Saturday, October 27, 2007

New Rules in the House!

Alright ladies, let's just all admit it. We see yarn, we love it, we buy it with the most honest intentions of using it and two months later we can't remember what we bought it for. The STASH grows. It's like the blob that ate Chicago. Or someplace else really big! What can we do to relieve this horrible feeling that we'll never catch up?

If you have a daughter or son, all is not lost. You must teach that child the skills you have. ALL of the skills. With my daughter Katie I started with embroidery. Cross stitch at 7 years old, then when she was 9 I took her to the AQS quilt show in Paducah, where we live and it was ON! She wanted to try everything. Vendors loved it because if adults saw a small child there ready to try something, they assumed they could do it as well. And off we went. Paper pieces, Brazillion embroidery, Silk ribbon embroidery, general sewing, and finally knitting. She was hooked. Her first real job at the age of 17 was Quitlers Alley in Paducah. They loved her and she loved the job. She became really skilled at handwork. I would take her to a class with other adults and they would complain because a child was in the class until they saw her nimble little hands work. Before the class was over they would ask her for help! OH YES, Get you somma that!

So, back to the stash. Katie met a cop, (long line of cops in my family, Father, Uncle, Cousin, Son) they fell in love and married. The way they met is a fairy tale and would be a whole other post but they did meet and married. After she graduated from SIU, she became a manager at a Joann's store. She was the only person in the store that could actually sew. Imagine that????

Last week I set out new rules for My House. So I called her. "Katie, there are new rules for coming home!" Since her mother is the ADHD poster adult, she said, "Okay, what are the new rules?" I know she was snickering although I couldn't hear it! "This is the deal", I said, "Every time you come to my house, you must take home some sock yarn and some regular yarn from my stash". She was puzzled, but I went on to explain. "I have far more yarn than I will ever be able to knit up, even if I live to be 100, you must start to relieve me of that burden", I said. She was a happy little daughter. We all remember when we were first married and couldn't afford the things we wanted to do. Katie has gone back to school for her second degree and is only working part time. She needs yarn to comfort her and can't be spending a lot of money right now. It's the perfect solution for both of us. My stash grows more manageable and she gets things she really loves. I think I shall expand this rule to include other crafts. The fabric closet is so crowded, and the DMC is a bit out of hand.

Katie is coming by this weekend, should I run down to the LYS, "With Ewe in Mind" and pick up a few new things? Nah, I think we'll have plenty to choose from.

Take a lesson Ladies, "Pass the Needle". That's what Katie and I called it when I taught her to do something or we took a class together. It works for me! Just last week my Granddaughter said, "Nana, I wanna Net". What? She's a bit southern in her accent, so I wasn't sure. She actually was saying "Nana, I want to Knit"! Yes! The next stash reliever! Life is good!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will you be my new mommy? :-)

It's a great rule!

KnittySue said...

OH Yes how I remember doing that with my oldest daughter. The only thing she didn't pick up is my seamstress/quilting skills, but as an artist she was more into cross stitch and knitting...OK by me. Now my youngest wants to learn to sew...YEA. And just last night I sat my 7 & 11 year olds down and started them loom knitting...they love it (and it's my way of getting them OFF the computer). For me it's one of my greatest joys to pass my skills down, I'm one of 3 and the only one who can sew/knit/crochet/counted cross stitch/ quilt/ and hem a pair of pants. So it's important to me to pass it all on. My triplet nieces are learning to knit also.
You made my day reading this to realize that I'm doing something good for the next generation, while I sit home from work feeling like ICK.