mice who had been running the experiments and who had commissioned the Magratheans to create the Earth in the first place.  The Earth was destroyed by The Vogons 5 minutes before the experiment would have come to fruition, which necessitates the creation of a new Earth. [chapter 24]


I started making Inchies this year before I realized the words were all from HHGG, otherwise I would have made my mouse white:

Even my quilled mouse is grey.  I think he's kind of cute.  I'm not sure why he has a red nose.  Maybe he's a Christmas mouse and wants to guide Santa's sleigh.

I've always wondered why anyone would think women would stand on chairs screaming, terrified of a little mouse.  Or think it was funny.  Stereotyped behaviour invented by men, I'm sure.  I was raised in the country where mice were not uncommonly to be found in the basement or garage.  I was told not to touch them but never was afraid of them.   

Now insects of any kind, on the other hand,  do have me screaming hysterically (well maybe more cringing than screaming) - I simply cannot abide bugs, or anything creepy-crawly  - or slimy!  Yup, definitely phobic.  Maybe I should be more sympathetic towards the mouse-phobic. 

On this pleasant note, enjoy your week.  What are your phobias?