Thursday, March 25, 2010

#25 - BLOG THERAPY: TRYING SOMETHING NEW

From Knitting, etc.

First off, a major thanks to everyone who sent such kind, supportive comments on #24. I'm hoping that maybe it's simply the winter of my discontent, but I'll be back to life now that it's spring thaw. Nonetheless, our crafty community of bloggers is amazing and you all inspire me.

Now, back to a little blog therapy. Since I've been in a general malaise as of late, I've noticed that I'm spending more and more time in my apartment, hermiting indoors and staying away from this all too harsh winter that buried DC under quite a bit of snow. Of course, I feel guilty avoiding friends so that I can watch bad television (please forgive my syndicated Grey's Anatomy habit) and take naps in-between keeping up with schoolwork and the like, but it has also given me time to read lots of blogs and scour Etsy and the like for new ideas of things to make. Thus, new crafting habits are being formed!

To start, I have ventured into embroidery territory, which to me always seemed so grandmotherly (even more-so than knitting, somehow), but thanks to folks like Jenny Hart, there's so many refreshing avenues to explore. I've made a few little goodies as gifts, and I'm finding it fun and relaxing to learn a new stitch or pick out embroidery floss - not to mention, it's a much cheaper habit than knitting! I'll be sharing some photos soon, but I don't want to spill the beans on the gifts I've made until they're received by their rightful owners.

But my new favorite activity is spinning, despite my current lack of skill. I've had a top-whorl drop spindle for a few months now, but the Homespun Yarn Party got me excited to start dabbling again, and I bought a few bags of fiber to use once I have a better hang of it. Even though I don't think my yarn looks any good at all, I'm enjoying the process and excited for improvements. The photo up there is of my second in-progress attempt, made from beautiful roving dyed by Pancake and Lulu.

My new crafty adventures bring a little joy when I'm feeling down and out. But enough of my therapy session! What new projects have you been getting into lately? I want to hear all about it.

3 comments:

Maiden Jane said...

I still would love to master spinning. I also think it would be great therapy!

g-girl said...

wow. embroidery! can't wait to see what you've been working on. grey's anatomy, bad tv?? oh, there's so much worse!

Misguided Satellite said...

I got a drop spindle last week and some roving today.. I had some really bad luck though, I might need to actually have someone show me, cause videos aren't doing the trick for me!