The Handmade Home.

Life has been especially busy this past week--but for all of the right reasons. The craft bug had apparently bitten as I found myself using a lot of my down time keeping my hands in full-on making mode.

With my new modest crafting table set up in a cozy corner of the family room and my sewing machine fresh from a much needed tune-up, I found myself inspired to take on several projects at once. I am still very new to sewing and even newer to knitting, so my projects and the finished products can, at best, only be deemed humble attempts with great aspirations. Nevertheless, Noah now has a new fuzzy gray mouse (a craft begun at our Waldorf mom & tot weekly program) for imaginative play to add to his handmade toy collection, our stairwell dons a new curtain (to help prevent the next door neighbors from seeing directly into our upstairs bathroom)--purposefully (I hope that is apparent?) made a little short to still allow in a little bit of sunshine--green linen dishrags, and the beginnings of what will be a doll for Noah (for both imaginative play and in hopes of easing the transition when the new baby arrives--he can have a baby to call all his own).

In the true spirit of handmade craftiness, I began attending a knitting circle this week. It's two-toddler free hours with a gang of old ladies clucking in British accents and a stay-at-home Japanese Daddy friend that recently joined the mommy group I formed here, "The Green Moms of London". Included is a very large and enthusiastic black lab named Huxley and a fluffy unnamed lap cat who is surprisingly immune to all of the yarn flying about the parlor. I think that from the outside we must make for an awfully motley crew. But I have to honestly admit that several hours twice a month of focused and self-indulged anything utilizing my poor orphaned brain sans interruptions and tantrums is so worth it--and the muffins and tea aren't too bad either. Plus, in just 3 months or less, I'll have another human being needing every loving second of my attention and breasts. So, I realize that I better enjoy this taste of freedom while it lasts. And, hell, what else are you supposed to do in this blasted snowy small town?!

All in all, I truly enjoy the process of using my hands to create as much as I enjoy the satisfaction that comes from finishing and using what I've made. One day I'd like to have a truly handmade home--one in which nearly everything has been thoughtfully crafted by me for the use of those I love. But for this week, the dishrags, the mouse, the curtain, and partially made dolly will have to do.

As an aside: For any knitting (as well as crochet, embroidery, paper crafts, felting, sewing, etc.) lovers out there, here is an absolutely beautifully inspiring website based out of SoHo, New York (they own a yarn shop there), that I have longingly drooled over for at least a year now. It is only recently that I may actually be able to try and craft some of the simply magical creations pictured and patterned there: www.purlbee.com. I could comb through their archives for days . . . enjoy!