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The Crochet Phase

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 by Alyice

When I was a little girl my grandmother, a.k.a. Grams, bought me a very long crocheting needle and showed me the basic chain stitch. She told me that once I mastered the single stitch she’d teach me another stitch. Unfortunately that never happened. I held onto that blue needle for years, hoping to one day share the love of crocheting with my Grams.

Then last year, during an away baseball tournament, my mother-in-law brought along her bag of crocheting supplies and I was hooked! I crocheted my little heart out all weekend and by Sunday evening I had half a blanket completed. My son’s friends got a kick out of watching a “young mom” sitting in the stands with a bag of yarn, crocheting like there’s no tomorrow while screaming praises to the team.

I went on to make 10 blankets for my kids, my friends, my family, and even my chiropractor’s new baby. It was nice being able to sit down to a movie and not find myself fidgeting and thinking about a zillion other things I could be doing with my time. I simply pulled out the yarn and started crocheting. Counting stitches and keeping my fingers active helped me to just “sit and relax” and having lost my mom in March of 2006, the time spent crocheting and watching television was a welcome treat.

My only regret is that I didn’t learn more stitches because eventually I got bored with the single stitch and the fun began to disappear. That is until I learned a new stitch—one that involved creating squares. My only problem now is that I goofed up somewhere and the blanket I am completing is beginning to come loose as the colors transition from yarn to yarn. That means I’ll have to go back over those areas and tie some knots to keep everything together.

I think I will purchase one of those beginner’s videos on crocheting as I simply cannot understand the books I’ve checked out of the library or perused in the bookstores.

The best thing about crocheting, for me, is that it is one of those things I have absolutely no desire to turn into a side business which means it will always be a wonderful way for me to relax—guilt free—in front of the television set.

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The Fence Phase

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 by Alyice

After painting every room in our home, I ventured outside to paint the fences. I bet you thought I was going to say outside of the house, didn’t you? While I did have a neighbor who did a lovely job of decorating the outside of her house with stencils, I just couldn’t get myself to go there—too afraid of the cost to fix my mistakes.

I did, however, have a blast painting vines and flower gardens on our front porch and side fence while the kids enjoyed a painting session on the fence in the backyard. Our house had many “tourists” who’d stop by to admire my work.

I hate to admit it, but I would peek outside my windows when I heard talking, then quietly open the doors to listen to their conversations; every once in awhile I would spook a few. It was actually quite entertaining to watch them jump a foot or two. Once, I met a lady who had even gone as far as calling up her friend from a neighboring town to make a special trip to our town just to see my artwork and get a few ideas for her own yard. It was always humbling to have them praise my work—as simple as it was.

And I learned a very valuable lesson when it came to painting those fences: make sure you use “outdoor” paint because craft paint fades really fast and you have to do the work all over again!

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The Wall Phase

Monday, March 31st, 2008 by Alyice

Having lived in a rental all my life I couldn’t wait to “do what I wanted, when I wanted, and how I wanted” to my new home. I must admit that painting on the walls was a bit scary at first. “What if I messed up?” “What if it turned out ugly?” “What if I later changed my mind?” Luckily, I had a very supportive husband who answered all my what ifs with “Then you start over. You paint the walls with a primer and paint the walls again—until you get it right.”

Once I got started, however, there was no stopping me. It was literally exhilarating and freeing to paint on the walls. There was no one telling me that my walls could only be white. There was no one telling me that I couldn’t paint scenes or animals or designs on the walls. There was no one telling me that things had to be a certain way and that’s all there was to it. Nope, I had creative freedom and I took full advantage of it.

First, I gave each room its own distinct color of paint—no more plain, white walls for me! Then I went back to each room and added a little character by stenciling and painting designs on each and every wall. My son loved dinosaurs so I painted an entire mural using both freehand and stencils. My daughter was still very young so we simply added a beautiful angel border to the top of her wall. The family room was adorned with creeping vines. The formal living room had a sponge technique that used five different colors of paint. And my kitchen used glass stencil. My poor husband never knew what he was coming home to.

After completing both my son’s and my daughter’s rooms, I got a surprise request from my kids. “Can we paint the walls, too?” they asked. I wasn’t keen on the idea of having them paint the main rooms but I also couldn’t deprive them of painting their own masterpiece and christening our home, too. After all, my creativity, as far as home décor went, had been stifled all my life and I wasn’t about to do the same to my kids. I knew whatever they created would be something special but wouldn’t necessarily go with the rest of the home furnishings so I prepped the fourth bedroom and turned it into a playroom. I told the kids to get down to their undies and handed them their very own paintbrushes and paint. Once they were done, I went back over the wall with a sponge technique to unify their work of art with the color found on the solid walls.

It was the talk of their school for years! And something they were quite proud of. In fact, they showed off their mural to anyone who walked in the door—even the cement guy!

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