1 post tagged “introduction”

I'm still getting settled in here. But this seems to be the occasion for the Obligatory Intro Post. So. :)

I've been a fiber junkie, on and off, most of my life - my mom taught me to crochet when I was eight or nine, which meant I had the best-dressed Strawberry Shortcake dolls in the neighborhood. She taught me to knit, but not to purl, so the one knitted object I made before 1997 was a garter-stitch stuffed cat. I tried a little embroidery, but didn't seriously get into the needle arts until I was exiled to Ye Boondocks for a summer internship and a friend sent me a cross-stitch kit with the promise that if I couldn't finish it, she would. (I didn't have to take her up on it). I found other things to do for a while after that - I got hooked on the Internet way before most people knew it existed; I remember Archie and Gopher and a time when a web browser that could actually display something other than text was a miracle - but picked up the yarn and thread again a few more times.

In 1997, I had a baby. The baby needed a sweater and a birth sampler. I finished those (not too late) - and then didn't have time for anything else, given that I had, well, a baby.

And then...September 11, 2001 came. I think I'm not the only person who picked up some kind of craft - in my case, I started cross-stitching again - just to have something to do with my hands. It felt good to create something. And then I kept running into evil enablers. Hubby's Nana destashed cross-stitch and needlepoint onto me. Someone at work asked me for help with the cutest little crocheted sweater. Mom gave me all her yarn. Sister bought yarn for me at garage sales. (Someday I will teach sister how to tell acrylic from wool, but I digress...) Nana struck again with a yarn destash. I got taken to a needlework store's Superbowl Widow Sale, and learned that there is more to life than JoAnn Fabrics and Michael's. Someone showed me Knitty, and I had to learn how to use two sticks again.

And now people think it's strange when they see me without yarn or cross-stitching.

And now I've learned to spin. Kind of. We won't talk about my Ronald McDonald Hair. (Or maybe we will.)

And maybe someone will teach me naalbinding. And fingerloop braiding. And...there's always something new to do with string. Because I rarely listen to myself when I say "I don't have time for another hobby."

(I previously blogged on fibery stuff at LiveJournal, but I found I wasn't blogging as much as I might because the platform didn't really meet my needs. Taking Vox for a spin now...)