Working with What You’ve Got

On a recent trip to visit my family in California, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend some time with a longtime family friend. I told her about Artistic Inspiration, the etsy shop my daughter and I have started.

She told me about some favorite old crochet potholders she has that are wearing out. I asked her to send one to me so that I could see how the potholders were made, and in return, I would send her new one.

The potholder she sent was made out of bits of crochet thread left over from other projects. I love things made out of materials on hand. I think it takes just a little more creativity to make something out of whatever materials you have than it does to go to the store and buy exactly what you need for a given project.

It’s kind of like making a quilt out of scraps leftover from other projects. When my daughter was little, I used to sew some of her clothes. We enjoyed choosing fabrics from the discount table, and I enjoyed having a creative outlet. When she started kindergarten, I made her a little quilt for nap time made from the many saved fabric scraps. Her quilt was sort of an archive of love.

When I look at the old, frayed potholder sent to me, and I see those bits of different threads, I wonder what projects they came from. Were they left over from crochet lace used to trim a peterpan collar? Or maybe the thread was used to smock a little girl’s dress. I don’t know, but my imagination runs wild at the possibilities.

I made a couple of others from thick, soft cotton yarn to sell at the shop.

Cindy