I have a small gripe. Often I’ve seen some really cool tutorials for building things for your sewing room and they consistently say things like “I got my husband to do this part.” Super. Maybe your husband should write the tutorial. Some of us don’t have husbands (and some do have husbands who are not handy) and it would be really helpful to have directions for the part you pawned off on your husband! By all means, pawn it off, but at least ask him to explain what he did so you can include that in your tutorial.
Back in December, I think it was, I bought a drill. Apart from a hammer and a screwdriver, this was my first real tool. I got drill bits too. Then I realized what I really wanted was screwdriver bits so I went out and bought those. Now the other day I came across a tutorial for building a thread rack and I thought, hey, why don’t I do that? Of course the husband did all the cutting so I was left slightly perplexed. What is a single girl to do?
I trotted down to Kent’s Building Supplies for what I needed. I wandered aimlessly, looking lost for awhile before getting any help. The help was just so so, so I left there and went over to Home Depot which is practically across the street. I wandered aimlessly in there for awhile too before finding peg board on the back wall. A nice man who worked there asked if I needed help and brought me to smaller pieces of peg board. Still, they were too large and I have no band saw or anything with which to cut giant boards. Home Depot is pretty awesome though and a man came along and sawed my board in two easily. I took my board pieces and trotted off around the store in search of dowels and wood glue. Then things got complicated again.
I realized that I can’t cut the dowels without some kind of saw. I got the giant saw that belongs to my parents and attempted to saw at the dowel but the saw was big and wobbly and the dowel just rolled and rolled. This was no good. Once again, off I trotted, this time to Canadian Tire because I was going to buy a saw! Who knew there were so many saws? Not I! After a lot of confusion I picked up a small 10 1/2″ all purpose saw and came home to saw some dowels. This was no easy task and I only managed to saw apart one of them before getting much too tired to carry on.
I have one other dowel and I realize now I need to buy several more to fill the holes in the peg board. BUT – I don’t want to saw them by hand. Having no husband who possesses tools and not knowing of anyone who does own a saw, I am left with a conundrum. What to do? Fortunately I am able to borrow some long-distance advice from my friend’s husband Trav. I’m thinking of buying an electric saw. They’re not cheap and I don’t know how often I would use it. On the other hand, when I do need to use it, it will make life much easier. I may have to hold off on my project until I can afford an electric saw or until someone I know locally lets me know they have one I can use!
Ladies, whether you’re married or not, learn to do these things for yourself. You never know when you’ll need to and you shouldn’t rely on someone else to do it for you. My utter lack of knowledge about tools makes this whole thing very daunting because I want to make sure I’m buying quality tools that will last and that are right for the job. Fortunately, I have a friend who can impart his knowledge to me so that I can go out, buy my own tools and use them myself!
If I ever get this thread rack built, I’ll post some photos. Since I have 2 peg boards, depending on how this goes, I may build a second thread rack for my best friend. She moved away yesterday and I’m already feeling impossibly lonely.
Until next time! I suspect with all this time on my hands, with no best friend, it’s going to be a crafty summer! (Or a serious of disasters as I attempt to build things…)
