A Stitch in Time

I've been working on completing my UFO. So far I've finished a poncho, a couple of cowls, scarfs and still working on 4 sweaters.

The past year was really rough. Knitting and crocheting have been my solace and comfort.

But as usual I want to take it to a higher level. I have not been doing very much spinning but with the urging of friend I'm going to re-start my business.

I need to work out the details ,but I've been griding it up.

One step at a time.

Yarn Writing

It's hard for me to be creative under stress. Yet, somehow I always seem to find time to do needlework. It keeps me sane.


Right now I'm working with a non profit organization that helps homeless women and children.


As with most social service organizations, they tend to treat people of color like subordinates.

Yet, the majority of the women who work there knit or crochet. However, when I tell them I do the same most of them look at me like I have three heads or act like I have to prove my skills.


I realized that I have to stop letting my insecurities to get the best of me. I do not have to prove anything to anyone. But sometimes the stress of living in a racist society makes us tend to second guess ourselves.


This is an honest assessment. In my experience some Black people claim they never do this. But I doubt it. If we are honest with ourselves we recognize that no matter how strong or aware we think we are;we all have short comings.


Anyway, I'm going to keep on doing my needle work. I take pride in my work an it gives me solace. I just completed a Alpaca shell lace scarf, a bulky weight fisherman's knit ribbed cowl, and the collar for a shrug sweater. I'm still working on finishing my UFOs. But I want to start another sweater ( but I need to get the yarn and needles for it) a red lace scarf and some more cowls.


I've yet to restart my fledgling crafts business, because I'm in the process of keeping on keeping on. I'm lucky to have a job. But in spite of the false propaganda its still hard for any Black person to find and keep a decent job no matter what your educational background and experience is.

Yarnning

Wow!!! I just got into this blog and found out I have a follower. Fantastic! Who ever you are THANKS!

I don't have a home PC at the moment. However I do enjoy blogging and intend to keep plugging along.

As far as yarn projects are concerned, I'm trying to finish up all of my UFO's. Plus, I'm finishing up a shrug, but the collar is giving me the dickens. So, I tore it out and I'm knitting it separate from the body to see if it will come out better.

I'm still mulling over how to re-work my craft business. I'm just getting my breath back after almost being homeless and being without a job for almost a year. In the past year and a half so much has happened.

So follower whom ever you are thanks you made my day!!!

Yemaya's Blessings

Even though it's hard for me to think or say this "I know I'm Blessed". May through July were pure unadulterated Hell for me. I had some really horrible thongs happen, but I'm still standing.

I have a part-part time job that barely pays my bills and I managed to keep a place to live. But I'm still struggling with the arts and crafts business. I need to reconfigure what I'm doing.

In the meantime, I'm still knitting and crocheting. But when I think about doing it professionally I get frustrated. A lot of people who are crafting for a living seem to be dilettantes. For me crafting is Spiritual it has kept me alive.


I have not blogged because my personal computer is broken. I'm writing this post at the library( which is weird). Anyway, I'm forging ahead trying to hope for better days to come.

Cost of Crafting During Deppression

Depression- I've probably written a little or a lot about this before. The title of this blog post is a double entendre. I'm talking about the economic situation in our country and my sometimes personal state of mind.

Economics. Today for the first time in a long time I went "shopping" for yarn. Actually I was looking for one or two skiens of yarn in a particular color and brand. Red Heart Super Saver Coffee a deep rich brown. But the Hobby Lobby go to didn't have what I was looking for.

Recently, I began crocheting another shoulder warmer shawl for myself to wear around the house. I used a pretty open eyelet lattice pattern. I'll just have to get creative and use a contrasting yarn in a different color or texture. Or I can see if I can find another brand of yarn in a similar texture or color.

I noticed that the cost of yarn as well as everything else is steadily rising. this concerns me because at this time my money is really tight. I watch every penny I spend and tend to my immediate bills first. However, my observation is that few people who don't have to live this way respect or understand this. They just whip out their credit cards or write checks for everything!

In some instances, I've experience insults because I don't drive , use a credit card or checks. I kicked one so called friend to the curve because she said she thought people who didn't drive and have a car were losers! I've even had potential and my current employer act like I'm weird because I don't have a checking account. Have they ever heard of the residual effects of identity theft on one's credit and finances?

In my opinion that's why everything is so screwed up in our economy. Plastic money, plastic lives, plastic people. Literally and figuratively, I want to work with real currency of solid value. So I'm determined to negotiate through this. I have to find a way to continue getting the materials I need to craft and do artwork.

Emotions. Almost my whole life I've struggled with depression. At an early age I began to combat my depression by using different forms of visual arts as a form of positive accomplishment and expression. But like many people ,being long termed unemployed took a toll on my self esteem and security. Plus during this time, I found out quick what real friends were, including my family. A lot of people who called themselves my friends treated me like a pariah.

My long time friends stuck with me and when they could offered support and encouragement.
Thank Goddess I'm rising up out of this crap. But at times it seems like a slow climb. I don't know how my ancestors made it through the economic depression of the 1920's and 1930''s. Just the same "this taint no picnic in the park with George" I'm going to have to find and utilize successful strategies to craft out of depression.

Spinning Wheel

Sometimes life seems like a spinning wheel with a mind of it's own. I suppose this could be called fate. But on the other hand if we have free will our actions play a hand in life's outcome.

I recently started a new job. I don't like working for other people but I have to live in the world and be self-sufficient. Ultimately my goal is to be an independent business woman and earn a living from my art-magic skills and crafts. I'm still working on solidifying a plan to do this.

But in the meantime, I'm working part-time ( which is really fully time) for almost half of what I had originally wanted. But somehow I think that this time things might work. So for now I need to forge ahead with the hope and determination that there will be a positive outcome.


Sitting at my spinning wheel trying to quess Rumpelstiltskin's name so I can free myself from tyranny and oppression.