More leather working but no knitting! Been thinking about it a lot though.

I have been working on leather stuff.  I am trying to make Christmas gifts in a timely manner.  The problem is my husband, bless him, keeps thinking of more and more things he would like to make for family.  I told him that too much becomes a chore and not a pleasure.  This is my hobby and making gifts is something I choose to do and I don't want to feel pressured and obligated.  Is that selfish? Maybe!

Rant over!  I'll get over it lol.

This is what I have been working on.  The squares are for coasters.  I make sets of four.  There is a lot of work involved with them.  Each of the holes have to be marked, matched up and then punched out so I can sew them together.  That's a lot of holes by the time you've done 8. Then I have to decide on the design, stamp them and then stain them.

Stamping isn't as easy as it sounds.  Getting things lined up and symmetrical is harder than you think.  Also, once a mark is made on leather it's pretty permanent.  If you can't disguise it in the patterning then you have to discard it and start all over again.  

This is another bracelet for a female.  At this stage I have just stamped out the pattern.

Now I have stained and dyed it.  I am waiting for actual wrist measurements before I put in the snaps.

Here is another I have made for a teenage boy.

As for the knitting, I am at a stuck phase.  I so desperately want a lace carriage for my 700 but they are not cheap, even on ebay.  I let one go that I could have got for $100 plus mailing but I couldn't justify even that.  We have so many other things we need that are more of a priority.  I also want a bulky punchcard machine with a ribber.

I have to make the sacrifice and put up the spare Singer 700 up for sale and the SRP 50 ribber.  Then I can use the proceeds towards a bulky machine and/or a lace carriage.

I have thought about buying a Brother which has a lace carriage come with it.  There was one on ebay last night that went for $152.50. It was a bargain, but again, I couldn't justify it to myself.  Not when I have two 700's and two ribbers lol.  I used to have a Brother with a lace carriage so I know they make nice lace.  I only need a machine as I could do the ribbing on my other set up and transfer it to the Brother machine to do the lacework.

That should give me the incentive to take some photos and put the spare machine and ribber up for sale. 

I also thought some more about setting up the hobby bulky machine but am procrastinating on that too for some unknown reason.

So for now I am keeping busy with the leather work and trying not to be a spoilt brat about not having a working lace carriage or bulky punchcard machine and ribber.................it's not easy lol.