National Craft Month

 by Sybil Johnson

March is National Craft Month. I don’t know who decides these things. Probably a committee somewhere. March is my birth month and I love crafts so I think I’ll just go with it.

Over the years, I’ve tried my hand at a lot of crafts: embroidery, paint-by-number, macramé, scrapbooking, crocheting, knitting, tole/decorative painting... Many of these I still do. The one I’ve spent the most time on is tole/decorative painting (NOT paint-by-number). That’s one reason I decided to feature it in my Aurora Anderson mysteries.

I admit, though, that recently I’ve been stepping out on decorative painting a bit. It’s all the fault of Facebook ads for the Woobles crochet kits. I’d never heard of amigurumi until I saw these ads. That’s the Japanese art of crocheting small stuffed creatures. I think you can also use the term for knitted stuffies, but I’m just focusing on crocheting.

I tried crocheting once when I was a kid many, many, many, many years ago. I never really got into it. But these Woobles were so cute! They promised step-by-step videos and patterns. The kits included everything you need. I bought one. It did not disappoint. Then another. Then an explosion occurred with Wooble kits everywhere. Then I branched out to other amigurumi patterns and kits. I’ve given some as gifts. Here’s the ones I’ve kept for myself:

 

I still have a lot of painting projects to do, but it’s been fun to do something else for a bit.

My mother started me on my crafting journey by teaching me how to embroider. A friend at work taught a bunch of us at lunchtime to do decorative painting. We enjoyed sharing time together doing an activity we found fun.

I suspect that’s one reason why there are so many mysteries featuring crafts. People have fond memories of knitting, painting, etc. together. It’s real life. Except for the murder, of course.

I’ve read a lot of these types of mysteries over the years. Some of my favorites are: The Vampire Knitting Club series by Nancy Warren, The Fairy Garden mysteries by Daryl Wood Gerber, the Miniature Mysteries by Camille Minichino and the Candlemaking mysteries by Tim Myers. I particularly like the relationship between the main character and her granddaughter in the Miniature mysteries.

I plan on celebrating National Craft Month by reading craft-based mysteries, working on some painting and crocheting projects and maybe starting on a macramé one. How about you?

National Craft Month

 

March is National Craft Month. Any month is craft month as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve been doing a fair number of craft projects over the past year, more than usual anyway. It’s a nice form of escapism from the bad things in the world including the recent shooting in Colorado and, of course, all of the Covid news. So I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve worked on

My Aurora Anderson mystery series is the set in the world of tole/decorative painting. As you might guess, this is one of my hobbies. In the last year, a lot of decorative painters who would normally teach at painting conventions have gone online. I’ve taken 4 classes via Zoom and have enjoyed them immensely. In some ways, it’s nicer than taking a class at a convention since I get the recording of the video afterwards to review. These are 2 of the projects I’ve done, both classes taught by Chris Haughey of cdwood.com. I’m pretty sure that, even after we can attend painting conventions again, teachers will continue to offer some classes online. That’s one good thing that’s come out of this pandemic.

 

I’ve also gotten into macrame. The last time I did that was in the 1970s in 7th grade when we had to do a macrame project for art class. I remember really enjoying it. Last year, I was browsing Herrschner’s catalog, saw this cute project and just had to get the kit. Took me a bit to remember how to do a square knot, but I’ve really enjoyed it. There’s something very peaceful about tying knots. I did these Christmas gnomes and just finished the Halloween ones.

 

I have a bunch of other painting projects lined up, plus some counted cross-stitch ones I started mumble mumble years ago and never finished. Has anyone else done any fun craft projects recently?