Those of us who aren't following Ross day by day on Facebook may not be up to date. He's at Fort Bliss in the 1st Armored Division. He just finished Level 2 Combat Training.  This involved getting cut above and below the eye and getting tasered with a mini-taser, which, he reports, is no worse than a tattoo needle, if someone randomly and without warning began tattooing you. He also refereed in a combat tournament.

Army life is still hurry up and wait, and if you have Quicktime, you should be able to see this video made on his cell phone -- 20 seconds in the life in a soldier on a weekend with no car.

Will he, or when will he, be deployed? Ask the Army.

There's this green knit top I really like, casual yet correct, but it's had a hard life recently. Some bleach got on one cuff, leaving a white blob. Then, apparently, something greasy rolled down the front. I have no memory of these events. But the results show; even after many washings and treatments, this top was getting too far gone to wear in public.

So I painted it. The last time I did a big painted-fabric product was to put flamingoes on bed sheets for a grade-schooler who is now soon to celebrate her first wedding anniversary. But I had all the stuff: a taken-apart Dover farm-animal stencil book, brushes, and tubes of Liquitex Basic acrylic paint from Playtime. I chose the goats.

This photo is really out of focus but gives you the idea. Just tape and paint; I do the edges first in an up-and-down motion, holding down the stencil edge if needed, and they come up fairly crisp. Liquitex is a good thickness for this.

Of course, not everything that needed covering was goat-shaped, so I added foliage and clouds.
Then I realized I had painted the Three Billy Goats Gruff, so on the cuff I added a troll.
The troll's features are done with a fabric-paint pen and a Sharpie laundry marker (courtesy of the US Army). The troll's hair is black on the sleeve really, the color remained the same, contrary to this photo, but the texture did change. It bled some on the cloth; made it look more hairy.

I wash painted acrylic fabric in the machine with detergent and vinegar. We'll see how it holds up. Might paint a bridge if needed.

It was an extra-pleasant shower this morning. My knitted washcloth soap-scrap holder (should I start a catchy-name contest?) worked well. Scrubby but not scratchy.. Lather frothed through. Soap scraps all corralled and living the end of their existence usefully.

It could be smaller. I found I folded it in half to fit my palm. It works fine this way, but If I were to make it again (especially if I were making several), I'd make it just big enough to cinch over the top of a regular bar of soap -- not a lot smaller, but a little.

My friend Sheri asked if she could do the same thing in crochet. My crocheting is limited to the chain stitch, but I don't know why not. I would recommend not using the washcloth crochet patterns that make up very densely. The pattern should be openwork to some degree -- you want the soap to stay inside, but the lather to bubble through. And I don't know how to make a drawstring while crocheting, but if it's the same technique, leave the bottom edge open enough to thread the yarn through.