Monday, May 03, 2010

Time

  I've been juggling things around a bit. When I first started reading people's blogs and blogging myself (my first post, a fuzzy photo of some Adriafil Stars yarn, seems to have been towards the end of May 2005), way back in the dim and distant past of five years ago (where did that time go?!) I used to read blogs over breakfast before setting off on an endless journey to the back of beyond, not to return for several days. Now, seven house moves, one job, two ex-boyfriends, lots of books and an enormous quantity of knitting later life is a bit different. I go to work on the train. I rarely get up in enough time to catch the train without running around like a mad thing. I no longer read blogs over breakfast. I used to write my blog on Sunday afternoons, but now I do things like gardening then instead.

  And I miss reading blogs. I hate missing out on what people are doing, especially as I've been fortunate enough to meet many of the people whose blogs I read. My latest approach is to try reading blogs during my lunch hour. I used to go for a walk then, but the latest house move has ensured I now spend 50 minutes a day walking to and from the station, so there's no need to be energetic at lunchtime too. It doesn't work if I've run out to the Post Office during lunch, or gone to get some shopping, or gone into town to meet the OH for lunch. I've been through the usual slightly existential melt-downs about whether to carry on blogging etc and reached the conclusion that I enjoy blogging, and I enjoy reading other people's blogs, and I still want that to be part of my life. Soooo, here we go....

Knitting-wise I've finished the body of Thermal, and have been knitting away on the first sleeve. I started off with the smallest size sleeve, as the body is the smallest size, but the sleeve seemed really tight, so this is progress so far two sizes up from that. It fits, but still quite snuggly, and I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn to do both sleeves this length. I'm considering starting the second sleeve, but casting on more stitches and making it more of a 3/4 length, then trying on the first sleeve and the 3/4 one and seeing which I like best. I've had a look on Ravelry but haven't found anyone else having sleeve problems.


I am beginning to get slightly bored with the stitch pattern...

Staines Knitting Group is going from strength to strength. We now have 27 members on Ravelry and, although we've never had more than 8 people at the pub at any one meeting, it seems to be very popular and we're now meeting 5 or 6 times a month (we're having a weekly meeting, plus a once-a-month Sunday afternoon one). Sarah has even been teaching Cat, the barmaid, to knit.

I'm amazed at the difference it makes to the week, I spend all of Tuesday looking forward to getting to the pub to meet up with the others. It makes the first two days of the week at work a lot easier to get through with knitting group to look forward to.

House-wise we have finished unpacking! Just don't open any cupboards... I have put all my stash in my old wardrobe, so it's all in one place, the first time ever I've had it in one place!

 We've been busy with the garden too. The OH has been attacking the lawn with moss killer with a vengeance. I've been emptying the old containers (left behind by the previous owner) and refilling with new compost and planting things. The previous owner was quite elderly so I'm not sure when the containers were last looked at, but the soil inside was extremely compacted - I ended up bashing a hand fork in with a mallet to loosen the soil a bit!


I did these three first. One has now been planted with Aubretia, the other two with fuchsias I got from a special offer in the Guardian. They do slightly mad, "order 5 plants get 300 more free!!" type offers. But it seemed a good way of filling some containers. Only the fuchsias have arrived so far, but I've got lavender, penstemons and a hydrangea on the way too.

Think that's all for now!

11 comments:

Nic said...

We all need an extra day in the week!! I have similar problems with reading blogs and writing posts!
I tend to read and not comment then feel bad and blah, blah, blah. At the mo I am trying to comment as soon as I have read...wonder how long it lasts ;)
As for writing; what I need is a secretary who would type my words up and add pretty pictures for me!
I really like Thermal so I hope you get it sorted out.
As for the garden. Gah!! You will have no time for knitting now you have a garden..many a tea is nearly burnt in our house due to my 'I'll just nip out for 5mins while tea is cooking'.

Sue said...

It souns as though you are extremely organised now that your settled into your new life with your OH. Once your garden is established it will be easier to maintain and you will be able to knit out there too and enjoy it all. The group sounds great to catch up and knit with, wish there was one closer to me!

Tina said...

We all come to that point, don't we? I love reading blogs, too, as well as blogging and I can't tell how many unwritten blog-posts I have created in my head - while going for a dog walk, while driving, while shopping... Just when I get home there is more important things to do!
Great start to your garden!

Victoria T said...

What a lovely post. I don't post often because I have never had any comments, but you commenting on my blog inspired me to see if you'd posted yet, and you have, so I'm commenting!

I know what you mean about unpacking, but you probably have a lot more things than I do. My issue is that everything is still empty. :( I have a HUGE walk-in closet with hardly anything in it, and empty cabinets and drawers all over the kitchen. I know things will come, and pretty soon, I'll be complaining of having too little space!

Garden! Unfortunately, our front door is shadowed by a big car port, so it doesn't get much sun, and the front of our place faces North with trees all around it. :( I was hoping to put out some potted plants to make it look nice, but that might not happen. Nate wants to tackle the bush in front, as it's growing up the wall and almost into the window! He says that ferns grow in very little sunlight, so I might try those. I can't wait to see beautiful photos of the things you've grown, so be sure to post some! :)

Anonymous said...

Please keep on blogging, I know I almost never leave a comment, but I love reading about your life, knitting and now gardening.

Linda said...

There are so many inspiring blogs to read aren't there, not enough hours in the day for everything! I love Fushias so can't wait to see yours.

SerineKat said...

I hear you about blogging. I think it's going out of style like MySpace pages. Right now Facebook is the thing with Twitter following very close behind. None of my friends blogs with any regularity anymore. I still like to look to see if there's been any posts on occasion but understand with all those life changes that it's hard. You sound so happy. Congrats on all the progress!

acrylik said...

Good to hear all your news, I'm glad you have finally finished packing and are getting settled in :) Although if you're like us, there will still be boxes lying around 3 years later that haven't been "sorted" yet ;) Good luck with everything :)

ShinyNewThing said...

Keep on blogging! I find it a good discipline which combats the "where did the week go?" syndrome. Plus inquiring minds want to know.

Victoria T said...

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I do have one cookbook, but haven't cooked anything out of it yet. Online recipe collections are a gift, and sometimes I just make something up and see how it goes. I've been having some good times in the kitchen so far.

Did I tell you Cassie's idea for the wedding? She had the idea that on the invitation, I could ask people to bring their favorite recipe, and then include a small index card in the invitation they can use to write it on... and have a recipe box at the wedding they can put their recipe in. I think it's a cute idea, and I'm going to do it!

Heather said...

Wow you are speedy with your unpacking! We still have boxes of stuff and we have been here neaerly 10 years (and don't mention the loft!).

The plant offer does seem a little surreal, well done with all the gardening.