New gadgets!!

OK -- so what happened? It's freezing this morning! Of course, the temperature is only 17 and feels like 17, and with the windows open, it's cool in the house. It's crazy weather! 

When I was in the Wal-Mart the other day, I spotted this in the yarn section: Faux Leather. What the heck would you do with that? Yes -- it's long and stringy, just like yarn. WAIT a minute—now that I see this again, I want some! 

A skein of Faux Leather

But I guess the idea is you knit up a sweater or a bag with it. There was a small swatch knit up so you could see what it looks like! Hmmm—I'm not sure I would do that. It came in multiple colors! 

A swatch of faux leather "yarn"

Yesterday was time to get out the garment pattern and have a look at it, as I need to decide what embroidery designs to put on it. 

The garment pattern

You can tell the pattern's age by looking at the pieces. Do you notice anything about it? 

What's missing on the pattern?

Yep—there is only one size!!! It's a mens/misses medium pattern. I'm not going to make any adjustments, but I will shorten it as the shirt and the sleeves are quite long. I may look at the shoulders, but this garment has a yoke, and I don't want to mess with that the way it is designed. I separated out all the pieces I need and ironed them gently. Now I'll shorten the shirt and the sleeves and hopefully get it cut out today. I also did some research for an embroidery pattern, and I think I have narrowed the style down; I just need to find the right sizes. 

It's been a long time since I sewed a pattern with plackets on the sleeves. I don't think that's the exact term, but you know what I mean. I just checked, and it's a placket! It also has a two-part collar! But I've made those in the past, and they are not complicated; they just take a wee bit more time. I have a serger now, so it should be easy!

This is another way to buy patterns. This is the Burda Style magazine, and it contains numerous patterns. You'll find them all on the pullouts in the middle, and the patterns are printed on top of each other in different colors. Tracing the lines to form a single pattern will be the most challenging part. 

The new way to buy patterns

Different times!!! 

In case you are wondering this happened. 

The last stitches of the table runner are done.

The embroidery for the table runner, which required three hoops in the 450 by 450 Mega Turnable Hoop, is done! It seemed to take forever, even though the number of stitches yesterday was HALF of the day before. But it's done. I now have to repair that one spot, then figure out how to trim and hem it. You'll get to see it when it's done. 

Have you noticed that there is NO setting things aside to get them done later - it's get them completed NOW. 

I spent the rest of the day prepping fabrics, finding patterns, etc for things that will be stitched out today or in the next couple of days. That was a lot of work. 

The next time you show someone something you have machine-embroidered, and they say, "Oh - that's no big deal, you had a machine stitch it," you'd better set them straight. It's a ton of work -- prepping the fabric, finding the pattern, choosing the thread colors, picking the correct stabilizer, having the skill to combine the elements, and knowing the many tools on the embroidery machine. Then, to make everything come out right and fix any issues should they arise. It's a whole different set of skills from doing it by hand, but trust me—it's NOT just about pressing START and walking away. People have ZERO idea. 

I was exhausted when I went to bed! 

Here is my finish for yesterday. YES -- it's off center, and I could have trimmed it to fit, but then it would have looked very tight! This is the one where I had randomly stitched the bird out in the middle of a piece of blue fabric. Then I figured out what to use the sample for, and well, it has lots of issues. But I bound the edges because it's a great learning piece, and I will certainly use it in classes for placement, the order of stitching, and many other things. I could always put a flower or something in the bottom right corner. It's not too late. Hmm -- that gives me an idea. 

The sample of the day

I'm in the process of redoing it, but it will be done the correct way or at least more to my liking. I started it last night, but I struggled with the stitches as I was so tired. So I left it and will tackle it this morning. 

If I don't get everything I want to done, I'm OK with that, but I can make a huge dent in the list. I think I'm down to ten things on the list and seven days!

So, do you know what this is used for? 

A new gadget

When I first saw the tool, I got super excited. A friend of mine told her husband, who is still working, that he'd better find a hobby for when he retired. Well, he took her advice to heart and bought himself a 3-D printer. He's not ready to retire for a few more years! He made that tool above, and it's brilliant, and about 6 weeks ago, I was looking for exactly such a thing. 

What's it for? 

Let's imagine you are making a small pouch and need to round the corners. But you can't find anything small enough or suitable for use with a rotary cutter. I swear I had some round templates, but at the time I couldn't find them, so I sort of rounded these corners, but they look messy. 

Messy rounded corners

But if I had had this tool, I could have used that! 

So much easier with the rounded corner tool

I didn't do such a bad job hacking with scissors, but I much prefer using a tool like this. And notice that all the writing is raised and printed in another color! I love it!!!!

Easy to read letters and markings

And did you notice that he custom-made the tool in my favorite color? Thanks—you know who you are!!!

But WAIT --- there's more!!!! 

He also made me a set of cord minders! 

Cord minders

They snap together beautifully, and just the other day, I was looking for a cord minder for my heat gun. Now the cord is nice and tidy! 

A cord minder for my heat gun

And I also got a point turner with a hole at the tip that can be used to hold your needle for insertion into the sewing machine. 

A point turner

WOW --- that is an amazing set of tools!!! Thank you once again!!! I love them all. Now I have to remember to pay for them, which I'll do this morning. What did we do without the ability to e-transfer money? 

I believe they will be selling these tools at the Brant Heritage Quilt Show on September 25 and 26, so if you want some of those quilting items, check that out. Or if you want to place a special order, I'm sure that can be arranged. 

Someone at the last Virtual Retreat, which was at the beginning of July, mentioned this puzzle. Does anyone remember this quilt that raised the most money at the Mennonite Relief Sale ever? I believe it sold for $42,000. They made it into a puzzle. The quilt was created by Renske Helmuth and members of the Waterloo County Quilters Guild. 

What a great way to raise funds for the Mennonite Central Committee. There are many stories about this quilt online, but here is a link to one. 

Threads of Africa quilt

I found a store (In-Season) that sells the puzzle, and guess what? I had an $11 credit with the store because I had bought a number of things last summer, and well, that paid for the postage. The puzzle arrived yesterday. I need to stop buying or acquiring special puzzles because I won't want to give them away, but where the heck will I store them? Yikes—I think we need to have an intervention here! 

I'm not this bad yet, but maybe it's time to purge the quilt magazines and use those bookcases for jigsaw puzzle storage!!!

Someone's puzzle storage (not mine)

Speaking of puzzles, the theme for July with the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association is a Villager-brand puzzle. There are already 181 posts from people this month. You know it's been done this month because you have to post a keyword in the picture. I see two people have done this one. I'm working my way slowly from top to bottom. 

Progress on my puzzle

I haven't resorted to sorting by shape for the trees yet, but I may have to. I think I have all the tree pieces pulled, but probably not! And then comes the challenging reflection, water and boats. Yeah!!!! But it's a nice way to end the day. 

And OH MY - the Villager company just came out with 250-piece puzzles, which are fun because you can do them in an evening, and they will also be releasing an Advent calendar. OK -- I have to get that!

Well, there's a lot to get done today, and I have to say I'm very focused and having fun, even though I'm learning with almost everything I do. There's so much more that I want to play with, but after this event, I need to get back to my quilting UFOs! But I will have other machine embroidery samples to make starting in August, so that will blow my quilting time out of the water! 

And on that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

It's a great day in Studio B!

Sharon -- you are so right!!! So many of the ideas that we see today as "new" and "modern" are not new or modern at all. So many techniques from years ago have been resurrected, and countless other things. The only thing I would say that is NOT being recreated is the color palette! The harvest gold and avocado green? Although I like those colors. Even the small muted prints of the 70s are back in vogue. WAIT - I stand corrected - even the color palettes are back, maybe not exact, but close! 

Well, I am a happy camper. I was definitely in my happy place yesterday, and it was a day filled with fun, creativity, learning, and everything went as planned or better! I was in Studio B all day with my toys - predominantly the Husqvarna Viking Designer Epic 3- and, more importantly, I had my Creativate Embroidery Software to design what I wanted to make. 

Let's just say I will NEVER give up the Projector on the Epic 3, which is phenomenal for item placement. And there is the Exact Positioning, and so many other amazing tools. I was a smidgen off on one piece of my placements yesterday, but I'm OK with that. I learned something while doing it. The more that I do, the more I learn, and well, we know how that goes. At my house, the learning never stops. 

Then you get cocky and need to push the envelope, and that's what I did yesterday. A slight (maybe about 5 mm) placement issue, but no one is going to know if I don't point it out, which I may or may not - depends on the day! 

There are so many techniques and designs (from our Creativate Design Catalog) that one could make samples for the rest of their years without duplicating anything. That's the beauty of using the software rather than buying purchased designs. I totally get it—it is not for everyone, and that's OK. I'm not into machine embroidery to stitch just for the sake of stitching; I like to stitch what I dream up! I also like to stitch out things just for fun! 

For an upcoming event in two weeks, I need to demo some specific embroidery hoops. The Mega Turnable Hoop, the Large Magnetic Hoop, the Special Techniques Hoop, and the Embellishment Attachment using yarn. OK -- so while I have samples of each, they're sparse. Since this is a product showcase for our dealers globally, I needed to up my game. 

I thought this quote was fitting for yesterday. The unknown and all outcomes are possible. I'm not so sure I entered it with grace, but since I wasn't pressed for time, I think I did pretty well. Yes -- I have 11 days to complete my samples and make a garment. Lots of time, but everything takes more time than we anticipate. However, I made amazing progress yesterday considering how it all transpired. 

The quote of the day

Samples for the Large Magnetic Hoop are done - wait - I want to make one more, but if it gets done, that's a bonus. I am NOT a fan of making samples that corporate or marketing have made. Why would I duplicate someone else's work? However, when a new hoop is released, there are usually one or two designs released with it. I might jazz up one of the designs that came with that hoop. 

And my secret weapon is Quilt Block Wizard in the Creativate Embroidery Software. I thought I pretty much knew the infinite number of designs that could be created, and then yesterday I got curious, and OH MY—the possibilities are beyond infinity! I was jumping up and down with joy at my discovery. And all it required was the curiosity to see what would happen when I made a few extra mouse clicks. 

I mentioned earlier this week that I am trying to dress up my samples. Not all my samples are a mess. Many of them are finished, but there are lots of "technical" ones that will never be finished as we want to see both sides. That means removing the excess stabilizer, trimming to size, and serging the edges. I didn't get to those yesterday as I don't need any of them for the event. 

But I have another drawer of stitchouts that I have never done anything with, and how could I incorporate those into something for this event? So that's where I started. I pulled a bunch of stuff from the drawer and a tub, and I'm working my way through them. 

Samples languishing in a drawer

 Here are three, all undergoing a makeover using the Embellishment Attachment.

Embellishment Attachment designs getting a makeover.

Here is one I tackled using the Quilt Block Wizard. I won't share my secrets, but I'll certainly explain all to my group of machine embroidery people in the fall. The possibilities are endless! And so is my level of excitement. I didn't even have time for a walk yesterday, but since I was using my computer upstairs while the embroidery machine was downstairs, I still got 14,000 steps in. I didn't need a walk outside! 

Amazing quilted textures! 

You can see the projection system on the fabric, and OH MY --- if you have an EPIC 3 and are NOT using that system - shame on you! It is the best thing since sliced bread. And NO - we do not get training on this stuff. We are given a machine and told to run with it! Thank goodness, my curious mind is in overload mode. It has taken me a while to catch on to all the components of the projection and placement systems. There are so many options that can be used alone or together. 

I might have to do another class on Epic 3 stuff in the fall. Right now? It's all about ME!!!!

Using the Projector to place a design

Then I got out my Embellishment Attachment and, using "yarn," I was into creating something so amazing and cute that my head is still spinning at how cute it is. Don't worry - I'll share it with you. It just needs to be tidied up and finished. By finished, I mean the binding on. 

The Embellishment Attachment

There were boxes of thread on every available surface yesterday. I know there are people out there that must use the exact colors that a designer has chosen. I don't think I ever did that. Unless you buy a kit, your fabric won't be the same as theirs, and so why should the thread be the same? I love the opportunity to open a box (they are sorted by color) and grab what I want. I am also NOT a fan of my thread being in a cabinet I have to go to. I love opening the box where I want and just choosing. It's not super neat, but it doesn't have to be. Want a grey? Pick one and get to the embroidery machine!

A box of grey thread

Some of my test samples are simple like this. A round ball of fluff that I stitched several years ago. But I didn't want to throw it out, so what to do with it? There is a long tail of the fluffy stuff, and every time I showed it, everyone said it looked like a dandelion fluff or a cat's bum with a long tail. The issue is that I'm also working with the placement of the design. I can't move it! 

The sample stitchout is getting a makeover.

Well, my creative juices were flowing (no, there was a tsunami going on), and I decided it was time to make something of this. And I was going to quilt around that fluffy thing! I know—that required a lot of "skill" to make that happen. And then I added more stuff to it. I'm almost finished, but not before I had to create some brand new designs in the Sketch Module of the Creative Embroidery Software. And then I had to edit my sketch. Can you tell I'm excited? So far, everything has gone amazingly well, and I'll do a test stitchout of my sample to make sure it is what I want. 

I am not prepared to teach what I'm learning as it's just by trial and error. One day, I will get it all in my head, but it'll be years before I consider myself an expert. 

Once I add that new component, then that sample will be done. I'm thrilled to bits with it!!!!

The day wasn't without a glitch or two. When I loaded one hoop, I realized after basting the items in the hoop that I had forgotten to move the backing out of the way. So I had to pin the layers in place along one side of the hoop. You can see the pins in that one picture of the green in the hoop above. 

As this piece was being stitched, I was at the other sewing machine (my old PFAFF creative icon2, which will soon be replaced by the NEW one), sewing binding on and repairing a couple of small areas that needed extra stitching on something else. 

The embroidery is still being supervised even if I'm not right next to it.

OK -- so everything is going well, and I swear I moved that long tail of yarn out of the way, but as I was sewing, I heard a crunch and a grind and ran to the machine. OH GOD - the tail got caught in the stitching. Of course it did!!!!!

Ooops!!!!

But no worries—everything is good, and you can now see the tail on that blob. 

You know me and quotes and words - I had fun searching the embroidery software for fonts after I found some amazing quotes. This is not rocket science - it's just letting your brain wander, and my head was exploding with ideas. As I started designing one, more came. 

Then it was time to work on the next sample. Actually, this is the first one I did, and I had to start it from scratch. But that looks like a creepy crawler in the hoop!

Stitching out a creepy crawler

When I got my labels out to insert one during the binding process, half of them fell on the floor. I couldn't get them back in the bag, so they went into the drawer loose, and that's OK - that's all there is in that drawer. It's the small one that fits under the table. 

Oops

And I got lucky when putting the binding on - I had one inch leftover. 

One inch left on the binding

So to tally up the day, one sample was made completely from scratch and is finished with binding and hangers. Let's see - that uses a design from the Design Catalog, the Embellishment Attachment (using yarn - chenille, so the spider is nice and fuzzy), and I used a font from the embroidery software, as well as the Quilt Block Wizard. A perfect sample because it uses lots of different things. And it's small. I could have added more space around, but I don't need or want big samples to travel with. And it is super cute!!!! Although maybe it needs two red beads for eyes!

One sample is DONE!

Then there is one sample that just needs to be cleaned up and bound. Another one needs some stitching, but only after I test it on a scrap of fabric. One is designed and ready to stitch - I just need to find some fabric and yarn. And the final one needs some design work, and then I'll stitch that. I MUST finish all of them today, as tomorrow I must move on to another hoop. Eleven days will go by very quickly. 

This is one of my samples, but it won't be coming with me because it doesn't meet the criteria for this event. I had originally bought some artificial moths at the dollar store, and they have disintegrated over time. 

My disintegrated artificial moths

So a couple of years ago, I used the embroidery machine and stitched NEW moths for it. They have been pinned on, and it was time to get them stitched in place. I had stitched them on before I went to Stitcharie, but one of them was stitched too high and was stitched onto the hanging sleeve. Of course it was! So I moved it down a wee bit, and now it's done! Although it could use a proper label on the back instead of a piece of paper. 

Another finished sample!

This is one of my finished samples, and it's coming with me. I had seen one loose piece of yarn and a loose thread every time I got it out, and it was time to fix that. It's all tidied up now. Again, there are multiple techniques on this piece, even though you may not realize it. I will rarely make a sample that works for only one topic. For those of you in my upcoming scrap class this fall, you will likely see this piece! Don't worry -- no sign-up has happened yet!

Another sample

I managed to get a new puzzle laid out the other night (not yesterday - I was too busy, and when I finally stopped, I was exhausted!), and I got the border done, minus a few pieces in the bottom left. It's going to be a challenge to get this one done, but not a big deal. 

The next puzzle

Our upcoming event is in Nashville. Nashville is a cowboy town and also home to Dolly Parton. So think western! I spotted this hat in the thrift store the other day; however, I don't need a hat. I have something special, but I won't share it until the time comes. 

A glitzy cowboy hat

And as I closed up Studio B the other night, I glanced back and WHAT THE HECK??? OH -- One of Dilon's T-shirts is glowing in the dark. 

A glow-in-the-dark T-shirt

I sent him the picture and asked if he knew that. Nope - he didn't realize!!! How funny! Anyway, I haven't heard back from him, but that's OK. Even if he gets back to me, I'm having way too much fun with the embroidery machine at the moment. 

By the way, for those who know me, I am predominantly a quilter. Well, I'm using my embroidery machine to make quilts or wall hangings. I have so many other things to test out that I won't have time to do them all. But that's OK. I have a plan for what I need to take to Nashville, and eleven days should be just fine. There is NO time for lollygagging though! 

However, I'm trying to finish reading a physical book, and I have 100 pages left. I'm not sure if it's the writing in the book, or that I haven't read a physical book in a while, but it's a struggle to read. It's getting better, but so darn depressing. And it's all about a murder in Toronto, during the summer when it's hot. I wonder how it turns out? DH said it was worth the read. I trust him, so I'll keep going. 

Speaking of DH, when I was having dinner, he came into the kitchen and said, "It's hard to be creative all day!" I just laughed because I totally agreed with him. But I asked what he was being creative with. "Words," he said, as he seems to spend a lot of the day writing creative contracts or something - I have no idea, and I don't get involved! 

And on that happy note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Despite the negatives, there are positives!

What's the opposite of batting 1000? Lots of things happened yesterday - things that were related to my update list from yesterday, but NO progress was made on anything!!!

I had my call from Microsoft, and I think I mentioned that my Classic version of Outlook had frozen. Nope—it hadn't frozen. It's in the process of syncing all the folders, but it's taking a long time. Why? I suspect because the computer goes to sleep 5 minutes after I leave. So now I have set that to never, and hopefully, it will sync a bit faster. Will this solve the problem? I don't know. WAIT — I need my distribution lists tomorrow, so it had better sync completely so I can send my emails. The good news is that, while I can't access any of the folders, they appear to be being repopulated. 

A slow update process

So when I chatted with Reena, she didn't even need to log into my computer - I just explained what was happening, but she didn't mention that I shouldn't let the computer go to sleep. Maybe it still works when it's asleep? I don't know, but let's see if it moves a bit quicker. There are a LOT of files to sync. YES --- I should have cleaned it up before, but who knew this would happen? 

She mentioned again that the Classic Version is being phased out, and I told her that the New version was totally useless to me. I'll hang on a bit longer, get this problem resolved, and perhaps start browsing for an alternative email interface. 

I got an email back from the engineer about the beam. They are idiots. "We don't rip open the walls to see what's there. Do you have plans for the house? If not, perhaps you can get them from the city." If they knew that upfront, why didn't they ask for plans before? Seriously --- I question their ability. They could give me feedback that new posts might be in order, but they would need to actually see the beam. I was so frustrated that I was tempted to take a hammer and tear out all the drywall in that area. But common sense prevailed! I'm not an engineer, but I can hazard two scenarios about the situation, and then I can rip out the drywall to confirm. They are smarter than I!

Then, in the afternoon, I walked to the post office with my printouts to see if we could figure out what to do about this missing order. Only to find the dollar store where the post office is located is permanently closed, and that if we want postal services, the next closest one is at the mall. You have to be kidding!!!!

So I stopped at the grocery store (same plaza as that dollar store) to get bran muffins for my afternoon snack, and two days in a row, they do not have any!!! It was not a great day for making any progress on my outstanding issues. I have a few other things to follow up on, but I can't add another to the list at this point. I need some resolutions first. 

To top it off, the list of Cherrywood Challenge finalists and semi-finalists (online only) was revealed last night, and my name was not on the list. I didn't think it would be, and I had fun making the piece. I'll share it with you next week. However, the good news is that my friend Lynn had her piece accepted, and when you see the difference between what I did and what she did? You can see why hers was accepted, and mine was not. She was super creative with the fabric and thread. 

I was never a fan of this year's color choice or theme. I didn't find either super inspiring, but that's OK. I used the piece to learn a few new techniques and that works for me. Am I disappointed? Not really - I would have been thrilled to have it accepted, but since I learned lots while making it? I'm a winner! 

BUT I did win two Roll Up The Rim spins yesterday, so that counts for something - doesn't it? 

Roll up the Rim wins! 

I have never heard of "The Athletic," and neither has DH. He won six months of Sirius radio yesterday. I hate those subscription things—you get X number of free months, and then you have to pay or remember to opt out. I will not be signing up for "The Athletic." I wonder why they put these silly prizes in that we don't want. Anyway, I got 100 points, and that makes me happy. A positive from a day of negatives!

I'm happy to report that I got some work done on that little heart mug rug. I am determined to not let this thing beat me! I struggled with the design before Christmas and managed to get one done, but now I want to really understand the file structure. Don't ask—it's my attention to detail that has me up in arms over this thing. I don't think it's designed well, nor are the instructions written very well. 

I wasn't able to finish the first one on the embroidery machine as planned, but no worries—I have it ready and will bind it by traditional methods in sewing mode.  

One mug rug is ready for binding.

In all fairness to the pattern, I am in the process of making another one. Yep—I will not be defeated. And then I can explain all that happened to my machine embroidery group on the weekend, provided I can get the message out about the Zoom link!!!

Making one more heart mug rug

But all is good with this one, and I hope to remove it from the Visual To Do list later today! My goal is to remove EIGHT items from that list this month! I'd better get myself busy!

I also managed to trim the Dear Jen quilt - I think the backing looks pretty amazing, I used up all the extra blocks, and got rid of a bunch of scraps of solid black fabric. 

The backing for Dear Jen

However, something very bizarre happened, and it's a bit disturbing. When I was moving that quilt from the long arm to the cutting table, I was holding it by the backing and heard a RIP!!! Oh my --- what was that? When I looked closely, one of the fabrics had ripped along the basting stitches on the edge of the quilt. WHAT?????? 

Then, when I was ripping the small sections apart from the cut-off edges, it happened again. Can you believe this? One of those blacks was pretty thin, and it literally ripped at the line of stitching. That means the STITCHES were stronger than the fabric. This is a black fabric I purchased or received as a sample in 2017. I do NOT remember the manufacturer, and of course, there is no selvage. 

The fabric ripped along the stitches!

When I worked for that fabric company, I compared the quality of solids, with black being my color of choice, and I had purchased solid black from all the big names. This is very disturbing!!!! And the quality of the fabric just keeps getting worse. 

Last night, I put on my headphones and listened to The Kitchen House. Oh my --I know that life was not easy for the slaves in the 1800's, but how they were treated is inhumane and so sad that the "superior" white man was better (or thought he was) than those beneath them, including the white women. It's a good read, but sad. And it's very sad, how quickly people get influenced by others! More on that in a bit. 

The status of the current puzzle

I'm running out of big circles to work on! There is one more, and then it's going to be a challenge to work on the remainder of the puzzle. I was able to move all the pieces to two boards, not three, so that helps. 

The remaining pieces

I had a few car errands yesterday and ended up at Michaels (no fabric aisles yet) to look for a skein of 100% wool. Hmmmm  - that's a challenge. Look what I found. 

You have your 100% acrylic. 

100% acrylic

You've got 100% polyester. I also spotted 100% nylon, but didn't get a label for that. 

100% polyester

Then you have your blends. 

Acrylic and metallic fiber mix

This one has all three man-made fibers. I wasn't really paying attention to the feel, but what is the advantage of polyester, nylon, or acrylic, I wonder? 

Blendof polyester, nylon, and acrylic

Oh, at last a blend with at least a natural fibre. 

Cotton and acrylic

There's one with a wool blend.  

Acrylic, wool, and rayon

And at last, a 100% wool yarn. And guess what? I found it in the clearance bin!!!! 

100% wool!!!!

AHA — I asked Google what the difference between acrylic (closest to wool—soft, warm, and lightweight but weak), polyester (strong, hydrophobic, and excellent for durability/wicking), and nylon (the strongest, most elastic, and abrasion-resistant—good for socks) is. Now that begs the question, when you buy sock yarn, is it nylon? 

So much to learn about all the materials we work with. Anyway, I got my 100% wool, so that was another positive outcome in the day!!

I spotted these grab bags (boxes) for $10. I was tempted, but then I peeked through the opening and through some of the tops (they were taped shut), and it's all Christmas stuff, which I don't need. It would be great to buy for a school or a challenge at a retreat or something, but I left it in the store and only purchased my skein of wool. 

Grab bags (boxes) at Michaels.

And if you are looking for something bright -- what about these balls? I spotted those at Michael's as well. 

Now that's bright!

So let's chat about the Smartphone Nation by Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr.  

What I'm reading is NOT new to me, but the intensity of it is frightening to see it all laid out like this. Here's a direct quote: 

"encourages companies to prioritize things that hold viewers' attention, and this content is less likely to be informative or educational, and more likely to be 'false, demagogic, conspiratorial, and incendiary, and to appeal to emotions such as fear, envy, anger, hatred, and distrust'. "

Whoa --- that is insane, and this is exactly what is happening right now. 

But look what the next paragraph says, "Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they'll click on fewer ads, they'll make less money."

The companies know the algorithms are harmful, but there is NO REGULATION in this industry — NONE — so they are going for the maximum viewer attention they can garner. And I hate to tell you this, but we like the bad and the ugly. We do not gravitate to the good stories. 

I contemplated long and hard yesterday whether I could give up my IG and Facebook accounts, and I realized that while I could, I would also miss out on staying in touch with family and friends and the few online accounts I follow. 

What this is going to make me do is to stop PASSIVELY dealing with social media. I will not scroll (I don't much anyway), but I will stop it altogether. I will watch what I want to watch, and not what I am being fed. I know -- I can't change my algorithm, so I'm at the mercy of what it feeds me. WAIT  - I can control my algorithms. Every time you scroll through something, watch a video (or, god forbid, watch it twice), hesitate on something, like something, respond to something, you are affecting your algorithm. So beware—you can modify what comes into your feed. Will you ever get rid of all the negativity? No, but you can control it somewhat. 

They mentioned in the book that the worst platform for addictive behavior is TikTok. Within 35 minutes of watching that platform, you are addicted!!! Thank goodness, I never even downloaded the app and refuse to watch any clip from it that friends send my way. Just say NO!!!!! 

The next chapter in the book is about how your algorithms make you sick and how you can get well soon. I'm very interested in this one. 

The book is fascinating, and what these big tech companies are doing is NOT new. Google began collecting data almost as soon as it started, recognizing the value of that data. Guess what? They keep all that stuff you post - even the deleted stuff! And then you wonder why they need these massive data centers around the world. That is to store all the data, pictures, and videos that we NEED to post online. I have pretty much stopped posting on both platforms - I might post once a month, and usually to repost a memory. I will very much consider the number of likes and comments that I put out there going forward!!!

Anyway -- I must get myself organized. I have nothing on the agenda for today, but I have a lot of follow-up to do, a quilt to quilt, and to finish those two mug rugs! So busy, but nothing at a specific time. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!