New Thing : Knitting! And Extended Metaphors!

I am, as per my resolution, trying to do something new every week. Not all these endeavors get posted about, because I Am Lazy, and also, how many recipes do you really want to read? Not many, I'm guessing. Though feel free to correct me. Really!

This week, though, I stumbled by sheerest coincidence (and the graces of Facebook) on a chance to learn knitting. Knitting! A skill I had always longed to possess, but thought the province of wiser and grander dames than I am or ever will be, sheer Witches of Craft, who can also do things like force prickly pear tunas to jell and strawberries to become wine.

As it turns out, I can indeed knit! A lot! With great enthusiasm!

And, uh. Great enthusiasm!

Because I had fully accepted, going in to knitting, that I was going to be awful at it. Really unforgiveable. An offense to the sheep that gave its wool to the yarn I would abuse (or, being that I'm learning with acrylic, possibly the Plastic Bags that gave their lives to the recycler. Whatever.).

So I wasn't even trying to do it right. Once I got the basic knit-purl down, I set about Experimenting. What happens if I drop stitches on purpose? Add them on purpose? Exactly how can I add stitches? Lose them? Can I make the stitches super loose? Can I do this left handed? Both handed? If I fumble massively, can I recover?

And the thing is, I know the answer to these questions, and many more! are available for the price of a quick Google search. But I don't care. I'm not ready to listen to the voice of experience just yet. For me, this stage of a new craft- where I know nothing, not what's possible or impossible or sensible or anything-- is like the rush of first love. I need to make all the mistakes, and make them hard, not to figure out how this particular craft works, but how I work with it. Is it fun even when I'm frustrated? Can I make something good out of a mistake? Is this, in short the beginning of a beautiful friendship?

In time, if it turns out that this is more than a passing infatuation-- and I'm seriously enjoying myself, and there's lots of room for play here, so I think it will be-- then there's time enough to pick out rings and argue over the caterer and fight over how to hang the toilet paper. I'll start trying out patterns, and reading tutorials, and looking for specific gauges of yarn. I'll curse and swear when I miscount a row of stitches, and giggle with glee when I make my first successful felted piece. I'll settle down and explore the deeper joys that come with a committed relationship, like sharing new friends and having something a little more popular to sell at the local craft shows.

But for now, it's just me and some screaming green yarn and a couple of bamboo needles, and we are having a whale of a time.

What's your latest love?

A New Thing: Bubble Paints!

Wow. Look at all of you out there!In the last week, the audience of my wee neglected blog has doubled! I suppose this means I have to start posting more than once in a month.

To Do This:
mix liquid soap and water in a bowl. Mix until bubbly. Add paint, dye, or whatever coloring agent you favor. Drink mix, maybe?

Put a piece of spare paper behind the bowl, as a splashguard. Trust me.

Grab the paper you want to bubble-paint.

Grab a straw. Put it in the soap mix; blow bubbles. Really go to town!

Lay your painting paper gently, directly, flat side down, on the bubbles. The bubbles may pop, they may melt, they may even cluster on the paper and let you push them around with a brush! The randomness is what makes it fun!

Do Not Do This:
Let the cats in right after adding the paint.

Start bubbling the paint before the cats have settled in and gone into furniture mode.

Inhale in shock when the cats decide to use human feet as their Safe Base in Cat-Tag, noted by swiping with a paw.

Inhale about 50 quarts of soap mix and paint.

Spend fifteen minutes coughing, choking, and wondering if the paint has gone far enough up your sinuses to turn your eyes green in a weird fantasy movie way.

Drink a soda any time in the next ten minutes. Owww, ow, fizzy owwww.

But I think I got a rather nifty set of textured papers out of it! Here are just a couple:




What can I do with textured paper? That's another post...but I bet some of you paper crafters are already making up your own answers!