[Nfb-krafters-korner] Intro

[David F]

Hello,  List:

As several of the officers of this division can attest, I have been around
and sort of thinking about joining for rather some time now.  

I finally just did, bought a year membership, and decided to dive in, come
what may.  

Let me give you a brief capsule intro.

I don't really have a hobby unless you count reading, listening to music,
and sometimes cooking when I feel up to it.  Health concerns tire me out
easily.

Countless craft/hobby attempts have flopped.  I wanted something to do
whilst reading books.  Then I'd have a double use for my time.  

I tried crocheting but flopped and will take the class soon with the N or P
hook and hope for the best.  I just wanted to make cotton towels or squares.
No giant afghans, all that fighting with big blanket size things.  I could
probably, were I ever to be good at squares, get someone to assemble them
for me.  

A contact sent me a loom for loom knitting.  I got tangled up in the yarn
and did not enjoy this at all.  All those tiny little teeth and thin sneaky
yarn.  A little vision would have been a nice thing here.  

I attended a pottery class but did not like the wet, messy clay.  The dust
in the air bothered my eyes.

I looked into soap making; not melt & pour either.  But the original stuff
using lye and exotic plant oils that was written about in a book NLS did by
Delores Boone.  I even emailed her and was on a soaping list for a time.
But my contacts could never come to my home to help me learn and I was
afraid of the lye as when it hits water it reaches temperatures of over 267
degrees F if I remember correctly.  I know this is doable but I suspect
having a person show you first is good, too.  Who wants to tangle with
boiling lye water accidentally?  

Drop spindle spinning was another idea I had.  But I never managed to link
up with the spinners group in my hometown.  Transportation issues and a
rather strange contact person.  I'm sure you have gotten this from sighted
people who just don't know how you can do (insert craft here) without sight.
Urgh!  I bet it's hard, too.  Trying to twist roving, even heavy wools,
sounds mind-spinningly complex.  

I tried rug  hooking.  Not the kind with the plastic mesh.  It was using a
hook tool made by a lady in Vermont.  You threaded the high quality New
Zealand yarn, very heavy yarn, thru a long stylus looking pointed tool.  You
pushed it into the monks cloth on a frame and when you pulled it out, it
made a loop on the reverse side.  I had trouble tacking my cloth to the
frame and ended up making holes in the monks cloth.  Drats.  It was an
interesting hobby, too.  I bet some of you have done it or would like it.
You end up with a rug or plush covering.  The guy running the little store
had several used for seat covers.  You could make patterns from different
colors.  Flop city.  I remember the tool was made of maple.  It looked like
an elegant work of art. The yarn fed in through the handle.  You wip
stitched the edges of the rug--not sure what a wip stitch is, and you used a
big needle.  One I might have actually learned to thread.  

I considered macramé.  I still may try to find help learning that.  I
vividly recall how popular it was in the 1970s.  I vaguely remember during
my brief sojourn in Boy Scouts learning a square knot.   Forgot that now.  

I first heard of kumihimo on this list and tried, but failed, to get to talk
to the teacher.  I hope it comes back at some point or if anyone on here has
email directions, I'd be curious to talk to you off list.  

(How does one email a person on here privately?  I don't think control r or
control shift r does it.)

I also just read on the website about safety pin beading.  The Christmas
decorations did sound fascinating.  

Weaving sounded fascinating, too; not those trickily slippery little
potholders either.  But maybe using a tapestry loom.  I bet dying yarn is
cool, too; but I'd end up looking like a circus clown bespattered with
indigo or purple and would worry about synthetic dyes poisoning me.

Thank you for any thoughts or comments as I begin this journey of discovery.