After almost three and a half years of nearly no fiber, I am back in action. Full speed ahead! Dyeing yarn and fiber, spinning, knitting, crocheting, and I even found a knitting/crocheting group!

I guess I should start at the beginning of my fiber career. Technically it is my grandmother’s fault for teaching me how to make a ridiculously long crochet chain when I was 7. Or maybe it was in kindergarten when I was the only girl “allowed” in the boys building area and I remember finding a long piece of scratchy, bright red yarn and pretended I was knitting (tying knots in the yarn, but whatever…) while they were throwing blocks around. Maybe it was all of those trips to Rocky Mount in elementary school. I remember the first day I saw them dyeing yarn and seeing the wool and flax being prepared. Something about a spinning wheel always gave me a lively, yet peaceful feeling.

Even though I dabbled in crochet from the time that my grandmother taught me and through my teens, I picked up knitting in the fall of 2008 after I moved back to TN. I was in school to get my certification as a Medical Transcriptionist, and I had some friends (who are now my sisters-in-law) that were knitting one evening while I was at their house, so I decided to give it a shot, and I took off wanting to learn as much as I could. I stayed pretty basic with just knit and purl, yarn overs, and knit-togethers for a good year or so, but I really wanted to learn to knit in the round for seamless hats, and mittens, and I really wanted to know what all of the fuss was over sock knitting.

This is sock yarn... It is so much fun to dye and it is always fun seeing what the end-product looks like!

Somewhere along the line, I ended up with about 10 spindles and a spinning wheel, a mountain of fiber and yarn, dozens of yarn-ie tools (needles, hooks, row counters, etc.), and an Etsy shop. By the time I was in cosmetology school in 2012, I was too busy and tired to do very much with it. After I finished school and was getting my license, my now-husband asked me out, and we were engaged less than two months later and got married in the same year (2013). A month or so after that, I started another transcription job, we found our home, and by December we had our first child on the way. Thinking about all of that is a bit dizzying. I would love to say that while I was pregnant, I spun and knit my son an heirloom blanket. Alas, he still doesn’t have a blanket from Mommy, but hopefully he will before the end of the year… Though I think I will spin and knit or crochet our children superwash (wool that can be thrown into the wash and dryer without felting) blankets now instead of alpaca (it’s just soooooo soft!)

So what’s up with the title, and what is the point of this long and random post? Well, the title is my Etsy shop name (in case you want to check it out *wink wink*), but I feel it really encompasses my journey. I am a multi-faceted person. A lot of people are; I just tend to let my ADD out a little bit in my hand crafting. I want to try everything and learn everything. I feel that it is so important to keep learning and adding on to the things you love to do. I stayed away from my fiber art for so long mainly because I was tired, but honestly, I just didn’t make time for it. I could go into the “as a mom” spiel, and yes, with a newborn, you quite frankly don’t feel like doing a lot, but I do find that I am so much more patient when I have something in my hands that I can work on; even when my son is throwing his Cheerios under the couch for the 15th time today and pouring water in the floor because it’s fun to play in.

So the point of this particular blog is not so much that everyone needs to hop on the fiber train and get to stitching- though jump on if you wish… the more the merrier! I think everyone needs an outlet of something you enjoy and make time for it every day. Whether it’s a hobby, music, reading, cooking; the possibilities are endless and quite frankly they may change depending on the season of your life. You aren’t stuck with something forever. You aren’t going to be playing that flute for the rest of your life if you don’t want to (I played from 6-7th grade… quite terribly I might add. The guitar is more my speed.) Even if you just have five minutes, learn a little more about the things you enjoy. We were created to worship God, and He made us to think and make and do. It can be so easy to come home, plop on the couch, turn on the TV, and next thing you know… bedtime! But I find that if I let that happen too often, I become a really grouchy person. I don’t think this is groundbreaking news or anything, but it’s just what was on my heart for the day. I think sometimes you need someone to tell you that it’s actually okay to stop folding the laundry for a few minutes to do something that you actually want to do, and you might actually like doing the laundry a little more after you have a break.

So here you go… Go take a break and do something you enjoy!