Knitting my way back to happy.

Jess with her wee angel Hayden

 It's amazing what having a few extra hours means.  Since the medically enforced slow down I have been more nimble to be able to cope with the curve balls my life tends to throw.  It started with the sad passing of my brother's partner, Jess, losing her beloved son Hayden.  Hayden was born with an extremely rare form of dwarfism & was only expected to survive days, maybe weeks after he was born.  However wee Hayden had other ideas and 6 and a half years later, he smiled, laughed and murmured his way to his own set of pearly wings.  My new situation meant I was able to easily get away to help support Stuart, Jess, Nina and Seth with their loss whilst helping the boys experience what it means to celebrate the passing of a life, especially of someone that they knew.

Renly goes head with Reg the ram & his harem

As well as taking the boys, I also made sure I packed Renly & some restorative knitting.  Having some time on my parents small lifestyle block meant I had time to explore adding a slouch beanie to the Ever After collection.

The world worst selfie, but I'm stoked with the slouch!

I had a few balls of the Heritage Silver Lining in Red, a yarn I am totally addicted to, so cast on just before leaving.  Having knitted a few beanies lately I felt a little more confident in the crown shaping and I think I may have cracked it.  I would like to churn out another just to make sure, but I am thrilled with the prototype and have already worn it.

Just onto the border, a very enjoyable knit

The KAN project is almost complete, the lovely Wrapped in Leaves by Alana Dakos.  Just knitting the leafy border and hope to have it complete very, very soon.  It's such a simple, yet effective pattern, my favorite kind, which is looking very Autumnal in the warm Pumpkin Alpaca that was liberated from the depths of my stash.

The four Art Deco inspired Vintage Random Prints

Confession time.  I did sneak a peak at my Skeinz email.  This revealed that the Vintage Deco inspired random prints I have been waiting for have finally hit the shop.  I just couldn't help myself, I had to pop into work to have a look and also got to squish the two new Heritage Alpaca colours.  It seems so unfair not to be able to share these yarns with everyone on skeinz.com, so I did take the 6 balls home to photograph & upload yesterday.

Its hard looking at these and not casting on.  So I did just that, keeping in the leaf theme and using the Heritage Alpaca in Porcelain with the Vintage Clarice Cliff for the leaves, I cast on an up sized Leftie from Martina Behm.  The colours of the Clarice Cliff have left the leaves looking more like Iris flowers, an effect I am really enjoying.  This will be the perfect project for me to take away on Rainbow R&R in a couple of days.

Dealing to the 'Black Dog'

I'm so lucky I have this on my doorstep to escape to.

It was Winston Churchill who described it as his 'Black Dog' and John Kirwan has been knighted over it, for me Depression has been a constant companion since my teens.  I love the work JK does, working on the stigma within not only a sufferers psyche, but in the wider public also.

This is what my 'Black Dog' usually looks like when my life is in balance.

I'm lucky.  My 'Black Dog' ninety nine percent of the time is a happy smiling, tummy scratching, tail twerking black bulldog.  Something I don't mind at all hanging around.  I was lucky enough early on to learn coping strategies to keep the this pooch under control.  Herbal supplementation (and yes, I know I'm from Gisborne, but not THAT type of supplementation) in the form of St John Wort, plenty of sleep, a healthy diet are all important to keeping you on track.  So too is a great support network of family & friends, those who care and love you without judging you & when tell you to take care of yourself when they see the dog starting to get agitated and snarl.

There's nothing better having friend who turn up with 'emergency supplies' when you have had such a  bad day.

So when this past few weeks I realised I hadn't been attending my mental needs as diligently as I should, being told by a medical professional that even Wonder Woman would struggle to get her dog under control after it had morphed into a massive, snapping, lathering mutation reminiscent of the Hunger Games, it was time to put the brakes on.

Flowers that just brightened up my week.

The worse thing about your own dog going feral, is the effect on those around you. In my case it's the reaction from The Ginger.  He's a lean mean racing machine.  Like any child with ASD, when everything in the team is working well, he's runs like a dream, when the alpha starts going off line, all sorts of problems start cropping up.

Like JK, cooking is a great stress reliever.

So the next month is about getting myself back on track & getting The Ginger fine tuned and running back to his best.  The form it takes is a months enforced leave from work, a weeks 'Rainbow R&R' with the gay hubby, a family break during the school holidays and of course a lot of knitting.  SO if you think a 'stray dog' might have followed you home and is hanging about, do not be afraid to get help, because taming this beast isn't has scary as you might think.

It was wonderful to take time to have a great cup of coffee with a school mum today.

It's in the KAN.

Winner of the first KAN photo competition - Alice Best. 

It's been three weeks now since KAN 2014 wrapped up.  This year was epic.  Bigger numbers, more classes, more trading, simply a much bigger event.  I am not a professional event organiser.  I do KAN because I am passionate about yarn craft and I wish to see it not only survive, but thrive, so when you are thrown a massive snafu a week out from the event (the local council not allowing our venue to occupy their brand new function room - the one we had book), it was, too say the least, panic stations.

KAN sponsor & all round stunning woman - Tash from Holland Road

This is were people make all the difference.  People like the team at East Pier (our venue) who worked tirelessly with me to nut out solutions.  The Crown Hotel, where I had already booked teaching space, banding together to pull in all the resources we could muster in Ahuriri to make sure this event went ahead.

Sue Schrueder one of the KAN tutors and Margaret Stove MBE

Also the people that attend KAN.  It was the Kanannites, especially those who have been coming for years, who share in my passion for yarn craft and have the vision to know how incredible KAN will be next year, you all made this event so very, very special - Thank you!

Vanitas was launched at KAN this year - Divine!

This mutual pulling together created an atmosphere that had such a buzz, one which filtered out to the locals that braved the rain to come out in droves to check out the event on the public market day on Sunday morning - quite overwhelming.

The Port View Room was one of the gems discovered after the snafu.

Now I have some perspective I am so excited about KAN 2015.  East Pier will have been completed and the venue, with vast trading and social spaces, all with uninterrupted sea views, will just be awesome.  The Crown Hotel are back on board this year with their beautifully appointed conference rooms and the technically pimped out Port View Room has also been booked again.  I'm in discussion with the tutors to create a class schedule that will have you all salivating & a new improved registration system will be in place to help getting yourself booked in a breeze.

Just a hint of socialising went on

If you want to get a feel for the KAN experience, pictures were uploaded to Twitter & Instagram using #knitaugustnights & make sure you join the Knit August Nights Facebook page.  East Pier will also have accommodation available next year, along with the excellent Crown Hotel, Navigate Seaside accommodation & Harbour View Motor Lodge - each of them seconds away from the venue.  I hope to see you next year!

Persian Poppies was one of the sold out classes this year.