The stitches that weave us together

Tis a curious thing, feeling overwhelmed. It happens a lot to me, in a variety of situations, and is worse since I had my baby girls. I suppose to myself, sometimes daily, that I have given part of my heart to them - and that leaves me so emotionally raw that sometimes I can't leave the house. I just want to hide from the world in my garden or my sewing. It is not, my friends, that I don't love you. But some days, like today, I feel over stretched, overwhelmed, over stitched.
It's a bit like the knitting I've been working on lately - a lovely little vest for Bethany in a colour called Plum Pie - wool and cashmere.... it really is soft and beautiful. But as I've knitted away I've been thinking about knitting as a metaphor for our friends and family - the way we really are all linked together, like part of some great tapestry that has been stitched together - the colours change, the threads might vary in thickness, but overall we're part of the same big picture. The way we are twisted and woven, intertwined with others in so many different ways. I love this, that there isn't really any separation between us all - in fact most of the time I feel this, intuitively, emotionally, and it helps me to empathise and see the detail and the big picture.
But since I've become a Mummy of two, sometimes I feel over stitched, too tightly woven, and choked by my own very sensitive emotions about the special people in my life.
Today is one of those overwhelming days - oh I might look fine on the outside...but I'm very good at hiding my feeling you see (unless they get very out of control)...
So...I take deep breaths, I look around me and try really, really hard to appreciate all the awesome things that I'm doing, I slow myself down to stop the panic and I appreciate the little things.
Happy days to you all, I wish you calm and delight in your life.

A year's supply from a long day's work

For the first time I made tomato sauce. I'd been gathering bottles for a while, keeping an eye out for 'sauce tomatoes' at our wonderful fruit and vegetable shop and hoping for a spare day when it would all 'click' and I'd get down to it.
So today was the day...armed with 10kg of tomatoes, 2 kg of onions, lots of salt, sugar, garlic and a jar of Ezy Sauce, I set to work at 9 this morning....and have just finished at 10pm.
In between chasing would-be toddlers up and down stairs, sewing some flags for our house (more on that to come) and taking part in the various activities invented by five year old Rosie (visiting her 'animal research zoo' in the backyard, writing letters on her behalf to friends, helping her make gingerbread biscuits...) as well as the usual housework, washing etc... it took thirteen hours to make 7 bottles of sauce and 4 jars of chutney (a handy by-product). Needless to say I AM EXHAUSTED!
A productive and fun, but tiring day had by Mum :-). Good night everyone.

Baby Griff's vest

Baby Griff, a new addition to Mount Beauty, was born at the beginning of February. He was the perfect reason to try a new vest pattern I found on Ravelry (it's called Milo) that knits up quickly on circular needles. I used some special hand-spun wool from North-eastern Victoria in a shade called 'Autumn Haze' - it must have been lovely coloured sheep :-). Topped off with a handmade, ceramic button in the shape of a wombat, it's super-cute - and I'm proud of my efforts!

MY fabric

It finally arrived. An inconspicuous parcel from the post office. It only took two weeks to get here. I was excited. I was nervous.

Okay, enough drama.... I tried out a service on Spoonflower - a fabric website, where you can upload an image and they print it onto fabric. There were various cotton fabrics to choose from, so I ordered a fat quarter of my design in a cotton knit and a heavier-weight plain cotton. I wasn't sure how my watercolour would look as a fabric so my small order allowed me to check it out for the cheapest price.

My design might not win any awards (it also might) and its quite amateur compared to most other fabrics on the site, but I've created something unique and that feels good.

So far I've stitched it up using my amazing overlocker (yes, MB I am in love with it now!) into some baby leggings for Beth, but have plans to buy more yardage (as they say in America) and make some pyjamas for Rosie too.

Rosie's cardigan in threes

After knitting Bethany's bolero last month I went in search of a cardigan to knit for Rosie in one piece (Bethany's bolero was knitted in 6 pieces which were stitched together - a nice end result but fiddly to knit and stitch accurately - not really my sort of knitting). So after reading some of Soulemama's blog I found a pattern she'd used for small girls' cardigans knitted on circular needles - no seams required. Its called 'In Threes' by Kelly Herdrich and I found the pattern on Ravelry. I used a 5mm circular needle (80cm long) and a Merino-Angora-Silk blend yarn from Cleckheaton (8ply - dk) in a maroon colour (with cute little blue flecks). It knitted up fairly quickly (a new thing for me) and I was just waiting for some wooden buttons from an Etsy store (Rainbow Lollies) to finish it off.
Rosie's sensitive skin isn't so sure about the yarn so we'll see how much she wears it, but I feel satisfied with my finished product and pleased to have it completed so quickly - more circular knitting for me! And more Ravelry too!

Sweet Valley Flags

Mount Beauty celebrated its second Sweet Valley Sounds music festival on February 9th and we were very happy to be a part of it (alongside many friends). As part of the preparations there was a call to quite a few sewers (sew-ers) to sew flags to be hung up around the area marked for the festival. So, despite the late notice and busy start to the school year, a few of us got together to catch up on our holidays apart and to sew, sew, sew like we never have before (okay, an exaggeration, but it was fun working together!).In the end, using materials donated to the cause, we sewed approximately 45m of retro-themed flags - all overlocked, doubled-sided and held together with hand-made bias tape in matching colours. It was an effort of which we are all proud - and although they turned out to be the best made flags at the festival, we'll do it again if more are needed for next year.In fact, they were so well made that we've heard that they may be used for someone's upcoming birthday too - perhaps they'll become the 'town flags'? (Perhaps we should make some more and charge money to hire them out????).

Rosie's dress for Dora

I had a small window of opportunity a couple of weeks ago and got to sewing a little doll's dress from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew: 20 Classic Accessories and Toys for Children. It was a lovely little pattern, did take a little longer than I expected, but the end result is a well-made, very tough doll's dress using some pretty little fabrics. And doesn't Dora look lovely? (Not to mention her very happy owner - Miss Rosie herself)!

A break from blogging, school begins, change is afoot

Its been a busy last month in our household with changes aplenty as the new school year started. Rosie has officially begun as a preppy, Ian is back to teaching and I'm getting used to the time constraints of school hours and time at home with just Bethany. So here's an update for each of us....

Ian continues to teach three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and enjoys riding, running and paddling (kayaks) on his days off. He's also recently done some casual teaching work for Bogong Outdoor Education Centre - this is great because its very close to home and its work that he truly has a passion for.

Rosie is getting used to being at school by 9am (well 8.45am really), wearing a uniform (not her favourite thing) and learning about what happens at school. She's really liking art, French and learning to write 'little' letters. This week she received an achievement award for her 'one monster' that she drew during some numeracy time. This monster has one eye, one mouth, one arm with one finger and one leg with one toe - very creative and very definitely my maths girl at work!!

Bethany is growing bigger - almost 10kg now - and almost walking. She is 10 months old now and we are looking forward to celebrating her first year on April 15th.

As for me...well I've needed a break from blogging to adjust to the changes of the last few weeks (I, like Rosie, am easily overwhelmed by changes, even if they're exciting). But I've been using that time to really get into knitting, to continue sewing (with friends and alone) and even to design my own fabric - more on all of these in the following posts.

Its nice to be getting back to 'normal' and sharing with you all - lots of love and smiles - Carolyn.