Crafting On :: A Knot Doll and the Eclipse

These last days of August are full ones, but we have worked in some making, here and there. While I've shared some of my children's creations, they've made many things this Summer: a little village of tissue box houses, bows and arrows, a gnome beard, a shoe box piano, cereal box guitars, a sit upon, a paper laptop airing Hello, Dolly, many things. I may have imposed a break from all kinds of tape, because it was beginning to take over the place.  I do love that they can make almost anything they can imagine and fill in the gaps with their own creativity. 

Here's a sweet doll that Willow and I made over the weekend.  It's a classic knot doll, the instructions for which are in Toymaking with Children.  Peach, as Willow calls her, is made out of two napkins: one for her body, and a small corner for her little hat.  The hands are knots and the head is stuffed and held with thread.  Willow made the hat by knotting another napkin corner and I sewed it to her head.  She's very sweet and it does go to show that simple toys can be loved by children, perhaps in a way that manufactured ones cannot.

The main event lately was the eclipse, of course.  Even me, under my rock--I knew about it.  We went up to Comer's Rock to try to see it, but the place was very crowded!  It's so remote, we thought we'd have the place to ourselves.  Left with nowhere to park and the prospect of a very crowded observation site, I suggested a nearby wildlife clearing.  Among the honey bees, we found our place and set up the camera with long lenses and UV filters to film the event.  We were able to watch it on the video screen.

We also used crossed hands to see it projected onto the ground, when the clouds weren't in the way. I think we may have had the only clouds for miles around! Moving wasn't really an option, so we stuck it out and made the best of it. It was neat to see the light change and feel the air get cooler. These two photos show the difference in the light that we were able to observe.   It felt a little like twilight, to be sure, and seemed darker than I was able to capture with my camera. 

Truth be told, I am scrambling in this last week or so to tie up all the loose ends.  There's the dentist, new tires for the car, grapes waiting for juicing, and at least one more run of tomato sauce.  Oh, and I want to sew dresses.  I'm hoping to fit that in very soon.  The knitting bug has certainly moved out for the time being, but I may regain my focus in September.  There is always something to do.

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.