Getting the Crafty Mojo

So I've been on blog silence for the better part of the summer, not a lot to say, not a lot to write about, and all kinds of self indulgent stuff going on but now, I'm back in my creative zone, I think.

I've been dreaming about all kinds of things crafty and I use the term crafty to mean things made with needles or hooks, not necessarily glue or stickers or paper, not that there's anything wrong with that but I'm more of a needle girl than a glue girl. You would be correct in assuming that scrapbooking is at the bottom of my hobby list, and if my pages are any indication, I'm sure your kindergartener or niece or nephew in first grade could create more artful scrapbook pages than moi. But I'm ok with that. I determined this summer that my pages will never, ever be Creating Keepsakes worthy so I'm more about putting the pictures on the pages and writing things down. I used to obsess over my hideous handwriting but now I "get" it. It's not about your writing being neat or perfect it's about it being your handwriting.

So what am I dreaming of crafting these days, I want to make the afghan picture at the top of this post(picture courtesy of the Caron website). I'm trying to decide if it's a lack of imagination that makes me want to use the exact colors the Caron people use because I like those colors a lot, even the way they have them laid out in the afghan.

Is it the cross stitcher in me that isn't bugged by using just what the pattern calls for? Is that what sets us cross stitchers apart from other crafters? The fact that we follow patterns? Yes there are those cross stitchers that take a chart and take it apart, change threads, fabric, everything, but there are many more that stitch patterns as charted, never questioning the process, the designer, just gathering supplies like the chart instructs them to and then we, meaning me, stitch away.

Anyway, I'm definitely wanting to crochet the Tucson Throw this winter, using the recommended color combinations, maybe a different yarn but I have decided yet.

Anna has made it a point to make sure that all us cross stitchers see how the media or marketplace portrays cross stitchers. We are all grannies. It's definitely a hole we need to dig ourselves out of. I'm not a granny and I was no where near being a granny when I started seriously cross stitching in my teens. I'm not sure why we are targeted as being "old" or maybe more "mature" than others in the crafty world but it's starting to bug me.

How do we break out of this mold? What do we have to do as cross stitchers to show the crafting world at large that we are hip, that we are the same age as the knitters who are seen as happening and cool? Ponder this and let me know what you think. Subversive Cross Stitch is "now" but unfortunately because I have a big old potty mouth, dropping an F bomb even with needle and thread doesn't really scream youthful to me. Fun, different, just screams rebel, but it doesn't necessarily mean you are young.

No Oven For Me

Thanks everyone for the comments on my bad day. It's good to know that everyone has those horrible days. Sometimes you feel like you're the only one that that is struggling to get through it. It being all those things that cause one to feel as though she's Chicken Little and she knows the sky is falling. Once I sucked it up and realized that nothing that went wrong was truly the end of the world, I got over myself.

I wish I had some stitching to show you all but no, I've been too tired to stitch. Why have I been too tired? Well we splurged this year and bought season passes to a local waterpark. It's the best money we've ever spent. We've been three times and the passes paid for themselves on the second visit. So a waterpark and being tired what does one have to do with the other? Well this park is great, I truly thought I'd buy these tickets and then resent having to take the kids or hate myself for doing it in the first place. Was I ever wrong. The first day we got our passes, found a spot to put our stuff and started running all over the park to do this or that, well I was so exhausted on the way home because everything in this park is up. Up this stairway, then up that stairway, then you go down a hill on a tube for ten minutes and it's back UP again. I did this three days in a row, I swear if I don't lose weight by the end of the summer I am stuck with this body. To describe exactly how sore I am, today after taking the middle son to summer school I went over to the beach. I walked to the water across the sand dunes, it was ok, my calves weren't screaming, but on the way back I opted to use the freshly built walk across or boardwalk whatever you want to call it, I thought it would be easier. My calves were creaking. I'm not kidding. The beach was quiet, I could hear the muscles in my calves creaking and popping, my eyes were welling up with every step up or down. I finally made it to the car and let myself cry a little. Pain, I think, is a good thing. It means that even though I'm floating around on an innertube I'm definitely getting some good solid exercise in. I do believe that's the best of both worlds. Exercise and floating around--two very good things. We've got the trip to the waterpark down to a science now, with our passes we can go at two in the afternoon and stay til close and go all day on Saturday and Sunday. My kids have passed out early the last two nights, slept late and been happily exhausted. No more "I'm bored" and me, I'm getting out of the house and doing something that seems to be good for me. We never take our kids on vacation because when the spousal unit and I moved here, that was the point, we'd never have to go on vacation again- we moved to our regular vacation destination. It never dawned on us that the family might actually want to go somewhere else every once in a while. Yeah, we're giraffes. "Giraffes are selfish" anyone know where that quote is from? We use it a lot around here.

So I have been too tired to stitch but I have made a teeny tiny bit of progress on 13th Colony Bay, nothing worth photographing yet, and I did do a little on the grass on the Monkey Sampler nothing worthy of a photo though.

I am still slowly cutting out wave border pieces for Just Beachy, I'm dreaming of making this bag: Hello Yarn.... Skull Knitting Tote. I have some A.C. Moore 40% off coupons and am going to try to get the Patons Wool this week. I also need the size 13 circular needles too. I thought I had some but the largest I have are size 11. I'm also wanting to make a Vintage Granny Square-Ellen Bloom like Ellen Blooms. I love me some variegated acrylic yarn. I can't help it. What a great project this would be. Oh and I also picked up the latest copy of Interweave Knits Crochet and want to make a Larger Than Life bag. There's a CAL here: Larger Than Life CAL I want to make two, one in Sugar n Cream or Peaches & Cream for the beach and another in wool or maybe acrylic because I'm hard on bags and anything I carry ends up having to be washed a lot. My Vera Bradley Sherbert purse is a perfect example. It's been washed so many times and is all faded. I love that bag, so acrylic might be the best thing for a crocheted tote bag that's going to be used by me, a lot.

Ok, I've been doing some serious pondering regarding CHS Mermaid Stocking, The Deep Blue Sea. I have tried to get excited about the whole punchneedle thing, nope, it's just not doing it for me. I'm thinking of attempting it in embroidery. I'm also thinking about creating a cross stitch chart for it, I found my Patternmaker disc finally. I just can't get the warm fuzzies about punch needle. I know that the people who love it really love it, as much as I enjoy cross stitch, so I love this particular design and am going to play around with it for the next few weeks, I found a great quote at Posie, Alicia is writing about her creative process, the fact that she uses the sheets she embroiders and yes they eventually fall apart, rip, but that's not the point. She writes in her post Zing that she believes in just going with your gut, jumping in, just make something and if you don't like it, make another thing. After whining about this stocking I want to make being designed for punch needle and not cross stitch, I decided to just jump in and make something with this pattern. I have no idea if it will be good or not and I think I'll be able to just let it go if it sucks, and then I'll probably give in and do it in punch needle. I absolutely don't want to go down the punch needle road-not if it can be avoided. I don't need another craft in my life, embroidery I can do, maybe not expertly but I'm going to play around with this pattern and see what comes off the needle. Reading Alicia's post was so liberating, it's not that I don't know that I can do something differently than it's designed, it is the permission for it not to be good and I can toss it aside and make another thing. I love that. I get so focused on cross stitch and the time invested in my projects that the thought of letting them go becomes the worst thing ever. So much time, so much TIME, to be able to just let it go, what a creative gift.

Yes, I maybe take this stuff a little too seriously but it's a huge part of my life. One of my biggest problems is letting go of a project that isn't going well. I'm trying to do better. Move on to the next big thing. It's all a learning process, what fails on one project might work next time.

Speaking of Posie, I made the Chicken Tikka Marsala recipe in this post:

Tikka-Masala Makin'

And it was a major hit with my family and my neighbors, even my friend's son who won't eat anything loved this stuff! The middle son is requesting that I make it again this week. This is rare in my house.

I'm also making another batch of Farmgirl's Crazy Cookies. I'm sticking with what works these days and trying hard not to complain about the whole cooking thing. If I can make food that makes people ask me to make it again, then that's a blessing I'm not going to think too hard on the whole cooking thing any more.

Sopranos anyone? Disappointed? Greatest final episode ever? I'm torn. I wanted resolution but maybe this was more creative. I just don't know. I was left wanting to know more, is that what you really want from a series final episode?

I started She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel today. I'm loving it. It is bringing back many memories of my childhood in the 60s and 70s. Over the past few weeks I've read Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper and also Chill of Fear by the same author. Hope I got that title correct. These books were ok. Nice beach reads.