I have been at home all week with my spotty children (the chicken pox finally arrived). After the fevers died down they have been fine, we just needed to stay in isolation. This time made me remember when the boys were very young and I had the three of them at home. How did I get through those long days when they so needed me to do everything? I remembered...I began to craft. I learnt to knit, sew basic shorts and quilts, stitch little felt toys for them and prepare crafts for them to do when they woke.
This wasn’t because I wanted to be awarded the gold medal at the Motherhood Olympics but I needed to do something for my sanity..something other than cooking meals, washing clothes and changing nappies. I felt like, if I had managed to do something creative I would feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Something I could be proud of.
When my first son was born the blogging/ crafting world was just in its infancy and I became hooked. I related to these women who were trying to not dwell on the difficulty of the days and somehow finding the time to stitch up a felt duck. I found one of these hand stitched felt ducks the other day at home and I laughed with my friend asking ‘what on earth made me spend a night stitching this up for’.
I know the answer though, the hand sewing kept me sane; crafting as a form of therapy and meditation. It was also to make something beautiful. Making something beautiful was very important to me and it helped feel like I was doing something for me (even if I was making something for them...). As the boys got older and the school run started and I began studying and working the crafting stopped. I had replaced the meditative acts of knitting with yoga and watching Doctor Who.
This week though it has all come back to me. Yesterday I picked up my needles and found one ball of wool left in my once overflowing stash. I by chance came across an old play group craft pattern and by the end of the day I had knitted this simple doll. I had knitted while they had breakfast and knitted outside while they played and knitted in between washing cycles.
Of course the boys were not interested in this pink baby doll I had made. It was not for them. It was for me. I will probably give it as a gift to someone but that is not why I made this doll. I made this doll to keep me sane.
