I am very good at planning projects. I love to go through patterns, get creative, make ideas, chose the materials I want to work with....

I am, however, terrible at actually doing the 'making' of said projects. I have lists and lists of things I want to make. Unfortunately LIFE keeps getting in the way.

For instance. I was all set to start on some sewing projects. Both my daughter and I have plans for skirts, quilts, and cloth dolls. I got my sewing area cleaned up and was ready to start the next day, but, the next day turned into an unexpected event. The mother of my son's friend is dieing while she's out of town. We have all known this was happening, but she left town in such a condition that she wouldn't be coming back. This left all of her 'stuff' to be dealt with by her 3 kids (the oldest is only 21.) My son's friend called me over and said I could have whatever I wanted. Well..... Aside from the numerous cats and dog (which my husband would not be very happy with) I decided to tackle her mountain of clothes. Most of them were dirty and laying all over her bedroom. Something these kids shouldn't have had to deal with on top of losing their mother and all of the crap she left behind for them to clean up. I bagged all the clothes/towels/sheets up and took them home. 30 loads of laundry later (Yes, I did say 30. I have never seen so many clothes owned by one person in my life.) my sewing area was crammed full of clothes. No room to sew anymore until we sort through all of these. There is something everyone can wear, plus clothes and sheets to tear up for craft projects and still have plenty left over to donate. I mean, who really needs 75 T-shirts, 15 sweat shirts, and 30+ tank and dress tops?! I don't think she ever did laundry. She just bought more clothes when she ran out of clean ones.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sorry that she is dieing. I have known her for 15 years and our oldest kids have been friends for that long. I am sorry for the kids. She is dieing because of something she has done to herself since before I knew her, and it's her kids who have had to pay the price all of their lives. Call me heartless, but it's them who I feel sorry for.

So anyway, several projects planned (and ever more planned now that I have tons of material).... but nothing creative accomplished. And now my house is a disaster area once again. Ho-hum.

I guess "Herald" is good for something while we try to find the parts to get him working. Here he is modeling a card woven strap I made last night. I was bored so I really didn't have anything in mind when I measured the warp. It ended up being to short to use on the table loom, so I tied it onto the front beam and roller of Herald. This left me little room to manipulate the cards, so it's not the best weaving job I've ever done, but it did keep me occupied for an evening.

I'm still getting the loom set up. What started as a "Hey let's move this piece of furniture over here..." has turned into a house that's turned upside down. The kids and I have almost gotten things where we want them, and then I can get my hands back at the loom and see how well she/he works. It's a Herald loom, but I just can't bring myself to call it that. I'll have to come up with a name after I've used her/him a little bit.

I've also been thinking again about making things for an etsy shop. I have a few ideas, but it's scary thinking about starting something like that.

I own a what?!

How do I show extreme excitement without sounding like I'm 10 years old?

OMG!!!!!XXX27!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope, I can't do it. I have become a little kid and it's all thanks to my new 45" 8 shaft - 10 treadle floor loom.

Found on Craig's list, it was a deal I couldn't pass up. This loom came with 7 reeds (some have a little rust but should clean up), lease sticks, 2 cone holders, 4 boat shuttles (1 is a double), 2 ski shuttles, 2 net shuttles, a 14 1/2 yard warping board, a sectional warp beam (needs the mounting bars) extra heddles, and 53 cones of yarn. If I had bought all the extras through normal means (and it was all stuff I needed anyway except maybe the net shuttles and the sectional warp apparatus which is nice but not necessary), it would have come to a hell of a lot more than what I actually paid. It's kind of like getting the loom for free! As an added bonus she threw in 31 Handwoven magazines and 16 Weavers Craft magazines. The Weavers Craft are old editions that I was wishing I could afford months ago.



This picture came out too small to really see but, the cones are two deep in almost all the cubbies.

The yarn is all 1 to 31/2 pound cones of linen, chenille, wool, oodles of cotton, and 7 cones of perle cotton which I can't wait to start card weaving with. Please excuse the painting that needs done in this picture. Anyone want to lug a 7'x 4' solid hardwood bookcase outside so that I can paint it and the wall? No I didn't think so. My husband won't either.

The only problem with the loom so far, is that I'm missing one 3/8"x9" hex bolt, and 4 hex nuts. No one around here has ever heard of a 9" hex bolt it seems, so I had to order one online. It comes tomorrow, and then I can start weaving my little heart out. There is plenty of yarn to play with, so I won't feel guilty 'wasting' expensive yarn while I learn.


OMG!!! I own a floor loom!

WIPS

... or at least on the list of 'to get started'.

SPIN
- Dad's birthday scarf.
*Needs to be finished before 3-20-10.*
Progress – choose fiber, Make swatches, comb, card, spin yarn, ply yarn, knit scarf
.... update: There was no way I could get this all spun and knitted up in time. Instead I spun/knit a swatch (finished the morning before we left to visit him) and my daughter sewed it onto the back of a little stuffed lamb as we were driving to the hotel. It turned out kind of like a saddle blanket. It was a weird gift but kind of cute. I promissed him I'd have a real scarf ready for his 80th birthday. I should probably get started on that now. I only have 10 years to finish it.

- yarn for rugs
Progress - choose fiber, comb, card, spin.

CARDWEAVE

- 6- card woven dog leashes for mom.
*Needs to be finished by 12-25-11.*
Progress – make patterns, choose colors, buy yarn, weave leashes : Alfie, Pippin, Casey, Maggie, Bridget, Bailey, buy clasps, sew clasps and handles.

- swatches for notebook
Progress - buy yarn, weave, attach to patterns.

Fix loom
- make raddle
Progress - cut wood, sand wood, hammer nails.
- Add heddles
Progress - buy heddles, add heddles

Weave
- waffle weave dish towels for myself.
Progress - buy yarn, warp loom, weave, full.

- dishcloths for mom
Progress - buy yarn, warp loom, weave, full.

- start on weaving book projects.
Progress - choose yarn, choose colors, buy yarn, warp loom, weave, full.

Knit
- 2 1 more dishcloths for mom.
Progress - choose patterns, buy yarn, knit, block

- A's afghan
Progress - choose colors, choose pattern, buy yarn, knit, block.

- C's afghan
Progress - chose colors, choose yarn, choose pattern, knit, block.

SEW

- Purple quilt
Progress - cut material, wash blocks after cats peed on them GRR!, layout and re-cut what was damaged, piece, sew, quilt.

- Brown quilt
Progress - finish cutting, piece, sew quilt.

- C's skirt
Progress - choose pattern, buy material, sew.

- Sewing machine cover
Progress – make pattern, choose material, cut, sew.

- Printer cover
Progress - choose material, make pattern, cut, sew, embroider.

- Rag doll
Progress - make pattern, cut, sew, make pattern for clothes, choose clothes material, cut clothes, sew clothes, embroider face, sew hair.

Learn to clone myself so I can get all of this done.

progress - *************

My problem with hobbies/crafts

Where does everyone get their energy to do everything AND crafts? By the time I’ve done some laundry, the kids and I are finished with school, I’ve made dinner and cleaned up, I’m so tired it’s all I can do to make it into bed, let alone spend the hours it takes to warp the loom.

This is certainly not worth getting upset over. I just don’t understand how so many of you manage it.

Because I said I'd post it back with my pea soup: My favorite bread recipe. This recipe is very easy and forgiving and comes from an Amish lady.

6-7 Cups flour
1/3 Cup sugar
2 ½ TBs vegetable shortening
2 tsp salt.
2 ¼ tsp (or 1 envelope) yeast.
½ Cup warm water
2 Cups warm water


Melt shortening. Dissolve yeast in ½ C water and set aside.

Measure out flour by scooping from the bag. Yes you heard me right. Do not do the proper spoon and measure, but scoop with a big ole’ measuring cup and level with your hand.

Add melted shortening, sugar, salt, and yeast water together in bowl with 2 cups warm water.

Here I use my Kitchenaid mixer (it’s old and cranky but still does a great job) Mix until you can no longer hear the sugar scraping in the bottom of the bowl.

Slowly add the flour. Start with 3 cups and mix thoroughly. Then add by 1 cup increments, allowing the mixer to completely mix between additions.

Once the mixer can’t mix anymore, plop the dough out onto a floured board and continue to add flour as you need. Add only enough flour to give you the right consistency. Here I’m hoping you already know how to make bread because bread making, for me anyway, is all about looks and feel, not hard recipe facts.
Kneed until dough is smooth (no longer looks like it has cellulite) and place in a greased bowl. Dampen a dish towel and place it over the bowl. Place dough in a warm, draft free place. Let it rise until doubled. This will depend on how warm your kitchen is. It can take my dough up to 4 hours to double sometimes.

Punch down the dough and plop out onto floured board. Divide in half and shape into 2 loaves. Place each loaf into a greased bread pan. Prick the tops with a fork, cover with damp towel and let rise again.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. My new oven element takes a while longer to cook things so I just estimate and keep watching. Once it’s nicely browned on top and sounds hollow when you knock on it, it’s done.

Place on metal cooling rack, lightly butter tops and turn out of pans, setting top side up again. Try to keep everyone out of it until it’s cooled enough to cut.

We go through about 10 loaves of bread a week around here, so I’m ALWAYS baking bread. I just wrote this out from memory so if you try it and something doesn’t seem right you can blame me.

Now it’s 9:30pm and while I’m dying to get my hands into some wool and do more carding and spinning tonight, I think I’ll just go to bed. Tomorrow it’s more laundry, a huge lesson in American History (which I am having a blast teaching) and more bread baking before an even earlier bed time so I can get up at 4am on Saturday to help my oldest get his car to his mechanic.

They are calling to me