Crafting

Beat toxic productivity with a knitting swatchbook

Erica, Free

I don’t do well in between projects. So much of my self-worth is rooted in my creativity and when I don’t have a project to focus on, all I have left to focus on is work. Which no one should have to go through. 

So what can I do when I don’t have the energy, or honestly the skills, to complete some of the more ambitious projects in my queue? I turn learning the skills into my new project. A few years ago, I made a crochet swatchbook as a way to get back into that craft. Now, I’m going to do the same with knitting. 

I purchased three skeins of cotton yarn (it’s going to be the worst to work with, I know) and a “learn to knit” kit with all the necessary tools. I have a bunch of tutorials bookmarked in my computer and my phone and I’m ready to go!

My hope is that this project will be challenging enough to be creatively fulfilling, but simple enough that it won’t add any extra stress to my life. My boss is already up my butt about all the problems at work even though he is the one who took on a contract we could not fulfill and honestly I’m just exhausted. Then, once I learn how to knit different stitches, the sweaters I want to make won’t seem so daunting. Here’s hoping!

-Erica

Past Project Reflection: A New Plant Home

Erica, Free

I barely mentioned the process of redoing one of my birdcages in my last post,  but both of them ended up requiring quite a bit of work. The first one was more straightforward. As I discussed last time, I sanded it down and repaint it. The second one did not require any painting, but I wanted to cut a hole in the bottom so that my lemon tree could grow up into the birdcage. This required help from a friend with power tools.

I repainted my first birdcage while still deep in the throes of a DIY blog addiction. This was my first DIY project, and I became immediately acquainted with the very unglamorous side DIY. I wanted what all the bloggers had, a light airy workspace and impressive array of power tools. But they had the benefit of being firmly established bloggers with sponsorships and, often, a second household income.

I laid out my dirty camping tarp in my dingy parking spot and got to work. At this point, I did not have any power tools. There’s no outlet near my parking spot. I took off the door of the base is by hand, which was not hard, and sanded the entire thing down by hand, which was. I primed the whole thing one night after work, trying my best not to get any dirt or cobwebs mixed in with the paint. The next night, I painted the whole thing green. A second coat went on in the morning, the fixtures were installed later in the left the afternoon. After three days of parking on the street, I was able to move the stand up to my apartment, move my car back into the parking space, and move my plants into their new home.

Eventually, my plant collection began to outgrow the first birdcage. I bought another one, this time with a plastic bottom instead of metal so that I could cut a hole in it and place the lemon tree’s pot below the cage, allowing the tree to grow up into the birdcage. I thought it would be relatively easy. My plan was to heat up a kitchen knife and stab it through the plastic to melt it (I know, a terrible idea). Once I had perforated a full circle, I would just punch out the hole in the bottom of the cage. But the plastic turned out to be much thicker than I expected. I turned to a friend who does have power tools and she brought this Dremel over to try to help me. Even with power tools the process proved to be more difficult than expected. We broke a number of product before we finally succeeded. The result is a bit sloppy but highly functional. No although that original lemon tree house died (RAD) plant collection, like a gas, has expanded to fill the space provided.

My next adventure with these cages was grow lights. The space available for the cages and the layout of my apartment meant that both cages required grow lights. I started with a pair of LED lights that simply did not provide enough light for all the plants in the cages. They were also not particularly attractive, so I looked for an option that was both functional and aesthetically appealing. With very little research, I ordered a string of cafe lights for each cage and several grow light bulbs. I thought this would be a cheaper and less-cluttered look than the number of clamp-on grow lights that I would need for all my plants.

 I was excited to see that the grow light bulbs fit in the string of cafe lights and lit up, but they immediately grew very hot. A few quick texts later to a friend who knows much more about electricity than I do and it was clear I had created a fire hazard.

Thanks to my hubris, only one string of lights was returnable. The other found a home with my sister. She uses them with the intended lightbulbs.

I returned the unopened lights and purchased a set of industrial clamp lights and put the grow lights in those. The end result is that one of my birdcages is at least somewhat like I had originally planned, although with far more wires. But my plants are happy and my cats can’t eat them. That’s all I can really ask.

-Erica

Past Project Reflection: My Thrifted Dresser

Erica, Free

I’ve always loved my little white dresser. I bought it second-hand during my senior year of college to store my ever-expanding wardrobe and to help my bedroom looks less spartan. The paint job wasn’t great. It had been quickly painted with a single coat of white paint that left splotches of the wood showing through. There was a giant splinter coming off the corner of one of the drawers. And a few of the knobs were stripped to the point that they cannot be tightened. But I liked that it was solid wood and the perfect size to provide a decent amount of storage without being obtrusive.

When I moved to my current apartment, white actually went quite well with the color scheme. The paint job was still splotchy and the knobs were still janky, but it actually looked all right. And then I redid my birdcage stand. After months and months of idly scrolling through DIY blogs, dreaming of one day doing a project like that myself, finally did and it was pretty easy. I figured I might as well do it again.

I decided to try something a little more interesting, and settled on a two-color design. I also would use this opportunity to change out the stripped plastic knobs for new metal ones. I picked a shade of blue that I thought went well with the leftover green paint, and dragged the dresser down all three flights of stairs to my parking spot in the basement. After sanding the whole thing down and priming it (a very important step), I painted on all of the green. This included the raised front face of the drawers and a rectangular border along the top. I painted the rest of the dresser blue, including the borders of the drawers, and use painters tape to block off that green rectangle so that it can stay green. This is not turn out perfectly but I deemed it good enough.

The blue did not turn out as deep as maybe I would have liked, and some of the pencil outline of the green rectangle still shows through. It’s definitely not perfect, but it has a little more personality than just a plain white dresser, and now at least all the knobs are fully functional. After my Marie Kondo spree a couple years ago, it graduated from being a clothes dresser to being my substitute linen cabinet, a job which suits it very well.

-Erica

(There are going to be a lot of generic cover images for two reasons. One, I’m playing catch-up and taking actual photos just falls by the wayside. Two, I don’t have any “before” pics because I painted the dresser long before I started this blog)

Pillows on a recently made bed

A Smattering of Past Projects (Since I Have Nothing New to Share)

Erica, Free

In the absence of new projects to share, I figured I would share some old ones. These will be brief descriptions, rather than step-by-step reflections because honestly I just want a list of all the things that I’ve done all in one place. Hopefully the reminder that I used to do interesting things will motivate me to start something new. So here is a non-exhaustive list of the crafting and DIY projects I’ve completed in the past couple of years.

My Birdcages: I love my house plants. I had them even before I got my cats. And I was shocked that both my cats have an insatiable appetite for foliage. I figured birdcages would be the perfect solution, keeping my plants safe from sharp teeth and claws, but still allowing sunlight to reach them. I purchased two birdcages from Facebook Marketplace. One came with a wooden stand, which I lugged all the way to my basement to sand down and repaint a green that fits in my living room. Because my apartment, especially my living room, is a bit of a cave, I needed grow lights. I tried a couple set-ups before settling on 60-watt grow light bulbs in utility clamp lights. The set-up is not as cute as I originally imagined but still presentable enough to be in the living room.

My Small Dresser: I thrifted a low, white, three-drawer dresser for my apartment my senior year of college. It suited its purpose, but the paint job wasn’t great, and after painting my birdcage stand I figured I might as well paint my dresser. I still had leftover green paint, although not enough for the whole dresser, so I purchased a complementary dark blue color as well as new knobs for the drawers. This was another project that need to be carried all the way down to the basement before being sanded down and painted in multiple stages. I thought about alternating colors every change in profile that would be too busy. I settled on painting the center of the drawers as well as a green, rectangular outline along the top and then painted the rest blue. The rectangle on top is not exactly straight into the blue is not not as dark as I first imagine, but it certainly fits my decor better than a plain white for the painted dresser.

My Utility Shelves: I sometimes surprise myself when I remember that before I had my large set of shelves, I kept my TV on a small end table and I don’t even know where I kept my crafting supplies. When the end table proved inadequate, I decided to get some larger shelves. I liked the look of the black and wood IKEA shelves utility shelves, but I wanted to make them a little more formal for the living room, and also a little more exciting. I borrowed a staple gun from a coworker and purchased 3 or 4 yards of upholstery fabric from IKEA. I spent the night watching Grace and Frankie and stapling the fabric to the shelves. I love them, even though they are a pain to vacuum.

My Slipcovers: This project was born more out of necessity. My cats kept puking on my chairs. I figured it was easier to wash a slipcover than entire chair, but the slipcover patterns at IKEA leave something to be desired. I purchased more upholstery fabric and worked in fits and starts to create slip covers for my living room and bedroom chairs. The finished project product is sloppy and beginning to fall apart, but as my first ever sewing project I am very proud of them.

My Crocheted Blankets: I was really into knitting and crocheting in high school, although I never really advanced past scarves. After bringing all of my yarn to college with me, I started to make granny squares with the scraps from my various high school projects. I worked on them intermittently throughout college and then once I graduated decided I needed to finish the blanket. I took a long time and did require some further yarn purchases, but I am the proud owner of a homemade granny square blanket that fits well over my queen-size bed. With the leftover scraps from there, because there are always more scraps, I also completed a ripple blanket, which is wonky and subscribes to no particular color scheme but it is cozy.

Countless Embroidery Projects: Countless is somewhat of a lie. I could count them for you, but I don’t feel like it. Embroidery is by far my favorite creative outlet and there is more embroidery than anything else. Before I inflicted this curtain project on myself, I worked mostly on smaller projects like decorative hoops, bookmarks, and occasionally pillowcases. Looking back on those projects, I think it might be a good time to take a break from my curtains and maybe start something a little more inspiring.

After going through this list of projects I’ve completed in the past few years I think a couple of them merit a longer reflection. Maybe that will inspire me to start a different project.

(If I do a further reflection of a project, there will be pictures in that post. I was too lazy to get pictures this time.)

-Erica

The Scarce and Ephemeral Joy of Novelty (Repost)

Carolyn, Free

There are some things I was never meant to enjoy for very long. First, of course there was my life. Now, there are all these cute things you make and take into the office. I understand why. Work spaces can be so bleak and a little personal touch can go a long way.

I suppose for me, it is my craving for novelty that conflicts with your desire to make pretty things and take them away. You can follow your things to the office. And you can go anywhere you like and see new things that others have created. I have only these three rooms (I don’t count the bathroom).

You have lived here for what, three or four years? And that is already long for this building. I have been stuck in this apartment going on 30 years. Sure, a new tenant brings a little bit of excitement, different furniture and decorations, different lifestyles and personalities to observe. And while I must say, Erica, I like you the best of all, at times I do still chase that quick burst of excitement. I can’t help myself I have lived with you for 10% of my afterlife and in reality if you have done very little to change the decoration of this apartment.

I don’t say this to convince you to redecorate at a rate that would satisfy me. That would not be sustainable on any budget. And I understand the amount of effort you have put into this apartment and environment. I say this only so that you will understand how delighted I was watching you plan and create these delicate little trays with match jars. It was a side of you I had never seen. Measuring out the dimensions of the items you wish to keep there, squirrelling away cardboard cereal boxes as you finished them, carefully measuring out the dimensions of each separate piece and of cardboard and peace of paper, cutting them all out and assembling the final product.

I was there with you the whole time. I delighted in your success and the thought that every time I looked at the tray would be a pleasant reminder of those evenings we shared watching television and me watching you create something.

So you can understand my disappointment when this little tray was soon sequestered away to your office. It is selfish, I know, to want something of yours to fuel my happy memories. But it is difficult when new good memories are so few and far between. I am not saying that you should have done anything different. I just hope that the next time you make something pretty, it sticks around for a while.

-Carolyn

Disclaimer: This is Frustrating, But Still Worth It (Repost)

Erica, Review

July is a free review month! This post would normally be for Patreon subscribers, but is being reposted for free. If you’re not a Patreon subscriber, this is what the Patreon posts are like. If you are a Patreon subscriber and have been wanting to share this post, now you can! (please do).

To say this blog is not exactly how I imagined it is an understatement. I have been sitting on the idea starting this blog for over a year. As an avid reader of other craft and DIY blogs, I had a grand vision for my own. This grand vision involved many skills and habits I do not have. I could have waited, put my crafting projects on pause to learn these skills, but then I may have lost my momentum.

Progress photos, an essential part of any DIY blog, are the best example. I often work on my projects at night when the lighting is bad for photographs, and I have neither the budget nor space for supplemental lighting. I also sometimes just get so into whatever I’m working on at the idea of taking pictures does not even occur to me. I also don’t necessarily always have a clean and elegant setting for my photos since my coffee table is often covered with books, papers, and unfinished projects. And I’m not about to clean again just to get a quick picture.

I did think about supplementing one or two photos per post with a neat line drawing for each step. Since the lighting would again be an issue taking photos of actual drawings, I decided to purchase a drawing tablet for my computer. Well, that’s a lot harder than it seems. I haven’t given up on it yet. I’m still learning, but my skill level certainly is not in a place where I am willing to publish those drawings on the Internet.

I won’t even get into my shortcomings with WordPress and the internet in general, or crafts that I want to try, but have little experience with. If I tried to learn that before I published my first blog post, you’d never see any of this. Like all my other projects, I’ll be learning as I go, and I think that’s the most honest representation of my creative process.

I say all this not to inspire any sort of sympathy, but to say that I know it is not perfect and if I had waited until it was I would never have started. I like to create mostly because I like to control. Creating something from scratch means that I get exactly what I want, at least within my abilities. When something is beyond my abilities, I often abandon the idea without learning or asking for help.

I place an unhealthy amount of value on being naturally good at things, or at least appearing so. These warped ideals happen when you have no natural talent in areas that seem to come easily to everyone else. I’ve always been very easily overwhelmed and had trouble controlling my emotions. When I was a child, that often led to magical outbursts. They could get so bad that those around me were in danger. I was told I needed to control myself as if the outbursts were my choice, but was never taught how. My parents were ill-equipped to deal with me and professional help was out of the question. They could not trust a four-year-old to keep her mouth shut. My mother tried to teach me to cook, hoping that would help me the way it helped her, but I was so useless at it, the results were almost as dangerous as my outbursts.

Eventually, I accomplished a veneer of control. I never had an outburst when I felt good, and I felt good when I excelled and was praised. I stayed away from any activity at which I did not naturally excel. I only let myself be frustrated in private. If I had to fail at something publicly, I made a show of not putting in any effort at all. By the time I was in college, I was exhausted. I realized what I was doing was not healthy and began undoing all the harm done by the idea that I must succeed at everything.

And part of that part of undoing the damage done by those thoughts is admitting this is not perfect. It’s not how I imagined it would be. And I’m still trying really hard. But it’s still worth it, because I just need it to start.

-Erica