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Christmas Frustration leads to Creation.

December 31, 2009 - by squareonebeads

As my family gets older it gets increasingly harder to figure out what to give them for Christmas. My parents are at the age where they have everything they need, and my sister is at the stage where her apartment is just to small to hold much. I’m sure you’ve all been there with me.

This year I managed to figure out something for my parents but my sister was still problematic. I had her Amazon list but everything on it was so practical and BORING! Stainless steel bowls, really? That’s the sort of thing you get your second cousin twice removed for a wedding gift because you have to buy a gift but don’t really know them. Same thing with the spatulas, wire whisk and assorted other cooking utensils on her list, boooring! On the other hand, if she’s not using them for cooking, I don’t want to know about it.

So she and I were talking one day and she was rummaging thru her knitting case trying to find a set of needles. They were all just laying at the bottom of her bag in a mess that looked more like a game of pick up sticks than a set of knitting needles. Inspiration struck and the idea of her Christmas gift came into place. I got her this bag in pink.  Then I got her a three ring binder with cd pockets to hold her circular and double point needles.  Then, I got out my sewing machine and made this -

The pocked depths are 12″, 9″, 6″, and 4″.  She can put needles up to 15″ long in the top row.  There is a flap that folds in so that when the case is rolled up the items don’t fall out.

Here it is with the flap down.

And here it is all rolled up.

I am very pleased with how it turned out.  I may have to make one for myself.  :) My sister loved her gift, especially the needle roll.  She was very touched that I had made it, and as a fellow crafter appreciated all the work that went into it.   As an artist, her appreciation meant the world to me as I am sure you can all understand.

The only problem is, I scored so well on her gift this year what the heck am I going to give her for next Christmas?  LOL

Heather blogs from her home in Watertown, Wisconsin.  If you would like to read more of her ramblings you can see them here.  And if you want to see some of her work for sale you can see her Etsy and Artfire stores.

You spin me right ’round baby.

December 4, 2009 - by squareonebeads

Earlier I posted about teaching myself to knit.  It turned out to be a good thing that I did learn to knit as I’ve had a bad stretch and have been pretty much limited to laying on the couch most days.  Knitting not only keeps me occupied but it also keeps me from the pain of having to watch daytime television.  Trust me, not even vicodin can relieve the pain of watching Jerry Springer.

Being an artist though just knowing how to knit wasn’t good enough for me.  I had to know how fiber becomes yarn by doing it myself.  I got the Fricke DT-160 wheel at a fiber show.  Its a really cool looking wheel and seemed easy enough when the blind woman I bought it from showed me how to use it.

SpinningWheel

When I got home I got the wheel put together and then it sat, and sat, and sat some more.  It sat partly because I was intimidated by it, partly because the holiday season is always a busy time.  Last night I finally had the time and courage to work with the wheel.

It didn’t go well.

Trying to go buy what I remembered Karen (the blind woman I bought the wheel from) told me I attached the drive band, tensioned the brake band and hooked up some old yarn to use as a leader.    After lots of futzing I managed to break the brake band.

BreakBand

If you look under the bobbin you can see a knot where I tied the pieces back together.  The blue on the bobbin is the old yarn I used as a leader.

After more futzing I did manage to get some of my fiber spun into some very bad yarn.

SpinningAttempt

As you can see it is lumpy and bumpy, much like my first glass beads :) .  I will need a lot more practice but even with the frustration of learning how to spin by learning what doesn’t work first I am enjoying it.  I am about to try it again tonight, but this time, instead of trying to remember what Karen told me when I bought the wheel I might try reading the directions :)

Remember kids, just because a blind woman can do something doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do it. :)

Heather blogs from her home in Watertown, WI.  You can read more about her life here, and see some of her work for sale here.

New hobby helps stimulate an old craft.

September 21, 2009 - by squareonebeads

Since losing my job this spring I have turned my ‘hobbies’ (stained glass, lampwork, painting) into my job. This meant I needed a new hobby. A friend of mine knit me a wonderfully warm and soft pair of socks for Christmas last year and I decided I wanted to learn to make socks so I took up knitting.

I got a book ‘The Easy Learn to Knit in Just One Day“.  It is a very good book and they make it easy to learn the basics of knitting, but the just one day thing is a lie.  It took me three days.  :)  The book taught me the basics and I made a butt ugly dishcloth and started my second project, a shawl.

While working on the shawl I discovered I would need some stitch markers.  These are just things that go on the needle to mark changes in stitch, the halfway point, increases, decreases, or anything else you might want to mark while working on a piece.  At stores you can buy plastic rings or some stores even have hand made stitch markers made on split rings.  I decided that I could make my own and got out my polymer clay.

I made a bunch of flower canes and got out some leaf canes that I’d had laying around.  After baking them I attached leather loops so that my markers would be non-snagging.  I have seen my sister knit and know that snagging markers can be a pain.  So here they are, a few of them are attached to my shawl that is in progress.

StitchMarkers

So don’t forget, when you learn something new, often things you have learned in the past can be useful.

Heather blogs from her home in Watertown, Wisconsin.  When she’s knot learning to knit she makes beads, paints, and does stained glass.  You can read her personal blog here, and lists her items for sale here.

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