4KCBWDAY1 House of Bee

 

After a bit of confusion as to which house I should choose, I decided that at my barest bones I am definitely a BEE.  Though I do enjoy incorporating a challenging twist like Monkeys, and love embellishing and bedazzling things like Peacocks, I'm well known by family and friends to be a Producer.

You may notice a trend...

I hand spun some super fun compound yarn...

...and this is how it knit up!

 I'm that strange duck who CAN NOT leave the house without a project (or three, because at least in terms of crafting I'm attention deficit).  I tweaked one of my inkle looms for portability so that I could take it with me to the park in the summer.  I typically have at least one project that is car friendly, like my drop spindle or a little crochet lace edging, and I'm the one at the family bbq sitting in the shade under a tree with my knitting.  Occasionally I try to force myself to leave the bag of many things at

home and try to, you know, socialize a bit.  I have a lot of anxiety though. So I tend to run back for it at the last minute.

For weaving in the park

I am often asked how I get so much done. I just plain can't sit still. If I find myself in the van, or waiting in the doctor's office, or at a function without anything to fall into, I turn into a Twitchy-Mc Twitchypants.  I used to smoke upwards of a pack a day.  Then I replaced my cigarette with a crochet hook, and it grew to include knitting, spinning and whatever else I can get my fingers tangled in. I also immerse myself in projects to ward off depression. There is a direct correlation between how much I'm producing and how many demons are hovering in the wings. But mostly? I just LOVE making things and I'm totally obsessed with process. What I do isn't work to me but it also isn't a hobby.  I believe it's my vocation.

Rainbow!

I do this obsessively

Some of my hand woven inkle bands

It's so exciting when people are sharing ideas and creating things together.  To me there is no fellowship that compares. My very favorite memories are of time spent with a few friends, when we got so busy crafting we forgot to talk, and our hot drinks got cold. It didn't matter at all because we were just content to be together, sharing the same space, feeling the sun warming our faces, with only the sound of the birds in the trees, kitties purring, needles clicking, pencils scritching....

I am also in love with texture

I love showing the things I make, talking about and demonstrating process, teaching and encouraging others to pick up a project. I believe we are all creative beings, and that creativity is relative. Sometimes it is simple and spontaneous like taking off your shoes and making squishy footprints in the mud, tossing a handful of leaves into the wind, whistling a tune, or doing a car dance*.  It can be complex and deliberate like an elegant equation, intricate lace, a musical score, or a novel.  It's in our children and grandchildren, in our garden, our muscle cars and choppers.  Tattoos, graffiti, yarn bombs, beat poetry, surfing the perfect wave, the runner's high. It can be an "ah-hah!" moment or a "ha ha!" moment.   It's the moment we take notice.  It's in the marks we make, and we should make as many as we possibly can.

Happy creating!

*Car dancing is one of my favorite things. Sit in the seat, buckle the belt, turn the radio on, or slide in a groovin' cd, and get down with your bad self. This gets really awesome at stop lights, in parking lots or in traffic jams, really ESPECIALLY awesome if you can persuade everyone in the car to do it, and totally hilarious if the dudes in the cars around you join in.

So, THIS, and THIS. Not to be confused with THIS, which is also unbelievably cool, but requires some seriously mad skills.  Please drive safe.

Find out more about Eskimimimakes Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013!