Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

(Turn and face the strange)

Ch-ch-changes

Don’t want to be a richer man

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

(Turn and face the strange)

Ch-ch-changes

Just gonna have to be a different man

Time may change me

But I can’t trace time

From: Shrek, The Movie

“Now tell me, girls and boys, what is a knitter to do when she can’t knit?” Asks the Powers That Be.
“Gee, Powers That Be, we don’t know. What is a knitter to do when she can’t knit?” Ask the children.

In this post, I mentioned that I was working on something fibre related which was not knitting and I never got back to telling you more. I took another rug hooking course when we were in Newfoundland this past summer.

This time, I was the lucky student of my cousin’s fiancée, J. We enjoyed our class in their stunningly beautiful new home just outside St. John’s.

DH had already headed home in hopes that I would get another five days of visiting with family and friends before taking the ‘easy’ route and flying home with Iain. Little did we realise how much the challenges (and stresses!) of coping with a busy baby in not so child proof houses was going to work out. This is how it worked out: Iain + him getting into everything = frazzled Mommy.

The night of the hooking course, I had it all planned. Iain would eat his supper, be bathed in time to be nursed and would be off to sleep before I put him in the car seat. We’re lucky, Iain is usually moveable like that when he is asleep and that night was no exception. Unfortunately, when the movement of the car stopped where the course was being held, Iain woke up. And he bloody well stayed up for the whole evening!

Luckily, the other two classmates were two of my aunts (who likely have their projects finished by now. Do you, Aunt J? Aunt P? Let’s see some progress shots!) and were pretty forgiving of a baby frolicking around the kitchen, wired for sound. My instructor, J, was also a sweetie and took Iain a few times so I could at least practice hooking a bit. J teaches using strips of wool fabric and the class I had taken before used knitting yarn. I found the wool strips more difficult so there was a lot of whining coming from my side of the table. Additionally, because Iain was awake, I ended up feeling really, really frustrated by the end of the night because I had been hoping for a relaxing evening enjoying a new craft and some great company but, instead, and ended up leaving in a rush (I apologise again for being contrary, Ladies!) so that Iain could get to bed.

Let us come to more recent events. My hands seem to be healing but are still very sore. I am not out of the woods yet by a long shot. I tried to knit with alpaca on the weekend, just in case it is wool that I am sensitive to (shudder). Knitting was a big mistake. The feel of any type of fibre moving over the patches on my hands drove me to just this side of insane. I cannot paint because the skin on my right forefinger is so badly damaged that it feels ‘deadened’ so I cannot handle a brush properly (I don’t think I’m whining, just trying to state a few facts. Okay, so I am whining!). However, all that being said, I am not giving up on fibre. No Siree.

Instead, I’ve found something that involves fibre and doesn’t seem to give my hands problems. I’ve been hooking!

And, if you are interested in taking rug hooking classes from one very talented lady who can provide lessons in either Newfoundland or Toronto, simply contact me and I will hook you up (no pun intended…). The beginner pattern I’m working on here is one of J’s original designs and, in her classes, you get the option of a Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter colour selection in your kit. J is really neat and talented and just won her first rug hooking competition on a rug she both designed and hooked this past summer! Go, J!

“And what is it very, very important to do when a knitter is unable to knit and realises this fact for the umpteenth time?” Asks the Powers That Be.
“Tread vewy, vewy carefully. Vewy, vewy carefully indeed!” Whisper the children.