A few of my favourite things

Lately I have become aware that I am not the only one noticing that our culture seems to have become obsessed with bigger and better experiences. Looking at Facebook, so many describe their lives using terms like "the best" or "the most (wonderful, fantastic, awesome)" to describe their event, spouse, child or whatever. Aside from the fact that I wonder where it leaves anyone else’s event, spouse or child, it would seem that even though many of us have more time and money to do all these things, most are still not satisfied or even happy. Even Jim Carrey, who would know, is quoted as saying “I hope everybody could get rich and famous and will have everything they ever dreamed of, so they will know that it's not the answer.”

On the flip side, sometimes I feel like my life is made up of far too much of the mundane. Washing clothes, cooking meals and other menial household chores can feel like repetitive drudgery. Every now and then, though, I suddenly find the pleasure in doing them again. My latest cosy is a great reminder of the satisfaction I find in washing hanging out in the sunshine and breeze and the fresh smell the clothes have when you bring them in. 

As we get to the end of a long winter when I rarely bother to hang my washing outside, this cosy evokes the memories of summer, the scent of freshly mown lawns, the warmth of the sun, and crisp sheets waving in the breeze. The anticipation of the Spring and Summer to come re-energises me.

Doing another of those repetitive chores - the dishes - the other evening, I was struck by the homeliness of my wooden spoons. There is something about them that says "home" in a comforting way. The stories they could tell about the meals they have helped cook, and the fellowship and family that has been enjoyed and shared around those meals. And they also tell a story about me, as each spoon seems to have ended up with quite specific uses. I couldn't really tell you why, but I am quite obsessive about it.

Thinking about all these ordinary things, many of which we are trying to minimise our time on, by using dryers, dishwashers and now the thermomix, (which apparently does all these things and more – perhaps the next generation will call them “Mother”), I can’t help wondering whether perhaps we are losing more than we gain. Many an important conversation has been had over doing the dishes, as well as a lot of fun. Some of my fondest memories from childhood include preparing and preserving food. My mother preserved peaches, pears, apricots and cherries to name a few. Not only was it labour intensive but usually in the peak temperatures of summer. She also made all our jam at this time, and we used an old fashioned mincer as shown here.

 As small children, we were excited when we were deemed old enough to turn the handle without the fear of losing our fingers. It was family time, where we bonded around preparing food for the colder months, but could also contribute to the well-being of the family as a whole. I think our children have missed out on something special here.

What are some of the simple things that give you pleasure, or memories of such you have? I would love you to share them here.

A Change of Brew

My second creation was for my little one-and-a-half cup pot. I saw this little 'tea-set' one Christmas and said to my husband that I thought it was sweet, and it ended up in my presents. The pattern in Tea Cozies 2 was for a standard size teapot, but I managed to "guesstimate" it down to size. By some good chance, I had some leftover wool from another project which worked perfectly for this little cupcake cosy.

At this point, I was really getting bitten by the creative bug. One of the problems with knitting these days, though, is finding wool stores. The other is that using a book published in the UK means trying to find equivalent wools in Australia, which is not always easy. Fortunately, the internet is generally a reasonable source of answers for this sort of thing. So, letting my fingers do the walking, I found a wool shop not too far away, and headed on down one Saturday morning to browse and get inspired. I came home with wool for another two tea cosies that I thought I would enjoy making. So the third one was the Purple Berry, partly because I found some wool I thought would work, and partly because the pattern was quite an unusual stitch that I'd never done before and I wanted to experiment. Although it called for knitting with two strands at once, because the wool was actually a heavier weight than the pattern, this seemed to produce a quite tight/stiff cosy, so I used a single strand instead. I think it turned out ok.

Starting this hobby is quite amusing to me. As a child, tea drinking was quite an integral part of my family life, so me being a non-tea drinker was a source of concern or at least cause for comment. Being the not only the middle child but also the only girl in five children, I already felt somewhat on the outer, and perhaps there was something of the perverse in me to extend those differences. Or perhaps it was because I was the first to definitely fall into the ranks of being Gen X, the generation of 'question everything' and so, I did not accept that just because it was 'normal' or 'accepted practice', that I had to conform. What a rebel!

However, there was a definite issue with me not drinking tea in at least my wider family and I have a fond memory of my grandma who felt that drinking tea was an important social grace that I did need to conform to. She despaired so much of my lack in this area that when I was staying with her at age 11, she decided that if I just drank some tea, I would get to the point of enjoying it. I remember her suggesting I add more sugar which, to me, simply made it taste like sweet dishwashing water. By my late teens, however, I found that I was actually more normal than I realised, having a number of other friends who drank neither tea or coffee. And my life as a non-tea drinker continued quite happily.

But, here I am, to all indicators of my early life, doing something totally unexpected and surprising. Perhaps it is a sign of (finally) growing up, or perhaps it is simply a normal part of the maturing process. Is there anything that you do now that no one would ever have expected from your childhood? Maybe yours is a little more exciting or unusual. I'd love to hear from you.

Why tea cosies?

My life is about to radically change. For the last 13 years, I have been chief taxi driver, dictated particularly by the school bell. The last five and a half even more so due to the lack of before and after school care - there is only so much you can lean on friends. Anyway, my baby is about to finish her secondary education and shortly after will (God willing!) get her licence. And, so, my life will have a whole new freedom. The past three years I have been studying an MA (the MAVP at Tabor College, Victoria), and with that finishing and my parenting role going through yet another metamorphosis, I have been looking at what I do with my time.

Now, don't get me wrong, it is not about a lack of things to do. There is always plenty. The problem is more one of motivation and energy. There are only so many repetitive tasks you can do in a day without getting seriously de-energised. At least, that's the way it seems to go with me. I realised that I need to do creative things that I both enjoy the process as well as the outcome. The tea cosy idea came out of my time studying.

I  never was a tea drinker until more recently and though I'm not sure the reason why this changed, I have got particularly into green mint or just plain peppermint tea. When I was studying, I got into the habit of sitting with my pot of green mint tea. Better for the figure than snacking, and also good for keeping the fluids up (and getting you out of your seat every half hour or so for a loo stop). However, I discovered that, even in my little one-and-a-half cup pot, the tea was getting cold too quickly, and I realised that the tea cosies my grandmother always used (no matter how hot the weather) were actually very functional. My fascination with tea cosies, though, goes a long way back, as can be seen by the photo below. This is a particularly ugly one from the 1960's, but it obviously tickled my fancy!

Anyway, in one of those rare moments, my enjoyment of knitting, the need for all my friends and family to return to the  comforting days of having tea cosies, and my need for small craft projects collided with the fact that, as is often the case,  I am not the only one realising our need to return to keeping our tea warm in pots, rather than using endless, messy teabags. If you go looking, there seem to suddenly be a number of books of patterns for tea cosies (as well as actual tea cosies), one of which, my lovely daughter gave me back in April for my birthday. Since then, I have already knitted five, although two are still in the finishing stages. The first was for my sister-in-law's birthday, and is pictured here. And the book, to give credit where due, is Tea Cozies 2, published by GMC Books.

So here I am. Now it is time for you to put the kettle on, make a cuppa or a pot and share some of your stories, thoughts or creations as I continue to share mine.