Out of Sorts

If I was a cat, I think that I'd have my ears on backwards - you know, like a cat with their fur brushed the wrong way. I think it's the snow. I always feel sleepy when snow is forecast. It wasn't forecast for last night but I nodded off in the afternoon and then realised that we had been blessed with a scant quarter inch of snow.

I also feel ashamed, because I felt that Christmas wasn't brilliant and it wasn't exactly bad it's just that it wasn't brilliant. There were lots of moments that were flat when they had sparkled in previous years. For example, we got the pack of three joints of meat from Tesco. It's a pack of gammon, beef and turkey joints, all previously slow cooked and tender and all allegedly ready to feed four. Years ago, they amply fed us for a meal, but this year they barely stretched for the three of us. The stuffing that I was anticipating got subsituted for pigs in blankets at the delivery, but we already had sixty of the dratted things stowed away for bear. And the side dishes that I paid extra for were okay but not as good as they have been in the past. The portions were definitely smaller, which is a sign of the times. 

It's not like we had rows or sickness or accidents. We had some really good times, and managed to coax bear to watch Where Eagles Dare with us. DH and I adore the film, but bear has been resistant til now. He's not a fan of films or most tv shows, but he enjoyed it. He and DH had a wonderful time talking about uniforms and the placement of explosives. 

That unwarranted sense of dissatisfaction led to some poor judgement on eBay, and two of the consequences arrived today. 

The small grey balls of yarn are for a kit for a man's hat, which I thought would do well for my brother and I could use the pattern to do another for his partner. The pattern is okay, but the listing promised to include needles. The pattern calls for 4.5mm and 5mm needles. The kit only included 5mm needles.

They're 10 inches or 25cm long and I can't see 93 stitches in aran yarn fitting on them. And that's the problem. There's nothing wrong with it, deep down. I'm confident that the needles will come in useful in a different project and the yarn will work out, but I still feel a little grumpy. 

The multicoloured yarn is supposed to be for a scarf. The pattern calls for a 150g ball of yarn, but I have two lots of 100g. Then the pattern says that I have to take yarn from the outside and knit a couple of rows, then I have to take yarn from the centre of the ball and knit a couple more rows, then back to the first end of what presumably is a long strand of yarn, and I know that this is a recipe for one horrendous tangle. There will be ends everywhere, even if it's supposed to be the same ball of yarn. At least it only needs one size of needle. I could use one of the 100g balls for the 'end that starts on the outside of the ball' and the other 100g ball for the 'end that starts on the inside of the ball' but that would be making the best of things and at the moment I'm stuck in grumpy. 

Bear will be going back to university soon. He's spent most of today studying as he has an exam at 9am on the first day of term. I think he has far more reason to be grumpy, but he seems relaxed enough.

And I think that's why I'm unreasonably grumpy. When he was away, I was using his desk and I got so much writing stuff done. It wasn't just the series for Royal Road, but loads of background stuff and a lot of housewifery admin. It really helped me find my balance. Now he's home, I can't do that, but he's here and that's awesome. When he goes away, I'll be able to do so much more housework and writing, but he won't be here. I need to set up a second desk by the time he comes home for Easter.  

Writing stuff - my series The Guest is being put on substack. I apologise to everyone who is getting a gazillion notifications. It should calm down a little soon. The series is now in three separate places, with Substack trailing behind and the latest instalment on my blog here. 

Hopefully I'll lose the grumpy soon.

Hugs and good health to all.