In my world I need a creative outlet. Yes, I'm an art teacher, I do art all day and love it. But that is my job. This is my therapy. This is my time and I crave it. I would love to be getting my hands dirty every day making all manner of things using the textiles that I love and have done since I was a child. And I will get there one day but right now I don't have the time or the space in my life for that... well not very often anyway.
I haven't been crocheting for long either. A little over two years now. It feels like longer. When I look at some of the things I have made, the things that I made first, I made them for my little baby girl before she was born in those long months waiting for her to arrive. Before that I had wanted to crochet and had tried really really hard, got really frustrated, gave up and then eventually tried again and again until I got it. Crochet, I decided, was not easy and even now I still think it's not easy. I can crochet but my crochet is not perfect. Perfection is hard to achieve and I am not a perfectionist. I love a handmade feel and I'm happy with things that have a rag tag look to them. Especially if they are homegrown in my home. They are more than just handmade things, they have a story, a purpose, a reason for being made and that is more important than perfection to me.
You might remember some weeks ago I posted here about an arrival of some lovely Drops Nepal yarn and here about my dreams of creating a lovely chunky blanket. I did have some fun playing with colours and planning, researching, starting to make, undoing and starting again until I made my decision about the type of blanket I was going to make.
I am so pleased I decided to go with Granny Squares. There is something very appealing about a Granny Squares blanket. I love playing with the colour combinations, making rainbows and clashing contrasting colours together. They are so quick to make too.
Joining the squares together was a very exciting and satisfying process. This took me most of a day, in between doing the Mummy thing.
The discovery of this blanket by the Little People was a funny one. They sometimes watch me crocheting, steal my hook, find a ball of yarn and quickly scruff it up in 5 seconds flat in an attempt to play pretend crochet. This time, as I was joining the squares, they watched the blanket coming together giving their opinion as always about which square should be next and why, 'this ones a Lightning McQueen Square', and sharing their observations about the colour combinations and the ones they liked best. Little Lady generally just walking off with them. Little Man decided to make a game out of all the squares by placing a toy to match the colours of the square. Love my creative little bunch!
And here it is on the bench in my back garden. Oh how I wish I could crochet some life into my little back yard. It's on the to do list...
So thank you, my little Bloggy Blog! This blanket is not only finished but finished in double quick time too. One of the reasons I started a blog was as a way of creating motivation to make and do and finish things. I am terrible for jumping from one project to the next, not keeping my focus and getting distracted by new ideas... sooooo many ideas. The other great thing about my blog is that I am now taking photos all the time and hundreds of snaps of the little people. No more guilty feelings about not taking enough photos and recording the memories. So, the blog works!! Yay!
If anyone is out there in cyberspace reading my ramblings then I hope you enjoyed your visit! Come back soon :0)
Sarah x
