A Reason, A Season or a Lifetime vs Why?!

Sometimes there's simply no denying that life can slap you round the face with a wet fish; you think things are going along fine and then suddenly, out of the blue... Wham! someone's actions knock you for six. You feel hurt, humiliated, angry, unvalued, numb and incredulous. You question things. You question everything

Why?! is usually the first reaction and in most cases a valid question. Sometimes there is an answer; most times there isn't. It's an unpleasant and hideously dificult place to be; this no man's land of unanswered questions. Our minds are wired to find solutions, reasons and answers and they have an unchecked habit of 'creating' answers themselves if left to their own devices. This is usually a bad thing, that much I can tell you!

I am learning some particularly harsh life lessons at the moment; I suppose it's all part of the huge changes I have made recently and I'm quite sure there is more to come! It really is time for me to practice what I preach, take a step back, presence myself and look deeper to see what the truth of the message is really about. I won't lie to you; it's not easy

A lovely friend of mine sent me this message just as I was being slapped with the wet fish; it has helped me see passed the disatisfaction of the basic, reactionary Why?! I'd like to share it with you and hope that it may help you too someday

Lisa x

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend - and they are! They are there for the reason for which you need them. Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationaship to an end. Sometimes they die, sometimes they walk away, sometimes they act up and force you to make a stand. What we must realise is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled - their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on

When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, to grow or to learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh, they may teach you something you have never before done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But only for a season

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relatonships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant

Thank you for being part of my life

ANON

 {image of photo art locket by Irene Suchocki - available to buy at her gorgeous Etsy store Eye Poetry Photography. Seriously dreamy stuff; go see!}

Knitting Hell!

I've decided to add a new word to my cussing vocabulary - to be used in place of the very overused and infamous "F" word; it's "knit"

Back in September, if you remember from this post, I was gleefully proposing projects to tackle from a Phildar magazine and not being much of a knitter I decided to ease myself back into the game with this made-in-one-piece cardi. I say, ease myself back in - what I actually meant was throw myself in at the deep end, as the pattern is in French and I have not followed one in English for some 20 odd years!

A long road trip back to England at Christmas seemed the perfect opportunity to get started and I had the expert guidance of JW's mum to make sure my cast on row was done correctly - I'd like to point out at this point that I had already completed several inches of said project only to discover that I had been working on the old English needle size 7 and not the metric 7cm... big difference and big problem!

So here I am 3 months later just completing the first armhole shape - in this time I have unexpectedly learned how to pick up stitches that fall off the needle when in your bag, how to leave stitches to one side on a giant safety pin in the hopes they'll still be there when you need them again, how to increase and decrease, how to find out where you are in the pattern when you pick it back up again after several weeks & forgot to mark your place, how to continue with a pattern even though you somehow seem to be working it in the reverse to the image supplied and how to amuse your fellow sewing/yarn buddies with your haphazard, not-growing-very-quickly knitting project!

So why am I sharing this? Partly because I'm embracing all my imperfections and partly because I'd like to tell all my crochet and sewing students that I totally know what it feels like to be a novice at a skill everybody else makes look easy! I'm normally considered an expert when it comes to anything yarn related, afterall, I'm the one with the Textile Design degree and the one who teaches workshops and designs sewing and crochet patterns, but when it comes to knitting, it seems I am sat at the back of the class wearing a pointy yellow hat, emblazoned with a capitol D. I find that funny!

Sometimes it's important to accept that there are some things in life that you simply are a bit rubbish at and that you need to ask for help with, from someone who is more expert at it than you are. There's no need to beat yourself up about it and there's no need to feel like a failure. Enjoy the process, and with a little time and perseverance, chances are you'll get better at it until one day you'll find you have someone asking you for advice because they see you as more expert than they are

Crochet is definitely my thing, it's what I'm best at and can teach it till the cows come home - knitting is for fun and something I look forward to improving on over time. If this cardi is wearable when I eventually finish it, I will be a happy lady! My sense of achievement will be huge! I'll keep you posted!

Wish me bonne chance!

Lisa x

p.s in case you are wondering about the other projects I proposed in September's post from the above Phildar magazine, the Alpaca crochet lace effect waistcoat was started on the train journey to Paris but I decided it looked a bit like string so need to find an alternative yarn to use. The gorgeous, textured, wave crochet cardi is yet to be started!

{photos 1 and 3 by Lisa Pocklington for Get Smitten using Instagram, photos 2 and 4 taken from issue 50 of Phildar magazine}

Giving Thanks - Gratitude is the New Black

The internet is awash with tidings of Thanksgiving right now. On the other side of the pond, we Brits don't quite get it... we kind of see it as the event that our American friends confuse with Christmas - well it involves turkey, presents & gathering the family together doesn't it?
 
Having made some big changes in my life this past year, and actually begun appreciating the value of gratitude, I finally GET the real meaning of Thanksgiving and am quite blown away that an entire country holds a National holiday in the honour of gratitude. That's a powerful thing!

 I have been keeping a gratitude journal since March; each night before I turn out the light I list five things that happened during my day for which I am thankful for. Some days it's hard to stick to just five, others it's near impossible to even think of five - either way, it has trained my brain to look out for the good things that happen to me each day. It has become something I look forward to doing each night and you know what?... falling asleep with the thoughts of those five good things has given me such restful sleep. How nice to drift off into the land of nod with positive thoughts rather than feeling stressed about something that might not have gone well or some niggling anxiety about an upcoming situation over which I have no control.

Now don't get me wrong - I know that a gratitude journal is not going to solve all your problems in life, but I do believe it will inject a juicy dose of positivity and make you feel a whole lot nicer about yourself. We can be pretty tough on ourselves most of the time; our own worst critic. Why not take time to acknowledge those little moments of happiness each day, those goals you reached & those challenges you overcame? - no matter how small they may be.

"The great thing about gratitude is that there is no thing too small and no thing too big to receive it!"

You should give it a go... grab a pretty notebook & your favourite pen. Place them by your bedside - if you don't put them right there, you're pretty much guaranteed to forget to do it! (speaking from experience here!) - and tonight, just before you turn out the light, jot down those five experiences from the day that you can feel grateful for. They really can be anything; don't be shy! When I began this, I was very unsure of what to write... after all I'm a Brit; we're used to complaining & apologising rather than showing appreciation & gratitude! Within 2 weeks I had totally found my gratitude mojo & was appreciating so much more in my day to day life... hey, whilst we're on the subject; I am grateful to Christine Kane for showing me the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal. Thanks lady!

So whatever you find yourself doing this Thanksgiving weekend - remember to be thankful!

 Gratitude rocks!

Let me know how you get on

Lisa x