Knitting Fail

Cherie - I have that pic saved in a folder full of things that make me smile. It also includes links to reviews on Amazon of sugar free gummy bears and cat pics.

Eileen - I thought it was fascinating to see the link between the Cailleach and the groundhog. I was devastated I couldn't get a pic.

First pic - something that made me smile. Some non-sparkly scrubby yarn that I ordered a while ago turned up and I will make a scrubby strip to use as a long loofah. 

Then something that didn't make me smile.

It's a decent sized hole in the fabric. I think I got the join wrong when I joined some yarn. The yarn is quite soft and slippery, and my usual method of knitting two strands together may not have worked so well. I also made a mess of the cast on with stuff like this. 

I used the thumb method, which doesn't give a secure cast on but is nice and loose for knitting blankets. I am not sure I'm up for a long tail cast on over 170 stitchs. I'm going to rip it out and start again.

I'm usually all for neutral or dark colours but recently I've gone very multi coloured. I'm worried that I could break out in chintz at any moment.

Writing stuff - today's short story is from before the current health crisis, and a reflection of a way of seeing plague in medieval times, here. 

Hugs and good health to all.  

Feeling the February

 Eileen - It's a blanket, and I am just loving the colours. 

Bless - the wind was pretty fierce. I'm making another blanket. I don't think that this will be fit to donate, though. The cast on is very poor and there are tails everywhere. I'm having so much fun knitting it, though.

Yesterday was a trial. Every time I was about to write something down, I was interrupted. It could be bear, DH, friends, someone at the door, phone - everything! I had no chance of keeping a train of thought. So here is something that I meant to put in yesterday.

Happy Imbolc, Candlemas and Groundhog Day. Did you know that that one of the stories of Imbolc, the old Celtic festival that celebrated the start of lambing and the farming spring, was that the Cailleach would gather her last lot of winter firewood at Imbolc. If the winter was nearly at an end, the day would be overcast as the Cailleach would stay in bed. If there was a lot of winter still ahead, she would arrange a bright, sunny day to make collecting lots of firewood easier. With Groundhog Day, if the day is bright and sunny, then Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow and the winter will continue for another six weeks. So the traditions carry on down the centuries, just in different forms. Apparently someone has studied the weather patterns and it doesn't seem to have any foundation in truth, but why let that spoil a good story?

I didn't get a pic of something that made me smile as it was a crow hurtling past with what looked like a crab apple stuck on its beak. The crow wasn't entirely happy about not being able to get the dratted thing off, but at least it kept the morsel from the other crow following it. So instead here is this.

We were all snug and cosy in the study, all hanging out as bear killed things in a computer game, DH practiced chess and I knitted. It was the only light on in the house, and there was a candle. It was incredibly snug. The heating has been on for an hour, but quite low and just to air the house through, so it was very much a little oasis of cosiness. Then bear went to bed, nipping to the kitchen for a treat first. So that was the living room light, the kitchen stairs light, the dining room light, the walk in cupboard light and the landing light all left on after he went to bed. I may have to have words. We are now pretty much out of all the Christmas goodies, so I will start picking up a bit here and there again. 

Writing stuff - Today I've revisited one of my favourite Lady Freydis stories here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

One of Those Days

Sharon - thank you! And bear is definitely growing like a weed, thank goodness.

Deborah - to be honest, you and those like you are the reason why I go to the shops instead of getting deliveries. I don't want to take spaces from those who need them. Fingers crossed that you'll be able to get something like that soon. And, between you and me, it was first thing in the morning when the store was practically empty, and I keep wearing my mask. 

Eileen - There are a lot of branches down around here, and more high winds forecast. I'm hoping that the driving doesn't get worse.

Cherie - I'll have to work up to that! Mind you, I could get bear to help with the technical stuff. I actually changed my route from one with a lot of trees to one without so many!

It's actually quite a good thing that I'm easily bored as there are so many roadworks and hazards, together with a burst watermain that is blocking a huge section of one route that I have to pick my journey with care. Today I had to pick up a computer mouse after I dropped bear off as mine had stopped working. I can't cope with the tracking pad. This was a little unfortunate as my search took me past the candles and I bought some that I really didn't need and I was looking in the wrong place. Still, the candles don't go off and they were on offer. They will definitely be used.

It's been quite snug here. There have been three of us in the room, with an Xbox, a laptop, an iPad and a candle and we are all quite cosy. I had to take off a sweater. I think that the candle can make all the difference.

Today's pic of something that made me smile is my knitting. I really enjoyed it today. Despite it being eyelash, it's knitting up lovely fairly easily and is lovely and soft. Earlier this evening, though, I managed to pull the yarn from the wrong end and I was left with a tangle that made me question my decision making. 

Writing stuff - a little throwback to a medieval type story is here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Too Much Weather

I had a quick walk in Batley Park this morning. I didn't like to linger as there were a lot of fallen branches. I think that I saw traces of a tree and a half having been blown down as well. 

There was even a fallen tree at Tesco car park and you could see a few of the flower buds that were nearly there.

It's not a very good picture. It was waving around a lot in the wind, so you may have to take my word for it.

I couldn't think of anything I wanted, so I made a list, forgot to check it as I went around, missed a lot of stuff and they didn't have the oil that I like. 

On the other hand, I had a cup of soy milk hot chocolate in the cafe and it made me smile, so here it is, well, what was left of it after I practically inhaled it!

I still haven't really got going with the lists, and I keep remembering stuff that I should have done that has just fallen off my radar. I think that's tomorrow's job.

The wind was so bad at school pick up time that I thought the car was going to be blown over the road! I was very glad to get home.

Writing stuff - in the run up to the release of King's Silver, I've reposted the poem, The Castle here. I'm considering trying to record me reading it to add to the blog but I'm not sure I'm up to the technical challenge. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Keeping Busy

Bless - I daren't start making quilts. I have too many ongoing projects as it is! I'm glad I got the car serviced. They are pretty good here, and they use paper covers on the seats and stuff and it's in a very well ventilated huge garage. 

Heather - I love charity shop books, though I don't go in them so much as I should. You can pick up some amazing bargains. I keep hovering over the charity book table in Tescos but I restrain myself at the moment. As for cyclists - I'm terrified that I'm going to hurt one. I've always given them a wide berth. Fortunately I meet mostly those going to and from work, so they are sensible and work with the traffic. 

Eileen - I like the idea of a gratitude diary.

Today was a funny sort of day. I've done a few bits around the writing stuff. (Warning there's going to be a lot of writing stuff over the next few weeks, so just skim over it if you're not interested). Then I've done the school run, a couple of loads of washing and some online shopping. 

The picture that made me smile is this.

It's a huge hole in bear's joggers. He couldn't go climbing tonight because when you're hanging from a climbing wall at all angles, the last thing you need is a hole in that particular area. I'm not skilled enough to mend it without a patch, which almost certainly wouldn't work while climbing. He had almost grown out of them anyway and we were already researching the next pair. The thing that made me smile was that I bought him men's joggers. They are a small, and I got them from Amazon as the thought of dragging bear around the shops filled us both with dread and if they don't work then we can easily return them. But my lad is now heading towards men's clothing. He's taller than me (and more sensible) but he's still on the slim side and has some filling out to do. I am incredibly proud of him. 

Writing stuff - It's not medieval, but there's medieval in the background of today's flash fiction here. I'm making lists and notes of all the things I want to have on my blog when King's Silver is released and I'm having far too much fun for it to be legal.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Dithering!

Sharon - thank you!

Eileen - I hope you don't mind if I use that idea, though I will definitely be writing things down. I'm getting out the pen and notebook after this post as writing helps me frame my thoughts. Pictures of things that make me smile have had a massively positive effect on my mental health.

Cherie - I feel wonderfully hugged. Thank you for thinking of me. The paperback should be coming out soon, according to the publisher.

About kindle books - For the purposes of the next few paragraphs, please assume that I have written nothing more exciting than a shopping list. It isn't about me, it's about sharing what I hope is useful information. I subscribe to Kindle Unlimited (£7.99 per month and I'm determined to get my money's worth). I read the books on my phone. Occasionally I read them on my laptop, if I'm knitting and neither book nor knitting need much concentration. DH has been reading on his new iPad. My kindle died years ago. Amazon want you to buy books from them. They want to make it easy for you, so they have developed apps that will allow you to read on all sorts of devices. 

Kobo is another way of reading books, mainly for the booksellers not affiliated with Amazon. You can buy the ereader, but you can also download their app. Booksellers want you to buy books and will make it easy for you. 

I also need to mention Calibre. Calibre is an app which allows you to download all sorts of ebooks from all different sources. If you use that then you can read books formatted for all sorts of different systems. I cannot give a proper account because, while everyone else who talks about it loves it, I loathe it with the power of a thousand suns. It's great to use to read books. I keep meaning to make more use of it.

I also wrote an article on my writing blog back in September 2018 about finding free books, which you can find here. It's a little dated, but I've checked all the links and they still work. Ebooks aren't for everyone, and sometimes you need to have the paper version in your hands, but I hope that this has given some extra options.

I've been rough again over the weekend, so forgot about yesterday and I'm still feeling it today. On Friday I forgot to post that I walked back from the garage and saw this, which made me smile.

I just loved the touseled look of the bushes. 

Yesterday I managed to knit some dishcloths in sparkly yarn. Unfortunately, a ball makes almost exactly one and one half and I thought, what the heck and cast off. Though I'll probably just use two leftover halves from now on. I like the way they look, but I think I'll keep them for the dishes and not my face. They have a lovely texture so I'm pretty sure that they'll be great to use.

And today I collated some of the gazillions of 'bags for life' in one of those huge Christmas bags. I don't know about smile, but I felt very satisfied afterwards.

Now I shall drag myself to bed to get ready for the school run tomorrow. I'm dreading it with the new laws. I always have to overtake at least two cyclists every morning. I am not sure I will be able to under the new rules, and I am rubbish and judging 2 metres. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Expensive Day

Sharon - I honestly believe that looking for pics of things that made me smile has been a benefit to my mental health!

Eileen - thank you! I'm having a lot of fun with the scavenger hunt and seeing what stories I can make of the prompts.

Bless - thank you!

Jackie - I never thought of going online to the library. I'm not sure if I have a library card. I know I did once but it may have been before bear was born. I'll get in touch with them.

I took red in for a service. The poor car is stuck on the school run and so never really goes above 40mph with lots of stops and starts and queuing in traffic. That's why I get a service every six months and this time I signed up for the fuel cleaner as well. On the way in, I was wondering about whether I should say anything about the steering. It felt a little 'off' but I didn't know if it was just my driving. I was worried that I was imagining things. When they did all the checks, they found that the steering was 'off centre' and said a wheel alignment would correct it, so I gave them the go ahead. When I picked her up, she was driving like a dream.

I've finished all the edits, and so brace yourself for loads of writing stuff for the next fortnight.

Writing stuff - I've finished all the edits (with the help of the awesome editors) and it's in the hands of the Three Furies as they put the final polish on King's Silver. It's out on 8 February and I am sooooo excited. Over the next few days I will be writing little bits of extra stuff to share on my writing blog, and I'll let you know about them as they happen.

Hugs and good health to all.