My (re)new(ed) hobby

So I finally picked up my yarn, dusted off my knitting needles and crochet hooks and got back in to the one hobby I think I've ever really had besides reading! I have been a winter "fiber hobbiest" for about 3 years now, but its never been something I've taken seriously. I got into it mostly when I started making things in preparation for my unborn daughter (something happens to a woman when she realizes she's going to have a baby girl - I don't care how much a tomboy you are, you start looking at pink frilly dresses with tears in your eyes, imagining the possibilities!) Well in October, Matt and I took a weekend away to Cincinatti and I discovered a book at Borders called The Crochet Stitch Bible. In it were hundreds of beautiful color photographs of crochet stitches. Immediately I was I was "hooked". On the way home, we stopped at a specialty yarn store that I would never dream of taking my kids to.... rows and rows and shelves and shelves of beautiful mass-produced and hand-spun yarns in all the colors of the rainbow just asking to be plucked down and flung around the room by curious toddler hands! Anyway, I ended up buying some bright pink fine mohair. I think I spent $16 on the purchase, more than all of the yarn I'd bought in the past, but I figured it was all part of our getaway fund. Armed with my lucious yarn and my new inspiration I created the softest, prettiest scarf I've ever made and did a second one in knit.

Later, I started talking to a friend about my hobby, and she suggested I consider selling items on Etsy.com, a craft-selling website extraordinaire. After checking it out and what's selling there, I figured, maybe I could do it. I also joined a crochet forum to get tips, ideas, and encouragement. Since then I've been re-organizing my supplies and yarn stash, cataloguing my current inventory of FO's (finished objects), and starting to brainstorm about my own new creations. Most of the things I've made in the past were from someone else's pattern, which you can't usually sell. If you're more interested in what's going on int his area for me, check out my other blog. I will be updating it frequently with what I'm working on.

So, I'm hoping with an actual hobby and something to keep my mind occupied during "downtime" with the kids, that my relationship with them will seem less stifling, and more of an opportunity to pour into them - knowing there's something I enjoy doing patiently waiting for me to pick it up and finish a row!