Year 15, Week 26, Day One (week 723)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-19-14 Saturday
90 degrees in the late morning, rising to 95 in the late afternoon. Lighter breeze than I would like at these temps. Sunny and clear to the East. A few clouds over the Everglades that tended to shift West. Good Beach day or sitting beneath the shade and relaxing. The tourist department finally got the weather machine fixed and we were scheduled for the summer weather pattern for a while. For here, the summer weather pattern is where the mornings are almost clear always to the east . Some clouds will build up over the Everglades and then in the later afternoon, like towards two to four O’clock, the prevailing western wind will overwhelm the off-shore Eastern winds and come by to water the plants for the next day. The off shore winds won today and the clouds stayed away. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.
I started out yard sailing after Breakfast. The first sale had some decorator/entertaining type things. Cute, interesting, but have absolutely no use for them or places to put them. I was heading south so I used what usually is the end of my path as my start. There was nothing in that area which was a real surprise.
Since I was not too far because of the route I was on, I stopped at the Walmart Grocery store (Some Walmarts are grocery only) for a pit stop. I got a few things I needed at.
Near Walmart is a dangerous store for me. Jo-Ann’s Cloth world is a craft and hobby store aimed at the homemaker. Half the store is devoted to sewing. The rest is crafts and hobbies. It is a very dangerous place to visit when the mood is right. They have yarn along with stuff for most projects I could think of doing. Well not all.. Luckily, it was not open yet.
I then continued on my search for yard sails since I was not too far from one end of our paths. There were very few yard sails out and it was known to be a clear and clean morning.
I found one yard sale where the woman dabbled a tiny bit in various crafts. From the look of it, she was not big into crafts but just did a little bit of this and that and likely lost interest quickly. I saw some color and started drooling. Two little baggies, one had several small balls of yarn of various colors. Another had a bunch of knitting needles with one project still on the needles. These were 11, 15 and 17 sized aluminum needles. The project on the needles started in one type of yarn which was not a high quality stitch but not too badly done. Another color yarn was added and the spacing and stitch was pretty bad. It looked like it was knitted with no tension and I looked at it closely, thinking it was dropped stitches.
I have never knitted before. What I am thinking is that the first color was done with someone helping, watching, and the second color may have been done on her own. I left the needles in the yarn just in case I decided to experiment with knitting. It is already started and set up. I figure I will see if I can do better later. The strip was about four inches wide and each color was about nine inches long. It shows me what can go wrong and a little bit of what can be done right.
Those small balls are colors I like. They were likely given to this crafter to get her started. I stuck them into my crochet bag just in case I decide to dabble in something else while I am working on my present scarf. It is nice to have options to grab and work instantly.
I kept the needles and that started project in my truck in case I decide to give knitting a try.
Of course, I didn’t need more yarn and I definitely don’t need needles. II have a whole bunch of needles sitting in my yarn stash area that have never used since I got them. This is one of those times, which happens now and then, where if I knew someone else was going to grab them, I would have left the yarn and needles for them. I was not sure and just had to get them so nothing bad would happen to them.
I think I saw one other yard sale. For such a good weather report, it is strange no one had yard sales.
After a short nap, I went outside and worked on the ladle I am making. I had started hollowing out the bowl with one of my knives. It was doing all right but thin slices are not like what you get with a chisel. Using a slightly rounded gouge, I hollowed out the bowl as deep as I care to go. I started using the hammer to make stop cuts and get the bowl started, then once it was about half as deep as needed, I shifted to pushing the gouge through the wood. Part of this was that I had forgotten that the chisel slices through the wood without having to be forced since I made my first ladle. I stopped when itfelt thin enough for my needs.
While typing this, I remembered that I had found my Scorp set, which is a chizel set that is pulled sideways through the wood. I could not figure out where it was with the first ladle I had made so I used power to clean up the inside and out. More on that later in this note. Next time I work on it, I will use the scorp set to work the inside in hopes they will give me the control to smooth out the inside rather than using power.
As mentioned, I still have to clean up the inside of the bowl. I will, then shape the outside to match the shape of the inside. I have better control on working the outside rather than the inside so I get the inside exactly the way I want it first.
The handle is still visually clumsy, though it feels good to the hand. I might re-mount the ladle on the lathe and make the handle thinner. It is getting close to being finished!
Before I went inside and cool off and watch TV. I looked around at a few projects that could be done quickly and easy.
Later in the day, I went back out. On the end of the cart (a BBQ cart) that has the wooden box my little lathe is in, I have a bunch of wood and tools that were just piled there. A lot are crochet handle stock, crochet needle stock and small pieces of wood. I decided to sort it and make it a little neater.
I set up my folding table and then emptied the end of the cart onto the table. That little space held a lot of stuff. I was surprised at how much was there, many tools I forgot about. Looking at the pile, I was trying to figure out what I might put them in. My first thought was to stack them back up in the same place, just neater.
I then remembered that Mom had purchased and ate some little oranges that came in cute little wooden boxes. They are a thin soft wood sides, wedged shape corners, press board bottoms. She was going to throw them away but I decided to keep them figuring I might eventually find a use for them.
It is one of those things where you need to keep stuff for “later” but you have to store them until then. I knew they were in the shed. I had to do some work to dig out the boxes. Luckily I did not actually have to move a lot of stuff to get to them. It was mostly stretching and reaching which is not great for my back, but I was able to put my weight on one arm to reach out.
The boxes were behind and beneath some things with a lot of space above them. They kept catching on a plastic bag that has dried gourds in it (Another example of getting it with the intention of figuring out what to use them for later, but now years later). Other than the catching, they were easy to pull out.
I decided to put the sticks of wood upright in the box where one can easily see what they are. At first they refused to stand up and were all falling over as I added more sticks. Then I remembered to tip the box up on end and stack the sticks first before uprighting the box again. They, on end, filled most (at least 3/4) of the box. I stacked a bunch of accumulated tools and supplies in another box.
I have some partial projects and tiny bowls. The bowls need to be sanded and cleaned up. Some were intended to have carved duckling heads on them. I put them in the last box.
The end of the cart is still full, but it looks a tiny bit better. I can find things now. It was only then 95 degrees out (I sat with a fan on me the entire time I was seated). And it was near time to go back in.
I’ve been working on a crochet scarf. I decided on this scarf to do something a bit different. I am doing a post stitch. Usually you catch on the horizontal bar of the stitches below. With a post stitch, you catch the upright post of the stitch. One thing that does is it pulls the post out proud from the horizontal bar. One can make ribbed work if you alternate between front and back post stitches. I decided to do an opposite post stitch. If I caught the front of a post on one row, I caught the back of the post on the next row. I was curios of what the effect would be. What has happened is that it looks like the piece was woven. I had recently changed color. I am not too happy with the colors but will use them since I started. I am actually more interested in using up yarn more than anything.
I have a few experiments with the post stitch I want to do, but will do them on small pieces just to see how they look. I do like this effect. It is different.
The main reason I am still making scarves is that it is something very easy to do in short stints, such as a few dozen stitches or a row in a waiting room or garage or while watching TV some place other than home (the computer rules at home)
I have several options for plans for tomorrow. If my brother is available, not working, I will go to his house. If he is not available, I will go to Mom’s house and find a project to do at least for a while. If conditions are not good, I can always stay home and look at the projects that need to be done but won’t be.....
I will see what I will do tomorrow.
Year 15, Week 26, Day Two (week 723)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-20-14 Sunday
Blue skies, sunny, warm. I never got near a thermometer so I have no idea what the temps were. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Fort Lauderdale Department of tourism.
My brother was available so I went to his house. It turned out he was looking at a new project and needed to see what was available and what they were going to cost. In many locations in our area, if you have a Home Depot hardware store, there is a Lowes hardware store “nearby”. The two stores we went to are about ten blocks apart.
I happen to have a plumbing project looking at me and while we was looking at his project, installing a new vanity, we discussed my problem. My biggest problem is that I find that plumbing leaks do more damage than electrical problems. What I learned was, my project may well be far more extensive than I ever thought. I don’t like the thought of that.
My brother realized he has to do some measuring to make sure what he is after. The question is whether the price he wants is within the size he needs.
It was kind of fun going through the store and not having a serious need to spend money. We both left with our money, and full of ideas.
After we got back, we decided sleep sounded good. I left and headed home. He also had a race to watch.
Next week the chances of doing something will be a little higher if the weather is on my side. I have no limit to the projects to work on, and a life-time’s worth of wood to make into sawdust. There is non-messy projects to work on also. I really should take everything off the work bench, sort, clean, and re-stack everything there. From experience, just sections of the workbench is a project.
I guess I will have to see what I actually do next weekend.
This shows where I am now on the ladle. I may change the handle slightly, and will shape the outside to match the inside after I clean up the inside nicely.
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