Yeah, I actually got low on stripey sock yarn (I was certain this was not possible) and bought another six skeins from my beloved Knitterly Things. This is a new-to-me yarn base, a little lighter weight than I've been using, so I will have to be attentive to my sizing instead of just knitting on autopilot like I normally do. When I confirmed this against a band from my current sock project I realized I am knitting from yarn I bought in 2014. This is not actually yesterday, though it sure seems like it. Back in 2014 I was only starting the process of renovating our house, and now I am starting the process of having grass in the back yard again. Behold:
It's a big change from the pile of dirt we had till a few weeks ago! and omigosh, the brick project. I dreaded expanding our brick path last summer and helping Pete move the big patio slabs that were here when we moved in, but this year I've forgotten the toll it took on my back and hamstrings and am just enjoying the clean lines.
There's been a LOT of family research going on here as well. The whole time I was organizing our renovation I was longing to dig into that, and now that I'm free again I've gone way, way down the rabbit hole. Not as a member of Ancestry, though I do sometimes pay-per-use to see a document they have. I've found that no one site really hosts all the documents you might want to find, and that the ones that do will often have them under names you wouldn't think to use. In the end though, using multiple sites and having to hunt for clues on your own and think of how it's even possible to pursue them is like solving jigsaw puzzles (so addicted to those) but with History.
I think that's the real source of the compulsion - putting rather personal faces to a place and period of history you have read about, and perhaps even studied, but maybe didn't feel drawn to before you discovered your great-aunt's experience of it.
(this is my absolute favourite kind of tree and I was so thrilled to spot it on a recent walk!)
For me, reading and researching intensively about something translates fairly quickly to wanting to write about it, and I was very surprised to knock out two short stories last month, which hasn't happened in a very long time. Finished ones, even, which is more than I can say for any of the novels I've started in the past ten years. And I am still going.
So, Yay!
But that's been bad news for Hugs, because there are only so many hours in a day. I have started a novel now, and I'm going to give it my best shot for actually finishing a first draft, and it may be another few months before I'm back to sweep out the cobwebs and set out a new potted plant for a friendly mood in case anyone drops by.
Hope you all have a wonderful summer being productive at things that make you feel good, too!
