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Last Changes made:
10.10.2003
© 1996 Christiane Eichler
All rights reserved.

My Crafts carreer

My family is a family of crafters. My Granny was a professional whiteworker, and knitted big lacy tablecloths while raising 4 children. My mother studied at a design school for fake jewelry (at that time mostly commited to glass and metal). She also loves all fibercrafts. Her hobby is reenactment of American Indians of the early 19th century, and she does wonderful American Indian beadwork. My other late Grandma was a professional seamstress. Now that I delve into the world of sewing I regret she can't teach me any more.

I learned the basics of knitting when I was five, and my Grandma visited us. When I was 7 or 8 I learned how to crochet at school, and envied all the other girls, who had already learned at home, and did wonderful pot holders for their moms, while I was doing a swatch of single crochets as long as a treble. Later I mastered the art, and had lots of fun with small projects.

At school I also learned some basic embroidery stitches (I still have that sampler I worked at the time), some basic hand sewing, and basic weaving. I also loved all the other kid's crafts, with natural materials like leaves, acorns and such, or with paper, a pair of scissors, and some inexpensive scrap material.

I even tried my hands at basic woodworking when I was about 12, but was somewhat discouraged, because I didn't have appropriate tools for what I wanted to do.

When I was about 14 years old I began crocheting lace when I bought a rather cheap but comprehensive general crafts book that I still own. It had some patterns, and one was an edging that I loved so much I wanted to crochet it for some curtains (this is still a UFO!). Since that time lace has never lost its grip on me. I read about bobbin lace and tatting, and wanted to learn those, but for bobbin lace equipment I didn't have the money, and for tatting the instructions in that book were so sparse, and no patterns given, that I never tried even to find a shuttle somewhere. I made lots of crocheted lace for my mother, who loved these gifts best. She was always very encouraging about my crafts.

Later on (still in my teens) I branched into knitting and some time later even mastered the basics of sock knitting. About that time I met my now hubby, and I think he first saw me crafting when I knitted socks during a Christian Students retreat at Kornthal near Stuttgart/Germany. I still have UFOs from that time, but several finished things as well. I mostly knit for my hubby once I knew him, who still loves to recieve a sweater or a pair of socks once in a while.

When I married I eventually had a home. I raved in crocheting things for this home. Before that I didn't do anything for myself because it couldn't be displayed. I still love doing things for my home, and don't have enough yet! When I was looking for crochet patterns in our local library I didn't only find many of these, but saw that they had books on tatting and bobbin lace as well. I thought, maybe later, and made a note to my mind about thoses books.

During that time I also started with doing Fimo, which was very much fun for me. I thouroughly enjoyed it, and made lots of things, which I even sold to friends. I stopped when my son was trying to put it in his mouth, because this stuff can be harzardous to children when swallowed.

Sometime in Autumn 1991 we bought our first modem. In Spring 1992 I discovered the Crafts forum, and at first visited section 12 very much, where I talked about Fimo with some participants. Later on I also went to the Stitchery and lace section, and saw several people talking about "tatting". At that time I didn't know the word, so I looked it up in a dictionary, and was surprised to find it means "occhi" in German. There were people who had mastered the art I wanted to learn!

My Son was about 1 1/2 years at that time, and had pulled the needles from my knitting several times. This together with the knowledge that there were people who I could ask all the beginner's questions made me decide to learn that craft. Tatting is made up from knots, and can't be unravelled, so I thought this would be ideal (which it was). The people from the Crafts forum greatly encouraged me in all my efforts, especially by promising me to help me get shuttles from the US if I couldn't find them locally. Up to then this was my biggest problem, because I had never seen a shuttle on sale anywhere.

I was very happy when I asked in my local crafts shop about tatting shuttles, and they just looked in one of their drawers to unearth some of these. I bought two, went to the library to get those tatting books I remembered from earlier visits, and started out. After I understood how to turn the knot everything else was easy. A video I watched some time later helped me to improve my technique, which was rather clumsy at first.

In Spring 1996 I eventually learned the basics of bobbin lace, when two friends of our church and I met at a nice old Lady, who taught us - for free, just for the fun of seeing three young women working lace. Bobbin lace is a wonderful craft, and I love it, although tatting will be my ever favourite.

My latest craft is clothes sewing, which I took up in Autumn 1996, and which I enjoy as well. I was never much of a sewer, it was always "work", not fun. But now with a good teacher it has really become fun. I'm very greatful and happy for that, because it allows me to dress well without having to spend thousands of DM. My teacher is very encouraging, and just handles this wonderfully.

I love to do many different crafts. It is difficult to name all that I've done, but I can crochet, knit, tat, embroider, do bobbin lace, weave, sew; and I love to work with paper, cardboard, rubber stamps, polymer clay and do crafts with my children. I don't do all of those at the same time, of course. Right now lacemaking, sewing and embroidery are my favourites.