It's kinda crazy here, but then again I like it.
But, like I said, welcome to my little world. It's a pretty crazy world, where teenagers know how to knit, and a blooming young woman would rather spend countless hours in the kitchen than out partying with friends.
I'm just barely a quarter of a century old, and knit, crochet, bake, and volunteer as a firefighter in my little town. I'm a regular Susie Homemaker. And the best thing? I do it all, and I'm short. It really provides a better view on things sometimes.
I've had many people ask me how I can have the patience to do the crafty things I do.
Well, the truth is, it's not necessarily that I have the patience, but that I have the drive, and the energy. I don't want to blame my spontaneity on any one thing, but in the past, I was diagnosed with ADD.
I found that the best cure for it is not to take any pills, but to find something that keeps the hands busy.
That's why I decided to learn to crochet. it was something that is very repetitious, and I can carry it around with me. I've also discovered that it's wonderful therapy. Since I'm abnormally quick to temper, I found that if I'm ticked with my Dearest Honey, I just pick up some yarn, and a hook, and find a pretty new or complicated pattern to work on. That usually takes my mind off of my temper and calms me down.
(on a side note, the more upset I am, the better my work tends to be. I wonder if there's some sort of connection?)
But I blame my craftiness mostly on my family. They're awesome! My mom used to quilt, my paternal grandmother used to make stuffed, sequined, and beaded decorations, my maternal grandmother used to crochet, my dad is (to me and my sister) a five-star chef and leathersmith, my step-mom is a wonderful crafter, making renaissance costumes, knit and crochet stuff, and other awesome stuff, and my uncle is an artist (no, really, he is).
I ended up being a sort of mish-mash crafter, not really an expert at anything, but I love to learn everything. I could never get the hang of cooking food, but baking and decorating my baked goods came pretty natural to me. Crochet started when I needed something to do when my Dearest Honey was ignoring me and playing his video games. I set out to make a king-sized blanket with fingering weight yarn. (for all you yarnies, you know that I totally kicked myself in the rear with that decision. I've only got a long blanket that's about three feet wide, and about 8 feet long. sometimes I feel like I'm never going to finish!)
Knitting started when I wanted to learn to make socks and couldn't find a decent crocheted sock pattern. The sad part? I still haven't finished a complete pair of socks. But it was fun to learn!
Spinning my own yarn came from something I saw on one of my favorite crafting websites, Craftster.org, where one lady had actually spun cat hair. I'm still in the process of learning to spin my own yarn, but I think eventually I will make a hat or a scarf from spun cat hair. (yes, I know it sounds gross, but think of how warm it will be!)
I dabble in cross-stitch, but it's so slow, I usually give up not too long after I start.
And baking started many years ago, when I was still in high school, and it was late at night, and I wanted a cake, and dad and my step-mom were out on a date. It looked horrible! but it tasted so good. After that, I discovered that chocolate comes in a variety of colors, and that it's actually pretty easy to work with, as long as you temper it just right.
I'm sure you can gather that I'm a pretty spontaneous young person, with old lady tendencies (no offense to the wiser generation!)
Over and out,
Erica
