Believe it or not, I do not use my own stuff. Well, I do wear my hats but that is strictly as a matter of function when it’s really cold and I have a high threshold for cold. Otherwise, I don’t (often) wear hats, scarves or even afghans I make.
I recall one day I complained to Mr. Honey that it was cold in the house. He stopped, turned to look at me and said, “You have a hundred blankets in the house” and pointed to a pile of afghans.
There weren’t a hundred of them. But there was a nice pile of them. Never occurred to me to take one and put it over my body. I have an electric blanket – a gift he gave me and a nice comforter my sister-in-law gave me. There is a handmade comforter we use on the bed but that was made by a friend of my mother-in-law. Hey, I purchased it at their annual craft show more than twenty years ago. It fit our double bed, was only $40 and it still holds up all these years later. Don’t tell me handmade ain’t great.
While I am not a great ambassador for my own goods; I am for my craft. I knit/crochet in public all the time. Even in church. I sit in the back and I put it down when during prayer time – except for the quiet prayer time. During that time, I hold onto the fiber and send a prayer and ask for a blessing into it. For some reason, it is more important to share the gift of it than the end result. I’m not sure I want to change that. I do like making money and having a successful business but I would be knitting anyway.
I like to think of it as being a natural inclination to remember what is really the important thing. The spiritual gift that knitting is to me. It is the journey not the destination that makes it work for me and through me. I imagine how I should look pulling on one of my hats. I should be thinner and taller and the rest of my wardrobe should all of a sudden make sense. It never has in all my life but that’s what the imagination does. Real life is so much different. I rejoice at finding a clean shirt. Where I was once proud of the way my hair draped after a visit to the salon, I now have a stylist who cuts me practically bald and I live for haircut day. The last time I bought makeup was around the time of the royal wedding – of Charles and Diane.
Knitting has remained a constant for me. Believe it or not, I have a short attention span so this is a good thing. I’ll take it over having a hat head. But still…