goals

Crafting Single Handed (Literally)

by CZeitler

2020 is going to be a very interesting year for me regarding my crafting life.  As shown above, I can certainly work with polymer clay, though the stamp on the left that was meant for wax is not working as well as I would have liked.  I will try it again with shallower cuts, if that does not work then I’ll put some cooking spray or olive oil on it to make the wax release.  The bowl on the right turned out wonderfully.  I am also doing well with my bullet journaling and other written/artistic activities such as watercolors, and Japanese Stab Binding.

My MRI showed that the ligament in my wrist has been completely torn, I will need to have surgery and then spend 3 months in a cast.  Scheduling the surgery will need to wait until I have received approval from the insurance company, this can take 25-40 days.  I will likely not be having surgery until March at the earliest.  March-April, April-May, May-June would be three months in a cast, so hopefully sometime in June I will get the cast off.  Realistically I will then need physical therapy since my wrist has not been actively used since November 2019.

These facts, combined with my need for a full-time job means that this is a year of:

  • Organizing and packing up my yarn, fiber, and crafting equipment.  This is also a perfect time to catalog my collection.
    • Goal is to have most easily transportable, non essential, items ready to travel when I need to move.
  • Go on a complete yarn diet.  Do not buy any yarn, still get paradise fibers monthly box
    • No purchases during Feb., March, & April  = Cotton/fine handcards when $50 is reached in PF Rewards points.

These goals should put me in a good place June of 2020, when I will reevaluate.  Until then, I have plenty of reading to do, plenty of organizing, as well as Bullet Journaling!

Remember to live life A Little More Abstract!

Ordered and Delayed

by CZeitler

I officially have my Spinolution electric Firefly spinning wheel ordered.  Since they are an American based company and they make each wheel to order it will be between 4-6 weeks before mine is shipped.  This is actually a good thing, it will give me time to enjoy the anticipation and look forward to seeing if there are any huge sales that are going to occur for the other crafting materials I hope to obtain.

I know that this seems like a sudden spree, and fairly irresponsible.  Truthfully I have ensured that I am spending less than half of what I have come into, saving what I can when I can, and that I have enough left over to cover the major expenses that are going to come up in the next year.  These three purchases are not going to significantly impact my financial situation, however they will significantly improve my productivity.

For the rest of 2018 I will be working and learning to enjoy what I have and what I can do.  For most of 2019 I will be figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life, what my priorities are, and how I am going to achieve them.  At present I am overwhelmed by possibilities, and need to have time to settle down and figure out where I want my energies to go.  I know that spinning and weaving are two things that I want to have as a priority in my life.

Paradise Fibers November 2018 box was themed around Harry Potter, to the extent that they are running a house cup.  Once specific goals have been accomplished then points are assigned and the house with the highest number of points will win.  The prize is 500 paradise points for each member of the house, which in reality is five dollars off of an order, nothing to sneeze at.

On another note, my first Green Chef box was scheduled to be delivered this past Saturday, I thought Wednesday but checked again and it was supposed to be Saturday.  This did not happen, due to the weather, and I am anxious to see how the ingredients have held up over the weekend.  I will report more about this in my next post.

So, major life decisions are on hold, but pending.  Expenditures are not beyond what is feasible at this time (though some house repairs might have to be accomplished using loans).  This is going to be a year of self exploration and renewal.  It will also be a year of renewal for my home and sweeping out what I do not (realistically) need.

Happy Crafting!

 

 

New Goal for 2017

by CZeitler

A new year brings about a lot of new ideas and reflections.  This past year seems to have gotten lost; but there are many things that I have to be grateful for.  My continued decent health, my mother’s life, opportunities to be creative, new skills to be learned, and new goals to accomplish.

My goals for this year:

Spin 1lb of Corriedale wool in Periwinkle as singles

Warp my tapestry loom

Weave the Train tapestry

Create a project using Sprang

Create a Sampler using the tabletop 4 harness loom

Spin once every day for at least 15 minutes and post on Instagram with the tag of #spin15

My aspirations for this year:

Dig out the back raised beds for a potted garden

Purchase the pots to be put in the potted garden

Plant a potted garden, vegetables and flowers for dyes

Finish the external garage as a fiber studio

(This includes cleaning the whole thing out, putting mesh wire in every section for   mouse repellent, probably putting in insulation, and covering the insulation with some kind of particle board/drywall/pegboard for finishing things up. (Or I can see what mom’s handyperson will charge to do all of this))

Turn one room in the house into a craft room, with an organizational system in place

Create a teaching plan that involves some form of crafting each week of a year.  It would be easy enough to include some psychology and sociology into this; be productive, remember to appreciate your skills, there is as much knowledge gained in failure as success, etc.

While I am certain I can accomplish and will accomplish my initial goals, I do hope that I can accomplish at least one of my aspirations.  The aspiration I am most hopeful to accomplish is creating a craft room with an organizational space.  Truthfully, that is more for Mom than for myself.  She has her yarn scattered all over the house, which would not be a problem but then she has troubled putting her hands on what she wants when she wants it!  I purchased a clear organizer with 20 cubes that all have doors to them.  This should allow her to get an idea of what is in each cube while keeping the actual materials clean.  Yay!

 

Happy Crafting!