progress

One Week In

by CZeitler

Okay, so I am one week into 2023 and my resolution has (mostly) held. This year I am going to be teaching 3-4 classes outside of my normal work. One of those is going to be a needle tatting class. I decided to purchase supplies for 10 people to be able to take the class, I wanted to make the purchase before prices to up. It will be about $10 per person to take the class and this just covers the supplies. Given that I hope to be given a speaker’s fee which I can then put toward some future classes I would like to take. Other than those supplies and a case to put them it I have bought the supplies I need to finish my holiday plans and some fabric I was missing for a couple of cousin quilts, as well as the batting for a donation quilt.

Every day I have managed to do something to make progress on my various crafting plans. The 16 shaft loom has the warp through the front beater bar, it is just waiting for me to thread it through the heddles next. I have spun a couple more puffs from my Unicorns in the Library fiber ( split it into hand length puffs to give me smaller achievable goals). I have half of the fabric I purchased torn into the right size for my embroidery project (for the family), and I stitched up 4 pieces this morning with another 2 designed and ready for me to hit the button when I get home. I have also signed up for three different ‘summits’ that will happen this week. One is Stitch Camp scheduled to begin next week, then the Knitting Summit the week of the 23rd, and finally selling your crafts for a profit the 26th- 28th of January. I am not sure how much I am going to get out of these classes, however since they are free I am going to give them a good shot.

The last thing I have been doing recently is going through my Amazon e-magazines, and taking screenshots of the projects and instructions that I want to keep for now. That way if I decide I want to get rid of Kindle Unlimited I will not lose access to those projects. Okay, that is all for this week (I will try to add photos later if I remember).

Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Not Much Progress

by CZeitler

So, what happens when the temperatures drop below 0? Well apparently the water in the oil filter, which had been accumulating for years but the oil company didn’t drain even though we have a maintenance contract with them, freezes which means that oil cannot get to my heater. If oil cannot get into my central heating unit it does not work, which means that everything in the house freezes even the pipes. This is what I walked into on Sunday when I went to check on my old house. Naturally the company had been in the week before to get all of my stuff out so that the house is almost ready to be put on the market. So I had to spend Sunday waiting for the house to thaw once the heating company fixed theings. Then Monday I had to take the day off so I could wait for the plumber. Fortunately, I now know what I need to do each week to ensure that the water is healthy in my old house until it is sold.

Due to these circumstances I have not been able to make any real progress on any of my crafts. I’ll try to report back this weekend if I can get anything done. On a happy note I have three more garbage bags full of carpet backing to throw out! The first bedroom is looking much better!

Until next week, Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Mini Update

by CZeitler

I have crossed the half way point with my cowl, knitted from the thick and thin yarn sent to me by Melody’s Makings.  For this cowl I cast on 100 stitches and started knitting.  I began switching stitches on the ends, but stopped that when I decided to join the cowl int the round and knit on circular needles.  Because of this the join is rather messy and when I seamed things up it got sort of ugly.  I fixed this as best I could and will see how badly it looks on the right side when I am done.  If nothing else I can make sure that the ugly side stays at the back of my neck, or create an embellishment to cover over it.  So this is what over half of a cowl looks like:

IMG_2205

I presume that things will block out some.  On another note, I almost forgot that I was crocheting a lace shawl.  I found the bag, and since it is the half-granny pattern I can pick it right back up.  I made a decent start, but since it is lace weight chroma twist things are going to take forever.  Oh well, that just means that I get even more time to enjoy crocheting with the Chroma twist.

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Big Project Update 4

by CZeitler

The Loom is now complete!  I cannot believe how well it turned out.  The pedals still do not work but I managed to rig up some Texsolv Cord and Arrow clips (that are specific to the cord) so that I am able to treadle with them.  I did have to tie them up in a 1, 3, 4, 2 pattern instead of 1, 2, 3, 4.  When I tried tying them up straight from 1-4 then I could not press down on 1 enough to get a good shed (lift the yarn enough to pass the shuttle through).

Before the next part, I have to give you some background information.  I live with my mother on almost 2 acres of land.  We are surrounded by a bit of forest.  The house is built into a hill, which really helps avoid flooding, with a garage under the house and another detached garage.  We use the garage under the house for the car (we share one between us), and have not been using the detached garage for much of anything since my father died 7 years ago.  This is why my weaving has stalled.

While we have not been using the garage, other creatures have decided to move in.  Specifically there are some PVC pipes on a metal rack that a family of mice has decided to move into.  This was actually alright with me for a little while, I set out traps and would play music to keep them away thinking that the traps would get them overnight one of these days.  This worked long enough for me to get a bit of a sampler project done, then one day I looked up and found a face peeking at me out of the PVC pipe.  Well that was the end of my weaving until we get someone in to get rid of the mice.  My bravery only goes so far, telling a patron that I am pretty sure is high that they need to leave the library, keep it down, watch their language; Fine.  Telling a patron that I know is drunk that they need to leave the cashbox right where it is, and taking it out of their hands; Fine.  Mice around when I am trying to relax and concentrate on my weaving; NOT FINE!

Weaving Sample 1Weaving Sample 2

I managed to get these twill samplers woven (it’s a fraction of what I wanted to do but a decent start), and as soon as someone has been in to see about the mice I will put a topcoat on my loom and start planning for next year!

Spring Weaving will be a blast!

Happy Crafting

Big Project Update 2

by CZeitler

The Paint stripper works really well.  I did find out that I need to use steel wool to scrape the paint off and it will probably take me a couple of coats to get the little remains off, but this is much better than taking months to get a few little sections done.  The fun part of stripping the loom and getting everything reworked is that I am getting to know my loom much better.  This is very good, I know where the beater brakes are now and how that works, but it also allowed me to discover a potential problem.  As you can see in the photo above the wood by my pedals is starting to split, ack!  I am hoping that something like gorilla glue will keep it together for a good long time.  If I am able to get the glue in deep enough it should hold together.  The last two pedals are not happy if they are asked to move independently from each other, this could cause problems in the future.  Hopefully some rust remover will help them move independently.  I am also concerned about the reed, but that is the easiest fix (though a little expensive).  If the rust remover does not work for the reed then I can purchase another reed, in stainless steel this time.

Happy Crafting!

Big Project Progress Report 1

by CZeitler

I managed to get more scraped off with my hand drill, this amount of progress makes me think that my project will take the next couple of months to finish.

Keeping that in mind, I went to the hardware store to get another drill bit because the times were wearing off of the one I have already.  The gentleman asked me why I wasn’t using a paint stripper, I did not have an answer for that!  Now I am using a paint stripper on my piece, starting tomorrow.  He also recommended a liquid rust remover that I am hoping will do some good.  I am really excited about this and cannot wait to see what a difference the paint stripper will make!

Happy Crafting!