Year 13, Week 8, Day One (week 684)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-09-13 Saturday

54 degrees when I got up, 65 when I got outside and got up to 75 degrees as a high. It was a nice day with cotton clouds up high. There was a nice breeze also. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
   
Yard sailing was pretty good. A couple people were basically getting rid of stuff. I got 23 music CDs, Half I will listen to only once. A few are keepers. I got all of them for $2.
I got a whisk broom, a folding stool, a stainless steel bowl, a blanket, two note pads, a paper plate holder and a basket for someone special. I think I spent a total of about six bucks. I think I like the stool more than the seated cane I got. It is smaller and seems like it might be a bit more stable.
I looked at a kitchen-aid mixer (the good one) and forced myself not to ask how much it was. I don't use the stand mixer I already have and barely use the hand mixer I also have. The interest in the stand mixer was just that it looked so good.

Once I got out back, I dug out all my bins and washed each of my wood turnings from the antique shop. Some haven't been washed since they were made. At the antique shop, they were near a door with a gap at the bottom so sand and dust blew in. I also had to remove some cobwebs from a couple pieces. I used my yard sailed stainless-steel bowl to hold the water and rinsed out the rag in it. I had to change the water once because it was getting so dirty.
I sorted supplies and emptied a bin and some boxes. I then put my big carvings into the emptied bins and boxes. I had to repair the wing of one of my fairies, and the wing of a butterfly. Both wings were scroll sawed and they broke where the webbing was thin.
I emptied out my carving basket and rearranged it. I found several items I thought I lost like some small skewers of a large diameter. I looked for them a few weeks ago to make crochet hooks and had no idea where they were. Had I looked a little closer, I would have seen them.
I sharpened all my knives, which is a tradition for me. The art show is an excuse to sharpen every knife I own. Early on, I dulled one knife and the other was not sharp enough either. At another I cut myself so now I sharpen every knife I have and located sheaths to protect the blades.. This allows me to start the year in good stead.
When I got out of rehabilitation for my accident, I got my mini lathe and my carving kit out of the shed so I could access them without having to carry them, which at the time, was a real effort.
Because my carving basket is not in the shed, a few knives developed some surface rust on them. They are now cleaned up.
I intended to make some crochet hooks with the dowels I have, but by the time I was ready for that, I was out of the mood and the time.
One problem I found was that just to get set up to sit down and not move around, there is a whole lot of getting up and gathering things so you can do it. Dig out the folding table from the garage, get the basket, go potty, get the coffee, get that bag that is blowing away,,,, One spends more time getting set up then actually sitting. Then you have to put everything away again.
Mom was going some place about the time I had enough. My leg was discussing with itself whether it should start complaining to me or not.
I see I would have been worse off if I actually set up the display table like I planned. Mom made my decision by returning some tables back to where I had gotten them. I am saving myself for tomorrow, where I will need it most.
I will have far more than I need with me and decide what will show. My fairies will be on display. My carved vases will be on display. I have a plate rack for my platters.
I plan to have my scarves with me too.
I showed Mom my scarves and she said that she had not seen them for a while and they look great. We agreed that I will sell my long scarves for $15 and the one short one for ten.


I keep seeing striped scarves in the how-to-E-mails. I know I could do a really good job if I went down the side for the whole six foot length. The problem is that the first row into the chain gives me the most trouble of the project. the idea of doing six feet of the first row makes me resistant to doing a scarf that way. I will do it, but will think about it first.
One thing about making a scarf that way is that when I run out of yarn, it sets the width, rather than the length. Of course, I could end part with down the length. It is also easier to do stripes. The yarn change is carried on the ends where tassels can hide it, rather than the sides.
   

I have the art show tomorrow and with set-up and pack up, it will take all day long.
I will see how I do tomorrow.


Year 13, Week 8, Day Two (week 684)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-10-13 Sunday
       
I am not sure what the temps were like as I was inside all day long. I think it was in the high 50s early morning I think it got into the 70s later in the day. I do know the sky was mostly blue and there was a light breeze and loads of sun. It was cool enough to enjoy being outside. In the 13 years I have done the art show, we got rain once and that was before the show opened last year. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of LightHouse Point Department of Tourism.    

   
I had a devil of a time getting to sleep last night. I ended up digging into my stash yarn at the yarn I had. I had two balls of pink yarn that has the tinsel running down it. They were slightly different tones and weights. I chained six foot long, and returned with double crochet. I cut the yarn, tied in the second one and started another row. I will stripe it with the two colors. In low light, they are the same, but in bright light, the shade differences are visible.

I got up with the first alarm at Daylight Savings Time 4:15 and got going with my morning.
At mom's house, we loaded the truck and I went to the show. Mom brought the loads in from the truck and I set up the table. The set up ended up taking less time than I expected. I had some idea of how it was to be set up from the last time. I basically had my biggest carvings on a raised back row and smaller stuff on the different level shelves and then the table itself covered by work.

There is a brunch where you get your food from a buffet, and then sit down at linen covered tables and waiters come around for your drinks and dirty dishes. Brunch was good. I over ate and then some. The coffee was not great, but everything else was good.

During the show, my pixies ended up being popular. I sold six of them. They were at a lower price than I normally sell them but they did sell. I also sold a spin top I made as a turning club  challenge, A pencil head, an elephant ornament, and one of my tall-man carvings. The tall man carving is where I start with a two by two that is can be twice as tall as normal and sometimes taller, and carve the person out of it. I try to use up as much of the wood as possible, so I will put the nose sticking into a corner with the ears at the other two corners. The shoulders into the corners and the same with the hips and knees. One thing I love to do is to have him turning around, but that was not the one I sold.
I ended up with a good show total. It was average for most shows I have done here.
What surprised me was that other than what sold, was what didn't sell. Other than the spin top, I sold no turnings.

I was on my feet far more than I should have. I would get up and point out things, some funnies like my turned pastries were hollow calories, my fruit plates were high fiber and low sugar. I answered questions about the types of wood things were made. I mentioned to one person that all the fairies are life sized.

I gave shaving flowers to all the little children that came by. I found myself with a big smile as they made their selection and a while afterwards. One girl got one early and it lost a bunch of the petals, so I had her swap for a different flower. A young brother looked forlorn so I gave him a flower too.

I decided to crochet rather than carve. My wrist was not quite up to it and I was not interested in the extra mess. I did use my hand made wooden crochet hooks. I ended up having to rip out eight to ten rows of the scarf I was working on  because I increased and it was really throwing me off. It took a bit to use up the ripped yarn and get back to fresh. In all, I don't think I really made a whole lot of progress on that scarf.

My leg held up fairly well, a whole lot better than in the beginning of last week. I know, though, that I will feel, I mean hear about today for quite a while from my joints.

I now have some more money to get tools and supplies for wood working. Now if only I don't mix it with general funds like I have had to do over the past couple years... All I asked for in my wood working was for it to support itself. It did it until the down turn, then what little money I got went to other things.

Other than suffering the rest of the week from all my work, and a whole bunch of doctor's visits, I have to put most of my wood working away and see about any projects that catch my attention.

I will see what happens next weekend.