Where We Choose To Stitch....

I’m probably not the only one that has a “nest” to stitch in... that comfy spot where I like to curl up with all of my tools and stash close at hand... my throne of stitching, so to speak. Yet in the past week, I have had bits of stitching along with me at various meetings and events since I am trying to cram every possible moment before Nashville into being as productive as possible. (It also ensures that I might show up with some fingernails too... if I don’t keep shattering them when I lug boxes around.)

The Illustrative Blackwork is attracting the most attention... partly because it is a cool way of making pictures with just backstitching. Using braid also seems to get people asking questions about how to stitch with the sparkly stuff.

It made me stop and think. How often have I seen people knitting on the bus or train?? At meetings and events where parents are waiting for their kids to finish up activities?? This fall, it was seeing stitchers who had taken classes from me stitching with something called “Boa” that got me re-hooked on knitting. Instead of making those cotton dishcloths on car trips, I was suddenly taking one evening a week to make up scarves as Christmas presents. Each time I saw a new colour combination in the Boa, Eyelash or Fun Fur wool, I had to pick up a ball or two just to make another scarf. I hope they are still in vogue next year, because I still have a few left to knit and two in reserve all ready to go.

Many of us get together with other stitchers... but it is when we take out stitching out to other places that someone else might see what we are doing and decide to try it themselves. I remember reading about Wayne Brady actually knitting on his show a few months ago, or how it made the news that Survivor Winner Ethan’s mom owned a knitting shop.... and I wonder if sometimes that is why one craft becomes more trendy than another. People SEE others doing it and realize that it’s not that hard!!

Just this week, a friend of mine who had introduced a colleague to cross stitch, took her new convert to the local LNS here in town. Do you remember when you first discovered that there could be a shop JUST for needlework??? I remember feeling like a kid in a candy store!!!

One of the things that I still love MOST about any type of craft... at the end of my time (be it a meeting or just watching some TV to unwind) I have something to SHOW for my time.... something I have been able to create.

If I have time.... amid all the preparations for Nashville, I am going to go out and buy a design by some OTHER designer... so that I can have fun stitching something that ISN’T mine! Maybe along the way, I will inspire someone else to pick up a needle and have this much fun!