I've lost my knitting mojo

Actually, I have been really busy doing other things, and haven't made progress on much of anything. It has been getting me down, since my head is full of ideas about what I want to make next! So I have been telling myself to enjoy the process, to look on my knitting and crochet time as ME time, and not to fret about not finishing things. But finishing things would be nice too. :-)


Last week, I spent sewing because we went to Jorvik Viking Festival. We hadn't been last year, in fact, we missed all of our re-enactment shows last year, so it was really nice to get back to seeing a few people we had missed. Al and I and C and M went, as S was working and R was away with Scouts. I had to make C all new kit as he had outgrown his, and I kept getting it wrong, and having to unpick stitches. It was just one of those projects.

In the end, he was presentable, and I can go back and finish it properly, hoping that it will fit for a while. Here we are enjoying ourselves.













Now, I will at some point have to make some more kit for Easter. Cloaks, dresses, shoes, and tunics are needed. Since I have weeks to do it in, I will no doubt, leave it to the last minute. :-)

slow going

It seems to me that January was a bit dry for knitting and crochet projects. I did a couple of birthday presents, a couple pairs of fingerless gloves, started a pair of socks that will be going on for a while, and 3 berets. But I had said I wasn't going to buy any yarn to start anything new, and except for the birthday presents, and the things made from the leftovers for the birthday presents, I didn't.

Now, though, I seem to have a glut of things I want to do, and absolutely no time to do them. I am working on a nice pair of socks for Al for my Feb knit-a-long with Violet Green yarn. Progress is very slow!

I am still working on my gloves with my December Christmas Congo from the Getknitted Sock club, M wants me to make her a hug with the yarn she has dyed, (if you don't have a ravelry account and you want to see a photo of the hug, go here), I have won a yarn raffle, and cannot wait to start making something beautiful from a skein of this, and my Feb sock club yarn should arrive soon as well! What am I going to do?

In the mean time, I have managed to finish this baby hat for the Pilates teacher's youngest, we have spent a nice couple of days with friends in Leicester, and the activities that I have to taxi children to this week include African drumming, trampoline, Brownies, French, Youth beat group, Choir practice, Drama, Arts Award, Scouts, and Guides. Thank goodness I have some friends helping me to get them to other things and R is old enough to take the bus!

Tomorrow I am going to drive S to an open day at Bristol University. If the train wasn't so bloody expensive, I could have a nice knitting and purling journey, but instead I am driving. :-(

I suppose the good thing is that I have been doing a lot of stuff, within the house as well as without, with the family. But it all cuts into my making time, and I don't see the end of anything in sight! With that in mind, I am going to make sure we have a quiet day today, until the evening at least, and I am going to knit. I really don't want my Feb KAL, which is my first KAL, to turn into a March KAL!

I am off to be productive now...

Felting and dying

Well the felted bag experiment went a bit awry. The navy yarns have felted, but the lilac coloured one didn't. It has had only one wash, so I will try again soon, and see if there is any improvement. I do still like it, I just may have to sew in a liner before I can use it.

On a brighter note, M and I did some more dying of the yarn that Martine gave us. M choose red, purple, and pink, and just squirted her little heart out, covering the yarn in colours.



It is lovely, but who knows when I will get a chance to knit with it. I now have my Violet Green sock wool that I am making a pair of socks for Al with, and my Get knitted sock club yarn that I am still working on my gloves with, a pair of socks for me, and several babies around for whom I have to knit baby socks, plus an urge to do more felting.

And all when life seems to be getting too busy to get anything done!!!!!

Snow!

Yes, like everybody else in the country, we had snow too yesterday. A group of home edders were meeting at the park to go sledging so we decided to join them. I am so glad we went! There isn't much you can do at our house with the snow. We did make 3 little mini snowmen with buttons for eyes, etc. But there wasn't enough snow to do much else, and our garden is a little thing, so we headed for the park, and had a great time. At least C and M did!

They got to use that plastic sled that has been in the garden for I don't know how many years! And got to see some old friends and make one or two new ones.

I am beginning to realize that a lot of the people that have been a part of home education for me for the past 10 years are moving on to other things. Or our kids are just growing older and they don't need us too much to engineer their social lives. :-) But it does mean that whereas I used to arrange activities geared towards the older girls, I now should be making a conscious effort to go to activities for C and M. Granted they do do a lot anyway, but they probably miss the trips to the park which I should try to manage more often.

Since I mentioned older kids, R did her radio show again yesterday. The This and That Show on All fm with about 7 or so home ed friends. They have been doing it occassionally for a while now, from the Zion. Yesterday was their first broadcast from the All fm studio in Longsight. They are getting rather au fait with it all. :-)

hmmmmm.....should have taken some photos in the snow. But let's face it, I was doing good to get out and play, and take them to the park.

Peace
Julie
ps, and I made some baby socks for one of the Pilates teachers who has had a baby girl, but forgot to take a photo of them as well. Gloves continue...