Alright. I'm thankful that my new year's resolution wasn't to procrastinate less. Here we are ... nearly into February 2011 and I'm finally digging in to my resolution.
Honestly, I was on the fence about this. Do I make a commitment to create something everyday? Will I just be destined to fail? So, I dragged my feet. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to commit to this.
The idea first occurred to me while I sat in a Barnes and Noble in Raleigh, NC. I was in Raleigh working on a show (my first out of town show, in fact) and I spent a few hours waiting for rehearsal time at the bookstore. First I just sought out a quiet corner of the shop where I could work on memorizing lines and doing some text work. But, I ended up wanting a little break from that. So, I moseyed around the store and found myself in the craft section of the store. I pulled a few books from the shelf. One of the books that I hunkered down with was "365: A Daily Creativity Journal: Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life!" by Noah Scalin
http://www.amazon.com/365-Creativity-Journal-Something-Change/dp/0760339961/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296317676&sr=8-1
As I flipped through its pages, I was amazed at what people can do. And then I asked myself, "Could I Do This?" I continued to think about what it is that I would want to dedicate this kind of time to ... and here is what I came up with.
1. I'm an actor. While the fruits of my labor aren't always something tangible, they are still deeply rooted in the creative process.
2. Crochet. It is hard for me to think of my grandmother or my aunt Colleen (circa my elementary school years) unattached to a crochet hook. They constantly made afghans, crocheted animals, doilies and so on. I tried to learn crochet once when I was in college ... but it never really stuck. But I have always felt a pull to re-learn. So, there's another thing I would like to try.
3. Knitting. Ok. I have no idea of how to knit. Never had a short-lived knitting phase in college to try to recall. And seeing knitters going to town with two needles ... well, it reminds me of my failed attempts and learning the piano as a child. I could play with my right hand ... but adding in the left hand was always disastrous. Add in needles. Shudder. But I'm going to try.
4. Papercrafts. This is something else I would like to try. Little things like making cards, gift tags and so forth. This also seems like something fun to do with my 5-year-old son, Liam. He's a crafty fellow and loves when he gets to be involved.
So, those are my focus areas. Some projects that I work on will take awhile. So, certainly, we aren't talking a fully realized project everyday. But there will be progress everyday. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.
Another thing I want to focus on this year is reusing and repurposing as much as I possibly can. I have been learning how to "harvest" wool and other yarns from old sweaters and things like that. Also, I'm an avid thrift shopper. I love finding things that can be given a new life ... or provide a few hours of crafting.
So far this year ... before the official resolution was made, I made a few things. A table mat, a crochet bag (which I am now trying to felt, with little success ... live and learn), and some crochet rosettes.
Today's goal: a set of crocheted coasters. I found an awesome site called Homemade Matters and they have a great coaster pattern that employs some yarn that I already have.
http://www.handmadematters.net/2010/04/06/crochet-round-coasters/
Alright. Warming up my fingers with all this typing. Now, crochet away!
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