And Now for Something Completely Different

When I returned to my WIPs over the weekend, I sadly discovered that my wrists grew sore after only knitting for about half an hour.  This, my friends, is unacceptable!  But I have to accept it, I suppose, or else I'll make myself miserable. So, what's a crafty girl like me meant to do? Yeah, you guessed it ~ try something new!

Ever since I started weaving, I've been wanting to make a rag rug so I did some research and went into action.  I pulled all my old bed sheets out of my linen closet and picked two queen-size flat sheets that should have been retired many years ago. I tore them into 2.5 inch strips and split-spliced them together.  

I then went to my local DIY big box store, picked up some dowels and elbow connectors, and McGuyvered (yes, that's a word, right?) myself a 3x4 loom.  I've never felt more geeky but in a really good way!

This is my progress so far, and I'm pretty happy with the result.  These aren't colors I would particular want in either my kitchen or bathrooms but as a first sample, I'm loving it.  Oh, did I mention that I have a fantastic local fabric store in my neighborhood?  Tomorrow calls for rain so guess what I'll be doing?

A New Happy Place

I can't explain why or how this happened, but clearly 2014 has become the year of trying new things. Knitting is still my go to happy place but after making my first scrapbook last month, I felt the crafty part of myself expand a little. I had a ton of fun scrapbooking, but I already know that I'll only work on a scrapbook intermittently.  BUT after trying another new craft recently, I can absolutely tell that I've found a new happy place.

Remember when I fell down the Instagram rabbit hole?  Well, I stumbled upon this amazing artist, and when she announced that she would be teaching a basic weaving class, I jumped at the chance and secured a spot.  My class, which was held in a coffee bar in Brooklyn, was filled with an incredibly warm group of women.  The excitement was palpable and I loved how open everyone was to learning something new.

Maryanne is one of the most generous, patient, and passionate teachers I've ever studied with ~ her instructions, both verbal and visual, are clear, concise, and encouraging.  The atmosphere was truly one of sharing, and I think we all wished the class could have gone on for hours and hours.  Another big bonus was getting to work with Tanis' hand-dyed yarns in a completely different form.  I've knit with TFA yarns before and love Tanis' amazing color sensibility so to experiment with her yarns on a loom was fantastic. 

My first project is going very slowly (mainly because I haven't had much time to work on it this week), but I'm enjoying weaving so much and am so excited for all the projects I want to start.  As I'm sharing this with you, I'm finding that I'm having a hard time expressing what this new craft means to me but I hope, over time, I'll be able to articulate better how weaving is becoming my new very happy place.

Me and Maryanne