One of “those” projects

It was early November, the time of the year that I launch into my most complicated and ambitious projects. Rooting around in my bin of yarns, I found red and white yarn and decided that I should get some green yarn and hand weave bands, sew jingle bells on them and make bell pulls for all my friends for Christmas.

Armed with the enthusiasm of the crafter and the knowledge that I had plenty of time (about 7 weeks!) I went to the crafts store, found just the right shade of bright green and bought (what I thought was) just enough for my project.

At home, I quickly warped my little inkle loom and set to work. BUT, there was one strand out of place on the loom. One. Weaving is an exacting craft and one strand over the bottom bar instead of under it meant I could not go forward. I spent a couple of hours trying to fix it but finally gave up, tossed out that bunch of yarn and started over.

Still humming “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” I reworked the loom correctly and began to weave and the results were enough to make the angels smile. 57 inches of a long, beautiful Christmasy band. The only problem was, it was way too narrow for a bell pull. I sat looking at it a long time and finally inspiration struck! I could use it as the center of a decorative table runner, not remembering, of course that my dining room table is 60 inches long, not 57.

By this time it’s after Thanksgiving and the rest of Christmas is looming but, undeterred, I went back to the store and bought stunning green fabric the length of my Christmas band and set to work making a quilted Christmas table runner, which only took a few more hours. I sewed my beautiful band down the center and, bouncing into the dining room, humming “It’s a jolly, holly Christmas” I unfurled it down the length of the table. Almost. It just wasn’t long enough. And, worse, the single band just looked skimpy with the fabric. Frowny face.

What to do, what to do. I had too much time invested to give up. I tried adding fabric to the end but that didn’t work, so I decided just to leave it short and put placemats over each end. Then I decided that really, I needed additional bands on both edges. Back to the store to buy more green yarn, which they didn’t have but I found three stores later. Muttering “Blue Christmas” I went back to the loom, which I warped correctly the first time! and began weaving. My loom only can make 57 inches at a time, so I had to do everything twice to get bands for both edges, which I did by December 15th.

With the theme from “The Grinch” running through my head, I sewed the bands on the edges of the stupid, short table runner and stuck it on the table. I didn’t even turn around to see how it looked. Whose idea was this anyway?

But then, what was I going to give to my friends? December 21, I go back to the store, get red, white and green yarn, go back to my little loom, make SURE I warped enough yarn to make a nice wide band and began to weave again. Success! By Christmas Eve I had woven a long enough band to cut and make four beautiful bell pulls. Oh but who knew jingle bells were part of the supply chain problem? After going to several very crowded stores, I finally found a wreath of bells, which I cut apart and sewed bells on the bands. Done! before midnight.

Some projects simply go together more smoothly than others but I’ve found that crafting is much like childbirth, once you’re actually through it, you look at the end product and sort of forget about the pain of getting there, So, I know that come next November, I will probably have another idea for another project and start the whole process over again. Only, I don’t think it will be weaving! Maybe a three story gingerbread house with caramel sugar windows you can actually SEE through. Can’t wait!!!!