Falling into Crafts

Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. There's something about all the brilliant color and the crisp air that is truly inspiring, isn't there? Perhaps part of it is a relief from the so-hot-and-humid-I-can't-draw-a-breath-when-I'm-outside temperatures of summer. Part of it is probably the hint of things to come--once those leaves start turning, we're headed toward Thanksgiving and Christmas, the two biggest holidays of the year.

Whatever the reason, I find the days of fall inspiring. I want to sew and glue and bake and create throughout the fall days as I watch the leaves swirl past the window. I want to hear the fire crackling in the fireplace while curling up under a hand-crocheted afghan while something yummy simmers on the stove and the air is scented with wonderful baked goods coming out of the oven.

I have a little problem, though, with all of the creative juices that flow through me this time of year. I'm not actually all that talented in the creative department. My creative abilities run towards words and, let's face it, sarcasm. Inevitably, my efforts at creating crafts have not had a lot of success. You may say, "that's okay. I'm not all that creative either. It's still fun to try."

Is it?

I don't know about you, but the one talent I possess when it comes to crafts and all things creative is that I can consistently produce results that are equal to the efforts of a fifth-grader. (No insult to fifth-graders intended).

For instance, I crocheted an afghan for my daughter's baby girl. It was a simple pattern and a small, simple rectangle. Only an idiot to could mess it up.

The blanket has a tail.

I have no idea how it happened. After all, you're just supposed to crochet the same amount of stitches back and forth repeatedly. But somehow one end of it had a little added tail. Not a string. A crocheted area that stuck out from the rest of the rectangle.

The afghan still worked, obviously, and Stephanie and Kylee both pointed out that the tail just gave Kaitlyn something to hang on to, but still ...

Part of my problem is Pinterest. I know better than to look at the crafts. They always inspire me and make me feel like I can take on something that I know deep down inside is completely beyond my abilities.

My minor in college was home economics, which seems to amuse my family. In fact, I took a decorating class where we were required to make something to decorate our home. Cross stitch was very popular then, but the thought of sewing tiny x's into a picture made my eyes cross. Instead I bought a latch hook kit to make a pillow. Except I didn't quite understand matting it or the instructions for putting a back on it.

My teacher actually laughed at the finished project, and I never liked the pillow enough to actually use it.

Somehow, in spite of failures, I keep trying every year. This year I decided to make candles--in my crockpot. I love my crockpot and I rarely mess up crockpot recipes, so how hard could this be? The video I found basically just showed putting jars in the crockpot, putting wax and a candle in the jar, and voila!

The picture above is of the candles before the wax hardened. Not too shabby, huh? Except the video didn't explain that, once the wax melted, it would only fill half the jar and I'd have to run to the store and buy additional wax in order to fill the jars completely. Nor did it explain that one crayon wouldn't get the wax very dark. When I added the additional wax, I added another crayon, but I didn't have any quite the same shade.

This picture is the same green candle after the wax hardened. As you can see, it ended up a lot lighter, even with a second crayon. Possibly because the crayon melted on the side of the jar instead of in the wax. But still, I made a candle. The other two ended up being pink and a nice shade of peach. I have nothing in my house that matches those colors, so I gave them to my granddaughters.

I will probably never stop trying new crafts in the fall. Something about the season just calls for it. But once fall is gone, I will stop experimenting and go back to the one thing on Pinterest that I know I'm good at.

I'll pin sarcastic memes to my heart's content.