And the winner is…………….

Thanks to Random.org for their assistance this morning!  (I’m afraid sister-in-laws don’t get special consideration – sorry Em!  Hope you enjoy my blog anyway!)

 

I think I set a personal record for the most comments on a post!  Thanks to everyone for entering.  I’m really sorry I haven’t got a prize for everyone – I really wish I did!

 

And without further ado, the winner is:

 

Jessica @ Before The Dawn

 

I’ve just started reading Jessica’s blog thanks to the TUSAL.  She’s a very talented and crafty lady.

 

As for just what she’ll be receiving from me, I’m *still* not telling!  You’ll just have to wait and see….

 

Jessica, congratulations!  And please e-mail me your mailing address – e k i l l i n s at r o g e r s dot c o m (remove all the extraneous spaces and replace at and dot with the right things!).

 

We had a super busy weekend!  I’ll post more about it another time though….  I’m still trying to catch up on some Scientist work and I’m working for the next two days as well, so I’ve got to get my things ready.  I’m going to have to deal with the hamster today too – the poor little thing passed away yesterday.  Hamsters don’t have a long life-expectancy and her time was up.  But I’ve got to figure out how to bury her, considering the ground is frozen solid.  And we’re not going to talk about the mountain of laundry I’m facing nor the groceries that need to be purchased……

 

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!  I hope you spend it with someone you love and who loves you!

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Just because….

 

Just because I’m grateful to everyone who reads and comments on my little blog.  Especially in the last couple of months which have been so challenging for my family.

 

Just because I’m glad to know you.

 

Just because I feel like it…..

 

I’m having a little Valentine Giveaway!

 

Yes, that’s right.  A giveaway.

 

What will be in the giveaway?  Well, that’s going to be a surprise.  I will say that it will involve the fabric in the picture just up there.  But that’s all I’ll say.

 

What do you have to do?  Easy.  Just leave a comment on this post.  Doesn’t matter where you live, as long as it’s on Earth and you have a mailing address.  You don’t have to promote this on your blog or post about it on Facebook – just leave a comment here and you’re in.  Everyone gets an equal chance, as long as you put your name in the comments.

 

When will I draw a name?  On *the* day for love and happiness – February 14th.

 

When is the entry deadline?  Midnight EST, February 13th, 2011

 

So, what are you waiting for?  Enter!  Just because….

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February TUSAL

A glance at the calendar today caused me to realize that it’s the New Moon, which means that it’s time for my TUSAL update for this month.

 

I was surprised when I gathered all my orts up and dropped them into the jar.  I have a little pouch thing (yes, that’s the technical term) that sits on the arm of the couch for collecting my orts as I’m stitching but it’s not clear, so I have to haul my orts out of the pouch and drop them into my glass jar.  I managed to keep my DH out of them this month, so there were no rescue missions from garbage cans….  (And before anyone wonders, he really is a wonderful man and I wouldn’t trade him for anything!)

 

So here’s my jar:

 

I have stitched a lot this past month – mostly because I’ve had the entire month off work and there’s been loads of extra time around for stitching.  I’ve discovered that when I stop volunteering for everything under the sun and when the number of commitments to other things gets reduced for me (not by my choice, but it is what it is) then there’s suddenly days at a time where I don’t need to leave the house and I can curl up under a warm cat and stitch!

 

Unfortunately the next couple of months won’t afford me so much free time (I find Feb. through Apr. to be the busy season for the Scientist!).  I doubt the jar will take as large of a jump next month!

 

Speaking of warm cats, there’s one here looking for her lap.  I guess I’d better provide it.

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Well, nothing bad happened for *almost* a month….

But things just couldn’t last, could they?

 

My sister-in-law called this morning to tell me that my nephew and his wife had a little baby boy yesterday.  Normally, this is a cause for much rejoicing.  But my newest great-nephew was born at only 25 weeks.  He’s in the NICU at a great hospital and we’re all crossing our fingers and hoping he’ll be okay.  So, if you’ve got a minute or two, spare a good wish for my little great nephew, ‘K?  Thanks.

 

Today was called as a snow day, although there wasn’t a ton of snow.  I was quite happy to stay home though – I was supposed to be working today and I wasn’t looking forward to the drive.  I was really happy when the school I was supposed to go to e-mailed me at 6:20 this morning to say they were closed.  So happy, in fact, that I put my jammies back on and climbed back into bed for another couple of hours.

 

I did manage to finish a couple of things…..

 

First up:

 

Moire by Pelin Tezer

Freebie can be found here.

Stitched on random bit of white linen (28-count, I think) with recommended DMC

 

This piece really needs a bath and some ironing…  I’m not really a pink person, but I really like how this piece turned out.  I have *no* idea what I’ll do with it just yet, but I’m sure something will pop into my head.

 

I mentioned a while ago that I joined a monthly needlepoint ornament club.  I finally pulled fibres for it and got down to business.  It wasn’t as easy as I thought it might be to pull a monochromatic colour scheme and I was determined to work with what I had in my stash (since my stash isn’t exactly small, I knew I’d have a good selection)….  Unsurprisingly, my choices led me to purples:

 

Believe it or not, all these colours are from the same colour family – or at least my DMC colour card says so.  I used that as a reference when I was pulling fibres.  I’ve stitched this in a mix of Kreinik, Rainbow Gallery fibres and plain old DMC.    I had lots of fun with this and I stitched it in an evening or two.  I plan on keeping all of these ‘ornaments’ in a binder with the instructions for that month.  I don’t intend to make these pieces into Christmas ornaments – they’re exercises in colour and threads, so I’m collecting them all up in a binder along with the really well written instructions from Janet Perry.

 

After finishing the above pieces, I felt a case of startitis coming on and I was sorely tempted to start one of the (many) kitted pieces from my stash.  I tried to resist.  Really, I did.  I finally talked myself off the ledge from starting another BAP.  But I did have to start another ornament to console myself:

 

This  is the beginning of Season of Love by CCN from the 2010 JCS ornie preview issue.  This isn’t my February ornament for my self-imposed ornament-of-the-month club – it’s just something I had kitted up to stitch ‘someday’.  I’m hopeful it’ll cure my startitis.  It’s not looking promising, but keep your fingers crossed for me.  There’s no shortage of things already in progress around here.  But there’s at least 3 pieces (all kitted and ready to go, no less) that are calling my name.  Picture me sticking my fingers in my ears and saying ‘la-la-la-la-la’ *really* loudly!

 

Time to figure out dinner!

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Assorted bits of this and that

My creativity has abandoned me for the moment hence the rather uninspiring title…..

 

Last night I went and picked up Rebecca and I took her off for a nice dinner and some stitching.  Another friend joined us (hi Christine!) and we had a lovely evening sitting and chatting and stitching….  I really, really enjoyed the evening and the company even more.  Thanks so much Rebecca and Christine!  I had forgotten how much I enjoy hanging out with people who get what I do and don’t think I’m odd for doing it.    Silly me brought my camera to take pictures and then proceeded to forget to take it out of my bag.  Next time!

 

Earlier this week, I managed to kill off a WIP that I’ve had going since June.  I was using this as my travel project as it doesn’t require a pattern to stitch it – it’s one of those needlepoint Stitch ‘n Zip cases:

 

 

Stitch & Zip Preassembled Needlepoint

Sweet Violets Purse/Cosmetic Case

Kit – stitched on pre-printed 14-count canvas with supplied threads (cottons)

 

I plan on using this case to hold my iPod and its headphones.  The two things keep getting separated and tangled in my purse and this will be a pretty way to keep them together.  This was a very easy stitch – just basketweave and it was great to work on while we were travelling – no pattern to wrangle!

 

Once I finished that, I had a rummage about for another WIP to resurrect.  I found another one with little effort (surprise, surprise, right?) and I’m *this* close to being finished…..

 

 

This is a freebie from Pelin Tezer called Moire.   I’ve had this piece floating around for quite a while and I’ll likely finish it in another evening or two, depending on how much time I get for stitching….

 

The mailman has been very kind to me this week too.  The first thing that arrived in the box was my first lesson/ornament from the needlepoint club I joined just after Christmas:

 

This club is going to be highly interesting.  We don’t actually get a kit with everything we need to stitch the piece.  I’ve got the lesson, a piece of canvas and a bunch of sample threads (which I seem to have deleted the picture of).  Now the colours of the threads aren’t in any colour I’ll likely use to stitch the quilt block, but they’ll give me an idea of how they feel to use and how they would lay when stitched.  Now I’ll have the opportunity to either dig through my stash and pick out a monochromatic colour scheme, using what I have on hand or I can go shopping for fibres similar to my samples, but in colours that will work for me.  the lesson has some wonderful information about picking a monochromatic scheme.  I’m looking forward to getting going on this one soon.

 

The next thing the mailman dropped in my mailbox was a wee little package from Silverlotus.  I was scratching my head when I first saw it because I didn’t recall her mentioning that she was going to send me something – but then again, my memory is faulty at the best of times, so maybe I forgot…..  I opened the envelope and this is what fell out:

 

 

They’re buttons!  Aren’t they the best?  They totally made me smile.  Thanks again Heather!

 

I recently discovered that we’ve been adopted by a female cardinal (her mate hangs out too, but I think she like us more than he does)….  A couple of weeks ago the female cardinal actually bashed into one of the windows of our house.  She wasn’t hurt – but was a little stunned for a bit.  Ever since then, she spends most of her day perched on the window sill peering into the room.  She stays longer if the TV is turned on – she can see it clearly from her perch.  I managed to catch a picture of her this morning:

 

I’ve never had a bird adopt us like this before (she’s inside the red box that I drew on the picture!).  Any time I look out that particular window, she’ll be there.  Her favourite shows seem to be the Nate Berkus show and the news, but she’ll stay there for just about anything.  If the TV is off, she’ll sit there for a couple of minutes and then fly off – and she’ll return every 5 minutes or so until the TV is on again.  Never thought I’d turn a bird into a TV addict…..

 

Today I also managed to solve another mystery that has plagued us from time to time – my furniture snores.  Yes, you read that right – it snores.  Periodically as I move through the house doing this and that, I’ll notice that a chair is snoring or that the couch is snoring…..  Now I know that furniture can’t *really* snore, so today when the couch started snoring, I got down on my hands and knees and found the real culprit:

 

That would be one of my cats – Mojo.  She was all curled up under the couch (I don’t know how she fits there – she’s a big girl and it’s a small space!) and snoring like there was no tomorrow.  That’s the leg of my floor stand in front of her.  Mystery solved!  Still won’t stop the couch from snoring upon occasion, but at least I know *who* is responsible.

 

I’ve had a busy week so far.  And tomorrow I’m going for my annual hair cut and DS#1 has to write two final exams – it’s a busy day around here tomorrow!

 

I’m going to curl up and stitch a bit!

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Back to our regularly scheduled programming…..

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I will thank everyone again for all their kind words and thoughts.  You’ve all been a tremendous comfort to me.  I feel lucky to know you all.

 

On a happier note……

 

For Christmas this year, my in-laws gave DH and I a little bit of money and an admonishment to use it for something other than bills.  Taking her words to heart, I decided to plan a surprise for my menfolk.  All I told them was to make no plans for Jan. 22.

 

Yesterday afternoon, we all hopped in the van and I drove them to Skydome in Toronto ( I know it has been re-named and branded with a large cable, phone & wireless provider, but I much prefer its original name!)…….

 

They figured out what we were going to see once they say the signage outside:  Monster Jam!  DH and I had talked about going to see this show in past years, but the timing just never seemed to work out.  I managed to get really great tickets that even allowed us access to the Pit Party – we got to go down to the show floor and meet some of the drivers and their vehicles…..  Here’s my three in front of one of the more recognizable vehicles:

 

Bryce had one of the drivers (not of this Grave Digger, but of Grave Digger Legend) sign his ticket *and* Mommy allowed Bryce to have the driver sign his hoodie.  In permanent ink.  What can I say?  I was intent on making a memory…..

 

It was a wonderful evening!  We ate tons of junk food, watched big trucks tear around the stadium and jump impossibly high jumps, watched a truck flip end-over-end (the driver was unhurt), saw a great demolition derby……  It was a great evening and we all enjoyed ourselves.  I didn’t think I’d really enjoy it very much (being a girly-girl has its drawbacks sometimes), but I actually had a lot of fun.

 

When not watching monster trucks do their thing, I have been stitching – but mostly on models (I made *huge* progress on one that has been lazing around here for far too long and I’m hopeful to finish it quickly now!).  I did stop for a brief bit to stitch my January ornament for my personal ornament-of-the-month club:

 

Noel by Lizzie*Kate

From Tiny Tidings XIV

Stitched on random 28-count pulled from stash

with recommended GAST & WDW

 

I have had this pattern in my stash for ages – I’m pretty sure I bought the pattern pack when it was released and it has languished in my stash since then.

 

Now I need to get back to my model and make some more progress on that.

 

I almost forgot!  If anyone lives within a reasonable distance of Brampton, I’m meeting up with Rebecca on Wednesday night for some dinner and stitching.  If you want to join us, just leave a comment or e-mail me for the details!  I’m so looking forward to spending an evening stitching with a friend – especially since stitch night at the local LNS has been made impossible for me to attend.

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Thank you

The last week has been one of the worst ever.  I really, really appreciate all the kind words that I’ve received.  I was never so glad to get to the weekend as I was this past weekend.

 

Early Monday morning, my mother-in-law called to tell us that her mother had passed away.  Grandma Tice had been suffering from dementia for many years now and didn’t recognize any of us, so it really was the second time we lost her.  She was such a kind person and always welcoming of anyone who walked through the door (me included – over 20 years ago!).  I am glad she’s not suffering any longer, but it will be hard for Grandpa Tice and my mother-in-law and the rest of her siblings to live without her.

 

Grandma and Grandpa Tice

 

The second phone call came later that same day and it left both my DH and me shaken.

 

This is Gerrit:

 

Gerrit was one of my husband’s best friends from high school.  Here’s a picture taken in 1987, when they graduated from high school:

 

Gerrit is in the middle in the back row.  My DH is on the left in the front row.

 

Gerrit married in 1993, while DH and I married in 1994.  Gerrit was one of our groomsmen.  In 1996, both Gerrit and his wife and DH and I had our first children.  Gerrit added to his family again in 1997, while DH and I waited until 1999.

 

Shortly before Christmas, Gerrit was diagnosed with glioblastoma.  He passed away on January 6.  He was 43 years old.

 

We’re heartbroken for his family – his wife, his children, his parents – everyone.

 

I guess the moral of the story is to remember that life is short – sometimes shorter than you can even begin to imagine.  Go hug your spouse/partner/SO and your children.  Then go make a memory with them.

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Um, Universe? Could you cut us some slack?

Two funerals in two days.  Please stop.

 

Thanks.

Me.

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Gifts received & more evidence….

So now that the mailman has finally gotten back to work this week (I swear between Dec. 24 and Jan. 3 he only actually delivered mail twice), something pretty amazing appeared in my mailbox – a package from Silverlotus!

 

Look what was inside:

 

Aren’t they the most adorable little creatures?  I’m going to be sorry to pack them away with the Christmas decorations….  I just love them.

 

And then there was more!  Look!

 

Isn’t that the prettiest ornament?  My large tree (I actually have 3 Christmas trees up – one large, one medium & one small one) has been undecorated and is waiting to go out on garbage day and my medium tree is in pieces awaiting to go back in the box, so my small tree got to hold this ornie for its beauty shot.  I can’t wait until next year when it can hang on the big tree – any handmade ornaments always hang on the big tree to keep them safe from marauding kitties.

 

Now feeling thoroughly spoiled, I was surprised to find this last thing in my package:

 

 

Which opened up to reveal:

 

 

Some of the prettiest notecards I’ve ever seen.  I perennially forget to buy simple notecards to include with gifts that I send to people and now that problem has been solved for me for a while.

 

Haven’t I been spoiled?  Thanks so much Heather!  I love everything!

 

As for the evidence I’ve found…..  I found more evidence that I can procrastinate until it’s stupid…..  Today, while rummaging about on my cutting table (and old desk of DS#1’s that I claimed), a couple of very old projects turned up.  These things have been stitched for ages – one since 2006 and the other since 2008 (!) but I hadn’t done one simple thing to finish-finish them – sew a single, straight line……  I even had everything pinned and ready to sew….  I just needed to put sewing machine and project together.  After giving myself a smack upside the head, I put sewing machine and project together and I’ve now got two needlecases ready to use….

 

 

I think it took all of 5 minutes to sew these up. 

 

On the up-side, they’re no longer languishing in the finishing pile and I can start using them!  ‘Tis a good day!

 

Thanks for all the comments on my TUSAL and some of my other posts.  In an effort to comment more on the blogs I read, I’ve been dashing around to many of the TUSAL participant blogs and trying to leave a comment.  It’s been wonderful ‘meeting’ some new people and finding lots of new blogs to add to my blog reader – I’m going to need to spend some time updating my blogroll too.

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TUSAL

So, since it’s fairly certain I’ll have lots more time on my hands for stitching this year, I decided to join a completely fun and a little bit silly SAL:

 

If you don’t know what the TUSAL is, basically you keep your ORTs and photograph them every new moon.  It’s being hosted by It’s Daffycat.  You can still sign up if you’re interested.  There’s even going to be prizes (talk about generous!)!

 

Today is the new moon, so I dutifully photographed my ORTs.  I originally had a really pretty container for them, but DH saw my ORTs in it and immediately threw them out.  After fishing them out of the trash, I’m hoping they can live in their new home, a basic mason jar.  Heaven only knows how long it will last.

 

Anyway, here’s the jar so far:

 

 

There’s not much in it really – a few bits of fabric cut off from finishing ornies and some sewing thread from a few pouches I managed to sew before Christmas.  There are some threads in there from both the models I’ve got on the go.  Let’s hope between now and the next new moon that there's a few more things in the jar.  And that DH doesn’t decide to throw them all out again. 

 

I wonder if I’ll fill up the whole jar over the course of a year?  Wouldn’t that be interesting to watch!

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Here, there and everywhere

Things have been pretty crazy around here since I last posted.  Getting ready for the holidays seems to steal all my free time for things like blogging, but I don’t really mind….

 

I had to work for a few days in December but once that was done, I chained myself to the stove and churned out a *ton* of baking.  This year I made 4 loaves of buttermilk bread, 4 loaves of multigrain bread, 4 cranberry-orange loaves, 4 banana-berry loaves, 3 batches of peppermint fudge, 3 batches of chocolate-orange fudge, 3 batches of butterscotch fudge, 2 batches of cookies ‘n creme fudge, 4 batches of Pecan Tassies and two batches of raspberry-almond squares…..I walked into the kitchen on Dec. 17th and left on the 24th.  Then just to add to the fun, I made 4 dozen buttermilk parsley rolls for Boxing Day (I made those on Christmas Day).  I love to bake, but I think I’m done for a bit.

 

I think Santa saw just how much I was baking though and he took pity on me this year so that next year it’ll be easier.  Look what he brought me:

 

 

The Kitchenaid mixer I’ve been lusting over for years!  It’s the Artisan too.  (If you look down to my post from Nov. 20th, you’ll notice that this is the exact mixer I was wishing for!  Santa reads blogs!  ).  I admit to going back into the kitchen yesterday – I made bread using my new machine.  I’m not sure how I lived without it before now.  I think I’ll make a traditional gingerbread today with it.  Yum!

 

Santa had some fun with me too – he brought me something else that I’ll play with once in a while:

 

And inside it:

 

  

A DS Lite.  Now I need to buy some games for it.  I always have fun playing with my kids DS’, so I guess Santa thought it was time I had my own.  I like the green.  It’s very fresh.

 

I did manage to squeeze in some stitching in the last while too.  I finally got around to finishing Live Fully from Dragon Dreams (thanks to the purchase of the extra GAST Blue Jay I needed):

 

Live Fully Sampler

By Dragon Dreams

Class from 2010 CreativFestival

Stitched on 28-count Toasted Almond

with provided fibres ( GAST, DMC, Mill Hill Beads)

And I cranked out another ornament.  I didn’t expect to squeeze in one before the end of the year, but it was an easy freebie that I found on-line.  I’m going to call it my December ornament-of-the-month as I haven’t had time to dig into my kitted stash of ornies.  I’ll dig into that pile starting in January….

 

 

Merry Christmas

By Log Cabin Needlework’s

Stitched on 28-count Cashel (colour unknown)

With Vikki Clayton Dragon Heart, DMC 319, RG PB02 and red beads from Gecko Beads

 

I didn’t follow the colour key at all for this piece, except for using DMC 319.  I’m really happy with how this piece turned out.  It looks better IRL.  The  skies are overcast and a bit dreary here today, so I’m working with what light I can get.

 

I keep hearing/reading about the Crazy January Challenge – basically the goal is to start one new project every day for the first 15 days of January.  And then finish those 15 projects before the end of the year.  It’s an interesting thought, but I’m not going to participate.  I think what I’ll do instead is haul out 15 of my WIPs (I’m sure there are 15 of them around here if I just dig enough – between class pieces and stuff I’ve had sitting in a pile…) and aim to work on those this year instead.  I’ve also got my  personal ornament-of-the-month club and I just joined a needlepoint ornament-of-the-month club as well over at Nuts about Needlepoint.  The price is excellent value for the money too (add $1 per ornament for Canadian shipping).  (And if you sign up before Dec. 31st, you get a bonus pattern at the end of the year!) . 

 

I think that’s enough for one year.  I’ve still got one model to finish as well.  My other model that I’ve been working on *forever* is finished except for one small part where I’ve run out of fibres (I only noticed I forgotten to stitch this one little part as I was going through making the chart corrections!)…  So, once the fibres arrive I can polish it off and get back to the other model.  I think 2011 will be a busy year if I can do it all.  Then again, I’ve got a pile of time on my hands now that I’ve been pushed out of one of the things I was involved with last year so maybe all that stitching will happen.  Time will tell, I guess.

 

Since this likely will be my last post of 2010, I wanted to take a moment to say Thank You to everyone who reads this blog and has posted comments.  I really appreciate all the kind words and complements.  I do read tons of blogs, but I’m a dreadful commenter.  That needs to be another goal to work on next year!

 

I wish you and yours a Happy New Year and may 2011 be filled with people, places and things you love!

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A Finishing Weekend

I’m not quite sure how we managed it, but we wrangled an entire weekend at home this past weekend.  Usually this time of year it just doesn’t happen and DH and I were both a bit shocked to look at the calendar and see it devoid of things to do.

 

Not wanting to waste a golden opportunity, I spent the weekend doing a pile of things – working on our Christmas cards (not quite finished, but they’re well underway!), planning some of the holiday baking that I’ll be doing and finishing a whole pile of ornaments….

 

I figured out how to get my laptop to play DVDs on it (it’s from the dark ages of time and the DVD player works with a little nudging) and I loaded up Season 1 of the Tudors (that truly appears to only be loosely based on historical fact but is entertaining anyway!) and spent a good number of hours at my finishing table.  I managed to take 10 ornaments and one scissor fob from bits of fabric into these things:

 

 

and one scissor fob (front and back):

 

 

Many of the ornaments will be off to other homes shortly, and some are going to live with me for a change.  I had a highly enjoyable weekend playing with my sewing machine, cording drill, fabrics and fibres.  And it’s nice to see so many items no longer languishing in a corner – a good number of them have been sewn and stuffed for ages – I just needed to get the cording made and attached.  Sometimes I can procrastinate to the point that it’s just dumb….

 

Now I need to get ready for DS#2’s birthday on Thursday and then I’ll be able to put up all the Christmas decorations.  It’s finally snowing here today (our first bit of snow that has actually stuck to the ground) and it’s made me come over all Christmas-y!

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How to make cording with an Electric Corder

When I was down at Stitching Jubilee this past October, I got introduced to the neatest, handiest tool for making cording:

 

 

I have one of the cording drill things from Kreinik and it works really well.  However, I personally have always struggled to make a cord with more than 2 colours with it and I was always rounding up volunteers (a.k.a. my kids) to help me make cords.  They don’t mind, but there are times when they’re not around  (darn it all, they do have to go to school!)….

 

I’ve had a few requests from people about how to use this handy-dandy tool, so since I was working at finishing some ornaments today, I thought I’d take some time to photograph the process.  It’s a wet and dreary day here and the forecast isn’t any better for the next week, so we’ll all just have to deal with the dark photos.  I did my best…..

 

I wanted to make a cord with 3 colours in it.  So, the first thing I did, was cut bundles of the 3 colours of fibre I wanted.  If you’re curious, I’m using crochet cotton for my cording.  It’s cheap and comes in great colours.  So, here are my three bundles of cotton:

 

I have one bundle of green, one bundle of red and one bundle of gold cotton.  If you’re wondering how long I cut my fibres, I cut each length to be 3 times the perimeter of my ornament.  Once my lengths were cut, I tied a knot in one end of each bundle:

 

I prefer to trim the ends after the knot as it looks neater.  It’s my anal-retentive side showing.  I trimmed the gold bundle end right after I took this photo. 

 

Now I grabbed the other end of each bundle, put them all together into one big bundle and tied a big honkin’ knot:

 

Again, my anal-retentive side demands that the loose end be trimmed neatly.  it’s not a requirement though.

 

I’m ready to hook my fibre bundles up to the corder!  The corder has these fabulous little hooks on each of its spokes and you just push the hook upwards to reveal the hook, loop the fibre onto the hook and you’re ready to rock ‘n roll….

 

 

Here are all three fibre bundles all hooked up and ready to spin…..

 

 

Now here’s the part where you either need really long arms or an accomplice or a cup hook.  I went with an accomplice today (DS#2) since he wasn’t busy.  He held the electric corder while I held the other end of the fibre bundles (the end with the big honkin’ knot).  We were aiming to have the lengths of cording held fairly taut.  At my end, I put my fingers in between the three fibres to keep them separate:

 

Sorry there’s no picture of the two of us working together, but with only two of us working on this project, we didn’t have a third available to take a picture of us.

 

Now we’re ready to get spinning!  The electric corder has a switch that slides in two directions – forwards is 1, backwards is 2.  To start making the cording, DS#2 pushed the button forwards to 1 and off things went.  After a minute or less, the three cords started looking like this:

 

 

Note that I continued to hold my fingers in between the three bundles because I find they tend to tangle a bit if I don’t hold them separate. 

 

They’re twisting up nicely and even kinking a bit.  They might be a little bit over-twisted in this picture, but I find with this tool it doesn’t cause problems like I’ve had with the Kreinik corder when I’ve used it.

 

So, now what?  Well since things have twisted nicely, I told my DS#2 to slide the switch on the corder backwards to the ‘2’ position.  In just a few seconds, we had this:

 

A perfect, even 3 colour cord!  After I finish the cord, I unhook the 3 bundles from the corder and tie another big honkin’ knot in that end to keep everything together.

 

If my cord is small enough, I can do the whole operation by myself.  This particular cord was just long enough to make it easier to do with DS#2.

 

Here’s a picture of the finished cord:

 

 

It’s the most even cord I’ve ever made.  I always tend to have trouble getting my cord to be consistent from one end to the other.  I often end up cutting off a couple of inches off each end because it looks awful.  I no longer have that problem.  Isn’t it fun?

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