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Pleasures Great & Small

by CZeitler

This is a good time of year for reflecting on the blessings that we have, both great and small. I’m not sure how to define each of the blessings I am grateful for, because those that are considered essential are the most expensive so it is hard to call them ‘small’. Given that I will start my thanks with my ‘essentials’ and then work my way through to what happened yesterday. There is not going to be any crafting content, though I am very grateful for the supplies, tools, and physical ability to work with my crafting supplies.

The essential blessings I am grateful for are the home I have to live in, reliable transportation, food in my fridge and freezer (I love this time of year for the $.99/lb Turkeys). I have a full-time job that pays me enough to cover my bills, gives me over 22 days of vacation/floating holiday each year, and is a positive environment to work in (occasional patron problems notwithstanding). I have my health, pretty much, and my hands still work.

I am also grateful for the non-essential blessings that I get to celebrate. I have an amazing family that I know I can speak to, visit, and enjoy in so many ways. I was able to visit my sister yesterday, she was looking for a pegboard and I just happened to have taken the same pegboard off of my walls a few days earlier to put up a new bookcase. I was able to purchase new bookcases a couple of months ago so that I can get my supplies organized in a way that is useful to me. I have the creativity, skills, and supplies to create ornaments and other presents for my family.

I was able to purchase tickets for a livestream of my favorite YouTube channel, participate, and laugh along with Sorted Food. I will also be able to rewatch this stream as well as those that I have purchased in years past. I was able to take the time off so that I could watch and rewatch the streams at my leisure.

Yesterday when I visited my sister I was able to purchase lunch, gas, and a few treats and snacks for both of us to enjoy over the holiday season (and hopefully beyond depending on how hungry I get). I purchased a prickly pear fruit from an Asian Market my sister found. It was lovely to try, tons of seeds that I am going to try to dry, and a slightly sweetly mild flesh that I was able to eat. It tasted like a very light kiwi fruit, with a little sour tinge that was pleasant as I got very close to the skin. We went to Ikea where I found the Vintersaga Ginger Thins cookies were a dollar less than they have been, so I purchased two tins for myself and two for my sister. These cookies are amazing, I had to hide a tin from myself in the freezer or they would both be gone before the week is out.

Finally we went to Grandpa Joe’s Soda store. I had looked up the prices online, and was pleasantly surprised to find that many of them were slightly less since they do not have to worry about shipping. I did not get the Grizzly Energy Drinks though I was very tempted, I did get a Jones Select Zero Sugar Rootbeer, which was just as lovely as I thought though I drank it on the way home so I do not have a photo. There were several candies that I decided I could not resist. I bought two different Cherry Mash treats, and tried one today, It was lovely, the milk chocolate was a thick shell that tasted lovely and smooth. I expected some juice, like a chocolate covered cherry, instead there was a dense sweet nougat-like cherry flavored filling.

The other cherry mash is ‘Big Cherry Milkshake’ and will live in my freezer with the Brachs Swirl Gumdrops, until I rediscover them in a frenzy for something sweet, hopefully a few months in the future. I do have an extreme sweet tooth, horrid when you’re a type 2 diabetic, however I have been low key craving some of the sour candies that I enjoyed when I was in my early 20s. This store had them, though I admit I cannot remember which flavor I enjoyed. I guess I’ll just have to try all three of the flavors I purchased, sigh!

I do think that the Mango version is what I really enjoyed since I can remember the tin colors, however I hope that all three flavors are good. I was also very lucky to be able to purchase some sweets to share with my colleagues. Originally I was going to pick up a huge bag of tiny sweets that was under $10, however the bag admitted that in could be cross contaminated with tree nuts, to which one of my colleagues is allergic. Instead I found some bags of freeze dried treats that were $1 per bag, I could not resist. There are five different types and the bags to not fess up to any kind of nut tree contamination so they should be safe for my colleagues.

I am safe, warm, loved, relatively healthy, and able to feed myself. I have the freedom in my budget to send presents to my family and treat myself and my sister to a few treats to enjoy over the holiday season. I was able to purchase a few supplies to support my joint health and ability to keep crafting for years to come during the Black Friday Sales. I plan on putting a post up about those very soon.

Along with all of these small blessings, I have a supportive outlet for me to remind myself of these blessings. Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope that you all have a lovely holiday season depending on what you celebrate.

Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Wrist Concerns

by CZeitler

I like to pretend, most days, that my left wrist is just fine. I don’t twist it too much, make sure I don’t lean on it or carry anything super heavy with it, but the truth is that I had Ligament repair surgery in 2020. 90-95% of the time my wrist does not bother me, if I fall and try to catch myself then I go to the hospital for an x-ray, if I pinch with my left hand too much then it becomes sore or the joint locks up. Fortunately I do not fall that often, winter in the north east can be problematic, and I am aware of my limitations and try to keep to them. The last time I fell the x-ray showed a concern that the orthopedic surgeon explained to me. The little bones in my wrist are dissolving. Again, the vast majority of the time my wrist does not bother me, however this morning I woke up to a sore wrist. I cannot think of what I did to exacerbate the situation, so I decided I need to look into items that can assist me by decreasing the strain placed on my wrist, and other joints, while I am crafting.

The two closest parallels I can find would be crafting with arthritis or carpel tunnel syndrome. I highly recommend getting any surgeries or medications prescribed by a doctor as they have extended my healing and ability to craft for at least five years. I am not giving any sort of medical advice. The first step in ensuring that you are not causing lasting damage is to listen to your body. All too often I hear people saying, I crocheted/knitted until my hands hurt so much I could not hold the hook/needles. Please do not do this, if your wrists and shoulders are getting tight while you are crafting then take a break, stretch, do something else for 15-30 minutes, and see if your joints are feeling better. Again, this is not medical advice.

The rest of this post is just an FYI of what items I am going to be purchasing to assist my comfort and health while crafting. I am not in any way affiliated with any of the brands and I plan on giving a complete and honest review a week after purchase and then (hopefully) a month or so after purchase.

First I have purchased Furls size-G Crochet hooks. I can tell you right now, I love these hooks. I have purchased them in the past, and passed them onto a cousin that is crocheting more than I am. These are hard hooks, made from metal, acrylic, or wood. If gripping something softer would be more of an aid I would look into getting some pencil grips for arthritis.

Second, there is a website called Crafteaze.com where they sell pillows to offer support while engaging in crafting activities. While you are seated the pillow wraps around your torso so that you are able to rest your elbows and forearms on the pillow as well as allowing the pillow to take some of the weight of your project. This greatly decreases the strain on your shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. I have tried a couple of other methods to make crafting on my chair more comfortable, hopefully this one will work. The pillow is currently on sale for $100, the crafting variety is about $109. This is going to be the most expensive of my ‘ergonomic’ purchases, hopefully it will make the greatest difference.

A pair of electric scissors. For little things like snipping off stray threads my regular scissors work just fine. When it comes to cutting out patterns, designs, etc. every step is more difficult. I realized writing this article that I do not sew as much as I would like because I need to lean on the ruler with my left and and use the rotary cutter with my right. However I am not supposed to be leaning on my left hand so it becomes very sore very quickly. Isn’t it fascinating how often we just work around problems without thinking them through? I am going to mark my pattern/fabric with chalk or erasable pen and use my new electric scissors to cut the pieces out. Hopefully this will help. The pair I will order are $18. If they work and hold up I will add a link if not I will keep trying until I find a pair that do work.

Stainless steel hemming clips. Yes, I am discussing my wrist pain, no that is not stopping me from trying to expand my crafting. I have been working on making my own Victorian Dress, since I am plus sized and don’t want to wear polyester unless I cannot help it. This means that I have been doing more long hems than I am used to. I can, and do, pin them then fight with the pins because I have inevitably placed the pin heads on the side of the fabric facing down on my sewing machine. I will be getting 40 for $12 and hope that this prevents my having to hold the entire piece in the air while I desperately pinch the hem in place trying to get the pin in.

Tube turner, these are a great way to turn long narrow pieces, like straps, inside right. Essentially they are a straw with a dowel of the correct size to push the fabric through. I am hoping that these are sturdier than the average straw but for $9 I do not know.

Magnetic Helping Hands Soldering Station for $24. This device is about 9″ long and 6″ wide with 4 magnetic alligator clips with rubberized tips. I am hoping that this will be able to hold some of my stitching in the air so that I can do the stitching hands free without worrying about the bulk of a hoop. I have a floor quilting frame out of PVC, however it is too big for me to use it to stitch smaller projects.

Finally, I am purchasing a High torque electric jar opener. Normally for $20 I would not risk this being junk, however Sorted Food (a YouTube Channel I love) reviewed a similar device a few years ago and they were shocked at how well it worked.

I already have a couple of wrist braces as well as similar devices that provide ergonomic support to my wrist and hand. I am considering ordering a pair of compression gloves as well to assist when I am not in active pain.

At present this is a minor inconvenience to me, however, it has given me a much greater appreciation for those that have constant pain, or very limited mobility. It is my fondest wish to find methods/aids that I can utilize to aid individuals with mobility concerns to discover/rediscover crafting.

Until next time please remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract and listen to your body.

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!