One new lady (J) felt so inspired that she would like to bring her mother (who is in a nursing home) along for the companionship and to see if she will remember how to knit if the needles and yarn are given to her. Her tales of her lovely (but poorly) mother were both amusing and challenging and raised unexpected emotions in more than one of us. But the chat gives a hint to the fact that A Crafty Coffee is going to be about more than just coffee and crafts.
I (Crafty) feel that I am getting to know new people, and deepening relationships with others, and all through the medium of crafting. This week I completed my [still TOP SECRET] knitting project (Coffee: it is gorgeous!), and learned to thread and use a sewing machine. I am off to the theatre on Saturday and have made my costume so I will look the part at The Rocky Horror Show. Of course, when I say 'made' I mean altered a pair of shorts and hand stitched MANY sequins onto ribbon to make a bow tie, but you know ... for me this was a project. This did leave me at a loss for a project to work on at A Crafty Coffee today, so I looked at patterns and tried to think of where to go from here (Coffee: And distracted me...).
This morning KB was hooking away on some granny squares. She very kindly, and somewhat inspiringly, brought along a beautiful quilt she has been working on. She has completed a City and Guilds course, and her expertise is more than welcome.
Some of us are complete amateurs, others aspiring, and then we have the [what I call] professionals. Or what AS calls, post grad!
AS brought along an amazing jumper she is knitting for her DD, she is designing a cupcake to knit into the pattern for the front and had beautiful seed beads to stitch on for sprinkles.
EN came along with DD (13 months) and bump in tow. She is working on a really chunky knit baby blanket and turns out to be a bit of a 'Jack of all' on the crafting front. When IW (our resident crochet teacher) was asking if anyone knew about rag rugging, EN was just the lady ... so while they chatted on such things I irresponsibly let her DD play with the plastic knitting needles on the table, much to the absolute dismay of Coffee! However, said DD has been 'attachment parented' which is a posh and educated way of saying that her parents are lazy and that she has freedom to get hurt and make mistakes. See the level of discussion we are already having as a group?
Coffee: To the right you will see a beautiful piece of patchwork that IW has done and brought in to show us. I have wanted to learn patchworking and quilting for a very long time, so now know who to go to for advice. I have even started planning my first two quilts - very basic ones - after being inspired by I's work.
Both CL (another newcomer) and SJ were working on knitted garments for themselves (good for them I say). CL was also modeling the most fabulous home knit cardi in a lovely chunky yarn with cable detail and everything. She taught me how to cast on mid-knit which has been a problem for me, and made a useful suggestion for maintaining a tight stitch when I have to make another ... **** oops, nearly let slip there!
SR came along for the first time and was emulating a lovely piece of 'Pia' jewellery in faux pearl, crystal and silver (coloured) chain. It was really wonderful to see different crafts taking place.
HD was able to pop in for the first, and possibly a rare, time. She paints. But felt completely at home drinking coffee and socialising with other crafters. She said to me that she felt the group was necessary and had good mileage. I hope she is right!
I am worried about the people I have not mentioned (like CK with her 6 year old cross stitch) and that I didn't do a headcount, but I bet Coffee will interject here and make up for my inadequacies (Coffee: No inadequacies! But I did count 18 people, again).
Sadly, this week Crafty forgot the camera (MUST try harder) ... but saw new WiPs and even some projects completed from last week. But, more important was the fact that newcomers felt welcome, and returners will return again.
