This morning's routine has been skewed slightly by a visitor. This lady makes my heart soar. She is a truly inspirational woman who came and gave her time freely and with passion. She came to help Ben.
I know he's mine and you may think I'm biased but bear with me for a bit. Ben is an intelligent boy who struggles with his handwriting. On a good day it's barely legible. It seems school doesn't teach penmanship any more. As a leftie, no one took time to teach him how to form letters the left handed way. I'm a leftie too, and I have tried. But as a full time worker, by the time I get home from work and make tea he's tired and he's had enough. On and off I've tried at weekends, but I'm not a teacher and it's been difficult.
This lady works as a volunteer and his school. She has always had time for Ben. She's encouraged him to read books that interest him, not just the stories given to him by teachers that don't fire his imagination. She challenged the year six children to read 6 books in 6 weeks and write a report about them. Ben didn't want to do it, but she convinced him to give it a go. He read 5 non-fiction books in 5 weeks and thoroughly enjoyed it. His reports were brief and concise. Perish the thought he'd write any more than he thought he needed to. He hates to write. I mean he hates it! I'm sure he feels that writing things down shows the world how bad his writing is, so he'll do anything to get out of it.
It turns out though, that these reports have been a wonder. They've opened up opportunity for Ben we might never have had. This wonderful woman knows things. She knows people. She's given her time to try and help Ben and I'm so happy.
For too long I've felt that Ben's intelligence has been locked behind a wall so high it can't get out.
That barrier is his processing. Getting his thoughts down on paper.
Well no more! Ben starts a new chapter in his learning career in September and we're drawing a line under all that has gone before. He has a fresh start, a new page, new opportunities to shine.
So thank you Wendy. Thank you for seeing past the paper and recognising the potential of a young man who wants to achieve great things.
-------
On a lighter note it's been a great week at Camp Aloha Friends too. Our swap partners have been announced I have been matched with two truly inspirational women. Both hugely talented. I'm in awe! Nan is an excellent seamstress who has raised a truly inspirational daughter ;-) I'm looking forward to getting to know her better over the next few weeks. I've also been paired with Deb. You guys may have heard of her. I've been following her blog for a while now. It's a lovely read. A World of Imagination is beautiful. I love the way Deb sets out her writing. Her photography is gorgeous.
She has inspired me to better with my photography. I'm going to try really hard to avoid photos of my sofa or my carpet! Bear with me though guys. I'm not the most creative of folk!
Camp this week has been all about fabric. Posting off our yo-yo's, making skirts or pillowcases or both, and what to look for in a sewing machine. It's been lovely. I'm not confident with sewing. I've done a bit while I was at school, but produced nothing I'd be happy to show anyone. I have a machine. Mostly it mocks me! I'm having none of it! From now on, I'm the boss! I'll show this machine who's in charge! ....... Well I'm saying now, but it's probably going to be in a week or so! I'm off then and I plan to make it a very crafty fortnight! To that end I've been shopping. I've bought supplies for my skirt. And some thread to make Chinese knots. I've also bought some yarn to weave with. Now, don't get me wrong, I know I've got DK weight yarn in my stash, but it needs to felt a little and all my yarn is superwash!
I'm so excited so it what's to come. This next week could seem really long as I plan my time off.
Feeling the love -
This week I've spun my heart out. I finished spinning the BFL/silk blend from last week. I've decided to keep it as a single. At the moment it's resting on the bobbin. Mainly because I haven't plucked up the courage to wind it onto the niddy noddy and start to full it! I think I'll do that next weekend. That way the energy from the spin should have settled a bit. I'm kidding myself! I'm just scared silly of ending up with 100g of barf!
My spinning mojo was strong this week. I started spinning the second of my Nunoco jewel bug batts. This one is the gorgeous orange to pink batt. I've not got much to show you, so I'll leave that until next week too.
On the knitting front there has been highs and lows. I've worked a lot on the sun ray shawl but there is nothing to see. I'm crossing rounds off the chart, but the shawl doesn't seem to be growing much now. I'm still loving it though, and I'm enjoying each and every chance I get to snatch some time with it.
I also worked on my RainShine shawl. I cast it on last week if you remember. I've been happily working on the stocking stitch body of the shawl. Now, don't ask me why, but yesterday I decided to look at the pattern again. It does say you can use any weight of yarn but your yardage will obviously change according to the yarn you choose. I suddenly realised I didn't have nearly as much yarn as I'd need. I'd taken the laceweight yardage and decided that's what I needed for fingeringweight too! What a clanger to drop!
So now I'm back making it up as I go. I'm keeping a note of what I'm doing and I hope it will all come good in the end. The fabric I'm creating thus far is lovely.
The sheen given by the silk and BFL are stunning and the cashmere content give a luxurious softness. I love this base! The colours aren't bad either are they?!
My fyberspates gleem is undergoing another transformation. It seems like it didn't want to be Almost Autumn any more than it wanted to be Peacocks Feathers. Now it's going to be Heliophysics.
Last night we went out as a family. It was the Penrith Agricultural Show yesterday. It's a big thing locally. Friends of ours always finish off the day with a barbecue. I took a huge dish of Bombay potatoes and some knitting! The potatoes went down a storm and I made great progress on Ben's socks while chatting.
The weather here has been glorious all week and yesterday was no exception. I got 3 loads of washing done by mid afternoon.
However
The curse of the British barbecue is not to be trifled with. By 9 o'clock the rain was dancing 2 feet off the pavements! It was REALLY wet! And not overly warm either! But on a positive note I did get to the heel turn of the sock before we lost the light completely. I sat this morning and turned the heel.
On the Horizon -
I'll work on most projects I'd say. I'll be gearing up to leave the dispensary for a fortnight, so I'll be spending a lot of time tying up lose ends and making sure that everyone knows what needs to be done while I'm away. Hopefully despite all of this I'll have some good crafting time too. And looking even further ahead, I'll have 2 weeks of crafting to look forward to!
It's my birthday soon. I've asked my other half to build me a summer house. I'm hoping that he can find the time to build it sooner rather than later. I'd love to have some space to call mine just for my crafting. I can't wait! Fingers crossed people!
So, have a great week folks.
Until next time
Ellen x
No comments:
Post a Comment