Hello, my name is Jacq, I have ABCD

My friends say I have CDO, OCD but with the letters in alphabetical order as they should be. (Of course this begs the question, what do people who aren't my friends say about me but I'm determinedly not worrying about that). I don't, I know actual OCD can be debilitating, but it's probably fair to say I have tendencies. I'm not sure labels are always helpful, the danger being a person can end up being defined by it. However, the fact is this does seem to run in the family. The whole nature/nurture debate is really interesting and, given the quirky make-up of my family I believe it's a combination of the two, hardly a ground-breaking theory I know.



The trick, that seems to work for all of us, is about channeling it, taking a focus on food and drink and shifting it slightly has resulted in an 8 stone weight loss for my brother in 10 months - amazing. (FYI, Star Wars name - Han Solo!) His health has improved markedly but he is now obsessed with cycling, and seems to have acquired a large collection of very interesting cycling clothes! Apparently, being a fairly sober dresser ordinarily has no bearing and he was bidding on a very bold purple/yellow cycling jersey yesterday!



This conversation with my brother yesterday got me thinking about my sewing, and crafting in general. I definitely make bolder things than I would have bought in the past. I've only been sewing clothes since February but my choices are noticeably different, and regularly commented on by others.



So when do you have too much?

I know I'm never going to make some of these, I knew that when I bought them but they make me smile!

And my blog title? I used to work with young children with Additional Learning Needs. We had the full range of labels in our bunch. One little girl started every conversation with 'I have ADHD', a disclaimer of sorts. Another little lad told his Mum that 'J' had ABCD and that appeals to my sense of order. We were pretty sure all the staff had ABCD, as evidenced by the number of lists & notes!



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Plans, false starts & new beginnings

Well, on the plus side I did get on with some crafting this weekend. Not as much as I would have liked but for good reasons. We had a celebration on Friday for my brother S who has achieved so much in the last year it was deserving of a get together (and a proper mascara-running grizzle on my part, I am such a weeper!). Than we had a family barbeque on Saturday to celebrate a cousin's wedding anniversary. We even had great weather for both events, a welcome bonus.

I made lots of plans - crochetwise I needed a re-think. I'm long overdue finishing a cot blanket. It's a lovely Ripple, using Lucy's brilliant pattern over at Attic 24. I've made it before, fairly recently, and I think that's the problem. I should have had a break but it was the perfect pattern for a baby boy's seaside themed bedroom so I ignored my instincts and started, sadly it's the finishing that's the issue so:

Plan 1 - take the Ripple to work and do a stripe every lunchtime (this should also get me back on track and make me take a work break)

I also have several spa washcloths made, perfect to go with toiletries for gifts, I don't have nearly enough. These are so quick and there are even different patterns and I've still inexcusably lost momentum so:

Plan 2 - take washcloths on flight in September, the perfect little travel project

As mentioned before I really want to crochet along with Little Woollie's blanket, I have the yarn, I have a long standing order from my daughter, but felt guilty about starting another WIP so:

Plan 3 - just start, I know I want to, and look on it as an opportunity to find my crochet mojo! And it's a stash buster - yay!

I had a false start with sewing. Having had another go at wrestling Doris into shape (ably assisted by my OH) she's now pretty much spot on. I dressed her in a button-back blouse muslin, using a 60s pattern I bought recently. It's a good pattern, it fits, I'm just not sure it's 'me'. I need to think about it, it might be a grower.

So I started a new skirt using a TNT 60s pattern I found for 50p. I used this pattern for my elephant skirt which I've worn repeatedly. I thought this would be a quick win but my machine had tension issues (I also had tension issues having taken the zip out 4 times because the stitches were iffy!). I unpicked it again, re-threaded, changed the needle etc - and then left the machine in the corner, to think about it's disappointing behaviour, I'm hoping this will rectify everything!

I'm counting that lot as progress :)

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"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

This feels a bit odd, having wittered away at myself for a few weeks, I won some buttons and there are people out there actually reading this stuff. My son is highly amused by my struggle with this taking the irritatingly logical "that's actually what blogging is for, Mum" approach. I was just writing my lists, pushing myself along with projects and figuring out how to actually upload things! Having had visitors I would have liked to get a post out, in lieu of a cup of tea and a piece of cake, but it's been a bit of a manic week and I've not managed it. So, if you're not already bored rigid ... Hi, I'm genuinely really pleased to meet you. Thank you so much for your comments, I'll try not to talk rubbish.

The real frustration of this week has been I've not managed to do anything crafty - not a stitch, not a card, not even a row of the crocheted blanket that is long overdue. I promised to teach H to crochet before she goes on holiday, so that she's got some little washcloth projects to practice on - I haven't even managed to do that. It's making me very grumpy. And I'm not sleeping well at all. Does this happen to anyone else?

The worst of it is, I know I need to do something creative (I use this term loosely, some of my endeavours are a bit more 'miss' than 'hit'), entirely different from what I do at work. I had a bit of a bumpy time earlier in the year, nothing major, more potholes than craters. I know I need to make time to do the things I love but at the first sign of a busy period at work I forgot everything I'd learnt - skipped lunch, worked long hours, brought stuff home. So now I'm grumpy and annoyed with myself.

I do feel guilty about the time my hobbies take up. I get so much support from my family - P cooks dinner so that I can finish the skirt I've decided I have to wear the next day, my son helped me wrestle Doris into shape, my daughter bought me a fabric and button covered notebook for special lists. So there's no pressure from them, it's all self-inflicted. This is why I need a good talking to. A wise lady told me to treat myself as I would a friend - I think I just need a bit more practice!

So, this weekend I'm putting some time aside on Sunday - definite crafting going to happen. And Elmo and I need to go through this little lot...

Sadly not mine, they all belong to H's grandma who has said I can have a good look through and even borrow some if I want to make them. There are some brilliantly quirky patterns, I'll upload photos. There are also some I am absolutely going to make. I'm trying to figure out how much it is reasonable to grade a pattern up or down - sadly I think some of them might be too big a difference for me to try.


And I think I'm going to have to take part in this crochet along over at Little Woollie. Have you seen her creations? Amazing. I don't actually need another WIP but my daughter put an order in for this blanket some months ago. It needs to be double bed size and I decided it was an autumn/winter project, it would have been too hot even in the abbreviated summer we've had. I even have the yarn - so no excuses.

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