Things to do.. Things to do..

Sometimes I long to sit on the sofa and veg with a book.  

Oh.  Wait.  I DO do that.  I just feel really guilty when I do.  Let me rephrase that.

Sometimes I long to sit on the sofa and veg with a book, or watch TV without feeling twinges of guilt that I should be doing something else or at least doing something in addition to watching TV.

There is no chance of getting bored around here.  I am getting a tad overwhelmed by all the things waiting for my attention so the other day I decided to make a list on the white board in SharonTopia thinking it would help me feel in control.

What that meant, of course that the first thing on my to-do list became making an actual list.  I couldn't find a marker so I decided on making my list here.  (Much easier than looking for a marker.. not.)

1.  Kitchen Floor.  I started it over a year a go and it is now my top priority.  I've been working hard on it in the last two weeks or so and I'm over 1/2 way done.  I have promised myself that I will clear at least 1 square foot of floor each day.  At that pace, I should be done in a month.

2.  Hawaiian shirt quilt.  This has been on my to-do list for 2 years - although I just started it a few months ago.  It is second on my priority list because it's currently cluttering up my dining room.  In order to make it available to be worked on, the table and chairs and all other dining room "stuff" is shoved into a corner. Not conducive to romantic candle lit dinners for two at the table or enjoying the dining room in any way.

3.  Ear Brassiere.  A small project.  But I started it as a Christmas Present for a co-worker.  It's March now.  Sigh...  I had it almost finished two nights ago when I discovered a huge error early in the project.  I had to rip it all out and start over.  Now I'm more than 1/2 way done.  If I hadn't made that mistake I would be done.  Very frustrating and now I really just want it gone.  Out of my life forever.  I hate it and I want to kill it.  

4.  Beaded scarf.  Another project I am more than 1/2 way done on.  I really love the effect of the beads in the knitting.  I love it so much I started a second one (with sparkly beads and jewel toned yarn) before I finished this one.  Big mistake.  Huge.  Now both sit gathering dust.

5.  Woven Rug.  I got the crazy idea for this project when we were in Florida in September.  I really really want to do this.  Almost bad enough to move it to position #1.  This is my self-imposed lesson in self-control.  I will NOT even start it until the floor and the quilt are done.  I will most probably get serious about it as soon as I can and I think it may be helping to motivate me on those priority projects. I have been gathering the things I need to make this and all the parts are sitting on the loom ready to go.  Oh.. I want to do this. 

6.  Shrugigan.  This project I started in 2010 - When I was still working.  Peter gives me grief on a regular basis over this project.  I mostly want to get it done so I can wave it about in his face saying "Ha Ha Ha Ha! Neener Neener Neener!!" and doing a most ridiculous dance.  Once it's done I suspect it will go into a drawer and never be looked at again.

7.  Woven basket.  A fun little project.  This one is a good "car project" or for taking places that require waits.  I've made a couple small baskets and it's a fun technique.  I'm not in a hurry to get this done and it's really only on my list because it's started and does need to be finished.  Eventually.

8.  Shearing.  It's spring.  The Alpacas haven't been sheared in nearly two years.  It's time.  It's more than time.  They are shaggy and filthy and complete wrecks.  This is Cheeka.  Of course, once they are sheared then I'll have pounds and pounds of fiber that will need cleaning and washing and carding and spinning and.. Yikes!!  What was I thinking???

9.  Silk spinning.  Because I enjoy torture.  Spinning silk is a completely different thing than spinning other fibers.  Silk is fine and delicate.  I can even only TOUCH the silk when my hands are in the best condition.  If they are dry or cracked they snag the fiber something awful.  I most certainly can't touch it after working on the floor or messing with concrete.  Silk has intrigued me since I first learned to spin.  I have often looked at silk and silently ogled it.  A few months ago a fellow spinner gave me this "hanky" of silk.  Now it must be included on the to-do list.

10.  Cleaning Pads.  Back when I lived in Salem and Peter and I installed the wood flooring in my house I bought a swiffer sweeper with a large box of disposable pads for it.  I just used the last one this week.  Clever me, with time on my hands, has decided to make reusable swiffer sweeper pads out of an old towel.  It should be a quick project.  I may even sneak this one in before I'm done with the kitchen floor.  After all, I will need to be able to clean the floor once the lino is pulled up..

11.   Soap.  I need to make more soap.  I WANT to make soap.  I've been gathering supplies at discount prices.  I scored on 99 cent bottles of Olive Oil, a clearance on lard (yum!) and other assorted things.  I'm ready.  But where do I find the time??

12.  Blogging.  This is a continuing to-do.  I confess it's getting hard to write creatively.  My life is more boring than it used to be.  I assume any readers I have left aren't interested in daily postal fun, or the fact that the cat likes to sit in a box or it rained, again.  Blogging takes time and when something interesting IS going on, finding the time for quality and entertaining documentation is challenging.

All of these things are just the "my" projects.  As the weather improves we have a driveway to finish, the garage to convert, a garden to plant, additional pastures to build, SharonTopia to finish and so much more.  It's a good thing I don't have a dead line.  I tell myself to just keep plodding along and it will eventually get done, breath deep and relax.  And most importantly, appreciate the fact that I'm in a position to do these things at all.

I feel better.

Oh baby blanket!

The last weekend in August, Elaine, a friend from Salem, came up and joined us for a whale watching excursion in the Salish Sea. It was a wonderful day at sea and we spotted humpback and minky whales.  Peter had to break the rules which nearly caused my head to explode  (I'm a great stickler for rules!) but I did get photographic evidence to black mail him with should the need arise in the future.

During Elaine's visit she became quite intrigued by my loom. Around our sight seeing adventures (Downtown Lynden, Fort Langley) she made a small weaving project.  She had never used a loom before so I tried to guide her in a simple project that could be done in the few hours she had.  Needless to say, things didn't go perfectly.  But as I was trying to show her all the steps in the process I figured out a lot of things that were giving me trouble.  After a few mis-steps (mostly caused by my inattention or misinformation) she ended up with a nice strip of woven fabric in a yellow and blue plaid.

I ended up inspired.

With inspiration swirling around me and a grandson on the way I thought it was a good time to try weaving something special for him.  I planned and plotted and started setting up the loom.

I know.. boring.

But it got more interesting..

After nearly a week of running back and forth to the warping board and the loom.  After threading more than 200 all-cotton strings through heddles and reeds.  After numerous bottles of beer and in the midst of an awful, snotty head cold, I finally started weaving:

An hour later I had a blanket.  A little anti-climatic.  I mean a week in prep and then an hour of weaving.  sigh..  I had enough thread left on the loom that I wove in a separation area and continued on to weave a second blanket in a slightly different pattern.   My nephew and his soon-to-be-wife are expecting a baby boy as well.  I'm not sure how much my nephew's baby will need a warm cotton blanket (they live in Florida after all) but it's the thought that counts.. right?

Today I finished the detail on the blankets:

My grandson Jack's baby blanket

My great nephew Jake's baby blanket

I had to go to the fabric store today to purchase the blanket binding and got further inspired by cute little fleece hats and home made booties and big fabric letters that can spell out words and names.  It all confirms my theory that I need to become independently wealthy so that I not only don't have to work - but I can hire someone to do all the things I don't like to do (like dishes and laundry and vacuuming and dusting and cleaning up cat yack) so that I can spend my time just doing the things I WANT to do.  

Baby Wolf's first run..

I took my baby wolf out for it's first run today.  I decided that rather than starting from scratch I would try to use what was already on the loom.  It wasn't a mess - but it was sure something I couldn't figure out.  So I undid all the heddle threading the previous owner had started.  I unwound all the yarn and THEN I ended up with a mess.  The cats were quite intrigued by the process and really wanted to help.

I eventually got it straightened out.  Not an easy task.  There were 99 warp ends.  (that means 99 strings - see I'm learning the lingo!)

I decided on a simple basic basket weave and began pulling the warp ends through each heddle as appropriate.  I finished a third of them before I figured out that I had neglected to find the middle.  You MUST center the threads on the loom or everything goes whacky (no .. that's not official weaving lingo).  It was an important lesson learned that I shall certainly remember in the future.

Finally - everything was threaded and ready to go.  Seriously - 5 hours into the project I finally had it ready to actually weave.  I feel confident that as time goes by this process will be less cumbersome.

I hope. 

20 minutes later I had actual fabric!  How exciting.  The process began going much faster and I'm quite pleased.

And..  miraculously within a few hours I had an actual thing.  A thing I tell you!

Now I want to figure out how to set the treadles and heddles to create a twill.  So far I'm not understanding the drafting of such a project.  There is a weaving guild that meets in the same place as my spinning guild that I shall maybe have to join soon.  They can probably help me over the rough edges.

I am now faced with a daily conundrum..

Should I knit?
Should I spin?
Should I weave?

My life is so complicated!!