Cross Stitch Destash

Like most crafters, I have tried many things over the years. First, my grandmother taught me to knit when I was a kid. Then I picked up needlepoint, and from there counted cross stitch.

But as I get older, my eyesight enjoys certain hobbies less and less. Unfortunately, counted cross stitch is becoming too difficult for me to manage. A magnifying lamp purchased years ago is not helpful, because every time I take a stitch, I bump into it, and then it wobbles for several seconds. 

So I am beginning a destash of my collection of kits and patterns. Free to a good home. Above is a little plastic canvas kit complete with floss. Not sure anyone but me still uses a desktop computer, but it could easily be attached to something else, like a bulletin board.

This is a sweet little kit. Open but unused. This has been claimed.

Another cute kit, opened but unused. The fabric has become separated from the kit though.

This has been claimed.

If you're interested in any of these, please email me or, if you're on Ravelry, send me a pm. I will be posting more items soon.

Make it Colorful

About a year ago, Liat bought one of those plain, standard IKEA tv tables. Her roommate at the time absolutely didn't want white, so Liat reluctantly purchased the black version. Like me, Liat loves bright, cheerful colors. But at the time, there was the possibility that the roommate would one day buy the table from her, so being a good sport, she went along.

This fall, Liat moved into her own apartment. One of the first things she asked me to do was to somehow perk up the sliding doors of the cabinet front of the table. It didn't take me long to come up with an idea I was sure she would love.

Using the inserts from videos and dvds and some Mod Podge, I decorated the sliding doors with Disney collages. In the end, I used images from 28 different movies. I also used a paper punch in the shape of a Mickey Mouse silhouette to make 36 hidden Mickeys that are scattered throughout the two collages. A couple of them were coated with glow in the dark paint, because sometimes I just can't help myself.

She loves it!

On Little Cat Feet

Fog

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

     Carl Sandburg

A dear friend (who I met back in the days of my Yahoo 360 blog) asked me recently if I was blogging again. Of course that put the idea back in my head, and here I am. I have wandered away, and then returned, to this blog quite a few times over the years. I always wonder if I should make a big deal out of coming back, apologizing for the hiatus, or just casually pick back up again.

Lately I have been trying to fly under the radar, reducing my presence on social media sites especially. But I miss blogging, the writing and the sharing of it. And perhaps not surprisingly, when I don't blog, I don't read other people's blogs, either.

So here I am, creeping back, for another go at this. Let's see what happens this time around.

Stash Busting

After being on Ravelry (an on-line community for knitters, crocheters, spinners, and weavers) for over five years, I finally took advantage of the Stash feature in December of 2014. I took out my entire stash of yarn and photographed it, uploading the photos and information about the yarn (including where it was stored) to Ravelry. What an enormous help that has turned out to be. Now I know exactly what I have (and where it's hiding!). I also browse through my stash photos whenever I feel tempted by pretty, new yarns. Looking through what I already have reminds me to appreciate - and use - what I already own.

For the past thirteen months, I have made a concerted effort to knit up my stash. Not just the new skeins that I just had to have (way back when) and still haven't gotten to, but also all of the partial skeins, bits and bobs left over from other projects. I didn't get around to updating my entire stash library last December, but now as I go I post updated photos. It's so rewarding to see my stock of yarns dwindling down. I truly think I could knit only with the yarn I already have for at least five more years before I even got close to being "out of yarn". 

I am so glad to have gotten out of the (very common) mindset of "have to have it". I felt that way about the yarn I already have, and I still haven't used most of that. Why would I want to keep adding more and more? I am trying to simplify and declutter the rest of my house, and my yarn stash definitely needs the same attention. I have knitted and crocheted up a fair amount of stash yarn in the last thirteen months. I have given some yarn away, and I have even (gasp!) thrown out some horribly scratchy yarn that was given to me years ago with the best of intentions by a lovely knitter. I am continuing in 2016 to happily put into service the beautiful yarn I already own. If I find I don't have something suitable for a specific project, I will buy more yarn. But mostly, I am thinking of projects to make that will use what I already have, and enjoying every moment.

Get Out of Jail Free

Many years ago, my husband received this game as a going away present after working for an organization for five years. He was insulted, to say the least. After letting this game take up space in our home for over twenty years, I was all set to throw the pieces into the recycling, when I had one of those "I'm havng a thought here, Barbossa" moments. (Still in love with Captain Jack Sparrow, can't be helped).

A thin coat of gesso applied with a card. That's better already.

Might as well stick with the theme. The printed pages were the game instructions.

Whoa! Just a little too bright, maybe? Actually, by this point I had already painted, gessoed over, and repainted the background. 

Adding marks. I used a stencil, the edge of a credit card, bubble wrap, the oval plastic piece that comes in a stick deodorant, and the circle is the extra handle from a cooking pot (long story). The solid white rectangles were made with a sponge, and the open small, white squares and rectangles were made with the bottoms of a house and a hotel from the game.

I waned to use lots of elements from the game. The tree was painted in black acrylic.

Adding details. I stamped a swirly line over the property cards using Staz On ink, used the Community Chest cards (enhanced with paint) for the windows and doors. Tree was accented with a Posca pen and a water-based Sharpie poster pen. 

I smudged white paint around the houses and upwards to soften some of the brightness of the sky and to create the illusion of fog. I added shading to the houses with colored pencils, did outlining with various pens, and covered the windows with Glossy Accents to make them shine.

The back.

Repurposed Boxes

We recently bought a bunch of thermal shirts, and I thought the boxes they came in would make great drawers for storing crafting supplies. I covered the top and sides with recycled, painted printer paper, and gave it a coat of Mod Podge. I painted the front of the drawer, too. I may end up decorating the box more, but for now I like it as it is. I need to decide if I am going to glue all the boxes together in a stack or not.

Lady Bountiful Syndrome

"Luckily, the homeless shelters will take everything..."

                          a knitter on Instagram

A knitter posted a picture on Instagram today of a hat that had turned out too small for her, then added the above comment. 

Seriously? 

Unfortunately, I see suggestions of this kind of attitude all the time. On the one hand, many people very kindly put a lot of time and effort into making things for people in need, and that's wonderful. On the other hand, quite a few of those people make no bones of the fact that they are using their, shall we say, less desirable yarns to do so. Often, combining odd balls of yarn left over from other projects with no thought for aesthetics. Of course, not for nothing do they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so maybe I should just shut up about that.

But here's the thing. I have noticed a dichotomy between knitted and crocheted items destined for cancer wards and old age homes, and those being sent to, for example, homeless shelters. Anyone might end up in either of the first two places, after all. But homeless shelters? Well, that's a whole different ball of wax. Or so these folks seem to think.

I don't even know if the people (like the knitter quoted above) even realize the implications behind what they are saying. I see it all the time. "Oh, they are / should be so grateful for anything they get."

This kind of attitude really pisses me off. I mean, REALLY pisses me off. I call it Lady Bountiful Syndrome (Lady Bountiful was a character in an 18th century play called The Beaux' Strategem, by George Farquhar. The term has come to be used to describe "an over-patronising woman, showing off her wealth by acts of overwhelming generosity"). I tend to use the term to describe people who take great pride in their "gracious assistance to poor unfortunates" (I put that in quotation marks because it seems to me that is exactly how they think of their actions, deep in their hearts).

Of course, not all people who knit, crochet, sew, or whatever for others think or feel that way! But I have to wonder if there isn't some sort of unconscious discrimination going on. People who are ill, or elderly, are somehow "better" than people who don't have a place to live. Every now and again, like today, I see something that makes me believe that, sadly, many people really do think that way (whether they realize it or not).

In a way, I think it is somewhat connected to whether one thinks of crafting for people in need to be charity, or not. Charity is a word that is used all the time, mostly with the best of intentions. I believe it has different connotations to different people, though. To me, it sounds a little condescending. In Hebrew, the word usually translated as "charity" - tzedaka - actually means righteousness or justice. In other words, doing the right thing. I tend to think of the knitted objects I send to various organizations not as charity, but as community knitting, because I am making things for people who are part of the community of the world, just as I am.

Your thoughts?