Friday, September 17, 2010

This Moment


{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by SouleMama

Thursday, September 16, 2010

New Home Making



Two things our new home has meant to us so far:
1.The quilt has found its home at last. After an interim period using the it in the cot with the side down so P could escape- although amazingly he didn't- we've now acquired the 'big boy bed'. Cue much excitement and a few evenings of trekking up and down stairs to persuade him that he needed to stay in the bed rather than climbing on a chair to look out of the window. All in all it's gone well, however, and every time I see him snuggled up asleep under the results of all that hard work it makes my heart soar.
2.Evenings are a bit less relaxed for the grown-ups. The reality of decorating a house with two small children is that sometimes the only time available is after bed time- assuming that M decides that she'll coordinate her sleep time with her brother's. If that means 10.30pm sees us steaming off old wallpaper (to reveal, in this case, cork tiles!) and slapping undercoat on woodwork then so be it. Even with scruffy plaster and streakily undercoated wood, it somehow looks better than the previous decor, perhaps because it's the first marks we are making on our new home. Can't wait until we get a room finished!

Monday, September 13, 2010

A pause for entrelac





On various training courses over the years I've done those tests that are meant to show you what your personality and work style was. Whatever the label, I never came out as a person who was good for finishing off things- I'm always an ideas and enthusiasm and 'let's get things going' type. In a way, knitting and sewing is good for combatting the negative side of this, in that over the years I've developed the self discipline to make myself finish projects properly, carefully and if necessary s-l-o-w-l-y, rather than waste the money spent on materials and the time spent on producing whatever I've made. The results have always been much more satisfying as a consequence.
Having said that, knitting is a hobby after all, not my job. I've completed a good three quarters of my Rosamund cardigan, but having finished the yoke and the waist shaping I'm now just on the final run over the hips. In other words, a bit of cable, a lot of plain or purl, then an bit of cable. Row after row after row. In a sophisticated but slightly dull beige colour yarn. Then the other day I noticed I had buggered up a cable several inches below. I tried a rescue attempt, but in the end had to frog back those inches to sort it out, which put the tin lid on my enthusiasm for it really. It also wasn't helped by a trip to the Sheep Shop in St Annes on Sea, where I'd bought two balls of King Cole Riot to make an entrelac scarf I'd found after too much time on Ravelry. Those gorgeous, jewel-like colours were winking up at me from amongst the beige in my work basket. So I gave in- it is a hobby after all- and I'm having a break from the beige, giving my knitting brain a workout learning entrelac and hopefully regain the enthusiasm to go back and complete the cardigan.