A confession, a book and a doll

I have a thing about dolls. I still have many of the dolls from my sixties childhood. They are hidden away. I’ve kind of felt ashamed about my doll love affair. It’s childish. I thought people would think me childish. Yes I am childish in many ways, after all, being child-like is an autistic trait. But. The new, no, …the real me… is gradually appearing and taking over and conquering the fears of the person I thought I was.

So, I’m coming out. And, my dolls should come out of the closet too.

I need to find a glass fronted antique style cabinet to display them. This is important as our home has two fires and sooty dust is a fact of life.

A year ago, before my shoulder became fully frozen I was completing a lot of jigsaw puzzles and this was one of them…

This jigsaw helped me re-identify with my authentic doll loving self. As a child my mum encouraged me to play with my dolls. I didn’t know how. But i did love to look at them. I liked collecting them. (During my teenage years I found all my dolls under the house and in the refuse bin. They were rescued and hidden away!)

Wind forward a year later too late November 2017 when I bought this book…

And inside I found the pattern for this doll that I completed last week…

I made her with my handspun yarn and she’s stuffed with fleece, yarn ends and a bit of poly fill.

My dolls are still in the closet. It’s time to get them out.

More Christmassy things…

Thank you for all your lovely comments regarding A rotund elf

I thought in this post I would share with you the elf I made last year that didn’t work out so well but I still think he’s fine just as he is. (There’s a human correlation of acceptance here!)

Also a snowman and our Christmas tree.

We gathered driftwood from the beach and I used garden twine to tie it all together. It’s handy to have it hanging on the wall and not taking up floor space 🙂

Thanks so much for visiting 🙂

 

Crochet & Knit Christmas🎄 Giving 🎁

These are the items I’ve made thus far. Apart from the beanie I haven’t used a pattern. I definitely need to up my skills a level. I kind of got stuck in an autistic rut of producing one thing after another. It’s ok though and I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.

I’ve happily been using my handspun which falls somewhere between 4 ply and double knit weight; it all depends on the fibre really. This means patterns often need tweaking.

The first picture is a few items using commercial yarn… two pairs of hand mitts and a dishcloth. I really dislike the dishcloth craft yarn with all its stringy little hangy bits. I gave up trying to crochet with it as I couldn’t see the stitches and resorted to knitting it. It’s also tough on my hands and wrists. I bought them when they were reduced in price but wish I hadn’t.

From here on all yarn is handspun. The next are a pair of leg warmers…

A beanie and matching mitts…

And several more pairs of mitts…

Hmm… I’m planning on gifting myself the leg warmers 😊

We have family visiting on Saturday. They are likely not able to visit again until well into the new year so I have plans to hang the Christmas tree and do a bit of decorating to excite the grandchildren 👷 👧

Wishing you a day of contentedness wherever you are and lots of love from me

💚💜💙💛❤💚💜💙💛❤💜💙💛💚❤💜💚💛💙❤💜💚💛💙

 

Return to Raft of Dunster

Things went so much better with my woven items as they ended up staying for the whole weekend. If you remember, they were only going to be exhibited for a couple of hours on Friday evening. I’m so pleased and grateful to Jen for the opportunity. Thanks lovely Jen 🌷💟😊💐💕🌺🌸🌼🌻

I popped in to collect the remainng items this afternoon and I actually remembered to take some photos (with my phone though, so not the best quality images, sorry).

There’s one of Jen modeling a wrap…

Here are some of the items on the shop’s ladder…

 

It’s a fab ladder don’t you think?

Someone wrapped each rung with tissue to protect the weave catching.

Some other views of the store…

 

Thank you so much to Jen and her lovely team for this opportunity. It’s just what I needed at this point in my life. I sold one item and there were some very nice remarks and much admiration for my makes.

Note: I would like to add I have not received payment of any kind to promote Raft Clothing. I have done so out of gratitude and a belief in supporting small local business.

Positively Autistic: A List of (Positive) Autistic Traits

I love how this twists autistic traits into positives. This is how it should be viewed and thought about. An antidote to the depressive descriptions pinned on me/us 🙂

So Much Stranger, So Much Darker, So Much Madder, So Much Better

Sometimes it’s hard to feel positive about being autistic when so much of the presentation of autism focuses on our deficits. In a world that tells us all the ways we are “wrong”, I think it’s important to look at the many ways we are awesome.

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A yarny update

Hello lovely followers and visitors 👋

I continue with crafty business and today I bring you a few pictures.

Your memory is probably heaps better than mine but if you are like me then this next image is a reminder of what it looked like when I first brought this yummy fibre home from StitchFest… bottom middle left…

It’s an alpaca/merino/silk blend from Fleece Witch. It was very slightly felted in places which caused my fingers and thumbs to strain a bit; something that I try to avoid due to arthritis. It’s a beautiful yarn and I’m very pleased with it. From 100 grams I managed to spin a plied yarn of 515.80 metres with about 18 wraps per inch. I think I shall use it as a weft yarn to weave a shawl.

Currently on the wheel I am spinning baby alpaca (bottom left in photo above). It is sheer bliss to spin. I have 200 grams of it, enough I hope to knit or crochet or weave a shawl.

I’m surprised I’m still spinning so much. I’m a ‘seasonal’ artist/crafter so usually I would have moved on to something else by now. Maybe it’s because I’m also weaving, crocheting and knitting a bit which is keeping my spinning drive going.

Yesterday I knitted a couple of Bekki’s Christmas sacks from her newly released pattern book. I haven’t knitted in fair-isle or intarsia for years so I’m very pleased my brain is now able to engage with a pattern. The two patterns I’ve followed this far are well written and easy to follow.

I plan to knit more 😁 😍👌💕👏😤 Aren’t they cute?

If you are interested you can find out more at https://thedartmooryarncompany.com/?s=Pattern

I think that’s all for now.

Sending love and wishing you all a happy day/ evening/night wherever you are in the world

🌎🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇳🇿 🇦🇺 🇫🇷 🇨🇦 🇭🇺 🇪🇬 🇷🇺 🇧🇪

Come for a walk…

…in my garden. Excuse the weeds and lack of deadheading, it’s beautiful anyway.

And in his doggie paradise sits…

…Bertie, surveying his kingdom.

Thanks for coming on this little wander with us 🙂

See you soon xxx

I’ve been spoiling my creativity

Being creative is essential to who I am. I spend my days in creativity. Honestly, I would truly struggle to live without it… I just wouldn’t be me.

So it saddens me that I’ve been spoiling it but happier now that I recognise my foolishness.

It’s loneliness. It’s fine to be lonely if you own it. I’m afraid I haven’t been owning my loneliness and have been expecting others to fill the void. So instead of enjoying spinning, weaving, drawing or whatever, I’ve sat there resenting people for what I considered is their lack of care. Hmm…

It’s taken me a while to be able to write about this perhaps because I’m ashamed of myself and also it’s taken time to get my head around it. I’m doing ok now as my faith has put everything back into perspective. I’ve read several articles I’ve found across the internet, mostly faith based, that have helped. They miss one point though; what if it is female companionship you are especially missing? It’s not easy to see Christ as female even though I know he is all things to all people who love him.

I rejoice at being free of the anger and resentment and I am creating happily again. I am still looking for an answer that fits my query though.