Monday, July 23, 2012

making the most of the cold




I'm afraid there's not a lot of motivation to spend any time outdoors at the moment. It's been cold. The plants have almost stopped growing and much of the grass is brown from the daily frosts. Once we've braved the cold for soccer (and I try not to think too much about my son running around in a t-shirt and shorts in low single digits) and picked up Julia from her sewing lesson, it's mostly been a return to indoors and back by the warmth of the fire. Shared simple meals break up the weekend days. But the weekend I purposely ignored the steadily growing pile of laundry that had outgrown it's drawer space and was threatening to swallow up the entire pantry floor.

Instead I concentrated on some making. I worked some more on Violet's Autumn Leaves (the free pattern is here),  which encouraged Julia to do a little more knitting herself. I cut up some old magazines for another scrapbook. Something, I admit, I have never grown out of.  Though I think Daniel wishes I would. My mum helped me cut out a dress for Julia. I admire her accuracy with pinning and cutting out. All done so carefully and accurately, a reminder of her time as a pattern grader in the 70's. This accuracy is something I need to work on as I tend to be a little lazy in this department, and then wonder why those seams don't quite join as they should. Julia, too, had a little sewing project of her own to work on in the form of a simple stuffed toy of her own design.

 It is brought home to me again, the contentment that can be found in simple creative things. That is not just about the finished cardigan or dress, but as much about the process involved from selecting colours, the texture of the item in your hands, to the pleasure of knitting by the fire.

And while the weather may be not so nice, and Spring feels very far away, it does feel that we are making the very most of this season in our own way.

8 comments:

  1. knitting by the fire, sounds pretty close to perfection to me x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can only imagine how hard it would be to strike up the motivation to go outside when it is so cold there it's nice that you have that nice warm fire to inside and your love of knitting to keep you toasty and contented. My oldest loves cutting and gluing into her homemade scrapbooks, she loves to fill her's with lots of sweet recipes and spends hours doing it. It sounds like it might be something she'll enjoy for many years to come like you:) xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. We are the same here - very Wind in the Willows Mole - type response to the weather (although we've had two days of springishness).
    Your days do sound lovely though and if it were not for the weather you would have missed out on that cosy loveliness :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that Julia picks up her knitting when Mum does...and that sewing project looks so sweet!
    I am a bit lazy with pattern marking and cutting i admit...i'd love to see your Mum in action!Been cold and drizzly here too but we brave the outdoors at times because otherwise the twins drive me slightly batty and they don't allow me to finish any projects anyway while theya re awake!!
    Sounds like a lovely weekend...great idea on the washing!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. We probably aren't experiencing the cold like you are Tania but over the last few weeks I have been that cold that I have an aching chill in my bones, it's been awful.
    What I wouldn't give to sit curled in front of a fire knitting :)
    x

    ReplyDelete
  6. You make even a cold cold inside day sound wonderful, in a crafty way. It gets cold up here too, our houses are weatherboard and not built for it and there are no fires or heaters but it's only a few short months and the days usually warm up quickly with the sunshine so it's really only in the dark that we freeze. melx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cozy, simple creativity. I like.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i love winter for the cosy days and evenings like you describe so well..

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. If you have any questions please check back later as I will do my best to answer any within the comments section.