A Stitch At A Time

When asked if I ever get bored I am genuinely surprised. People do that? Do they have the time to get bored?

And with that I start going over things I have on my mind. Pretty crowded is that mind.

Some thoughts are just of daily routine, pending tasks to complete: work, house chores. Those thoughts are comfortable, unhurried and do not occupy the prime location. The tasks are familiar and will be done and dealt with.

Different thoughts, the images of new projects and the images of finished ones take more of my attention and thinking. That’s how “passionate about crafts” people think. And I am proud to be one of them.

When it started, I cannot tell. Feels like it’s been with me from my earliest years. Watching my Grandma making rugs from worn out clothes cut in ribbons? There? I’ve tried and I loved it! Playing with colors and making unusual patterns was entrancing. Grandma was laughing: Natalia, enough working! It wasn’t work for me though but pure enjoyment.

I grew up in Soviet Union where people wore very simple clothes, produced by garments factories. There was not much choice then, just standard faceless mass production. Ordinary people were not encouraged to stand out from the general population by wearing fancy clothes. The most important for the country leaders were big achievements in all areas of economy and science rather than wellbeing of the nation. Outdo the whole world and declare the superiority in everything was country's motto. These were simple folks who made those big achievements to happen, not the leaders. The pay for that hard work was minimal, a family, especially a single parent family with kids couldn’t afford to buy regular clothes. Clothes were passed from family to family, exchanged, borrowed.

Oh, the fabric that my Mom had…Much of it was ruined by my first attempts to make something special.

It never discouraged me though. I kept trying and trying. Learning. Experimenting.

On the side I learned to knit. That was a totally new world with endless possibilities for me. Knitting became my passion for many years. How many sweaters, tops and other little and big pieces I have made I am not able to tell. But I know my friends still have some of them after so many years since I left Russia.

The thing about me is I would usually use a pattern designed by someone and make changes to it as I progressed, to make the project more interesting. Sometimes I was in trouble, lol. I would have to go back, take the thing apart and start all over again. A completed piece could turn out totally different from the original pattern at times. And that gave me the warm feeling of accomplishing something, even the exhilaration. Happiness.

Interestingly enough, my passion for knitting was contagious. Most of my girlfriends picked up the knitting too, some from mere curiosity and dropped it after trying a few times, some loved it too and became avid knitters. Many evenings after work were spent knitting and talking, sharing knitting tips and discoveries. I remember them with sadness and longing. The mother of my daughter-in-law, also a passionate crafter, while visiting, got that thinking measuring look while admiring my new creation… Her husband, guessing a new project will take place in their home, threw his arms in the air and groaned: No no no, please no. Well, he is not a craft person, all I can say.

Something else I am passionate about. I am not an artist, never learned to paint. But at times I feel I need to splash some paint and I don’t really care what others think of it. Just splashing out emotions.

For some time now I’ve been experimenting with patchwork, particularly with jeans clothes. This won me over. I got hooked up on the needle, so to speak. I’ve become fascinated with the transformation of old worn jeans clothes into something different. And become so obsessed with it that sometimes I look at people passing me and try to imagine what I would add to a jeans jacket or a jeans skirt they wore. I hope I don’t scare them with my intense looks.

Meticulous work, it is indeed. But the result is worth it. Each piece is cut and sewn individually, finished with crocheted line and some knitting. Pretty simple but it gives the old clothes a new look. And something else that’s most important? It’s not a mass production. One of a kind.

My kind.