The Crafting Thread

[Auspice]

A number of us are some damn crafty bitches... So why not a thread to discuss it?

To start... what are some projects you're currently working on?

I am currently working on a Hufflepuff scarf for someone and the 'Toshstrology' blanket that madelinetosh and Jimmy Beans Wool did last year. I uh, got way behind, because knitting with wool in the summer would've been miserable. Also knitting a blanket is miserable, so I took it all out last month and started over in crochet. I've already surpassed the progress I'd made.

This year, madelinetosh is doing another blanket K/C-AL themed on semi-precious gems. I didn't go for that (another blanket that'd cost me nearly $300 by the end? Nothanks), but I did sign up for the shawl one. You get a mini-skein of the month's color. That is totally my speed/cost.

[surreality]

Crappy phone photos are crappy, I know this.

This is the reason my hands hurt over the weekend:

...there are two of those, three of another kind in the same beads that's shorter, and another one that's twice as long as that one with a supplementary piece that clips it into different drapes. OW.

This is the reason I have crampy crab hands today:

...and this is the project leash. On my screen, at least, at full size, my hand is exactly that size, as in I can put my (scrawny short girl man hand) right over it and it fits, but I'm not sure if the forum will resize it or not. The piece in the pic with the project leash is the one with beads on it above, for an idea of scale. Yeah, ow ow ow ow ow. Both of those are 'since around midnight', so at least they're not taking quite as long as I worried they might?

...this was the summer project (well, this and about 50 more similar to it) but I've tried to explain it to people and explaining it just confuses everyone. All the chain there, save for the shiny copper bits, we treated with a bunch of patinas. The shell is an actual shell I ended up dremeling the upper hinges off of, painting with a high metal content paint, and then also slathering in patina chemicals for something along the lines of an 'aged bronze' effect.

[Auspice]

I love the shell!

I'll try to get a couple pics here in a few...

[Auspice]

OK. Here's the two projects I currently have going (I need to buy the needles next week to start the shawl):

[jibberthehut]

God, what do I have going? Too many irons in the fire. I'm doing a star wars gift exchange and the folks want something for their baby, his bedroom is star wars. So currently 3Dprinting out the doll that Jin Erso had as a kid and will have to assemble it and send. I have a quilt going - by hand this one wtf was I thinking - of the WoW horde symbol, that's slow going. I also have to finish off the rest of a quilt for the little girl I look after, her birthday is in a month. I have a 1/4 of it left to quilt and then bind. But where I'll find time for it all who the hell knows. After that, I already have other things lined up. Doctor Who quilt for an old MU friend of mine for their as yet unborn, and then maybe finish my sweater I'm knitting. Maybe.

Mind you, looking up in this thread, there is some awesome crafting happening!

[Auspice]

I was eyeballing some of those Reddit gift exchanges, but I just have too much going on right now and wouldn't want to end up half-assing it.

The number of active projects in my life has scaled back a lot. Don't have time for much between school and work. Most of what I do, I do while watching TV. I've been debating getting an Audible membership so I can "read" while I knit.

[tek]

@surreality I love your work!

[jibberthehut]

@Auspice I used to do a ton of them, but unemployment struck the husband and now I work and money goes to bills. So I participate in just a few now and then, and usually if I know I can do something homemade or have a little bit saved up to do it. Kid won a bunch of star wars stuff at Christmas in a contest, so the star wars one was easy, just wait and see who he got and then pick from in that (stuff he didn't want) and then 3d print out something. He's deciding whether to print out a bunch of death stars and make a mobile too, for the baby.

[Auspice]

madelinetosh and Jimmy Beans Wool teamed up for another year-long MKAL. This time, however, instead of just the blanket (not doing another so soon), they also have one with mini balls to make a shawl.

I never wear shawls, but I enjoy knitting them. Then they end up on the wall or draped over a mirror or somesuch.

Anyway, finished off January's (Labradorite) section today (the colorways are all based on semi-precious stones):

Anyone interested:
Subscription Link (JBW)
The pattern

[TwoGunBob]

Ah heck, I finished all those undead Roman figures with bows, swords, pilums, ballistas, whatevers. I reached out to the wargame community and managed to buy a set of cavalry for the range from a person in the Netherlands. The range was originally Russian and discontinued in 2003 so they are getting harder and harder to find. Got them painted up a little while back and decided to take crappy phone camera pics of them just cause.

I really need to get an actual computer again and quit relying on my phone to do everything. The days when I'd try (unsuccessfully) to use a light box and edit the pictures... I kind of miss it.

[Ashen-Shugar]

Guess it's not overly crafty, but I write poetry and roast coffee.

My wife's the crafty one.

She's a costume designer and milliner. She designs the hats from scratch, most are made from leather, velvet, or other such things.

[surreality]

@Ashen-Shugar said in The Crafting Thread:

Guess it's not overly crafty, but I write poetry and roast coffee.

This is relevant to my interests. Tell us more!

Also, the hats are gorgeous!

[Auspice]

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

@Ashen-Shugar said in The Crafting Thread:

Guess it's not overly crafty, but I write poetry and roast coffee.

This is relevant to my interests. Tell us more!

Also, the hats are gorgeous!

Uh, yeah. Where can I get some Ashen Coffee?

[surreality]

@Auspice I know, seriously, this is official our hobby coffee! ...he could make a mint off of the lot of us!

[Ashen-Shugar]

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

@Ashen-Shugar said in The Crafting Thread:

Guess it's not overly crafty, but I write poetry and roast coffee.

This is relevant to my interests. Tell us more!

Also, the hats are gorgeous!

My wife's been doing this for years and years. She's slowly working on setting up a site where you can purchase designer top hats made to order. Each one takes between 16-30 hours of work depending on the materials and 'gadgets' and the prices tend to run from $120 to $500 or more again, depending on the materials, 'gadgets' and amount of time to design them.

Right now she takes email orders

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

@Ashen-Shugar said in The Crafting Thread:

Guess it's not overly crafty, but I write poetry and roast coffee.

This is relevant to my interests. Tell us more!

Also, the hats are gorgeous!

Uh, yeah. Where can I get some Ashen Coffee?

laugh I just have a small roaster, but I tend to collect green coffee and stockpile it. Green coffee, if stored properly, can last for near 30 years in a controlled condition, compared to roasted which lasts 6-8 weeks.

I currently have about 200 pounds of green coffee, of various varieties. My favoriate to date is Yergicheffee Single Origin, Sumatra Wahana, and Geisha Esmeralda.

I haven't bothered to try roasting Jamacian Blue or Kona, as frankly the green beans are too expensive for what it is.

For comparison:

Yergicheffe: Green $8/lb ... Roasted $22/lb
Sumatra Wahana: Green $6.5/lb ... Roasted $36/lb
Kona: Green $28/lb ... Roasted $40/lb
Jamacian Blue: Green $24/lb ... Roasted $45/lb
Geisha Esmeralda: $26/lb ... Roasted: $190/lb (that's not a typo)

The green is what you can buy it for, and the roasted is the average prices of that brand roasted.

I literally paid for my roaster in my first 3 months of using it.

As for 'Ash coffee'... er... I've been known to gift people with it at Christmas here and there.

I roasted 2 lbs of it for my mom's funeral, since the Sumatra Wahana was her favorite coffee of all time and she drunk it for 15 years when I introduced her to it. Always sent her coffee every few months. Got my mom to giggle like a school girl while receiving it. She sadly passed away two weeks ago, and it's been hard for me. Of everyone in the family, she (other than my wife) was the only one to 'get me'. My brother was a dick and told me of mom's passing away an hour after she passed away, and failed to notify me of the several days that she was hospitalized for... and I live only 40 miles from where she was. The reason for his not calling me about her being hospitalized? 'Well, you never call me, so it's your fault I didn't call you'. Yes, my brother is a gaslighting narcissist.

I was... not happy. I am still... not happy. I likely will remain... not happy with my brother for ... most likely forever.

So I drink Sumatra in remembrance of better times, and always toast my Mom on the first sip.

Oh well, such is life. Sorry for ranting, I'm still raw over it.

[surreality]

@Ashen-Shugar All the hugs and empathetic winces are sent for that story. Sounds a lot like some of the asshole behavior that goes down in my family as well. I do not think I could actually forgive that, and I have managed to forgive someone for attempted murder (of me).

[Ashen-Shugar]

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

@Ashen-Shugar All the hugs and empathetic winces are sent for that story. Sounds a lot like some of the asshole behavior that goes down in my family as well. I do not think I could actually forgive that, and I have managed to forgive someone for attempted murder (of me).

I likely will forgive it eventually. If for no other reason than to remove that pit of acid festering in my own gut. I likely won't forget it happened... ever... but forgive I can perhaps pull off.

For interest, this was the poem I had for my mother's funeral:

Distant Light

Distant shoals are sharp, the water dark,
The light has flickered and gone out.
Looking over the distant thunder,
We've sailed too long to turn about.

Shift the coat, stand up tall.
Take a breath, for this very night.
Our lives may have long be over,
But don't cry, it will be all right.

So sail on, into the night, old soul
Our sailing had enjoyment, it was fun.
For our final evening, sail... sail on...
Into the twilight of our setting sun.

[gasket]

@Ashen-Shugar said in The Crafting Thread:

I likely will forgive it eventually. If for no other reason than to remove that pit of acid festering in my own gut. I likely won't forget it happened... ever... but forgive I can perhaps pull off.

Reconciling it -- internally, not with him -- might be enough, too. At least, that's my own hope. My kid brother did some things following our mother's death that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive, but like you, I'd like to find a way past that festering pit if for no other reason than the memory of my mom deserves more.

That might be word-quibbling over reconciliation vs. forgiveness, too. Either way, best of luck.

[Auspice]

@Ashen-Shugar
Sorry to hear about your mother. And your brother's behavior.

I'm not sure I'd have the patience to roast coffee. I only go through rare bouts of drinking it anyway. But you sound about coffee how I can get about tea.

[TwoGunBob]

My painting has been off the rails for so long. I organized my projects finally set them up to seal and get ready for using them on the tabletop. This is a backlog of painting for about 18 months. My painting really got rusty and in my last move I lost all my paints except the Vallejo suitcase and just... It's nice to have some stuff finished and I can get moving onwards with those Mantic minis for Dragon Rampant.

It's kind of freeing to get all this stuff off the table so that the projects look a bit less overwhelming. Hopefully get back into the habit with the brush and paint and get more progress soon.