A new hobby

Here is a little blurb I'm putting in the MOPS newsletter...sorry no pics but I promise, soon!

I'm sure half the world knows (due to all the whining and lamenting I did when it happened) that my sewing machine went on the fritz - temporarily - about a month or two ago.  It happened right in the middle of all that blizzardry (I love my new word I just made up!) and I was kinda stuck for a few days without my fav hobby. 

I don't know what it is about me, but I always have this need...or maybe desire...or maybe just a compelling feeling of wanting to make something.  I usually have at least one thing I'm "working on."  I have a project list about 10 miles long.  I don't know why; maybe it's in my genes. 

So... stuck in the house, snowed in for 3 days in a row without the use of my sewing machine, I grabbed the closest thing I could find - a pair of knitting needles and some yarn.  Never mind that I didn't know how to use them.  They were there, and I was going to figure it out.  I'd been kinda wanting to for a while...it seemed like everywhere I went, people were knitting.  It seemed like my kind of thing, and it didn't look that difficult.  I dug my "teach yourself to knit" book out, blew off the dust, and got to it.  A friend pointed me in the direction of a website that shows videos of the "how-to's" - very helpful.  Two days later, after a lot of trial & error, I finally had the first two basic things down.  Two more days later, I had the purl stitch under my belt.  I felt like such an expert! 

We now have a dishrag and a swiffer cover, made by moi.  Try to contain your excitement.  I'm currently working on a pair of fingerless mitts.  One is done.  I tried it on and showed my husband.  He said, "I think it's great.  I'm impressed that you made that.  I'm not trying to be rude, but...why would you need mittens that your fingers stick out of?"  ..............[can you hear the sound of crickets chirping?]................  To which I replied, after some thought, "....I have no idea."   We had a good laugh about that! 

I guess the point for me is that my new hobby feeds my craving to create.  It's something I can do while watching TV, in the car, waiting at the doctor's office...wherever.  It's not expensive (not yet, anyway - ha!), it doesn't take up much space, and I'm finding it to be relaxing and almost therapeutic. 

I want to encourage you lovely MOPS moms to find a hobby that is relaxing for you!  After full and often tiring days of being mommies, wives, housekeepers, cooks, chauffeurs, secretaries, personal shoppers, and all the other roles that we take on, it's not only enjoyable to have some "me time," but necessary!  You don't have to be a "crafty" person.  Just find something that you enjoy, or would like to learn, and "just do it!"