Ditching the Red!

Hair that is!

I have been dyeing my hair red in one form or another since I was 18.  I had a brief stint with the front bleached blonde prior to that but otherwise I've been most shades of red from auburn to mahogany, red highlights to henna and for the last few years, bright red.  I've gone from waist length hair to a pixie cut (most regretted hair cut ever...made significantly worse by an impromptu bleaching session...so thankful there are no photo's of that!) and back again.

I've been flirting with the idea of a REALLY short bob (with my usual short blunt fringe/bangs) for a while but in honesty am a bit too lazy!  I've been cutting my own hair for the last four and a half years and as I've always hated having my hair cut, it suits me down to the ground although I didn't really intend to grow it back to such a long length.  I really fancied a change though so decided to ditch the red instead of cutting it all off!

I'm naturally brunette - with white streaks nowadays!  My hair has been getting darker as I've aged so to get a bright red I was using dye with developer (but not physically bleaching before dyeing)   With Summer approaching and my roots in desperate need of a redo it was the ideal time to change colour.

I had a specific colour in mind (greeeeeeeen) but knew that I would struggle to strip the red out enough to get the bright shade I wanted.  After stripping and two lots of bleaching my roots were a fabulous colour - the rest not so much!!  So I went with the second colour option...

 

Pretty much the same colour I had been left with on the red after bleaching! But my plan wasn't for an all over colour - that would have been much too easy hehe!  So after a lot of swearing faffing because doing this to waist length hair on your own isn't easy plus my second colour was jet black (which I didn't want to get on my freshly bleached sections) I have ended up with...

 

A few days on and I am completely and utterly IN LOVE with it!!  The pink section at the side (which there is more of than it looks with my hair down) looks fabulous when I wear my hair in my usual messy high bun.  I've chopped my fringe again since I took the above (rather naff iphone front camera) photo plus a few inches off the length to tidy it up again.  

After wavering over dyeing it black for years I'm so glad I took the plunge and the hot pink makes it much more "me"!   I went with the approach of bleach, then black dye then pink which worked quite well and the benefit of where the pink sections are means I can get away with not worrying about my roots quite so often and of course can freshen up the pink without it affecting the black whenever I want!   

Love Your Blog - Gratitude

The final prompt in the Love Your Blog challenge from A Playful Day is Gratitude.

Ah, this I can do with a positive spin - I am grateful for SO many things!!

My absolutely AMAZING husband who I love so damn much, who has been my rock since I was 18 and STILL puts up with my crap!!

Our fabulous children who both delight and frustrate me on a daily basis with their bottomless enthusiasm and stubbornness independence.

My dad and sister, who whilst I am only just reconnecting with  (had a fabulous night out in Stoke for my granddad's 79th birthday a couple of weeks a go and LOVED catching up!) are a huge constant in my life - always believing in me and supporting me.

Best friends who are there for me regardless of what or why for - who I can spend the afternoon just knitting, chatting and browsing our iPhones with (occasionally with the odd gin thrown in!)  Who gets the knitting/spinning/yarn/weaving thing as much as I do...and is always there to enable/be enabled!

I'm grateful for anyone that takes the time to read the blog, the likes on IG and Rav and the tremendous wealth of knowledge, inspiration and support at the end of my fingertips from the knitting community.

And yarn....I am SO grateful for yarn hehe!!  It's my drug of choice, my therapy...and damn gorgeous to boot!!

Sunny Days

The sunshine has been winning me over this week and I love grabbing half an hour or so out on the patio with my knitting.  Sadly it's not uninterrupted so I don't seem to be getting a huge amount done, especially with the 429 stitch rows (which will shortly increase to 667 stitches!) That said I only have 3 and a half stripes and the red lace edging to go...

Love Your Blog - Ugly

I have been putting off even attempting to write this weeks Love Your Blog challenge from A Playful Day as the theme "Ugly" was one that had me totally stumped.  Or rather, it didn't. In reality, the one thing I instantly thought of was....myself.  And that in itself stopped me in my tracks.

I have struggled with body image for as long as I can remember despite growing up with a family who were/are amazingly supportive.  My inner demons have always deemed that I am not quite good enough, too different, too curvy...a whole lot of "not quite" and "too much".

It took me a long time to learn to love myself and it's a journey I often take huge, huge steps backwards in...obviously!  The realisation that just because I do not fit a societal norm - whether that be a clothes size, how I parent, my interests - does not make me ugly.  I am surrounded by people that see me as beautiful.  Sadly, the person who has been harshest to me for all these years is myself.  And quite frankly, I should stop!

Learning to be kind to myself is reflected in my blog.  On the whole I try not to blog about negative themes.  Whilst life is very much not all roses and cupcakes, I try not to dwell on the unhappier topics, much preferring to blog about things that make me smile.  Often something as simple as a new skein of yarn can be the small amount of beautiful needed to turn an otherwise ugly day around!