Make

Reverb 10, December 6 – Make.
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)
I am always in the middle of projects. I start a new one and forget about the old one for a while, but I almost always return to it eventually when the inspiration returns. I guess I never really treat arts and crafts time as a rigorous operation. It's similar to the way I meander through stacks of books. Chris just told me this morning that I could never survive as him and that he could never survive as me. It's true. He doesn't read something unless it's cover-to-cover, with no breaks for other books. That's the discipline that makes him such a good chemist, though. I'm sure my non-discipline is useful somehow...

Anyway, my current projects include:

1) A sweater shirt that I am attempting to knit for Daisy without a pattern. I took her to the yarn store and let her pick out her yarn, which was fun. She chose a dusty orange cashmere blend which is easy to work with on my size 7 needles. I get overwhelmed with counting stitches, so I'm kind of estimating, which gives the whole project an air of suspense.

2) A set of folded golden stars that look kind of like gift bows. I'm making them out of strips of metallic gold paper, four strips per star. They're pretty, I like them a lot. It's supposedly a Danish pattern, which I'm actually following in this craft.

3) My grandmother has a quilt with specialty squares featuring embroidered names and images for the grandchildren. My job is to make a square for Daisy - I'm so not skilled in stitching (patience! carefulness!), but I love contributing to the quilt in my own puckered way.

Future project:
I would love to make a quilt for Daisy's bed, make a stained glass window, design a house, paint a canvas based on one of my photographs of Venice, write a pop song, assemble photo albums from our trips, write a book, carve wooden toys, and found an American version of the open air folk museums I've visited in Scandinavia. There is much much more that I can't remember right now. As I look at this list, I realize that I'll either lead a remarkable life or I'll never be happy.