Thinking Craftily...or is that Craftily Thinking...

I suppose I always knew this, but I have recently been reminded, by certain unnamed family members,  that there are two kinds of people in the world, the Crafty and the Uncrafty.  I must confess that I fall into the former group.   I sew, I paint, I knit, I crochet, I...well, you get the idea.   I'm still working with crafts that I've been doing since I was a kid, and I'm not afraid to try new crafts that I've always wanted to do or only recently discovered.  Some crafts stay in my repertoire, others are cast aside after a while, usually because they are profoundly boring or just beyond my willingness to endure.  But for someone who's not innately crafty like Jess, who started this site, becoming crafty or even attempting something crafty can be quite intimidating.  The tools are often medieval in appearance, the materials are overwhelming in their variety, the options are endless, and the cost? ...That ball of yarn costs how much???   But still, there's this little spark inside you that says it's time to get over the fear, to ask yourself: How bad can it really be?  How untalented is too untalented?  Where can I hide my project when company comes?

The foregoing notwithstanding, I said I was crafty - I didn't say I was talented.  Skillful in crafts I've done for a lifetime, maybe.  Talented, no.  Probably the most important thing I have discovered  from a crafty lifetime is that it's just as much fun to make something...er...ugly, as it is to make something beautiful.    This is a hard concept to sell, as I discovered over the weekend.  My friend Amber and her family had come up from Tuscany for a visit, and as she and I walked through the streets of my ancient city, I was telling her about the difference between being project-oriented (more interested in the finished product), or process-oriented (more interested in the procedures and the actual "doing" part).  As I was extolling the virtues of the "doing" part, she looked at me with abject horror and said, "But I want to be proud of what I make!"

Of course it's nice to be proud of the project you've put time and money into and even those of us interested in the process like to have something we love at the end of our labors, but if your goal is to open an Etsy store with your first projects, I'm here to tell you that ain't happening.  All crafts have a learning curve.  Some have a steeper curve than others, but that shouldn't stop you from trying your hand at something just for the hell of it.

On these pages, we're going to embark on a journey of discovery.  Finding that perfect something that will satisfy the inner creative spirit that you may not even know exists.  Along the way, you may see pictures of my beautiful city and maybe learn a little Italian.  I may even introduce you to one or two of the Lost Girls of Italy.  Native English speakers from around the world who live in Italy and have their own special take on crafts.  A presto.... ("so long")