Create something with your hands!

I know a lady, Dr.M, whose daughter learns music from my mother.  Dr.M is a very busy lady, but I knew that she regularly creates works of art - she had presented my mother with a painting on glass for their housewarming ceremony.  I wondered how she managed to fit in so much in what little time she had.

Whenever she brought her daughter for music lessons, she either brought a book with her, or some work that she did when she waited, or she went for a walk in the park nearby.  Once, when I was staying at my mom's place, Dr.M brought with her embroidery.

I decided to go, sit with her and pick her brains while she worked the delicate chain stitch on a silk cloth.

She told me that she always has something like this on hand, and whenever she gets the time, she starts working on it.  Of course, it sometimes takes years for a project to complete, but that is better than having done nothing!  initially, she would embroider on a dress, and then find after it was done, that she couldn't fit into the dress any more.  So now she embroiders on the cloth and then gets the dress stitched after it is done.   She told me she would also take it to the park when her children played there - yes, it did get dirty, but she would get it dry-cleaned later on.

I was impressed, and inspired.  When I thought about it, I realized that there are many pockets throughout the day when we could be doing something with our hands, without it interfering into any work. 

Chatting with a neighbour, perhaps, or watching a soap on tv, when you don't really need your eyes to be glued to the screen.  Waiting at a doctor's, or waiting to pick up your child after school - if you start thinking of it, you will find these pockets yourself.  

The second bit of inspiration came from Puttachi.  I took one of her slips and idly embroidered some small lazy-daisy flowers on it (not even very neat,) just to see if I remembered a skill I had learned in my childhood.  Puttachi was so fascinated that after that, she wanted to wear "Only that which Amma has embroidered." :)

For inspiration for ideas, I needed to look no further than my mom and aunts, and so, I was really enthused.

As I see it, the major work is in the planning part.  Deciding the project, zeroing in upon a pattern, sourcing the materials - once that is done, the rest of it is just manual work - not much thinking required - so something you can do while you want to think too!  Some projects don't even need too great levels of concentration.  And these - knitting, crochet, embroidery - are things which don't need you to spread out your work - you can carry it all around in a little ziploc bag and fish it out whenever you have a little time.

And the nice thing about doing something like this is - at the end of it, you have something to show for it. And it lasts.  And is appreciated, and treasured.  And is supremely satisfying. 

My mom and I made a sweater for Puttachi - I crocheted the front, and my mother knitted the back.




I had bought this denim kurta with a view to embroider it. I felt floral patterns wouldn't look good on this, so I did some research and zeroed in on Sashiko embroidery.  I found after I started that Sashiko shouldn't be done on denim, because the weave is too tight, but I had already set my heart on it, and found some workarounds and finished it anyway.  I feel a warm glow whenever I wear it, and when somebody compliments me on it, it is a bonus. :)



















I then experimented with crochet, made a crochet book-mark and learned how to make a doily.  More work on crochet is on my mind!























I am now working on a cross-stitch embroidered pillow cover for Puttachi.  I'll put up a picture once it is done.

And the advantage of doing something like this is that your child wants to do it too!  Puttachi was very keen to embroider too, but as I thought she was too young to learn actual stitches, I got her one of the Anchor stitch kit sets - she loves it.  She's been doing it off and on for the last 7-8 months.  We take it out only when she asks for it.  And I have actually seen her motor skills improve in those last months.  In the beginning, she couldn't poke the needle up from below the cloth at the right place by herself.  Now she can.  She does the whole thing herself, including threading the needle.  I need to supervise, though, because of the needle - but I realize now that she was ready to handle it before I thought she was. I hate it when I underestimate her. :O

If you want to get started too but don't know how, let me tell you that if you are really interested, there are many excellent tutorials on youtube that teach you every stitch, every skill. And there are thousands of art and craft websites for ideas. You can even google for information on shops that sell the required items in your city - even that is available at your fingertips.  But the ideal thing would be if you have someone around to show you how to begin.

And as you can see, you don't need to be specially skilled. I am not, for sure - and the experts among you can see that my workmanship is not that great, but it is just the urge to create something beautiful that keeps me going!