Tag Archives: crafts

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I almost finished a pair of socks.  Really...close.

The knitting is done and all I have to do is graft the toe closed.  I started another sock (purple and gray stripe).

I did a dumb thing with my spinning wheel - I pounded the nail in the end of my treadle in because it stuck out too far (this attaches the treadle to the leg of the wheel.)  The "unintended consequence" is that now it won't come out - a problem because I have to fix the treadle, which involves taking the treadle off...

Life is settling in and I'm blogging again.

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I am certainly in a very different place than I was a year ago.  Oh my....how different.

I usually set a few goals (only to have them fall aside pretty early.

Yesterday I watched Harry Potter (the first one) for the first time.  Harry was looking into that mirror, in which he saw his parents (who had been killed when he was a baby)

The headmaster came up behind him and told him that men had wasted their lives staring into that mirror...gone mad even.  It showed their deepest desires.

"It will not do to dwell on the dream...and forget to live"

My goal for this coming year is to not forget to live.  I'm not going to wait around for life to change for me...I could waste my life waiting for that change.

  • I've signed up for 2 classes (the Philosophy of Religion and Orientation to Deafness) - both are book classes, not art classes so I think I'll be good.
  • See an academic counselor about transferring my credits to Grand Valley.
  • Be outdoors more, enjoy creation.
  • Cut my blogroll down and spend less time on line
  • Remember my books and crafts

Enjoy the life that God has for me right now.

There's more...

When the kids lived here the living room was "theirs" - they watched tv and played video games and if what they were watching didn't appeal to me (most of the time) I stayed in my office or bedroom and watched tv there or played on the computer.

Now...the whole house is mine and I'm going to use it.  I changed the furniture around in the living room, got a new reading lamp and (darn it) I'm going to enjoy my house.  I'm going to learn how to use the DVD player on the big TV.

I'm going to read in my big comfy couch.

Above all...I need to shake this depression that grips me...the loss.  Stagnation sucks - depression sucks worse.

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Sock of the Week - check.  Next week's "official" sock is nearly done (you'll see it next week)

On the spining front...

I bought a bag of alpaca fiber - the animal's name is "Juan" and the color pathway is called "blue sheen".

Here's Henry spending quality time with Juan's long, silky hair...

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alpaca (Juan) on drop spindle.(the fiber spun onto a drop spindle - it's counter intuitive, but the lighter the spindle, the finer the thread; I think because it spins faster.
Juan's wool in ballThis is how fine it's spinning up.  This is a single ply thread - when all the fiber is spun, two balls will be spun together with the spindle going in the opposite direction of the single ply - this is called "worsting", making worsted yard.
SDC13756

My first experience with spinning was with sheep's wool
after worsting and washing
SDC13778
Close up
sheep wool in hank closeup
wound into a ball
sheep wool in ball
and being knit into a scarf with a cable twist
spun sheep wool being knit into scarf

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This has been a major project...and a "joy"

  • math - counting beads and reading graphs
  • following directions and listening
  • fine motor skills

Three of the desigans were designed by our staff - I made the candy cane and "joy", our lead teacher designed the Christimas tree. The Santa and snowman came off the internet.

For some of our students, this was a very hard project. We started off by giving them graph paper and making them color in their own graphs (the tree and the candy cane). Some never did get it.

In this photo (face cropped out for privacy), you can see that we made the graph large enough so the student can put a bead in every square and then string them in order...no counting!

I'm putting the finished project together; in hindsight I wish I'd had string with no strectch.

Anyway...here are photos

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