What We're Making

[Walt34]

Wow, nice! Like others, I am impressed by the body of skills shown on this thread.

 

[Ronstar]

Wow, nice! Like others, I am impressed by the body of skills shown on this thread.

Thanks Walt. Like you, I'm impressed by the skills shown here. And quite a variety. I enjoy seeing what people make in their spare time. Who would have guessed that retirees are such a talented group.

 

[davemartin88]

Finally finished my drafting table "architect's table"

Is that Sycamore? Beautiful!

 

[Ronstar]

Is that Sycamore? Beautiful!

It's walnut base with curly maple top. I cut the maple into strips and turned 90° and glued strips so that edge grain is up - supposed to accentuate the wood grain.

 

[dand76]

Some real talent here.


For me, Another day, Another dollar.


.

 

[MBAustin]

Nice hats, Athena! I admire your complicated designs.

I knit prayer shawls for my church and last fall asked the leader to teach me how to knit on double-pointed needles so I could make hats for my (grown) kids as Christmas gifts. Seemed easy enough when she showed me, and I picked out what I thought was a simple pattern (ribbed bottom in one color, stockinette top in another). Not so fast! I had to rip out the first inch or two about 4 times and even when I finally got further, I kept dropping stitches. So there are funny bumps where I didn't pick them up correctly. By mid-December, I almost had the ribbed section of the first hat done, so obviously they didn't get them in 2015. But maybe 2016!

And that desk is stunning, Ronstar!

 

[davemartin88]

It's walnut base with curly maple top. I cut the maple into strips and turned 90° and glued strips so that edge grain is up - supposed to accentuate the wood grain.

So we're looking at the end grain like some citting boards. Interesting. I can see the grain on the edge piece and that wood really had a lot of figure. I guessed Sycamore because of the light color and I milled logs a few times from Sycamore that had this "tiger stripe" look. Table really turned out nice, will be a shame to cover it with drafting paper!

 

[Bestwifeever]

I learned to knit years ago and took it up again shortly before retirement because our church has a group that knits chemo caps and also provides hats around Christmas to poor people through Project Warmth. Even better, women who have quit knitting have brought in giant stashes of unused yarn (and sometimes partially-completed pieces which I happily unravel). I'd never worked with patterns other than simple stripes before and now I'm really enjoying it. I sure don't need mountains of knitted goods, so I can be creative, make nice things, and give them away to people who need them. Everybody wins!


I did find some beautiful yarn among the donated stash with silk content, in mixed shads, and made myself a circular scarf. I put an extra check in the collection basket for the yarn!

Those are gorgeous. Good use of yarn stashes although not much is prettier than a basket of skeins of yarn . My mother used to ravel old sweaters and make mittens for us from the yarn.

Here is my last project:

 

[MRG]

It's walnut base with curly maple top. I cut the maple into strips and turned 90° and glued strips so that edge grain is up - supposed to accentuate the wood grain.

Absolutely fantastic work, nice mix of the Walnut with Curly Maple. As a person who worked in both logging and sawmills I get a big overload of memories from seeing things like what you did. The last year of working as a lumber inspector, I was going through about 10,000 board feet of Walnut a day. Wish I had picked up more unique pieces.

 

[LitGal]

It's walnut base with curly maple top. I cut the maple into strips and turned 90° and glued strips so that edge grain is up - supposed to accentuate the wood grain.

Wow. Beautiful!

 

[Ronstar]

Absolutely fantastic work, nice mix of the Walnut with Curly Maple. As a person who worked in both logging and sawmills I get a big overload of memories from seeing things like what you did. The last year of working as a lumber inspector, I was going through about 10,000 board feet of Walnut a day. Wish I had picked up more unique pieces.

Wow - 10,000 board feet of walnut a day. Seeing that would have really sent me over the edge!

So we're looking at the end grain like some citting boards. Interesting. I can see the grain on the edge piece and that wood really had a lot of figure. I guessed Sycamore because of the light color and I milled logs a few times from Sycamore that had this "tiger stripe" look. Table really turned out nice, will be a shame to cover it with drafting paper!

Yep - The maple color is very close to sycamore. I've read that curly maple is not a sub species of maple, but rather the grain condition. I turned a bowl from a block of sycamore, and it had interesting grain, but not near the curl that this maple had. I didn't really want to spend the $280 that the curly maple board cost, but it was so much better looking than the $100 regular maple board.

 

[Ronstar]

Awesome knitting projects - Athena & Bestwifeever! It amazes me how well you worked designs and lettering into your work.

 

[davemartin88]

Those are gorgeous. Good use of yarn stashes although not much is prettier than a basket of skeins of yarn . My mother used to ravel old sweaters and make mittens for us from the yarn.

Here is my last project:

Very nice, like the personalization. We have a big basket of alpaca yarn that we've spun and it does look nice just sitting in the room.

My DW is working on carding the fleece from a small alpaca we fostered that died after only being sheared once. The fiber is so fine it may be hard to spin. Here's are a picture of the batts she is working on right now. Here are some of the batts.

 

[davemartin88]

Here is a batt being made from alpaca fiber. This is really fine because it's from a baby (cria).

 

[Bestwifeever]

Awesome knitting projects - Athena & Bestwifeever! It amazes me how well you worked designs and lettering into your work.

Thanks! For me the hard part was picking out the font at the monogram store after I finished knitting the blanket --a magic machine much like the ones you use but with a needle and thread vs a saw thingie took care of the rest.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Very nice, like the personalization. We have a big basket of alpaca yarn that we've spun and it does look nice just sitting in the room.

My DW is working on carding the fleece from a small alpaca we fostered that died after only being sheared once. The fiber is so fine it may be hard to spin. Here's are a picture of the batts she is working on right now. Here are some of the batts.

So impressed with the carding and spinning!

on the baby alpaca dying. That will be some special wool. I have a few skeins of baby alpaca yarn a friend brought me from Peru that are so pretty just as yarn that I am hesitant to knit them into something.

 

[MRG]

Wow - 10,000 board feet of walnut a day. Seeing that would have really sent me over the edge!




Yep - The maple color is very close to sycamore. I've read that curly maple is not a sub species of maple, but rather the grain condition. I turned a bowl from a block of sycamore, and it had interesting grain, but not near the curl that this maple had. I didn't really want to spend the $280 that the curly maple board cost, but it was so much better looking than the $100 regular maple board.

Yes it was a great experience, better yet Walnut grading rules are a bit more liberal than standard grades. Every board was a new puzzle as to what it's current grade was vs. what it could be. They always said I could throw away half the board footage to improve 1 grade I made a lot of rework. Bad thing is even 30 years later I still cannot smell Walnut wood.

That is what I was taught too, curl was just grain, same with "fiddleback" in Walnut or "birdseye" in hard Maple.

For clarity I think Dave Davemartin88 was asking about "end grain", I'm thinking your piece has "edge grain".

 

[davemartin88]

For clarity I think Dave Davemartin88 was asking about "end grain", I'm thinking your piece has "edge grain".

Yes, I think edge grain is what I should have said.

 

[davemartin88]

Made French baguettes yesterday for the first time. Went great with grilled steak last night. Still have two left.

 

[papadad111]

Love to cook - being a numbers guy and not an art person at all, cooking is my main creative outlet.

I like to learn to prepare various ethnic foods. Recently did some Mediterranean lamb and couscous. Also did a couple of Korean dishes.

I want to learn to make Ethiopian food and the bread called injera ... Can't find that cuisine locally and I like spicy food a lot.

Last week I received some wahoo fish from my neighbor and made ceviche, fish tacos and a seafood bisque with it.

All cooking was self taught -- having a working mom and watching Ms Julia Child on PBS in the '70s helped foster the need and the interest as well as a few of the basic skills. Save the liver.

 

[Philliefan33]

These didn't require any great skill, but they were fun. I sent one each to friends of mine who keep chickens.

 

[MBAustin]

Very cute, Philliefan!

 

[spncity]

What we're re-making?

My favorite oven mitts were wearing out. They don't make 'em like this anymore. The blue that is showing is an impervious layer that protects from hot liquids.

Repaired with pieces from the legs of jeans - by way of sewing and attaching with Tear Mender.

 

[Janet H]

Made; about to be eating: Pineapple cake with ground almonds and lab cherries.

 

[LitGal]

Plastic waterproof cover (and two sheets) for homemade cushion/pad that will go on changing table I found at Goodwill for $12. The table is a nice light oak, cleaned up well, and fits in the guest room/sewing room of my new condo.

Why a changing table? (Must back up.) I became a grandma for the first time about 10 days ago. Am trying to make the condo a "baby-friendly" place where DS and DDIL will happily drop off my new dear grand-daughter for visits.

As always, trying to do everything "on a budget," just like when DS was born.




(Some of his favorite baby, toddler, and pre-schooler books are already unpacked and waiting on the shelf. Of course, this little girl will need to keep her eyes open a bit longer than they have been so far......)