How did I get into embroidering things? How did I learn to spin yarn? How did I start knitting? Why do I have a big honking weaving loom all of a sudden? How did I get *here*?
So many creative people ask themselves that question. More of us now than ever, since the Pandemic has given so many of us more free time to explore activities we hadn’t had the time to consider before now. And there’s lots of us that have creative interests that slide into one another, or start out as one thing and surface as another. I feel like it’s the mark of a curious mind. You toy with one art form, and think about how you could combine it with something else, or what to do to get an effect you want, and before you know it, you’re up to your eyebrows in yarn and embroidery floss and hot glue and gold foil. One art form very easily bleeds into another, and sometimes you need those combinations to reach out to the vision in your head that demands to be a real thing.
For example, I started knitting as an extension of some beadwork I was doing, a very long time ago. I saw a knitted purse with beads strung onto the yarn, and loved it so much. But I didn’t know the first thing about knitting! So after a couple of library books and a quick tutorial or two from a coworker, I had begun to knit small, simple things. And it was better than fun, it was glorious! After exploring lots of beading and knitting possibilities, I tried stringing beads on a thread and knitting it along with a yarn. Which was fine, but lacked structure. What if…I made the yarn myself, spinning in the beads? So that means I’d have to learn to spin, shouldn’t I? Where’s that dowel I know I have, and that old CD I don’t listen to? I bet I could make myself a crude drop spindle with those…
And before I knew it? Boom! A spinning wheel in my living room that I learned to fix up from a book. Lots of possibilities for yarns I couldn’t afford or never knew existed before. New friendships with local fiber farmers, who were kind and generous to a new customer. An astounding flexibility when it came to knitting projects. Out of a yarn? I could make more, however I wanted! And knitting friends wanted some too. So…time for an Etsy shop and more fibers to play with. And, wasn’t that color of fleece just a little bit dull? And aren’t you craving a wonderful plum color? How about trying out dyeing fibers next?
What’s in that pot, Maus? What is it? Wool, you say? You sure? It looks…not good…
Dyeing fibers leads to playing with the concept of felting, if you agitate the dyewater too much. And taking a knitted hat that’s waaaay too big and felting it made for a sturdy little hat with lots of structure for…embroidery? Why not? Hey, where’s that embroidery book you learned from when you were a kid? And it ends up being an excellent way to use up handspun odds and ends that aren’t enough to knit with but are too gorgeous to toss out. Also, weaving is good for things like that too. How about trying out that rigid-heddle loom for a big honking shawl?
And then…the Pandemic hit. And not only did I have my own art supplies to plow through, but also supplies I inherited from my mother, who had loads of crafting stuff I hadn’t really explore before now, Woodburning tools, a really large and imposing hot glue gun, crochet hooks of every size and…whoa. Loads of embroidery floss. Now, where’s that old bamboo hoop I used to have?…
And that’s where I am these days, now that I’m home full-time. I just finished a pair of wristwarmers that I embroidered, and a felted hat, and some hooped embroideries with swearing in them, and I’m almost done with a green alpaca yarn that might need some beads. All of these things are complimentary to each other, and none can really crowd out my love of any of the others. And I’m hopeful that this winter more of us will have the opportunity to try out something they haven’t had a chance to do but always wanted to. Or reaquainting themselves with an art form, like meeting an old friend. Winter’s good for exactly this sort of experimentation, and this yearning for a new way to express creativity is such a good way to work out problems and anxieties. It helps me stay away from my phone for a while, and stops the doomscrolling and the worrying for a little while…
What will you have by springtime that you didn’t have before, and never realized could be something you could do?