The last few weeks have, from a crafting point of view, been a process of letting go. A number of projects that I have been working on, or more accurately NOT been working on, have been playing on my mind and nagging at me in the early hours of the morning.
It may be the long, grey days of winter have been getting to me but I could feel these unfinished plans weighing heavily on my shoulders and stopping me from moving forward with new ideas. I have made it harder than it needed to be but I have finally, after a lot of thinking and a chat with friends, decided to let go of what they might have been and instead to allow them to start again in new guise.
This has worked well and instead of the feelings of guilt I thought I would feel for "giving up" I am filled with excitement and inspiration as they take shape before my eyes.
The first project to bite the dust was my vintage sheet beach quilt - it didn't get made in time for beach visits last year and then in the depth of winter snow and rain, other more pressing projects took over. Finally, sick of all the gloomy days and needing a reminder of spring, I gave up on cutting the sheets up and just put them on our bed instead! Now slipping into a purple flower bed each night is a joy and I can't imagine returning to plain old white....
...in it's place, I have started to make a pieced quilt using a mixture of offcuts, pillowcases and some embroidered tablecloths and tray-cloths. I LOVE how it is coming together and am looking forward to putting it on top of my bed so I am wrapped in floweriness as I sleep and can dream I am lying in a summer meadow.
The second project that I was feeling dragged down by was the jumper I was knitting using my hand-spun. I wasn't confident it was going to fit or look right (a bit to do with my reluctance to knit a gauge square, a bit to do with the unevenness of the yarn) and I also knew I would have to spin up a whole lot more to be able to finish a whole jumper. The knowledge that it was not just one (jumper)project but two(spinning) meant it was taking up more and more time in my mind and the thought that I might hate it at the end of all that effort resulted in it being put in a bag and forgotten for the best part of 6 months. This weekend I took a deep breath, ripped it out and started a simple wrap based on the scarf I knitted for Jennifer. It came to the beach with me and is growing speedily every day. The simplicity of the design shows the colours off well and the texture of the yarn is an advantage. It now makes me smile not scowl and I am happy I made the decision to not carry on with the original plan just because....
The last change of plan is slightly different, in that it was on the cards from the beginning....my stripy, crochet bedspread has been finished off and it is a.....scarf!
I came to a point where I wasn't feeling any enthusiasm for continuing and after my party I had a whole bunch of new ideas I wanted to try but felt I couldn't as I already had so much on the needles and hooks. This was an easy one to change and so far all the comments I have received when wearing it have been very positive - at least this way I get to show it off more than I would if it was on the bed!
How about you - have you started or finished any big projects lately? Does the change feel good or scary? As the sun is shining and that may not continue for long I am going out to enjoy St Davids Day in the garden and leave you with a picture of our junk dragon creation for this year - Ddyd gwyl Dewi Sant!
