A milestone moment for mommy...

As you might know, Lachlan has been invoved in a Steiner playgroup this year. We absolutley love how much attention is given to children being children and the value of childhood. A key component is the making of toys from natural fibres. Children enjoy the opportunity of watching their mom or dad create a toy for them; a lesson the demonstrates to a child how something special can be made from simple materials. It shows the child how to work with your hands, how to be creative and also patient. For me patience was a thing for this most recent project of knitting. I had never knitted in my life; always wanted to learn but never had the opportunity presented to me. I was a bit scared to tackle it I must admit. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my own accomplishments and I thought I wouldn't be much good at it and fail miserabley. I thought to myself, however; that this would equally be a good lesson to Lachlan: you don't have to be good at everything, but you should give everything a go at least once if it is something of interest. I could also show him that I might fail miserabley at knitting, but it doesn't make the experience a failure if I tried my best and most importantly that I can do it with grace, a sense of humour and perseverence.

So our first knitting lesson was to knit a chicken. It sounded too hard for me at first but when I realised it entailed just knitting a square I thought I might have a chance. A few of the other moms at play group guided me. It took me forever to get just four rows. I was pretty much doing a row a week because I was so slow and would drop a stitch here or there and need someone to help me out. Eventually no one finished and it was time to take them home to complete as we were going to move on to a new project. I took my four rows of fifteen stitches home and tried to complete it. I kept messing up though and didn't undertand what I was doing wrong. Eventually my husband who literally knows how to do everything, told me that I wasn't even knitting right in the first place! Well, I created some sort of knitting technique but not a proper one! He of course, who can do all things, showed me how it should be done. I unraveled a month's work and started from scratch. Boy, I'm glad I did because the right way is so much easier!! I guess before, I was going through the wrong holes. I'm glad that I asked for help from my husband, another good lesson for Lachlan--never be afraid to ask for help and if you are having a hard time learning from one person, it might just mean that someone else might be able to explain it to you in a better way.

So after advice from many people and youtube, I am proud to say I knitted my first chicken, completely by my own two hands alone! I left her on Lachlan's breakfast table so he would discover her in the morning. He's just what he requested, a Leghorn (I think from Pamela Allen's book, 'Fancy That!' :) Here is our little chook friend...