Holiday crafting

The whole house has been hit with what appears to be (or at least feel like) the plague. We just keep cycling through, with one of us passing it to the rest of us and, for a brief moment, we all feel somewhat healthy again before it’s right back downhill for all of us. I’m beyond tired of it and my patience is wearing super thin at this point. The lack of any personal space with a toddler on a normal day drives me bonkers, but with a sick toddler? DO NOT WANT. Gone, I guess, are the days of a leisurely sick day – the one where you get to sit and watch whatever shows you want, knit and sip on soup and tea and actually relax and let your body heal. No, these days are now filled with a sick mama watching Paw Patrol and Bubble Guppies for the bazillionth time, wiping runny noses, arguing over why we can’t have corndogs for breakfast, and wishing I could just have a day to myself for my own self care instead of spending the time I need to heal catering to a tiny dictator. It’s probably no wonder I’m still rocking this awesome gravelly voice.

That wish was half-granted Friday, when I was able to take off a half day from work. I probably should have used my time to come home and bleach the whole house to kill off whatever it is that won’t leave us alone, but I decided against that in favor of self care and sat and watched some of The Crown on Netflix and worked on this little guy. I want to make a few more if I actually get some time, but I think I might need more felt first. (If you’re wondering what I did to make him, I had this cookie cutter that I traced onto felt and used the icing piping as a general guideline for my embroidery, and I used a bit of handspun to knit him a little scarf to match the socks in that last photo.)

The lack of personal space, mentioned earlier, has pushed me a lot to re-evaluate my projects that I take on. With a lack of time, most of my supplies sit and collect dust. And, to be perfectly honest, I just feel completely empty and devoid of inspiration to make anything these days. I’m still struggling with that bit, as it often feels like I don’t even recognize who I am anymore. I’ve gone from someone who always had a project going – whether it was sewing or knitting or baking or brewing – to nothing. Nothing I’m excited about, at least.

I’ve piled up a large amount of my fabric to get rid of, sad as that sounds – there’s a bit of sadness in seeing all these previous ideas and inspirations that will never come to be, but it’s necessary. I can always re-buy when inspiration (and time) strikes. Having physical reminders of those ideas every time I open my craft closet is mentally draining. Stuff weighs on us more than we realize, and while I’ve worked on embracing minimalism in a lot of other areas of my life the crafts were always the hardest to part with. And I suppose it’s something that I’ve finally been able to let these things go.