Ari Stephenson

You can add $5 to hazelnuts for me.

The elastic in the bottom of my husband's jacket came undone at one end. Here's how I fixed it:
1. I seam ripped a small portion near the zipper and used a larger eyed needle and some yarn to rethread it along the tube. Once I got it to the zipper, I pulled the needle out, the yarn off and both out.
2. I then used a similarly colored thread (dark red) to secure the fabric end that was attached to the elastic. I reinforced the elastic with several passes of thread and then sewed the seam shut.
3. I hid the closing knot as best I could in between the coat and the hem. My husband's modeling the repaired coat at the end.

Question:
Does anyone have advice for struggling with disabilities and financial issues while trying to start this journey?

Because I'm struggling. . .hard. . .and I feel so alone.

The skip book says that an individual shouldn't have to spend more than $100 to get started, but from what I've been dealing with in my attempts to move forward with completing just a few BBs, I've spent almost $200 just on supplies (not including the food for a meal I attempted for a BB, but didn't get because I forgot to take pictures of the clean up) and planning out future BBs is exceptionally expensive in tools alone because I'm starting from scratch & have little to no budget/disposable income.

I thought I could start small and slowly accumulate knowledge and the things I will supposedly need over time, but after the craziness of this past month & the addition of stricter guidelines for some of the  basic/starter BBs, I don't know if the physical pain I endure for what seems like the struggle of trying to meet someone else's standards & "the results," is worth it.
The worst part is I feel very alone in my struggle and don't feel like I have any guidance. I know a lot of people love this forum, but my computer died earlier this month and almost all of my progress/pictures/research died along with it.
Does anyone have any advice? Or maybe lives in North Carolina and wouldn't mind a group meeting for emotional support?

Then I won't be able to get this BB any time soon because I can't afford to accommodate that particular additional clause on my limited budget and with my disabilities (no, I'm not on disability).

Additions like this (after the fact) make me feel very discouraged. . .especially in my financial situation/struggling. It makes it that much harder to keep trying when it seems like everything is against me attempting to be self sustainable.

😮 Oh my goodness! I really appreciate this! I didn't think it would qualify as a BB, especially since I didn't write up a description of how I did what, yet, and my project isn't finished.
I'm speechless (almost). ☺️
I know this may seem like a little thing to some people, but to me, it makes me feel like my hard work is starting to pay off and be recognized.

I really do appreciate that, a lot!!!

I will happily upload more pictures of everyone eating (although you can't see the one kid who decided to eat because he decided to eat in another room and watch while his brother mess with his laptop).
As for the cleanup pictures...yeah, I completely forgot to take them because I was so busy cleaning up. 😅
If the lack of cleanup pictures keeps me from getting the BB, I understand and will try again in the next month or two.

I don't know if this counts, but I made a super simple loom out of sturdy cardboard and so far it's doing pretty good. I'm not finished with my piece (I'm making a small bag), but I'm pretty happy with the results so far.
I will update this once I get the bag finished and see how well the cardboard fairs on a second project.

I made a spaghetti dinner for a group of veterans and some of their partners. I covered their faces with smiles because some of them didn't want their pictures to be posted on the internet. There were a total of 18-20 people (one of the guys & one of the kids didn't want to eat).
The meal was simple: red sauce done 2 ways (one w/meat & mushrooms & one w/o meat or mushrooms), extra ground beef for anyone wanted extra, salad (romaine lettuce, cucumber, dices tomatoes, baby carrots & cheese) & garlic bread.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it! I almost didn't have enough garlic bread (even though I did make 4 boxes). I realized afterward that I forgot to get pictures of the coffee and tea I made. I hope that's okay. Do I need to explain how I did everything? I can if someone wants me to.

So my hubby had a pair of pants that were too long. I had them pinned and was mostly done with them when I read about taking pictures as I went in the book/on the forums. I hope that the pictures I took and my description will be enough. Funny enough when my hubby was trying them on the last time, the zipper popped open, so I had to fix that as well, but this time I took pictures! 😁
How I hemmed the pants:
I had my hubby put the pants on. I folded them to the correct length and pinned them.
Once he took them off, I turned them inside out and marked where they should be sewn. I considered leaving the extra length (like one of the previous posts), but my husband is the tallest in our current friends group and no one in our family group would fit his waist size. So, after I did a tack stitch and rechecked that they would fall correctly on him in his work shoes, I cut the excess off. I did have to make a small adjustment of about an inch, but I just folded that up and did a running stitch my hand with matching black thread.

How I fixed the zipper:
After watching a few videos, I used a small set of pliers and a set of hemostats to use as my tools. I gently pried open the zipper and put both side back in place. I very gently applied pressure to close the pull until I couldn't see much space. I then not so gently had to pull with consistent pressure until the fabric synced up as I pulled it all the way down. I was happily surprised when it "zipped" up as I pulled it back to the top. I'd fixed it. 😁

If anyone has any questions, I will answer as best and as quickly as I can.
Since this is my first post, I really hope I'm doing it correctly! 🤞😁