Volunteer Sewing: Binky Patrol

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This weekend, I’ll sew for Binky Patrol, a fabulous organization that gives blankets to needy children aged 0 to 18.

From their website…

We are an all-volunteer, national, non-profit organization making and distributing homemade blankets to children born drug-addicted, infected with AIDS or who are battling other chronic & terminal illnesses, homeless, victims of violent crimes, those who are abused, in foster care, or experiencing trauma of any kind.

I’m also blessed to work for a company encouraging employees to volunteer. Each year, they give us eight hours to volunteer for an organization. I’ve used those hours I’ve been at the company each year, so this makes my third year. While I have plenty of fleece fabric at home, I’ll go to Jo An Fabrics this weekend and purchase some more fabric to make fleece blankets. I took off Monday so that I could do some volunteer sewing.

Wrapped Jewelry: Fidget Rings

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Unfortunately, on Tuesday, I didn’t do any crafting. Crafting is an excellent way to decompress and alleviate stress, even when I don’t think I have any.

Wednesday, I made fidget rings! These are practice rings; however, my daughter saw the copper ring and asked if I could make one in silver.

Yes, I can! The first silver ring I created was too soft, so I swapped it to stainless steel. The steel was stiffer and not as easy to work with as copper or aluminum. All the wire used was 20 gauge wire. However, I created the ring for her. Results? She loved this ring and promptly placed it on her finger after I’d filed down the end cut wire.

Wire Weaving: Copper Heart Pendant

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I’ve been practicing my wire-wrapping techniques for the past few days.

Yesterday, I used 30 gauge wire as the wrapping wire and tried pyramid weave. My wrapping is getting neater; however, it still needs more practice, and I think I’ll move back to 26 gauge or try 28 gauge.

I didn’t do too much wire wrapping today.

I may have worked on this heart for about 15 minutes early this evening, which will eventually become a pendant.

I was following Back to Earth Creations: Wire Weaving Master Class: Wrapped Heart tutorial. I enjoy Yvonne’s teaching style. She has many free tutorials on YouTube; however, I enjoy her teaching style so much that I purchased a membership. Since I’m not thrilled with my wrapping techniques with such thin wire, I’ll remove the 30 gauge wire wrap and replace the wrap with 28 gauge copper wire. Since I don’t have any 28-gauge wire, I’ll have to wait until it arrives. I ordered a few rolls at the end of last week. It should be here later this week.

Later this week, I will finish knitting some socks I started a few years ago. I started them before my parents got sick, so that must have been at least two years. Once finished, I’ll have a brand-new pair of hand-knit socks. I’ll have to post a picture of the socks sometime this week.

Wire Wrapping Jewelry

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For the past few months, I’ve been thinking about jewelry. I love creating. My go-to craft is knitting; however, I haven’t knitted anything (continuously) in the past several months. I occasionally go through crafting droughts where I don’t feel like knitting, so there’s no surprise. I have not done too much crafting. I have kept my hands busy with the organization around the home for the past few months. I have been tumbling rocks to incorporate into jewelry-making at some point; however, that’s about it.

Over the past month, I’ve slowly added to my jewelry supply stash, and at the end of last week, I started wrapping jewelry. Have you heard the expression, “It’s like riding a bike?” Meaning once you learn, you won’t forget. Wire wrapping wasn’t like that, at least not for me. Now that I think about it, I have not done any wire wrapping/weaving since my daughter was in elementary school, so at least 13 years.

My sloppily wire-wrapped copper ring.

Last evening, I decided to work on a ring. I used 20 gauge copper wire for my base and to wrap I used 26 gauge copper wire. Results? I still felt clumsy, and although I wanted to redo the ring last evening, I figured it might be wise to get to bed since I worked today. I could not help but laugh at the failure of simple weaving and braided technique. So, returning to wire wrapping was not “like riding a bike.” I’m taking the basic steps to become proficient, and that’s perfectly fine.

I used my wooden jewelry making vise to assist with my wire wrapping
Wire wrapped copper ring

Today, I decided to work on a simple wrap technique and focused on keeping the woven wire tight.

I was very pleased with the results, although many flaws still exist. I was delighted with my progress. I plan to remake both rings this weekend.

I’m back and I’m knitting…

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Wow, it’s been over a year since I posted here, and so much has happened. My parents passed away, my mother on Mother’s Day, and my father a little over three months later. I was the primary caregiver for several months of my father’s life.

 

While things are now forever changed, I’m slowly getting back into doing things that I enjoy, and knitting is something I’m currently doing almost weekly.

This video was taken last evening; my daughter was snickering in the background. I started a knitted blanket when my mother was in the hospital. I think it’s time it gets finished, don’t you? I’m back and knitting…