You just never know when a new craft obsession is going to come striding in and sweep you off your feet. The beginning of this craft was inauspicious to say the least and gave no indication of the mania currently gripping me. I must weave!

Basket weaving arrived unannounced in January when I had a go at camp using bullrush and raffia. The basket I started has since joined the one I started at the Village Continuum a couple of years ago and sits with my other unfinished projects. Not too many these days (unless I get serious about counting them all...). Anyway as my friend Fiona says, if you haven't got loads of unfinished craft projects then you're not really being creative (I'm paraphrasing here, I'm sure she said it's okay to have lots unfinished!)

I even made a trip back to the camp waterhole to forage for rushes to use in basket making. My friend Meli was bitten by the weaving bug, hard. Still I resisted. I was immune the the charms of weaving even though we were foraging in nature for the materials we needed.

My obsession started a week and a half ago when another friend was using raffia and a needle to make cool baskets with a simple blanket stitch. I adore blanket stitch. In high school I made heaps of plush soft toys from kits and blanket stitched them all together. When my girls were litttle I made them lots of little toys out of wool felt. 

I've been aided and abetted in my new craft craze by gorgeous Meli who just happened to already have a kilo of raffia and so very kindly gave me half. Talk about having great friends. Thanks Meli! The raffia is now strewn all over the lounge room floor - it gets everywhere and is almost impossible to keep tidy.

I had been itching for something to do with my hands in those moments when I usually go for my phone. I wanted to get off the screen and into my body. To feel my hands moving and creating once more in a steady rhythm.  It's still too hot for me to get back into knitting which is the other great craft for busy hands and wandering/ dreaming minds. 

When I sit and sew, I'm very present in the moment. After all these years my hands are on autopilot, the memory is in my muscles. My body knows just what to do and the repetitive motions are soothing and meditative. I can still respond to my girls and be part of what is going on around me. Not all the crafts I do are like that. 

I'm not sure how long this latest craze will last (who knew eco-dyeing would still be going strong?) but I'm enjoying it while it does. What's your latest craft obsession?