Keeping Christmas

December 1, 2009

We can all see the Christmas shopping season is in full swing. I remember when we complained if stores put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Nowadays, the "holiday" trees are in place before Halloween! And, please tell me, how stupid is it to forbid calling that decorated evergreen tree a "Christmas" tree? Yes, this is a season of many holidays, but that particular tree is a Christmas tree, just as that particular candelabra is a Menorah. Political Correctness has become a parody of itself.
The hideous commercialism of what was once the sweetest of all holidays, is now extended to the internet. If I had received one more "Cyber Monday" e-mail, I surely would have pulled my hair out and screamed in disgust. I don't care about having "Today Only!" to buy something I don't need, don't want, and have no desire to give as a gift.

I think Christmas has been saved, at least for me and 44,000+ others, by taking the Handmade Pledge. When I buy something made by hand, I feel good. Something made by hand is a special gift to give to someone I care about. It is also a special gift to receive. I'm not talking about hand knit toilet paper covers and the like. I am talking about the beautiful objects that one can't get any other way but from fine craftsmen. Sometimes these objects are functional, sometimes not; they are always works of art, in my eyes. Not only do I enjoy these items, I also like the fact that I am supporting my fellow artisans. Most of us are true small businesses!

     I do make a few exceptions. I love books and they are included on my "approved" list, as are antique and vintage items (which often, but not always, are made by hand). In a pinch, finding myself in last-minute need of a gift for a child, I'll travel to a nearby store which specializes in stocking old-fashioned toys. So, I'm not a fanatic. But I do, more and more often, find that I am buying things for myself and others from Etsy and BigCartel. I'd like to also support craft fairs, but I am a true homebody and often lack the oomph required to brave the crowds.
      So, that's how I plan to keep Christmas sweet. Ironic, really, that shopping by computer is going to make the holiday more precious and old-fashioned than if I were to shop in the brick and mortar stores. I hasten to add that there are brick and mortar stores which have wonderful handmade items, recycled whimsies and beautiful antiques. I'm not saying that the internet is the only way to go - but, it is a wonderful resource.
     My other pledge is straight from Charles Dickens:

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

Faces

November 28, 2009

Forget Not .....

November 22, 2009

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet

and the winds long to play with your hair."

~Kahlil Gibran

A little something .....

November 20, 2009

Something I've been working on.

This is how it always is. It starts out as a sweater, maybe at a yard sale, or the Salvation Army. The sweater comes home with me and joins the piles of other sweaters, crowding me out of my studio. I sort them. I bag them. I sneak them into my husband's office. Anything to be rid of them. Anything, that is, except for what I am supposed to do with them - which is to wash them, over and over, until they become lovely, thick wool felt. And the colors ... the colors are so marvelous. A seemingly infinite variety of reds, or blues, or even whites. I'm amazed by how many different shades of white there are.

Eventually, hubby grows weary of his office being my attic, and he brings them all back to me. Except now, instead of being in big, lumpy plastic garbage bags, they are all in big Rubbermaid bins. Big, ugly grey bins with orange lids. Why can't hubby be addicted to buying old wooden trunks at the flea market, instead of these hideous things from the hardware store?

I move the ugly bins into the bedroom. Surely they will be such a daily eyesore that I'll get to work and soon I'll have a lovely pile of felted and pressed pieces of wool to play with. And the bins can go back to the basement.

Um, do you know how handy four big bins can be? It's like another table on which to pile STUFF. I don't even see the bins anymore. They're still there, but they're well covered, and I'm used to them.

But I digress. What I'm really thinking about is how the lovely felted wool becomes a little piece of art, or maybe a big piece of art, but definitely something worth looking at. And touching. And feeling. It always starts with those few scraps. And, when put together, they take on a new life. Then even more energy seems to just happen, when a little vintage button gets popped on top of the small collection of scraps. And, finally, the amazing transformation that happens when all those stitches get piled onto the mix. It's just wonderful.

And to think, a few miserable months ago, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep working with sweater wool at all. :)