Winter Woollies

Sloppy Sunday Cowl

Miss Read Mitts

Last March, I had a bit of a wappy and filled a big charity bag with, it has to be said, a large proportion of my winter wardrobe.  Anything I considered 'mumsy', I hurled into this bag.  It was all very liberating.  From what I've heard this is not a terribly unusual thing for a woman in her early forties to do.

I'd completely forgotten about said wappy until the recent chilly spell sent me hotfooting it to unearth some cosy clothes.  Oh dear.  It would appear that I'm more than a little bit lacking in the winter woollies department.

I will acknowledge, at this point, that the irony of the fact that I have enough yarn in my craft room for a hundred jumpers or cardigans is not lost on me.

I've never been one to wear huge chunky knits.  I find them too constricting and claustrophobic.  This probably dates back to the knitwear my mum forced dressed me in when I was a child.  I have occasional stiff and itchy oatmeal-flecked flashbacks that bring me out in a cold sweat.  As for thick polo necks?  Ugh, I'd rather go naked!  No, I much prefer to layer up.  Layering, however, is pretty difficult to achieve when one has disposed of the majority of one's clothes.  *sigh*

So here I am, freezing my norks off and on an impromptu mission to find a couple of new toasty togs.

I'm pleased to report, however, that my accessories drawer escaped the hormonal-fuelled cull.  I have more tights than Mrs Tights of Tightsville, socks-a-plenty and my box of crocheted cowls, scarves, hats and mitts is unsurprisingly quite well-stocked.

At least my extremities are all warm.

See that scarf?  It's one of my favourites.  It's shop-bought (from Accessorize if I recall) and I love the colours.  It gives me a rosy glow even if I'm having a pale and uninteresting day.  Which I do from time to time.  One day I'll be able to make my own version.  One day ...

The knitting pictured is my simple slouch hat, version 2.  Version 1 (in the Drops Big Merino pale pink) met an abrupt end.  Having removed the interchangeable needles and letting it rest for a day or three, goon that I am, I re-attached the wrong sized needles to continue.  As a result, it all went a bit skew-whiff.  No matter.  D took me to Festiwool last weekend (where I met up with the incredibly lovely Sandra and Sam) and, amongst other things, I bought a skein of plumptious worsted Blue Faced Leicester in a pretty raspberry colour, from www.nativeyarns.co.uk.  (Please forgive the glare; for some reason, all shades of pink and red are so very difficult to photograph at the moment.)  It's lovely to work with if a teensy bit sheddy.  I'm approaching the decreases and bind off so am stalling a little lest it all goes norks up.

I'm wanting to make a pair of knitted wristwarmers next.  The yarn that you see is too gorgeous for words.  It has sparkles!  I have absolutely no idea how it came into my possession.  The postman squeezed it through the letterbox a couple of days ago.  Peculiar but I'm not complaining.  ;-)

By the way, for those who have asked, I have definitely not deserted my beloved crochet.  I'm just really enjoying the challenge of learning something new.

Have a super week my lovely friends.  Keep cosy/cool (delete as applicable).

xxx

Resilience

A lady in a grey anorak gave me a very cheery "hello" this morning as we were climbing into the car to set off on the school run.  It was nice and put me in a good mood ...

Resilience - The ability to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.


Nothing has changed.  There is still joy to be had.  When our hearts have stopped aching for the loss of precious, innocent lives (and they will because, by our very nature, we are resilient), we will remember that there is so much more good in life than bad.

Be happy.  Be optimistic.  Be just the way you were.  Don't be afraid.  Because that will mean that evil has won.  And evil deserves nothing more than contempt.

♥♥♥

Smitten With Knittin'

Ugh.  It's grim out there today.  Swirling winds and frizz-inducing drizzle.  Foul I tell you.

The sky was simply beautiful at about 6:30am this morning but half an hour later it was grey and grey it stayed until the sun went down.  I'm feeling a bit grey at the moment.  Dull and uninteresting.  I'm ok, I'm just lacking witty repartee and va va voom.

I think my least favourite month is January.  Hot on its heels is November.  I'm not a fan of this time of year at all.  I feel like climbing into a clean pair of pyjamas and hibernating under my duvet, emerging only when the spring bulbs do.

That said, I'm not a total defeatist and have honed various coping techniques over the last few years.  One of which is to set myself a Winter Project.  This year's is learning to knit.  Properly.  In fact, my aim is to greet Spring wearing at least one thing I've knitted myself.

You might remember that I bought a pair of circular needles while visiting Bath last month.  Knit Pro Symfonie Interchangeables to be precise.  With hindsight, I'm not terribly sure why they appealed but they just did.  Crikey, they're brilliant!  Don't get me wrong, I haven't turned in to knitter extraordinaire overnight but they're so much easier to negotiate than the unwieldy sticks I've previously struggled with.

So, here I am.  Knitting.  Kind of.  I'm very slow and careful and concentrate so hard that I'm in danger of biting my own tongue off, but hey ho.  Oh, but I'm enjoying it so much.  Really and truly.  I'm smitten.  Smitten with knittin'!  :-)

I spent the first few days, practising and practising, row after row of garter stitch.  When my tension and rhythm improved a little (my stitches were so tight at first I couldn't physically move them along the needle!), I allowed myself to progress to joining new colours.  I've been researching some of the different cast-on methods and now I've rewarded myself with making my very first 'thing'.  Keen to try knitting in the round, I found this simple slouch hat pattern …

www.shemakeshats.blogspot.co.uk

So far so good.  I'll keep you posted.

Other than spending obscene amounts of time browsing far-too-difficult-for-me patterns on Ravelry, I've been loving huddling under the covers and watching knitting podcasts most evenings.  I'm pretty sure this explains my renewed desire to be able to knit.  Do you watch any?  I'd love to hear your recommendations if you do.  My favourites are ...

Knitting Expat

Homespun House

Little Bobbins Knits

Fluffy Fibers

Bakery Bears

How are you coping with this season, my friends?  Are you zooming around in colourful handknits with eyes a sparkle or do you have to make slightly more effort at this time of year?

xxx

Autumn Scape

We went for a walk around nearby Bradgate Park this morning, D, Bertie and I.  We walked for as long as it took the sun to burn away the pockets of heavy low-lying mist and to paint the scape with honeyed hues.

I could quite easily have stayed cocooned in the warmth of my duvet like most Sundays but I'm so glad I didn't.  I'm pretty sure we witnessed the season's last, loveliest smile.

xxx