heard they skipped the compacting" yeah i heard that too. but my buddy had a similar thing happen with his driveway. they poured straight onto loose dirt and it was a disaster. within a month the whole thing cracked down the middle. he tried to patch it but it just kept getting worse. now he's gotta rip it all up and start over. total nightmare.

@craig.nathan A light touch on high grit stones is all you need, just let the edge develop on its own.

That number really sinks in when you realize it's three years of daily habit tracking and project planning. But here's what I'm wondering - when you look back at those abandoned spreads, do you see them as failures or just natural experiments that told you what didn't work? Because for me, those half-used pages are proof I was trying to find my groove, not that I was doing it wrong. My question is this: would you rather have a perfectly consistent journal or one that shows the real messy process of figuring things out? There's something honest about those grocery lists and forgotten collections.

Huh, so the actual issue is the zip tie itself, not just having them close together? That's interesting. Did you ever actually notice any hum or interference before you fixed it, or was it more of a preventative thing?

What kind of Singer did you get? I found a 60s Kenmore at a thrift store for $40 once and it was a total workhorse. The metal gears inside just feel so much sturdier than the plastic ones they use now, and it never skips stitches no matter what fabric I throw at it. I mean, modern machines have all those fancy features, but sometimes simple just works better.