Skirts for Squirts!

Right, I tried posting these comments from Picasa with a photo but it doesn't seem to have worked - a big shame since it would have made my life easier... Never mind though. I have so many things to get my head round with this blogger business.
I had a discussion with B about blogging and he feels wierd about me having a blog. It's the idea that strangers from around the globe can have access to my musings. Or, MUCH WORSE, someone I actually know could come across my little blog. So in deference to him, I have decided not to use our names. Few and far between are the people who know my alias Jellybeanlupin.
I don't feel the same way. I don't know whether I want this blog to be private or a place I go for other people's opinion, but I know that I am looking to get something personal out of the act of blogging. What exactly remains to be seen. (Oh and there is a "delete blog" option if it turns out to be a futile exercise).

This week I have been busy making two identical skirts for two little girls (who luckily don't live next door to each other - matching skirts ugh!). I will put a photo when I have a good one. I am very pleased with the results. I was happy while making them too. I enjoyed the process of learning, improving techniques, making an effort to be meticulous. I made the skirts simultaneously. I know that had I decided to make them one after the other, one little girl would have been left waiting. I get bored so quickly! My next project is to make the lining to the moses basket I have lined up as bed 1 for baby! If I don't get the lining done, bed 2 (full-on cot) will become bed 1. Bed 2 was my daughter's first bed anyway so no pressure. Part of the reason I want to blog is to keep up the momentum. I tend to finish a creative project and then have a break of oooh a year or so before attempting anything else. If I record my positive thoughts and feelings about each project I hope I will find it easier to move on to something else straight away.

Lots of blogs have "WIP" sections and percentage of completion charts. Not bad. A living to-do list. I like the idea but don't yet know how to acheive it with Blogger. So just for the record, on the creative to-do list right now are (in no order):

• block and sew up knitted cardigan for baby,
  
• complete woolly hat started Tuesday for daughter,
  
• make moses basket lining,
• complete "princess" dress for daughter's doll
• make little bags to match skirts (since have material left over)
• design and make about 6 soft-toys as Christmas presents for friends' babies (vague stage)
• make some other Christmas presents... (even vaguer)
  
• learn how to knit socks
  

I am expecting two books from Amazon to arrive any minute now!! One is "Eating" by Peter Singer, wherein he examines from an ethical standpoint the eating habits of three different families (fast food freaks, "normal" (?), and vegan). I am beginning to suspect that it is really important to live in an as ethical a way as possible (hmm I had trouble writing that sentence! - should the "an" be there or not?) and I have long been interested in what we eat. Just read a news article yesterday that Europeans are being urged to eat less fish because of over-plundering of the oceans' fish stocks (good book about that = "The End of the Line" by can't remember who - a good blogger would here insert a link to Amazon and would have inserted another to the news article in question above...). Anyway. Ethical eating is important for many reasons: personal health, animal welfare, sustainability, respect of the environment, safety of the agricultural workforce from pesticides, harmful chemicals etc, the list is literally endless. And it is an area in which your everyday consumer can really have an impact since, yes we eat every day and one family's annual food budget cannot be said to count for nothing. Right even I am getting bored now. But I am looking forward to the book arriving and to me reading it. The other book is a vegan cook book. Just to see. Just to try to eat more vegetable-based meals more regularly and to try to get a better grasp of the nutrition aspects of being vegan. (Note: I don't eat meat, but do fish, S eats everything as long as there is a chili pepper by his plate, F eats everything in theory but doesn't really like meat or fish very much - loves lentils though).

OK I have spent enough time putting my thoughts onto the screen for today. Onwards!!