One Way I Choose to Keep the Shreds of My Sanity

One Way I Choose to Relax and Keep the Shreds of My Sanity . . .

I am: a single parent of two young men; looking for a permanent, full time job in my professional field as I work full time in my temporary job; taking care of two possessive, jealous cats and two overly excitable dogs who piddle and poop everywhere; trying to build my Avon business; and trying to stay relatively sane.

How do I hang on to those precious, few shards of normality? I crochet, cross stitch or do beadwork. At the moment, I am about 1/3 of the way through an afghan for my younger son. It is constructed of two shades of red and two shades of blue (his school colors), in a crochet triple stitch. My older son likes the pattern so much that I will use two of the same colors and make him an afghan. I have christened the pattern “School Colors”.

I am also collecting skeins of yarn in colors that I don’t have and crocheting “corkscrew” hangers that I can tie to my car’s radio antenna. The reason for doing this is that drivers seem to miss the presence of my car as I am driving in their general vicinity. They nearly strike me as they are spontaneously changing lanes with no warning signal; they drive across my pathway, seeming to ignore the fact that I am driving down a 35-mile per hour street at 35 mph! They turn in front of me as I have the green left-turn arrow, forcing me to stand on my brake pedal, as I pray desperately that the person driving behind me has seen what caused me to screech to a sudden halt.

Yeah, I definitely need to work to maintain the few shreds I have left (buh-buh-buh).

I also like to construct necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other creations out of beads and beading cord. I am still trying to graduate to beads and wire!

I also cross stitch, but I have not picked this craft up for about 16 months — I overdid it the Christmas before last, making gifts for friends and family. I need to have the itch to take up needle, thread and Aida cloth again. (I’ve been thinking about it, but I am still working on the school colors afghan, and want to start my older son’s afghan.)

“That means you’ll be working on two projects at the same time, doesn’t it?” I know you are thinking that, and yes, I will be doing just that. It helps me to maintain a higher level of interest in the project underway, especially when it’s as large as an afghan.

I have several friends who enjoy “hooking” (that’s with the crochet hook, not the other, socially unacceptable behavior involving the exchange of a sexual favor for money). That is just one nickname for crocheting. (One historical account has it that female employees in lace factories were forced by their wealthy bosses to “turn tricks” on the side in order to make up for the fact that the factory owners paid less than a living wage. This was said to have occurred late in the 19th century. D. Stoller, Stitch and Bitch, the Happy Hooker) Anyway, my friends and I exchange ideas and tips. We show each other how to complete a particular stitch, such as the shell stitch. We show books and patterns. We exchange ideas. It’s a great way to bond with each other and relax! Given that I am so busy and trying to make ends meet, it’s probably one of the best, healthiest ways I can use to relax.