A Job And Stitching Dilemma

RCart15

As those of you who have followed my blog for any length of time know, even before this blog was created, I had a problem with my left wrist. I have to wear a brace for it and it limits the use of my left hand.

After two years, four different braces, and five doctors, they still aren’t sure what’s causing the problem. The only suggestion I have received is one of two things: a ganglion cyst, or a tear in a ligament. Or it could be both. Or neither! All scans have been inconclusive. All I know is, it hurts. A lot.

Their solution to the problem has been cortisone steroid injections and digging around with needles to see if they can get the cyst (if there is one) or heal up any injury there may be. I had my first procedure the middle of June; it didn’t help at all. But I also worked two jobs over 60 hours a week, and I only had three days off to rest it. So I figured, I just didn’t give it enough time to heal. It’ll get better once life calms down.

Since then, I left my second job, went on vacation, and had my second procedure. All good. My wrist was sore from the needles and the steroid, but it felt better. My first job at Joann’s was kind enough not to put me on the schedule until I asked them to. I had five days of rest before I went in to work today for my first 8 hour shift in about three weeks.

I was on shift working the cutting counter for four hours. Still had four to go. And my wrist was killing me. Four hours of work reversed five days of healing. It was as if I had never gotten the injection at all. As this is how it’s been for the past few years… I believe the work I currently do (retail) aggravates whatever problem my wrist has. I need an easy job where I can take frequent breaks, as to not strain my wrist. As this is unrealistic in the working world I currently inhabit, I should turn towards working from home.

Let’s examine my skills that I could turn into a business from home and/or market to get a job where I can work from home. I can type. I can blog. (So, put together, I can write.) And I can stitch. Okay, good. Now these things do actually irritate my wrist, but if I work at my own pace and can take breaks whenever I want, it shouldn’t be that big of a problem.

Here is the issue: these things aren’t exactly the most accessible to make money through. At least on the blog front. I don’t average enough viewers to make money, as much as I love it and as much as I would like to. So let’s look at stitching. Now I’m not an artist, and I understand copyright – so designing and distributing charts is out. I don’t know how to make my own fabric or threads, so supplies are out. (Not that I can’t learn, of course, but as it stands I don’t know how so it won’t count.) I could probably make little accessories like needle minders and scissor fobs and whatnot, if I had an artistic talent, which I don’t, really, or else I’d design my own charts!

So what does that leave on the stitching front? Custom framing? I could probably learn how to do that. I could learn how to make my own fabrics and threads, possibly. Little accessories are a possibility also.

I DO know there’s such a thing as model stitching – you know, the finished pieces that are used to show what the chart will look like. Usually used to help sell the piece, as on a kit or a booklet. Someone’s gotta stitch those, right? That would be a great job! But I don’t know how to get started. I do pieces from kits, I don’t have a favorite designer… if model stitching was my job I’m sure I would stitch a LOT more and get done faster, but as it stands I’m slow and my favorite pieces are small. How does one break into the model stitching industry? Anybody have any ideas?

While I’m on the subject of asking questions, what would YOU suggest for a stitching-oriented, from-home job? I’ve also considered possibly teaching, as I know the DMC mentor program is a thing. Or maybe software development? An app/website that keeps track of your WIPs, your threads, your whatever? Something by a stitcher for fellow stitchers? I don’t know. I’ve just been feeling down because I didn’t use my left hand for five days, felt better, and immediately after going back to a job I love my wrist felt all the way back to square one.

Anyway. Let me know your thoughts! Send those ideas my way! And if you happen to be someone or know someone who can talk to me about model stitching and how to get into it, I’d love to chat!

Curse this bum wrist!

Curse this bum wrist!

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular segments. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

By the way – to keep up on Little Thread Crafts stitching news and get pictures, updates, and more that don’t appear on the blog until much later, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! I would greatly appreciate it!

My First Knitting Project!

Remember how I mentioned that I want to be the Stitching Guru, and just know all the different needlework crafts? (I could also be called the Needle Guru, or the Needlework Guru. Take your pick! As long as Guru is in their somewhere.)

Our Joann store reset the entire yarn/needlework department, and while I was stocking yarn I spotted this book by Leisure Arts:

Learn To Knit By Leisure Arts

Learn To Knit By Leisure Arts

I was really impressed with the supplies explanation and the first few pages of instructions, so I decided to take the plunge! I had a three day weekend and I said I wanted to learn how, why not teach myself?

My years of cross-stitch and DMC thread was painfully obvious; I followed the directions and got a Size 10 (8mm) needle, but went with a thinner yarn, since I thought less strands of embroidery floss equals easier to work with, so thinner yarn equals easier to work with. It’s actually the exact opposite in knitting. The bigger/heavier the yarn, the better, for beginners. Oops.

I also got a darker variegated yarn when I was told to get bright. I couldn’t find any colors I liked and I figured it wasn’t actually THAT dark.

And I very quickly learned I am a VERY visual learner. As I said, I was initially impressed with the instructions in the book. I got the Cast On part of knitting very quickly just from the pictures. And… that was all. I couldn’t figure out from the written instructions OR the included online video tutorials how to do the Knit Stitch or the Purl Stitch. I got so frustrated! My brain knew how it was supposed to work but it wouldn’t translate to my hands. The yarn would get all tangled up, and I didn’t know how it was supposed to look, so I couldn’t tell if I was doing it right or wrong.

Luckily, the Youtube Channel GoodKnitKisses came to my rescue. She has a great tutorial on needle knitting, and after watching her videos a few times and working for a few hours, I got my first few rows done!

My first two knitted rows!

My first two knitted rows!

And then after four more rows I cut the thread and threw it away.

The pattern the book uses as the tutorial is a pot holder/coaster type of deal. Honestly, that is too small to learn from AND it wanted me to switch between Knit and Purl mid-row. As a beginner, who still can’t grasp the concept of Purl Stitch. So after a few attempts I said “Yeah no” and decided to just toss the book aside completely. I will revisit when I am less of a total beginner.

I decided instead to do a scarf! I can already tell I’ve made it too wide. But hey, it’s good for a beginner! And it’s just the Knit Stitch until you’re done type of deal. Cast On, Knit until you think it’s long enough, Bind Off, finish. So I’ll get lots of practice!

I’ve already lost count of my rows, though.

Check out those lovely rows!

Check out those lovely rows!

Progress Report: Artiste’s Snail, Part 1

Oh wow! I’m nearly finished with this project and I have yet to write a Progress Report on it. It’s gotten to the point where I’m holding off working on the project until I get an article up because I’m making great progress on it!

You can watch a significant portion of this project unfold on my Five-Minute Stitch series: The Five-Minute Stitch! Video Series

I picked up this mini kit at Hobby Lobby and I thought (and still think) that it was absolutely adorable! And it’s actually bigger than most of the other mini kits I do. I was really excited to start. The nice thing is it’s mostly block colors so it’s pretty easy to work on. And no fractionals! It’s a nice break from all the fractionals I do.

» Read more

Progress Report: Sweet Baby Part 2 – A Finish!

Read The Previous Articles:

Sweet Baby: Part 1

So this final Progress Report on Sweet Baby is going to be pretty boring because… I can’t find the pictures. Maybe I didn’t actually take them? I would have SWORN I did, though! I’ve gone through all my stitching folders and then some to see if I misplaced them. Nope. As far as I know, they were either deleted somehow or I never took them.

So… oops? But this is still one of the articles in my drafts so I need to finish it!

» Read more

Progress Report: Sweet Baby, Part 1

Time for a new Progress Report! Woo!

So I started this project on one of my Five Minute Stitch videos, so you can see the initial few stitches starting from here:

The Five-Minute Stitch! EP23

And I talk about why I picked this project and all that good stuff. 🙂 But in case you don’t wanna watch: my cousin is having her sixth baby (and her second girl!) here in a couple months. I wanted to do a sampler but if I did the baby would be five years old before it was finished. I’m very slow with stitching! So I decided on one of my mini kits instead. It’s a Janlynn kit called “Sweet Baby” – I can give exact details as needed, or you will see it in the Friday Finishes when the project is complete. 🙂

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Progress Report: Books Bookmark

This is another Progress Report like the Sweet Baby finish that I would swear I had more pictures of the progress than is actually in my progress folder on my computer. I wonder if maybe I used a different memory card, or took them on a different camera? Maybe when I switched to my new camera I forgot I still had photos on the old memory card. I’ve looked but I can’t find where that memory card has gone. I still have the camera, but the memory card isn’t in it. I also looked through the pictures on my phone to see if I had taken any there, but I couldn’t find anything on that, either. Hmm. Either I’m going crazy or I’ve lost the pictures somehow.

Anyway. You can watch the start of this project and a lot of the stitching unfold on the Five-Minute Stitch videos, so it’s not a total loss! Here is the first one, in case you want to watch them: The Five-Minute Stitch! EP06

» Read more

Progress Report: Little Miss Crafty, Start to Finish

This was a very quick project to do and I loved every minute of it! This mini kit was one of the Bucilla kits I picked up during my Mini Kit stash expansion. I’ve still got several more to do but this was the first!

This kit was mostly back-stitch and French knots, with very little actual stitching. But I had a lot of fun with it and it gave me a chance to practice French knots again. 🙂

The thimble and one of the buttons is done here.

The thimble and one of the buttons is done here.

Needle and buttons are now finished! Just need the words.

Needle and buttons are now finished! Just need the words.

There we go! All finished.

There we go! All finished.

If I remember correctly, this kit only took me a few hours to stitch over the course of a couple days.

I even showcased a little of it in a Five Minute Stitch video; The Five-Minute Stitch! EP22.

But that’s all for this kit! The next time you see this will be on a Friday Finishes! 🙂

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Progress Report is an update on all my stitching habits, from the kits to the stitching to the finishing process and more! Right now I am featuring one of my cat-themed projects and several of the mini kits I’m currently working on, along with other pieces I like to pull out and work on at random.

By the way – to keep up on Little Thread Crafts stitching news and get pictures, updates, and more that don’t appear on the blog until much later, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! I would greatly appreciate it!

 

Progress Report: Christmas Teddy Bear, Start to Finish

Remember my Christmas Gift Fiasco last year? Remember the pieces I talked about on the Beary Kissmas Progress Report? Now look at the calendar and realize with some growing panic that Christmas 2014 is a month and a half away.

Oh wait, no, I should be the one doing that.

All joking aside, here I am almost a year later with a Progress Report on one of the only two Christmas presents I finished in time to give as gifts last year. One was the Beary Kissmas, mentioned above – that was a gift to my boyfriend (and technically myself) to hang on our baby Christmas tree – and the other is the subject of this article!

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Progress Report: Butterfly, Start to Finish

You can see almost all of the second half of this project unfold in the Five-Minute Stitch series: The Five-Minute Stitch! EP00: PILOT

This project was the first project where I decided to make an effort to take Progress Report pictures as I went. I kept talking about wanting to take more pictures and write more articles on them, but I hadn’t started doing it as often as I do now (I still don’t do it often enough, but it’s a start!).

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Progress Report: Owl Pillow Cases

Okay! A whole year later we are finally up to the very last Christmas 2013 present!

This was the Christmas project that got started last, so it had the least amount done. And the way it’s looking this year it probably won’t be finished this Christmas either! What’s funny is I actually have this as a mini kit as well, so if it starts coming down to another time crunch I can just stitch the mini kit as a gift instead.

» Read more

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