making as medicine..

I tell you, you people are very lovely.  I have been inundated with pattern requests these last few months, such a compliment!  I must apologise for tardy responses and being oh so slow at getting those patterns up here for you, though. 

Firstly, there's the simple lack of time to sit and think and write, and secondly, as you know, patterns are really so far out of my comfort zone, both the following and the writing!  

But I will do my very best, bare with me,  I'm so looking forward to sharing them with you all. 

To be perfectly honest, I struggle to know where to begin, I think perhaps I over-complicate it in my mind.  My pieces are very simple, using straightforward, repetitive stitches.  I enjoy the simple rhythm, and therapeutic nature of the making.

I had a very special moment with a beautiful friend recently.  She told me that making for me is medicinal.  It's my medicine.  I'd never looked at it this way, but she's right.  Time to stop and crochet those repetitive stitches are as valuable to me as a yoga class or taking time out to myself.

What she said next made me cry happy tears.  She said that when I make, I'm sharing my medicine. Sharing the calm, nurturing qualities that those pieces hold.  Woah!  I love this, and it makes perfect sense to me.  You know that feeling you get when someone asks you to make something for them, or when you have the perfect gift in mind and you can't wait to get started?  It's all about how it makes you feel.  Its a part of you, and the love you put into creating for someone else.

So, anyway, I just wanted to share that with you all and to assure you that my pattern posts are on their way, and I hope that through these you are able to share the love of making as medicine, too.

thirteen..

Can you believe it, thirteen!  I can't.

This beautiful boy who fills me with awe, and pride and so much love.  

I look at him and he makes me smile.  Actually, I look at him and listen to him talk, with his shakey pitchy voice, and I can't help but giggle.  Watching him move into this new phase of his life is giving us so much joy right now. I know things will most likely change, that's what they say isn't it, the years ahead are supposed to be our toughest yet. But right now, he is joy, and we are loving watching him grow.

I listen to his thoughts, his ideals, his plans for the future and I'm so overwhelmed by all that he is and all he might be. I'm also completely terrified as his independence broadens, of all that lies ahead in the near and distant future, and I pray that he is wise and sensible and has good judgement.

This boy who made me a mother has taught me so much, and we continue to learn from one another every day. He's always been a little beyond his years, an old head on young shoulders, perhaps experiences have shaped him this way. He's faced a lot of challenges in his young life already, and its been hard, really hard.  He doesn't realise just yet, but through his courage he's made a difference, and that's a pretty incredible thing.

Now, as I watch him grow, I don't see him changing so much as I see him becoming more of who he is. His confidence, his humour, his expectations and perceptions.  It's like watching a butterfly ever so gradually emerge, and I'm completely fascinated by him.