Good Intentions
(The road to Hell…)
After my day of crafting at Anthropologie, I felt inspired and wanted to make something else by hand again. Ryan’s mother is an expert knitter and makes the most beautiful blankets, and she always has stacks of cardboard yarn cones lying around once her projects are finished. The boys love playing with these at her house, and I realized that they could easily be transformed into whimsical little trees for Christmas and winter decorations.
My original thought was to spend a little craft time with my boys and cover the cones in glue and glitter. But I’m not really a glitter person (I bet that surprises you, doesn’t it?) and I don’t have any on hand. I have to be in the right mood to head to the craft store, and I’m just not in that place right now. Plus, I like the idea of using objects around the house, and I have plenty of yarn and felt left over from other failed craft attempts.
So, I spent one evening wrapping a soft-colored green yarn around a cone. Wrapping and wrapping and wrapping. And as I sat there doing it, I realized that these cones were once wrapped in yarn that became beautiful blankets, pieces that cover my boys and me as we read, snuggle up on the couch together, and dream softly at night.
My wrapped cone looks nothing like those lovely afghans, and honestly, I felt like I was wasting my time wrapping and wrapping and wrapping. And my cone looks nothing like a tree, but more like a cardboard cone wrapped in yarn, and I decided I didn’t want to spend time cutting out felt balls and shapes to glue on the trees once they were wrapped. I just didn’t. It wasn’t fun, and I didn’t see the point. So I went to the computer and worked on my blog. And that gives me endless amounts of joy.
I am not a crafter, and I’ve known this for many years. Sometimes I get a little urge to do something crafty, a funny, fleeting feeling in the pit of my stomach, and then, just as quickly as it appears, it is gone. I love handmade crafts and appreciate the time and effort that goes into them, but I just can’t do it myself.
Last summer, I made a trip to the local Hobby Lobby in search of fabric, needles, thread, a measuring tape, and that sticky tape stuff used for making a fake hem. I was hell-bent on making an easy ottoman cover, and when I brought the fabric home and tried it out on my couch, it wasn’t the right color. So you know what I did? I went right back to Hobby Lobby that same evening, dragging Ryan and the boys with me in the Texas heat, just so I could pick out another fabric that I liked better.
And then the very next day, I started a blogging class, which really changed how I view my writing and this blog, and that fabric is still sitting on a shelf in my utility room, waiting to be used. The ottoman cover was never made, and you know what’s covering my ottoman now?
A knitted afghan, created just for me, by someone I’ve never even met.
My boys play with it, dragging the blanket around the house and hiding under it, and when they are sick, it covers them and keeps them warm. It is beautiful, and I love seeing it every day, knowing that it was made by loving hands, by someone who enjoyed creating a little piece of beauty for others to enjoy, too.
And that’s why I write this blog. To share the things I love with you, with the hope that you might love them, too.
So the moral of this story is to do what you love, and what makes you happy, and don’t worry about those things you let fall by the wayside.
I might go back to that cardboard cone wrapped in yarn one evening when the house is quiet and I have some free time. I might sit and glue little decorations on it, to place on my mantle for the holidays. But, then again, I might not, and that’s okay, too.
1) The wisdom about doing the creative work that suits you is so true. 2) I would never have pegged you as a glitter person, so no surprise there! 🙂 3) All I see when I look at that stack of cones is how they could be covered in colored paper and have round faces drawn on them to make a set of nesting gnomes.
Sometimes I’m the same way. But I made some yarn wrapped styrofoam cones last year and I love them. I did not glue ornaments on. I just used a thick, nubby,multicolored yarn (not cheap) that looks festive all in its own. I started some book trees last year that I never finished… I saw some ruffly trees inthe Land of Nod catalog that I sooooo want to make. I would love to have a mantel full of handmade trees… We’ll see…
This is beautiful! I often find myself doing the same thing. I’ve very impulsive, so I usually end up with half-finished projects. I just can’t stay focused long enough to finish one thing. The same goes for sewing. I just can’t do it. I really need to work on my patience. 😉
Thank you so much, ladies! And Terrie, the trees I put on my mantle every year were decorated by me before I ever have kids, so I guess I love handmade trees, too. 🙂
That’s funny, I was just thinking about using up some of our wedding yarn by making yarn trees! Haha!
I’m obnoxiously excited for Christmas this year so I’ve been crafting. Having just finished wedding planning I think I need an outlet for all that leftover DIY energy.
I’m sure they will look great! Maybe if I get some better yarn, I’ll be more inspired. The green is from my failed attempt at yarn apples. 🙂
What a great post. I happen to really enjoy crafting but I laughed when I read that you have to be in the right mood to go to a craft store because I definitely understand that–it can be a zoo in there at times. And I also definitely have fails in the crafting/cooking and pretty much anything else area on a frequent occasion and then i chuck them in some corner and move on cause who really cares? No one.
Ha, I guess we are all like that in one way or another! 🙂
Lovely post. And PERFECT for your “be happy” debut.
I can so relate – it’s so easy, especially in this bloggy thing – to get caught up in the type of posts that get lots of traffic. The diy’s, the recipes, the crafts. But what if you just don’t like to do any of those?
You be you and I’ll be me and we’ll all just do and write about what we like, what we’re passionate about.
Definitely, Sandra! And I like to think that writing is my creative outlet and I can “craft” a pretty good post. 🙂
Amen, sista!! I wish I could be more excited about crafting, especially since I have a blog and crafting is a hugely popular blog niche… but I’m just not. I’m waaay too impatient and even thinking about taking on craft projects gives me anxiety haha. It’s not my thing, no point in forcing it.
So so happy you joined the Be Happy linkup!! I really loved this post. xo
Thank you so much, Erin! I admit that I had you pegged as the crafty type, and your comment cracked me up!