What are you doing today?

[iKnitQuiltSew]

Your addition is beautiful!

[Larissa]

I stopped posting for a bit because I started to feel like it was The Larissa Show in this discussion, and while I'm a complete egomaniac and always willing to talk about myself, that's a little much.

Been busy, as usual.  Got all approved for the farmers market, which runs every Sunday from June 4 - October 15, and then decided not to do it.  Crappy business practices on the part of the otherwise very nice organizer gave us the chance to step back and really think about what we were taking on, and realize it wasn't a great idea.  Instead, we're thinking we might apply for the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival, which is just one weekend in September/October.

I've had a crazy amount of face painting & temporary tattoos, and have been booking Eric for a lot of balloons.  In fact, this Saturday, I've got two gigs, one with him, and Sunday we're working at Taste of Ramsey together with face painting and balloons.

Things got so crazy, that two months ago, I wrote "no freakin' gigs!" in our google calendar for this past weekend, and we spent the whole weekend hanging out, going to lunch with a friend on Saturday, doing stuff around the house, and then spending Sunday at the zoo & playing mini golf, just me & E.  It was so nice not being on a schedule!

The rest of life is pretty normal.  Still in the EC, still in book club, still in the face painting guild.  Oh!  So there's this organization called FACE, based in the UK.  It offers the ONLY face painting certification in the world.  To get in, you complete a written application (which is like an essay test) and then take a practical test.  I took it Saturday morning.  Won't hear for a couple weeks at least, everything gets sent to the judging panel in the UK.

Today is just work & stuff at home.

[iKnitQuiltSew]

I am SO glad you checked out all of the rules/regs for your Farmer's Market, Larissa.  Sometimes a show sounds so very good until you find out what's in the fine print.  Better to find out before you commit!

We own a really nice dining room set that is solid oak (table and six upholstered chairs).  It was gifted to us by some friends who grew tired of it.  At that time, it was in great shape.  We used it A LOT.  After much deliberation, we decided to move it, since it does fit in the space in our new house, even though the upholstery is completely worn out.  After all, I am iKnitQuiltSew... how hard could it be to reupholster the six chairs?

Okay...  I'm an idiot!  I can't believe how little sewing is in upholstered hardwood chairs - it's mostly staples!  Taking the first chair apart took me the better part of a whole day.  The eight screws were easy; the at-least-300-little-staples were a pain in the a**.  But once I got it down to pieces, it was kind of fun.  The first chair took me two full days to complete.  Before and after pictures are below.  I am really hoping that I can get the completion time down to one a day...  we will see.  I do have the seat of the second chair already done today.  The back of the chair is where the person they gave the staple gun to went absolutely beserk!  At least I don't need to be quite so careful now as I saved all the pieces from Chair 1 to use as patterns.

[MulchandMore]

  Sandi,
I'm thinking back to my first (and I think only) upholstery project....back when I was young and my kids were toddlers...It was a swival rocker...the staples weren't bad, but the layers of loose batting and padding when I took the material off...I was in a panic that someone would even breathe on it wrong before I could get it back together! and that I would have a very mis-shaped chair.

Larissa, your post always make me feel better (that I'm not over-doing and should do more), even if at times they make me tired. Inspiration to stay busier is always good.

Tonight I'm trying to get a tote full of yarn labeled to add to my show inventory (set-up is Fri) and it's a two day fiber show! 27 skeins done, another 16 and I'll be done with the superwash and about half done overall...shouldn't have stockpiled all winter

[Larissa]

Holy crow, Sandi, when you said you were reupholstering, I pictured this (http://reefbotanicals.blogspot.com/2014/05/its-embarrassing.html) which is the only reupholstering I've ever done.  You're doing the real deal!  Looks amazing!

Bev, that sounds like a boatload of work!

I don't know why I even post what my plans are; they never stay static.  Yesterday's "work and home" turned into intending to do work, then help friends catch their swarm, then home... except by the time I was leaving work, their swarm had left, so it became work, grab dinner with E, and then head over to the friends' place for beers and to hang out.

Mostly, I'm just obsessing over FACE and whether I'm getting in on this try.  I'd love to know like yesterday!

[iKnitQuiltSew]

Thanks, Larissa!  Your project looks terrific!

[MulchandMore]

Larissa, you were right about that "boat load" ...The boat was too big to get afloat last night so I'm still working on it! Today I had to run errands and put a couple of eye-screws in the trailer to help hold a new rack in place for the trip! The rack should hold several pounds of my dyed roving and top (since I expect a lot of spinners at this show

I know exactly what you mean about changing plans, working my dyeing and candle making in around my husband's plans for cooking (he loves to plan meals and cook) can be challenging. Then there's the putting away everything that little cat claws can get into while we are sleeping ...kids were easier-they slept when we did!

[Larissa]

Seriously, the animals!  I can't leave ANY of my fleece or yarn where the dogs can get to it; I'm lucky I can even leave the wheels in the living room unmolested.  The alpaca especially, they go insane for alpaca.  The first time I brought a bag with alpaca fleece in it into the house, I had two huge dog heads IN the bag before I could even get through the front door.  Huge, heavy dog heads.  Nutjobs.

Hey, you might know.  So Bobbin Boy did a gorgeous job getting my whorl made, and that, my flyer, and bobbin to the new "old" wheel are back safe & sound.  This is on the 1870s wheel (he said possibly older, which makes me love it even more, likely Norwegian), which is a double drive.  I need a bit of leather for the footman, to reattach it to the treadle, and also the two drive bands.  A friend told me the Ashford repair kit would have the leather, but I don't see that it does.  Can I cut one myself, or do you know where I can get one?  And the drive bands?

Also, I bought and downloaded the Spinning Wheel Maintenance Bundle from Interweave, but do you know where I can get a good video on how to set up a double drive wheel, and how to spin on it?  I don't even know how these knobs on the bench in front of the mother-of-all work, and I'm afraid the book and videos won't have that sort of thing.  Any ideas for me?  Thanks!

[MulchandMore]

The knob on the end of the table will move your "mother of all" (the bobbin assembly) closer or further from your drive wheel, which will tighten or loosen your drive band.  To make a drive band; 1. go to the hardware store and find a plain cotton 3-ply replacement chalk line. 2. Adjust your tension so the mother of all is the closest to the drive wheel 3. wrap your cord twice around the drive wheel going once in the bobbin grove and once in the other grove (your cord will cross over itself at the bottom 4. cut cord to leave about 3-4 inches overlap for splicing.  5. splice by un-twisting the strands and working them back into the other end (maybe there's a u-tube on that, it's hard to explain, I learned by watching my Mom do it on her wheel) Some people will sew the ends in with fine thread, I tend to work a little elmer's glue into the join. After everything is set(glue dry) you can tighten or loosen the belt as needed (the tighter the tension the faster the yarn draws in with less twist)

To attach the footman to the treadle just tie it with a leather shoelace or a piece of cord, the treadle and the footman may need about an inch or two between them for the wheel to rotate correctly.

Whew, I feel like I just wrote you a book, but if it's not clear let me know, these things are so much easier to explain in person, but I'm sure you will figure it out

My tote of yarn is labeled and it's raining today so time to print business cards and do laundry!

[Larissa]

Thank you!  What are these two knobs for?  They're just sitting in holes and pull right out.  And yes, that was English!  LOL

You print your own cards?  I use Vistaprint.  There are always coupons and occasionally freebies. 

[MulchandMore]

Those two knobs I don't think are original to the wheel (different pattern on the lathe work) but think they were added for decoration. originally I would assume that a distaff holder would fit into one of them, and since there are two holes there might have been a lazy kate or skeinwinder attachment? but I'm just guessing from what I've seen on other wheels.

Yes I print my own business cards since I use them as contact cards, but also by printing different info on the backs they serve as my yarn labels, husband's magnet labels, son's shawl pin holders, etc. I also print my  own show schedules for each year to hand out at the shows. I guess I'm a do-it-myselfer that likes the ability to change things on them as needed and the consistency  of having my labels and cards look the same. I do like the looks of Vista print, but that would be just one more thing to remember to order.

[Larissa]

Those two knobs I don't think are original to the wheel (different pattern on the lathe work) but think they were added for decoration. originally I would assume that a distaff holder would fit into one of them, and since there are two holes there might have been a lazy kate or skeinwinder attachment? but I'm just guessing from what I've seen on other wheels.

OMG, really?  Haha, I had no idea!  And those damned knobs are the largest part of what was throwing me on setting up the wheel.  I was thinking in terms of the scotch tension knob on my Ashford, and that those must have some similar purpose with the double drive.  <snort>  Thank you!

Yes I print my own business cards since I use them as contact cards, but also by printing different info on the backs they serve as my yarn labels, husband's magnet labels, son's shawl pin holders, etc. I also print my  own show schedules for each year to hand out at the shows. I guess I'm a do-it-myselfer that likes the ability to change things on them as needed and the consistency  of having my labels and cards look the same. I do like the looks of Vista print, but that would be just one more thing to remember to order.

That's an excellent reason.  I am mostly a DIYer, as you all know, but man, I've gotten tired.  Handmaking all the soap labels is why my soaps are largely unlabeled these days.  I just don't have the patience to futz anymore.  So yeah, Vistaprint Reef Botanicals cards, Vistaprint Face & Body Art by Larissa cards (which I will change if I get into FACE, to add the FACE logo), and I'm not sure where E ordered his Blades & Board cards.  Probably also Vistaprint.    For the yarn, I got regular price hangtags from Staples & use those to list yardage, weight, contents, and price.  I obviously got the big ones.

Then again, might be smart to hole punch the business cards and write it all on the back of those.  Hm.

[iKnitQuiltSew]

I do VistaPrint for my business cards, too.  But then I print the labels for all of my things.  The basic design matches the card design, but I can customize the labels to suit what they are going on and print them in small quantities.  That way everything still matches but is unique to what it's on.

[Larissa]

I do VistaPrint for my business cards, too.  But then I print the labels for all of my things.  The basic design matches the card design, but I can customize the labels to suit what they are going on and print them in small quantities.  That way everything still matches but is unique to what it's on.

You just gave me an even better idea.  The yarn specs on address labels, stuck to the back of my business cards, which I hole punch and tie to the skeins of yarn!  Damnit, and here I bought all these stupid price tags. 

Not tonight, though.  Tonight, I go to check out someone who's got a bunch of vintage galvanized steel milk boxes for sale on Craigslist, from an old NJ dairy farm that no longer exists.  Eric and I want one for our front porch, so we can do porch pickup of purchased eggs in an insulated box. 

[MulchandMore]

After hand writing all the specs on the back of my cards I did go to the address labels, but they didn't have room for all the info, so now I just print the general info on the back with blanks to fill in the yardage and oz, and listing the different fibers I spin to circle and % of hand dyed and natural or commercial to fill in. and an ID NUMBER to match my inventory book!

Those milk boxes sound interesting, if the price is right you might want to pick up some extra, would be great for eggs and honey at an occasional farm market if you find the right one to do. The hang tags might work for hats or shawls when you add those to your inventory, for care labels