Down Time....

After 4 weeks of teaching practice half term was a very welcome prospect.  The first couple of days were set aside for catching up on sleep and spinning silk.

What I noticed during those weeks was that all my woolly creativity just dried up.  With little time to spin or knit I plodded along with the leftovers blanket. Knitting a little square here and there was quite comforting, it even accompanied me on a school trip to the Zoo, much to the amusement of the children "Whatcha doin' Miss Browwwwn?".

I noticed that my brain did a nifty re-networking, instead of thinking and planning the creation of knitted lovelies, it was coming up with interesting and exciting ways to learn the difference between 'th' and 'f' (its the only time you can stick your tongue out at a teacher).  Or ingenious ways to rein in 26 children that haven't been out to play all day because its been raining (I'm wanting to say 'put the tele on' but a teacher would never do that...). 


So, half way through half term, with a bit of down time my brain has re-adjusted itself.  And with a good pile of spun silk ready to be knitted thoughts finally turned to the Silk Project that started here. 

The Details:
Some time back I started thinking about a project that would honour myself, something special, and so I decided to start making my Wedding Dress.  The followup to this statement tends to be "Oh when are you getting married?" and I guess the answer will have to be for now "When I've made 'The (My) Dress'.

So, after much thought and pouring over patterns I've gone for a simple top-down seamless design that I know and love.  Pics of works in progress rarely do it justice so for now all I'll say is it starts with this....

I'm back to school next week and three weeks after that I would have made it through my PGCE.  I can't tell you how much of a relief it will be.  There have been some ups and downs, some highs and some lows but I'm ending with the knowledge it was the right thing to do at the perfect time for me.  I think I was 12 when I decided I wanted to be teacher, who'd have thought it would take 38 years to get there!

TTFN X

Onwards and Upwards

As a general rule I try to resist the urge to cheer myself up by buying stuff*.  This is partly down to practicalities (we just don't have much money) and partly down to an unwillingness to accept that the worlds economic problems can be cured if we just spend, spend, spend.

But, I must admit, I have strayed from my path of righteousness and got myself a NEW PHONE.  My last one was over 2 yrs old (which in phone years makes it ancient) and I also wanted something that took good photos.  And yes I admit it,  I was totally seduced by the touch screen. Once it was in my sweaty little palm I wasn't going to leave the shop without it!  And of course, what's the first thing any like-minded person would do on purchasing a new phone......

Yep, knit it a little bag!!

The Annis Shawl is now at a more manageable stage as I'm onto good ol' stocking stitch...

I really struggled with the lace pattern at the beginning of this, it was relatively simple but I often thought I was decreasing in the wrong direction and that it would end up looking a mess.  Time will tell, I'll see how it blocks.

And finally, here is a bit more of the silk...

All these pics were taken with my new phone and I have to say, I do love it.

I shan't mention the assignment resubmission.  I haven't had a chance to meet with my tutor so for now its (hovering) on the back burner.  I have had a good attempt at getting my files in order though.  Today is my last full day to myself before my last placement beginnings.  As from Monday I shall be a Reception class full time for 7 weeks (just writing that makes me feel like I need a lie down!).  It remains to be seen whether I get any crafting in let alone the chance to blog about it.

So for now I shall just enjoy the peace and freedom and maybe get out into the sunshine.

TTFN X



* The obviously doesn't include wool, fibres, needles, spinning accessories etc which are just the necessities of life!

On Learning Life's Lessons

1). Its not easy....
2). It often hurts...
3). Its the only way to avoid more of the same!!

I'm gradually coming through the disappointment of failing my assignment and all that remains is the odd prick of embarrassment and shame when I remember it could have been avoided.

To set the scene....when submitting our final assignments for the course we could chose which level we wanted to submit at...Masters or Honours (to put it simply that's Brilliant or Good) and me in my vanity submitted at Masters.  With the benefit of hindsight I can see now that my effort was no way near Masters standard and was quite rightly a fail.  My vanity was in thinking I could go about my usual way (taking on too much, coping with girls, getting distracted by Facebook, Ravelry or wool on the web!!) and be able to bash out an essay at Masters level in between hanging out the washing and making the tea.  Maybe it was more naivety than vanity.

So the question I need to ask myself is Do I want a Masters? and if so how much?  Do I want to give up my crafting/knitting/spinning time to books, research, rewriting? Or do I accept that its not for me, I only need to re-submit at Honours (with a bit of tweaking) to pass?

And here's the learning bit....part of that decision could lie in me recognising I already have many other talents to value and celebrate, do I really need to go chasing after ones I don't?

Maybe if I had submitted at Honours in the first place I could have avoided the disappointment and the shame and all those other 'orrible feelings I like to avoid.....but where's the fun in that eh?

But this is primarily a knitting/crafting blog so here is the crafty content.  Ironically,  I've been having similar problems in the yarn world.  The Annis Shawl is being a bit of a beast, not least as it required casting on 300+ stitches!  I have frequently felt confused and lost with it and considered ripping it all out and starting again.  Then, when I take a bit of time to focus and concentrate I find that I was doing it right all along....Knitting imitating Life maybe?

If you got this far....thank you.  Hopefully, my next instalment shall be easier on the eye with some pictures of my latest projects.

TTFN x x



TTFN x x

Dealing with a Disappointment....

Well, the assignment that got knitted into Geraldine's Thank you Citron didn't impress - yep....I failed it :0(

I'm sure its not the knitting (that was possibly the most impressive part) I think it was the words that let me down.

I don't know at this stage by how much I failed it, it may be a simple case of resubmitting at a lower grade. Its not the first time I failed something first time round, during my Counselling Training I was the ONLY ONE of the group to fail the exam!   The wise part of me is telling myself its ok, no-one learns much from things they get right first time round .....but in the meantime I still have to feel the pain of disappointment.

So, thank goodness for my spinning wheel.....

This is the beginnings of that Special Project I mentioned in an earlier post.

I'm soothing that pain with some beautiful Tussah silk, and reminding myself of everything I've learnt so far because if failure is an opportunity to learn then I am pretty bloody clever.....*little sigh*

TTFN x

ETA: Anyhow, who ever's been inspired by someone that finds things easy....eh?

Blog Hop

I've just been doing checking out some of the blogs I follow and came across a Blog Hop over on The Narrowboat's Wife's Blog .  Well being rather impulsive I joined 'The Hop' without thinking.  Then on actually checking out the other blogs found them to be a list of Resolutions.

Well now I'm in a quandary......I don't really do Resolutions, not only that but its rather late and I really should be in bed, sending a list of Resolutions out into the blog-o-sphere at this time of night would not be wise

But, I don't want to be the one who brings it all to a grinding halt!

So, here I am adding myself to the hop, feel free to hop on round and check out the other blogs or maybe add your own.  I particularly like the Narrowboat's Wife's blog as it reminds me of my own time on a boat.

Enjoy x x