Family life

It's been a week of ups and downs. The ups have included some fairly unexpected opportunities to go back to my previous incarnation as a writer. This will bring in some welcome money and is so far proving to be very enjoyable, as I'm remembering what I enjoyed about producing copy to order. The downs, well it was one big down really as I failed to get a job doing what I love- teaching. I am trying to be philosophical, however, and see that these two opposing kinds of fortune are both pointing to me spending a bit more time immersed in family life, rather than being pulled back to the outside world just at the moment.
With that in mind I wanted to share this family moment from today- P's first ride on Daddy's bike. Despite my mummy-wobbles about it, I've given in to the idea of a 'jumpseat'- a little saddle with a safety strap, attached to the top tube of C's bike, so that P can hold the handlebars and ride with him. I agreed to it for several reasons: I trust C's experience and safety riding bikes; I know that P will love it and that it will open a new world of possibilities for going out and about with P in the saddle and M in the buggy; it will help P's development as a cyclist himself; we bought a new and better fitting helmet for P's rapidly growing bonce.
Guess what? He loved it. We went for a ride/walk at Rampside, marred only by the filthy habits of some irresponsible dog owners who don't pick up after themselves.
After that it was home for a spot of cake decorating- tomorrow is not only Mother's Day but also my mother-in-law's birthday so some whipped cream cheese icing and edible gold stars (I know! How fabulous!) were in order to finish off the lemon sponge P and I made yesterday. Just got to work out how to transport it to her now...

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.

Slackblogger

I made up that word- 'slackblogger', sounds almost Shakespearean, doesn't it?- to describe how I've been recently with this blog. Maybe I just haven't been doing enough of the stuff I like to write about, making stuff and going out and about, or maybe I've just been lacking motivation to write in general. Anyway, a big distraction has been the chance of going back to full time work, but following an unsuccessful interview yesterday, it looks like home is where it's at for a while longer.
With that in mind, it's probably appropriate that some of my recent making projects have been of the homely variety:

This dishcloth is my first attempt at one. I ended up using a probably over-fancy yarn, Rowan Revive . I'd got it on special from but found it a bit rough and stiff when I knitted it up. Fortunately rough and stiff is quite good for a dishcloth. I used what my Grandma described as 'a sort of fancy rib' for the pattern. You knit a row, purl a row, then k1 p1 rib two rows, basically. In this yarn, this makes for some useful, grot-shifting bobbles.

You may also notice the drip-catcher below the draining rack. I think this was inspired by something Soule Mama put on her blog a while back. It goes some way to solving the problem of a draining board that is too small, doesn't slope enough and has areas around the outside edge where pools of yukky water form. Some reclaimed polyester cotton, from a charity shop duvet cover in glorious Seventies purple flower print, and some fleece fabric I had knocking around- bit of freestyle embroidery foot sewing and there was something that looked a bit better, soaks up the water and is easy to wash.
The only problem with both these items is they're meant to be chucked in the wash and replaced every couple of days...and I've only made one of each so far. With interview preparation over with, that's where my priorities should be now.
Except...sometimes the sun is shining at the moment, and there's a very convincing argument for why going back to work full time wouldn't really have been all it's cracked up to be. Or rather two convincing arguments, with big sparkly blue eyes ready to take in the world and its wonders. So when the weather is bad I'll get mundanities such as dishcloths knitted, but when it's kind I'll be grabbing the opportunity and the camera and working at kicking the slackblogger habit.