Spinning Wheel

Back on Track (For Now)

by CZeitler

On the mend and on the go once more. I was able to visit my cousin, though I managed to forget all of my medications at home. It was a good way for me to better notice how much of an effect the anti-depressant is having on me (a lot of good effect!). I only cut my trip short by a few hours, so things went very well. I took my pills Sunday night and by work on Monday I could already tell the difference. When I spoke to my Psychologist he mentioned that I was likely going through some form of withdrawal as well.

I was feeling better, though not at 100%, last week so I took it easy until I felt that I was mostly regulated. While I was giving myself the grace and rest I needed some organizing and cleaning up did occur. Since we are heading into winter I am going to keep up with the oregano and garlic oil supplements until they run out, though I might cut back to twice a week.

This week I have found myself diving headfirst into crafting again, though some of them seem a little more like procrastinating crafts, I have gotten quite a bit accomplished! I had a large piece of faux fur left over from when I tried to make a sensory quilt, it was just the right size to be a cushion for my weaving bench. It is about 5 foot long and very puffy so I hope it will work. My house is a little too messy for me to take a picture of the enormous pillow. I have decided that this winter I wanted to weave a ‘bog jacket’. This is a lovely piece of clothing made from whole cloth with minimal cutting and seams. It is my plan to weave about 9 yards of cloth on my rigid heddle loom that can make 31 inch pieces. I am going to use Knitpicks dishie cotton for the warp and likely the weft as well since I have a 7.5 dent reed. I already have 2 inches of warp wound off, when I have a little extra in pay I will buy the rest of the yarn I need. Fortunately Dishie is very standard and I don’t need to worry about dye lots. I am currently debating about whether I want to buy all white to dye myself or buy some colored yarn.

In the middle of November I am going to be a part of a murder mystery show and I need to make progress on the dress I wanted to sew for it. One of the items that I have started is the tulle petticoat, photo below. Honestly I’m not sure it’s going to work out but this is so much fun. I pinned the tulle in and did a rough basting stitch for the first batch. I plan on pinning and sewing in the elastic today, followed by sewing down the waist band and then putting in a hem for my pull on elastic petticoat. the library had a lot of tulle left over from other projects and I am supposed to be a flamboyant medium so I chose my favorite color purple.

There was an amazing sale on cotton muslin so I have 10 yards of natural cotton muslin that I need to cut apart to dye for a dress. I need to make the first try with the pieces I cut out of a tablecloth I purchased at good will. I did wash the muslin however it is going to need a good iron before I do anything else.

My library was getting rid of a ton of receipt tape while we were doing construction and no longer have the right machines to use this tape. I have been wanting to try spinning paper for some time and I did spin a large piece of this paper tape, it turned out amazing but it is such a pain to create with my wheel. When I am feeling creative and bored again I will try a spindle to see if that is any easier. If that is not possible I can use it for some sewing projects or coloring projects. Maybe even just writing lists out.

The last project is working with watercolors on fabric. My library purchased a circuit maker 4 and one of my co workers found a great price on a light board so I bought one for myself. I was then inspired by a picture of a shape painted onto a linen cross stitch fabric then stitched over with sequins and beads as accent. That picture was of a dragon, amazing, and I decided to do the same with a crow outline I had. I taped down the paper to the light board and then taped the fabric over top. I started with blue, then red, the black over all of it in an attempt to add some depth. I took the fabric off of the light board after I had the outline completed to avoid any bleedthrough onto the board, it is a good thing I did so. I hope to do some stitching over top of this then add embellishments like sequins and beads. I have not painted over the crow with fabric medium yet since I am afraid I will blur the image and I love how it turned out. I plan on getting my guts up and putting the fabric medium on today before I start stitching.

I am making strides to keep my productivity up this weekend, here’s hoping I can keep it up. Until next time remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!

Time Flies

by CZeitler

I took the bottom off of my sewing machine since I was having trouble with the bobbin thread catching and the top thread shredding. This took me quite a bit to clean out using an eyelash brush, it worked amazingly well. My machine is sewing like new. I also did a clean of my embroidery machine which has decided that it will not work about 50% of the time unless the hoop is slightly elevated on the side it is not anchored to, so it probably needs to go to the shop to be fixed. Since we are over half way through the library being closed to the public I brought my embroidery machine in for my colleagues to personalize whatever they would like, a few people have taken advantage of my offer which makes me feel good about bringing it in.

It is so hard for me to believe that we will be reopening to the public in two weeks. I have not completed many of the projects I intended to get done. My area is clean which is one of my main goals, I have a rhythm to my weeding and inventory project so I am pretty happy about my progress there, now that I have my ADHD medications I’m better able to concentrate and will make significant progress this week if I do not finish it.

I am trying to destash products that I do not use and have had some success in that endeavor, this will leave me with just the items that I actually use for storage and surfaces. There have been some projects that I have been meaning to get to so I am working on getting some of those completed and out the door. There is a decent amount of fleece I purchased on clearance that I planned to use for blankets. Then when I asked many of my family members stated that they preferred real backing rather than fleece on a quilt. Because of this I have cut it into a size that can be used for sensory mats and I will donate the fleece to my library for future use on the new ‘kindness cart’.

It has been my plan to create my own dress for our ‘Haunted Library’ murder mystery thing that we have going on in November when we are fully reopened. I have the pieces cut out for an initial sample so I hope to get that sewn in the next two weeks so when I go to a clearance sale with my cousin in October I know what kind of fabric might work and whether I can stand the pattern or not.

I have been working on getting some spinning done, though the fiber I first started with is a bit stickier than I thought it would be, I’m considering pitching it to spin something I enjoy. I also warped up my table loom with a fun pattern that I am doing in reds and greens for my Weaving Guild’s holiday cards, no one else is volunteering so I think I will end up doing it. I am also trying to get my Saori Loom re-warped with the cotton warp in a way that the threads may actually stay on and not slip or snap.

All of this in addition to being about a month later than when I told my aunt I would have her Quilt done, oops.

I also decided that I wanted to try to make a fall cloak with felt leaves, so I cut them out and laid them on another piece of felt. This led me to discover that I do not have enough leaves, and that unless I have some veins sewn into the leaves they look really stupid. I did manage to sew in the center vein in these leaves though I still do not have enough, and I think I want to use something other than felt for the base.

I think that’s enough for right now, I hope to get back to you in less than a Month! LOL. Until next, remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

So Much Fun at H&H Americas

by CZeitler

Before I get started with this post, I’m going to put two very important caveats in here: 1. I am not sponsored by any of these organizations and any freebies that I received were welcome to everyone that was attending. 2. While attending this show, I made every effort possible to ensure that I did not distract attention of the vendors from their actual retail customers, not doing the ‘I am an influencer’ thing or anything of the sort. If someone is tempted to go to this or volunteer in the future, please make sure that you are being respectful because many of these individuals are basing their livelihood on getting customers from this event.

I drove to Chicago on Tuesday, May 6th so that I could attend H&H, Americas, Wednesday and Thursday. I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer at the HGA HandWeavers Guild of America booth. As a volunteer, I brought my ladybug spinning wheel by Schacht, which I so cleverly named Lady. Lady was an absolute hit, people just loved her stickers which was validating because in the past some guild members (not HGA) have been not as thrilled with the stickers.

For my first “shift” volunteering I was loaned out to the Louet booth. David was just lovely and setting me up with their E spinner because most of their wheels had not arrived. He was wonderful about answering all of the questions and in case you didn’t know, Louet just acquired Schacht and David will become the president or company head, CEO of Schacht. This spinning wheel was just a delight to spin on, they have a wonderful feature where the leader thread actually gets nestled inside the bobbin so you don’t have to worry about it just spinning around, usually on an E spinner I have to tape down the leader thread. Also, oh my goodness, the new Harmony loom! The beater is on a track so that you get an even beat every single time! Totally mind blowing. If I had anywhere near a budget, I would be getting that immediately because having an uneven beat is a reason that I don’t weave a lot because I always angle to the right when I’m beating. Louet also purchased the yarn line Venne which comes in a huge variety of colors as well as some very fine weights. The one that sticks out in my mind that was mentioned to me was 32/2 however, I can’t even dream of what kind of a set that would be I do plan on researching and exploring these more in the future as they seem like an amazing yarn to work with.

It was so much fun to be surrounded by weaving and spinning related booths, and everyone was so friendly. The Ashford and Schacht booths were a little kitty corner so I did not get to spend as much time ogling their merchandise. However, the Kromski booth was right across from me. The woman running the booth was absolutely delightful and I had so much fun chatting with her. The products were amazing. I am so jealous that they are coming out with a purple wheel! And I mean a royal purple wheel. Their looms were amazing and I loved how they had their drop spindles displayed in so many different colors. Their entire booth looked like a candy store.


Speaking of candy stores, the other booth across from the HGA booth was a silk producer, Spun Silk World, They not only produce silk yarns, but they also produce silk fiber for spinning. They were generous enough to offer me samples, both days, as well as samples of their Mulberry and Eri silk to take home to run an experiment on. Each set of samples came with three little puffs of fiber, and I was able to spin them so much faster than I’ve ever been able to spin silk before. I am so excited to ply those up and I will be showing those skeins off in the near future.

I will have more posts in the near future until then remember to live life a little more abstract.

Still Chipping Away

by CZeitler

Every Day bring a slightly new challenge to the forefront. I’m still chipping away at my 100 day challenge, I did have one slip when I found some Fat Quarters for $.50 at Walmart. I plan on making a simple children’s quilt from them for the Holiday Season.

I have managed to work on several projects over the past week and a half. Much of my ‘good’ yarn has been put in plastic bags for easier storage. I have started spinning again and gotten a few ‘puffs’ of wool spun. My singles yarns that I purchased or were gifted years ago are now being made into a large granny square that might be sold or gifted as a decorative throw. I made a sale in my Etsy Shop (total of 2 now, lol). This makes me want to finish the skull earrings I have embroidered, they need their jump rings and earring hooks. My Tie-On Pockets have also made some progress.

I am doing my best to look on the bright side and get through this last hurdle. There is a Quarter left in the year, this Sunday is the Autumnal Equinox so I will use these next three months to close out this chapter of my life and welcome the New!

I hope that you have a great day and remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Productive Burst

by CZeitler

I was lucky enough this past week to have encountered a rare productivity burst. Throughout this burst I was able to get one of my rooms organized, start several projects, and make progress on other projects.

Not all of my projects turned out great, but most of them did what I wanted. The first paragraph is going to be about outside projects I was able to complete during a warm day, and the rest is going to be about crafts I have started, some are a little more artistic than crafty, but everything I do comes back around to crafts eventually. Even my garden, which is what the next paragraph is going to be about, is going to have plants that are good natural dye producers. Speaking of, onto the outdoor projects.

During a windstorm my downspout decided to blow off of my house. This seemed like a sign to add a rain barrel to my gardening. I bought a rain barrel, and the device to connect it to my downspout. To see if I was able to get away with a cheap solution I purchased a connector that was a little too big, sealant, and some screws intended for a downpipes, under $10, and decided to try to connect it from the ground… It didn’t work, but I really didn’t think it would I was just really hopeful. 

This means that I am going to have to wait a little longer since I will need to purchase a 7′ ladder, new downspout, and probably an elbow for the top. I also noticed that there is no downspout on the gutter that surrounds my porch so I’m probably going to add one on just to be sure. The downspout was not my only outside project, I also managed to put up my mini pop-up greenhouse. It is weighed down with some stones from my front yard and it currently houses my mower, clippers, and a few other gardening things. This prompted me to finally put together my two workbench sawhorses, one of which is currently in the greenhouse. I’m hoping to start some plants in March or April. Okay, let’s get into crafts now!

In getting my home back in order I have discovered several projects that I have been meaning to work on for quite some time. One of which is my Unicorn in the Library fiber from Hipstrings. I finally managed to finish spinning it up, I did split the last puff into 4 pieces so that I could spin some other fibers in between that I will use as ply experiments. I also rediscovered my love for spinning silk, this caused me to spin up some lengths that I will allow my library craft patrons to use in their slow stitching project. That reminds me I need to make up a sample for that sometime this week.

I have been exploring some crochet techniques, mosaic crochet was not as much of a success as I would like, I found a Tunisian Crochet pattern video that I am working through and transcribing into a written pattern, and I will be seeking out resources for two sided mosaic crochet to eliminate the weird stair-stepping I am getting on the inside of my mosaic crochet.

Now we are getting to the part where I can never be content, I have to try everything. I don’t know if I mentioned that I bought a Rock Tumbler? If not, well yes, I bought a rock tumbler, some sample rocks, ceramic media, and enough grit to last me a while. I have been watching YouTube Videos by Michigan Rocks for some time, and my Aunt mentioned not getting around to using her rock tumbler, plus a way to force myself to go outside to find rocks all combined to have me starting this new hobby. I have had a ton of fun so far, I have owned it for a month, and I managed to get my ceramic media tumbled through the first 3 stages ( I didn’t bother to polish it), as well as some of the bag of tiny chips that I only half regret purchasing. They aren’t going to turn into anything great, but I’ll run them through the cleaning and two polishing stages to see if I can get them to have a shine. I did put about three pounds of the bigger rocks into each of my two tumblers to get them started on the stage 1, I’ll pull them off on Saturday to see what they look like. I’ll put out a post of how to get started Rock Tumbling, as well as linking to some great resources later.

Of course I cannot start just one hobby at a time, you think I have any self control? I haven’t started this one but it is going to go hand-in-hand with the rock tumbling, I plan on wrapping the rocks in wire when they are tumbled. To be able to sell these for something like a decent price I plan on purchasing some Sterling Silver wire. I’m not selling necklaces, just the wrapped stones for now. This brings me to my last two projects that I’m working on, skipping over the fishing poles I purchased today because I found out that there are ‘no license fishing days’ in New York State. I will need to find pictures of the types of fish it is legal for me to keep, and I have to remember to invite my friend out since I bought her a (cheap like mine) fishing pole.

Okay, so I did manage to have a sale on my Etsy site (thank you to whomever bought the Dino Plushie) and that caused me to realize that I hate having to pay Etsy out of what I had calculated as earnings. I know that people look for inexpensive items, deals, and sales. This means that I’m going to be paying about .20 per item, every quarter (I think that is how often), create listings, and pay for shipping, to make very little if any money. I do plan on creating some spreadsheet and other printable items to put up on Etsy once I have them perfected, to create something like a passive income stream. I have some great ideas I just need to slow down and find enough time to start working on them, I think I might start staying a couple extra hours on the days I’m supposed to leave early, or go to Panera Bread for a couple of hours before I’m supposed to be at work to get these things done. 

Due to the slow nature of my Etsy Sales I have decided instead of dripping my products onto Etsy as I get them done, and sort of rushing to get them done, I will take a little more time and sign up for a couple of craft shows this Fall. There is one in September and another in October I would like to sign up for. There are registration fees, I’ll need another table, and I need to take photos of my setup, but all of that should be doable by September. I’m really sort of excited about this, though I am not sure what type of craft I should bring. There is an apple festival that mentions having old-fashioned crafts, so I’m thinking about seeing if spinning and weaving would work for them.

I think that this is long enough of a rambling post to be getting on with for now. Until next time remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!