It begins...

A friend recently forwarded an email to me titled "The Invisible Mother," a short essay comparing the tireless and often thankless job of a mother to the builders of Europe's great cathedrals. Both give their whole lives for a work they will never see finished, both make sacrifices and expect no credit, and both are fueled in their passion by the faith that the eyes of God see every detail. The writer of the essay was inspired by the thought that our endless efforts in motherhood, invisible as they may seem, are worth it and can make an enriching life.


For many of us, the way we choose to hold our invisibility at bay is by creating something tangible. For me, my days often end with knitting - my love of fiber and the need to do something relaxing end up producing something I can hold and look at. Nobody will know how many times I swept under the high chair that day, or how many toys I picked up, or how many times I tried to coax a "please" or "more" or "sorry" out of my 5 year old. But a darling, handmade infant hat? That you can see.


I start new projects every day, and my 10 year old does the same. In this process of creating (and yes, often not finishing our projects!) we connect with each other and a bigger picture of ourselves in the process. My plan for this blog is to share the projects that excite me and bring some accessible proof of my existence in this invisible world of mothering!


So, this blog is dedicated to the mothers out there whose days are filled with the minutia of tasks that build our children and our families. I often tell people that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. But for now, I am the builder of a great cathedral. With every shoelace tied, lunch packed, and forehead kissed, I build.


And I can hardly wait to create something new...


Sunday, March 27, 2011

Weekend Craftiness

It's been several weeks since I promised to post "after" pictures of my craft room (aka dining room) once Casey was put together, and Casey's babies were assembled. Hmmm. Why are there still piles all over the place? Casey is covered with wrapped baby gifts, tissue, and ribbon. The buffet is covered with unwrapped baby gifts, new knitting project, and knitting bag. The breakfast bar is covered with bags containing Girl Scout party favor bags, craft materials, game supplies, cookies I can't keep in the kitchen for fear I'll eat them, and a stack of diapers that Brynn has outgrown. Baby #1 is still covered with the file folder boxes that I have yet to use to get her organized, as well as tons of Girl Scout party candy and Rowan's recent Jump For Heart prizes. My table is relatively clean, but DANG, this room is a mess! Must deal with that. Casey has plenty of room to house most of this, but with the GS party the day after tomorrow it seems silly to tuck it all away just to pull it out again... Ah, the practical conundrums of the ever-organized. Gotta finish wrapping those baby gifts and get those puppies delivered!


We have been very busy crafting this weekend, Rowan and I. I finished the baby boy hat on Friday night, and have just finished wrapping it along with the random assortment of other gifties we purchased. Just need to box them and ship them off to Seattle...

Saturday Rowan got the urge to work on the fleece quilt we started ages ago. Yay! Once Brynn was napping we played a couple rounds of Monopoly Jr. and then cleared the table for quilting. 
We lay the white background down first, then used her drawn pattern to arrange and rearrange the pre-cut squares to her liking. Next, we placed the 2-sided adhesive on the backing and got to work ironing on the patches. (Love her utter concentration!)
The adhesive works relatively well, but the edges want to flap up and it will really need to be sewn to keep them in place. The adhesive is paper thin, but it added a level of stiffness to the quilt that we weren't expected. Once we get it stitched and washed, hopefully it will be cozy again. There are gaps here and there where the squares don't quite line up, but she doesn't mind. 
Here she is, after an hour of ironing, giving it a try!
I don't think she's remotely interested in stitching anything, so I will most likely tackle that project at some point. (Note on YOCL.)


The baby girl sweater is dry and blocked this afternoon, so I just took it off the pins and am ready to wrap it up! Awww! Hope they love it. :)
After all the auction knitting and baby projects, Rowan asked to be next in line with the cat pajama holder she found in my Knitted Toys pattern book. The photo is pretty cute - the cat is shown in a pale pink with darker pink spots.  I looked through my stash and didn't really have the right yarn for this project, so we looked through my Knit Picks catalog at their washable wools to see what might jump out at her. And, typical Rowan, she does not limit herself to the vision of what's in the pattern book. Heck no! Green with blue spots - that's the cat she wants. Why not! I'm actually rather glad to not be knitting with pink for awhile. She picked a parrot green and sky blue, and rather than wait for an order to arrive in the mail I stopped at Knit Wit yesterday morning and bought washable DK weight wool there - it's wonderful to work with (the same yarn I used to make the little Daisy Christmas stockings - oh wait, that was pre-blog...). In any case, intarsia is always a mess of yarn spaghetti and ends to weave in, but I'm enjoying it thus far and love the bright, summery colors! (The picture does not show the green in its true brightness - it's not this subtle!)
So what I really want to do now is go knit on the cat, but what I should do is wrap the rest of the baby gifts, clean up the wrapping mess, stash the Girl Scout stuff in a drawer, get the file drawers organized (still haven't built the second one!), and get my craft room in order.


Oh, and let's say some prayers for the Jayhawks this afternoon - we like a happy Daddy!
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1 comment:

  1. KathyMarch 27, 2011 at 2:06 PM

    Prayers have been said. :)
    Love the kitty pajama holder.
    Agree the quilt looks a bit stiff. (Hope it loosens up with a wash.)
    LOVE the striped baby hat. Oh my gosh, that little topper on it is adorable.
    Awaiting pictures of the 'cleaned up' crafting room.
    Love hearing all about your crafting life on this blog, Ms. Knotty Knitter!

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