January - Knitting

It took me a little while to decide what I should do in January. At the end of last year, I was pretty sure I wanted to do some sewing and I was thinking about making some accessories like hairbands or bags which I could give to friends for birthdays. My sewing machine had finally been dragged down from the loft in December so that I could make two stockings, one for my youngest son and one for my 5 month old nephew. I enjoyed sewing again so much, despite the mistakes I repeatedly made. I went on to make a crinkle sensory toy for my little nephew as well. I have lots of odds and ends of material and ribbons and copying a trick that my mother-in-law taught me I used the plastic material from a cereal box to make the crinkly inside. It works a treat!

I had rekindled my sewing bug and it seemed like a good month to keep that momentum going. However....! We put our house on the market at the start of January and have started to get a steady flow of viewings. Keeping our house at a general level of tidiness is always a difficult task but keeping it clean and tidy enough for strangers to come around and judge us on it, is another level entirely! Once we started the daily tidying before viewings, which involved me and my husband become very flustered and then trying to pen the boys into the living room to watch TV and "not touch anything!!",  I realised that having bits of material and threads everywhere would not be a good addition to the house. 

So my January creative task will be knitting. My plan is to start knitting squares which will be turned into a patchwork blanket. I don't expect to finish this in the month but hope to make a good start. My husband tried not to roll his eyes when I told him I was going to knit. I have tried knitting many times, and many times I have made a scarf big enough for an average size mouse and then got bored. My goal each time was to make a scarf, I'm not really why because I have plenty of scarves. I think that the issue was always that knitting a scarf, when you knit at the speed I do, takes a long time. I am hoping that because each square won't take too long, I will start to see some process quite quickly and this will spur me on. I don't mind a project taking a long time but I need some milestones along the way and for some reason breaking the length of a scarf down into the woodland creatures it could keep warm, doesn't really work for me. Let's hope this does!

Creative Goals

Happy New Year! It has been almost 5 years since I last wrote on this blog and a lot has changed in that time. I am now a mum to two little boys with bags of energy. My days spent travelling, cooking and sewing in France in 2015 feel a long time ago. 

I haven't had much time over the last few years to be creative but in 2018 on maternity leave with my youngest son I started a year long creative writing course by author Emylia Hall and the joy of writing and being creative and doing something just for myself because I enjoy it, came flooding back. Those fortnightly sessions were the highlight of my maternity leave (other than the cuddles with my gorgeous son, obviously!) and even when they stopped prematurely thanks to covid, I tried to find time to write whenever I could. The brief time to myself, being able to write and make some sort of sense of my thoughts in a very strange year, was very important especially when I was furloughed and nursery closed. It reminded me that I love experimenting, putting things together and trying to create something beautiful, whether that is with material, paint or words. Often they don't work and the finished articles are never perfect but the process makes me happy. 

I have been following Elise Joy on her blog and Instagram for a long time now and have found her willingness to try new crafts and learn as she goes really inspirational. Her book Big Dreams, Daily Joys was one of the many books I read on my kindle this year while trying to get my youngest boy to sleep (still a work in progress!), and the big thing I took from it was set a goal, break it down into smaller tasks and then start. Don't overcomplicate it.  

Next year feels like a fresh start but as we're all aware the pandemic isn't over and things won't be back to normal for some time. I think I need something to focus on that I can do at home, which is about the here and now, not dreaming about meeting family and friends or going on holiday. Something practical where I can see I am creating something tangible. Like Elise, I love goals. I like to have something to aim for and I enjoy seeing the fruits of my labour. 

So in 2021, I am going to do a different creative 'thing' each month. These will not always be new to me but they will all be different to each other. I have a list of things I would like to try but these might change as the year goes on. They will range from sewing to painting to writing. I am hoping that after a year of 12 different creative pursuits I will have a better idea of what I enjoy the most and I will have had fun and most importantly kept myself from frantically scrolling news updates. 

I plan to write at least a monthly update of what I've been up to and what finished product I have managed to create. Here's to a more creative and joyful 2021!