Crafty Caturday roundup

Okay, so despite clearly having the best mask there, I FAILed to win any prizes at the masked ball. I suspect this was because I overlooked the most important criterion, i.e. being a personal friend of the organizers. But I’m satisfied with the moral victory.

The ball itself was a bit disappointing. The whole absinthe-and-burlesque aesthetic was tired three years ago, possibly because underneath its pretensions to decadence, it tends to be curiously prudish and joyless. Also, the featured act was a band of ghastly boy-men strutting around in hairy paunches and ironic headwear, sneering openly at the audience. Two of the things that repulse me most in a man are 1) preoccupation with own personal appearance and 2) negligence about hygiene. He-hipsters, being both vain and dirty, unite these two polar opposites in one horrible, insanitary hybrid.

However, the mask now hangs proudly on my wall.

This Caturday I also managed to finish a cross-stitch piece I’ve been persevering with for weeks, even though it has been apparent for most of that time that it was going to end up looking basically like an MS Paint drawing on aida cloth. It’s a thank-you gift for a coworker of mine who took me under her wing when I started in my job — a wry, jaded veteran reporter who smokes like a chimney, swears like a trucker and has a heart of gold. I’m pretty sure she won’t mind that what I’ve given her is basically hideous tat:

Cross-stitch is fun. The very prissiness and homogeneity of it as an artistic medium spark creativity. And there’s something about curling up with a G&T, an unabridged audiobook of To Kill a Mockingbird and an embroidery stand and patiently picking out the word “fuck” in Anchor stranded cotton that soothes my soul.

I realize with a shock that I’ve come to the end of my craft backlog for the moment. I’ve finished a project and don’t have another to start on right away? Panic! Head for the Crafty Caturday Treasure Chest!