3KCBWDAY7: Crafting Balance

Crafting Balance

 Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both ? If you are monogamous in your yarn-based crafting, is it because you do not enjoy the other craft or have you simply never given yourself the push to learn it ? Is it because the items that you best enjoy crafting are more suited to the needles or the hook ? Do you plan on ever trying to take up and fully learn the other craft ? If you are equally comfortable knitting as you are crocheting, how do you balance both crafts ? Do you always have projects of each on the go, or do you go through periods of favoring one over the other ? How did you come to learn and love your crafts ?

Well, I can crochet, and it is something I definitely wanted to do more of this year; but you know how it is, other stuff gets in the way. I also patchwork and embroider on an irregular basis. In comparison, knitting and crochet are 'quick' hobbies - if you only have a few minutes, you can pick it up and do a few rows/rounds (depending on the complexity of your pattern) in whatever time you have available; embroidery and patchwork, for me, are pastimes where I need to be able to devote a chunk of time to it so that I can focus and get into the 'flow' of what I'm doing.Sewing is also where my cursing is at its most inventive - I very rarely feel the need to swear when I'm knitting.

In addition, all the detritus equipment and other bits and bobs that are needed are not the kind of things where you can simply whip them in and out of whatever storage you have them in - they kind of have to be a semi-permanent fixture, or else you spend more time setting up and then packing up than you do crafting. Unless you are one of those very fortunate people with a dedicated craft room and a child  who is named something other than 'Destructo Boy' ....

My most recent crochet was the edgings and cuffs on this jacket for Milly; I find it much easier to improvise without a pattern in crochet, for some reason:

Oh, this is Milly:

 

And the patchwork I've done since the last KCBW (here and here), Mini Diva's pinker than pink cushion with appliqued hearts:

Which I didn't know she was so over pink until after I'd made it. Of course.

But actually, where I really need to find balance is between the internet and crafting. Because I am so nosy, and never want to miss out on anything, it is easy for me to get sucked into surfing for hours on the things I am interested in; the forums which cover my interests are, I guess, the biggest time-suck. But then, if I didn't surf, I would never find out about the latest patterns, soaps, decks, fabrics, yarns, techniques ....if you are reading this, then I know you totally get where I'm coming from with this.

So I'm off to Google 3KCBWDAY7 and lose yet more crafting time in the abyss of other crafting blogs ....

What's the Buzz ?

No blog posts since last week ! And I can't even blame NaNoWriMo, as I didn't take part, but only instigated the crime that Sara, Ania, Kristina and Alison committed; I waved virtual pom-poms from the sidelines instead, offering random plot twists, methods of delivering poison, and vocabulary, as their novels moved from beginning through 50,000 words until the end .... well done, ladies !

I have been feeling overwhelmed, and DH told me it was because I had taken on too much again. He was right (no, of course I didn't tell him that) and so now I am refusing to panic: it will be what it will be. Packaging is so not the fun thing it used to be: I just cannot get the hang of cellophane, and so I have scheduled tomorrow afternoon for my ripitallapartandtryagain session. The problem is soap gift baskets for a very small craft fair thingy at the weekend.
Hints and tips welcomed ....

Destructo Boy needs some 'Festive Cakes' for the 'Winter Wonderland' after school on Friday, as well as a raffle prize. I don't even know what the 'Winter Wonderland' is, but I shall drag my carcass along regardless. I need to finish putting up bookcases at my father's house, where the carpet cleaning firm has been booked, the Asda booze order done, the butcher yet to go. Destructo Boy has a party to attend on Saturday ... at the same time, I need to photograph and list my new soaps; housework is always there, lurking like a dead mouse decomposing behind a radiator on full. Not that I would know what that was like. Not at all. And on top of all this, the cold temperatures just close me down physically: I was hoping that the weight gain would render me more immune to the cold, but no luck so far.

In good news, DH and I have been discussing getting another dog, as it's been about a year since Maxie went to Dog Heaven. I want a dog, and DH doesn't: so we have come to a compromise - we are getting a German Shepherd from the lovely people over at the Sussex German Shepherd Rescue; it is my combined Christmas and birthday present, as the cats were last year. We passed the homecheck, and now have only to wait for the Right Dog to turn up. Actually, DH likes GSDs - we have both owned one before; and so this is also my reward to myself for having quit smoking: what I would have spent on cigarettes per week, means that I can persuade myself that we can afford to feed and insure a dog.

We also have a visitor with us this week. Meet Cuddles the Monkey:



who has come home from school with Destructo Boy for a week; I believe everybody gets a turn, and from the travel journal that accompanies him, I can tell that not only Cuddles, but several children in Destructo Boy's class, are seriously spoiled, and I am going to have to be at my most inventive and innovative to surpass Cuddles' previous experiences. Not that I am Howard Hughes, but Cuddles' first experience in our household will be a bath .....



and after that, I may have to ignore the ominous looming of self-imposed dread that is the SoDMk2 in order to knit Cuddles some raiment ... perhaps a scarf and a snazzy tank top, against the winter snow ....