Today is the first proper Sunday I’ve had in a while. I’ve got a cup of tea, a croissant with homemade jam, and my desk is clear of practice exam papers. For the first time since January, I’ve picked up my jumper knitting. And then immediately opened six tabs to look at what yarn I want to buy for the jumper after this one.
Continue reading Second Jumper SyndromeLast Sunday, I was up before 6am. Two buses and several hours later, I was in Dunbar. For a work trip where the description starts with ‘Sunday’ and ‘6am’, it was remarkably lovely. The actual work part was done at the start and end of my day, leaving me with several hours to wander the coast and find a sunny spot to knit.
Continue reading And now, the quarter’s endedRecently, I was in a taxi heading back to Aberdeen train station. The driver, a lovely chatty woman in her 50s, warmed up to me over the drive and we ended up covering everything from the weather to whether we were satisfied with our lives. We were coming from two different backgrounds and at completely different times in our lives to each other. But both of us, clearly, had that question simmering in our minds.
Continue reading Expectation v RealitySomeone has put life on fast forward. That’s the only explanation. We’re in March, and it’s a March that feels like Spring. Sure, I’m still on the sofa with a blanket on this Saturday morning, but that’s about comfort. What better way to knit than cuddled up, entertained by Sunday television and sipping tea?
Continue reading BlinkIt’s quite late here and another week is about to start in the morning. It doesn’t feel like a week since last Sunday though I couldn’t even tell you if it felt longer or shorter. There’s been snow, and rain and a truly incredible amount of wind. All things considered, a good week to be thinking about blankets.
Continue reading Snow and SquaresIt’s a little strange writing about new beginnings at the end of January. It’s the right month, but feels like shutting the barn door after all the horses have bolted. The new beginning has already happened, and in fact this is more of a moment to be reconsidering all the ‘new year, new me’. Only the truly scatterbrained, such as myself, would stop on the 27th January to think about new beginnings.
One round stripes are forever linked to the ships & seaside cowl I knit for my mum in December 2013. That was the month I got my offer to study at the University of Edinburgh, incidentally enough. I was tired after a term of A-Levels and had big, horrible exams looming ahead of me. Over Christmas, I mentioned to my mum that knitting something might be fun and within about 2 minutes she had gotten yarn, needles and a pattern from her stash and I was knitting her a cowl she’d had her eye on. Child labour of the worst sort, honestly.
