“There is an unspeakable dawn…”

“…in happy old age.”

Does the world seem a little different to you? 

Perhaps a little bit sunnier, or the colours brighter?

Yes?

Would you like to know why?

It’s because I turned thirty this week, dear friends.

I am now undeniably a fully-fledged adult. 

I made a few cakes over the past week or so to celebrate. These are some Hummingbird Bakery Donut Cupcakes:

I made them myself, even the donuts, like an adult. 

These are some of my cards:

See how grow up they are. 

These are some of my presents:

Only a truly responsible human would receive such treasures. 

This is my favourite cup of tea of the day:

Only a mature woman could drink such nectar from the gods. Also this nectar:

Life is good.


*Quote from Victor Hugo

“It does not do to dwell on dreams…”

“…and forget to live.”

I am a very lucky woman. I love going on long, interesting holidays, starting in one city and travelling across the country to others, really getting a taste of wherever it is that I am. On the other hand, however, I hate researching, organising and booking such holidays.

So why am I lucky? Because I have an amazing husband who does it for me!

This weekend, after a few hypothetical conversations, CB bought a couple of guidebooks and started researching a holiday in California/Southwest America for us. Very exciting.

It did mean, however, that he was busy reading and researching all weekend instead of paying attention to me. Having just finished an unsatisfactory sock, I’m in no hurry to start another, but I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I’ve also done far too much reading recently so didn’t want to lose my weekend to yet another book-eating marathon.

So instead of going stir crazy and distracting him, I took myself off and was productive. I cleaned the house, I baked a carrot cake, I changed the bedsheets, I put the laundry on. After exhausting the normal weekend tasks, I was still at a bit of a loose end.

Now I do have a bit of leave coming up. I’m not doing anything, I just had leave I had to take before I lost it, but I have been writing myself a To Do list for it. I have already dipped into this list, darning my socks before schedule (such an exciting life I lead) so I thought I would dip in again and get a longstanding project ticked off.

So I made this little beauty of a cushion:

It’s an old t-shirt of CB’s which we liked too much to throw away, but was worn through in a couple of places so really had to be retired from his wardrobe. I’ve been planning to make a cushion with it for absolute yonks, maybe a year or more? But I thought as I was ankle-deep in free time I might as well get a wriggle on with it.

It was trickier than I was anticipating, trying to line up the design on both sides (though I probably made things more difficult than they needed to be), and it turned out slightly bigger than I was planning (though CB fixed that by just stuffing in a second cushion insert – hence the bulbous look!), but I’m really pleased with it. And really pleased to finally be able to tick it off my to do list. And really pleased with the productive use of my free time. And really pleased that CB could focus on planning us a fantastic holiday.

And really pleased I actually have something to write about this week.


*Quote from J. K. Rowling

“Seeing an Earl as an owl on a mantelpiece, and having part of one's face removed by a cat, both on the same morning…”

“…can temporarily undermine the self-control of any man.” 

Do you know what I wish? What super power would be really useful in life?
Well actually quite a lot of superpowers would be really useful, but I’m talking about one.

Multitasking. 

And not just any multitasking, in particular I would like the ability to knit and read at the same time.

I can hear you cry: “Why Philly, there are audiobooks! You can listen to books as you knit!” but it’s not the same. I’ve tried it, I do it occasionally, but it’s not the same. I find the balance of concentrating on both too difficult. I’ll come to a tricky part of my knitting and find I’ve not been listening for 10 mins. Or I’ll concentrate on a juicy bit of the plot and then realise I have no idea how many pattern repeats I’ve done. It's frustrating.

I do listen to TV programmes while I knit and I don’t find I have the same problems. I guess it’s easier as voices change, I can glance at the screen and, to be honest, the plot just isn’t as detailed or intricate. Plus when reading a Real Book (as opposed to those hypothetical audio books) you just get through it faster. You can jog along with plot, get caught up and stuck in.

As you might be able to tell, I love reading. But I feel sad knowing my knitting in languishing. I also worry about how sporadic knitting on a project will affect the tension - I certainly do not want uneven stitches.

I hoped last week I would be able to show you some knitting progress and technically this week I can show you progress, but I am unable to show you a finished object. I can show you this:

One sock. One crappy sock.

Everything was going so well until the end, where I realised I had a ridiculously long toe. So I ripped back, but I couldn’t work out what I had done wrong so I didn’t know how to do it right. So I got a bit cross and just, sort of, ended it. So the toe is awful.

I’m hopeful that when I come to make it’s pair I will magically be able to understand what I’m supposed to do (after a night’s sleep I think I have an inkling). I’m just grateful that I began with a pair for myself rather than for someone else – I would cringe to give someone such a shoddy sock (a shock, if you will, or a sod?).

I guess these will be house socks. That’s a thing, right?


*Quote from Mervyn Peake

“Lust is an arrogant and haughty beast…”

“…and far from subtle.”

I am usually a monogamous person, but this month I’ve found myself lusting after others. Worse, I have been acting upon those lusts.

Luckily (for my husband at least) all I’m talking about is knitting.

I normally focus on one project, finish it (or frog it, as the case may be) and then begin another. I think I have juggled projects before, but it’s not my habit.

I don’t know what’s changed, perhaps I’m fickle, perhaps the draw of the new was too much for me, perhaps all my willpower is being used elsewhere, but I have succumbed to the lure of casting on something new.

I’m part-way through a cardigan (Peloponnese) and I found that the needle I had planned to use for the sleeves wasn’t suitable (too long). Instead of using other needles or just knitting it flat, however, I cast on a pair of socks.

So now I’m partway through two projects. And I’m not feeling a great desire to pick up either…. I want to knit my sleeves in the round on a circular needle (rather than DPNs) but I don’t have the correct needle. And as my birthday is coming up, I don’t want to buy myself new gear. But I’m not feeling any great desire to continue the socks, because they are tiny and fiddly and make my wrist hurt.

The silver lining is that I’m not casting on a third project (though I do have a very worthy one waiting in the wings), instead I’m tucking into a nice juicy book. Yum!

Maybe next week I’ll be able to show some knitting progress, but right now I need to get back to Wheel of Time and check what Perrin’s doing…


*Quote from Mervyn Peake

"To succeed, planning alone is insufficient..."

"...One must improvise as well."

As I alluded to in my previous post, I was expecting a delivery of wool. I love getting wool. It's very exciting. I hate choosing wool (too many possibilities!) and I hate buying wool (so very expensive!) but boy, do I love receiving wool!

I have this very cheap and very soft Baby DK from Paintbox Yarns:

Which will join forces with some cream Sirdar Snuggly DK to make Peloponnese by Sandi Rosner (Ravelry link here):

Sandi Rosner

I have this rich navy fingering weight Heritage Solids wool from Cascade Yarns:

Which will ultimately become Navigate by Annie Lupton (Ravelry Link here):

Annie Lupton

I have some silky Bamboo Cotton by King Cole:

Which I'll use for Confetti by Rain Knitwear Designs (Ravelry Link here):

Rain Knitwear Designs

And finally I have some funky Paintbox Yarns sock wool to make socks of some description:

YUM.

*Quote from Isaac Asimov

"It's like, how much more black could this be?"

 "...and the answer is none. None more black."

This was actually completed right at the very end of last year so has already been included in 2017's wrap up, but it's a bit early to be able to flaunt 2018's FOs.

This is a Tegan Baby Hat (Ravelry link here) by Julie Taylor.

This was really difficult to photograph, but the stitches are lovely and defined in real life I promise!

The wool is MilliaMia Merino wool in black and is super soft and drape-y.

It's for my friend's baby due in June. She asked for any baby things to be black, white or grey (gender neutral as well as chic) and as I had the wool I thought I'd whip this out.

You might think it looks a bit big for a newborn baby, and you'd be right. I thought no baby will want to wear a BLACK hat in JUNE, so I've knitted a 3-6 months size to be worn when autumn/winter kicks in 3-6 months later.

I've probably jumped the gun with this a bit and done it all too soon, but I was a bit excited (and I was still awaiting my delivery of new wool).

*Quote from This Is Spinal Tap.

“For last year's words belong to last year's language..."

"...And next year's words await another voice.” 

Welcome to 2018 everyone!

Before I go into reviewing the past year, let's get the usual guff over with -

RESOLUTIONS

Now I haven't really got any good ones, but let's give it a go.

1. Read 26 books (one every fortnight).
2. Knit myself a jumper.
3. Knit CB a jumper.
4. Knit myself a pair of socks.
5. Knit CB a pair of socks.
6. Remain the right size to fit into my wedding dress.
7. Moisturise after showering.
8. Some other stuff?

Yeah, this self-improvement malarkey is rubbish.

Let's instead look back on what I achieved in 2017:

• I read 23 books (just cannot get into Catch 22)
• I watched 67 films (not all good films unfortunately)
• I knitted 33 items (and began two others I later frogged)

I'm disappointed with my book score. I know I had some big ones in there (Wheel of Time novels and a Lord of the Rings re-read) but I read 43 in 2016 and a whopping 75 in 2015!

Films are much of a muchness. 67 is down from the 81 watched in 2016, but on par with 2015's total of 65.

Knitting is a new hobby and I suspect it's the reason for the decrease in the other two. I took up knitting in the summer of 2016 and knitted 15 items. That has approximately doubled for a full-year of knitting in 2017 so is about right.

I would prefer to read more in 2018 and knit fewer but larger items (jumpers rather than mittens). Films can chug along as usual. To be honest I have a pretty good life - as long as everyone I love remains healthy and happy I don't really mind if I'm not the perfect version of myself. I reckon she'd be annoying anyway.


*Quote from T.S. Eliot