Finally! My brain’s been able to shift away from derby for a bit. I haven’t been to practice in two weeks. (I’ve still been going to the meetings and to events, so I’m not away from it completely.) I wasn’t able to walk properly after aggravating my injury during the bout, so I thought a wee bit of time off would be great for healing. I was right. I’ll be back on skates Tuesday.

But this post isn’t about derby! It’s about crafting! Yay!

The lovely Emily over at Inside a Black Apple posted about this really neat new tool for printing one’s own designs on fabric. I love going to the fabric store, but I almost always leave unsatisfied. I find that I settle for something that’s close to what I want, but never quite right. The fabrics I do end up buying are still really cute, but not what I went in for. (I have this same problem with yarn, so I haven’t bought much yarn in the past several months either.) If I want stripes, they’re not the right colors or widths; if I want flowers they’re some wonky size or color or shape or whatever. Never exactly what’s in my imagination. And what’s in fashion, is almost never what I’m looking for. Sometimes the two synch up, but not very often.

Well, the folks responsible for Spoonflower thought the same thing. I love making my own clothes. There’s something really wonderful about wearing something interesting and people asking you where you got it, and being able to reply that you made it yourself. I almost never use patterns (for anything- including knitting to cooking) so what I end up with is unique. I’m not always successful in my clothing endeavors, but I learn with each attempt, and what I end up with is the expression of my own style and sense of color and design.

Imagine what I could do with my own fabric designs! My brain nearly explodes with the possibilities!!! I want gnomes! GNOMES!!! I want the right kind of flowers! I want wee little people dancing on wee little vines! Imagine the skirts and aprons and summer tops and wraps and EVERYTHING made from fabric straight out of my imagination. I’m positively giddy with the prospect of it all!

It’s of course in beta testing right now, and so I’ve added my name to the waiting list, and must therefore wait patiently like everyone else. I miss my crafty time. Derby leaves me pretty spent, so on my “off” days, I usually just park it in front of the TV and zone out until it’s time for bed. This is not an energizing activity. But I know that taking that time to be crafty would be so rejuvenating and wonderful. Whether that’s by knitting or sewing or whatever. I need to get that time back.

Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed to.