Monday, June 2, 2014

Sun aversion, and crafting for others...

Happy Monday everyone. :) Just a quick post today on something I was dwelling on as I was sweating my buns off at Henry's soccer game yesterday. Which could be a post in and of itself...

(Begin tangent...)

I am so not cut out for hot weather, thank God I live in the snow belt. The sun and I are not exactly best friends, let's put it that way. I'm so fair skinned, and the older I get, the more that situation keeps coming to the forefront. Picture everyone from the dermatologist to the DENTIST telling me:

"Oh wow, you have really sensitive skin."

So, several tubs of SPF 250 later, I'm ready to brave the soccer game, and I totally overdress to try and keep the sun off my tender flesh, and then I'm SWEATING. People, I hate to sweat. I absolutely loathe that sensation of actually roasting out there in the sun, and you can feel things getting wet, and then your clothes stick to you (or God forbid, some other surface), and just GROSS!! Ugh. Ok, anyway, I was sitting there praying for God to be merciful and send some cloud cover, and to get my mind off things, I started thinking about all of the craft projects I have going on right now...

(End tangent...)

For those of you out there who enjoy handcrafts of any kind (and I'm pretty inclusive in my definition here - sewing, knitting, crocheting, beading, painting, embroidery, plastic canvas, all of that good stuff and more), isn't is so pleasing to make things for other people? I just love doing that. I do make things for myself too, but I would say the majority of what I make is for gifts. And the reason is simply that I enjoy that. I think about the other person as I work on it (or their unborn baby ;)) and I find creating the item with those thoughts in mind to be very pleasing indeed.

Gifts I'm working on right now:

(1) A crocheted hip scarf for my troupemate, who recently graduated from college. I wish I had pictures of all of this stuff, stay tuned later this week! I've never made anything like this before, so I'm having fun with it. I just finished crocheting a mesh fabric in bright pink cotton that forms the body of the scarf. This week, I have to crochet the orange flower border and attach it. I'm really excited about this. The mesh turned out great, I can't wait to see what it looks like with the border.

(2) Dun dun DUNNNNN.... rosaries. :) This is like a Tiffany dream come true, right here folks. These are not exactly professional quality or anything like that, but I can now wire wrap rosaries, and let me tell, this is DANGEROUS.  It's like when Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad was both making AND smoking the blue crystal meth. Addicts should not be dealers. ;) But here I am, Rosary Fetish Girl, making rosaries, and this could quickly get out of control, but I LOVE making them. Each one is different. Different beads, different colors, different centerpieces or medals attached, different crucifixes to coordinate with the designated Rosarian Theme (I just made this up, but doesn't it sound good?) I'm loving this. If I know you, and you're Catholic, expect a rosary in your mailbox sometime soon. ;)

(3) I'm about to start a baby cardigan and hat set for Shelia, and I'm super pleased about this. :) I'm picking out pattern and yarn right now, one of my favorite parts of knitted projects! As soon as the hip scarf is done, this is going into my in-progress knitting basket.

So, of you crafty souls out there. What are you working on? What are your favorite crafts? 

5 comments:

  1. I love hot weather. I did not like this past winter where I turned into the Stay Puff Marshmellow Guy and my joints hated me. I also grew up in the sweaty South and lived 10 years in the baking desert. No A/C in Ontario. Bring it!

    But I also turn a less than pretty color. The key is cotton, loose, and fitness wear (since it wicks). It's not less clothing because that tends to cling and you burn. You want air flow and you'll sweat less.

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    1. Yes, I am totally unused to heat, and this is part of my problem, sigh.

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  2. I enjoy crafting for gifts as well. However, I'm sometimes at a loss for things to make as gifts because I'm afraid that the gift will not fit right. So far I've given mostly knitted scarfs and pot holders as gifts. Next up is a sewing project. I'm making an iPad case for a cousin.

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    1. Yes, I worry about this as well. :) I'm a huge dish cloth fan. :0

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  3. Yay for baby knitting! :D

    I love hot weather. Well, I like moderate weather best, don't we all? But if I had to choose, I'd choose hot, and that's why I didn't let my husband talk me into living in Wisconsin. In winter, I need more sleep, I'm always getting headaches, and I never feel like doing anything. Then in summer I come out of hibernation and start doing yardwork and gardening with abandon. I don't like to sit in direct sun, because I roast like a lobster, but as long as I have some shade, I'm happy.

    My latest project was a woven baby blanket in fall colors, which took much less time than I thought it would --- a matter of days, from the wool (which my mother got me for my birthday!) to the finished product. The warp is red, orange, and yellow, and the weft is brown llama, which tones down the glowing brightness of the warp.

    Now I've moved onto spinning dark brown llama, though I haven't yet decided what to do with it. It's for a friend who's very stylish, and I'm afraid of being tacky. Probably it will be a hat.

    And after that, I finally get to spin the Rambouillet wool I also got for my birthday, which I dyed a variegated sea green -- I'm very curious how it will turn out, but it's ridiculously soft so I figure I can't go wrong. And that, I think, is going to be to sell ... I have to start selling yarn, or I'll never be able to afford to keep spinning!

    ReplyDelete

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