On a Whim

I live in skirts through the summer and early fall…nothing is cooler or more comfortable. I’ve been trying to find a skirt or two in local shops, but none that does anything for me or is the right style or fit. Alicia Paulson, one of my favorite people (blogger, designer, crafter, crocheter, etc…I just know we’d be fast friends if we ever met:) made a couple of wrap skirts for herself here recently. And that set me to thinkin’ about all the scraps of fabric and trims and buttons I have. So here’s my first attempt which I don’t think turned out too badly. I just used the shape of a skirt I like, added the extra for the front overlap of a wrap and went from there. Of course, none of the trims were enough to go all the way around the skirt, so I just added new ones and I like the melange look of it. I think for my next skirt, I really want to get some of that plaid patchwork stuff Alicia made a skirt out of…and then maybe I’ll make another “melange” skirt…then again, by that time, I’ll probably be onto some other whim…oh me, such is my life. Sometimes I think this is a grave fault of mine…something like creative ADD…but then other times, when I just go with the flow, it’s so much fun…i’m never bored! Is there such a word as “whimliving”? C’est ma vie!

Sketchy Confessions

I have to confess that the reason I haven’t been blogging as much of late is because I haven’t been crocheting or knitting as much as usual. The knitting I have going is a design so that “can’t” be posted. But the real reason is that my interest has turned to my first love of drawing and painting. Towards the end of May, I happened upon a book by Peter Reynolds called Ish. It unleashed my drawing block, and I’ve been ishfully sketching away in little books, taking them with me on trips, jotting down the beauty I see from my morning walks, etc. An old feeling of “wholeness” has been stealing over me ever since. A sketchbook is a wonderful thing: there is no performing for anyone, no need to be technically correct, no “have-to’s” or “shoulds”, no pressure to make “real” art. Ahhh, what a feeling! I have actually worked on a “larger sketch” or two–one of my son skateboarding and one of my youngest with a pink umbrella, but these are for me to enjoy and not for others, or for sale, or for exhibit. Just for fun. I have been sewing a skirt for myself out of leftover fabrics and trimmings…just for fun. And the last few evenings, I have added a few rows to a ripple crocheted afghan I have going…just for fun too. Summer is a good time for just-for-funness…I hope I can carry it with me into the fall as well.