April 8, 2017

Confession time...

Fellow sewing blogger Tanit-Isis has an interesting statement on her blog (it is written under her profile picture): "Sewing is what I do when I'm cheating on all my other hobbies..."
Nice, isn't it? I don't know how demanding her other hobbies are but for me, sewing was the undisputed first hobby for many years. I didn't bring any sewing with when on holiday and I could sometimes get distracted by machine knitting but overall I was pretty faithful. That is, until some point between now and about two years ago when a sport started to get in the way. I have never been the sporty type but I did really fall hard for sport-climbing (no pun intended).

Now, I also have a more demanding job than before, and my transformation into a climber is still going on. Lately, I have had even less time to sew because I have found something which combines my love for making things with my love for climbing: I'm learning to be a route setter at my local climbing hall!
For the uninitiated, route setters are the people who screw the plastic holds to the wall in artificial climbing areas. Each route is set in one colour and there are different levels of difficulty. And the routes are changed regularly (in this place, a route stays on the wall for about 6 months, unless there is something wrong with it and it taken down sooner). I've set six routes so far and apart from the first one, they are all still on the walls. And I feel like learning with each new one...

This is the card I made for the latest addition:


This blog's namesake! (and for those of you in the know: Here in the Netherlands, climbing halls use the French grading system. So this route would be something like a 6 in IUAA and a 5.10a in the USA) At this climbing hall, route setters do not only get to name the climbing routes they created, they also get to design a card for it. The card should include the route's name and grade but the design is completely up to one's own choices. Right from the start, I thought it would be nice to try and stick with vintage fashion as a theme for mine...

Oh, and please don't be too worried. I might cheating on my sewing hobby but I will never leave it. In fact, I have a new pair of 1940's style jeans to show you tomorrow.  

3 comments:

  1. What a cool other hobby!

    That quote was how my best friend once described my sewing, which floated in and out of my other hobbies (writing, art, dance) unpredictably for years. Arguably the last few years sewing has been the main hobby and the others were cheating. ;) I like the tangible benefits of sewing a lot.

    I went wall climbing a few times with my husband when we were first dating and loved it (but was spectacularly terrible at it)---it's been fun to watch it growing on you!

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  2. I know my other hobbies (cleaning the house, raising the children, picking up after the spouse, working the jobs) are jealous of sewing, because I don't write about them. I'm glad you are letting climbing have a little more attention here. More!

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  3. What a fun new interest. I think what I enjoy about getting to "meet" other sewing friends online is also catching a glimpse of what other hobbies/activities catch their imagination. Congrats on being selected to do the route selecting and designing such a clever card.

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