spring days

Spring has sprung. Along with my youngest son, I visited the botanical gardens in Redcliffe today. We checked out all the fantastic colours, flowers, leaves, bark, water reflections. In between wanderings, I lay beside my son on a blanket crocheting.

I have quite a collection of wools and was recently given 3 extra bags so I literally have no room to store it all anymore. Instead of trying to make it fit, I am instead using it as fast as I can! A pile of crocheted rectangles and lining fabrics will hopefully be purses by the end of this week.

The wools are mostly organic, 100% wool and have been dyed with a mixture of natural and chemical dyes. They are so beautiful and soft to use, I am seriously worried they will spoil ordinary wool for me!!

I am turning over the thought now of experimenting with dyeing. I keep dreaming up gorgeous shades of custom dyed wools. Mmmm, rich reddish brown, like the colour of the moist, delicious chocolate mud cake from the Three Monkeys Café in West End or y’know so I have been told…ahem. Okay, I need to get out more!! It’s just the idea of using specifically coloured wools to create things excites me…this much!!

I stumbled across this Anais Nin quote while reading (for the second time) The Hip Mama Survival Guide by Ariel Gore. By the way, I recommend this book in a HUGE way. Who could not love a writer who advises if anyone gives a breastfeeding mum a dirty look for nursing her toddler in public, she should "squirt 'em in the eye." Not a mother but a motherrrrr!

Anyhow, the quote below sums up how I am feeling about spring and kids and life as I love living it so I thought I’d share it here;

“The presence of young lightens the world and changes it from an oppressive, definite, solidified one, to a fluid, potentially marvellous, as-yet-to-be-created world”

but in case you think, wow she is deep, there was also this one…

‘I did what I could and I deserve a beer” Thanks to Ani di Franco.

…which maybe I liked as much if not more than the first.

Anyway, ‘stick around for joy’

and check this out…. http://www.hipmama.com/

and this…. http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/

P.S-I also recently checked out a cool book on the art of amigurumi, which is a Japanese craft of crocheting small cute animals. And I love this.