I have reached the Island. I also now have until September before I have to do any serious studying again. I have to start thinking about a topic for my dissertation, but I have a few ideas already, so that's Future Me's problem.
I have other plans for the summer. Crafty plans.
You've probably guessed some of them from the fact of this mid-week post, and the #1 at the start of its title. We'll see how well I manage to execute said plans.
My imagination doesn't really work well with pictures - even when it concentrates it only really manages vague outlines - but crafting-hobbies bring me joy.
I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to use a needle and thread, for general sewing or for cross-stitch, or sort-of knit (although I did keep forgetting how to cast on). It's harder, these days, to find the time for crafting, whether it's a five-minute card or something that takes longer, like a Toft crochet animal. Or my Olde Worlde Map.
There's the ordinary problems of Everyday Life, but there's also the problem of Overwhelm. Lots of crafting hobbies, lots of supplies. Lots of mess to tidy away again afterwards.
Papercrafting supplies have long since outgrown this trolley; perhaps I can whittle them back down.
Crochet isn't too bad, as long as it's a relatively easy pattern: I can do that on the sofa and watch Tiny potter about with books and toys. Put it down and pick it up. A basket for my yarn-stash, and a bag for my current project. The best contained.
Cross-stitch is a bit harder, and has sharper tools, although it can still be done on the sofa. The map, too, has an enormous frame, which is unwieldy. Really it needs to be attached to a stand, not balanced across my knees, or replaced with a hoop. Although I do tend to keep the threads all together in the battered packaging the kit came in. But generally, my cross-stitch supplies seem fairly well contained. Not as well as the crochet, but not as bad as…
Papercrafting. This is the trickiest, with generally needing to be sat at my desk with a flat surface and all the many supplies and tools I've been convinced I need. All-in-one kits work well, for downstairs crafting on a lap-tray, but upstairs crafting is difficult. I might tend towards the simple five-minute cards, but I have to work out what I'm doing first, which generally means it's a half-hour card instead. And then tidying up after.
But crafting brings me joy. Which means I have to find a way to make it work, to streamline the whole thing, and, perhaps, create a "capsule craft room" downstairs, so Tiny and I can craft together. There isn't really space in the office upstairs, not with M's desk as well.
And that's what this Summer Crafting series is going to be about: organising my craft supplies so they don't cause overwhelm every time I make it into the craft room for five minutes, weeding out the ones which no longer bring joy, and actually using the ones which are left.
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