Hooked

We've had a busy couple of days so I haven't had a chance to update and fill in all our news. In the grand scheme of things, not much has been happening, but I am about to embark on a serious declutter of our house having received a rather large shipment of plastic boxes from here. I have promised my husband that I will tackle our bedroom today/this evening so had better get a move on....

I have another confession - I'm an addict. Less than a week ago I finally cracked how to crochet and ever since I've hardly stopped. I love how I can fling my project in my handbag without having to worry about the stitches slipping off the needles, unlike in knitting. I love how there's no "rules" and how quickly your project grows. I am planning to make all my presents this year even though that means I'd better start now. My husband thinks I'm going mad, especially as new yarn seems to arrive every three days or so. My latest purchase was some Rowan ribbon twist to make a rug for our lounge. I popped into our local charity shops on Tuesday and was able to buy a vintage 1960s crochet book - complete with colour plates of funky dresses and bags.

On Tuesday I went to my first knitting meet! It's an idea that started in the USA, under the title "Stitch 'n Bitch" and I organised a local meeting for other interested knitters. We went to a local pub and sat chatting and knitting (or stitching and bitching I guess!!!). There were only 4 of us this time, but I hadn't publicised it locally (in case it was a disaster) and I think we'll do it again. We got a lot of comments and several men wanted us to teach them - I've told them to look out for us at the next meet and join us! We'll see if it takes off. I'd really like to be involved in organising something like this - I enjoy teaching people and would love to spread the love of the craft.

If my knitting and crochet hobby is an addiction, well I guess there's worse things I could be doing with my time. Our lives are so full of challenges, worries, misery and stress that I need a creative outlet to express myself. I don't like having idle hands - if I am concentrating on my crafting then I'm less likely to be fretting over the latest problem we're having in nursery/ with the LEA/ with James' behaviour. It's important to have a way to let go and relax.

Love yourself

Making time for myself is something I've never really been that good at doing. When I was a junior doctor my life revolved around two things - work and sleep! If I got to sit down and watch a film then that was a huge plus. Socialising was integral to work - I was living in hospital accomodation and my friends were my colleagues so nights down the pub were an extension of our working day. I tried to keep up with my hobbies - I took singing lessons and sung in the hospital choir, but it's quite hard to practice singing when your neighbours are asleep after a night shift. My next few jobs involved long commutes so I hardly had time for any non work activities and then I started revising for exams. I finally passed my membership exam in 2001 but kept myself busy organising a wedding! It wasn't until I was pregnant and looking for simple, colourful knitted garments for the baby I was expecting that I took up knitting. The sea of pinks and blues was what spurred me on - we had decided not to find out the sex of the baby and so I was looking for gender neutral colours (browns, greens, beige) and all I could find was white or cream. Oh, and a few bits in yellow but I'd spent too many days on neonatal units sniggering about jaundiced babies dressed in yellow with fellow colleagues to inflict that on my offspring....

Armed with a few Debbie Bliss pattern books and a copy of Stitch 'n Bitch (the definitive knitting self help guide!) I set about teaching myself to knit. My mum had tried to teach me when I was at school so I had the very basics, but her patience (and mine, in all fairness) was not sufficient to keep me on track and I never grasped the important stuff like casting on and knitting two stitches together. Fast forward 5 years and I'm pretty confident, if not particulalry adventurous. My love of knitting has taken me to a rather fun website called Ravelry, which is a set of forums dedicated to all things yarn based. I have been trying to learn to crochet for about a year now, but last night I cracked it - Vic and I have been talking about her teaching me to crochet for ages now and we finally got together for a teaching session at her house yesterday. I am now inspired to make Bea a blanket for her bed from granny squares - if you don't know what I'm talking about look at this blog! Vic is a very bad influence on my yarn buying habit - and soon she's going to be a constant source of good quality yarn. Have a look at her blog and see what she's up to....

All this knitting and crocheting doesn't leave me a lot of time for much else but I have vowed to start making more effort to look after myself. I am going to enrol in a local pilates class and try and find a decent local swimming pool. Last Friday I went to a fundraising evening for our local ADHD support group and the remit was that everyone had two taster beauty or alternative treatments. I had a mini reflexology treatment and it was so wonderful I've vowed to go again soon. Next time I sound a bit harrassed and exhausted remind me to love myself.