Well wouldn't you blooming well know it

The loom has been on my mind.  When I did my last blog post, at the end I mentioned I thought that maybe I had taken the loom to her as I had found it too fiddly.  When thinking about finding the completed squares in her stuff from the nursing home it became apparent that is what I must have done. Vague memories of it were floating around in my head.

Prior to all this thinking and having spent days and days looking for it in our house I had assumed that it was lost never to be found again and ordered one off ebay, (see previous post).

It has been our first cool day for a few weeks today so I ventured into the workshop to look through some of my MIL's totes. As I said, it somehow feels invasive but the darn loom wouldn't get out of my head.

Wouldn't you know it, there it was sitting proud in the top of the first tote I opened.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because my thinking had been correct or cry because I had spent $14 to buy another one.

Oh well, such is life.  Now I have two, so no excuses for not trying again.

I did find the instructions online and printed them up, that way I can keep the original instructions which are in the one I purchased which is also in the original box and from the pictures on ebay looks to be in pristine condition.

Now here is a thought! I can put one of the needles I have purchased with the one from ebay and it will be a complete set in excellent condition.  Maybe I will put it on ebay myself and make a little money.

I do so enjoy my blogging, it gets the old brain cells working! Better leave it for a couple of weeks though, don't want the seller thinking I was trying to make money off him by knocking the price down because that wasn't the case at the time.

I hate it when I can't find something I think I know I have somewhere!

Recently, we were out in the workshop where we still have some of my MIL's stuff stored.  She died in 2010 and it still seems invasive to go through it.  I know that at some point it will have to be done. Somehow one of the totes got knocked over and the contents scattered on the floor.  So we set about picking them up and I came across some squares that she had weaved on a mini loom and started to sew together.

They were not big enough to be anything useful but clearly she had something Autumnal (Fall) in mind.  I remember having the mini loom that she used, I tried it, it must have been ten years or so ago (it was before she died even) and it was fiddly so I didn't do any more.

Well, I have searched the house high and low for it, to no avail.  I have literally spent hours and hours searching for it.  I went through all my craft stuff and all our cupboards but couldn't find it.

So next progression was to go searching for one to buy.  I discovered they were called 'Weave It'.

I found many on ebay and they were not cheap considering they were all old and used.  They ranged from $20 to $40+.  There were a couple on auction but they had bids on them with days to go. The above pictured one is a buy it now for $30

Finally I found one for a buy it now price of $20 but even though it seemed in excellent condition it was missing the 6" needle. I put in an offer of $14 for it and it was accepted so I bought it and found some needles on Amazon for $5.75, so still a complete set for less than $20 with extra needles also.

I eagerly await their arrival.

In hindsight I may have taken the original one to her in the nursing home after I had tried it and wasn't too successful with it, so it may yet turn up in her stuff when I eventually get around to going through it but meanwhile I will be able to continue on with the replacement one and add to her original squares to make something useful.  It is something I can sit and do at night now the nights are drawing in.

On a separate note, in my searching I did find some 'cool towels' I had purchased the year before last and put away for safe keeping.  They are those towels you dampen and put around your neck to keep cool.  A bit late for this year though!!!

A Thank you, a health update and a made thing

First of all, I want to thank all my blogging friends for updating their blogs on a regular basis, (much more regular than me, that's for sure!).  If your blog is in the list on the right hand side of my blog under 'Blogs I follow' then you can know for sure that I have read your posts.  I check every day and read all the new postings.  I really enjoying following your activities. If you have a blog that is not listed, leave me a message and I will add you.

Secondly, I had an appointment with my surgeon this week and he is really pleased with my progress. I am feeling tons better than I was before and for the first five or six weeks after the surgery.  (It is nearly nine weeks now).  My arms no longer hurt and they do not go numb at night anymore.  The vertebrae are fusing to the new bone discs he put in and I can move my neck a lot more than I have for years.

He also cleared me for mowing and wouldn't you know it? Sods law, the mower broke this week!  We already have my husband's one at the repair shop, when we collect it next week we will take mine in. I have been driving too for a month or so now.  I had to get off the prescription pain killers for that privilege.

And thirdly, I made something this week.  A stand for some of my leather stamps.  I have some heavy duty stamps with thick stems that needed to put in a stand.

As we have lots of wood offcuts I took a couple of pieces of 2 x 4,  cut them to size, glued them together, then screwed them together for good measure.  I marked where I wanted the holes and I drilled them out on my drill press.

Finally I sanded it and gave it a couple coats of woodstain and voila!

As you can see the holes needed to be a lot larger than in the one I had purchased a couple of years ago so it is custom made for these particular stamps.  I doubt that I could have bought one like this plus they are really quite pricey.  If I remember correctly I paid about $40 for the original one.  I didn't have the drill press then though to make one.

I am hoping for some time later this month to get into my sewing and knitting room.  I have been helping my husband get prepared for hunting this year.  Last year we spent all summer gutting and converting an old camper into a hunting blind for him but it left him so weakened from doing all that work that he wasn't able to hunt much.  He has an auto immune disease that attacks his muscles and nerves and working too much does more harm than good. This year he is hoping to get up there much more and that frees me up to spend time in my hobbies room.