I have been out of circulation for a while because my 87 year old mother broke a vertebra in her back and needed a body brace. The bulk of the caring has fallen to my sister and to my middle son who volunteered to look after his Gran, but I have also spent 2 weeks there.
I have also had a crafting dry period. For over a month I did not do ANY crafting...the whole idea made me feel ill. Then Fin and I had a talk and I realised the problem - I had been so het up about things selling/what to make that would have mass appeal, that all the joy had gone out of crafting.
So, with that 'aha' moment, I found my crafting mojo again.
And it is knitting for charity. With a disability, it is all too easy to get caught up in your own problems and lose perspective.
My big love in the past was making baby clothes for my boys. So, a quick look on Ravelry and through pattern books, and I came up with these. The flowers are from a crochet pattern on the wonderful Attic24 blog. And I got to use a girly colour.
There is a bootee in waiting with the green stripes. THAT patten I haven't printed out, and my iPad ran out of juice!
Clearly the absence of knitting mojo had worried Fin. We went to Hobbycraft solely to buy a circular needle. Of her own volition she pushed me to the baby yarn aisles. There was a '3 for 2' offer. I picked up 3 balls and she immediately doubled it!
I am also making my favourite slouch hats from Jane Brockett's 'The gentle art of knitting'. These are for teenagers and will go out in Christmas shoe boxes from a local church.
I really am enjoying this knitting and am connecting with whole communities of knitters I did not know existed.
Please do keep popping back in and leaving comments, as I hope not to absent myself again!