January 9, 2011

  • On the Needles and in the Works*

     

    So, what have you got on the needles or in your crafting line up? Right now I have a Gryffindor scarf on the needles and am about to cast on for a hat (scroll down and click on "cabled" on the left margin) for my friend Rhonda. I also have one bowl of a set of felted nesting bowls just about finished. Once those are done I am going to turn my attention to a shawl for my grandmother. I cast on for a shawl weeks ago but couldn't figure out how to follow the pattern after line 22 and was not liking how the yarn was working up.

    I firmly believe that you can choose a yarn and start knitting with it only to find that it wasn’t intended to be what you started knitting. Are you following me? I imagine it is similar to what a potter or sculptor might experience when they begin working with their medium. They may have one thing in mind but the clay or marble may have something completely different that it wants to be. The same goes for yarn I believe.

    Then there are my sewing projects. Tomorrow night Emi and I will go to the library to start on these http://www.purlbee.com/fabric-window-valentines/. We are having a mommy daughter date and she wants to work on sewing. The library is the perfect place to go because it is first and foremost free, warm and who doesn’t like to work on cool projects while surrounded by thousands of books??

    I also have a knitting needle case in the works which , if it is going to get finished, is going to require that I find a hidden sewing room supplied similarly to Anna Maria Horner’s where I can sprawl everything out(yes I said sprawl) and get it all done. I am actually anxious for it to be completed because the outer cover is a pieced quilt square that my great grandmother made years ago. As well as having a few or her sewn and crocheted pieces I am also blessed to own her sewing machine, a 1950s singer that sews beautifully and is in desperate need for a room all its own. I must confess that in the years that I have had it it has not produced the same flawless garments that my Nana made. From the stories my grandmother has shared I know she was an excellent seamstress. Her talent helped to take care of her six children, that she raised on her own, in a time that was not really kind to divorced women.

    Then there is my small canvas and fabric artwork that is in process. I have one canvas done and the other is 90% there.

    I also finished a scrapbook project last night as well but am not able to share any photos just yet. Once the recipient of the gift has seen it then I will share.

    So, how about you? What creative things are you working on now?

     

    *Just to make things clear.....while I have all of these going I don’t get to work on them everyday and when I do my house falls apart and that is just fine. Life is too short to not be creative. I promise that a clean house is not what gets you into heaven. If it was I would be SOL!