Something to Do
And The Art of Being Together
If you have a child you know that they always need something to do, and you need to PLAN for their needs. The most basic are meals, clothing, a home to live in and lots of love to give.
Books, outdoor activities, toys, cooking, craft projects and at our house paper, pencils and crayons were a constant. As they get older sometimes it’s harder to understand their individual needs. But you just need to lean in and be open to any clues they might float your way or, any bits of information you can gently ease from them as they pass slowly through adolescence, that long period of self discovery and developmental growth before becoming fully adult.
I grew up on a dairy farm, so at a certain age there were responsibilities that come with a large garden, chickens in the back yard along with chores at the farm taking care of large animals. I always had something to do relating to that life and I also had a mother who was of an age that knitting and sewing were skills that could be undertaken to help expand a farm family budget. So I also learned these skills from her and have enjoyed them off and on for most of my life.
When I was a young teenager she taught me a new skill that she was learning for herself. Embroidery. We enjoyed our time together while we learned these colorful stitches and embellished some of our clothing. During that time she also bought me various kits for paper making crafts.
Soon after I became absorbed with making clothing, getting a job ‘off the farm’ and learning to drive.
Years later I asked her about that time together, engrossed in the embroidery floss and paper arts. Why? She told me simply that I needed something to do.
When my daughter was about 14 years old I realized she needed something to do, she needed a hobby. She was an accomplished artist and always drawing, intently immersed in that work and she enjoyed reading, being with friends, and baking and all the art and crafts we did as part of our homeschool days. But, there seemed to be a space in her life that needed some plain, old creative fun, that had no particular end, except to create. We concentrated on wool needle felting, especially holiday themed projects. We had done a little in the past and it soon became quite engrossing, creative, and just a fun thing for us to do together. I offered to help expand her knitting skills, as she knew the basics and it was one of my favorite things to do, but she had no interest in it at the time.
A couple of years ago she took up crocheting and was drawn to various projects - making soft doll “characters” whom she admired, she also fashioned sweaters for herself and stitched lots of plushie animal creatures. Through all these projects she experimented and adapted many patterns to suit her needs, pushing the boundaries of what a pattern is and how to create her own. She enjoyed makinging these things and earning some money as well.
Although we don’t usually knit and crochet together, except when we are all watching TV at night, we find a comfortable companionship in sharing our related crafts. We both enjoy buying yarn, shopping for it together and having a stash of yarn in the closet to rummage through and pass back and forth, and I am always checking in on what project she is working on ’now’. We still occasionally needle felt together, something to fill our day on a rainy or snowy afternoon. She has learned some life skills creating and selling but really it’s about the freedom and creativity of how she chooses to be.
Recently the two of us have been working on making skinny scarves, she crocheting and me knitting. She took to it more readily than me but it was interesting and different from my usual projects. My choice for constant-knitting is making thick warm scarves and shawls to sell in the cold weather months. The skinny scarves were a different distraction and worked up more quickly. I just tend to enjoy having a full lapful of yarn and a handful of knitted fabric to make me happiest.
Presently I am also sewing up some shibori indigo dyed scarves. My daughter wanted to get more proficient at machine sewing and I needed to finish up those scarves. My machine needs some repair so I have been ignoring it. So we checked out a sewing machine from our library - yes, I think you heard me right - from the public library’s “library of things”. Many libraries now have them so if you need something to do have a look at your own town library and you could occupy yourself and spend time with a friend or family member with a telescope, a birdwatching kit, gardening tools, croquet, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, an acoustic guitar, or 100 to 1,500 piece puzzles on a myriad of themes. There is something out there to spark everyone’s interest and it’s free.
Reach out, you don’t have to spend all day together, it can be a quick conversation or a text and photos, connect with people you care about, about new or old hobbies.
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So on we go, my daughter and I doing something together. It’s fun and we carve out a little time in our days and weeks to do something together because being together is a nice thing to do, when you need something to do.
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All of our scarves are for sale in my Etsy shop. I also have some shibori dyed wall hangings with added *Kantha -inspired India stitching to liven up any personal space in a house, as well as some light, cotton shibori indigo dyed scarves for spring and summer. There are also some botanical eco print stationary sets and framed and matted prints for home decorating as well. If you need some gifts for graduations and weddings you’ve come to the right place! Or, embellish a special outfit with our hand made scarves. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MaureensFiberArts
*Kantha-inspired wall hangings - Kantha is a classical type of embroidery native to rural India. Historically the women have taken their discarded cloth scraps from sari's and layered and then sewn them together with a simple running stitch to create quilts and pillows.