Crafty Rantings

I'm Crafty. I Rant. These are Crafty Rantings!

Monday, January 23, 2012

It's 2012 Already?!?

I have a lot of pictures on my camera which need to be put onto my computer so I can post here. Problem? Well, my computer needs to have Windows XP reinstalled and a faster processor and who knows what else. But until I get a job we have to limp along, the computer and I.

I have a picture of the scarf I gave my friend Tammy for her birthday in September, 2011. And some other items I have made like coffee cup sleeves and these cool crochet cowls which you pull up the back and it becomes a combination cowl and hood. Plus some other things.

But I wanted to write about what I just finished because it would never have happened if I wasn't crafty.

We have had a lot of wind and rain lately. Two of the tubes fell off my windchimes which bummed me out. I love the way they sound. They were inexpensive but I bought them in New Hampshire so replacing them would be difficult. After the first tube fell off I thought that eventually I would do something about it. When I looked out the kitchen window this morning and saw another tube off the windchimes I decided today was it. I went outside, brought in the fallen tubes and windchimes and started trying to figure out how I could reattach them.

Now I'm going to be honest. The repaired windchime looks, well, sad. But it works! I may eventually bring it in and restring the entire thing. For right now, though, I just wanted it working again.

I went to my sewing basket. Yeah, I don't sew. But I have some buttons and thread for truly basic stuff. I took the longest needle I had and some string that's medium weight and though I could pull the string through the hole with the needle. Put the needle through the hole and partway through the string. Nope. Then I brought my knitting and crochet accessory small bag into the room. Yeah, I have a ton of those with needles, hooks, scissors etc. but this is the one I keep most handy. I tried my smallest metal crochet hook, you know, the size I'm supposed to use to do doilies but don't because the hook is too small. It fit through the hole but I couldn't grab more than a couple strands of the string. Nope, that wasn't going to work.

Then I tried a variation on my first thought. I pulled out a YARN needle and managed to thread it with the string. Then in it went through the hole. It worked! I pulled a lot of string through it before cutting it since I didn't want to have to thread the needle again. Then I tied the first tube back onto the original string and hope it's secure enough. The second tube didn't line up as well as the first on the windchime. It was too long. So I left the string tied to the original string and cut it off and retied it higher up. Worked.

So the windchime is back hanging off my patio and hopefully everything will stay put. I can use that method to actually take the whole thing apart in drier weather and re-do it completely so it looks better.

I would never have been able to figure out how to repair the windchimes without being crafty.

Sometimes it pays to have time on your hands. Now if I could just get a job!