I have never cared for romance novels. Their stories always seemed too unrealistic or predictable. My love life has NEVER been that way. I have tried reading sci-fi because I love sci-fi movies, however, with a mind that wanders as much as mine does, I could not follow their plots. I do have a passion for all kinds of how-to books. Maybe it goes beyond passion to obsession.
I was sitting alone after one of my surgeries and after the fire. We were living in a trailer that was placed on our farm to use while the house was being redone. It was a cooler, rainy summer day and the crew had the day off. I wanted to try to crochet or knit something. One of our many friends gave me some alpaca yarn to begin to replace all that I had lost. The problem was that I had no patterns – 50 years of collecting, all gone. I began to cry.
Here I sat, alone, hand all wrapped up, half my major yarn-holding finger gone, yarn – my passion- in hand and no ideas in my head. Then, almost as if someone said “she deserves a break,” I remembered: Knitting Daily TV is on the internet! (Now they are connected with Interweave.com) They have free patterns, books, and even DVD’s all on “how-to” different knit and crochet things. They did not have any free patterns, so I went digging!
I found this: http://www.beginner-crochet-patterns.com/ – thank you, God! I then found out through doing just the beginning basics; this was not going to be as easy as I thought! The ½ finger was my yarn guide finger. I saved several how-to patterns on my laptop. I was feeling life again!
One of my goals this year is to read at least one book per week. Now I know that some of you do not consider how-to’s in the “book” category, but I have and always will. They saved my sanity! Losing as much as I did in such a fast, and short time was more devastating than I had realized. Crying on that couch woke me up to that reality.
Decades I had surrounded myself with yarn crafting. Whenever things were bad or tough (had a lot of those), I could count on my yarn, a project, and someone in mind to give the finished product to as a means of moving forward. To wake up one moment and realize that my “constant” in life was in a dumpster filled with ash broke me.
*The home was gone.
*Grandson is gone.
* Passions gone.
*Life forever changed.
I learned, at that single moment, just how strong I was – mentally. I knew what would bring me back to the land of the living again, and it worked! It took my sister a couple of years to find herself again. My daughter is still struggling and has not figured it out for herself yet. Time does not always heal all wounds, at least not for us. Purpose does!
I now have a pretty good sized library of how-to’s now. Everything from yarn workings, to wood working, to furniture restoration, to a multitude of crafting ideas. I am hooked on several blogs that deliver shared ideas every couple of days on how-to do something or another. My cousin, bless her agricultural soul, has sent us a ton of ag how-to books, magazines, and hooked me into Pinterest (here is my site: https://www.pinterest.com/gardenglows/) for millions more great ideas.
I believe that how-to books are real books and I will continue to push on to completing at least one per week. (Truth be told, I have about 4 or 5 going at any given time and get excited when I actually get to the end of one! Tricks me into thinking I know what I am talking about on that subject – LMAO!)
HELBERG FARM STORIES 