The letter C

Today's post is bought to you by the letter 'C'....

C is for Crumpets. The run up to Christmas is a heady time of excitement and expectation. I was very grateful to return to my warm and cosy home and I really enjoyed my moment of sitting in the place I wanted to be, enjoying the treat I'd made for myself and I thought " Thank you me. Thank you for the mug of tea and hot crumpets" I really needed those crumpets...and the cup of tea.

So C is also for Care ...Take Care of yourself during this time. And when you do really notice it, revel in it, give yourself a big old love and most of all don't feel guilty about it. 

C is also for Creativity. As always in the run up to Christmas it can all get a bit top secret as the desire to create is directed towards making things as an expression of love and friendship. But I can tell you that I'm busy stringing looms for this Saturday's Women's Circle in the Herd Thyme Tipi field.  Something I'm very much looking forward to, a day of meditation and weaving.  A little time out from the hustle and bustle to just play with sticks and wool, while in the company of others. Sharing stories and exchanging tips. We still have one place left so feel free to share with friends or family if you think they might be interested. 

Details here or feel free to send me a message for more information.

I really must crack on now with the life jobs...stringing looms and making pizza for a very special family guest.  I am well fortified by the crumpets and a bucket of tea and the little sit down (well done me).

I hope to post some pictures of our Weaving Your Story workshop some time before Christmas but you know how it is.... but I shall definitly be thinking about my website, Woollycraft Wonders and where it's going next, and of course that glorious alpaca yarn that is begging to be my next favourite garment...I'm really being good to me at the moment!!  

TTFN and all the very best Christmas Cheer to you all x

 

Self Care.

After a VERY busy weekend at the Christmas Floating Market, selling wool, making wool and (hopefully) inspiring others to do things with wool I found myself a little slow to get going today.  A notion made all the more obvious when I realised I'd got half way to the car without my keys!!

So, when I got home today it was all about self care which took the form of re-making my nest (quite a feat in itself in such a small and enclosed space!) and a gentle pottering of tidying and clearing spaces.  We even had enough time and energy for a little bit of Christmasing :-)

 

It'll be a pizza tea and then an evening of gentle crochet. I'd love to know what other's do for self care? Feel free to leave a comment below if you feel like sharing.

Take care all...literally :-) TTFN x

Ups & Downs

It's been an upy downy sort of time lately. Lots of excitement and enthusiasm for my craft workshop due to happen today,  followed by despondency and disappointment as I started to realise I didn't have enough people for it to be viable and so reluctantly cancelled it :-(

 But I am nothing if not resilient. After a moment of feeling sorry for myself I dusted myself off, sought feedback from family, friends and anyone else who was willing to listen, and decided to take my concept back to drawing board.  I WILL bring wool into peoples lives and their lives WILL be enriched :-) I'm just not sure exactly how at the moment...so watch this space..

In the meantime I have Christmas Floating Market to prepare for and another workshop planned in collaboration with Kara of Herd Thyme.

All the recent planning I've been doing for workshops has had me thinking about my own crafting journey. When I am at my parents I sleep under this quilt.

I pieced and stitched this together as I was going through my Counselling training. It's lovely to have this reminder of such a rich and important stage of my life and I am very grateful.  To me it is a reminder of how I've got to this point, what has inspired and motivated me and how I'm still creating 10 years on. 

It also reminds me to have patience with the knowledge that it takes a lot of little individual stitches to make something special x

Attempting Mindfullness and a Request...

So things are hotting up and I'm starting to get quite busy with workshops and making for the Christmas Floating Market. 

This is the perfect opportunity for me to practice my 'Not Getting Stressed' pledge to myself. It's very easy during busy times, especially if there's lots of planning involved, to mentally 'rush ahead' and start ticking off days. To combat this every time I notice I'm starting to worry about 'Not Having Enough Time' or thinking about 'How Many Days Left Until' I stop and take note of my surroundings. With a deep breath I try to notice the beauty in the changing seasons or calm myself with spinning or other craft. 

This is my attempt at Mindfullness. Worrying and stressing doesn't give you more time (in fact it does the opposite) and it doesn't help in any way at all so I've decided to just not do it any more and instead Trust...there will be enough time and it will all be ok.

So, with that in mind today I am noticing the warmth of the burner and the sound of rain on the roof while I immerse myself in carding and spinning the softest alpaca, with extra sparkles for good cheer.  (Oh...and paying a teenager an extortionate rate to do the washing up gained me a couple of extra wool making hours)

I was meant to be posting some sneaky peaks of things that are made and ready for the market but the weather is just too gloomy for photography.  Instead I'd like to mention another project I'm working on which is a training course for professionals on the importance of crafting in people's lives, how it aid's wellbeing and contributes to recovery.  I'd really like to include people's own experiences of this so if any one would like to share their story with me I'd be ever so grateful.  You can email me on woollycraftwonders@gmail.com and all information will be confidential. 

So for now....don't worry, be happy....Happy Crafting x

Moon rise...a moment to be immersed in :-)

Busy On!

Today I really needed to get a busy on. In preparation for my next Woollycraft event Spin a Yarn & Weave a Tale I needed to make some drop spindles.

Now, a drop spindle is essentially a stick with a weight (a whorl) and is the simplest way to spin since time began. I made my whorls from air drying clay and decorated them with marks, beads and indentations.

The interesting thing I noticed today was how I sometimes 'put off' the creative process, distracting myself with my phone, the washing up, putting things away. 

It happens at other times, especially when I have lots of spinning on the go. There's different reasons for different times.  

Sometimes it's putting off the pleasure, deferring the enjoyment or reward. 

Sometimes I'm all scattered and distracted and need to sit down to spin to order my thoughts.  

Today I noticed I was reluctant to start out of nerves. It's not my usual method or material.  But also,  these will be used for a morning of spinning and story telling in the Thyme Herd Tipi field. I kept thinking will they work? will they be worthy? will what I'm making and putting my energy into stand the test of use?  The greatest pressure we ever face is the pressure we put on ourselves.

In the end I just had to get on and with some gentle background music I soon got into my groove.  

These now are drying by the fire then need a couple of coats of varnish and the sticks attached.

They were made with intent and care so I really hope they do inspire and encourage a new cohort of spinners. There can never really be enough.

The change of seasons....sometimes I start the worry of the onset of Winter in August. The cold, the mud, wet, dark months. Can I really do another? It's usually a fleeting moment and a reminder to most the most of the light.

The clocks have changed and the darkness is here. Out of all the inconviences of Winter the lack of light is probably the most difficult to bear. 

 But in reality, as Winter slowly creeps up on me I welcome the change and remember that the cold, the mud, wet, dark months are a time for blankets, and fires, and eating and staying in and anyway Mercy looks even more beautiful by candlelight.

So I wish you all a belated Sahmain and hope you feel warm and safe and fed where ever you are.

TTFN x

Craft as Therapy

Yesterday was a day dedicated to saying goodbye to a dear family friend. Someone who "loved life and life loved back". A wonderful man who was taken from his family unnecessarily early.

It has prompted me to want to share this article about how arts, crafts and creativity can help during the grieving process.  

Recover from Grief

Today I will mostly be spinning through my feelings x

Progress report...

Four skeins of freshly spun and plied alpaca fleece. Each one from the bags of fluffiness I received just over a week ago.

What these need now is a good long soak to clean off the dust and debris and they will be transformed.   When that's been done, I shall be making something special for the owner of the alpacas.

But timing is everything. Our lives on a narrowboat are generally dictated by how much water we have (our boat teen will sometimes run the tap for a bit longer than really necessary as a passive aggressive act of protest).

It's been two weeks since we last filled up and we are definitely getting low (the boat sits higher in the water and our pump starts to make a distinctive flapping noise). 

The yarn bath  is not considered a VITAL use of a precious and diminishing supply (some may disagree) so for now is going to have to wait. We can't boat move today as Storm Brian is blowing a hooligan through the valley. I shall exercise some patience.  

 Until then I shall carry on with this...

Blended alpaca.

There's always something of a woolly nature to keep me occupied :-)

Coming up...it's half term week so I'm looking forward to a week of spinning, chilling and pottering about on NB Mercy. By this time next week I will have hosted another Woollycraft Heal Yourself with Wool workshop. So looking forward to introding more lovely people to the wonder of wool .

TTFN x x x 

Confession...

Ok so I have a confession to make...

Yesterday I was gifted 4 (Yes FOUR) sacks of the most fluffiest loveliness. Each sack was a different coloured fleece of those most magical creatures...Alpacas.

What can I say..it was like birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. All that stood between me and those bags was Wednesday night bath night and a half day of work this morning.

And then? I was very bad. I did the barest minimum of supermarket shopping and went straight home to card... 

...and card...

...and card...

..and card...

  I forgot to buy the 'special cakes' for tea, I'd left washing in the car and 

I now have a fine layer of alpaca fleece and dust over our main living quarters...

My poor poor family and what they must endure...what I SHOULD have been doing was reminding people about my next craft session at Westwood Parish rooms...looking into funding opportunities and researching the benefits of crafting and mindfullness...instead I was just making a dusty and fluffy old mess.

My afternoon of dedication to my craft has resulted in two batts of every fleece sitting next to my wheel waiting to be spun...

Temptation

Final edit: some fluff MAY have ended up in the pizza...there I said it...I think I'll get away with it. The main victims tend not to read my blog. Please don't tell.

Coming up....a LOT more alpaca...I'm buzzing with all the things it will become :-)

TTFN x 

Feeling the Feels

We had a very poignant moment at school today. The class teacher, a beautifully soft and sensitive lady, talked about the difficult feeling of jealousy after a playground incident.

I was listening from the back of the classroom and heard her say to a little girl " I wonder if you were perhaps feeling jealous"...this was then followed by a cracking and then a sob. She'd hit the nail on the head. What then followed was a time of understanding and healing for ALL the children.

It struck me how important it is to name emotions for children and sadly how infrequently it happens, especially as the pressure in school to get 'results' and 'make progress' seems to be increasing year on year. I really appreciate the time our teacher takes to deal with feelings throughout the day.

My feelings seem to be very close to the surface today, as I noticed this morning when helping my daughter  analyse a Philip Larkin poem on the way to school!! And this leads me onto crafting and how it helps so much.

When feelings threaten to overwhelm us we can either swallow them, bury them, mask them or....feel them.  I find a bit of wool work is very soothing and often the best way to help me through the feeling bit. I remember going through a particularly painful bereavement some years ago and a simple task of carding white alpaca fluff was incredibly soothing. It was a gentle, repetitive task that had a slightly rocking motion that really helped ease the pain.

I'm feeling some pretty big feels today...thank goodness I have plenty of fluff to see me through.  Autumn...such a melancholic season...

I really will update on some projects soon.

Take care x

Mercy in Autumn

Just a little update...

Obviously astrology is fake but as a rather typical Libran I do prefer a life of  balance and harmony...

I am by now well used to the ebb and flow of life and it certainly does make for one quite interesting but by last Friday evening the seesaw of life was definitely weighing heavily on the 'Not So Great'

I was finding myself coming down with a snotty cold just prior to my Heal Yourself with Wool workshop (rather ironically ) and then topped that off with dropping my precious phone, holder of memories and dates of more to come, into the canal. It bought about the full range of shock responses!! I was trying to take a pic for Instagram...fallen leaves piling up on my gunnels, the soft Autumn light dappled through the trees...the plop of my phone bouncing off the concrete and into the canal ...

Universe: 'Err...how about just enjoying that moment....rather than trying to capture it' .... hmmmmmmm

But luckily... both these unfortunate events were more than balanced out by a wonderful morning introducing some lovely ladies to the joy of wool.  It was so inspiring that not only did I have to go home and card wool (much like when you see someone eating cheese on toast and just have to have some ) I immediately set about booking the Parish Rooms for another session.

So that's it. Heal Yourself with Wool is a thing and it's happening more than once!  I'm really hoping this will become regular event and feeling very excited about it all.

Saturday, 28th October..lots more info to come.

But now I REALLY must do some crochet...this simple blog post has taken two evenings to complete (due to my slight ineptitude with technology probably)  

Obviously I didn't have a phone to take any photo's but these are a few shots captured by others.

I hope I have taken heed of the Universe's message to enjoy the beautiful moments nature gives us rather than immediately thinking I should capture the image to share with the world.

I lasted 36 hours without a phone though :-D

TTFN xx

Heal Yourself with Wool

So, with my Heal Yourself with Wool event just days away I thought I would write a little bit more about what the event is all about. 

So here are some FAQ's...

Do I need to know how to knit/crochet etc?

No! The crafts we are trying are easily accessible regardless of whether you have ever done any sort of knitting, crochet etc. I provide all the materials and equipment we will need.  I intend it to be a fun morning exploring the possibilities of how fabulous and great playing with wool is :-)

What will we be doing?

We will be fluffing, stroking, teasing locks of wool. Combining colour and texture. Manipulating and exploring the possibilities of the fibres, felted or spun.

How do you Heal Yourself with Wool? 

Regardless of what creative activity you do its making a point of stopping, taking a bit of timeout and have a little think and reflect.   When my children were growing up having a sit down and a knit was life saving (ok bit dramatic but it's a great eay to sit through CBeebies). 

Working with wool is such a soothing activity in itself. The grown up's equivalent of that special blankie or sheety.  Wool has got me through Counselling and Teacher training, not to mention one or two other of life challenges....and the by product is some lovely unique garments!

I will also like to spend some time talking about how Mindful Crafting is an actual thing, and pretty good for you too.

If there is anything else anyone would like to know please drop me a line here or on Facebook or email on woollycraftwonders@gmail.com .

Event details here here.

I really must go now and do some soothing stuff with fluff as I've done a mountain of washing up...it's my reward.

TTFN x :-)

The Pinny

Anyone that gets to see me in the Real Life world will know that I'm always wearing a pinny.

The pinny is my uniform for life. Putting it on signals to my brain that we're about to get busy and Do Stuff (I have just donned a pinny as a precursor to making pastry). My dear ol' Nana Bates always wore an 'overall', maybe it comes from her?  but I just find them useful in so many ways.

At work I find the large front pocket particularly useful. Holding anything  (and everything) from coffee cups and cameras, to batman figures and special bits of 'look at this Miss' and 'will you keep this Miss'.

Pocket treasures.

On getting home the school pinny comes off and is replaced by the boat pinny.  A wearable tea towel for wiping hands and protecting them from hot pots.

At home the pinny will shield my clothes from random escaped fibres (only to later be released into dinner if I forgot to swap pinny's).  

And in same way putting it on means busy time, taking it off means I'm done for the day 😌

I buy mine from Made in Bradford. I love the bold and bright prints. A bit like a fashion statement.

Some women like handbags...or shoes...I like pinnies 😊

New job...new pinny.

Coming up...the fluffy batts are all spun but just need a soak and hopefully a Finished Item....

...oh and of course more on the Woollycraft Workshop Heal Yourself with Wool event.

Happy crafting :-)

TTFN x

Fluffy Batts

I've been determined to make wool for a good couple of weeks.  It's a bit of a lengthy process, so as a fishermen waits patiently for a bite, I have been waiting for a window of opportunity. Friday afternoon was it!!

I finished the day job (1-1 TA in a small village school) just after lunch, picked up dinner supplies and headed straight home to an empty boat.

To assuage the guilt I'd feel at being so self indulgent  (making wool is very indulgent for me) I did a worthy job of giving the fire and chimney and good clear out (we can't deny the Autumn chills any longer)...

And so to the wool...the first job is carding.  This is a bit of an antisocial activity if you live in a small space with other people. You take up room and table space in the centre of boat making it difficult for people to get past. The teeth of the carder make a grating noise which may irritate people who might be trying to listen to ambient music, just a couple of examples....(hense the guilt factor mentioned above)

As I wasn't sure how much time I'd before it all needed to be stashed away somewhere I took photos to help me remember how to make each batt and thought I would share them here.  As it was due to excitement (of wool creation) and it being a Friday afternoon I did need to refer back to the photo's regularly).

I started with this...
I didn't notice until the last batt that I had forgotten to even put the lid on the sugar tin!

  

  

Once through the carder

Twice through the carder

The final batt.

As it was I got all three batts completed and my carder stashed away before family members returned.

I'm itching to start spinning it but really I should make a start on dinner. That's enough indulgence for one day...even if it is a Friday :-)

Oooppss.....I should do a reminder...

If you like the look of this then sign up to my first Heal Yourself with Wool workshop on the 30th September. It promises to be a wonderful fluffy morning in the beautifully restored Westwood Parish Rooms. Email, text, call etc if you're interested.

TTFN x

What I'm Doing Now (with wool)

So what is happening in the woolly world of Woollycrafting (I hear you cry)...

Well today, being a lazy Sunday, I thought I'd do a quick Work in Progress update.

I started the day with a bit of wool stash sorting...by making lots of mini squares...because you never know when you might need a small mountain of mini granny squares!

Someone is gonna need to do a lot of weaving in ends
....wonder if I can employ a child?!

This was just to keep me busy as progress on my latest poncho has ground to a halt. ..I need some more of the grey alpaca to join the squares. It's spun but needs to be washed and dried first. 

I have a sad tale to tell about the alpaca...in a fit of over enthusiastic clearing I have binned the bag of fleece....

*sharp intake of breath*

Yesterday was a a sad sad day.  

I have enough to finish the poncho but it's still a horrible thought of those lovely soft fibres languishing in a bin. 

I cycled down to have a poke around with a stick but to no avail. 

The bins were too full and smelly...

can we just have a little moment to mourn the loss... 😢

I've sort of given up with this for the moment. I just don't know what it's meant to be...and I'm not really liking the colours..

 

..so that's going to make it's way to the bottom of a pile somewhere and forgotten about for a while.

Other exciting (and when I say exciting I really mean nerve wracking) developments are..

the first (of many I hope) Woollycraft Workshop has been booked for Saturday 30th September in the Westwood Parish Rooms. Drop me a line by any number of ways to book a place (email, text, Instragram, carrier pigeon etc etc).  Whilst I'm really looking forward to getting together with people to preach on the wonderful therapeutic and healing properties of wool I do find the self promotion a bit daunting (all helpful feedback and handy tips gratefully received).

So...that's a quick download of what's happening with wool aboard NB Mercy...

And all the while I'm noticing the gradual changes in light and colour all around me...and thoughts of hibernation are starting to form...

XxX

Taking Decisive Action...

For some reason my brain has always worked to the rhythm of the academic year. So as we slide into September with a squeak from a new pair of shoes thoughts are turning to the year ahead.

This is the very last day (of what actually turned out to be) an extended summer holiday as tomorrow I start a new chapter in a new school.  Today is a day of preparation, tidying up, sorting out, shoe polishing etc etc. So to get myself into the right mind state I 'Took Decisive Action'.  I started the day with a Single Handed Boat Move!

One of the jobs on the To-Do list since we returned from holiday has been to turn Mercy round. This involves travelling about a quarter of a mile up the canal towards Bath until I get to a big wide bit (a winding hole), shoving the nose of the boat into the bank and then chugging away for a good ten minutes as the back end slowly winds its way round so we a facing the other way, followed by a potter back to the mooring.  Up until now I've never attempted it alone. The driving and the turning aren't necessarily tricky but I like the security of having someone to help with the stopping and tying up, and also to help share the shame if it all goes wrong!!

Photo creds to my lovely friend Sam who caught a similar manoeuvre earlier in the year.
I didn't have a photographer with me today!

On completion of my successful mission (phew....breathe a sigh of relief 😌) I did another quick mental run through of the Risk Assessment.  The worst that could happen (and that's always a good place to start from) would be falling off the boat!! So far this hasn't happened and is not that likely...certainly not enough of a risk to Not Do a Thing.  The rest of the potential hazards and problems of a singled handed boat turn...getting stuck, crashing, NOT being able to moor up and having to wait for kind strangers to rescue me from the other side of the bank, stuck in the brambles,with things being knocked off my roof....well the VERY worst outcome of such eventuality would be EMBARRASSMENT!

The wobbly leg, cold chill and sweats of pure Embarrassment 😕

So...as it is the season to Get on with Stuff, I risked the Embarrassment of not being able to handle my big boat and just got on with it. It went swimmingly, I didn't fall off and I didn't get stuck and I am left with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and achievement, as well as knowing that's one job done before its back to work.

Sadly I've spent far too much time waffling, looking for photo's, uploading and waiting for our slow and temperamental Internet to keep up so I REALLY must get on with a bit of rewarding craft.

Coming up...some actual wool work...hopefully... and project Woollycraft gets some serious thinking time...

Note to self...Arrange some interesting inspirational chats with my fellow healers, teachers and lovers of wool.

TTFN x x x

Freda ...

As this is a blog of my creative projects then by rights I should blog about Freda who has dominated my creative outpourings today.  Back from holiday and with the LAST WEEKEND of the Summer hols nearly upon us it was time to do 'something' about Freda.

Freda was an ill thought out and rashly made Ebay purchase some months ago.

The (slightly) impulsive side of our partnership  (i.e. Me) desperately wanted a caravan and the rational 'lets think about this' side of the partnership  (i.e. NOT me) was being a bit reluctant. Anyway long story short we placed a bid, won the auction on a caravan that in photos looked good but on picking up looked like a bit of a white melamine and Bostick covered bodge job 😧!!

(TOP TIP: DON'T buy things off Ebay without looking at them first...but then you probably know that....sigh)

So we payed someone who's 'Good with Wood' to make us a bed and after several weeks of head scratching I embarked on Operation Freda.  With a trip to the most fabulous of places Wiltshire Scrapstore and a masterclass in Wallpapering from my Dad I Hippied up my van...

We are Festival ready...just at the end of the season   😀

She's a work in progress but today was a start. She a sweet little thing really and I do hope we can learn to love her. She might even get her first outing this weekend....

Coming Up...(possibly?!)...more alpaca, a bit of crochet and the start of a new routine!

😊😊😊

x

Home Sweet Home

At last...the weather is agreeable enough to do some Ostentatious Carding on the towpath. We are back home in ALL senses having returned Mercy to our mooring in the beautiful Limpley Stoke Valley.

I've got a lovely big bag of raw alpaca fluff which I'm whizzing through the carder. I'm desperate to get the wheel out and see how it spins but will hold out a bit longer.  It's not a particularly creative job but it's repetitive and soothing so I'm practicing doing it mindfully.

Wool work outside is always a win-win situation...

Firstly (and possibly most importantly ) people don't get fluff in their tea or dinner...always helpful when trying to maintain good relations in a tight space...and secondly it's a good way to chat to people interested in what I'm doing...and I am quite (pleasantly) surprised at how many people ARE interested! It's an opportunity to present a friendly face from the boating community that can, at times, be judged quite harshly. 

I used to be a bit embarrassed by the attention towpath woolwork used to bring but after thinking it through I've decided to embrace it. Why not stop for a few moments to talk about both aspects of my life that I love and sustains me?

I'm doing lazy phone blogging as our internet connection isn't great...more interesting pics to follow...

💖

TTFN x

Summer Holiday Boredom

Today I am meant to be preparing for a few days away from the boat...our home...as she goes into dry dock for routine maintenance.

With excellent foresight I've packed my spinning wheel and laptop (I'm blogging from my mobile phone...how convenient is that!!!)

My only other distractions therefore are washing up (done), tidying (meh), packing  (an ongoing process) or....

CROCHET 😁

I picked up crochet (and became immediately hooked 😉) last summer. I kind of felt I wanted to learn something new....and after a few lost hours trawling the internet for pictures and tutorials I fell in love with the Sunburst Blanket and just had to make my own...

I am currently working on two crochet 'things' at the moment. Whilst they might not be as portable as knitting I really love how they evolve....bits fit together  (or don't!). It's quite a departure for me who as a knitter was used to following patterns and knowing how things should end up....

I have a vague idea what these projects may become and that's both exciting and challenging in equal measure.

I'm sorry I can't format the pics...I'm not sure how on my little phone...so here they are in one big splurge!

TTFN xx

Torture (update)

I'm not that mean.

Managed a bit of carding while the paint dried 😉

Torture!

I'm absolutely torturing myself today...

Lets roll back a bit for a bit of context...

Last weekend Woollycraft Wonders had a stall at the little fledgling Kennet and Avon Floating Market. I, and fellow boaters touted our creative talents with any number of handmade goods.

I was surprised but incredibly heartened by the interest in my handspun wool.

Now, in a matter of a few short months the Floating Market is back in Bradford on Avon hopefully under a sky of led twinkly lights and a definite Christmasy feel (many apologies for mentioning the 'C' word).  Which is obviously giving me a perfect, cast-iron, ready-made excuse to make more yarn....

I even have the resouces!!!

But, no,  what am I doing? Painting the youngest's cabin whilst she's visiting Big Sis!

Ooooo. ....I'm such a tease!!!

Eta...we have used up all our monthly internet allowance 😔 do this post is coming via my phone and an intermittent 3g signal...fingers crossed as I send it out into the ether 😀

Time for a catch up.

So....back story ....

It's been fun looking back through the posts and remembering the projects good and bad (the Tussah silk dress has only ever been worn once and spends most of it's life buried in a drawer and the mitred square blanket got eaten by moths!!). 

 I have been trying to recall why I stopped blogging because it was way before I started working more or less full time....I suspect that I just got fed up with reporting on failed job interviews and got ground down by it all.  I ended up taking a job at my local primary school as a TA which for the most part I enjoyed.

But by far the two most scariest things I've done in the last few years have been moving back to the canal in 2014 ...

Finding NB Mercy

and leaving a job that was no longer fulfilling...

The former was a fairly long drawn out process of looking for the right boat and sleepless nights worrying about the madness of it all....the later was a decision made over just one sleepless night and executed fairly swiftly!  

The processing of both decisions though were ably assisted by lots of crafting. I find replacing worrying thoughts of 'how will 3 people exist in a space 72x7ft', 'what if a tree falls on us' and 'how will we survive without my regular wage' with 'should I edge in white or black' and 'where can I find the right type of autumnal wool' far more favourable!!  Because as the end of the day the only thing you can do during times of uncertainty is to sit it out and wait for it all to settle down...and if your're having a sit down you might as well do some knitting!!

And so I suppose today's pearl of wisdom is that the process of getting older is really just a case of wracking up more and more experiences I know I can survive and get through ☺

I have a busy day today. The youngest returns from a week of sophistication in London so I will need to rebuild her nest to cushion the blow and I'm off to have my hair cut at the The Floating Salon who we are very conveniently moored near. 

What I MUSTN'T do is get distracted by this...

I have few projects on the go at the moment but updates on those will have to wait...I really need to crack on with the washing up (seeing as we no longer have the luxury of a dishwasher). At least I have a nice view :-)

TTFN x