(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-14-15 Saturday
75 degrees early morning, 84 in the afternoon, some wetness on the way to Mom’s house but none after that. Clouds split up and became smaller and smaller puffs until there was nothing over head, though there was some on the horizon to the north and west of us. Strong breezes threatened to shift around lightly filled zipper bags or blow loose hats off. This Weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
During the week, I got in a fight with a cold. It attacked Tuesday, got really bad Wednesday and then I was able to knock it back Thursday and Friday. Sleeping in the recliner helped, but I got less sleep this week than normal
Today, I knew I had a cold, but it was not in a contagious stage. It took a lot of energy out of me today, and I was a little achy because of it, but I tried to act as if I was somewhat normal.
After Breakfast, we went to Auntie’s Attic. They have this twice a year. It is mostly collectibles and good quality items. The one thing that caught my eye was a porcelain doll that was very pretty and has a lovely dress, mostly in purple. To me, most porcelain dolls look wrong. I have a couple in my collection. This one was prettier than my best one. I went past it about four times just to get an extra look at it. While it would be nice to have, I really don’t have display space for her. The shelf case my best on is on, has no bare space to see. Figurines and such cover every inch.
I did grab an electric percolator. I decided that since many devices I have, use that same kind of cord connection, and I have not had time to search out shops that might carry the cords, and figured the new cords likely would cost the same as the coffee pot, I decided I might as well get it. It is a cheaper design than the coffee maker I use right now, but is easier to clean. I will think about whether to swap coffee makers at a later time.
It was fun looking at the stuff people had, baseball cards, collectable figurines, true antique items. One friend told me years ago, that we who collect, are really storing things for the real collectors. They don’t have room for the stuff so they have us hold it until they are ready for it. It sounded good to me and I now look at collectibles that way. If I really want it, I will get it. Not for the value someone else might later have for it.
When we got into the car to go on, I was really happy to just sit for a while. My body was uncomfortable all over. I could not tell if the cold was increasing or decreasing, which was not bad. I just didn’t wanted it to get much worse.
We went to the Elk’s Lodge where they had a bead show and rummage sale. We only looked in through the door at the bead show. Mostly what I saw were glittery glass beads. I love sparkly things. I am making a point to avoid that hobby right now. I don’t have time for the many hobbies I already have. My only real interest in beads is to include it in other projects I might be working on.
In the rummage sale, there were lots of stuff I either already have or will never use, which is always typical. I did see a meat slicer with other attachments. I have one but the thought of having a spare came over me. As usual, I did not want to store it. I looked at it three times and then left empty handed.
Before and after these big sales, we hit a couple home yard sales. One I had gone to last year. The interesting thing there, which I did not get, was a commercial sized fry maker. It had a plunger guided by a pair of rails, and a grid of knives to slice the potato into sticks. I don’t deep fry and prefer to buy my fries. I was just thinking that it was a cool looking device to have. I left it there. Part of the fun of such things is to figure out what they are before anybody tells you. There were a few things at the Aunties Attic that I had to figure out what it was or out it worked. One thing I saw turned out to be attachment to put the forks of a bike into instead of keeping the wheel on when transporting a bike. I had seen it before but forgot what it was and ended up having to ask.
At home, I laid down for half an hour just to let my body recover a little. I never could quite get comfortable so I got up and went outside.
I petted the cat, is never as much as she feels she deserves. I got pictures of some of mom’s flowers in bloom. Mom’s Alamanda decided to stop flowering. Usually it flowers half the year with continuous bursts of blooms. I like them because the flowers almost look like they are made of plastic. This time just a few blooms showed up and now they are gone. I wonder what the problem is. I should check to see if the pot is draining. We lost one plant because the drain hole got plugged. I have no real idea of what was the matter with the plant. I am good at killing plants.
I have a spare edge router that my nephew could use. I have some extra bits too. I went to the shed to see if I could spot router. I set up a table next to the door of the shed so I could simply set things from one place they are stacked onto the table without any bending over or actual lifting. I found the router quickly, but thought I had another router and a router table in there also. It is not good to depend on memories that are based on three or four cleanings ago.
I got to where all that was left to move was some heavy items and wedged items, and where my body was not up to even considering bothering with them. Since I had it mostly open, I instead I looked carefully through visible spaces between things, and then started re-stacking stuff. I did a better job this time at stacking things so I made a little more room.
From the grains of debris on the floor and on other signs, the bugs have been having fun in there. I saw that I have enough wood to keep me busy for a while. Some of this is exotic wood, sticks sent to me to be made into carved canes, wood I simply did not want to get wet. If piled in front of you, it would not be much, but if working on projects, it would take time to use them up. The hardest part is getting to the wood, because of all the stuff that is between me and them. Some have become well wedged in. There is also a bunch of Dad’s carving magazines that are out of my reach. I spotted several, rolls of quality sand paper that I can’t get to without more work. There are other things in there, I know, that I have forgotten about. With any space, one has to essentially empty it out to be reminded of what is actually in there.
To do get to the things in this shed properly, I really need to pull everything out of the shed, including the shelving and re-stack everything, clean thoroughly and put stuff back in, in a logical order. The last time I tried anything even close to that, it took me all day just to clear the floor to sweep it. As bad as I am feeling today, I was not about to even give that a thought. I figure it would be a two or three day job under the best conditions. Who has that kind of time or energy?
I went back in and napped for an hour or two to recover some more from my day. After lunch, I settled to work on the teddy bear that I started last Sunday. I had opportunities to stitch on it during the week and made good headway. I had started already started stitching the two halves together but had more to do, so that is what I started on first. After turning it inside out, I stuffed the arms, legs and then the body and was adding eyes to it. I left the 8 pound test fishing line at home and once I attached the eyes, I decided that thread was just not good enough to keep them in place. I put it to the side and hope to work on it right tomorrow.
During the week, I saw a crochet article telling about working a square piece on the diagonal. The article said she doesn’t do any other style of working stitches any more. I took what I gleaned from the article and gave it a try in single crochet. It involves adding a stitch (increasing ) to each row. I really liked my results after about 25 rows.
As today was winding down, I had some time, so I decided to try what I learned, but using double crochet for a dishcloth. A good test of what I learned. It took a little bit on getting started. I had to some effort to realize that because double crochet is two rows tall, one has to add an extra stitch so you are increasing twice on each row to make the two sides come out at a ninety degree angle.
I got to where I had it about the size a square dish cloth should be, I started decreasing. I found that it is not working out the way it is supposed to. I have some experimentation to do. I am thinking that one of the decreases have to be at the end of the row to pull the end in. I was increasing at one end when building the triangle.
It is fun learning things, especially if you have to figure it out along the way. I have seen many projects where this kind of stitch is important. Knowing out to do it makes a difference. I was out of time and put that away.
I have no idea how I will feel tomorrow. Colds love to flare up again unexpectedly. I do hope I feel better tomorrow.
Year 16, Week 08, Day Two (week 754)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-15-15 Sunday
85 degrees, mostly blue sky with some puffs, to a full blue sky. Light breeze made the air nice and comfortable. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I stopped at a yard sale I accidentally found. They said these were the remains of an estate sale. I saw one movie I knew someone might like. Out of a lot of movies they had, none were what I would have wanted to see or that others I know would not like see or see again. I grabbed a box fan they had. There are times when an extra box fan is useful. That was one thing less they would have to deal with.
I set up in back and removed the stuffing from the head of the teddy bear to correct a number of mistakes I made. I had forgotten to stitch the neck so it would be smaller than the rest of the head. I now had the fishing line so I could attach the eyes properly. You want it to be an effort to pull them off. I stitched the ears, and then stuffed him again and finished stitching him. He is now finished, except for making some clothing. A perfectionist would be really disappointed by the results of my teddy bears but I am happy to have made them. None of them are the same and each one has their own personality. Only the red teddy bear has stitched eyes. The rest have button eyes. I could correct that but it is not worth the effort. I would really need to unstuff the head to do it right.
I might try something else just to change things up. I do have the two dish cloths I am working on. I do intend to make more of these bears, and also want to make clothing for the ones I already have made. That will take some experimenting. Three of them were made in wool, and I am curious as to what will happen if they are put into the hot laundry. Will they shrink a little? Develop into felt?
I was picking up my crochet materials with the idea of changing to another project when Mom said we should go out for lunch. I packed up completely. That pretty much killed my day.
I do hope to work on wood next weekend. I hope to be well past the cold then.
I will see what happens next weekend.
The four completed teddy bears. Now to figure out how to make clothing for t hem before I make any more. The green on the bottom right is my last one. The yellow on top left is the first Teddy bear I made, after I re-stiched the head three times. It will stay like that now.
The flower of the Clearodendon tree.
An Orchid in bloom I like the way this one almost resembles a cobra with the fangs bared.
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