Category: crafting

I am someone who typically has several projects going at a time. I am also someone who likes to try new things. Sometimes the work, sometimes they don’t. Here is a round up of three things I have been working on this week.

Tunisian Crochet Hat and Wrist-y Thingies

I started with Tunisian Crochet recently and have become totally enamored. I am trying to figure out some of the quirks, though, and playing with a hat pattern has been very helpful for this. What I have discovered is that Tunisian crochet is not as stretchy as regular crochet and while it can look a lot like knit, it is definitely not as stretchy as a knit item. Hence my Goldilocks moment: hat too small, too short and too tall. I’ve started another one that I am hoping has the kinks worked out to get to that “just right”.

Annie’s Kit Club Crochet Blanket

I joined a Kit Club through Annie’s and am working on the Mediterranean Afghan. I am on kit 4 and really enjoying the challenge of this blanket. While I am a huge proponent starting with a craft using whatever patters strike your fancy, I would not recommend this particular kit for beginners. It is noted to be an intermediate pattern but I would say advanced intermediate is more accurate. There are so many kits through Annie’s though, so not to despair! There is something for everyone.

Handmade Rune Set

I have been exploring Runes lately. I am learning the Elder Fulthark right now and have found it to be a very enlightening process. I also have a habit of collecting random fallen sticks and saving them in my garage. I decide that I would try my hand at making my own rune set and this is my starting point. I’m excited to see where this goes.

So, that’s me for the week. I’d be very interested to see what others are working on as well!

I mentioned the process I went through to make my calendar for the 2021- 2022 year and am now working through how I want my 2022-2023 calendar to look. I am toying with a few different ideas but think I am landing on making the whole thing by hand rather than get a premade calendar. To that end, I made a stencil of the format so it will be as consistent as possible and am working on figuring out the best medium to use to darken the lines.

I think the marker works best but needed to sand down the stencil because the melted bits made ridges that tore up my thick felt tip and interfered with tracing smoothly. When everything is smoothed out, I will work out the template for the calendar pages.

I have become more in touch with my spirituality since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I think this is likely true for many, given the feelings of powerlessness and the losses we have all endured. While I was raised Catholic, I became interested in different religions and philosophies around age 11 and began to explore the wide world to spiritual and ritualistic expression. Through my exploration, I have found that Pagan practices tend most align with my authentic way of being in the world.

One of the very interesting things that I have found is that some Pagans consider Samhain (October 31) the start of the new year and some consider Yule (winter solstice) the start of the new year. I was giving it some thought and for my own reasons I determined that Samhain most aligns with my feelings of new year- ness. So I made a calendar that started in October and now if the time to start the one for next year!

As with most things, this turned into a more complicated process than I had anticipated, so I took notes and thing I have a good handle on the process for this year. The first step is to create the background for the collages that will represent each month. Also, this year, I will try my hand at drawing out my own month grids so I can get the rows right. I am looking forward to seeing how this process works itself out.

Below are some of the collages from my prototype 2021/2022 calendar:

I started with a large strip of craft paper and painted the whole thing in an ombre of various acrylic colors. Collage pieces came largely from old editions of Revolver magazine and loose vintage book cut outs.