I learned needlepoint, knitting, and crochet during a childhood where I did not have a lot of friends.This was a way of amusing myself, and my grandma and mom encouraged me. I actually did a lot of things, from weaving of potholders to macrame. Mom and grandma eventually taught me cross stitch initially and I think my grandma and great aunts also did some crewel embroidery. During this time I was simultaneously learning crochet and knitting (of course I wanted to knit an aran sweater in bright colors in fifth grade, not quite comprehending the scope of the project!)
Between a lot of scarves and small blankets, somewhere along the lines I found myself at the public library investigating this thing called “Needlepoint.” I wish I could quote the book but I have not refound it yet. I remember this book had a very colorful bright coverjacket — probably what caught my eye! — and all of a sudden I was asking my mom about this “canvas stuff.” Though this one volume with bright flowers on the cover was the basis of my learning (I wore that book out) and then I remember moving into more and more books. Erica Wilson and Beryl Dean eventually were names I knew by age 12.
Right away, the use of color drew me in. As a child who loved his crayons (the more colors the better) but who never did too well at “neat” coloring ( “Stay inside the lines!”), I found needlework a way to truly paint with thread/wool. (Let’s not talk about the attempts to do paint by number — ask my mom, it was disastrous, and the paint smell did not sit with me.)
There were not a lot of needlepointing resources in my hometown, but I did find a kit at the local craft/fabric store It was a bright owl in a tree, a small (6×6) sized canvas. I dutifully taped the edges with, of all things, black electrical tape (it stuck well!).
Such was the mind of an enterprising 5th grader with access to a well-stocked garage!
Anyway, I got a kit and remember trying to put my reading into action. There were a lot of experiments with stretching canvas on homemade frames (my dad was a good sport for helping his son’s rather unique hobbies!) and eventually I think I made do with some embroidery hoops. Like I said, resources were limited, and this was in the 70′s — no Internet to go to like today. Each “thing” I acquired for my hobby was a major triumph. I still remember buying my first large wooden embroidery hoop — like dying and going to heaven!
Another source of encouragement were the nuns in my grade school. In middle years (5-6th grade), where we were allowed to do needlework during some of our lessons (like during reading hour we could stitch and listen). Imagine this! I was one of 3-4 guys who did it also. In fact in 6th grade my first needlepoint project– an owl – won FIRST PLACE (beating all the girls)! Equal Rights reversed I guess. Of course, looking back, it was really remarkable that those 4 guys — half the boys in my entire class at the time — were all doing needlepoint. I wonder if my classmates still do it!
In high school I got more and more into design, and moved at times into crewel and goldwork (couching mostly). During this time I was exposed to some friends at the churches where I played (I substituted all over the city), where there were Altar Guilds with ladies who regularly did needlework for the church. These women, and a couple of them in particular, opened my eyes to a whole world of ecclesiastical embroidery.
Meanwhile I had exhausted the needlework section of my public library (sometimes paying hefty late fees for overdue books!) and I had found a store or two in my city where needlepoint was more familiar. . . . I remember the first day I bought a piece of blank canvas and took it home. I was ectstatic. Died and gone to heaven again!
Mind you, before I found this shop, I had done several experiments at needlepointing on other non-canvas fabrics. Little did I know this might be okay. In fact I even remember designing and making an Easter basket cover (just a big napkin basically) combining petit point words from an Easter hymn with Hardranger geometic work. All needlework just fascinated me. . . of course I wanted to design Anglican copes and frontals from the get-go. I even did some professionally finished projects (thank you church ladies!) which are hopefully still in use at my high school.
After high school I dropped needlework quite by chance. I was so busy with college and all, I guess it just got away from me, or I from it.
I think one unique side of needlepoint for me, besides picking it back up after about 26 or so years (44 minus 18), I had thought of the relaxation of needlepoint and was loathe to buy premade pillows when I could do it myself, so I went to a store in Wellesley (The Needlepoint Connection) on a weekend when we expected a blizzard and bought a project to keep cozy at home with. Since then I’m becoming more and more drawn in.
Needlepoint is especially great for dealing with my kidney disease. I currently spend almost 15 hours a week on dialysis, and so I try to do that as soemthing to pass the time beyond just napping (even that gets old). Needlepoint focuses me and distracts me from sitting in a chair with tubes hooked up to me for that amount of time. Ironically, last fall I received a kidney transplant, which ultimately did not take and was removed, but during that extended hospital stay (Aug 28 through Dec 6) , I found great solace in needlepoint. I remember taking my needlepoint everywhere — to tests, to dialysis, to radiology. . . It also gave me something to talk to nurses, doctors, etc. about. Some would stop in just to see my progress. It’s really great therapy, and I find the creative element incredibly rewarding. Getting into design is an interest, a brave new world which I am getting closer to trying. I mostly want to do liturgical/ecclesiastical design, that is where my heart lies (In my career I am a church organist/choir director).
I find that I am more and more drawn to household projects, thinking about ideas for projects is a whole additional activitiy above and beyond stitching. While I’m mostly at the thinking and planning stages, I do look forward to beginning to execute some of these ideas. Meanwhile, I have found great joy in making things that build my core stitching skills and looking for tips etc that improve the quality of my work. There’s nothing like a really smooth, even field of basketweave stitching, each little stich adding to a huge mosaic of life.
About Kevin
Sentence or two about myself — Kevin Drake is a classical musician/attorney/renaissance man from Ohio who now lives in the Boston area, his adopted home. To support his needlepoint addiction (it is, after all, the focus) and his voluntary servitude to Gracie, The Original Cuddly Kitty ™, Mistress of the Universe (hehehe) he works as Music Director in a church. Drake, a dialysis patient for several years, also advocates for people in the areas of patients rights and pain mangagement.
