Moo2 Fitness Update

(After flooding run. Gushing water and silt. Not pictured: the stench of poo)

It's been a month since I last mentioned my City To Surf training on here.

I've been avoiding you.

A few hours after telling you I was up to 8km and loving it and had hopes of keeping up with MrMoo I went and sprained my ankle.

I stepped off a trailer into a grass field at a friends wedding and rolled it and fell over. I had run 8km, danced to every.single.song at the wedding, and well, it caved in pretty easily.

I didn't think it was bad, it hurt, but I continued to walk and (painfully) run on it in the following week until it swelled up after a few km exactly a week later. Doh. 

It took me a week to realise that my ankle WAS actually damaged. I kept thinking "stop making excuses Sophie, don't chicken out, it's all in your head" but apparently you can't use mind power to swell your ankle up.

So I've been to the physio 3 times since and have just started running again this week. I've had to start from scratch with my fitness, it only took a couple of weeks to loose everything I had built up (which wasn't much, really).

I am still determined as ever, I ran 7km today and hope to do 10 by next week. Then it's the city to surf the weekend after and I'm hoping adrenaline will carry me the extra 4km. Or hey, I can always walk what I can't run. 

I've lost all hope and expectation of keeping up with MrMoo. His big powerful man legs and lungs are no match for mine! 

But, I will still be crossing that finish line in 2 weeks! Yahoo! 

Can I also say that escaping the house after dinner and bed times to pound the pavement, listen to some angsty music, sweat, pray and witness sunsets is one of the best things I can be doing for myself right now. It's hard to prioritise, but I've come to realise that I need it, and hope to continue after race day.

Peace and love,

Sophie x

I Can Hear You Roar - international women's day

I spent most of yesterday in a very raw, awe-filled state. I didn't know what or why, but for some reason the day felt sacred.

I spent most of it grateful, pondering the life that I have, thankful that I am -free- as a woman.

I sat with MrMoo during a precious date night, we waited for our pizza and I looked around. I thought to myself, 100 years ago this would seem so radical. Me wearing tight jeans, sitting at a bar with my husband, the kids at home. Next to us, a group of men and women laughing. Across from us, a pregnant lady waiting by herself.

 I sat and I thought, how lucky am I to have strong women go before me who campaigned for the rights I take for granted now.

Sometimes I do feel so unequal "stuck at home", without a wage, without a career.

However,

My political opinion matters and counts, a career is available if I choose it, but staying at home is also acceptable (sometimes) to raise my children. I can sit in a bar as an equal.

I felt humbled and grateful for the forerunners of equality in the last century, and also for the millions of women who have gone before me and carried out their duties without complaint also.

I woke up this morning and discovered that it is was international women's day yesterday, so felt my experience yesterday was worth sharing here.

Happy women's day! :) I can hear you roar!

Colourful Mixed Crochet Blanket Reveal

Be prepared to feast your eyes on a whole lot of colour and snuggly goodness, that is, my eclectic mixed crochet blanket!

She's taken me 6 months to complete but I never once felt uninspired, or lacked motivation to complete her, which often happens towards the end of my blanket making process. Instead, a lack of time, priorities and circumstances got in the way, frustrating me. But as it was a labour of love, I joyfully picked up my hook when I could and slowly worked away at her.

 

I originally pinned this blanket a year ago, and lamented on Twitter at how I wish I could create such a beautiful thing, and afford so much wool. Usually my blankets are made from acrylic, the cheaper option, and are fairly simple.

After Katie was born I needed to fill a creative gap in my life (such is what happens after birth, the greatest creation of all), and decided this was the project for it. I've wanted to expand my crochet knowledge but didn't know what kind of projects to do it on, this was perfect!

I wanted it to be for our couch, I'm building a nice little collection of homemade blankets for us to snuggle under in the cold months, and winter is always coming so there is always a need for more blankets!

I already had a blanket I preferred, one that Miriam had made that I felt was a perfect size for us tall-ies, so I used that as my base to get the chain length that I wanted. 

180 chains long, I took a guess at the multiples I would need. I'm not to good at math, and couldn't work out how many clusters I would need, so I took a guess and figured I would work it out in the following rows. (does anyone have any cheats way of doing this that they could explain to me? I should have continued math in high school... regrets!)

I used little woolies "pattern" as a guide, but soon realised she just repeated the same 2 or 3 stitches each time, and I wanted to learn moooore! I tried to order the book she was working from but couldn't buy it online from anywhere, and none of our libraries here stocked it. So I ditched her and just went with whatever mood struck. I figured out what hdc looked like in single rows, then double rows, then back and forward etc etc. (hdc is now my new favourite standard stitch) 

I also added in a tapestry dot pattern, also of little woolies. I used the term "pattern" loosely, because they're quite vague, and her patterns often miss chunks of information and detail from them. 

And then, joyfully, worked on my border, which alone took 4 balls of wool to work up. I decided on a pom pom edging, using Once Upon A Pink Moon's pom pom tutorial, which is quite fabulous I have to say! 2 pom poms in and I was a master! That and a row of turquoise, hot pink and baby pink nestled underneath in alternating rows. 

Altogether she is a big lump of colourful wool, woven and hooked into something quite dreamy-out of this world-breaking all the crochet granny rules, and I absolutely LOVE her. 

In fact, as I sit here typing, she is keeping me warm during a 100yr storm that is blowing over our way. She's already part of our family and when Camilla sees her she promptly says "Mummy crochet 'dis"

Also, incase you're interested, I steam blocked her using Attic 24's explained method (at the very bottom of her post). Out of all the blocking methods I've tried, this works the best for me. It makes my crochet so soft and flexible, and allows it to hold its shape. If you're not addicted to blocking yet, try it out!

So are you ready for the grand reveal?! My eclectic mixed crochet blanket in all of her glory?

6 months

23 balls of wool

11 different colours

4 mm hook

148cm * 146cm

 (she looks a bit wobbly in this photo, she's not that bad I should have stretched her out more, it's just she has a few womanly curves!)

Thank you so much for following along on this crochet journey with me! 

To see my other blankets:
Granny Stripe Blanket
Ripple Blanket
Granny Circle Blanket