Saturday, January 30, 2016

Silly Saturday Satisfaction

I woke up feeling out of sorts this morning. I don't remember why now. But after Weetabix and coffee at the kitchen table (my favourite start to a day off) the first good thing to happen was this!
Polar Bear fabric from M is for Make. I ordered it yesterday. I'm supposed to be not buying any more fabric (until, you know, I make stuff out of all the fabric and patterns I already have) but I liked this so much. I can see it as another Simplicity 3835 top, or, possibly an Esme top from the Lotta Jansdotter book (which, er, I'd have to buy). 
The next good thing to happen was my husband suggested we go for a walk, which turned into, "Shall we take the sledge?" We had four runs on the sledge together. It was so much fun. Totally exhilarating and silly.
This is us at the bottom.
We then came back inside, had homemade soup for lunch, with whole SPROUTS in, my favourite vegetable, then parted ways for a couple of hours.

I really felt like sewing, but didn't want to get involved in a big project. Plus, I am between sizes at the moment, and until my body settles there's no point making anything fitted (I want to make the Moneta dress, and the Megan dress). I noticed we were down to one paper napkin in the holder and remembered some fabric bicycle napkins I'd made a couple of years ago, and had never really used. I found them in the drawer, and thought it would be fun to make more, and perhaps dispense with paper napkins altogether? I made three - the skaters, the feathers (fabric I'd forgotten I had) and the geese. I love them all. I thought I could make occasional napkins out of leftover fabric, and only ever make one, so I end up with lots of different napkins.
At the same time I cut out rectangles for my patchwork quilt. I'm cutting two rectangles from each piece of leftover fabric. I don't have many yet, so the quilt won't get made for (probably) years. But that's okay.

This evening we had eggs, beans and chips for tea! Our new Saturday favourite meal, and are just about to watch the second new Star Trek film.

Meg is on my lap. The fire is lit. My husband is home. It's been a great day.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Down the Rabbit Hole

So I am plummeting through January. Even at weekends I barely touch the sides before being whisked into Monday again. Time. I have calculated that if I can make it to July I can use my annual leave to work three days a week until the end of the year. I think I prefer that to taking a week or two at a time. IF I can make it...

I am on the second sleeve of my Devil's Beeftub Chickadee cardigan. I had a few lunchtime trips to John Lewis and these purple wooden buttons were the ones that were calling to me the most. So I bought them.
But in the meantime these blue on blue mittens were also calling me. Usually I go for high contrast colours, but I think these are really effective, and I'm enjoying knitting mittens again.
When I photographed them by the window today Marlena, one of our chickens, jumped up hoping I was going to throw food out. This is one of the things I want to get round to soon - moving the chickens back to their original hen house so we can get the garden back to looking good. We are taking tiny steps in that direction.
My visits to my Dad have dropped to every second week now. I wish he lived five minutes away, but he lives an hour and forty minutes away. And though I love the drive and the landscape, I find it incredibly tiring after a busy week at work. It's the concentration, and the sheer time it takes out of my week. Keeping on top of housework, and clean clothes, and even just washing the dishes sometimes is a mammoth task. And then there's socialising with friends, and what I'm left with is - usually not even the time to read a book! Knitting I do when watching TV in the evening (I usually watch something with my husband for an hour). There are other things I want to achieve. So I will have to keep working on time distribution to all the tasks that need my attention. The balance has to be better. 
Last Friday (a home day) I had the urge to go sledging first thing in the morning. So I went off by myself and did three runs. It was exhilarating. I love being outside. I love the countryside and fresh air and any sign of birds or animals. This felt far away from people and was just FUN.
I love crashing through the long grasses to stop when I reach the bottom.
We have been getting a slight increase in egg production recently so I made a batch of meringues dipped in Green and Blacks dark cooking chocolate to take to our friends' house for Sausage Sunday. They went down very well.
One thing I've realised I enjoy recently is taking group selfies. It's a similar thing to my Kitchen Table Microcosm photos. A snapshot of everyone together. This was in Wagamama's when two Mikes were in town. We haven't seen our London friend Mike for ages. We spent some time trying to persuade him to move to Edinburgh, which is where his new-ish girlfriend is from. I think we are halfway there. 
And today my great-niece and great-nephew visited with my sister and brother-in-law. They are great kids. I've come to the conclusion that all kids these days exude crumbs and are constantly covered in mud. And never stop talking. I don't remember being like that when I was a kid. I remember reading books and playing cleanly outside. :)