So I've decided in a fit of equal parts extroversion and cabin fever, to start a blog. It's mostly about my crafting habit. But since my family & life in general are such an integral part of my inspiration & crafting habits, they will make some frequent appearances too. Since my crafting includes knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, tatting (or shuttle lace) and beading; stitches seemed a fairly consistent if not quite universal theme. Right now knitting is in the forefront. It will probably stay the dominant craft until my children are old enough that beads aren't a choking hazard, and I find a good crochet challenge. The quilt I'm working on hand quilting is in storage until we move and I have more space for my craft stash.
Since this is supposed to be a craft blog, I guess I'll put my craft experience out there. I guess the order I learned these things makes the most sense. I learned to crochet first. My Mom & Aunt Marion taught me how to crochet, after a lot of begging on my part, when I was six or seven. They taught me about holding the hook, yarn tension, and how to do a chain stitch, other than that all of my crafts are self taught. I have been crocheting for about 23-24yrs. Yes I have moved beyond the chain stitch. : ) I got interested in beading when I was about 12 or so. I started getting serious designing and making jewelry when I was about 16 and discovered I was allergic to nickel. So, I guess I've been designing and making jewelry for about 14 yrs now. Quilting came next. I got into that while I was working at a fabric store during college. I picked that up about 10 yrs ago. Tatting and knitting I actually learned about the same time, but tatting and I have a longer personal history, so I'll go into that first. I became fascinated with tatting about the age of 5, watching my grandmother. If you've ever seen it done, watching this beautiful lace grow out of these somewhat odd hand motions is amazing! I tried in vain at several points in my life to get Gram to teach me, but she never passed that skill on to any of the family members who asked her. I learned how to tat about 2and a half years ago when I found a really good book. That is also how I learned to knit around the same time. I found a really good book on teaching yourself to knit. I can teach myself almost anything from a book as long as the author's writing/ instruction style jives with the way my brain works.
Future posts will have more on my works in progress, any nifty tips or tricks I pick up, and specific crafting content in general. I hope you enjoy my compulsive crafting chronicles and come back for more!
