emma

Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom

Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

[Image Description: A gray and white "tuxedo" cat. The picture is a close-up on her head, which is turned so that three-quarters of her face is towards the camera. She's got yellow-green eyes that are fixed on something in the distance.]

^that was my Raina. She's been gone many years now, and I've gotten used to life without a cat, but that doesn't mean I still don't miss her. I still, at times, find myself chanting her name to calm myself down when I'm anxious.


[Image Description: A photo of a young calico kitty. She's standing on a large windowsill, her face turned to look at something off screen to the right. Her tail is upright at attention and curled to the left.]

I would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of 20 minute kitty. This was a neighbor's cat who came up to our patio door, so we let her in for a while. I was ewcited! Mom, less so. Unfortunately the experience solidified her as an anti-cat person, and since I live with her, I have to go without one.


[Image Description: A picture of my sister's dog, Charms. She's a black Labrador and is at attention because I called her name before taking the photo.]

I watch Charms sometimes when my sister goes on vacations. I am NOT a dog person, but as dogs go, Charms is pretty good. We're used to each other now, so it mostly goes smoothly. Why is she named Charms? because she had a brother named Lucky.

---

Okay, so I can't have a real cat, but I can knit cats!


[Image Description: Two realistic knitted kitties, shown from the front. They are both "tuxedo" cats, with one orange and the other gray.]

I've misplaced them, alas. I really should find them again and perch them on my bed because they ARE a calming presence. They're even more realistic from the rear:


[Image Description: Two realistic knitted tuxedo kitties, shown from the back. They are gray and orange, and look very much like the classic "kitty loaf".]

---

When I first started playing Final Fantasy XIV, I was skeptical of the whole minion thing (minions are small critters that follow you around.) I mean, we had nothing like that in Final Fantasy XI and still enjoyed that game! So I admit that I thought the idea of minions to be a little silly.

Then lassarina gifted me the Fat Cat minion, and well, what a charming minion! She's very plump and rolls to her side.

Animated gif of the Fat Cat minion rolling about under cut!

[Image Description: The Fat Cat minion from Final Fantasy XIV. She's a plump calico cat and likes to roll around.]

I've been playing FFXIV for years now, and no longer use Fat Cat as my minion. Now I use Starbird:


[Image Description: The Starbird Minion from Final Fantasy XIV. It's a blue bird with gray beak and white belly. It's got really long dual tails and large wings.]

The reason I use Starbird? She plays a big role in Endwalker, the first expansion that I played live at its launch. Also, I ran the dungeon Starbird comes from SO MUCH. So, so many times until she finally dropped for me. Can't imagine using a different minion now.

---

I want to end with a game I played in 2024 that I really, really enjoyed. That game is Stray, in which you play as an orange street cat. I really enjoyed it! The cat does cat things like scratch at furniture and knock things over, but you do this as a way to explore the world and solve puzzles. There's some action sequences where you need to escape from enemies, but I found them all short enough that I didn't mind having to try them over and over (I am not great at action games!).

Anyway, have a clip from the game:


[Video Description: An orange cat jumping about an apartment. He finds a computer and jumps up on the table to investigate, stepping on the keyboard in the process. Kitty typing detected!]

Click the banner to join us and make some new friends!

Unexpectedly, I was let out of work early on New Year's Eve so rushed to the foreshore. My trains had engineering work so I had to go a different route but then got on the wrong train from London Bridge and ended up in Norwood Junction, far from the river.

I did eventually make it to the South Bank though. Security were making people detour around the back of Gabriel’s Wharf so wouldn't let me get down the steps to the foreshore there, so I walked back towards Blackfriars and finally made it down.

It was the last day of the year and as the sun set, I was on the foreshore, staring at the Thames.

I found a cowrie shell, which would have been used for trade, as they're not native to the Thames. This is the third one I've found.

I found a piece of Meakin Sol Ware with a sun logo, probably from around 1918 - 1963.

I found another piece of Express Dairies aster design.

I found a piece of Lovatt & Lovatt, Langley Mill, Notts, which would have been from between 1895 and 1930. I mostly find things from London or the Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent, not so much other places.

I found a piece of a Bovril jar! My second Bovril jar, but sadly this one was not in one piece.

I found a sherd that said "ich" on it. I assumed this must be German, but the Prince of Wales’ motto is "Ich dien" (meaning "I serve"), so it’s likely to be from that, maybe a commemorative plate.



(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

Another year goes by.

2025 was filled with... medical appointments, tests, scans, more tests and more scans. In the end, apparently nothing that will kill me straight away although there are some things that will need follow ups.

It also was a year when I did a little more playing in public. Not a lot, just three local recitals and a few private gigs. But that was good, it is not something that helps me pay the bills a lot but it is something I need to do. Much as the first thing I think when I find myself on stage is 'why do I put myself in this situation' and 'which way up do you hold this guitar thing?'. Need to move more in that direction -of playing more in public, that is, not fretting about it.

Christmas was a very different affair this year. Last year I was in Miami with my sister and family, being shown around, eating exotic non-Venezuelan food and slightly breaking my no-alcohol vows. This time I spent mostly horizontal, mostly coughing my lungs out and with a runny nose and full of brain fog. Mercifully by NYE it had gone and I was able to go to Tarantella at the Albany and dance and catch up with people for a bit.

Let's see what the new year brings. The world outside looks dark and menacing, my own situation will need me to do things -like finally applying for British citizenship, just in case. A very expensive 'just in case' but given the dark clouds over the horizon it will need to be done.

Hope your own Christmas and NYE were good. Still catching up on my 'Reading Page' here.

Get anything you have left on LJ backed up ASAP

posted by synecdochic:

"I just posted a thread to my Bluesky account about why I think it's extremely urgent for people to back up anything they still have on LiveJournal, however they do it. Thread starts here:

https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3mbebi2xfxc25

ru-news LJ post I was relying on:

https://ru-news.livejournal.com/80899.html

Please spread this far and wide so as many people see it as possible, because I really don't see English-language LJ continuing in its present form for much longer, and I know some people may still have things they care about there. It doesn't matter how you get it backed up, but it's absolutely crunch time for getting it backed up."

My old xnera account was still hanging around LJ, even though I long ago imported here and stopped crossposting. I just logged into it and saved the few images I had in storage. I then deleted the account. Was long overdue.

I had other accounts on LJ, but can't remember most of them. Oh well. Nothing in those accounts were vitally important, unlike my personal journal.

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Hiya! I'm Althea Valara (my chosen name, not my wallet name). I'm a fiber artist, Twitch streamer, and video game player. For fiber arts, I knit and crochet, plus do a little pin loom weaving. SOMEDAY when I have more space/money, I'll own a rigid heddle loom.

Most of my consumed media these days comes from video games, and primarily the Final Fantasy franchise with a healthy dose of Kingdom Hearts. I currently stream Final Fantasy XI on Fridays, Final Fantasy XIV on Saturdays, and am making my way through the Kingdom Hearts series on Mondays. Start time is around 7:30pm Central and goes until 10:30pm or until I get tired/feel like stopping, whichever comes first. Lately I've been more tired than usual so streams have been shorter, but I'm still streaming!

My stream is at https://twitch.tv/altheavalara - my first stream was on February 13th, 2021, so I'll be hitting my five year anniversary this year, WOW! I started streaming as a way to combat social anxiety. I'm still a very tiny streamer (last month I hit 100 followers, FINALLY!) but I enjoy it and no longer feel anxiety when I start a stream. It's like breathing now - just something I do.

Why I'm doing Snowflake Challenge

Mostly, it's because I've done it for a few years now and had fun with it! I've appreciated the opportunity to blurble happily about my blorbos and otherwise geek out about fannish things. Normally, I do not consider myself as part of a fandom. I mean yes, I love Final Fantasy and do make some fanworks for it, but I usually don't consume fanworks unless people point them to me. Sometimes it can feel lonely in my little corner of the fandom, so I really have loved Snowflake Challenge for giving me an excuse to put myself out there some more.

What I hope to get out of the Challenge

An opportunity to be creative. An excuse to work on my Neocities site some more, which I launched during last year's Challenge. Reading enthusiastic posts from others and seeing both familiar usernames I don't normally interact with, plus new people that I find charming and delightful. I've met some really cool people through Snowflake Challenge like vriddy, enemytosleep and peaked, and I hope to make some new acquaintances, if not friends, this year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May your 2026 be filled with good health and much happiness.

---

So here's last year's list. I had some success this past year, but not as much as I would have liked:

Fannish Things

1. My Shadowbringers "summaries"

STILL not done. I think I did one update? Gotta get cracking on this!

2. The FFBE script

Last year I was lamenting not having Season 2/all the story events captured. I have since found YouTube channels that have the whole of Season 2 and many of the story events recorded! \o/ I would like to put some work into doing Season 2 this year.

3. Final Fantasy XI story

This was new for last year, and I'm really pleased with how much I've gotten done. I've documented Bastok missions through rank 5, plus the first expansion, Rise of the Zilart. I'm at work on the second expansion now.

4. Neocities!

This was also new for 2025, and I am very happy to say that I completed it! Well, completed in the sense that I got it fixed up enough to launch. It's always going to be a work in progress. I'm hoping to put a lot of work into it this year.

---

Knitting & Crochet Projects

I finished 23 projects in 2025, some of which had multiple pieces. I have dutifully made the list of WIPs, which is still L-O-N-G.

The following WIPs were deleted in 2025. Either frogged, or thrown away, or just lost and decided I didn't care to finish them:

* Mathilda Bolero
* Hospice Canaries
* Amigurumi Potted Plant
* Cherry Blossom Bonsai
* Perfect Knit T-Shirt
* NewYear Tree
* Little Green Elf Cowl
* Small Eastern Dragon
* Marion Slouch
* Boo! Doily

But I also added a bunch of WIPs, so the number hasn't changed much:

* Weekend Headband
* Mosey - technically done but I might lengthen them, so still marked WIP
* Versailles Scarf
* Pretty Poinsettia Ornament
* Disney Crochet Kit Halloween Stitch
* Sylvan Tee
* Butterfly Shawl
* Sophie Scarf
* SECRET PROJECT
* Diamond Peaks Drawstring Bag
* P 9. Shawl (ショール)
* Glymur
* Sweetheart Soiree
* Emotional Support Chicken

This year, I'd really like to focus on bigger projects and get some garments done. So I don't know how many of these WIPs will be touched this year. We'll see!

Here's the list of WIPs:

#	Date Started	Project Name	Comment
1	2025-12-09	Weekend Headband	Yuppers.
2	2025-11-02	Mosey	Might make longer? Otherwise done.
3	2025-11-01	Versailles Scarf	YES, FINISH! January goal?
4	2025-10-07	Pretty Poinsettia Ornament	Maybe for this year.
5	2025-09-15	Disney Crochet Kit Halloween Stitch	It’s STITCH! Make for Halloween 2026?
6	2025-08-01	Sylvan Tee	To poke at now and then.
7	2025-08-07	Butterfly Shawl	Find and finish.
8	2025-06-05	Sophie Scarf	Unearth and finish.
9	2025-05-06	SECRET PROJECT	SECRET PROJECT. Yes, please finish in 2026
10	2025-04-24	Diamond Peaks Drawstring Bag	Need to start over. Maybe someday?
11	2025-04-07	P 9. Shawl (ショール)	Have yarn, might make.
12	2025-04-01	Glymur	Inspired by my therapist, who wears ponchos. Find and finish in 2026.
13	2025-02-03	Sweetheart Soiree	Unearth and finish.
14	2025-02-02	Emotional Support Chicken	Eh, maybe
15	2025-01-01	Motion Picture Mosaic Cardi	UGH. Starting sleeve over.
16	2024-12-30	Villemo	Newest WIP, will do as I can.
17	2024-08-07	Cat Lady Bag	NEW, and I really want to make this!
18	2024-06-07	Luftslott	NEW in 2024, plan to do in 2025.
19	2024-05-26	Plumeria	NEW in 2025, finish by end of summer?
20	2024-04-04	Final Fantasy XVI Torgal Blanket Square	Tried, wasn’t coming out too good. Unsure what to do.
21	2024-01-05	Poinsettia	Just need leaves!
22	2023-12-04	#13 Central Park Hoodie	For ME. Want done by spring.
23	2025-12-14	Missy C	For ME. No hurry.
24	2023-10-15	Copycat Cowl	Um, did I finish this?
25	2023-09-20	Celtic Placemat	Plan was to make for older sister, not sure I am going to follow through on that.
26	2023-08-02	Spring Bluebird Banner	Finish by spring. (I said this in 2024, too, hah!)
27	2023-02-24	Brown Felted Bag	No hurry.
28	2022-12-01	The Parlor Cat	Finish eventually.
29	2022-10-30	Bat Filet Crochet Example	Finish by Halloween!
30	2022-08-30	Lacy Crochet Kerchief	Done, find and take a pic to mark complete
31	2022-08-03	Simple Crescent Shawl	Finish for Area 51 sometime.
32	2023-02-02	Lovely room doily	Would like to do sometime.
33	2022-04-02	Cable-Stayed Beanie	This is a cool hat I’d like to make sometime
34	2022-03-02	Wavedeck	Want to finish this sometime, for myself.
35	2021-12-22	Country Cottage Headband	Gods will I ever finish this?
36	2021-03-04	Tarragon the Gentle Dragon	Still would like to make this!
37	2021-02-03	Twig Shawl	Finish eventually.
38	2020-10-04	Hazel Handbag	Finish eventually.
39	2020-04-24	Forest Green Hat	Would like to do sometime.
40	2020-01-03	Buckle Your Swash Gauntlets	Would like to do sometime.
41	2019-07-22		Yeah, need to finish.
42	2019-04-15	Dreaming of Spring Doily	Would like to do sometime.
43	2019-04-06	The Little Flower Doily	Maybe? It’s knitted so HARD.
44	2018-11-01	Snowberries A Luxurious Winter Scarf	Finish eventually.
45	2020-06-08	Knitted Dragon	Still love this, might make eventually.
46	2018-12-01	Call Them Cherry Blossoms	Finish eventually.
47	2008-09-27	Ripple Beige Afghan	My oldest WIP, needs to be done already!
48	2015-12-05	Turkish Treasure	Finish eventually.

I just posted a thread to my Bluesky account about why I think it's extremely urgent for people to back up anything they still have on LiveJournal, however they do it. Thread starts here:

https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3mbebi2xfxc25

ru-news LJ post I was relying on:

https://ru-news.livejournal.com/80899.html

Please spread this far and wide so as many people see it as possible, because I really don't see English-language LJ continuing in its present form for much longer, and I know some people may still have things they care about there. It doesn't matter how you get it backed up, but it's absolutely crunch time for getting it backed up.

Here's what I finished in December. Click pics to embiggen:


[Image Description: A red mini knitted sweater ornament. It features an applique of a green Christmas tree with yellow star.]


[Image Description: A green mini knitted sweater ornament. It features a crocheted applique of a candy cane.]


[Image Description: A crocheted phone stand in a coral color.]


[Image Description: A crocheted phone stand in a white and sandy gray color.]


[Image Description: An emergency Christmas Stocking crocheted in super bulky yarn. It is predominantly white, with marled red and green at the toe, heel turn, and trim, and was crocheted in 2.5 hours.]

---

Ravelry has a very casual Challenge tab, where you can set a goal for the number of items you want to make in a year. My output has been going down each year from my heyday in 2014-2017. I challenged myself to make 30 items this year; I finished 23.

Seventeen (17) of those FOs were crocheted, with six (6) knitted. I opted to include multiples as one project page, so that is a bit skewed. For instance, I have a page for each color of the knitted sweaters, but I actually made four (4) green ones and three (3) red ones.

Nine (9) items had their complete yarn usage filled out. All nine items were under 150 yards used. I made small things this year.

By far my most used yarn is worsted/aran weight, which I consider mostly interchangeable. Here's the breakdown in usage:

Thread: 2
Sport: 1
Worsted: 7
Aran: 6

So it doesn't sound like I actually did much this year, does it?

According to my spreadsheet, I did 462 crafting sessions. Some were just a few minutes; the longest session was 2 hours 41 minutes.


[Image Description: A pivot table, showing I crafted 104 hours in Crochet and 172 hours in Knitting this year.]

So I actually knit more than I crocheted this year, even if I didn't produce as many knitted items.

Looking at individual projects: I spent 48 hours, 41 minutes on a secret knitted project that I only half finished, almost 32 hours on the knitted legwarmers that I've been wearing, and 41 hours, 18 minutes on a crocheted cardigan (now mostly frogged, alas). Those were the "big" items.

I'll have another post soon, listing my WIPs to finish in 2026. Am I happy with my output in 2025? Well... kind of. I really would have liked to finish a garment for myself, but it wasn't meant to be. Maybe in 2026?

So here's the post I made at the beginning of this year. In it, I talked about getting a capture card and what games I would stream if I did/didn't get one. The list:

Non-capture card list
1. Star Ocean: First Departure R
2. Spider-man: Miles Morales
3. Rise of the Tomb Raider
4. World of Final Fantasy

Capture Card List
1. Lost Odyssey (assuming 360 still works)
2. Final Fantasy X-2 (Switch)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
4. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation 2)

The great news is that I **DID** buy a capture card for myself! Did I play any of the games on either of these lists? No!

In mid-year, I unearthed my Xbox 360 and set it up, because I really really wanted to stream Lost Odyssey, but alas, my 360 is refusing to read discs. Woe. So what single-player games did I stream instead?

1. Forspoken
2. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
3. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
4. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (currently playing)

I admit Forspoken is not a GREAT game, but it's a decent one, and I really needed someone like Frey in my life at the time, so I had a really great time with it, probably better than most players. I'm of the opinion that the DLC was unneeded though.

Yonder is charming and sweet and was a nice palette cleanser. And I'm a long-time Kingdom Hearts fan, so it's been fun to revisit those games.

I also streamed FFXIV (of course) and FFXI, getting through 3 of its expansions and on the fourth. I intend to continue playing both games in 2026. I mean, it's pretty much a given right now.

For single-player games in 2026: planning on getting through the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise on stream. That will take a good chunk of the year. Afterwards, I have plans on playing the Tomb Raider series, which I'm really looking forward to.

If there's anything I do differently in 2026 - I'd like to play some more single-player games OFF STREAM. I just feel like I would enjoy, say, FFT:IC more if I didn't have people in stream explaining the game to me. The problem is that I too often default to playing FFXIV, so it will be a challenge to play other games.

The two I'm most aiming for playing in 2026:

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
2. Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles

Looking at my Steam & Epic libraries, other games that I might play are:

1. Portal (yes, I have never played it!)
2. Mass Effect
3. Cat Quest (on Epic)

Out of those, I'm most interested in 1 and 3. I dutifully bought Mass Effect because it was cheap, but I did own it on 360 and gave it a try then and at least then, it was Not For Me. But that was a long time ago, so maybe my tastes have changed?

I've given a thought lately to acquiring Dragon Age: Origins and finishing a play of that. I had gotten about halfway through the game, romancing Alistair, and then got REALLY FUCKING EMBARRASSED BY IT and had to quit. I do recall mostly enjoying what I had played of the game, so it would be good to someday revisit. But I'd need a new copy, since see above re: 360 not reading discs.

Finally: I played some casual games this year, including:

1. Word Shaker
2. WordScapes
3. Cats Love Boxes
4. Sudocats
5. Lara Croft Go

I would like to continue with these! I don't foresee NOT playing the first two, at least - they are my "grab a device and unwind for a few minutes" games. Word Shaker and WordScapes both are ongoing, never-ending games, but the last three should have completion statuses. Heck, maybe I'll play some Sudocats now.

My mother died in March. That feels like basically the only thing that happened this year, but of course it's not. Theoretically you stay in full mourning for a parent for a whole year (which hasn't ended yet); I haven't quite managed that, as done properly it's really quite intense, no social gatherings or live music for example, but it has definitely been the major theme in my life. And helping Dad to figure out what his life will be like as a widow.

I continued to be a student rabbi, making it through to the halfway point of my studies. I took on more and more complex rabbinic work, and got to know the incoming first year students. (We're the grownups now, there is actually only one finalist ahead of my cohort.) My much awaited and also somewhat dreaded trip to Israel got cancelled, due to the decision point coinciding with the particularly scary time when Israel was actively at war with Iran. I did some other short travel, even making it to Germany and Sweden.

Significant events:

• Mum went from being officially terminally ill but mostly coping at the beginning of the year, to the drugs not working and being in a lot of pain in January-February, to actively dying. March-April was all the immediate aftermath of her death.
• I had a few days with jack in Skegness, which I remember basically nothing about because it was in the middle of the final weeks of Mum's life. I think we stayed in a cute tiny house and did a bit of walking in the countryside. I have more memories of our trip to Norfolk in May.
• I spent a very intense and overwhelming week in Germany at an Abrahamic faith retreat.
• doseybat and verazea got married on a lightship on the Thames, and my partners had a Jewish blessing of their 20-year-old marriage, both on the same weekend.
• I did a completely absurd amount of travelling for the High Holy Days, first day Rosh HaShanah in Southampton, second day in the Isle of Wight accompanied by the intrepid cjwatson, Shabbat Shuva in Stoke, Yom Kippur in Cornwall where I had to respond to the first fatal antisemitic attack in this country in my lifetime, Succot back home in Cambridge, a very flying visit to Sweden for the Shabbat during Succot with ghoti_mhic_uait, and back for Simchat Torah and returning to college.

( other wrap-ups )

Previous versions: [2004] [2005] [2006] [2007] [2008] [2009] [2010] [2011] [2012] [2013] [2014] [2017] [2018] [2019] [2020] [2021] [2022] [2023][2024] Amazingly this is my 19th review of the year; I've been going since 2004 but there were a couple of years in the middle I missed out.

I have signed up for some things starting in 2026!

1. getyourwordsout

I signed up for the lowest habit goal. I'm still not sure I will write all that much, but I'd like to, at the very least, finish my WIPs, and having SPREADSHEETS! will likely help with that. I've joined the discord and requested access to the group, so now we just wait to start.

2. The Story Graph's January Pages Challenge

I've long complained of a lack of reading. I'd like to read more, both to expand my horizons and just for fun. The Pages challenge sounds perfect for me: the goal is just one page a day. I think I can manage that!

3. snowflake_challenge

No signups necessary, but I'll likely be doing this again.

A lunchtime lark and the foreshore was full of tourists.

One man was showing his small daughter how you should scrape the top level off, in an area where no surface disturbance is allowed. That annoyed me.

Anyway, apart from the tourists, there was one other mudlark there that lunchtime, wearing wellies, mostly in the mud.

I didn't find a lot. A chunk of a John Maddock plate, possibly from between 1906 and 1927. I don’t usually find sherds with words on in this area. A bit of a plastic flower. A bit of glass that said 72 on it. A piece of Staffordshire style slipware, some bits of Bellarmine. I was happy to find a button.

It was near to low tide so I walked underneath Grant’s Quay Wharf. It's a bit dark under there so more difficult to mudlark but it feels like you're somewhere secret when you're amongst the wooden struts.





(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

I was awake at 5AM and I was the only person to get on the first train of the day at my station.

It was Solstice, and at sunrise, I was on the foreshore, staring at the Thames and the pink sky.

I found a broken plastic domino! I found a jack (alley gob) similar to the one I found previously!

–

I found a sherd from an inventor who exhibited in the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace!

The sherd says 17 Silver-Street, Wood Street on it.

Mayo & Co were located at this address and appear in a catalogue for the Great Exhibition, which was held at Crystal Palace in 1851.

Description from the catalogue:
“Patent syphon vases, for containing aerated or gaseous mineral waters. They afford the means for withdrawing at pleasure such quantities as may be desired, whilst that which remains for subsequent use retains its purity and effervescence. The vases exhibited are specimens of the combination of metal with pottery. The process of manufacture is the invention of the exhibitor.”

Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851:
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pdp6m5e3/items?canvas=406&manifest=2&shouldScrollToCanvas=true

Silver Street no longer exists, but there is still a small garden - St Olave Silver Street, where a church once stood. There's also a plaque in the garden for Shakespeare as he had lodgings on Silver Street.

–

I found a pink plastic star spokey-dokey, that may once have been attached to a bicycle.

I found an orange button.

I found a stoneware sherd that says “gin”, but it probably contained ginger beer.

Two pieces I haven’t figured out:
The dark brown sherd that has the word “king” visible
The lighter brown sherd that has “N.Higg” visible.

Glass:

–
A good chunk of a bottle that says “216 Kingsland Road” and “Batey” on it. Batey made ginger beer and mineral water and “Batey’s Britannia Steam Works” was located at 216 Kingsland Road from 1847.

How it looked in 1920:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DrLNoPDW4AELDkw?format=jpg&name=medium

212 - 216 Kingsland Road is now the Suleymaniye Mosque.

–

Another piece of a medicine bottle with “Sp” on it, which would have had measurements for tea spoons or table spoons on it.

R Whites, always so much lemonade.

“Ingsland” - likely another Batey.

“Bourne Denby 09” - Probably from 1909.

Not yet identified:

“eet.w.”

“re”

“ford”

–





Dominoes and jacks - the white ones were the ones I found this time:



(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

Any you'd like to join me for, or do you have any other suggestions I should add?

New things in London:
1. London Museum (opens end of 2026?)
2. V&A East (opens April)
3. Climb on the roof of Alexandra Palace (opens February)
4. Duck tour - amphibious bus
5. Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration (opens May)

Museums to visit in London:
1. Peek Freans Biscuit Museum (Bermondsey)
2. British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum (West Dulwich)
3. London Transport Museum Depot. (Acton)
4. Sewing Machine Museum. (Balham)
5. Freud Museum. (Finchley)
6. Whitewebbs Museum of Transport. (Enfield)
7. Magic Circle Museum. (Euston)
8. Queer Britain Museum. (King’s Cross)
9. Kempton Steam Museum & Kempton Hampton Waterworks railway (Kempton)

Toilets and temples and caves and stars:
1. Go on a tour of public toilets in London. (Loo Tours).
2. Visit the Neasden Temple.
3. Visit Leighton House.
4. Go on a tour of a crypt, at St Alfege. (Greenwich).
5. Try out LARPing or dance at a goth night in Chislehurst Caves.
6. Visit an observatory and look at stars.
7. Sing songs at Maraoke (karaoke where the lyrics are changed to be about video games).
8. See at least 10 more Invaders (street art).
9. Climb the Beckton Alps.
10. Visit the Tower of London.

Robots:
1. Robot coffee
2. Robot bubble tea
3. Robot waiters

Some exhibitions/light festivals that look interesting:
1. Internet Cafe at 1 Poultry (30 January – 7 March 2026)
2. Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life at the Hayward (17 February - 3 May)
3. The 90s at the Tate Britain (8 October - 14 February 2027)
4. Canary Wharf Winter Lights (January 20 - 31))
5. Vibrance festival of light and sound (January 29 - 30)
6. Robert Cervera - Hiddenware at Space Gallery in Ilford (performances 31 January & 21 March, exhibition until 15 April)

Near London:
1. Foulness Island - either walk the Broomway or visit the information centre.
2. Diggerland
3. Chatham Dockyard
4. Citadel in Dover
5. London bus museum
6. Epping Ongar railway

Tunnels not very close to London:
1. Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool & Mersey Tunnel tour
2. Air raid shelter tour in Bristol & Clifton Suspension Bridge vaults

Even further away:
Will 2026 be the year I fly a one person helium filled airship through a cave, dive in a gasometer, wander through the ghost town of Craco, climb the slag heaps of Charleroi or visit an abandoned gingerbread factory?

1. "What the aliens heard when they landed on Earth" - If aliens landed on Earth, what would the first thing they heard be? Using locations of UFO sightings in London, I will record sounds at these locations. If you touch the location on the map, you can listen to the sounds and also a description of the UFO that was sighted.

2. A pinwheel that you blow on, and then you can hear sounds of the wind on Mars.

3. Items found on the Thames foreshore that you touch and then you can hear sounds of where they originally came from.

Yesterday I made a red mini-sweater ornament using worsted weight yarn. I succeeded! It's cute! And much less fiddly than the fingering weight patterns I had tried. I found a small Christmas tree applique done in crochet, and did the tree in fingering and the star in some embroidery floss, so now I have a sweater with a Christmas tree on it. Very cute!

It is now 7:27am. I have one sweater done. Six more to go. I have one in partial progress - just needs the sleeves. This one's green and I am going to put a candy cane applique on it. The girls (3 of them) will get the red sweaters and the boys (4 of them) will get green.

I do have until late Friday to get these done, but I'm hoping to get a lot done today so that I can enjoy the next few days.

Will be editing this post with status updates!

07:31:00 AM - 07:55:00 AM (24 min) - first sleeve of first green sweater done
08:26:00 AM - 08:53:00 AM (27 min) - candy cane applique done and sewn on
08:54:00 AM - 09:15:00 AM (21 min) - second sleeve done. First green sweater finished!

10:27:00 AM - 10:55:00 AM (28 min) - Yoke of second green sweater, up to splitting for sleeves
12:14:00 PM - 01:14:00 PM (1 hour) - Body, sleeves, and finishing of second green sweater

EDIT 3:01pm: WE INTERRUPT THE SWEATERING FOR AN EMERGENCY STOCKING. See, mom had me go to the Irish import store yesterday to pick up dinner, but also said to buy myself a Crunchie bar "but don't eat it, it's for your stocking". which reminded me I haven't put out my stocking yet. Folks, I cannot find it. It's not in the usual places, or in the one unusual place I thought it might be. So me being me, I grabbed a Q hook and super bulky yarn and started making a new one. I allowed myself an hour to work on it, and I have finished the heel turn. Now: back to the sweatering.

EDIT 5:49pm: Emergency Stocking is DONE and submitted to a Nerdopolis challenge. Only took an hour and 45 minutes. Meanwhile, I've got a red sweater yoke complete. Might have time to finish it before dinner, so off I go!