Toys are good.

First and foremost I have to report my latest new knitting gadget: MezzoDiva now has a nifty twirling whirling Royal ball-winder gifted by her favourite knit-goddess Haley, the magnanimous mistress of Knitomatic. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I spent last night digging through the stash for various and sundry loose skeins and merrily winding them into lovely centre-pull cakes, process and product much admired by the charmed DH who loves toys of any kind. And we got him a little something too so he wouldn’t feel left out.

You see, DH enjoys several artistic outlets. One of the longest has been drawing increasingly detailed abstract geometric pictures, both free-hand and in computer media, in a style influenced by the ouvres of Escher, Vasarely, and Josef Albers. In recent days we had numerous discussions of fibre arts and potential crafty expressions of his colourful designs. His work would lend itself beautifully to various kinds of needlework, from cross-stitch and embroidery, to knitting, quilting and weaving. The last was very appealing to DH and we fantasized together about having a large enough home, with room for a craft studio or a converted garage/house with space for a good-sized loom, as well as some dyeing and spinning.

When I mentioned DH's loom dreams to Haley, she suggested we start with a smaller version to try out the craft and see how we like weaving, and quickly produced an adorable starter loom for us to try. So of course it had to come home with me. It’s for ages 7 and up so I hope we can figure it out!

DH is absolutely delighted with presents of any kind, not having been properly indulged in his early years (a topic for later discussion). Now that baseball season is over for the year and the weather is getting chilly, I anticipate many domestic hours spent together indulging in our individual crafty pursuits. We’ll just imagine the fireplace for now - or maybe we’ll get one of those DVDs of a crackling log in the hearth, just for atmosphere.

Contemplating a craft studio makes me think of painting and drawing again, too. I haven’t painted in over 22 years. I used to draw and paint a lot when I was a teenager, and then I just stopped, almost suddenly, right after high school. It’s really odd. I wonder why I stopped.

I keep meaning to pick it up again. There is a stretched and primed canvas that’s waited that long, even an easel and a whole case full of new unopened tubes of paints, acrylics as well as some oils, tempera and other media. I also have drawing paper, pencils, charcoal and conte crayons, as well as pens, nibs and jars of ink (some dried out) that are all about 25 years old.

I came across some of my old drawings and paintings while sorting and uncluttering around the house (um,… okay not that you could tell, but I know it happened). There are a couple of pieces that I deemed not worthy to keep for posterity and threw away, but I found a handful that were surprisingly good and just need cropping or mounting and a nice frame. I get a kick out of the idea of decorating using my own work. And maybe having it in view on a regular basis will motivate me to start again.