loosening the knot

The knot that has been in my tummy for the past few weeks loosened last night when we all made it through the day unscathed. Everyone in a fire prone area was put on high alert yesterday due to the four big fires still burning and the awful weather conditions that were predicted. Hundreds of schools, kindergartens and childcare centres were closed, including all the ones around here, although not the two my children attend (one goes to a school out of our area that is in quite a suburban, built-up setting, and the other two go to a school that chose to remain open). So although our day was one kind of normal, in other ways it certainly wasn't. In the morning we packed up the car in case we couldn't come home that night. Clothes, laptop, photos, File of Important Documents, musical instruments, a couple of special things (a prized scooter, soccer ball, my sock yarn [shut up] and some other paperwork) all went into the car along with the blankets and water bottles and breathing masks that always live in there, and we set off as if for school and work as usual. The roads were eerily quiet without the school traffic, and the shops in the village didn't look like they were setting up for the day. Everyone I spoke to had planned to get out for the day.

All day long I had the ABC radio streaming on my computer at work (love that technology sometimes) and kept the CFA website refreshing every ten minutes while I pretended to concentrate on tasks. All was calm. The firies held the fires' containment lines and the weather didn't live up to the dire promises. Mr Soup left work early to collect Son #3, the dog and then the older boys and we all met that evening in a park deep in suburbia for a fish and chip dinner and to wait out the cool change. The change arrived with no lightning strikes or fresh fire outbreaks and eventually we went home and off to bed as usual.

And now the knot is definitely looser, at least until it begins to curl inward again in preparation for next Tuesday which is said to be the next worrisome day, weather wise. The car remains packed.

Today is the last day of this godawful summer and tomorrow I will embrace autumn wholeheartedly.

In the spirit of loosening and freedom, (pathetic attempt at an elegant segue), I share with you now the top I made at last craft weekend. The fabric is some kind of linen blend in a midnight blue, of which I found metres and metres at the op shop, and the pattern is from a Japanese craft book, with, (um, hello!) instructions in Japanese. With the help of my sewing guru who in particular showed me a very nifty way of cutting continuous bias binding from one small square rather than wasting masses of fabric by cutting diagonally across it, I got it done and am very proud. I do love its gathered looseness and simplicity.



I also made a[nother] a-line skirt, this time out of a dark grey stretch denim.



Wore it once and decided it was altogether too bland.



Ah, that's so much better.

Oh, we also went swimming on that craft weekend. Good fun.