Great conversations with your children. Part 2

My last 15 minutes with Oliver have been like this (my responses are in red):

“May I have a yogurt tube?”
Yes.

“Which one?”
Whichever one you want.

“May I open the new box?”
Not until the old box is finished first.

“WAH! WAH!”
“May you open this for me?”
Yes, bring it here.

Get it away from my laptop!
Don’t drop it on my knitting!

“May I have another yogurt tube?”
No.

“Why?”
Because you can’t just eat them one after another.

“Was that the last one I will get today?”
I don’t know.

“When can I have another then?”
Not right now.

“But I want one now!”
You can’t have one now.

TWO MINUTES OF QUIET

“May I have one now?”
No.

30 SECONDS OF QUIET

“May I have one now?”
No.

WAH!WAH!WAH!WAH!

Thump Jamie as he walks past just to make himself feel better!

Jamie now crying!

Oliver upstairs crying!

Mummy about to cry or commit murder, not sure which will come first!

I can only hope that Oliver's tenacity serves him well in the future!

I'm in love!

It finally happened, I have fallen in love! I know almost to the minute when it happened too. I can't escape from it and being in love is, well, lovely!

It's knitting, yes, knitting. I am in love with knitting!

My mum could knit anything, and I mean anything. She could knit the most complex patterns and designs with no errors. We all wore her works of art as kids, beautiful Fair Isle patterns, complex Aran sweaters, and basic cardigans to match our school uniforms.

She often tried to teach me to knit, she would cast on 20 stitches for me, show me how to knit it and left me to it. Within moments it seemed that piece of knitting was full of holes and had 17 stitches, or it would be full of holes with 23 stitches! I couldn't even knit a decent scarf for my dolls! So I gave it up and contented myself with holding skeins of yarn while my mum wound them into balls of wool, repeatedly reminding me to "Keep your hands up!"

Years later I taught myself to crochet and was able to make baby clothes and blankets for my friend's children but that was it. I loved to draw and paint, so took art classes, I tried patchwork once, just the once, sewing is not my forte, although I did make some of my own clothes! I tried just about any craft you can think of, did quite well with mosaics for a while, but never got back into knitting, it just didn't interest me.

About a year ago however, I was in my local craft store and found myself in the yarn aisle, where I fell in love with some pale lilac, fluffy yarn. So I bought a couple of balls and some knitting needles and went home to make a scarf. It was very basic, just garter stitch and the scarf grew quickly, I loved the softness of the yarn and how beautiful it felt against my neck. I sent it to my friend who had to read all my emails about how wonderful the yarn was. She wore it to work and then emailed to ask if I would make more as several of her colleagues wanted to buy one!

And that's how my little home based business began!

This past winter I sold lots of scarves, each made to order! I taught myself to make knitted hats and children's scarves, but all with 'fluffy' yarn to hide the imperfections I thought my knitting had! I knitted frantically and loved every minute of it!

After Christmas I decided I wanted to see what my knitting was really like, so bought some 'non fluffy' yarn and knitted up some swatches. I discovered I had really good, even tension and could follow a simple pattern pretty easily. I bought some yarn online but then I went out and discovered my LYS (local yarn store). It was a revelation to me. The colors, textures and types of yarn now available is incredible! It's just staggering! I had absolutely no idea. Yarn is made from bamboo, silk, corn and even milk! I had so much fun going around the store touching the yarns, looking for the softest and prettiest!

At first I was actually a little scared to knit with these new yarns, just in case I couldn't repeat the neat and tidy work of my swatches, but I selected a stitch pattern that seemed pretty easy and got started! And that was it! I fell in love!

I am having so much fun, but I am spending all my money at the yarn store - I am sure they must love me! I am making neck cozies with ruffled edges, long, skinny scarves and fingerless gloves! I want to learn to knit in the round, I want to add beads and color to my work and it's so exciting!

How can knitting be exciting?

I wish my mum was still alive so I could share this with her and she could show me all the things I want to know. I think of her so often now, because I knit every day. I take my knitting with me to while away the time while the boys are in their Taekwondo class and I knit every evening while watching television. I find it soothing and restful, something I have really needed in my life.

I have quickly become a yarn snob! I don't want to knit with nylon yarns. I want wool, and silk and baby Alpaca (so soft). I love cashmere, but wish it wasn't quite so expensive! I love Malabrigo Worsted, 100% merino wool. It's my current favorite. I can't afford a yarn winder, and I have no-one willing to sit with a skein of yarn over their hands while I wind my wool into balls, so I upend two small stools and use those instead! I am going on a day trip to Nebraska (oh it will be a long day) to visit the Brown Sheep Mill, and I am so looking forward to that.

I intend to knit all year long, so next winter I am ready to sell my scarves! Only the most expensive yarns will be made to order. I want to set up a website and make business cards for my little enterprise. But first I have lots of knitting to do, I already have a great stash of yarn, and each visit to my LYS finds me wanting to go back soon and buy more!

So I am in love.

I never, ever thought I would give up mosaics for knitting. I would not have believed it possible. But it is, and I have never been quite so happy with a hobby! Here's to my mum - wish you could see me now!