Blissed out

More Button Rings

I had a day off today.  I'm working 9 days out of ten, which means that I condense my usual hours into a 9 day fortnight.  It's taking a bit of getting used to - having to be in the office longer every day has been a bit of a struggle - especially as it's been winter and dark when I leave the house and dark when I get back, but the bonus is I've got one lovely day off every 2 weeks and I can pick Cole up from school.  I introduced a ritual a few months ago that we go to a cafe for a drink a piece of cake every Friday I collect him - hey a piece of cake every 2 weeks can't be that bad (although Cole does manage to choose the biggest, most chocolaty piece imaginable so it's probably just as well it's only every 2 weeks!)

Initially I tried to 'talk' - you know, in that way that women do, asking about his day, what he'd done in school and so on.  It was awkward and a bit forced on my part.  Cole would just look at me as if I was the most tedious person on earth!  His answers a combination of shrugs and "I don't know"s. And then I lightened up.  I let him talk about whatever he wanted to - and the conversation now spans everything from why chocolate is his favorite kind of cake (it's really yummy - like durh!), to why vultures have furry rings around their necks (answer - I have no idea!)  Like so many things I've come to realize, it's much better to meet someone where they are - not try to force them into where I want them to be.  And how much more interesting are the conversations!

This morning I went to see a Chinese doctor and had my first ever acupuncture session.  I was pretty nervous to be honest but it was lovely!  I'm not someone who does sitting and doing nothing but I was able to lie for 30 minutes with some pins stuck into various parts of me and feel totally at peace.  And it didn't hurt at all - but it did feel a bit odd at first - when he'd put them in my scalp the whole of the top of my head got really hot.  Apparently it's the chi being released.  I don't profess to understand how it works but when I tried to explain it to John I realized had very little idea how Western Medicine works either! 

The Doctor said that he can help with my fertility and that my main problem is stress (Hmmm, not the first person to suggest that funnily enough!) He'd given me a load of herbs to take and I'm going back next week for another acupuncture session.  It was so lovely that even for the relaxation alone it's worth it.  I suppose there's a bit of me wondering if it's nothing more than a leap of faith - but then, what's wrong with that?

When I got home I decided to make a bag.  I'm wanting to practice my sewing skills so I made a really simple design using some Ikea fabric I'd bought the other day.  I'll post some pictures over the weekend when it's finished.  I finished some more button rings too.  I'm really pleased with them.  So simple to make too.

Button Ring

I was bored last night.  John was watching football.  I was restless.  I couldn't settle.  So what's a girl to do?  go through her button collection (Have I mentioned my button fetish? I'm sure I have.)

I used to do quite a bit of beading but for some reason haven't picked it up for a while.  I had some ring findings in my beading box so I made a few rings - love wearing big bright cocktail type ones and my vintage button stash looks so jewel like I thought they'd work perfectly. I'm feeling grumpy because I've brought about 6 hours worth of work home and it's already 3.30 - probably not much crafting going to get done tonight (oh, can you just picture my scowly face?)

Lovely Lazy Sunday

Cole and I had a lovely lazy day today - kicked of by pancakes and followed by crafting in our jammies.
Cole loves pancakes, but with the rush to get out to work and school there usually isn't time to make them during the week so they're a nice Sunday morning treat.  John was away last night so it was unusual to have the house to ourselves.  It was so sunny and frosty this morning that it was beautiful sat chatting at the table with the sun streaming through the windows,  eating yummy pancakes and knowing that nothing needed urgently doing that day. 

Afterwards I just got all of the craft materials out and told Cole he could make whatever he wanted. He chose to make some alien finger puppets and a matching hand (Parent Alien!) puppet.

When we were done (I didn't actually get to finish my bag - although he worked really well on his own, I was needed to re-thread needles and provide advice.  I'll get the bag finished one night this week when I'm not quite so tired.

I'm feeling less sicky today and my period seems to be starting.  I was really tearful for about an hour - so much of my energy is being taken up by the sheer amount of will being poured into wanting to be pregnant.  And I know this is the worst way to go about it but I just don't seem able to help it.  But I can't go on like this, always anticipating when I'm fertile, when my period's due, when my eventual due date would be.  It's becoming all consuming and I'm permanently tense. I don't want to be this way - I want to be able to relax about it. So I think I need a bit of a refocus, take some of the pressure off and focus on looking after myself.  My eating is out of control and I'm barely making it to the gym these days.  I think I might rejoin weight watchers tomorrow - take some pride in my body and really nurture it - instead of being repeatedly disappointed with it for letting me down.  Surely there's something in this?  If I'm constantly tense, and then blaming my body (even subconsciously) for not being pregnant then how can I hope to be in the right frame of mind, and body, to conceive?

John came back from his night away and gave me a big hug and I felt so much better.  And in a funny way, not that my period is starting I feel a bit relieved - at least I'm not filled with dread and anticipation any more. And the quicker it starts, the quicker it finishes and I'll be ovulating again - oh see, look what I'm doing alreay! - Oh, this way crazy lies!

 

 

Pretty Buttons

I received some lovely buttons in the post today - ebay is such a lovely invention!  All of them are vintage and some even came on their original cards.  I just love all of the zingy colors, shapes and sizes - I get quite silly over them I'm so excited (I mean, they're only buttons right?  Right?)

I've put them in my tin with all my other buttons and I LOVE them.  (Am I beginning to sound weird?)

They're like little shiny candies that only Willy Wonka could invent (OK, I'm gonna stop now - you get the point!)

Oh and did I need a bit of bright shininess today.  It's been a bit of a runaround (Saturday's usually are) with swimming lessons for Cole, having to get to the bank before it closed, then shopping, then Wacky Warehouse, then my Mum visiting, then waving John off as he went to his friends for the night before a big football match tomorrow (watching, not playing.)

But I usually thrive on busyness and running around so I don't know what's going on with me.  I've felt so tired for the past few days, and a bit sicky. 

I think I'm going to have a hot bath and then make something - anything, just to occupy my mind.  Hmmm, maybe looking at some more buttons will help!

Felting - what the dickens is it and how to do it (on purpose!)

We’ve all probably had the experience at one time or another.  Mine, was when I’d first gone away to college.  Washing machines were strange and exotic creatures to me in those days. Whilst I had always been expected to help out with work around the house – washing clothes had been the sole preserve of my Mum. But at University she wasn’t there obviously, so it was just me and the washing machine! 

I remember wanting to cry (ok I DID cry - come on!  I was in college, it was buy another sweater or live on baked beans for the next 3 months!) when I pulled out my gorgeous new baby blue angora cardigan to find that it was half the size and a totally different texture.  It was many years before I forgave that washing machine!

The magic of felting through washing woollen garments at a higher temperature took my many more years to discover (and appreciate when I’d actually INTENDED to do it!)

Felting is the process of producing a tightly bonded fabric from a knitted piece of work.  It produces a thick, dense texture with a slightly fuzzy quality. This is produced when the scales on the wool swell and bind together through heat, water and rubbing them together (which can sometimes happen unintentionally if washing in a hot washing machine.)

So, how do you felt successfully?  It’s important to choose the right yarn – natural wool is perfect but you have to make sure it hasn’t been treated or mixed with a synthetic fibre.  Anything labelled ‘superwash’ has been coated with a special treatment to make it safe to machine wash – we don’t want that in this case.

It’s hard to gauge exactly how much a piece of knitting will shrink when felting.  So the best advice is to knit a swatch or sample square (a tension square is perfect) and see how much it shrinks by.  This way you’ll be able to work out how big you’ll have to knit the original item in order to get your desired felted size.

I've had some really great results using old sweaters I've found in charity shops, felting them and turning them into funky little bags (my friends are all SO used to me giving them something home made each Christmas and believe me, some of the gifts have been more successful than others - the bags were a hit!)

So, you’ve now got the gist of felting, but how do you actually do it?  You could put it in the washing machine on a hot wash but make sure that you put it in with things that are really going to rub up against it – like a pair of jeans.

Felting by hand has some advantages – the main one being that it gives you more control over the process, as you can manipulate the fabric yourself to get your desired effect.   Use hot water and wear rubber gloves.  Submerge the fabric in the hot water and rub it in on itself – as if you wear scrubbing washing on an old fashioned washboard.  You may need to experiment with different pressures to get your desired effect – start off gently and then work up from there.

Felting is great to do with left over pieces of yarn that you can quickly knit up into squares.  What’s fantastic about it is that you never quite know what the end result will be

Oh No, I'm not ready for spring!

Ok Spring arrived this weekend.  Everywhere there are narcissi and blossom - suddenly the garden has sprung into life (plus we lost an hour's sleep on Saturday - NOT what I needed!)  It's enough to make you want to skip through a meadow or sing with the larks - OK, that may be a bit much, but I always think the arrival of the first warms days of the year are enough to cheer even the grumpiest of souls.  Except....

I'm still finishing off my cosy apple green cardigan.  And I've suddenly lost interest!  Who wants to be working on (even if I am SOOO close to finishing it - only the shoulder shaping of one sleeve and the button edgings to go) a cosy, warm, snugly garment, when it's beautiful and sunny outside?

I want to be working with light, cottony yarns in pretty, girly colours and making delicate, floaty little tops and lightweight wraps!  I want yarns that will catch the sun - maybe a bit of beading thrown it?  I want to create flimsy cardies to wear over a tea dress, or a lacy, racy top. 

Ah well, that's just one of the pains of knitting. You start something only to find the season, or even your own mood has moved on by the time you've (nearly) finished it.  I have to say, this doesn't happen to me very often.  I'm usually just as in love with a garment by the time I finish it as when I started.  And the one good thing about living in the North of England is that it may be sunny now, but you can guarantee it will be cold, miserable and (more than likely), raining by the end of the week!

I’ve been really organised this weekend and taken advantage of the sunshine. I’ve taken some photographs of my favourite recent projects.

I bought the most gorgeous pattern book by Louisa Harding called Gathering Roses.  I just fell in love with the designs.  As my local yarn store doesn’t yet stock Louisa Harding yarns – ( I’m working on them!) I found exactly what I was looking for on www.ebay.com (just type 'Louisa Harding' into the search box) which I always recommend for unusual and hard to find yarns (and it's always great for bargain spotting, end of stock sales etc). 

Anyway, this is the first thing I out of the book I made.  It’s in the softest angora yarn with a ribbon edging.  I’m usually pretty sensitive to yarns – anything remotely scratchy really irritates me, but this is so soft it’s gorgeous.  It’s really lovely to work with too and incredibly warm.

Over the next few days I’ll post pictures of other recent items up – until then, happy knitting!