Happy New Year & New Horizons
Goodbye 2020.
It was such a rough one for a lot of folks. For Hubs and myself, it wasn’t that bad. We both have day jobs that can be done from home. So, other than the great toilet paper scare (which we got around with family paper) and the inability to get some of our regular food stuffs – it really hasn’t been that bad. In fact, the hardest part has been the isolation.
Our families are in Texas and Arkansas. And so this is the first year since we’ve been in North Carolina that we weren’t able to go home and see our families at all. It was depressing.
But fast forward to 2021, and in spite of the again climbing COVID-19 numbers, I’m hoping that things will return to relative normalcy by the Spring.
So, in spite of my ongoing depression, I’m trying to be excited about where 2021 is headed. For myself as a person – but also for Hand Cramp Crafts. And here’s what I’m thinking…
More possibilities.
More fiber.
More fun.
Early in 2020 as I was just really starting to get the fiber portion of my small business up and running, I had asked if folks preferred batts or rolags. I was surprised to find that lots of peeps preferred batts. But without a drum carder, I was only able to produce rolags or at best small batts.
So my birthday gift to myself this year (since it’s in January) was a drum carder. o.O
I found a used Pat Green drum carder on Craigslist. It needed a little bit of TLC, but for the price, it was worth it. I brought it home, Cleaned it up and spent some time straightening some of the teeth/tines.
I’ll say, it’s a lot different than working with a blending board. It seems like getting the same level of precision is … difficult? But I’ve seen some people create some AMAZING things. Batts that truly give me fiber envy. =) So I’m still hopeful.
So this is my second attempt at a batt.
It’s mostly synthetics, with some wool, and hand dyed firestar. It’s far from perfect, but I was able to spin my first batt, so I’d assume this one is also spinnable. LOL
Until I get a better feel for it, I’m thinking about running a few giveaways (mostly so I don’t feel the need to spin everything I create.)
What do you think?
Christy R. Hall is the owner of Hand Cramp Crafts and fancies herself to be a String Wrangler, and an all-around fiber phreak. In her free time, she spins yarn (both literally spinning fiber into yarn, as well as, writing), crochets for charity, watches silly cat videos, looks at pictures of Corgis, and plays PC and console games. Her current (ongoing) favorites are Skyrim and Elder Scrolls Online.