Tiny Looms

Sandy asked me to post pictures of my tiny looms-these are the best that I can do. I hesitated to post them now. I've already thought of some improvements to make, and will make more this next week. The little rectangular loom is mostly for bookmarks. I can weave them and then paint or embroider them. The two tiny ones on the right are to make patchs for socks and tiny woven animals. They work really well for sock patches. The large square one and the small one are to make squares for afghans and clothes. The little hooks are for my Rigid heddle looms-I still need to do some shaping so they will fit in the smallest heddles-that takes some work.

I so love to make things-sometimes I spend more time making them, than I do using them. I have tried these out and they work well. I haven't had time to take measurements of how much yarn is used though. I will eventually.

My next project is to recover my old dressmaker manequin for display purposes. I don't like to take pictures of myself with things on no matter how nice they are. So I put them on my dummy to take the pictures off. I am going to decopage it and paint it with roses. That way it looks nice when nekkid!

I also decided to make a new sweater, out of seven skeins of lion brand imagine I had in the stash. I have enough for two more maybe three, I think it's time I use it!! The first one is a cream color-will post a picture when finished.

Making things

I have this thing about not buying whatever I can make. Right now I've been making those tiny looms you see-like weavettes only homemade. I made a couple similiar to the one Noreen Crone Findlay makes too. I need to read the instructions better though, the looms I made were correct in proportion but half the size on one of them. It doesn't matter though, I'll just be able to make tinier animals and things. The others are square and rectangular and yes I decorated them-had to varnish them this morning. The can was only open for a few minutes but I've already got a headache and it's too cold to do this outside. I tried to use the acrylic varnish like for paintings-but it doesn't work all that well. Maybe I'll try to find something later that will work better. I got carried away when I painted one of my handspindles though-I painted it all gold. Too many fairy tails I guess. It's pretty but the color doesn't make it spin better. I have to put one more coat on them and that should do it. I really hate to buy the mass produced things anymore. I'd rather spend the money on things made by americans-but can't always, so I do it myself. Also made a nostpinde out of an old candle snuffer handle-really pretty wood turned and all. I took the nasty stain put on it off and found out it had this really neat white, red and black wood under it. It looks nifty now. With the pretty woodgrain showing. Its small but I rarely use center pull balls-they are always tangling up. Next do it yourself project is my dressmaker maniquin-it really needs to be covered.

Right now it's dishes again and have to decide what to fix for dinner tonight. I run dry periodically of ideas and have to really think about it. In the meantime I think I'll do some reading after the dishes- I am reading Federation by H. Beam Piper. It's really good. It's too bad he isn't around to write some more of them. Well that's all for now.

Rough weekend!

It was too, not for me but for the DH. He had a flat friday after work-a blowout to be precise and had to walk 13 miles to get home. He was dead tired when he got home at 10:30. he gets off work at 6 so that ought to tell you how far from town we live. he was several miles from work when it happened. We we got a new tire put on Saturday, the old one was irreparable. He couldn't see in the dark to change it and the jack was not very good. And he had no flashlight. We used to keep one in the car but it would always go dead. Ugh, what a weekend. I did have them check the other tire and it will last a couple of months at least, he said, so next month we will have to replace the last one the others are all less than a year old. I prefer to get them two at a time, but oh well. I do what I can.

I have spent very little time on the puter lately mostly just searching for things-not really haveing any fun, and I will be cutting my time on it a lot to start some projects here, my groups, blogs and other things will probably get neglected but I really need to put the time in elsewhere. There are household repairs to be made and things to be done and I am the only one with the time to do them, so its up to me to get them done. Anyway got to go now and start the house work. Ta Ta!

Spring Cleaning Already?

It must be spring, the cleaning bug hit me early. That's good, when Spring gets here, I'll be able to do other things like garden and clean the yard. I've done the livingroom, the storage room and the bookshelves. I really need more bookshelves. And I've started the bathroom and the bedroom-last thing will be the kitchen. I have a cabinet in the kitchen that I realy dread organizing. This cleaning has been going on for the last week or so and is spilling over into this week. When I get it done there will be time for some projects and photos of projects. I have a lot of projects I want to get done. Clutter seems to stiffle my creativity, so I am getting rid of the clutter. Having a clean house will give me a lot more time to knit, crochet, weave and spin and maybe get some drawing and painting done too.

And I do so want to try to have a small garden this year-just for fresh salad and things. Maybe some Zuchini and green beans and tomatos. The ground here is so poor that I have to think of alternatives to using it. I have tried fertilizing it and annealing it and even putting good soil on top of it and it won't grow anything but Oak trees. I think that mostly the oaks have sucked most of the nutrients out of the ground. But I have an idea that may work-got it out of a book so that's what I am going to try. Also going to try some of that Purslane for salads, If I can find some seeds or plants around here. You would be surprised at just how many weeds are quite tasty and nutritious. Anyway got to go, lots to do still.

Another post-that must be a record

I have found time for another post, probably because I am a bit tired and don't want to do anything else. Not that I have worked very hard. I started crocheting the case for my hooks, mentioned previously. That took some time, getting the edging right was a pain, It kept puckering on the sides. I wound up with two rows of single crochet on the edge and one row of crab stitch. It looks better. That eliminated the pucker and changed the shape, it was very hard to make a perfect rectangle with the pattern stitch I used. With the edging though it looks right now. The spine is sewn in, next comes the interfacing to make it stiff enough. I was going to use plastic canvas-but don't have any. Since there will be several pages and pockets in it to hold entire sets of hooks, It will probably have enough body to stand on it's own. It was time consuming though. It will be well worth the trouble I've taken with it, if it does what I want it to. Come to think of it you could make one by getting an eight or nine inch loose leaf notebook and making "pages" to go in it and just crocheting a cover for it-or knitting a cover for it. It would work for knitting needles too. In fact I may have to make one for all my knitting needles.

On the political front-I got a kick out of the newsmedia-they have been eating crow all day. I suspect that the voters that were polled, thought it was really none of the media's bussiness who they voted for. I won't even answer when asked, simply because I don't like the way they use the polls in the news. It is none of their bussiness who I vote for. It is between me and the counter. Well I better go-dishes and dinner again, funny how you have to do that every day or get hungry.

Politics and the Media and crafts

First my sore spots, The media, for now, I wonder if anyone realizes that the media is manipulating them into choosing who the media wants. With the vote in Iowa and New Hampshire, only a few hundred thousand people have voted. Why do they get to pick the candidates? It's just not fair to the rest of the country. I want a full field to choose from-Not just the leftovers, and I wish the media would stop all the hype and stay out of it!!! Now that my gripe has been aired-I feel better.

I need a large crochet hook case, I use makeup cases right now, and I don't really like them. The hooks bang together in the cases and may be damaged, so now, I am trying to make a hook case that will hold them all, the brittanys, the soft touch hooks, the plastics, the bones The steels and the in between ones. I'd like very much to have room for a full set of Boye or Susan bates alumninun as well and some bamboo would be nice too. It seems like each type of yarn does better with a different hook. I use them all, and want to keep them together and protect them. I carry individual hooks with each project, but like to have them all ready to go in case I get something to work on that is just a quick project. That is my current project a large hook case, with seperate sections for all the above, not to mention scissors, tape, chibis, and markers. It will also match my very large, crochet bag-I made it a couple of months ago from the same yarn and fabric lining. I hope it turns out like I want it too, I've been planning it for a while. When I have time, I'll post pics of the case, the bag and the new sweater I finished. Oh and the socks in progress.

Is everyone as glad as I am that most of the holidays are over? It's so hard to do any crafting with all the stress from them. And there is just no free time. It seems like my to do list gets longer and longer and less and less gets done, and the list of future projects grows to. I am wanting to make a snood with attached headband, more socks, a couple of scarves from an idea I saw on the internet, some more dishcloths and a large blanket that will be extra warm from scrap yarn-but not my favorite grannies, this one has to be solid with very tiny holes in it.

We went to the antique mall on Sunday and found a really nice vintage print sheet, white with my favorite lavendar roses on it-it was a queen size sheet in perfect condition and will turn into a lot of things. It seemed a bit high prices at nine dollars-I don't know. What would you pay for one like that. It was also american made and 100% cotton. I felt like it was a splurge, I may even use it with several other prints I have to make a top-that won't take but a tiny bit of it. It would be nice to have somthing besides T-shirts for the summer. Something a little dressy. Well that's all I got for now, will be getting off in another hour and starting dinner. Have a happy evening.

Blue Funk

Yes the blue funk-not Grand funk. For the maybe two of you who care, I have spent (as I wrote before) the last two months sick with some virus. I am maybe getting over it- no guarantees on that either. Depression is my worst problem at any time. I get this little imbalance in the brain and it gets worse before it gets better. It's usually worse after an illness. I'll get over it-but I will spend the next week or month down and almost unable to function. It's no fun, and the hubby doesn't understand what happens. He thinks if he can't see it-it's not there. I am going to go back to writing my feelings down and see if it helps.

I think the primary results are funny-I can't imagine either of the two winners as president. It would be more of the same religious right/no real experience type of thing. How could either of them have experience living like the middle class? Or any of the candidates that is? I'll still vote the way I planned on. And I still think this system is a joke too-Why do we need an electoral college? It's baloney! It started out as a way for the wealthy landowners to control the masses. So far it's worked for over two hundred years. The wealthy are still running the country. The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. We get rid of that electoral college and make it one person-one vote, and we might accomplish something.

On a more pleasant note, I have finished the purple crocheted Cardigan and it turned out better than I thought it would-I love it. The downside. You can see me comming a mile away it is so purple. Now that I am older though-I can wear purple. Now I am trying to find something to make a scarf hat and mits to go with it. Perhaps in red. Nothing really sparks my creativity though. And I've crocheted enough patches for my favorite wool socks. We have six pairs of really heavy wool socks that we wear constantly in the winter and at $10 a pair,I won't be buying any more for a bit. We've had these for four years. I used a wool roving I had-nasty stuff to spin but I think it will felt right into the holes and work really well. I spun it into a fine single and then crocheted the patches and sewed them on. They all get washed now to felt the crochet. Hope it works. Well that's it for now. Am hoping the depression will be washed away with work.