Where did January go?

Wow! What happened? So I planned to post weekly - hah! - but apparently that hasn't happened!

It's been a busy month, not least on the knitting front. The freezing weather has led to lots of hat requests. I am SO pleased that I made the Bellas Mittens (link in previous post). How did I not know that mittens are so much warmer than gloves? And perfect for making snowballs with! If you live in the UK, you'll know about the snow. We don't get much snow in England now - until this year! It kind of goes with the floods that Gloucestershire has had over the past couple of "summers". The first day with the kids off school was nice -until they started fighting. Fighting is a BIG feature of the boys recently, along with defiance.

Being Mum has been a tough job this month. First of all, the changes set M off. Change is tricky for anyone on the autistic spectrum, and he had to deal with the end of christmas holidays, going back to school, P starting a new job and going back to being away from home during the week, me stopping temping, the classroom changing, new school books.... I suppose it's no wonder that he lost it. We had two solid weeks of being called in after school because he had refused to work, or had spent most of the day outside the head's office. If you look after a child with an ASD, you know that this also means constant alert. You cannot leave them unsupervised for any amount of time, or they get up to creative mayhem! After 2 weeks, he settled down. Then B&J started - because they had been more or less ignored. It has certainly challenged my disciplinary ideas. They are all too big to pick up and cart to their rooms now. So I am trying new things. If I find one that consistently works I'll let you know!!

So on a brighter note, I have finished loads of things this month, and have started way more!

I finished 2 hats for P, hats for B&J, fingerless gloves for me, and my first socks from the Violet Green sock club. I made sock blockers out of wire coat hangers. They have been machine washed for the first time today, and they look fine - are blocking to dry. I loved the Feb yarn and pattern so much that I skipped straight to them and started them a couple of days ago.

Most of my current WIP's are big, so my finishing rate will drop! I am knitting a baby blanket for P's new boss's first baby which is due in a few months. I then have more to do. I also thought of a funky baby blanket idea, which I will maybe work up into a pattern - but I have to do a baby shawl first. I am getting on with the Kiri shawl and am about a third though. It's so soft!

I'm really loving the knitting community - it's letting me make new friends, and feel part of something that is not centered around my kids. That's good for me. I have decided to just not worry about finding what I'm going to do with my life, and just let things percolate for a while. Something will turn up, as long as I stay open to opportunities. In the mean time, I'll keep on knitting!

New Year thoughts

I think I know why people make New Year resolutions. In common with lots of people on their blogs, or their podcasts, winter makes me more comtemplative and I am trying to find my direction. I think it's the long nights and cold days. In the summer (or whatever the cold monsoon season that we have had for the past 2 years is called - seriously, if you don't live in the UK, just google Gloucestershire floods) I am more contect to just be myself and am not prone to any sort of introspection. I like this sort of shallowness, I'm comfortable with it!

The back end of last year was fairly tough. Mentally more than physically. P was made redundant at the end of October, which was hard for him. I went into survival mode, tightened the pursestrings dramatically, started temping, and decided that, other than for the kids, we would make Christmas presents. Of course that means I would make presents!

When P was offered a job, on Dec 19th, all the tension that I hadn't really realised I was holding onto was released. It made me an emotional basketcase for the next couple of weeks. And oh yes, that does mean over Christmas. I'm not going to bore you with details, but it was a hard one for me. The levels of control that I can usually hold on to just vanished. Crying is not a good look for me - I don't do the pretty movie star crying but the bright red face and snot version. Ah well, things are coming back into equilibrium now, especially now P has started his job and we are back to only seeing him on weekends. I think when I have to do everything I find it easier to cope. Control freak,moi??

The thing that I keep coming back to is not having a career. Before the twins arrived, I was an equal earner, and that gave me a sense of self and equality that I have struggled to regain. One of these days, I will work out what I'm going to do when I grow up.

Craft-wise this has been a very busy time, and it hasn't slowed down post-christmas. P bought me a 3month membership to the Violet Green sock club, and I am working on the December socks at the moment. The yarn feels lovely and the colours are great, so thanks honey! I am not getting on as fast as I would like witht he socke though. The unusually cold weather that we are getting now has meant that the hats and gloves that I didn't get round to for me, P and the kids have become an urgent priority! Most recently, I have made myself a Felicity hat which is great. It's really easy to wear, can be pulled over my ears when it's cold, and is warm and pretty. I finished Paul's Dashing fingerless gloves and made him a Turn a square hat. I am now working on Bella's Mittens for me. I saw the Twilight movie, and Bella, the main character, had a pair of long horseshoe cabled mittens that I saw and thought "I wonder if there's a pattern on Ravelry" and sure enough, this gorgeous pattern is there and free. I worked the first mitt quickly but despite checking gauge, it came out tighter than it should, so I moved up to 6mm needles for thesecond, which looks great. I have hat requests from the twins, and as I'm not completely happy with P's hat, I will try another pattern. I got all of these, by the way, from the wonderful, entertaining and informative Ravelry website. If you're not already there, WHY NOT??

I had a lovely shopping trip to Kirsty's workshop and got some bargain wools. Some bargain bucket single skeins, and 2 sweater's worth of wool. Can't wait to get started on them.

So I think that my main resolution this year is to not worry too much about what other people think or expect of me, and to keep on drawing out this creative side of me. It satisfies me, gives me a sense of achievement that is noticeably absent in my pathetic housekeeping efforts. So even if it does not count as a career or add any financial value (rather the opposite), it enhances my life. Keep on knitting!

First Blog

I've had such a crafty obsession recently that I thought it was also time I joined the blogging world. I have read so many blog with great links and ideas - not that I am sure that I will be up to the standard of most that I have read.

As an excuse to avoid cleaning the house, I've had a charity shop trawl over the past couple of days. On Wednesday, after waving goodbye to my 9yr old boy who was away on his first residential school trip, I headed off to Wooton under Edge. I'd decided that I wanted to try out felting jumpers to make them into things - first find your jumper!

Luckily in the first shop I went to, there was a hand knit jumper. Mostly brown, with darker brown and cream fairisle work. It was a bit pricy (around £4 I think), but I went for it anyway. It felt as if it was made from wool. A couple of shops later I found a lacy skirt for me, and a beautiful vintage silk dress. It's floor length and almost looks like a nightdress. I don't know what era it's from. There are hand sewn metal poppers hidden on the button band, with silk covered buttons on the front. It's the most beautiful fabric. I don't know what to do with it yet - but I couldn't leave it to go for dressing up! It cost £3.50, so bargain!! Pictures show full length and close up of the pattern.

Yesterday, I went into Stroud, and got 8 knitting magazines for £2, and then hit paydirt in the RSPCA shop. Wool!! A cone of pink wool - I guess it's lace weight, a smaller cone of a deeper burgundy shade, and 3 balls of fluffy cream - maybe thin dk? Anyway, very pleased. I'm thinking shawl. The yarns are pictured at the top of the post.

So this morning, when I couldn't sleep (for some reason my body decided that 3am was wake up time) and eventually gave up and came downstairs, I started cutting up the jumper that I had felted in the washing machine (worked like a dream). I'm making it into a tote, using the guidelines from http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/other_crafts/recycled_sweater_totes.php

It's looking good so far - but a bit too wide, Will decide later what to do. In the meantine, I am using some of the fluffy cream wool to stitch a decorative blanket stitch onto it.

So I think I'd better finish now - hadn't actually meant to start a blog right now (more cleaning avoidance...) so I'll go and learn a little more about it!