The lazy crafter

I come from a long line of crafter and makers.  Both my grandmothers knitted and crocheted, one even dabbling in a bit of ceramics.  One of my grandfathers was a carpenter, and the other owned a hardware store.  Some of my earliest memories involve when my grandma would watch me in the afternoons, and I would go with her to her crafting groups.  So I guess you could say that I've always like making stuff, and I like buying handmade items.

My problem is, I become really excited about a crafting endeavor, and then lose interest somewhere along the way.  A few years ago, I taught myself to knit, and was doing pretty well with knitting scarves and straight things.  Then I couldn't quite figure out how to add on stitches, and that was the end of that.  Same thing with embroidery and crochet.

But despite this, I still continue in my crafting adventures every once in a while.  My sister and I used to have "Crafternoons", where we'd spend an afternoon just making stuff.  One time it was necklaces, another time it was Christmas wreaths.  I haven't crafted too much since I moved to Japan, but last week, the crafting bug bit.

This is a himmeli.  A himmeli is a traditional Finnish craft that was made with straw.  The more intricate the design of the mobile, the more successful the harvest, they believed.

I'd seen a few of these out in internet-world, and really liked the more modern ones made with just simple drinking straws.  I used a tutorial about how to make the cubes (are they cubes - whatever), and then made my own designs from there.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  It now hangs in our window.

What was perhaps the best thing about this craft is that it took me only a few hours to make it, once I got the hang of creating the geometric shapes.  And that's perfect for an ADD crafter like myself.  I'd definitely like to make more of these.

I wonder what I'll be making next?