It begins...

A friend recently forwarded an email to me titled "The Invisible Mother," a short essay comparing the tireless and often thankless job of a mother to the builders of Europe's great cathedrals. Both give their whole lives for a work they will never see finished, both make sacrifices and expect no credit, and both are fueled in their passion by the faith that the eyes of God see every detail. The writer of the essay was inspired by the thought that our endless efforts in motherhood, invisible as they may seem, are worth it and can make an enriching life.


For many of us, the way we choose to hold our invisibility at bay is by creating something tangible. For me, my days often end with knitting - my love of fiber and the need to do something relaxing end up producing something I can hold and look at. Nobody will know how many times I swept under the high chair that day, or how many toys I picked up, or how many times I tried to coax a "please" or "more" or "sorry" out of my 5 year old. But a darling, handmade infant hat? That you can see.


I start new projects every day, and my 10 year old does the same. In this process of creating (and yes, often not finishing our projects!) we connect with each other and a bigger picture of ourselves in the process. My plan for this blog is to share the projects that excite me and bring some accessible proof of my existence in this invisible world of mothering!


So, this blog is dedicated to the mothers out there whose days are filled with the minutia of tasks that build our children and our families. I often tell people that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. But for now, I am the builder of a great cathedral. With every shoelace tied, lunch packed, and forehead kissed, I build.


And I can hardly wait to create something new...


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Life, Interrupted (How Dare It)

Dude, busy week! I won't go into extreme details, but between housework, Brynn's sinus infection (and doctor visit), hospital trip for Brynn's echo cardiogram and EKG, hosting my monthly "Knit Night," Project Linus, and general daily mayhem, I haven't had much chance to blog! (Oh, but I have been crafting, people - never fear.)


Tuesday: Made myself do laundry, housework, and go grocery shopping all morning. (The model of responsibility, that's me!) During nap time, I pulled out all the fleece blankets to check them over for missed tassels, then folded and stuffed them into bags. And totally forgot to count them. Do I want to drag them all back out and do that? Something to ponder. I still have a few blankets being finished by friends this week...and I can't show you "after" pictures of my spiffy dining room until the fleece is gone. Check out what it looks like under the table!
I worked a bit more on stashing my piles away in the new craft storage dresser thingy, and realized that I was in danger of forgetting everything I wanted to be working on, so I dug up a tablet of paper I've probably had since college and started Ye Olde Craft Log. Here's the current log list...

 - Finish Alex's hats (CHECK! See below.)
 - Finish family photo album (pending)
 - Update Brynn's birthday scrapbook, including her "birth" page (pending as well)
 - Make the green braids for my hat's ear flaps
 - Decide what to knit for a friend's baby due in March
 - Start baby gift for a second friend
 - Fix Brynn's play kitchen curtain so they'll actually go over the rod provided
 - Write letters to my Daisy scouts
 - Plan Girl Scout birthday party



Tuesday night was Knit Night. I finished the first hat for Alex, and almost finished the second one when 10pm rolled around. I just completed it this morning (thank you, Elmo!) Brynn was not really a willing model but here are some pictures of both the hats. We do love matchy-matchy winter accessories!

Wednesday: After an entire morning of hospital and doctor visits, then an impromptu lunch with my brother, Noah, who was driving through KC on his way to Dallas, I caught up on finances (you're welcome, Brad) and then finally had a chance to look through my mom's Shutterfly site and order some photos to fill in the gaps of 2010!
I filled the album with photos up through Thanksgiving, but then ran out of room in the album and had to run to Walmart during ballet for a couple more! At this point, I have to stash the photo projects until the Shutterfly pictures arrive. I have ordered a bunch from Brynn's birthday, so once I have everything in hand I need to do her birthday scrapbook. Then I'll know which pictures I have left over for the family album. Gee, I wish I had a handy place to store the piles of photos and albums where little hands can't find them. OH WAIT, I have a place now! All hail the new craft storage dresser! (You know, I'm getting tired of referring to it as the craft storage dresser unit thingy. I need to come up with a simple name. I'll get back to you on that. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears!)


Last night I also finished the second skein on my prayer shawl, which means I'm officially 2/3rds done with it. Gettin' there!


Thursday: Already?? Well, it's lunchtime and then hopefully little-miss-sinus-infection will take a decent nap. Then I can clean up the photo project and then choose something off Ye Olde Craft Log! What to make, what to make....
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4 comments:

  1. Christy Z.February 24, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    *C*raft Stor*a*ge Dre*s*s*e*r Thing*y*: CASEY

    ReplyDelete
  2. KathyFebruary 24, 2011 at 3:55 PM

    I concur! CASEY sounds perfect! A case is something that encloses an object or objects. This fits the bill nicely, don't you think?

    Heather, you seem to have unbounded energy. The amount you accomplish is amazing to me. I think back on my years as a young mom and guess I probably got a lot done, too, though. Just moving slower in general these days. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Knotty KnitterFebruary 24, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    Casey it is!! Love it - thanks, ladies!

    ReplyDelete
  4. KathyFebruary 24, 2011 at 7:25 PM

    Testing a new google blog photo. :)

    ReplyDelete

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