Monday, December 17, 2012

Coming out of hiding, and helping out with a little knit-ivity

IMG_0344

There’s been a little (kindly) bleating lately in response to my blog neglect. I won’t name names – ewe know who ewe are Smile.

So I’ve crawled out from beneath the enormous pile of paperwork that has kept me occupied of late to tell you what I’ve been up to creatively.

{“So, what’s with the sheep?”}

IMG_0332

There’s much to do as I prepare to downsize, and while I have a tendency to whine about the size of the challenge it has indeed been helpful to have a task to focus on. I love spending time with my friends and my beautiful family too.

But every now and then, like when I look into my supermarket trolley of purchases for a household of one, I find myself again quite overcome by a deep sadness and despair. 

One of the very best antidotes to feeling sorry for myself has been helping others, if only in a small way. We all need to be needed, don’t we?

{“So, what’s with the sheep?”}

A few weeks ago our friend Jane, from the neighbouring parish of St John’s Darlinghurst, phoned to ask if Team Di (Di B and myself) could help her out.

IMG_0341

She was organising a Messy Christmas community outreach for St John’s, and urgently needed knitters to make enough sheep to be placed in shops and businesses in the streets around the church for ten days leading up to  Christmas.

Here’s how their church described the Messy Church Christmas Trail…

The Messy Church Christmas Trail
As you know we are starting our Messy Church
Service next year. To introduce this to the community
we are going to have a Messy Christmas Service
on Christmas Eve and to encourage people
along to that we are going to have a Messy Christmas
Sheep Trail. The idea is that we knit sheep,
(that's right knit!) and offer them to businesses that
we have contact with on Victoria Street. They are allowed to name them and
we then have forms and local families can go to each business and find the
sheep and its name and fill it out. There will be prizes and each form will have
the Christmas story and details of our services on it.

No problem, we said, and with a little help from Di’s mother Margaret and our friend Helen in no time we had seven fat sheep!

IMG_0345

They didn’t have to be perfect (thanks, Jane), in fact “quirky” was the word she used. We happen to specialise in “quirky”, and I think our seven sheep certainly are individuals!

Sheep - Messy Christmas

 

IMG_0354

At the end of the time the sheep are to be rounded up and taken back to St John’s for a children’s Christmas celebration!

IMG_0373

IMG_0374

They might have quite a few tales to tell by then.

IMG_0355

I have lots to share with you here in the next week, but now it’s time I dived back into that paperwork. Bottoms up!

IMG_0340

Red rose Di

7 comments:

  1. Lovely to see you in print. It sounds like a fun project. I don't quite understand the "messy" bit but I'm over-tired so its probably just me!

    I had been wondering how long you would have until the new rector needed accommodation! I'm glad they haven't pushed you out!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh I love the idea of the messy sheep! They did the same thing here in Canberra - was adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cute little sheep! Oh, I do feel for you....downsizing and moving is not easy. There's that fabric stash to consider.......

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ewe have been missed in the blogosphere, so thanks for easing my mind about what ewe've been up to. Knitting! Seems like a healthy pastime and one that will benefit many people. I'm sorry that shopping trolly has been speaking to ewe. Keep doing the worthwhile things ewe've been doing, as we all especially enjoy seeing such cuteness on your blog. The sheep are precious, and as adoringly unique as the people who knitted them. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cute lambs! I have a knitted nativity scene made by my mother - she was very unimpressed when i came home with the pattern book, but 10 years on we both have one and they are treasured. The boys have added a few plastic animals, which was lucky as I didnt fancy asking Mum to make a cow and donkey (esp wihtout a pattern)!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Di, LOL!! I just love these little quirky sheep so much!! They've really made me smile!! The Messy Sheep idea sounds fun!

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment.