Chrissie Crafts: teaching

Real life commitments and deadlines have taken over this week. How dare they! Days filled with work projects, volunteer group meetings, fundraising activities...basically a polar opposite to the nothingness of half term.

So I have very little yarny stuff to share with you – I won’t bother taking a photo of a crochet chain of 322 stitches, in a calming yet rather boring shade of off-white (it will look much more interesting when there’s more crochet completed!).

Crochet, music and soft focus...ahhhhhh

I will share gratuitous photos of things that make me happy, while I tell you that a dishwasher can actually double up as a kitchen cupboard. Yesterday I never got round to emptying the dishwasher, but instead grabbed clean plates for lunch, platters and bowls for dinner, mugs for tea and cups for water...then put all these dishes right back into the then-empty dishwasher at the end of the day.

Bag o' yarn....mmmmm

My fridge is on the blink. I’ve been storing milk outside, and we’ve eaten or frozen all the other food, while I wait for the repairman to get the right part to fix it. (Oh a part of me actually *hopes* it can’t be fixed, so I can beg borrow steal to get a *pink* Smeg! A girl can dream!)

pink, pink, pink

I have the Frozen soundtrack playing constantly in my head. The girls sing it nonstop, creating their own music videos or acting out the movie, but even when they’re at school the music fills my brain. It is a wonderful soundtrack, but even Beethoven gets tiresome after hours and hours of nothing else, let alone Disney.

Chocolate-covered shortbread, because everything is better dipped in chocolate

But hey, enough of my whinging! Let me share with you what has been getting me through the ups and downs of the week!

A fabaroony notebook and indulgent bath petals...and chocolate!

A wonderful parcel arrived yesterday, right when I needed it. Pretty, pampering, caring gifts from the lovely Sue at sweetpea family. Even a fun-filled present for my girls...

Which made them squeal with delight (and Little Flower exclaimed, “Mummy, these are the loveliest chocolates!” in a very princess-like voice).

Sue sent me these goodies as a thank-you for helping her plan her crochet workshop – I’ve been teaching more workshops lately, so I have a good amount of info, handouts and advice that I was more than happy to share. She will be a wonderful teacher, I am certain!

Now I am spreading the crochet love, setting up workshops here, there and everywhere...I have one planned for my village community centre, a series is already booked for a gorgeous little haberdashery in Petworth, The Cotton Wool Store...

...and last week I ventured to the craft mecca that is Eternal Maker in Chichester, and they want me to teach there to coincide with their new yarn department! Woo hoo! (Of course you do realise that I’ll be asking for my fee in fabulous fabrics and buttons!)

So instead of making progress with my crochet projects, this past week I have been writing amigurumi workshop handouts and setting up more workshops. It’s all good!

I enjoy teaching crochet more than I could have imagined. In this great big world of stress, schedules and crowds, where every minute is overloaded with information and electronics and way too much information for any one person to adequately process, I have found it incredibly fulfilling to teach others to stop, focus, create, play and relax, quietly with simple hook and yarn. What I originally started as a little hobby for myself has evolved to mean much more. I leave each workshop elated that the participants are happy, pleased with themselves that they are learning a new skill.