Thursday, August 02, 2007

What have I done now...?

Yesterday I got a sudden urge to knit or crochet something. I'm not sure why, I have never been a good knitter and I haven't crocheted for years.

I was stuck in all day, so whilst surfing around eBay I started to look at some hand dyed yarns. Very pretty. But what could I do with them?

Years ago, whilst spending the year abroad of my degree in Germany, where knitting was more fashionable than it was in the UK, I knitted a couple of sweaters. They were very basic, but the wool was fluffy and soft-coloured. They were wearable, at least for a student.

Pregnant with son 1, I knitted a few baby items. Even my mother, who is not known for her needle skills, picked up her pins and produced some much needed premature-sized cardigans. But it was my clever sister who came up trumps with the most beautiful and complex knitted heirloom baby shawl.

When son 1 was small I knitted a few trendy jackets for him in primary-coloured baby aran, but by the time son 2 came along I had no time. I knitted nothing further until two years ago, when I picked up a kit for a very simple fluffy scarf. I started it during our family holiday in Devon, but son 2 kept pulling it back faster than I could knit. It was never finished as the wool became rather mangled.

I was up until 1am last night looking for patterns on the web. This morning I succumbed and ordered some of the hand dyed wools. This evening I have ordered some yarn created from recycled sari silk which I hope will blend in. Not large quantities of either, but hopefully enough to create a scarf.

But don't hold your breath.This wool may just end up clogging up the spare bedroom with the rest of my craft stash...

Three notable things:

1. Ordering some colourful yarns to indulge my creative urges and experiment with.

2. Working out why I could not get the symbol writing computer program to do what I wanted (I use it to produce communication cards for Son 2.)

3. Reading a lovely description of the challenges and joys of living with an autistic child on Crystal Jigsaw's blog.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you are very talented. I can't knit a stitch! I did try a long time ago but gave up when I dropped more stitches than I was able to knit. I'd love to see some photo's of the finished articles.

Your three notable things made me feel very proud. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed my blog, I hope others will also. I also hope they will appreciate it. It isn't hard living with an autistic child, it's just challenging and enlightening and I wouldn't swap it for the world.

Love & best wishes, Crystal xx

merry weather said...

Cathy, I liked reading this - Snap! I have a "craft stash" too. I cannot resist the haberdashery section in John Lewis - the fabrics, the amazing wools. Colours of every hue and beautiful textures.... just explaining this to you is making me think of grabbing the knitting needles.

I have to think that this will be good for a rainy time in my life - when I'm older - and I can catch up on all my reading then too. Guilty secrets we have - !

Thanks for coming by my place - I'll be back to yours soon, it was fun :).

Cathy said...

Crystal...I always enjoy you blog, you write beautifully.

Merry...don't even get me started on John Lewis, I'm just thankful we don't have one in our local town centre otherwise we'd be constantly broke. Mind you, we are in fairly easy reach of three branches for when I need a fix!

Chris Stovell said...

Crystal Jigsaw is one our 'Purplecooers' so I enjoy reading her blogs there. We have an American knitter living in Peru, Kathleen who you might like to read too - lovely pictures of her creations.