Crafting through the generations

I don’t remember exactly when I started to craft, but I was very young. I was 8 when I started making my first friendship bracelets, and around 13 or 14, I was beading. Now, I knit, stamp, scrapbook, do some woodwork, bead occasionally and I would try any type of craft.

Crafting is a gene in my family. My mom is very talented at floral arrangements. She also started to dabble in scrapbooking and makes those wonderful bows out of ribbons. People are likely to find one of them on their next Christmas present, and I’ve never seen anyone throw them away!

My grandma is also still, at 80+ years old, a fantastic knitter and crocheter. What is even more extraordinary is that she does it all without reading the pattern! She just looks at the picture, occasionally complaining it’s too small! I’ll never forget the day I brought her a rust-colored cabled sweater, asking her to make one in black with shorter sleeves. Two weeks later, it was ready, and two weeks after that, she told me she had made a second one with “the yarn leftovers”!!

I became a Harry Potter fan about 7 years ago, after being “forced” to read the books to teach French reading comprehension to twins. Needless to say I wasn’t really forced after the first page!! I joined the Leaky Lounge after a small forum I was visiting died, right before HBP was published. In July, when I was about to pass out from anticipation, I decided to start a Yahoo! Group, Harry Potter Crafts, so I could combine my two passions (and kill some time while waiting for the book to be released!).

I was (and still am!) totally hooked on Leaky for news, very active on the Lounge and listening to PotterCast every week. During winter, I started knitting myself a Ravenclaw scarf after being taught knitting by my grandma. Then somewhere in the beginning of 2006, Kimmy asked me to appear on the show to talk about Harry Potter and crafts, and about my group. I agreed and the interview aired on PotterCast #33. Shortly after that, I received an e-mail from Melissa (Anelli¦ you know¦ THE Melissa!) asking me if I wanted to be on staff and to create a crafts section on the main site. My heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t hesitate a single moment!

So I learned HTML, started to request permission from people to post their tutorial in the soon-to-be-created crafts section, uploaded images in the gallery, etc. so that the section would be as full as possible on opening day, which was on June 11, 2006. I soon realized I couldn’t do it all alone forever more, so Ofenjen (Jen) joined our ranks shortly after Lumos (she left our group last year in December), and Mary followed not too long after. Then a little over a year ago, in June, Jenn, Amber and Rose were added to the team and in September, it was Cat’s turn.

Working as a crafty witch is sometimes quite a challenge, especially when it has to be balanced with a busy life as a Muggle. For that reason (and mostly because they just haven’t invented a time-turner for Muggles yet!), I did recently hand the “Head” job to Jenn, concentrating instead on requesting permission from new crafters! I really wouldn’t trade my “job” as a Crafty Witch for anything in the world. First, as a Crafty Witch, I have the opportunity to see some awesome craft that I probably wouldn’t even find after hours of Googling. Then, I get to see patterns go up on Leaky, and hear from thankful people who don’t have to go to zillions of different sites to find what they are looking for because the site exists. Isn’t that great?!

When I started working alone in the crafts section, it was with the hopes of creating a one-stop shop for Harry Potter crafts-related needs. 2 1/2 later, I think we can say that, as a group, we’ve achieved that goal, after countless hours of work. That really doesn’t mean we’re done though! Every time I hop on Google, I find more goodies we can add to the crafts section, and I’m ever so amazed by the crafters’ talents! I really can’t wait to see what people are going to come up with next!

Harry Crafting to you all!

Josée

-xxx-