Here is the next square from the book Granny Square Flair, called Rosette. This one had many firsts for me, with construction of the flower and the making of the frame.
I’m hoping it evens out when I block it, which I’ll do in batches. Hm. I could probably start blocking these as I go. My plan is to put them on a grid with pegs, so they all come out the same size, and I certainly can’t put all 50 on at the same time.
The Great Wheel I spun with in the basement of the Doss had one accelerator wheel support bearing missing. The previous spinner’s solution was a bit of dowel and a pin, which worked just fine, but I wanted to try to make a replacement bearing.
I took a picture of the original bearing next to a tape measure so I had the measurements. Sorting through my stash I found some copper pipe that was about the right internal diameter of the side hole. This is the main point of friction, so having it lined with metal gives it a longer wear time. I drilled a hole through a 1/2” oak dowel and friction fit the copper pipe (hit it until it went through), then sanded the ends flush with the wood. Since carving small bits of wood is difficult, I worked with a long piece of dowel and carved the shaft at the end next.
My lathe needs assessment and all the bands broke on my belt sander, so I used a small round file to carve the decorative grooves on the bearing, then a coping saw to cut off the new part from the dowel “handle”.
I did some more sanding, then stained the part with dark wood stain to get it closer to the color of the other bearing.
Now it is time to line up a meeting with The Doss to see if the part fits and works with the great wheel!
In August 2018 I made two coat racks from black iron pipe for my “modern farmhouse” style home.
Each coat rack uses: two base plates, two 90 degree angles, 2 one-inch threaded pipes, 3 four-and-a-half inch threaded pipes, 4 T joints, 4 forty-five degree elbows, and 4 caps.
In “belt and suspenders” style, I superglued the screw joins to keep the angles, then filled the pipes with two-part epoxy. Once the epoxy cured I screwed them to the wall on the studs.
I can report that 8 years later these racks are just as sturdy as the day I installed them. With the epoxy inside there is no taking them apart!
I don’t like stress balls that have a tacky or even slightly tacky surface. Some people might, we are all different, but the feel is not for me. To solve the sticky problem I rubbed some corn starch into the surface. It doesn’t take much powder for the stickiness to be gone.
I was actually looking for a different kind of stress ball, but the description of the coconut oil with no rebound was intriguing. I can report that the experience is… meh. It is interesting for about two minutes after I shape it into a cube, then I’m done. I don’t recommend squeezing it very tightly.
I did another full width (100 stitches) knitting project on my “incredible sweater machine”. I wanted to make a shawl with random purple stripes, and originally intended it to be 65” long and calculated it needed 350 rows of knitting.
I tracked the hours I spent at the knitting machine using a row counter app (Knitting Chart), and when I bound off I had put in 8 hours to make 350 rows, which is much faster than I hand knit. I also had better focus, this project on regular needles would have sat for long periods of time. I did put in a rib every four stitches, and hooking up the perl ladders did slow down the process, but it was worth the time to have the shawl lay flatter and add interest to both sides.
I wove in the ends my favorite way with knit: at an angle on the perl side.
The cotton yarn knit tighter than my acrylic gauge swatch, so I didn’t make it to my desired length. I decided to crochet along the edges, a half double crochet stitch every other knit stitch, then added shell lace to the ends.
I steam blocked the shawl using a steamer and ironing board, which really helped even out the stitches and relax the curl.
Critters and Craft 