It’s Been Too Long

It’s have been over a month or perhaps two since I writing my last blog entry.  Some of you are probably wondering whether or not I fell off the face of the earth.  I haven’t checked my blog in a while and realized that there are some improvements to WordPress.  I have been very busy at work with one of my co-workers going on maternity leave (she had a little boy April 2).  Now I am the temporary copywriter until she returns in July.  In addition, I am the move coordinator for my department as the radio station is in the process of moving to a new space in a couple of weeks.  I have to remain at the old space until the all radio programming moves in early June, and to top it off, the station is launching a new morning talk show the last week of April.  I am tired just thinking about it.

It has been jammed-pack 2008 thus far with the presidential election season, things happening at work, and all too dreaded allergy season.  My nose is a little runny and here comes the itchy eyes which means I will be seeing allergist in the next couple of weeks.  I haven’t done any sewing with the exception of testing out my new machine I purchased in February, and still have some knitting projects to start (like that first sweater and skirt).  I also decided to subscribe to Burda for six months and see what the appeal as I read other blogs of people who made something with a Burda pattern. 

I was thinking with the break in the weather would be a good time to join a Stitch & Bitch group as a way to improve my knitting skills and new people in the process, and not a bad idea to take a sewing class. During the winter months and busy season at work, it’s little difficult to take crafting classes.  However, it’s spring and time to enjoy and learn new things.  Hopefully, I will not be too tired to enjoy it.

Sensational Friday

Last week, I came across a new book by Allison Willoughby entitled 49 Sensational Skirt published by Interweave Press.  Allison is a textile designer and created this book for those want to transform their existing skirts into wearable work of art.  What is great about this book is that the author uses simple sewing techniques along with inexpensive readily available materials.  I couldn’t resist and purchased the book as there are some fabulous skirts inside, and visit http://www.interweave.com/needle/books/49_Sensational_Skirts/preview.asp to preview some of the skirts.  You can also visit her website www.allisonwilloughby.com to look at her previous work.  I think all of us have an inner artist that is just waiting to come out to show the world. 

Believe or not, I thought about creating some skirts that were not your typical run of mill, conservative plain skirt.  I think it is good to show the free spirit side as it is dying to come out in most of us.  Of course, people who are ready this blog entry will want to sew a simple skirt from scratch and add those creative touches.  I think the projects in the book will be great for teenagers who want to create a unique to wear for school.  Kids love to create a style of their own to represent their individuality.  I posted a couple of photos of Allison’s skirt as example of creative and inspirational.  I have a sensational day everybody!

       

Knitting, Reading, and Other Plans

It has been a few days since writing and posting the last blog entry.  I have been a little busy with the finishing touches of my sweater project, started working on a baby blanket, and planning to sew a diaper bag.  In the mist of all thse projects, I have been listening and watching the election coverage, and catching up on some reading.  I am currently reading two books, Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, and a wonderful book by David J. Garrow an historian entitled Bearing the Cros - Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.  Yes the title is long, and the book is more than 750 pages long (that includes bibliography and index), but Garrow writes a great biography the King and SCLC during the civil rights movement.  The book was first published in 1987 and won a Pulitzer Prize, and Garrow gives a honest portrait of the civil rights movement.  If you are bit of a history buff, Bearing the Cross is an important book to have in your library along with another author who wrote a triology about King, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65, and At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968.  Should read these books, you probably will meet your reading quota for the entire year (just kidding, but they are comprehensive books to read.

I have been keeping a running list of all the projects I like to do this year, and realized that my little Brother’s XL 2600 my not be up for the task, so I am thinking about getting another sewing machine (comupterized) at a good price.  However, I will give it a great deal of consideration as my pocketbook is the deciding factor into my decision, and there is no great urgency as the current machine works fine for the small jobs.  I still have to purchase fabric for the diaper bag and cover, and found a website called Erica’s (www.ericas.com) that has some great stuff for craft projects.  That is all on my mind for the moment.

Another Knitting Project Completed

With this being a new year, I decided to finish unfinished projects around the apartment. So tonight, I decided to finished a knitted bag I worked on over six months ago. All the pieces were knitted, but did not get around to sewing everything together (the downside of knitting, hand sewing). The only thing left is to stitch the pocket. I also receive three new books today from Barnes & Noble, Vogue Knitting Stitchionary, volumes one, two, and three. I promised myself that I would learn and experiment with different stitches including cables and color knitting.

The body of the bag is a chocolate brown, pink strap, and green pocket. I sewn in two pink pockets inside the bad, but I still do not know what how I am going to use it. I could use it for a workout bag or traveling bag to keep my knitting projects. This is a little kink, but I can adjust and wait until next week to start project. It is the reason why I allowed myself enough time before March to complete the project. I still have a stash of yarn and waiting for my knitting needles to start on the baby sweater. However, that the three skeins of yarn I purchased for the project, I noticed that one of the skein was not the same shade as the other two, same color number, but different lot number. It is my hope that when I return to the yarn shop next wee.

Being a Perfectionist

With just two days into the new year and hopefully starting with the new year resolution or the bucket list I wrote about in yesterday’s blog, I heard a program segment on the Brian Lehrer Show about perfectionism.  The dictionary definition of perfectionism is a propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards.  I believe perfectionism has its place as we certainly want a surgery to pay attention to every detail performing surgery, or the air traffic controller in the control tower directing planes to land or take off with the greatest precision.   Perfectionism has its positive and negative aspects.  The positive aspects of perfectionism are that it can drive people to accomplishments and provide motivation to persevere in the face of discouragement and and obstacles.  It can provide driving energy which leads to great achievement, meticulous attention to detail necessary in scientific investigation commitment which pushes composers to keep working until the music realizes the glorious sounds playing in the imagination, and the persistence which keeps great artists at their easels until their creation matches their conception all result from perfectionism, according to W.C. Rodel. With negative aspects to perfectionism include being a possible workaholics who cannot relax; people who reproach themselves for the smallest errors or wrong words for days afterwards; the person so intent on finding the perfect mate that they never settle down, the procrastinator, the finicky person, and tend to be exceptionally sensitive to criticism.  This kind of behavior to could lead to a lot of stress, unhappiness, and depression.There are times when I am a perfectionist with certain things in life such as whenever I am baking because chemistry is important to the process and everything should be measured correctly.  Whenever, I knit in the round to ensure that I do not twist the stitches or I could end up with something twisted and unwearable.  I can imagine event and wedding planners are perfectionist, but probably are more on the healthy side as they know that sometimes things can go wrong and need to make any adjustments.   I learned to become an well-adjusted and adaptive perfectionist, and there are just some things I do not care about.  However, I have spent hours finishing up a knitting and sewing project because I wanted to get it just right.  If I made a mistake, I would do it over, but rarely got angry with myself as I learned it is a mistake and it can be corrected.  I will admit to my times of procrastination and that generally comes to something I really do not want to do, so I do it as the last minute such as getting up in the morning to get to work. However, I will not allow perfectionism overshadow the goals I want to obtain in my knitting and sewing for the year just as long as create a reasonable expectation of what I can accomplish.  Which means not making a couture dress when I have yet to sew my first dress or blouse.  It does not mean that I will not eventually build up sewing skill to get to the level of making a gown, but dress will be fine for me this year. 

Let’s Party!

Tonight after work, I am heading out to a cocktail party at a friend’s house, and am bringing the cheese.  What a wonderful way to spend New Year’s Eve with friends at home.  I think it is great to have a cocktail party with drinks and fun appetizers such as baby back ribs or lamb lollipop chops.  The ribs comes with its own stick in which you can hold in hand and drink in the other.  Food on a stick always work for me at cocktail parties with an assortment of cheeses and fruits.  One does not need a great deal of money to have a fabulous party at home.  If you are a vegetarian, you can always have appetizers such as different types of hummus, spiced nuts, or make a flavored popcorn.

I think champagne or sparkling wine is always great for a New Year’s Even cocktail, and you do not need to purchase the most expensive sparkling wine.  In fact, you can find some nice sparkling wines for around $15.00 and it’s always fun to even try the rose or pink sparking wine and there are even some red sparking wines from Australia.  Do not be afraid, the person at the wine store can help you with choosing a sparking wine within your budget, and may be surprised that you can afford champagne with beer budget.

Ready, Set, Go, Well Not Quite

After finally deciding what project to knit for my co-worker’s baby to be, I went to the yarn store and purchase three skeins of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino (the color is beige, but gender neutral). I was looking forward to coming home and starting the project after dealing with one of the most vexatious individual ever known to man. The man is a walking sitcom and believe that he would try the patience of most spiritual people who ever walked the earth. Buddha and Jesus would probably run for the hills upon seeing this person. Well I digress, let me get back to my original thought. I finally arrived home eagerly wanting to start the project and realized that I do not have a pair of size two and three knitting needles. Well that meant going to Elann.com and ordering the pairs of needles needed for the project, and means waiting probably until next week to start.  I am not worried as she is not leaving for maternity leave until mid-March.

After ordering the needles, I decided to take some pictures of future projects like the one above.  I thought that is a nice nightgown from the Sensual Knits book.  Imagine after a long day, you come home to take care of what ever you need to do, then take a nice warm or hot bath, and put this nightgown and lounge for the reminder of the evening.  I can not wait to build up my knitting skills to tackle this project.

 

I saw this sweater in the winter 08 issue of Knit Scene and said to myself what I great sweater with wonderful detailing in front to give it more interest.   I think the knit is yummy and this would be the sweater of all sweaters in my closet.  I would like to knit this for my niece as well and it will take some time and practice to get that look.

 

 

This sweater from Sensual Knits is just great to have in your closet and it is an easy project for me to create now.  I think women should something sexy in our closet without making us look like we are desperate for a guy and end up with someone somewhat less desirable.  It has just enough allure and confidence to look great.

These projects are for the knit list I am creating, and hopeful that I will.

 

Daydreaming

Today, I am going to write about daydreaming because it is the one thing that some people still carry from their childhood. A formal definition of a daydream according to Dictionary.com is a visionary creation of the imagination experienced while awake; especially : a gratifying reverie usually of wish fulfillment. This is a good definition and I would like to add one more word and that is creativity. I think some of my best creativity comes from daydreaming. Typical a person may think that daydreaming is being lazy and nonproductive, but I believe it is quite the opposite. Of course, there are times when I daydream because of boredom, but I am glad of the boredom as it brings me to another level of creativity and reduces the need to complain about being bored.

There are times when I daydream about traveling to other place in the world because it gives me pleasure, and the day is more pleasant. One of my favorite daydream is the Paris trip as I use my imagination to go on this massive shopping free (guilt-free shopping). Yes it’s the one time I do not feel guilty about spending $800. for a pair of shoes or $10,000 for a suit. The pleasure to spend as much as you would want on clothes in Paris is freeing in the daydream. Another daydream is owning a beach house in Rhode Island that is not bigger than 1800 sq. feet, and invite my closet friends enjoying their company.

There are periods when I am stuck on something that doesn’t seem to have a solution at the moment, I use daydreaming to find my creativity in finding a solution. Daydreams are little pockets of inspiration that are inside of your mind, and it is wonderful to go to that place as you never know what you can create. Daydreaming is secret place where I believe there is a little glimmer of divine. Tell me what you think. Do you daydream?

Christmas in the Air

After many years, I finally went to see the Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular Show featuring the Rockettes Friday evening.  Before attending the show, a friend of mine and me walked through all the department stores viewing their Holiday displays in which Macy’s being our first stop.  Theme of Macy’s window was the Miracle on 34th Street one side, and a whimsical display on the other.  The next stop was Lord and Taylor’s window with views of Christmas from around the world, and a touch of sophistication with white gowns dressed in some of the windows.  Then there is the display at Saks Fifth Avenue and it’s the Snowpeople theme.  Finally, we stop by to see the tree at Rockefeller Center and people skating.

I must admit that the Christmas Spectacular show is not my favorite thing, but many people including tourists love it.  Besides, we are need a little silliness during the holiday season to lighten up some of the sadness that exists in the world.  People need some constant and the Rockettes has been a mainstay in New York City for 75 years.  Although, I do find it somewhat annoying that there seems to be more ads posted in the Music Hall as the reality of sponsors want their advertising after paying a considerable amount of money, and that what keeps the show going advertisers.

I have to give a notable mention to Lisa Tutman Oglseby’s blog (http://lisatutmanoglesby.typepad.com).  She posted a wonderful project she created using apples and you simply have to visit the blog to see it.  It is wonderful and great idea to decorate your home for the holiday season.  I have to say that I find her blog through Adrienne of Adrienne’s Little World (www.adrienneslittleworld.typepad.com) who conducted an interview with Lisa.  If you have not heard the interview, I suggest you do including other interviews both through podcasts and written on the blog.  When I saw that holiday arrangement, I just said wow and read how that is not difficult to create, in addition, it is a different of decorating your home for the holidays.

Ever since starting to learn how to sew, I have come across so many interesting blogs and meeting some really creative people.  Whoever said that ordinary people do not live interesting lives or do interesting things?  Well I think whoever did said it was incorrect in his or her assessment.  One can learn many things talking with other people.  Have a good day everyone!

So Much Creativity

I work up this morning with a story idea I’ve been walking around with for several weeks.  There are stories ideas that pop into my mind from time to time, and haven’t written them down.  Oddly enough, I remember my ideas and write them down, but what has been become the hardest part is the process.  What should I name the characters, do I want to have a universal theme to story, should they rich or poor, will the main character have a love interest or already in a relationship from the beginning? 

My protagonist probably will be a woman which is about her life and relationships between her siblings and grandmother after the death of her parents.  What happens to adult children after their parents suddenly die?  Oddly enough when a parent dies even when the child is an adult, and despite how successful they might be, there is that feeling of abandonment despite the age.  Her parents not only suddenly dies, one sibling struggles with a battle, and I haven’t decided about the other siblings with the exception that the sibling is male.  The grandmother is the observer and narrator.  I am going to need to create a storyboard (another craft project, lol).

On a side note, I have been thinking for a while about making cards and scrap-booking.  I was thinking about recycling my magazines for a collage card for a friend of mine.  A scrapbook card, I think it’s a nice idea.  I certainly can take my O Magazine with those photos from the Breathing Space segment in the magazine as a back drop along with some personal photos.  I have to see how that would work out by creating a poster board.

Now, I need to decide what I am going to knit for my co-worker’s little bambino(a) schedule to the arrive early April 2008.  That means I need to start on the projects without knowing the sex of the baby.  I thought about doing a baby blanket as you can never have enough, perhaps a sweater, but the baby due to arrive in the spring and don’t know conducive it would making it out of wool.  I saw the cutest little pair of knitted baby pants from Debbie Bliss’ new book “Essential Baby: Over Twenty Handknits to Take Your Baby from the First Days to the First Steps” with a matching sweater.  The outfit is done with the pants in chocolate and lavender trim, and sweater done in lavender with chocolate trim.  I could change the color to green for a female or male could wear.  I will think about over the next three weeks because I need to start in January.

Just when I think I only had a couple of things to write about in this blog, I end up writing more than three paragraphs.  I only hope that I am not boring the readers and in fact I would love to hear from you guys.  Let me know what’s going on with you.  Thanks!

The Compliment

While leaving for the weekend from my office, I ran into to a guy at work at the elevator. He paid me a compliment on my scarf. He told me it was a nice scarf and asked where I got it. I told him that I made it myself, and he replied yes I figure that you did because it doesn’t look at anything you would buy from the store. He started to ask me what made me get into knitting, and I said I want to learn how to knit from a child so finally learned how a few years ago. He said I bet you knit on the train, and I responded by saying whenever I have elbow room. He mentioned something about knitting and how it seemed a little exhibitionist by saying to the world that you can make your own clothes. And I told it is probably no different than reading on train, and he responded by saying yes telling the world you are reading War and Peace.

That conversation lead me to think about a lot of knitters like to knit on the go, and is there a little truth about what the guy said about being an exhibitionist knitter. I certainly can’t speak for the knitting population, but the reason why I knit on the train is simply to finish my project as quickly as possible. Of course, there is some truth about showing the world that I know how to knit. That sense of independence in saying to the world that I have possess a skill and it gives me power in a sense. There is a certain sense of pride in showing your work. When I am out in public and if I am carrying my knitting, I am going to knit to pass some time, but I do the same time with reading. Reading is a solitary activity because it means that you really do not want to speak to anyone, and want to become involved in the story you are reading at the time. Knitting does not necessarily mean I want to be alone, but want something to do while commuting to and from work.How do you show the world what you can do?

Finished Product

I am happy today because I finally finished my scarf.  This is an accomplishment and feel that I can get to my other working projects.  I am not a big time multi-tasker and focus on the project at hand even if I am thinking about the next project finishing the first one becomes more important.   My scarf has an organic feel because the yarn is multi-color and each skein was a different than the one before, so I went it whatever colors feel in place.  Towards the end of my scarf did have black due to the one skein where that color was almost existent, and I think it’s looks good because everything doesn’t have to be even or matchy matchy.

 

Out of Thanksgiving Coma

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was great and that you didn’t eat yourself into coma.  Cooking for Thanksgiving can be ebullient and tiring at the same time.  You do no notice that you are tire while spending a good part of that day cooking and putting finishing touches on your fabulous meal, but it hits you later after washing and putting away that last dish, you sit down and realize how tired you were when it’s all over.  However, you look forward to the next holiday.

This time of year comes with holiday parties and celebrating four holidays with Thanksigving kicking off.  Everyone will be in holiday mode.  In fact, Christmas decorations were on display in several towns before Thanksgiving and some radio station began playing holiday music two weeks before Thanksgiving.  Personally, I can wait to play my Charlie Brown’s Christmas soundtrack next week because I needed to get through Thanksgiving first.  I do not decorate my house for the holidays because I live alone, but I will make the trip to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and walk down Fifth Avenue as New York City is beautiful this time of year.  I also have this wish that it snows around the holidays because I really have seen snow in a couple of years and it would nice.

Now on the creative front, I have a some projects in the works and need to organize my time to get them done.  I have scarf that is almost completed and need to start another one.  The muslins I created can now become the real project to sew.  Getting things done will be a slow process due to the holidays and preparing meals in between that time.  I may have to edit myself and be realistic about what I do get done in a certain amount of time.  I am still looking for fabric for my dress which I still haven’t seen anything that catches my eye, and reverting to black is not what I want to do.  I want to find a fabric with an expansive array of color, now I probably will end up with making three or four dress that are black, lol.

Aprons on my Mind

Throughout the course of the day, aprons has come across my path a few times.  I always thought having an apron, but believe they were outdated.  However, aprons are practical in the kitchen and working on crafts.  Mimi from Domestic Haven made a great apron that she posted on her log today.  I heard Adrienne speaking with Deepika today on Conversations with Adrienne podcast, and Deepika talked about the first sewing project she made was an apron that she continues to wear.  At this point, I am sold on having an apron.

I do have a few ideas about the kinds of aprons I want to make, and yes I definitely a few kitchen aprons, and a couple of crafty aprons.  The thought also occurred to me to knit a cotton apron.  Yes a knitted apron with a crochet trim and a couple of pockets.  This is another reason why I decided to crochet, knit, and sew, I am in need of kitchen towels, oven mittens, and dish cloths, and it’s easier for me to make what represents my personality and allow my creativity to come out.  I could do a variation of the apron in the winter issue of Adorn Magazine and try some fabric painting and create my own design (attempt anyway, I draw stick people).

I like to thank the people I mentioned in the blog inspiring me to think about making an apron for myself.  Sometimes we are need a little nudge every now and again to spark our creativity.

New Craft Magazine Find

I can not begin to you how many magazines I purchase on knitting, sewing, and general crafts.  I also subscribe to Everyday with Rachael Ray, New Yorker Magazine, O Magazine (and O Home), More, Body and Soul, and Fast Company.  Let’s just say I love magazines.  So today, I went to Barnes and Noble to purchase the new December/January issue of Threads Magazine.  I was deciding to get the Winter issue of Interweave Knits (but will get that next week) until a new Magazine called Make It Mine came into view.  The premier issue has different ideas to embellish clothes, accessories, and home.

There are some really creative ideas to embellish things you are already own or plan to make.  The three things I like from this issue comes from the article Spice Up Your Skirts, 6 Great Ideas to Inspire You, one particular skirt can be made from neckties.  Yes, by finding coordinating ties, you can sew them together and make a skirt.  I thought if you can make a skirt with neckties, I wondered if the same technique could be used with scarves or perhaps strips of fabric (think I am having an Ah Moment!).  Another idea I like from the magazine is making a totebag from paper.  Yes, I can recycle my magazines and newspapers by making them into the totebags and use them as gift bags.  The third article I enjoyed was about needle felting which is also called dry felting.

I have to say I really enjoy reading and learning from this magazine, and I also like Adorn Magazine which also has great ideas along with a regular article the places to visit and shop in different cities.  There is also a wonderful project for making a Russian coat.  You are taking an existing coat and embellishing it with the Russian style, or you can use that idea and create something that fits your personal style.

If you are anything like, a magazine hoarder, then you can check out Make It Mine’s website at www.makeitminemag.com and the read the blog as well.

Color and Inspiration

I wrote a blog a couple of days mentioned inspiration, and Adrienne so kindly responded with a comment stating that inspiration is everywhere.  She is absolutely right about that inspiration being everywhere and there are times when I get inspired in the middle of working on a project.  However, some of my inspiration comes from taking walks.  I have created stories to write while walking from the train station to work, or during lunchtime spending that time at the bookstore.   Inspiration came to me yesterday while taking photographs of my current knitting and sewing project and realized how the colors from the scarf I am knitting coordinated with the tweed skirt.

Now here is some background history about my wardrobe.  The current wardrobe consists primarily of black, gray and some brown.  Every now and again I have some color like a red cardigan and a pink sweater, but more than 70% of my clothing is black.  My mostly black wardrobe is a product of me working in New York City, and just about every woman in the City wears black (with the exception of the Sex in the City girls).  Black is the easy go to color as it goes with everything and seemingly slimming, but wearing too much black can be drab.

When I made the decision to start sewing my own clothes to build a wardrobe, I purchased fabric and again the majority of the fabric is in black, gray, and blue with the few exceptions of buying red cotton twill, the wool tweed from the previous post, my printed pj bottoms.  I thought to myself that I am doing it again gravitating toward the go to dark colors.  So now I need to add splashes of color in my wardrobe.  I actually hate wearing one color from head to toe that includes a print, and have to consider my problems areas that I do not necessary want to show.  I was in need of serious inspiration, so magazines became my inspiration to find color.  And thought to myself how much I really like wearing silk blouses because they are so feminine, and what a great idea to add color like reds, purples, greens, and certain blues.  I decided to create a color chart of fabric and yarn as a way to incorporate more color.  Mimi from the Domestic Haven blog suggested organizing fabric swatches to take to the store and coordinate with fabric you might purchase.  I thought it was a great idea, and in a way it could use a color chart.  You can pull the color from existing fabric swatches.

There are certain places where I can find inspiration and it sometimes take on a trip to the museum, particularly the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).  They are great places of inspiration from Ancient Egypt or Greece to modern art.  Music gives me a lot of inspiration although it does not provide a visual, but you can create something in your mind’s eye like dreaming about a meadow or seeing an explosion of color.  At this moment, I am getting inspired with finishing my scarf to see the color pattern of the yarn.  Until we meet again, happy inspiration!

Finding Inspiration

This entry will cover two topics, creativity and sewing. I must admit that most of my fabric and pattern purchases have been online. This is ironic in a sense I do work in New York City and have a number of fabric stores to visit one being the ever prominent Mood Fabrics that the designers from Project Runway purchase fabric. Another reason for making fabric purchases online is I can find some very good discounts. I made a purchase from Denver Fabrics for some raincoat fabric and lining. Getting 4 yards of rain wear poplin, 4 yards of brushed rain wear gabardine, and 4 yards of rayon twill lining for $25.50 plus $10.47 for shipping is what I considered a pretty good deal.

Now I can make a couple of trench coats from the McCall’s 5525 pattern I purchased a couple of weeks ago.  I purchase the pattern after seeing it on Erica’s DYI Style blog, and the idea of making a trench coat that does not drag on the ground and is some other color than black.  I also browse the pattern websites to see if anything excites me.  My inspiration for fashion does come reading magazines such as Glamour or In Style to see the colors or trends for the season.  I am amazed that most of the things in department stores or magazines I could make myself just by learning the basic skills of sewing and incorporating a personal style.  A co-worker at work wore a white cotton dress with a white slash, and buttons bordered at the hem of her dress.  That gave me the idea of sewing a simple dress and embellish by adding a slash and something at the bottom to give it interest making it your own creation.

Is creativity just for people under 35?

Soho publishing has created great magazines such as Vogue Knitting and Knit Simple for the knitting enthusiast looking for the next cool scarf or sweater.  The publishing company has created two recent magazines for knitters under 35.  While at the bookstore this afternoon, I noticed knitting books published with the assumption that the person purchasing the book is under 35.  There seems to be an undercurrent that the crafting population is this hip generation.

I understand that crocheting and knitting have become trendy over the past several years.  I crocheted as a girl and made things over the years whenever time permitted, but wanted to learn who to knit in addition and took up the knitting needles a few years ago.  I didn’t start knitting until my late-thirties, but does that mean that I am not of the hip crowd?  Does creativity diminish with age or does it flourish as one gets older?

Actually, I do not have a problem with publishing focusing on the younger market of crafters or would be crafters, but would like to see a market that does alienate the over 35 crafters that are just creative and willing to learn a new hobby.  It makes economic sense to horn in on to the over 35 market as they have more disposable income to dive into a project on the weekends.

Saturday’s Idea

Going to the movies, running errands, or shopping are typical activities one pursue on Saturdays.  Saturday is the day when most people have to do all things they were unable to do during the week due to working.  My Saturdays include surfing on the web and reading blogs, or checking out fabric and yarn online shops.  I received my Adorn Magazine and decided to look at some websites I found in articles, suggestions of the contributing writers,  and advertisements and decide to either add to my bookmarks or nix all together.  I get inspiration from reading other people’s blogs of things they created or how I can do things differently with my knitting or sewing.

I think of the perfect Saturday that does not require me even leaving the house.  I start my day by getting out of bed. taking a get shower, and making breakfast.  Coffee usually gets my day going and Saturday is no exception to that ritual.  In the perfect Saturday, my home is clean making it easier for me to get on with the things I enjoy doing such as sewing a new dress, knitting a new bag to go with dress, and ending the day with reading book and writing.

There is nothing more perfect to doing the thing you love do on a Saturday than running an errand or spending a few hours shopping with a family member or friend who will purchase the most unflattering clothes for their body shape.  Not a perfect Saturday for me, but making a great outfit that looks good on me is the creme da la creme of perfect Saturdays.

Becoming Crafty

A few years, I decided to learn how to knit in addition to crocheting.  It took me a little time, but finally able to learn the knit and purl stitch along with casting on and binding off to knit my first scarf.  I have made three or four scarves, one as circular wrap and three hats.  Now I am able to knit a few pieces of accessories including a couple of PDA covers, a bag, and belt.  I even knitted a small version of a sweater to see if I could craft an article of clothing, and will one day finally knit my first sweater.  A month ago, I decided to add on to the fiber arts by teaching myself how to sew as a necessity because I need to new clothes and do not have the financial wherewithal to afford the warbrobe I desire.

I believe creativity comes from the need to create with limited resources.  There are times when creativity and resourcefulness comes hand-in-hand.  Necessity is the mother of invention and has become a way for individuals to create and make when money is not always available.  However, creating is an outlet for those to relief stress and I fit into the category of not having enough money and relieving stress.  I also tend to have an independent spirit and the need to create gives me satisfacation because it is a sense of accomplishment.  I suppose that is what becoming crafty means, creating, satisfaction, and accomplishment.