An Anniversary of Sorts

Yesterday I purposefully didn’t write an entry in the morning. “I’ll write it at night, after I’ve had a day,” I thought. “That way I’ll have plenty to write about!” What I forgot is that I get up at 5:00 in the morning and by dinnertime, my brain is in the process of shutting off. Evening is not my friend when it comes to writing. So, today I’m back to writing in the morning.

I don’t know why I wake at 5:00. My only explanation is that is has to do with getting older. All I know is that when I wake at 5:00, bed doesn’t feel good anymore. I feel itchy and ready to get on with my day, so I do. I had been mostly using the hours between 5-7:15 to play on the internet, but this week I started using them to do my handwork instead. Doing handwork in the quiet of the early morning, accompanied only by a podcast or audiobook, is really a very pleasant and grounding way to start the day, I’m learning. I’m going to try to keep this new habit up.

This morning I finished up my ornament that I spent much of yesterday hemming. I finished up the stitching, and then gave everything a good press with the new iron. I will sheepishly admit that I am officially now a person who has Opinions about irons, and that my new one is about a thousand time better than my old one. Positively a pleasure to use. A little thrilling even. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone I said so. The ornament is now resting beneath a pile of heavy books to flatten out the buckram that is inside of it, and then next week I’ll send it to a loved one who, I think, will appreciate it a lot. The design is an Orthodox cross, which is normally very much not my kind of thing to stitch, but I think its recipient will like it a lot.

It is sort of my two-year anniversary of getting onto the path of this stitching and sewing thing. Two years ago today I posted on Facebook that I’d read an article in Slate about latch hooking rugs, and how it was the perfect pandemic hobby, and I’d ordered a kit. (Note: turns out I really hated latch hooking rugs.) Friends posted in the comments that I might like cross stitch too, which led me to finding Avlea Folk Embroidery on Etsy. And the rest is history. I now have been embroidering and cross stitching Avlea designs for a couple years, though it only really ramped up a year ago, and hand stitching a pillow inspired me to look into getting a sewing machine and here I am now. Talking about my new iron and waking at five to stitch buckram into a silk lining. I realize my new interests make me sound like I’m 80, but they bring me so much joy I don’t really care.