Showing posts with label projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label projects. Show all posts

Monday, November 9, 2020

Winding Up Projects


Day 27: I'm winding up several projects, both in the figurative and literal senses of the phrase. The blue and white shawl is done, right down to the last twisted fringe, ready to be sent off to the Nisqually Land Trust for auction at a later date. The black slub yardage is also done, although it will remain on the loom until I've finished the multicoloured table runner which uses most of the same warp threads. I wasn't sure how far the slub would extend, so I wound on extra warp, thinking I might make a couple of twill towels using cottons as the weft. As it turned out, I might have been able to squeeze two towels out of the remaining warp, but it would have been tight. I decided it was best to make a runner instead and...oh, hey, look at this! I have just enough of that "Mexicali" perle cotton left! I'd been wondering how I was going to use it up, and bingo, question answered. This is the benefit of isolation. It is compelling me to make use of what I have in my stash (and believe me, my stash is considerable!), so I'm trying to utilize the tag ends of weaving cones and yarn skeins without making it obvious that I've done so. Towels, runners, throw pillows, scarves and shawls are a good way to do that. A stripe here, a wide band there, and Bob's your uncle. It takes a bit more creativity and planning than simply winding a plain warp, but that's the fun of weaving.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Day Projects


Day 40: Although friends may liken me to a bulldog when I have something between my teeth, that steadfast determination runs concurrently with an amazingly short attention span. My big projects consume vast portions of my time, but I tend to hit one, work on it for half an hour or less, and then pick up something different. As one is completed, another takes its place. In the end, they all get done by whatever deadline I may have set (if any). In addition to my regular diet of needlework and sewing, the occasional "day project" adds spice to the recipe. Day projects are quick fillers and although some of them may actually take more than a day to complete, most can be fiddled up in an hour or two. Having a store of short-term resources keeps me from getting bored. That said, another secret to bringing each thing to completion is that I don't allow myself to work on more than one item in a specific genre, e.g., I won't start knitting a hat if I have socks on the needles. If the hat was to be crocheted instead, that would be allowable as long as I didn't have another crochet project on board. Day projects may include such novelties as casting soaps, pouring candles, paper-making, beadwork, etc. The necklace and earring set shown above took less than an hour and will be a Christmas gift for a very special friend.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Teddy Bear Brights Afghan


Day 131: I am not enjoying being penned in the house by weather, but at least I'm getting projects done. It's wet-chilly, the kind of clammy cold which I am convinced is under proprietary license to western Washington; a cold which goes through all your layers, Goretex, microfiber fleece, wool, polypro, epidermis, dermis, bones. It is not a cold which invites you to hike. A warming pace generates perspiration which in turn chills down without evaporating, demanding that you hike faster and therefore perspire more heavily, and consequently chill down more quickly as your clothing becomes soaked with sweat. It is a no-win cold, an unrelenting, oppressing, weighty cold, a burden not even coffee and chicken soup can lighten. The thermometer (a brazen liar!) reports 40 degrees. It feels like 20, a wet, soggy, sodden, soaking, pervasive 20, but it doesn't freeze. Freezing would be a kindness it would never willingly convey. I don't like stepping out in it even just to fill the bird feeders, so I stay indoors and keep my hands busy with yarn while my thoughts search out lichens in dimly-recalled warmth.

Monday, December 1, 2014

No Idle Hands



Day 49: Of the many things my grandmother taught me, one basic piece of philosophy stands out: keep your hands busy. She expressed this tenet by saying, "Idle hands are the devil's playground," and while I don't believe in devils, it's quite true that boredom opens doors for mischief in most people, mild or otherwise. It may manifest as something as simple as snacking too heavily. After all, your hands want something to do. Why shouldn't they pick up a scoop of nuts or a piece of chocolate and convey it to your mouth? Busy hands are happy hands, and as you might infer, mine have had plenty to do with more to come. This display doesn't show what's already boxed for shipping, just a few last-minute projects to keep my fingers out of trouble.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

I Need An Extra Pair Of Hands



Day 56: With everything I have to get done to be ready to ship Christmas prezzies some time in the next two weeks, I really need an extra pair of hands! Oh, I have the major stuff out of the way. This is the last-minute flurry of  projects which hits me every year in November. "Gosh, I should have made a ... for Patty, and I bet Mousie would like one, too."And so it goes.

I do my Christmas "shopping" early, which is to say that before Christmas 2013 arrives, I'll be started on projects for Christmas 2014 and may even have them finished up by January or February. No last-minute dashes to the crowded stores for me! But when November rolls around and the weather keeps me housebound, my mind strays to things I can do with my hands. Inevitably, that line of thought finds me browsing needlework catalogs, placing orders and stitching like a madwoman as I race against the calendar to create just one more gift for a special friend.

The end table beside my chair is piled high with the tools of the trade, various handcrafts spilling off the edges, the supplies I most urgently need becoming buried as a rotation between embroidery, knitting, crocheting and the like takes materials to the bottom of the heap. "That *$&% ruler is in here somewhere," I curse as idle double-point needles roll off onto the floor. "Where the #%*# is my stitch counter? I had it a minute ago."

Well, on that note, it's back to work I go! If I'm diligent, I can get that ... done before I go to bed.