Pass me a tissue - no the whole box

I am, as I type this, late to the party nobody actually wants to attend - both Himself and I have been unceremoniously added to the 'time to get covid' guest list.  

All I can say is that I am grateful (very very grateful) that we have been jabbed.  I would not like to have been poorly without the vaccinations - I felt rough enough as it was. 

Now - starting day eight, I am still testing positive and feeling rubbish but can sense I am over the worst and am (finally) heading in the right direction.  I have had 'standard' flu before and in comparison - this was definitely ramped up however in the grand scheme of things - I know I got off lightly.

Funnily enough (I must be feeling a little more human if I can see the 'funny side') the cat has rather liked the sick bay vibe we have had recently - lots of bed time, duvets at every opportunity, dozing all day and just the minimum disruption to a cat's daily sleep pattern. However, a certain all action hero🐾, despite being such a good girl and so so patient, is about to pop!  I am almost dreading my first day back to work as Moss will surely explode and round up everything and everyone until we are all dizzy and then for good measure I am pretty sure she will do it again just to make sure she got it right the first time. But until then she lies on her bed as if she has melted and oozed off on to the carpet, tongue hanging out and eyes half closed - a coiled spring ready for action.... (you will just have to use your imagination....)

Strangely - time has both stood still and completely disappeared. I can't really recall what happened to last week yet there has been moments when I have sat and watched the clouds move, birds fly, listened to the wind in the trees, watched autumnal leaves fall and felt time stop. 

Yesterday Himself encouraged me to sit outside in the garden (swaddled in a duvet) to get some fresh air, although he was also struck down - he seemed to recover quicker although I feel he was initially hit harder.  Whereas I seem to be 'drifting' and I am well and truly fed up with it. So, today, dressed, with a mug of tea (about the only thing I've lived on this last week) I am kick starting the 'feeling more human' momentum by blogging.

All photos are from our holiday - which seems a life time ago.

In at the deep end

 Go on, I said, let me fix it for you ... I really would love to. You'll be doing me a favour - I need my hands to be busy and I love doing that sort of thing....

It took a couple of weeks of gentle (ok persistent but gentle) persuasion to be able to prise this jersey (well you lot would call it a cardi but a jersey is a jumper is a cardi to me!) and bring it home. It is a well loved lamb's wool super soft favourite of a dear friend of mine and I'd seen that she'd already made a couple of repairs and that another hole had begun to appear.

I brought it home and started to un-pick the stitches so that I could see what I was working with and soon found that there were many mini repairs all over the body of the jersey. It was like doing textile forensics with the differing coloured thread revealing many layers of repairs to this beloved item of clothing.

Every time I turned the garment over, I found another mend or another hole. So, I decided to start with the smallest wounds and work my way up the the major one on the left under arm.

I kept going, building up my courage and practising different techniques - good old fashioned darning, Swiss darning, boro-esque stitching, patchwork, applique, freeform, pseudo-Dorset buttons and 'wing-it'.

Each evening, after we'd eaten, I'd switch on my anglepoise lamp and stitch another hole closed, avoiding looking at the large one on the arm until apart from a worn thin area that I was going to weave over, I had no choice but to tackle the arm. In the end I took the scissors to it and just cut away all the threads and wool then picked up each tiny stitch and sewed them to prevent any more unravelling.

It was then a matter of finding a soft but strong fabric to patch from the inside and applique stars and tiny stitches to strengthen the knitting. Strangely enough, once I'd got over my reluctance to repair this particular gaping hole - it turned out to be my favourite mend.

This afternoon, after three weeks, I completed the final mend - the woven section on the left front, took the photographs and folded up the jersey. Both relieved and bereft it was now completed. It can return home tomorrow. I shall miss it's company!

This was an act of rebellion against the tide of the throw-away-society as well as an act of kindness to a friend who does so much - thank you x

Stitching

 I have a shirt. 

A favourite shirt which I will reach for first nearly every time, it is a perfect partner to jeans and boots. It was a teenage cast-off from one of my boys and I suspect I have loved and lived in it for about nine or ten years. 

Suddenly it started to wear thin - first it was an elbow, so I trimmed the chest pocket and stitched the patch with the teeniest tiny stitches. I was rather pleased how I managed to colour and stripe match making the repair virtually invisible.

Then about six months later, my cuffs and the narrow placket down the front showed signs of wear. So this time I stitched a floral fabric along the wear marks and absolutely loved the contrast of the materials.

Then, last weekend after I'd worked on the Saturday, I changed out of my work duds and of course reached for my jeans, boots and fav shirt. I was horrified to see a huge tear on the back - the fabric has just worn thin with use and love. So reluctantly I had to put on my second favourite shirt (which is so not favourite at all in comparison!) However, the thought of adding patches of love and stitches rather excited me.

In a rather simplistic Boro mending style, I matched embroidery floss to both fabrics and quietly stitched rays of  sympathetic colour. I wanted to reinforce the material of the shirt as well as embellish the patch.

Feeling rather happy with my mending, I shook out the shirt to inspect and found that the other elbow was looking a little thin .... well that meant a bit more mending didn't it...?!

This time I tried a more 'organised' pattern and with a nod to Sashiko mending this time I made long waves of colour. I may be a teeny bit in love with this patch...

Mending my shirt was important - not just the act of making a favourite shirt last a little longer, not just a rebellious act against fast fashion and the throw away society, not just a process of creativity - in a strange small way - I was not just mending my shirt, it was my way of symbolically mending what is happening. 

A form of self care too.

Never too late

 I'm numbingly tired, so only popping in to say hi ...

...and how are you? 

...and are you taking care of yourselves?

I saw this the other day and thought I would share it with you - just in case it was just what you needed xx

Never too late and never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream

I am still weaving - both gifts and stories and I love that two intertwine and become one. Really love it.

I'll pop back soon, just need to get the next 8 days or so wrapped up then I can relax - promise, xx