Saturday, March 3, 2007

This is just the beginning...


After last semester's GRE, grad school applications and general finishing-up-requirements-to-graduate-madness, I'm finally finding much more time to dedicate to creative endeavors. After getting some projects finished and moved out of my knitting basket (I had let them go for far too long) I'm getting on to exciting new things! "So, what's in the works?" you may ask. For one a whole new batch of zippered pouches! I love making these, the right combination of illustration, sewing, design and a little bead work. They're a fun, satisfying project; see them in their infancy above. (Plus, a beauty shot of my machine, a Janome. I used to joke with my friends at FIT that the machine was my true love and I was having an affair with it behind the boyfriend's back. Ha, good times.)


I, like many crafty people, find turning to projects in times of great stress or sorrow can provide relief and solace. As I'm waiting for a handful of universities decide where I'll be and what I'll be doing in 6 months, I feel focusing my energy on producing something is keeping me from obsessing over the uncertainty of it all. I turned to knitting once before when I lost my dear Grandma. She was such a force in my life, and losing her was so scary; I used my spare moments in the weeks before and after her passing to knit the Marsupial Tote from Stitch 'N Bitch. While the project didn't turn out (it was my Aha! moment for why gauge is important), it allowed me to escape the stress of the situation and just quietly contemplate and think of my sweet Grandma. While she wasn't much of a knitter, she pursued all kinds of other crafts and I always feel somehow closer to her as I work on projects. I only hope the next time I face turmoil or pressure in my life I have enough wisdom to whip out the needles and stitch up something simple.

Nothing seems to be better medicine in uncontrollable situations.

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