This weekend, I met up with a friend, Donna of DonnazChaos, who I have re-connected with through the blogosphere . We met on Saturday at one of the most dangerous stores around.... JoAnn's Fabric and Craft Superstore.
You see, I'm a crafter at heart but I'm not very good at following through. Growing up my grandmother crocheted her little heart out and filled her home with doilies and afghans. She taught me the basics but I never took them anywhere. My mom, being a piano teacher for kids, always had crafty things for the kids to make to solidify musical theory into there little sponges for brains (I know music theory crafts don't sound that fun, but I loved it and she's been doing it for 40 years and it seems to still work with the little ones). I grew up with bins and bins of crafting supplies, and we never threw anything out, but we also rarely used the left over bits and pieces so they usually went off to the local preschool. I have started many projects with good intentions, and they oh so often end up in the trash as I get tired of moving them with me from place to place.
For the last 5 or so years, I have started a few projects but mostly swore off crafting as it tends to overtake my life, and my house, and the attic fills with storage bins of fabric, and such for projects that never even got started or rarely finished. Of course I still have the baby fleece I bought to make baby blankets for a little man that is now 2 years old. And so my return to JoAnn's was a dangerous step down the road I had fought hard to stay away from.
Donna is a very crafty and talented woman who was so kind as to donate her Saturday morning to me to teach me to knit. I had been thinking that I wanted to learn for a few months, when Donna found my blog and we started emailing, and she agreed to pass on her knowledge.
We walked up and down every aisle of the yarn craft section and fondled all of it as she told me about how each one can be used, how to read the labels and stories of what she has made with this kind or that. It was a little overwhelming, and she was very patient with me as I selected yarn for my first project. She was a great teacher, and had obviously taught people before as she knew exactly how to break down all of the steps. It was a great way to start the long weekend and I got to learn a new skill and catch up with a friend.
If I stop ripping out the scarf and starting over... perhaps it'll be done by summer.
7 comments:
Cherry, that sounds like fun!!! You really have to let your perfectionistic tendencies go when you are learning to knit or crochet, though. Stop ripping out the scarf and just enjoy the process. It's the repetition that will make each "stitch" more and more even. I just crocheted a scarf, and it so theraputic for me. I, too, am a crafter at heart, and I could spend WAY too much time and money at JoAnn's or anywhere that sells scrapbooking materials! Now that photography is going digital, and I am learning about digital photoalbums, I think I may become an online/digital scrapbooker. Apparently, there are websites dedicated to digital scrapbooking. Very cool!
Also, I recently put together my first photobook on Kodak Photo Gallery.com. It is a great site that makes it so easy! Once you place the photos on the pages and add your text, you click a button to order, and they will print and bind the photobook for you. The one I ordered came in the mail, and it looked great. I just thought that with all the photography you do, you might enjoy that!
JoAnn's is a VERY dangerous place. There's a store about 2 minutes and 13 seconds from my house and it's hard to just drive by everyday.
Congrats on learning how to knit! I know how to crochet a bit, but would love to learn how to knit as well.
Hope you take a picture of your scarf and post it for us all to see your great work!
(blush) Anytime! You know where to find me...just roll with it and enjoy the process. It gets easier to start up a project - honest.
When you finish the scarf, I'll take you to one of the local Yarn Only stores and we'll cop a few feels of the 'good' stuff. How's that for incentive to finish it off?!?
Knitting is one of those things you can do while watching TV or talking with someone, or when you go on a trip. It fits into the multi tasking world
Sounds like a lovely way to spend a Saturday. :) I had to go to JoAnns the other day for some thread, and I was just overwhelmed. I had to get the heck out of there. I'm not a crafty person...I did almost buy a pre-lit fake Christmas tree for next year at 70% off, but that seems like such a bad idea in January. I'll regret it next December, though.
For me here in North Alabama it is Hobby Lobby or Michael's. I love crafty things, too, but also seldom follow through. I like to blame it on being a full-time Mom with a full-time job.
Oh, I am jealous! I have been wanting to learn how to knit!
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