Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus*
Today, I’m reviving my Mend It Monday posts. I dropped them last time because I was sure everyone was getting fed up with seeing another sock that I had darned. There is a sock today, but I also mended something else this week, that Mr Snail thought was beyond repair, so I wanted to share it.
We enjoy feeding the birds in the garden. We don’t see anything especially stunning, but it is nice to watch the sparrows and other small birds enjoying the seeds we put out. We’ve got several feeders designed for birds that hang on, but were short of something that those who like to perch could use, so in the autumn last year, Mr Snail ordered what looked like a suitable feeder – it’s plastic, but since you are supposed to wash them regularly, that seemed like an ok option. Online ordering is fraught with risk and when said feeder arrived, he was rather disappointed – it’s fairly flimsy and difficult to fill. In fact, the design could have been much, much better. However, once it had arrived, we decided we’d use it rather than send it back, and, to be fair, all the birds did seem to like it. We take the feeders in at night to avoid unwanted nocturnal visitors and, unfortunately, one morning when putting them back out Mr Snail dropped this new one and it shattered. There were rather a lot of pieces – mainly the tray that the seeds sit in – and some were very small. As I mentioned, Mr Snail thought it was too far gone to be mended, but I decided to get the Sugru out and give it a shot.
The tray required some reinforcing, so I found a sheet of clear plastic that I used to use for paper-making (something I haven’t done for ages) and cut out an appropriately sized circle. Then I pieced the fragments together on top of this plastic, joining and anchoring them with Sugru. It turned out that one piece had completely disappeared, so I filled the hole with Sugru. We left it to dry for 24 hours and then hung it out once more. It’s been fine for the past week, so fingers crossed it will hold together for another season or two.
My other recent mend was a pair of long-forgotten socks… ones that I didn’t actually knit myself, but someone else did. These got very holey some years ago and had been languishing with the walking boots ever since. I came across them a week or two ago and decided that they were repairable. I didn’t try to colour-match my mending yarn because they are bright and stripy, so I wasn’t going to be successful no matter what. There were actually quite a lot of holes, but I worked on them all and now I can wear them again. There has probably been other darning since I last wrote a Mend It Monday post, but I’m sure you believe me without seeing the evidence (I have got very lax with my photography of late).
-oOo-
- Happy Saint David’s Day
The Snail of Happiness 
tialys
/ March 1, 2021A good save on the rather interestingly shaped bird feeder. I’m wondering whether to bring ours in at night but some of them are too high for me to reach and I can only nag Mr. T. so much.
Those socks are very eyecatching and definitely worth saving too.
Happy Saint David’s Day to you too. My maternal grandad was Welsh and his birthday was 1st March His name was Reginald but his workmates in England called him ‘Dave’ which always confused me as a child.
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ March 1, 2021We had a few problems with rats climbing up and swinging from the feeders at night. I got a real fright one night when I went out and there was one at eye-level inside the squirrel-proof cage! Actually, I’m not sure which one of us was most startled, but we try to bring them in at dusk now (the feeders, not the rats!).
I wonder where he got the name ‘Dave’ from… should have been Dai, with his Welsh connections.
LikeLike
tialys
/ March 2, 2021I guess ‘Dave’ came from St David’s Day especially as that was also his birthday.
Oh my days! A rat at eye level at night!! Even though I’ve kept pet rats in my time that wouldn’t be a sight I’d welcome in the garden.
LikeLike
Laurie Graves
/ March 1, 2021As we Mainers would say, that’s a wicked good fix. 😉
LikeLike
Rainbow Junkie
/ March 1, 2021Never heard of sugru. Looks like a great repair.
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ March 1, 2021Sugru is a brilliant product – mouldable glue. I’ve used it to repair so many things that would otherwise have ended up in the bin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice Piece of Work
/ March 1, 2021Oh dear, it seems like WordPress is swallowing my responses again…. 😦 Let me know if this gets through to you…
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ March 1, 2021Yes – I can see this one. I’ve checked and there don’t seem to be any of your responses in the spam folder, so goodness knows what’s happening to them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice Piece of Work
/ March 1, 2021Oh dear, all my little gems of wisdom, gone forever…
LikeLike
Nice Piece of Work
/ March 1, 2021I think what I said was something like, “Excellent rescues” 🙂
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ March 1, 2021Thank you. It is so annoying when responses disappear like that – there are some blogs that I have just given up commenting on because everything I write disappears into the ether. I think there is a parallel universe somewhere full of our brilliant thoughts…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice Piece of Work
/ March 2, 2021You might be right. I wonder what the creatures in that parallel universe think of us silly humans !
LikeLike
anne54
/ March 1, 2021Fancy Mr Snail saying that something couldn’t be fixed!
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus. I am curious to know if there are traditional celebrations to mark the day.
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ March 1, 2021Usually the younger children dress in national costume for school, but since the schools are shut at the moment, that won’t have been happening. In normal years, there are often concerts featuring traditional music (harps, singing etc) – there was one on the TV this evening, but none in real life. People also often wear a daffodil (our national flower). It can all be a bit random, but it’s generally rather lovely.
LikeLike
katechiconi
/ March 1, 2021Kintsugi with Sugru®, very imaginative, and sensible to use brown so as not to startle the birds! I bet Mr Snail will be more cautious with his mending statements in future 😉 I have used two packets of the local equivalent in white to mend the recharge cable of my 8 year old MacBook Air, which started to split in multiple places. It now resembles a very small python that has swallowed 6 small rodents!
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ March 1, 2021It is such a versatile medium, isn’t it? I was very relieved that when the company over extended themselves there was someone who was able to buy them out and keep making it.
LikeLike
katechiconi
/ March 2, 2021We have a not quite so good equivalent locally called Kintsuglue, made by Loctite. It’s a bit stickier when you’re moulding it, and so far, I’ve only been able to buy it in black and white.
LikeLike
Going Batty in Wales
/ March 2, 2021Well done on both mends Mrs Snail. I like the socks – well worth a mend. No bird feeders here – the cats see them as an ‘all you can eat’ buffet!
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ March 3, 2021I love watching the birds through the window.
I’d rather forgotten about the socks and was quite pleased first to rediscover them and then to be able to make them wearable again.
LikeLiked by 1 person