For the love of Pom Poms✺

It's been crafting mania over here ... 

Cowgirl and I seem to be trading colds back and forth and coupled with some snow days, we've been trying to keep busy while staying home.  So combining 2 antsy craftistas, scissors and lots of stash yarn and you know what you get?

Pom Poms!

Actually, pom pom mania came about while talking with a friend who is a book arts specialist.  She had worked with a group of kids and was telling me how shocked she was by their lack of manual dexterity.  We were bemoaning the probable evolutionary development of massive thumbs - kind of human claws that can clutch technology and run the world via the thumb. 

Deciding I was not going to go down without a fight, and in no small part inspired to do something with my burgeoning stash of left-over bits of yarn, I grabbed onto the project of a pom pom scarf.

 

 

Never have two girls with scissors, yarn and a wide open floor had more fun.  It is a pretty simple project: made tons of pompoms in various sizes and then string them up on a crocheted chord.  Easy peasy pompom breezy!
 

 The upside to being stuck home (and truly, I always find an upside to being home!) is plenty of time to finish old projects 

  


And begin new ones

I know, I know, we are turning into the ideal 19th century accomplished young ladies. It just dawned on me that I am morphing into the subject of my almost-dissertation topic - a self taught artist named Eunice Pinney whose work is often categorized under Schoolgirl Art (except she was an adult woman when she created her work.) 

While I am following the lessons of Rebecca Ringquist on Creativebug (that's also her sampler design), Cowgirl is free-forming her toothed serpent.  But I wonder if Cowgirl's true passion may lie in other creative pursuits?

 A little Kat von D?  (It was Dr. Seuss week and her teacher read them the Foot Book.  She sent home a note explaining the markers would be washable ... let's just say those were more than temporary dragon/serpent tattoos.)

One additional gift this down time has given me has been hours in bed watching umpteen cooking shows.  It is crazy, but when I am feeling less than 100% I am more likely to enjoy watching chefs cook things that I would never eat myself, much less cook. Like beef tongue (I am a vegetarian) or braised pork cheek with sorrel puree (?)  But what keeps me returning to those shows (Chopped - a favorite of Cowgirl's - and Top Chef and Iron Chef) is the one essential ingredient that they all have in common: passion.

Even though I had no appetite for food of any kind, I found myself compulsively watching these cooking shows and I realized it was the passion every chef shared for their art that had me hooked.  Each chef talked about struggles, hardships, set backs and each avowed that they would never quit, they would never not want to cook and share their love of food with others. No-matter-what this was their life.

Which has me thinking about my passions and how best to share with my girl the importance of discovering one's passion (which may or may not be considered your gift) and following it because doing so, in and of itself, is the only way to live life. 

From pom poms to creme brulée with a little stitchery tossed in for some color.  What can I say?  It's all about the love.  Pom Poms and life.  I think there is a dissertation in there somewhere.

 


 Meanwhile, our next endeavor involves lots and lots of bird drawings ... 

Stay tuned to find out!