Since the first of the year I've been reading a series by Deborah Geary called "A Modern Witch". It's not your basic book about witches in that it doesn't have werewolves, vampires, zombies, ghouls, demons, or anything else in the evil, nasty, scary, genre. Even better not a single mention of Wicca other than "Harm no one". I can hear you now, "That sounds pretty boring. Why would I want to read it?"
I'll tell you why. It's about family and community, granted it's a family and community of witches, but it's about family and community none the less. One of the characters in the series is going to be the greatest witch of his generation, now however, he's only 4. Only 4 and able to throw fire balls, teleport people and things, and he does this thing with the San Andreas Fault, but I digress. If you know a 4 y/o then you know that their logic can be fuzzier than the dice on the rear view mirror of a '57 Chevy. Add to that the aforementioned fireballs and teleportation of objects both animate and inanimate and you get some fun stuff.
About 3 books into the series of 7 I decided I needed to make some AMW jewelry. Not a bad thought, except I had it at 1 AM. Needless to say it was a pretty sleepless night. The premise of the series is that some people have the ability to manipulate the 4 elemental forces of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. These people also have an affinity with the colors associated with these forces, Earth - Greens and browns, Air - pastels, fire - Reds, yellows and oranges, Water - blues. Well I had my color schemes so it was OFF TO THE BEAD STASH! I envisioned peyote beaded amulet bags. I got crap, to put it mildly. I sat for days waiting for the beads to tell me what they wanted to be. I tried to tell THEM what they wanted to be. I tried different types of beads, different stitches, I got bupkis! Yes, it's a real word, Google it! Sadly I packed up the Stash. OFF TO THE MAILLE STASH! Sadly, same results.
I didn't know what to do. I needed to make this stuff. It wouldn't let me go! Then I remembered a small bag that I had crocheted years ago, big enough to hold a credit card, license, and ID. I dug it out, it was perfect!!! OFF TO THE YARN STASH!
At this point I need to confess something, I'm a yarnie. "Wait, you're a WHAT?" A yarnie. A yarnie is like a foodie, but should never, never, EVER, under ANY circumstances be allowed in a yarn shop. The yarn shop here is The Fiber House. One of the characters in AMW is named Caro, she owns a yarn shop in Berkely, CA. called Knit A Spell. If it existed in the real world I would SO be there. I would fit right in with the ladies there even if I don't knit. That's right, I don't knit I crochet. Why? There are to many moving parts in knitting. Crochet is to knitting as playing guitar is to playing the banjo, but I digress. OFF TO THE YARN SHOP!
I walked in one bright sunny June morning to fondle some sheep! I walked out 30 min later with a skein each of Lamb's Pride wool in variegated blue, green, red, and yellow! The plan was working, despite one minor flaw. Can you see it?
I also decided out of the blue to learn kumihimo, the art of Japanese Braiding. I ordered a beginners kit from Art Beads and waited for the mail. While coming out of left field this actually turned out to be a propitious move because my wife was looking at me me in the middle of my yarn addiction and seriously thinking of taking away my plastic. If she wasn't she should have been because I had a 50$ list of beads and findings I would need to make the straps for these bags.
I sat down and in between stints babysitting my daughters 3 versions, minus the ability to throw fireballs etc, of Aervyn the 4 y/o from AMW I got the bags created and the straps braided. All the while trying ignore the King Kong sized ape in the middle of my work space. The minor flaw mentioned two paragraphs above. I hadn't found the right pastel colored yarn for the air witch. I did what any self-respecting yarnie would do. OFF TO THE YARN SHOP, AGAIN!!
A whole bunch of dollars later I walked out with lots of yarn again, along with more yarn bobbins for the kumihimo and sadly lacking any pastel yarn for the air witch. As it turned out this trip had been propitious. My yarn stash had grown significantly over the last month and it needed some serious organizing. That's when I found it a sweet little yarn that met all my requirements, it was pastel, already in my stash, it was natural fiber, and it was sweet! Seriously it was 100% recycled sugar cane stalks! SWEET!!
The last strap braided, the last bag crocheted and it was embellishment time! I dug out the crystals, I dug out the gemstones and the beads started talking to me! WOO HOO! It took 4 months off and on but it was worth it.
I want to close with the words of a great philosopher, Valerie Felicity Frizzle "Take chances! Make mistakes! Get messy!" Really, that's what creativity is all about.
The Modern Witch Collection. From left: Air, Water, Fire, Earth. Big enough to hold a credit card, license, ID and it WILL fit over your head. The straps are btwn 18" and 22"
