creative inspiration

I’ve discussed in the past my love of collecting and hunting for good old useful stuff, granted I don’t always have the same view point as others when it comes to the usefulness or value of the stuff I acquire. When I see something that sparks that little place in my brain and makes me say “I could use that” or “I need that” the little wheels start turning. Thinking of all the possibilities for this little treasure I have just stumbled upon and what can it be turned into, seriously sometimes I loose sleep! Lets just call that “creative inspiration” right!

Sometimes I get home with it and dive right in, putting it to work creating with it or placing it in a perfect spot on that shelf right there.

Sometimes I get home with it and it gets tucked away in the abyss of my art room, only to later be re-found, re-admired and wondered why exactly I bought it in the first place. What grand idea slipped out of my head?

Sometimes I procrastinate, should I get it ..no, I don’t need it, but I want it ..yes, I think I’ll get it ..no..no..no.. I’m not going to get it ..ooo yes I got it! (Sometimes guilty feelings later, sometimes not :)

Sometimes I just wonder at the bizarreness of it, once I received a giant old mayo jar filled with shoelaces, inventory from a 1950’s shoe shop (still wrapped in pairs) like 100+ pairs!

Mostly it’s the sentiment I have towards something, the romantic story I’ll attach to it. I love to cook and bake, I also love family traditions so the idea of things that would have been in some lovely old grandmas farmhouse always stir me up. I always attach a lot of love to those items, because you know gran she never got rid of anything, she used it till it was gone or broke & then patched it up and used it some more. The beauty of that bent metal rug beater, her fine hand stitched tablecloths & bed linens, a certain wooden spoon always used for making cookies, fresh bread on Sundays, a pantry filled with mason jars. I have this idealistic vision when I see old kitchenwares like cookie presses, aprons, tea towels, butter molds, spice containers and cheese graters.

I have recently started the task of going through my collections and rationalizing what in my life time will I actually maybe sometime use, basically scaling back (just a tad). When I was photographing these tart tins to maybe sell, the image was stirring up some of those dreamy emotions. It reminded me of that Grandma, it reminded me of Christmas, it was old and used but still crisp & clean like new snow.

P.S. I have never made or eaten sandbakkel tart cookies, but these tins L.O.V.E. I can’t even begin. So in order for me to not totally lose my mind in the downsizing process, I used this rule in regard to the tart tins: keep ½, sell ½ and so far that idea works. Best of all, if I want I can still make some sand cookies, but I’m thinking I’m going to tuck them into my Christmas tree to reflect the sparkling lights or possibly turn them into some delightful pincushions.

tint

I don’t think I look at life through rose colored glasses, in fact I know I don’t. Dare I even admit,I probably always look at everything with my super particular and overly picky spectacles on. They say “don’t sweat the small stuff” but sometimes I still do, how can I not.  My theory is, if I didn’t sweat the small stuff in my life some of the time, I probably would never notice or truly realize the quiet simple splendor of the small stuff in other parts of my life. 

SMALL STUFF EXAMPLE #1

The Koigu I received in the mail last week, looks as if it was dyed to match my little blue bowl of toasted pumpkin seeds (which happened to also be roasted last week). Shockingly, I was the only one in the house to notice or care about this amazing act of color kismet. Anyone who buys yarn online knows tints and colors can vary wildly from what you were expecting, which makes this even more of an event!

SMALL STUFF EXAMPLE #2

Yes, I will always know when you don’t put something back where it belongs, but that also means I will always notice and appreciate the subtle bits of goodness you do, when you think nobody is watching.

The people who love you, will love you always, because you are a perfectly fussy shade of you.

for babies

My baby is almost grown, so busy with NHS, speech and preparing for grownup life. We will be touring colleges next year!  Even though it’s not relevant to my life (no little babies here) I still find myself enjoying knitting and crocheting for babies. There is a simple sweetness to knitting a mini pair of socks, a lacy little bonnet, or a cotton dribble bib. I don’t know if it calls to my love of miniature, my love of muted milky soft colors or just my love of squealing babies, grunting, giggling and of course pudgy baby tummies.

It doesn’t hurt that baby knits are quick as a snap and can be a bit more quirky in color combinations, shapes & design. Both of which appeal to me as I’m not a long-term project knitter. I get distracted, I get resentful of how this damn project is holding me up from moving onto something else, I hate the guilt of having loads of unfinished business.  I tend to just avoid large knitting commitments, maybe someday when I settle down honey you’ll get your cardigan. :)

I can also totally appreciate the lovely in an outrageous outburst of happy stripey polka dots and knitting for baby lets me do just that.

I recently knit up this toadstool baby rattle, for me toadstools are straight out of storybooks filled with magical fairies, mossy thickets where everything is illuminated with moon glow and stars. Babies are that sort of whisper soft magic too.  

I used the toadstool rattle pattern from the purl bee. It was everything I love about baby knitting, quick, quirky cute and is perfectly useful uselessness! I am sort of wishing I made this out of 100% cotton, the stripes are cotton, but the rest is squishy wool, which will aid in the drying, but might also leave baby with a fuzzy mouth!? It has a bell kitty toy inside so it’s a jinglier instead of a rattler. A little rice inside of a gumball machine plastic egg would have worked nicely too. I might need to make some of these for myself on a much smaller scale.

When I was a baby my grandma crocheted me a blanket, it’s now safely tucked away in a chest and is one of the few things I have that she ever touched. A few weeks back I stumbled onto a huge stack of vintage crochet books, I didn’t look through them at the shop, I wanted to save that treat until I got home. So with my precious treasures in tow, I piled myself on the couch and started to dig.

I about died when I saw this, that is my exact baby blanket, in the exact same colors! ❤

   The pamphlet came out in 1974. Can you tell?

Here’s to all the grandmas (and sometimes grandpas too) for all the bulky crochet covered children, and also to those of us keeping the spirit alive with handmade baby knits and crochet!