One of those projects

Well, only a few weeks left before my nine-month creative endeavor comes to fruition. I’ve got quite the project countdown going on right now, and maybe I’ll be posting about them soon. One thing I haven’t accomplished yet, and that I probably won’t before baby day, is learning how to knit a baby hat. I may just have to whip up a simpler crochet version, but we’ll see.

In the meantime, I’ve actually (mostly) finished something. This is one of those projects—you know, the ones that seem fairly simple, straight-forward, and quick that turn into complicated, difficult, and time-consuming monsters. One of those projects that you keep thinking are almost done, and then something else comes up that you have to deal with. It’s one of those projects that you get halfway through and the only thing compelling you to finish it is that you’ve spent too many hours to abandon it (even though you really want to). But now that it’s finished (or at least, usable and mostly finished minus a few minor adjustments that I’ll get to someday), I’m glad that I stuck with it, if only to have the thing done and to be able to use it.

What is it, you may ask?

Well, I’m not exactly sure what to call it, so I’ll just say that it’s a customized embroidery thread holder. Here’s what it looks like on the inside:

Basically, I modified a clam shell box structure  (a lot) to fit what I had in mind for what I needed. The spools are held on thick bamboo skewers (like what you barbecue bacon-wrapped shrimp with) that can be taken out to add more spools or switch out an empty spool. Also, on the side is space for cards of my Japanese silk thread.

The box opens from both sides, so I can have two rows of thread and access them both easily. I’m still working out how to do the closures, but it works fine for now.

There’s a little box that comes out to hold random tools like my thimble and needles, and I want to get a cute little pair of nippers to go in there, too. The bottom has a couple of slots that I’m not sure what to do with yet, I just knew I wanted that space there for something.

To be honest, this project was really a pain, and I would never dream of making something like this again without some really strong incentive, but I did learn a lot from it. For one thing, I had to think a lot about how I was going to make it all work, and then rethink and make adjustments all along the way. Some of the problems were basic (like cutting the board precisely with a box cutter) to really complicated (trying to figure out how to hang the thread spools and have them stay in place but also be able to change them out). And some things I thought I solved, like the closure, didn’t work out the way I wanted them to. I was planning on doing a magnetic closure, but I found that the magnets I used were not strong enough, so I’ve still got to figure that one out.

One of the last problems I ran into was trying to decide what to cover the thing with, since I didn’t have any fun decorative paper that was big enough. I ended up weaving strips of paper together to make a big enough piece, and I rather like the results. I couldn’t decide which one to make the front, and there’s still some debate in my house as to whether I made the right decision.

So, overall, I’ve learned that it takes a lot of time to make something just the way you want it. In this case, I think it was worth it. I also learned that even with all my fine tuning, I have yet to figure out a way to make it toddler-proof.

Good thing organizing all those colorful threads is fun.