If you read this, thank your mother!

Dear Mom,

I tried to think of a perfect gift for Mothers Day and decided that one of the greatest gifts you gave me was my love of reading. When I heard about the Barbara Bush Family Literacy Program, I realized that perhaps the best gift would be to pass it down. I hope it will bring joy to your day, knowing that the gift donated in your name will allow a young mother  to become a better reader and be able to share the gift with her children.

LIttle Golden Books and One Fish, Two Fish started my journey and I still think that Dr. Suess did it right. I remember bringing my book to your bed , sitting up against that padded headboard, and reading Little House on the Prairie while you read your Erle Stanley Gardner mysteries. You took me to the library constantly, always patient while I looked through the Black Stallion books and dreamed about visiting Misty on Chincoteague Island. You told the librarian, that, yes, this little girl really will read all of these books this week, so please let her check out more than allowed. There's a lesson right there! Ask and you might get the answer you seek!

Mom, you taught me that reading the instructions on the sewing pattern for the Barbie dress would likely help things turn out right. This led to pride in a job well done, not to mention several prom dresses and matching Hawaiian shirts for me and my high school boyfriend. As a young mother, I even earned money with a needle and thread, allowing me to stay home longer with Danny. 

With the power of reading, I tackled the words of crochet and knitting, and deciphered color coded charts for needlepoint. I used the nuances of language and word choice to develop my own color palette, no simple reds and blues for me, thank you! Instead a profusion of ochres and azures and  vermillions and sapphires! A lifelong fiber fascination and celebration resulted. 

I never learned to speak a foreign language well, just a little TexMex, but I learned to read several 'languages.' You showed me how to cook from a recipe and I dove into some crazy foods with complicated instructions. Throw in a little math and you can make twice as much or half as little.  I learned to read music and calculus, even accounting. And reading between the lines fueled my natural skepticism. No reading is too difficult, so legal documents, student rules, and OpEds only make me more knowledgeable. 

Reading is so powerful, Mom. I married a man who loves to read and we raised a son with a book in his hands. The joy continues. On this, your special day, please know that I love you and that all of my successes lead back to you. 

I can never repay the gift you gave me, but I hope to pass it on.

Your Loving Daughter,

Karen

Have project, will travel

Traveling to Washington, D.C., this week and am at a loss on whether to take a project or not.

Before smart phones and tablets, traveling for work presented a lot of boredom. Flying from a regional airport means at least a two hour layover in Houston. I don't like to read on airplanes or in airports, so a little knit or crochet project is usually tucked in my carry-on. That way I can while away the time while creating something. But what to take?

First, the TSA had no problem with my taking some aluminum #9 needles on board, along with little scissors. But those little cutters that are like a pendant are verboten. Crazy, huh? Right after the bombings in 2011, I often had fellow passengers tell me they felt better knowing we had a weapon.

Back to crafting. A good travel project will be small and have few moving parts. Once I tried to complete a complicated cross stitch pattern that was almost illegible. Too many threads, small needles, charts, scissors-- yuck! When knitting, using circulars is a bonus because you can't lose one. Doing some socks on dpns is fraught with danger. Once, I took socks (small, right?) and the little metal needles kept sliding out and skittering across the floor. Not my finest hour.

This trip, I won't have lots of nighttime hours to spend in front of the tube and I'll be gone six days, so the suitcase will be stuffed. I think I'll take along a thread crochet project. One ball of thread, a hook and a spare, some blunt scissors, and the pattern! Crocheting is my 'native' language so I won't have struggles with figuring out what I am to do. I saw a pattern for a tablecloth in the June 2012 Crochet World magazine that would look great on my dining table. Nine squares of filet sewn together and then edged. Very similar to a throw I made out of thread and keep in the living room for chilly evenings in the summers. If I only got two or three squares done, that would be a good start.

De-stashing my life

Note--- I wish this were a picture of my sewing room, but it's not.

It belongs to Tara of the 'Easy Makes Me Happy' blog.

All who create with fiber have a stash, a collection of fiber, carefully hoarded and nurtured over the years. I have had a sewing stash since high school. Who hasn't gone into their favorite fabric store and just had-to-have that print, that suiting, that slinky jersey. And the accompanying thread, seam tape, interfacing, and zippers (Why do I have so many zippers?). My other stash was small, mostly because I didn't have the extra funds and because I usually bought with a specific project in mind. So, if  I were planning an afghan, I selected the pattern and yarn, bought what was needed, and started hooking. I'd be left with a small amount of yarn, which I wound up and put in a box. I bought most of my cross stitch as "kits" and just threw away the little bits of leftover thread. All was well.

But somewhere between motherhood and middle age, things got a bit out of hand. One Christmas years ago, I made afghans for everyone in my extended family and all my co-workers while watching The JAG and assorted British mysteries (Harm and Poirot entertained me for hours). I was also becoming known for creating lovely baby blankets. I swear, some women in my department at work got pregnant so they could get a Karen Blanket.  I think this is when I started buying yarn without a project in mind. (For those without a stash, this is the number one warning sign--Beware!). 

 I even opened an Etsy shop and started selling online.

Early in the 21st Century (heck, I like typing that!), I was getting 40% off coupons via email from Hobby Lobby every week, so I would go and buy yarn or tools. Sadly, the marketing mavens at Hobby Lobby know how to suck you in with gorgeous displays and with the mark-down shelf positioned cleverly next to the yarn. (Hmmm. Might as well look through and see if there's anything useful).
Again, a danger point I didn't see. Thus, all the cross stitch and crewel kits. 

Finally, I quit smoking in December 2007 and needed something to occupy my hands, so knitting became a compulsion-but I haven't smoked since! I think I reasoned that the money I did NOT spend on cigarettes was to be rightfully spent on stash!

Recently, I've made several forays into the sewing room, sorting and grouping, and its terrifying. I have about four cubic yards of yarn (boy that sounds better than 36 cubic feet!), two dresser drawers of sock yarn, scores of needles, hooks and scissors, numerous 'project' bags, and a library of leaflets, magazines, books and tomes.  When Hancock Fabric closed down in College Station, I bought a Vogue pattern cabinet and the top drawer is full of sewing patterns, the middle two with cross stitch and embroidery, and, of course, yarn in the bottom. I made a vow last year to NOT but any more stash until I had worked some of it off or given it and away and I've done fairly well. I have finished two cross stitch beauties ( gave one to my friend Kristi, keeping the other for me) and am started on a third. However, its baby time for a couple of expectant moms and I need to make two blankets and I don't have much baby yarn in the stash.

The big question: Do I work with what I have, or buy 'new' yarn for the babies?  (After all, it's for the children....)