I'm going to risk beginning with the words 'Happy new year', on the off-chance that I finish drafting this post before it's time to crack open the Easter eggs, AND on the off-chance that this new year does in fact turn out to be in any way happy. After the horrors of 2021 and 2020 (and 2016, for those of us Brits who treasure our European neighbours), I hope that your 2022 will be at the very least Not Overtly Dreadful. Right now, a merely non-abysmal year would feel like a great big win. Here's Continue Reading
The Easiest-Knitted Of Christmas Decorations
I'm not very good at Christmas. You'd think that the fact it always occurs on the same date would lend it a certain predictability, but no. It takes me by surprise, every single year. I'm not very good at looking ahead to dates - or even times - in general. It's a source of irritation to the Stoic Spouse that I'm incapable of thinking about dinner until, er, dinnertime. Booking a holiday ahead of the actual date we're planning to go? Forget it. Beginning work on something until the deadline is Continue Reading
The Leaves Have Fallen And The Free Cowl Pattern Is Here
Would you like a free pattern for a cosy autumnal cowl? It's this one, that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. There's a link to the pattern near the end of this post. In the unlikely event that you didn't devour and memorise every word of that blog post (Whaddya mean, you've "got a life to be getting on with"?) here's a recap: I was commissioned to design the original version of the cowl nearly five years ago, for the 'Hobbycraft' chain of shops. Sadly, the specified yarn is no longer made, Continue Reading
On The Weighty Matter Of Orange
The reworking of the Falling Leaves cowl is going medium-well, but it's been temporarily stalled because the orange I was using was just a bit too exuberantly orange (think irradiated mega-pumpkins on steroids), so I've ordered an alternative yarn, and am drumming my fingers on the kitchen table, impatient for its arrival. Chris-the-postman will doubtless deliver it soon, with his usual unnerving ability to know exactly what's in any given parcel/letter he pushes through the letterbox. "Looks Continue Reading
A Rambling Post Of Autumn, Yarnery, And Friendship
Being an adult has its plus sides, I suppose. For example, nobody threatens to withhold your only source of income if you don't tidy your bedroom.* Also, CAKE FOR BREAKFAST, PEOPLE! I wanted to add a third item to this list, but I'm struggling to think of one, so instead I'll show you a picture from today's autumnal walk with the twinnage:- But mostly, adulthood involves noticing stuff and guiltily muttering "Oh yeah, I must sort that out," 712 times per day. The last time I was fully up to Continue Reading
Pausing
We've reached that post-summer pre-autumn jitter that can't decide whether to roast us, freeze us, soak us, drop spheres of ice on our heads, or blow us over - so it swings wildly between all of these things. Permacultural food-grower Liz Zorab refers to this sub-season as The Pause, which describes it admirably, in my arrogant opinion. (Actually we've moved past that stage into proper-autumn if I'm honest, but it takes me so long to finish drafting a blog post that I'll probably be scraping ice Continue Reading
Summery Summary
Summer evenings imagined: lounging on the garden bench in the sunshine, wine chilled to perfection, an olive or thirty within reach. There is knitting - perhaps a skirt-in-progress, with neither dropped stitches nor tangled yarn. On the lawn in front of me, children and wildlife gambol endearingly. (No, I didn't say gamble - that would be a bit less charming.) The Stoic Spouse is nearby, being stoic of course. Summer evenings lived: Oh, is it raining again? Never mind, I'll just relax in the Continue Reading
A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Ends Suddenly With A Single Step
I've finished the race. (The race mentioned near the end of THIS post, in case you're wondering what on earth I'm blithering about.) Inspired by your generous donations to pancreatic cancer research, I did it. I ran 1084 miles of a wiggly route from Land's End to John O'Groats. (For non-UK folk, that's the bottom left hand toe of England up to the top right nobble of mainland Scotland.) Actually I ran the distance along the tracks/paths/roads of south Oxfordshire, but the people - or Continue Reading
Rollercoasting
I am calm. I am serene. I am not going to fling this ball of yarn across the room in a fit of temper. I am calm. I am serene. I am not going to... Oh! Erm, hello! Didn't see you there. Oops. Please don't mind me, I'm just having a little... trouble with a scarf that I'm designing. The sort of trouble that involves unravelling several hours' knitting and muttering darkly at my yarn whilst I rework the whole thing. This happens a lot, but I've learned hard lessons about how it's never ever Continue Reading
Zen and the art of marathon knitting
Wow. I already know from your comments that you people are lovely, wise, witty, and creative (yes, even YOU lurking at the back, there), but now I know that you're generous too. Thanks to you, Β£1646 and rising is going to pancreatic cancer research. You're awesome. More than awesome. Awesomer! Awesomest! Thank you. One day when you read about a new treatment for pancreatic cancer, you can smile in the knowledge that you've helped that happen. A heartbreakingly high number of you have Continue Reading