Creative Outlets

Just in time for Spring

In this season of my life I am very busy. I am staying at home and taking care of the Bumper (which is definitely a full time job), I am writing a novel, I am making preparations to take the GRE-Graduate Record Exam- this fall, so I can go back to school for my PH.D with the goal of becoming a university professor, and I am still in the middle of settling the things from the Bumper's Dad's estate. (The painful, but necessary, tasks of cleaning the house, and sorting thorough his things.) It is very easy for me to get burned out and feel used up.
Sure I pray and exercise to keep myself spiritually and physically fit, a continual work in progress and ones I hope I never finish, but I also read, write, cook and crochet.

A ripple dishcloth

Writing is something I cannot hep but to do. I am a compulsive scribbler. I carry a notebook, the paper kind, in my purse to jot down ideas I may come up with when I am out and about. I am inspired by lots of things especially in nature and I never know when something might spark my imagination. Writing is however, more than a hobby for me. It is how I would like someday to make my living. I love writing fiction.  I finished a historical fiction novel and now I am writing a fantasy novel. I am having a lot of fun with this project, but while I am writing fantasy I do not read in the same genre, lest I unwittingly plagiarize. So what other things can I do to relax? Well there is cooking, especially baking and I love to bake, but well the the hazard to my waist line I think is obvious. (Insert  gratitude for having enough to eat so that cooking and eating are pleasures not just necessities) So that leaves sewing, crochet and knitting!

The first hat I ever made for the Bumper and the hat I made her for Christmas.

The Bumper's doll blanket is turning into a cozy throw

I have been on a crochet/knit/sew binge lately. I find working with my hands satisfying and the soothing rhythms fuel my creativity. It is kind of weird, but the more I crochet/knit/sew the more I write and the more I write the more I crochet/knit/sew. They feed off of each other. I am immensely tickled by this and so is the Bumper because she likes playing with my yarn and counting colors as I work. She is also fascinated by the sewing machine and has requested I begin making dresses for her dolls immediately. All in all this hobby is working out quite well and even though I am just a beginner I hope to create more and more things. I see colorful granny squares, wavy ripple blankets, hats, scarves, snowflakes, little animals, the aforementioned dolls dresses and other clothes for the Bumper, and all sorts of handmade things in my future and the future of my soon to be inundated friends and family. There is an ulterior motive in this: I hope to have enough fuel to finish my novel this year.

Spring is here - the Bumper picked these herself.

Ah, the sublime madness of creativity.
Blessings,
Kim