Life is Awesome!

The last 24 hours have just been awesome! Yes, I am probably at the more upbeat pole of a bi-polar mood, but I'm just going to ride this wave whilst it lasts.

It all started with my first visit to a Brown Owls meet in Sydney (which was the second ever in our city). Now, thanks to possibly the most patient woman in the world, Louise, I can now crochet and have taken to it like an OCD sufferer... On the way home in the car this evening, I told my hubby-to-be that if I didn't crochet, I would die! My slightly misshapen 5-colour Granny Square is now about 15cm across and into its 8 "row"... I'm not too familiar with crochet terminology yet...

I just can't tell you how happy I am to have found this group, and a creative crafty outlet again. It's great to learn a new skill, but even better, I seem to have found people who are into craft that aren't just into knitting technically brilliant (but completely unwearable by anyone who has the capacity to dress themselves or at least make it clear through language or violent kicking motions that they really don't want to be seen in public in them) jumpers..., or do cross stitch or tapestries of wattle or federation houses.... or those freaky androgynous clowns that have a single teardrop painted on their face... like hardcore prisoners... I don't think I've mentioned how much I hate clowns... but that's a rant for another day, because I'm not going to let anything, not even a freaky clown, spoil the awesomeness of the last day!

So yeah, the ladies at this craft club are all lovely and many of them baked up a tasty storm... I have to admit that I felt a little ashamed coming empty handed! And they were all so talented and knew so much about all the crafty stuff that's out there. I feel as if I've finally tapped into the craft world that has eluded me for so long. There's so many people out there doing such amazingly cool craft stuff... Gush, gush, gush... I'm just a rambling incoherent torrent... because it's all making me feel as if I've found what I've been hoping would fall into my lap for so long... and now I look down (and just next to the laptop) is my Granny Square which is limited only by my yarn supply!

But there's more too it than just finding like-minded, talented people from whom I can learn all the crafty things I've been wanting to learn for so long. Just talking to them about craft (amongst other things) made me realise something. One thing a woman said really stuck with me and I am going to use it as my new mantra. There I was, staring at my tiny (at that stage) Granny Square, lamenting that it wasn't perfect... Yes, my very first attempt at crochet... EVER... wasn't completely perfect. My god, I don't deserve to live! Then one of the ladies said "Well, you don't want it to look perfect, because then it doesn't look home made." And you know what, she's right! Looking at it again today, I realised that I'd completely missed a stitch 5 rows back... I can imagine that if she hadn't said what she had to me, I probably would have torn it all up and started again. But, I've taken it in my stride - it is my first attempt after all. I can't help but think of the number of shelved craft projects I have because I've made a mistake that probably only I can see but don't know how to rectify... My perfectionist attitude certainly doesn't do me any favours sometimes.

Perhaps this new found love of craft will be therapeutic in other areas of my life. I'm determined to be more confident about my crafting abilities. So what if I'm not perfect at something the first go? Will the world end? No! Will people think less of me? Probably not, and if they do, who cares? At another point in the evening I was likening craft to cooking... You know how some people can just put a saucepan on the cook top and start adding things randomly from the pantry and fridge long after a haphazardly chopped onion has been sweating away... I, on the other hand, studiously observe a recipe and rarely turn anything on until I've prepared all the ingredients ready to have on-hand as required as if I'm a celebrity chef presenting a TV show. Another of the ladies I met last night just starts craft projects and sees what they evolve into... I, on the other hand, have generally limited myself to patterns or kits... and I ensure that I have more than enough yarn than I need (my contingency plan) Oh, and all colours have to be from the same dye lot... To think of all the fun I'm missing out on with my stifling "parameters"... I've gotta stop being so uptight... I think I'm unravelling (in a good way!) just every so slightly with each new stitch...

Now, the awesomeness does continue... But to be honest, I really, REALLY want to get back to crocheting (or I may die!) so I'll have to tell you about the awesome run and not 1, not 2, but 3 Eastenders episodes I watched in succession... And they weren't just any episodes, they were the Christmas Eve and Double Christmas episodes.... And best of all, I got to watch them whilst crocheting!