Improve your grades!
Lower your stress level!
Make gifts for your friends!
Boost your self-esteem!
What do these things have in common? Crafting, specifically knitting and crochet. Scientists, educators, and therapists agree that occupying the hands occupies the mind, redirecting the synapses into constructive conduits. Additionally, making and gifting are proven boosters to self-esteem and interpersonal relationships. Continue reading “Improve Everything! (Except maybe your wallet.)”→
End of Summer . . . what is this time of year like for you? So many changes take place as students head back to school. Harvest time has special meaning in my semi-rural neighborhood that is not felt in more urban areas. There will be fiestas coming up soon too. I start feeling nostalgia creeping up, and I know it is time to shift my energies into Autumn activities.
Even though I’ve lived in central New Mexico for over 25 years, I have a hard time with the seasonal changes. You’d think I’d be used to it by now. But, I grew up in a two-season, moderate, subtropical climate: hot or wet. As a result, here I’m just getting used to one season, then another one comes along. No sooner do I get used to that one when I’m expected to adapt again. I don’t really like it.
I’ve desperately tried to come up with some way to bend my mind around the seasons. I’m usually pretty flexible, even impetuous on occasion, so change itself is not the issue. I live for the longer daylight hours, and I celebrate the Winter Solstice like nobody’s business. Maybe there’s a bit of Seasonal Affective Disorder in me. I can tell you this, though, the shorter days are already getting on my nerves. I think it is going to be a rough winter.
On Solstice night, I light every candle in the house, welcoming the return of the sun.
Plus some finished items too. And, yes, I know it is Friday. But I have been working on this post for two days.
It has been over three weeks since I last posted my WIPs, but lest you think I’ve been slacking, here are some photos of what I’ve been doing.
I finished the 4-Hour Fall Sweater sample for the store, even though my own is not finished. I completed the Headband and Fringed Scarf sample for Michael’s, plus the phone cozy and Floppy Hat. I’ve done everything but weave in ends and block my Blue Curacao. (What an accomplishment!) I had to prepare for the CAL, which meant making sure the correct yarns had been ordered, getting the pattern ready — to which I added two charts and some notes.
Blue Curacao by Doris Chan, finished but not blocked
Fringed Scarf sample for Michaels, using Loops and Threads Charisma yarnYarn Store sample of the 4-hour Fall Sweater for the CAL using Universal Yarns Classic Shades Big Time.
True story: I was weaving in some ends on a project, and when I trimmed the yarn, I cut the wrong yarn. Go figure! Hence, the hole where no hole should be.
The moral is, if you are a maker, you will be a mistake maker. Don’t let it define you. The best batters in baseball get hits in only one-quarter to one-third of their trips to the plate. But they keep practicing, keep coming back, keep aiming for the fence. Every at bat is a new opportunity.
Improve your grades!
