Working like one of Santa's elves

I have nearly finished another Christmas gift. This was supposed to be a quick project but I was just not thinking last night. I sewed, ripped, sewed, ripped, sewed, ripped. ARGH! I did it right the first time but thought it was wrong so I redid it...the wrong way...and then finally got it right. I do want to make more of this item, so maybe the next one will go smoother. I sure hope so!

This weekend will be a busy one full of errands. I'm going to check out a LYS for a maintenance kit for my Ashford spinning wheel. I mostly need the oil but would like to have the extra pieces in the kit just in case. I'm also hoping to pick up a copy of The Ashford Book of Spinning. I've yet to try any spinning on my wheel. We oiled it with some sewing machine oil just to get it going and also polished up the wood so it looks real nice. I did a bit of internet searching to see what kind of oil to use on the wheel and found that sewing machine oil will do in a pinch but it needs something of a heavier weight, about the weight of 10W30 motor oil. I'm not about to use motor oil because I think it would be quite messy and might stain the wood. I can wait to get the right oil.

Also on my to-do list this weekend is a trip to Calico Corners in search of a sturdy curtain rod. We have a sliding patio door in the family room and I put up a traverse rod so we can close it off with curtains for both warmth and privacy. Up until now I've had linen curtains on it, which worked fine but they off no insulation for the winter months. I bought some velvet Ikea drapes, but they're a bit too heavy for the traverse rod. The top of the rod shows and it's hard to open and close them. I'd like to put up a nice metal or wood pole with rings but I want something that doesn't require a center support so that the drapes can be pulled all the way across. Fortunately it's just a standard sliding door size so I hope I can find something.

This will also be a weekend of packing and shipping. Hopefully I'll get the Christmas presents done, remember to take pictures, wrap them, and ship them out. But I also have 9 things up for auction on eBay and the auctions end tonight. As of this writing, two have bids and will definitely sell and five others have people watching so I expect most of those will also sell. I've been a buyer on eBay but this is my first time as a seller. Let's hope it goes smoothly, because I have a bunch of other things I would like to sell. If you're curious, here's my auction page. Nothing crafty for sale (yet!), just stuff I no longer want but hope to sell to someone who does want them.