It’s Furious Balancing

Well, I’m back. Kinda. Sorta. I don’t have a tremendous amount I want to blog about but I have to get back in the saddle, as it were.

Item No. One:  I got my Ravelry invite.  I haven’t done anything except set my user name and password because I have this feeling that I will be Sucked Into it Like a Black Hole.  I might not emerge for days.  Weeks.

Item No. Two: There’s a new activity going on at Chez Martha-Stewart-Doesn’t-Live-Here. A few Fridays back, The Husband bought a sewing machine. He’s been wanting to buy one for a while now, and since his root canal appointment that Friday didn’t come to pass, he went shopping instead.

It’s a sweet little machine. I haven’t played around with it yet,¹ but I will soon. I have pants to hem and such, and I will ask He-Who-Buys-Cheesy-Fabrics to give me the low-down.

I’ve bought some fabric and a shirt pattern for myself, but knitting inspires me more than sewing. I can get into a good meditative groove with the knitting. Sewing seems like a very focused activity — you’re fitting the pieces together in a very methodical way. I like to be able to “zone out” with the knitting. Less stressful. But, it’s always good to learn new skills, etc., etc., and I’m tickled to watch The Husband get into the Unleashed Potential phase of a craft.

Hard to explain, but with the yarn, I can look at it and think, “Oh, this could be a hat/scarf/sexy ribbed sweater/first lace project/whatever.” Knitters accumulate a stash of yarn because each skein, as Yarn Harlot says², is the stuff of dreams. Each skein represents a future. Each skein is pure potential. Unlimited possibilities.

Sewing is similar, although I find it hard to envision myself having the same Need to Accumulate a Stash with fabric that I do with the yarn, but I won’t completely dismiss the idea.

Anyhow, I’m enjoying watching him create. We spent a good part of a rainy Sunday afternoon camped out in the living room, me playing with wool and him playing with cotton. Cozy. Domestic.

I can deal with that.

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1. I haven’t touched a sewing machine since 8th grade home economics class, and the damn things scared me more than the bandsaw in shop class. I was certain I was going to sew my hand to the apron we were required to make. [↩]
2. Knitting Rules!, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee [↩]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.