As you may be aware if you follow this blog, I have previously attempted NaNoWriMo… successfully once and DD succeeded where I fell by the wayside another time. In fact, she then went on to also complete her target the following year and, after a year off, is going for it again this year with a target of 24k words. Not bad for an 11 year old! Puffs up with motherly pride.
I booked an outdoor pitch at the Tweseldown Artisan Market for Saturday just passed, so was most grateful for the relatively clement weather. Mind you, sitting about is still quite chilly after a while and despite my snow boots, my feet did get rather cold on a couple of occasions as it was quite slow. I plan to trade at the November and December markets as well, but am hoping to get an indoor pitch for these as I don’t much fancy my chances of staying warm outdoors. I’m rather hoping things will be busier in the run up to the C-word as well 🙂
With the Clues only taking a couple of days and then the enforced hiatus on the MKAL, due to there being no clues at all for the version I am making for a whole FORTNIGHT, my restless hands have turned to other projects.
Monday saw a very quick knit that has been in my queue for absolutely aaaaaaages, namely the Medievalesque neck warmer. The original pattern is a bit minimal and stood some improvement as the lace section was way too short, so I added a few more rows and altered some of the existing lace pattern. I used DROPS Eskimo, but any super bulky yarn will work just fine. Here is how mine came out:
The Autumn Mystery KAL I mentioned a couple of weeks ago is looking less mysterious now I have completed three-quarters of the pattern. Aside from regularly getting outwitted by where I’ve got to in the lace repeats, due to the usual distractions (dog, TV, offspring, DH, Farcebook), and then having to tink back when it becomes apparent that the pattern no longer lines up, it has all gone quite swiftly. I find myself finishing a Clue after a couple of days and then spending the next 4 or 5 drumming my fingers impatiently on the keyboard awaiting the next release.
Spoiler alert…
I jumped in and started the Autumn MKAL a few days ago and was was busy congratulating myself on how quickly I managed to finish the first clue…Except, then I realised that I’d misread the instructions for the short rows and so had to tink* back the last 4 rows and re-do them, plus the additional rows required to finish the short row section correctly *sigh*. Still, the nice thing about the short row section is that they got progressively shorter and so it didm;t take me too long to finish Clue 1 (correctly, this time).
I haven’t blogged about knitting for a while…well, I haven’t really had much time to blog about anything over the summer season…but I have had my arm twisted been persuaded to participate in Susanna IC’s latest MKAL (Mystery Knit Along) and have been tempted to have a go at NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month), which runs parallel to NaNoWriMo* (National Novel Writing Month) during November.
*(You may recall that I have participated that for two years – you can read about my efforts here).
They say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and I’m very proud to report that this is certainly the case with my DD:) Not only is she a good mathematician and a writer (with two NaNoWriMos under her belt), but she has joined in with my Medieval trading activities this summer by making rag dolls. Did I mention that she is only 10?
The dolls are 10.5″ tall and are all hand crafted by DD with only a little help from me – I cut out the fabric for her and assist with a couple of bits of finishing, but otherwise it’s all her work. I think they’re fab (though I admit to being a teensy bit biased :)).
Welcome to the Solstice (Litha) edition of the Tarot Blog Hop. I haven’t participated in the last couple, but it’s nice to be back. You can find links to the previous and next posts in the Hop at the bottom of this page, along with a link to the Master list in case of any broken links.
I must admit that I struggled somewhat with the broadness of the topic (though mostly with all the references to “faeries”), the main theme of which was to share a gift or talent with the circle. I’m afraid that I suffer from a rather British reticence about blowing my own trumpet in any sort of blatant way. Our overseas cousins have never seemed to be afflicted by this malaise and are quite happy to blithely puff away, but over here, we tend to find that kind of thing faintly unseemly and embarrassing, albeit increasingly less so these days based on the wannabe culture of X-factor and the myriad of other such shows. On this occasion, however, I have girded my loins, pulled up my big girl knickers, armed myself with cliches and set aside my reserve. I have emerged from beneath my bushel, blinking mole-like into the Solstice dawn. I have buffed up the brassware, taken a deep breath or three and am all set to blow like Gabriel. Ready?
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. It seems rather bizarre to me to suppose that my will and determination would be significantly stronger on any given date over any other. Neither do I see the point in waiting until the New Year to begin something – if one has already decided to do it, why wait?
The closest I came to a New Year resolution was to have a dry January, for economic and detox reasons to recover slightly from the excesses of the Christmas holidays. I admit I have fallen off the wagon to the tune of two pints thus far, (I made it six days, including New Year’s Day) I will not go in to the reasons, but I’m fine with them and still broadly sticking to the alcohol-free plan, despite continuing to be sorely tried by ongoing and, as yet, unresolved plumbing issues.
My enthusiasms tend to wax and wane like the moon (yes, OK, so I’m a looney 😉 and after stalling on DH’s Kilt Hose earlier this year, my knitting muse left me in disgust. I lost track of where I was in the pattern and had somehow ended up with a stitch short one one sock, so when I volunteered to knit Hestia a pair of new bed socks to replace those tragically murdered by Tartarus, I decided it was easier to just frog it all back and start from scratch rather than trying to work out what was going on. I quite enjoyed making them and found myself at a loss as to what to do next when they were finished. (I haven’t sent them off yet, so no spoiler pics yet, I’m afraid. They will be in the post tomorrow, promise 🙂
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