Taking each day as it comes

Life can be so up and down, constantly changing, imperfect.

This week, we started back homeschooling. Traditionally, Australians take a longer break over Summer but considering our disrupted year last year and the girls needing a solid routine, we decided to start back early. We had some new books to start on, the girls were excited about that too. 


I did a lot of pre planning again, hours of work actually, so I felt confident to start the new year. The first day went fairly smoothly apart from one girl needing an attitude adjustment (this is something we are consistently working on with this child). My youngest girl surprised me by getting stuck into her work with gusto and really enjoying it. 

Fast forward to Friday morning and, following a social engagement yesterday, the girls were late to wake and get started. After a fair bit of pushing on my part, we started our homeschool morning. It wasn't very long before there was a complete meltdown and tears from the little one. I was disappointed, I had lessons prepared. However, experience has taught me that there is no point in making an overtired, unreasonable child sit and the table and work, so it was back to bed with her, and there she stayed for the whole morning reading. The upside is she finished one novel she hadn't completed last year and got through another short novel. She was still learning, it was ok. I was able to continue the planned lesson with the other girls.



Plan A is a beautiful thing to the eyes of a homeschool Mum who has spent the time preparing, planning and researching. But, very often, plan B just has to do, and usually it is enough if we accept it as such. It's not easy to let go of hopes, but often it's the only solution.

Running a business has been very much the same. Last week was huge, I released a new pattern, there was a huge amount of activity in my online weaving school, it was all very busy and exciting. This week, the complete opposite with practically no sales, very little activity and even social media has been very quiet. A newly released Youtube video has received very little attention.


Plan A for the business is that I can make a living doing this, that all the hours I put in will finally be worth it. The reality (plan B)  is, I have to keep pushing on and endure the good times with the bad and keep hoping. 

Many times I have wanted to give up on things that seemed too hard - whether it's homeschooling or my business or something else. But every time I want to throw the towel in I say to myself "wait until tomorrow". When tomorrow comes, I'm usually good to go again, the new day gives new perspective. 

I love the words of one of my favourite saints, Padre Pio - 

"Pray, hope and don't worry".




New Year, new pattern!

Happy New Year to you all! What an exciting time to be alive :)
Although I spent New Year's Eve in bed with a stomach upset, today I feel well and reinvigorated. 

Today I launched a new Etsy pattern and thought I would share some details of the process for you.


I started out with some gorgeous Australian Merino from Bendigo Woollen Mills and dyed it with Landscape dyes. I had a vision of the colour I wanted and it was almost spot on. It's a very hard colour to photograph though, it's not as dark as it appears here. I planned on having the colours split in the dye pot to give a subtle variation in colour and it worked out beautifully.


I absolutely love lace knitting and wanted to create something similar on the loom. A scarf that was light and airy with a pretty pattern and warmth and softness for wearing. 


I wanted all the finished details to tie in well with the design of the scarf, so the hemstitching was pulled extra tight to create space and the fringe was twisted. (See how different the colour looks here to the first photo!)


The end result is so beautiful! I was admiring myself wearing it in the mirror until my daughter came along and asked to try it. Well, it looks sensational on her, just the perfect colour, so she may get to keep it.


The PDF pattern for the scarf is now available in my Etsy shop, ready for you to download and start weaving! 



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