In the mood

Despite resolving to sew down my stash, so far I have failed miserably.

Last night I took advantage of a quiet evening and a sleeping baby to make a start on the mountain of projects and mending. The result: 6 baby wipes upcycled from an old top, and a third pair of pyjamas shorts for the bean.

The wipes were ready to stitch, and the shorts just needed a bit of finishing - neatening a seam or two, stitching and elasticating the waistband.

The two projects had been waiting neatly for some weeks, and it is good to move them from the WIP pile to the FO pile. But, I still feel rather gloomy about getting to grips with the rest of it.

A big issue for me at the moment is the constant internal dialogue about what to do with the time available. Naps are still a rather moveable feast (little bean is 11 weeks), so there isnt much certainty about when or how much nap time there is to: do housework, play with the bean and the jelly bean, make supper/lunch, read, work (grrr) or craft.

Of course crafting tends to come lower down the list than most of the other things - after all, you can't feed small children with fabric or yarn. And hungry children are - in my experience - pretty bad company. Although they are not quite as bad as (my) children when they are hungry And tired. Oh man.
Still, we are where we are, and there is a fourth birthday to plan and sew for, so. Watch. This. Space. I have a plan... 

Berry nice...

We are starting to enjoy some produce from the allotment, including a goodly amount of raspberries.

We take no credit for these as they were on the plot when we arrived. But, we are enjoying them nevertheless - here in a tasty cake. Mmmm, yum.

This moment

Inspired by Soule mama..

Stripes

Things are pretty stripey here. First there is the never ending blanket, and then there is a toddler Charles. And then there are the dad socks.

 All stripey I tell you.

Progress somehow seems faster when I am making stripes. Maybe it's the 'just one more row/stripe' thing, or just the way in which the completion of a new stripe makes progress palpable in a way that plain knitting is not. Is that just me?


Anyway, the blanket is coming along and gobbling yarn to the extent that I am wondering whether I might have to buy some yarn to make it big enough. But, as is often the case, I am getting ahead of myself, and therein lies danger.

The danger is mostly to do with unecessary stash augmentation. I am getting a whole lot better at putting off yarn (and fabric and clothing) purchases safe in the knowledge that today's bargains will be replaced by tomorrow's bargains. And, over the last couple of years my yarn stash has been slimmed and trimmed.
My fabric stash on the other hand has not. It grows when I'm not looking, fattened up by discarded clothes and linens: a ripped shirt, an old duvet cover, some tired t-shirts... The challenge is finding the time to do some sewing which slims and trims the fabric stash in the same way as the yarn stash.

It's my summer challenge: sew my stash.