Change of Crafting Title

I've been thinking a lot about this condition of craft whoring.  I don't feel like it's an appropriate title for what I do.  Well, it's an appropriate title for what I have been doing in the past, but not what I do currently.

A craft whore, does crafts, often for monetary value, and she can't really stop what she does and doesn't spend to much time with her projects, thus the wrecked results.  If she spent more time with her projects she'd be a craft wife or a craft girlfriend.

I have the wrecked results part, but I don't craft for money.  Most of my crafts are gifts, chosen carefully for the giftee.   And I don't commit (I have changed my brother's Christmas presents twice already), which matches the whore thing, but the urban dictionary's definition, "someone who is addicted to crafting" is not the correct definition of the term craft whore, I feel and it is not the correct definition for what I do.

I am addicted to crafting, but that doesn't make me a whore.  A whore may be addicted, but the an addicted person is not necessarily a whore.  The whole selling aspect doesn't match up and the pattern of obsession, binging and bouts with sobriety (periods of sanity).  

If someone is addicted to drinking, they call him or her a drunkard, or an alcholic, so maybe we should play with those words more, to see what comes out.  A craftard or a craftaholic.

I really like craftard, cause it kind of combines the word "craft" with "tard."  Which probably describes what I do in crafting more accurately.  Craftaholic works well, but I can quit at anytime, :).  This title denotes the addictive nature of crafting, but not the half-hearted sloppiness and subsequent mess that is the general result of most of my attempts. Craftard's my favorite title, so for future reference, my chosen crafting nickname is CraftTard.

Craft on addicted crafters!  Love from the,

Broken Bobbin

So as it turns out, the little bobbin on my mom's sewing machine was broken and that's why the thread kept snagging and then the bottom stitching wouldn't catch.  So if we go to the Arlington Sewing Machine on Main St. we can probably get it replaced.  I'm all hopes, but no fears.  Well, they might not have a replacement, because it's an older model, but it's not THAT old!  When this gets fixed, all my sewing projects are "GO."  Super excited.  

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Update!  we got a new bobbin holder and it only cost $15 dollars!  I love the Sewing Machine Store in Arlington and it seemed really busy when we went in.  Now I just have to start on some of these projects.  Alas, I never seem to have very much time because I'm working more than full-time, 42 hours.  I think I need to go back to working on the weekends at Whataburger.  I don't know though.  Really, it's a thinker.

I really need to take this partially done quilt to the quilt store and get it professionally finished.  It's ok to ask for help if you are in deep and you can't find your way out of a craft project.  It's a beautiful quilt and I'd like to use it.  My mom is only going to grunt at me when I ask her help because we have so much other stuff going on that needs and deserves our attention.  Craft projects just naturally take a back burner.  I haven't knitted in months.  And that's saying something cause I suck at knitting and counting stitches, but I have kept myself in knitting projects for 11 years prior to 2017.

Craft Nonsense

Just called Arlington Sewing Machine, I noticed this little shop, going to my appointment in downtown Arlington.  The bobbin holder of my mom's old faithful Singer was chipped, causing the thread to snag and sew big loops that weren't connected to anything.

So I just called them and they said they probably would have the part, I'd just have to bring it in to have them look at it.  If they do or if they don't, it's worth a try, and our sewing machine could be up and running and I'd have a lot of great projects to start on.

I love little mom and pop shops and I wish I could start one.  My dream is a coffee/yarn store.  I'd call it The Knitty Gritty.  Please don't steal my idea.  :)  I even know where I'd put it, that place between Auto Zone and The Half-Price Bookstore almost on Cooper, where the road divides.  It used to be a florist's, I think, but now it's just sitting empty.

I'm going to start including recipes and cookbooks in with my craft nonsense, because I feel it's all related.

Update 12/07/18.  We got the part at The Sewing Machine on Main Street.  Turns out they have everything sewing machines and just had that part.  It was wonderful.

Another idea of where I'd put that store:  on Little Road where the Herby's used to be.

Repurposing Old Clothes

My latest craft project has to do with repurposing old clothes.  I have a ton of old clothes - most of them have some sort of hole in them.  They are taking up my hammock space and that's my little reading room.  I kind of gave up on the hammock when I started to work at Subway and it became a shelf for all these old clothes.  My resolution tonight is to find a project for each of them.  I already have a sweater that I want to turn into a skirt and a shirt that I want to turn into a bag.  Wish me luck.  I'll try to take some pictures so ya'll kinda know what I'm doing.  My phone is acting weird, so we'll see if I get any of the photos.

Update:!  Got my phone remastered.  I pretty much hate my phone.  I do not treat it like a little angel.  It is a machine.  Maybe I should, I know a lot of people do. But now it works!  I'm going to try to be nicer to my phone in the future.  It works for me!

I have decided to mend this hideous green dress, where the strap came down, on some of the old clothes, I could not find holes, so just rehung/folded them.

 This is a purple shirt on a purple bed, that I plan to make into a bag/tote. The pink ribbon for the very small hole.  I got this recently from Goodwilll.  

 

 This is a detail of the hippie embroidery that I loved on the shirt

 This is a detail of the ribbon on the shirt

 Here is the hideous blue and green dress.  That is the tear in the fabric.  

 Here is the dress

 It's from Pink Apple, I got it from Fallas, near the mall, in 2011.  

 These are details of the sweater.  Sweet Margaret Obenigba got it for me cause I have a problem with my pants falling down.  It is extra long for that reason. 

 I plan to get it some lining and something for the waist and make it into a skirt.  It's the most complicated project, so far.

 Love me some pastel rainbows!  I think I got this from Target in 2016.  

 Here is the tiny hole.  

 A bit bigger!

 You can barely see it!  But I know it's there!  I'm going to cut a swatch off the bottom and make these pants shorter and sew the patch onto the butt of the pants where the hole is located.  

Some banana pants.   I'm going to hem the bottoms. I've had these forever.  I hated them because they had stretchy cuffs at the bottom and were too short.  I cut a slit in them, but they just frayed and were overall hideous.  How can I get rid of banana pajama pants, though?   They'll make cute shorts.  

Update 12/07/18: I still have all these projects to do.  

A Great Charity to Drop Off Baby Hats and Other Knit and Crocheted Items in the DFW Area

Found a fitting home for my spare knitted baby hats.  Feels good to donate something I don't need to someone who could really use it.  

This is a great foundation that takes mostly blankets, but also takes knitted hats, scarves and blankets for all sizes of patients. 

http://www.warmupamerica.org/parkland

Mail baby blankets to:

Warm Up America! Foundation
c/o Parkland Babies
3740 N. Josey Lane, Suite 102

Carrollton, TX 75007

If you are in the Dallas area and would like to personally deliver your baby blanket or other knitted or crocheted donation, please contact Ann Foster or Lisa Little at Parkland (214-590-8827) for drop off information.

For the latest updates about the Parkland Call for Donations, visit us on Facebook.

So if you are like me, and have an abundance of knitted things lying around that you don't use, send them to the address above or drop them off to help warm a patient in need.   

Hating to loving yourself: An internet journey

So I decided to continue making hats, I have one in the works, no pictures yet, my phone is recharging.

It's the grey and black and it's the largest size because I always worry about babies outgrowing the little ones I knit too soon.  It's going great so far, but I I'm decreasing and I think I missed some stitches, because things aren't turning out too evenly. I've got six stitches on one side of the marker and eight on the other side.  Not a problem for me, though.

I'd love to visit with others while I knit.  I know a couple of sisters who knit and craft.  Meg Hunter knits and Ahunna Ikpeowo crotchets, while Joanna Jenkinson crafts with leather.  I've looked at the Meetup site for this and while they have a group, I'm on the waiting list.

My mom crotchets, but hasn't done it in a while. I tried to convince her to finish that quilt I started and the cross stitch I started but I don't think she's interested in craft leftovers.

I want to take back charge over the quilt.  It's all kinds of purple, perfect for my room and it's not going to get cold this year so...I could just use it as a cover and not my allergies inducing duvet.

Still lonely as heck.  I want someone to tell me what to do, but you know what happens when people do that.  Things turn into work and they pick something that you don't want to do. It feels good after you accomplish it.  But if you are alone all the time, you only get vaugue impressions of what people "want" you to do, not a clear picture and some people say "Figure out your own damn thing to do, you're an adult,"  and it's really disappointing and not that easy, cause when you are kid everyone tells you what to do.

So what's more important, resetting your biological clock or getting things done, even if at the wrong time?  I think I'm going to AVON til 11 and if I feel sleepy by then I'll crash, or just lie awake in the dark, thinking about things.  I got this super awesome book, which was totally out of character, because it's a cheap paperback workbook, and trashy looking, The Girlboss Workbook, by Sophia Amoruso.  I love it because it is different from books that I would usually get.

I also got a journal, but when I think about it I panic.  I have in my head the perfect journal, the journal devoted to one subject, glory be to God.  It would either be 1.) poetry.  2.) A novel.  3.)My special journey. 4.) Deep dark secrets or junk journal, but God knows, I've got way too many of those.  Really though...I have a blog.  I don't know why I bought the journal, except that I'm a hopeless perfectionistic, romantic dreamer.  Really, I have a blog to post all my secrets on.  Am I right, people?

For next time:  Get your butt up, break that sleepiness seal.  You won't regret it.  Go to the meeting, return those texts.  Don't reveal all your secrets in one blog, leave an air of mystery.
For this time:  Get your butt up, AVON out, love yourself.

Update:  Reading this post, I got the incredible idea about how great it would be if there was a craft supply company like AVON, where crafters sell to crafters. I dunno, just another half-baked idea.

Baby Hats for Baby Heads

I have two infant baby hats, but looking at how fast the babies are growing on Facebook, I'll have to create a larger version.  I'm going to go with the largest version possible, because they will always grow into it and they are stretchy, especially when washed. Here are the finished projects.

Also, to those who were hopeful about the Modge Podge experiment, I apologize.  The materials were way to expensive, I didn't have any desk space and I was distracted with other projects and life matters.  I don't have the money or the time right now.  But I do want to start a new knitting project, something I could work on my free time, that wouldn't be too expensive.  I really have felt that I need to do something else creative in knitting so stay tuned to my next knitting project.

Update:  I'm making this neat grey shawl out of wool.  I needed to rekindle my love for knitting, not just churn out baby hats for babies I never even got to hold.  So making a cool shawl for myself, which I'll probably never use, because winter is over and it took me all winter to make it.  Well, maybe if I have a sleeveless dress.  Looking out for that perfect item to match.  Maybe a little black dress?  A little grey dress?

Update, Jachin still has his hat and wears it.  Not too shabby!
And I made the grey shawl and usually use it on the couch to warm up.