Crewel Intentions

Last year, around this time, I discovered crewel. This is what you do as a grad student--you spend a good amount of time teaching, a good amount of time researching, and a very great amount of time poking around on the Internet for hobbies to keep you sane while you finish your dissertation. Anyway, crewel became one of those hobbies. So I stocked up on yarn, had wonderful intentions to make all kinds of samplers, lavender sachets, and pillow covers, and then I got distracted by my dissertation and forgot about crewel until this fall.

Last year we had a home break-in while I was staying with my parents and among the stuff that was taken was a hand-stitched (pa ndau) Hmong tote bag that my mother had bought a long time ago. She loved it and missed it sorely when it was gone, so on the anniversary of the break-in I gave her the one above. It looks nothing like the Hmong bag she lost, unfortunately, which consisted of really beautiful cross-stitch. Still, the daisies are fun!