Not enough crafting hours in the day!

When non-knitters find out that I knit they do tend to say 'Oh yes, knitting is becoming very fashionable again theses days'! Well these days have been going on for quite a few years now, and I've never really been a slave to fashions of any kind. Although I do find this kind of statement a bit annoying, and maybe just a little patronising, there are some benefits to the "fashionably of knitting".

Knitting shops are no longer like the one in my local town when I was a child, stacked to the rafters with pastel colours acrylics and pattens for frilly baby matinee sets. New and lovely shops are stocked with an eye popping range of colours, textures and fibers, not to mention the explosion in knitting accessories - food shaped stitch markers, who had this crazy, if genius, idea? There are knitting circles springing up everywhere, and of course Ravelry, the internet mecca for knitter. The source of knitting inspiration and envy, and a drain on time. You log in to look for one little pattern and hours later you are still there!

Anyway, I am reliably informed by my friend with her finger on the crafting plus (that's you R) that sewing is THE NEW knitting! This statement fills me with a mixture of delight and dread. Dread that another of my hobbies is about to become fashionable and I can read more vacuous article in the press about how 'sewing is the new big thing', and how its a way to beat the recession. Its not, in that you can buy a skirt in Pennys much more cheaply than you can make one. But, it is cheaper to make you own skirt to you own size, in the style you want, that to have one made for you to the same specification. And its a one off, you will never walk into a room to find someone wearing the same thing as you.

On the delight side, sewing could do with the same shot in the arm that knitting has had over the last few years, and it is already happening. There are nicer fabrics turning up in the shops, and newer more 'fashionable' patterns, Amy Butler being a great example. And, D has just pointed me towards ravelry for sewing - mysewingcircle. Set up, perhaps unsurprisingly by a knitter and user of ravelry, it offers lots of the same things - stash area, project pages,  friends and groups. (I like the idea of sewing groups, but sewing machines are heavy to carry around and I don't like hand sewing.) Its a new site, only launched earlier this month, but there is already a lot of information on the site, and I've already lost track of time browsing pattern ideas, and discovering exciting new sites and resources along the way - Collette Patterns and Casey Brown Designs for a start.

Its all so exciting, but there are just not enough hours in the day. All these resources, all this crafting and all these potential projects, there is just too much to do!!!!!!!!! Where to start???????

Well, firstly I'm going to stop rambling, and secondly I'm going to spending an evening up loading my fabric stash to mysewingcircle, as I can never remember what I have and maybe this way I'll use up some of it instead of buying more. As an archivists the idea of doing this fills me with excitement, organising and fabric in one task! Heavenly!