Since becoming a mother what I miss most for my crafting is the ability to "binge" on a project. I miss being able to spend six or eight or ten hours across a weekend or even a single day just indulging my love of craft and my obsession with a current project or pushing a project to the finish line before a particular deadline. Getting used to crafting in stolen moments of calm and short bursts of the evenings has definitely hurt my sewing, if not my crochet, which is better adapted to being picked up and put down in a hurry.
So one of the joys of the last two years has been a friend's monthly craft days. One Saturday a month I get to leave toddler at home and catch a train by myself and spend the day with other craft inclined people and work on whatever I want. Some months I start lots of projects, getting them past the initial tricky stages to the point where they are more mindless and can be worked at odd moments. Some months I spend all day finishing projects. Whatever I want! And no little hands wants to "help" and no little voice demands I play instead. Because as much as I love my son and being a mum, I do need the occasional break.
This last month has been very stressful. I got a diagnosis. I got started on medication. And sadly September craft day was cancelled! I hadn't realised just how much I'd been craving that day. Because now I'm not just battling the time and attention demands of my zoomy boy (and all the other work of the house) to spend time on craft. I'm battling with my body and energy levels too. I hate being exhausted. I hate the way the medication makes me feel and can only hope that as we keep looking we find meds that work better for me. This is just another change to my routines that I'll cope with. I'll work out how to keep crafting despite exhaustion because I can't imagine my life being fulfilled without some kind of craft.
