All Fingers and Thumbs

I felt the flickers of an old impetus and I cast on some socks just before the Christmas break began and have been cosied up with them whenever possible. They are so delicious. I had to get my Sensational Knitted Socks out to have a clue where to start. I thought I might be in trouble when I need to look up what SSK meant but my hands remembered the long tail cast on, the needles sit just right in my hands and it is so pleasing to watch it grow. Top down, my old favourite construction, there is a rhythm here that is deeply satisfying. I'd forgotten the comments and conversations that knitting socks in particular seem to draw. Can you make me some? (Mostly no, only the most beloveds get hand knits). How long will they take? Followed up by "HOW LONG? and then one of the classics - "You do know you can get a five pack from xxx (insert their favourite shop) for just £x" (always good to know what people spend on socks!)  It's an insight in to how fixated so...

... AUTUMN! Once upon a time I forgot about how delicious autumn was because I was dreading winter, I must be growing up because now I love them both! But especially autumn. Oh the colours. Today the sun is shining and the sky is vibrantly blue, blue in a way you can stare at and fall in to. Blue in a way it doesn't seem in summer because the sun is so strong. So I love the softer sun, the deeper blue, the myriad of colours in the leaves, the lichens, the hedgerow bounty. I love how alive I'm feeling, wrapped in mischief and magic and my new glorious cardigan/coat/garment never to be removed. Happy October! For sure, this is the most magical time of the year.

Yesterday I was introduced to the work of Sharon McErlane and Net of Light  by my lovely Sas , it resonated with me so powerfully and the timing! I am working with Meghan circled with women Returning to the Fire,  and it was one of the moments when you just have absolute faith that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. A moment that I could feel through every cell my connection to the Divine, my oneness with that energy. Purest magic. This morning, out there under my trees, I was thinking about how we shine our lights.... or not. Wondering how we find the beacons among the tides of sleepwalkers. Thinking that if we shy away from showing our true selves we are short changing ourselves and the world. I believe one of the gifts of navigating through darkness is that you can see the closest light to move towards. No matter how small. So here I am being that little light, writing on a blog that not even my Mum reads any more :) . It would be so easy not to post this,...

Not so much progress with the stitching this week. A little more filling in of the bark, a lot of not actually stitching. I've been so tired that making space for even ten minutes of daily craft time has been a stretch. Inspiration required, luckily it's literally on my doorstep! I took a few moments out there with the source today. Through the rain and cold spring is coming. The branches are full of pointy blossom buds, progress with the start of building work is slower than expected so I may yet see this beauty bloom again. I won't be hustling this project along. This makes me notice that though I often bemoan the pace of life I then also often drive things along. I can't bear inefficiency, maybe my definition of efficient just needs a little tweaking.

My beautiful tree has had her branches tossed around by storm Doris this week but is soaking up the sunshine out there today. Such a joyful "after the storm, spring is coming, soon, promise" kind of a day. All of my daily ten minutes craft prescription time plus a fair bit more has been dedicated to tree stitching. On Sunday I just parked my tired, achey little body by the door and stitched until I felt a whole lot better. That restful absorption is the craft therapy magic I think. I love that the trunk is emerging, and is feeling really true to life. She's looking a little more silver birch than plum right now, but the choice of the sideways stitch to reflect the striations of the bark makes me happy.

I have embarked on an epic project. I want to caption this photo "can you tell what it is yet?" with Aussie inflection but that phrase from my childhood is out of bounds these days. Anyway it's a trunk. Of a tree. I'm stitching a portrait of my most beloved plum tree . Everyday companion for the last twelve or so years, we haven't got long left together. I don't think I will see her blossom again. Sob. We're most likely having an extension built. It will be amazing to have more space but I wish, I wish, I WISH I could keep my plum tree too. It won't work. If anything it's too close to the house already and should long ago have been dispatched to the great orchard in the sky. I feel like a sentimental ole fool, what a palaver over a tree. Then I think about how many memories are wrapped around that trunk and nestled in the crook of her branches and it makes a little more sense. I love that tree and enjoy it every single day. I am lucky to have s...

Though the silence here might suggest it, I haven't actually been hibernating all winter. It's kind of been like my  summer  but colder, greyer and damper. A bit like Eeyore in a puddle. As soon as I work out which country has only spring and autumn, I'm there, till then I seek coping strategies. So far this year I've found three great ones - No.1: a day long yoga  retreat  with my regular class teacher. It was such a gentle day I felt lovely and mellow that evening, full of the kindness that I had been cultivating in the practice and then I spent the next four days in bed! It had been coming a while in all honesty, I think the work we did just unlocked a wave of exhaustion and made me face where I really was. The only way is through. No.2:  A seasonal virtual retreat with that bodhisattva of self-care  Mara . Happily a shade less dramatic physically but it has really helped me pick my heart up from the lows of that crash. I signed up ...