So, with the death of my yarn stash, I almost can't bring myself to start over again. I still love to knit and crochet, but when the moths attacked and my stash went up in a poof of dollar signs, the thought of yarn makes my chest hurt.
I think what will end up happening is I will be faced with a project of some sort that will require me to make a trip to the yarn store, and then maybe it won't be so hard. But, to just buy yarn to replenish the stash...I can't justify that right now since we don't have a whole lot of money at the moment, what with the new career moving at a snail's pace. Now, I know a bunch of you are thinking, "She's mad. You don't need an excuse to buy yarn, and the death of a stash is the PERFECT excuse if you needed one." And, you're probably right, but I can't even bring myself to finish the socks that managed to avoid the invasion. I feel like I'm in mourning. It just makes me want to cry every time I look at my hooks and needles.
But, I must create, and during Gulf Wars, a friend needed help with an emergency embroidery project, and well, I'm hooked again. So, I'm embroidering. But, as you know, I ain't Martha Stewart, and I sure as hell don't believe in embroidering fluffy bunnies and kittens.
This is my current project:
I've always felt that my life was going to take a turning point and there will be a kind of rebirth, a renewal. Well, that has definitely been going on, so I chose the white/silver phoenix to be my personal device. (For heraldic purposes, white and silver are the same.) This one was original a woodcut that Todd found, and all I did was print up a copy and trace it onto some cotton. When it's done, I'm going to turn it into an appliqué that I will sew onto a token for Todd when he fights in tournaments and battles. I'm thinking later, I'm going to put his device on a handkerchief for me to carry around. What can we say? We do have some romance in our souls.
One thing I come to love about embroidery is that you can turn anything into an embroidery. Oh, sure, there are kits you can buy, but you can also find a picture or painting or woodcut or just make something up, transfer it onto whatever fabric you want, and have at it. Need a specific stitch? Any number of places online have detailed embroidery stitches. (My favorite so far is the split stitch.) But, I think that's why I fell into it so easily. The thing I've always loved about knitting and crocheting is that it's only limited to your imagination. All three hobbies have a sort of fluffy bunny and kittens past, but they certainly can be anything you want them to be. Apologies to the Aunt Bertha's and Grandma Lulu's out there, but embroidery needs to be cleansed of teddy bears and bunnies the same way I'm determined to put an end to knitted/crocheted toilet paper cozies.
So, I think I'll be doing this for a while while my broken knitter's heart heals.
Besides, it's cheaper...
Oh, on a side note, the paper mache still goes on. I finished the rabbit and raven masks, but the pictures I took weren't that great because of the lighting. Well, the rabbit one is okay:
The raven pics came out very dark, and you can't tell that when I painted it, I put highlights on it to bring out its features. I'm going to try to take better pictures of them later.
I wrapped the sticks in ribbons, and rather think the effect was lovely. You will notice, however a small problem with the rabbit's ear. I gave these masks to their new owners at Gulf Wars, and while the weather was mostly pleasant, there were a couple of days of extreme humidity, and apparently, it found it's way into the paper mache while being stored in their tent and one ear feel off the rabbit and a point fell of of the raven. I was not happy. I was very much horrified and cried like a baby. We fixed them, but after I worked so very hard to make them wonderful for my friends, it was definitely a blow for that to have happened. Granted, as one friend said, you can't plan for every eventuality. The masks have been treated with several coats of sealant, but I think I'm going to have to find a heavier duty sealant or put even more coats on. I'll see. I need to get these back and touch them up at least. Either way, I'm still very proud of them.
I just wish I wouldn't fall apart when something goes wrong, but that's another entry entirely.
I've always felt that my life was going to take a turning point and there will be a kind of rebirth, a renewal. Well, that has definitely been going on, so I chose the white/silver phoenix to be my personal device. (For heraldic purposes, white and silver are the same.) This one was original a woodcut that Todd found, and all I did was print up a copy and trace it onto some cotton. When it's done, I'm going to turn it into an appliqué that I will sew onto a token for Todd when he fights in tournaments and battles. I'm thinking later, I'm going to put his device on a handkerchief for me to carry around. What can we say? We do have some romance in our souls.
One thing I come to love about embroidery is that you can turn anything into an embroidery. Oh, sure, there are kits you can buy, but you can also find a picture or painting or woodcut or just make something up, transfer it onto whatever fabric you want, and have at it. Need a specific stitch? Any number of places online have detailed embroidery stitches. (My favorite so far is the split stitch.) But, I think that's why I fell into it so easily. The thing I've always loved about knitting and crocheting is that it's only limited to your imagination. All three hobbies have a sort of fluffy bunny and kittens past, but they certainly can be anything you want them to be. Apologies to the Aunt Bertha's and Grandma Lulu's out there, but embroidery needs to be cleansed of teddy bears and bunnies the same way I'm determined to put an end to knitted/crocheted toilet paper cozies.
So, I think I'll be doing this for a while while my broken knitter's heart heals.
Besides, it's cheaper...
Oh, on a side note, the paper mache still goes on. I finished the rabbit and raven masks, but the pictures I took weren't that great because of the lighting. Well, the rabbit one is okay:
The raven pics came out very dark, and you can't tell that when I painted it, I put highlights on it to bring out its features. I'm going to try to take better pictures of them later.
I wrapped the sticks in ribbons, and rather think the effect was lovely. You will notice, however a small problem with the rabbit's ear. I gave these masks to their new owners at Gulf Wars, and while the weather was mostly pleasant, there were a couple of days of extreme humidity, and apparently, it found it's way into the paper mache while being stored in their tent and one ear feel off the rabbit and a point fell of of the raven. I was not happy. I was very much horrified and cried like a baby. We fixed them, but after I worked so very hard to make them wonderful for my friends, it was definitely a blow for that to have happened. Granted, as one friend said, you can't plan for every eventuality. The masks have been treated with several coats of sealant, but I think I'm going to have to find a heavier duty sealant or put even more coats on. I'll see. I need to get these back and touch them up at least. Either way, I'm still very proud of them.
I just wish I wouldn't fall apart when something goes wrong, but that's another entry entirely.
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