Hello all and I hope your past week has been lovely! Mine has been... interesting. Sort of like the experience of getting from A to B while serving as a target at a paintball birthday party for seven-year-olds. AFTER they've had the cake. I seem to have reached the other end of my to do list anyway, but recovery might be required. I'm starting right now with a mug of tea and this week's throwback picture of a hat from 2015 - back when our porch had two layers of paint colours on it! Good times.
I really really loved inventing the design for this hat and I was sure it would be as amazing to wear as to look at. All those purly lines... I think garter stitch is lovely and it's so dense and warm, too. I mean it takes forever because it grows so slowly, but kinda worth it, right? Except not, as it turns out, for a hat. Well, maybe for someone with no hair it would be good. *With* hair, garter has a knack for catching on it and creating frizz and knots. I don't think I wore this hat more than once or possibly a very hopeful twice before I gave up and moved on.
Sometimes life is like that, like when you order a laptop to replace the one that died no longer recognizing its AC adapter, only to find its replacement has the same failing and can stagger along for all of four days before refusing to charge. I feel a lot less cavalier about having bought a cheap laptop to tide me over till the new one came, now that I'm waiting for the new new one to be approved and shipped. Also: can't help noticing the cheap one is extremely reliable and does everything I need it to. Hmmmm.
Despite my many tech and other issues this week, I did manage to meet my deadlines and help a friend meet hers AND dive into a new/old obsession - tiny home design.
Okay, let's be honest: I will probably never purchase, stay in, or even step into a tiny home (though that last one is I guess a possibility.) But I cannot resist the lure of imagining tiny boltholes and boy do these tick the boxes. I'm sure you will be not at all shocked to know the areas I spend the most time plotting and scheming over are kitchens, places to sit with tea, and how to get the best natural light and views. Forget sleeping or tucking in washing machines - that's for a real house. For a little nest, for me, it's all about the creative space.
The idea of a tiny home, usually parked on rural properties and often decked out with dollhouse-cute textiles and decor like a camping caravan, made me think of Lucy from Attic 24, who often wrote of her caravan holidays back when I was compulsively reading her blog. Lucy is a top crochet artist who favours super cheery colours. She's also a magnificent photographer and very, very generous with images of her breathtaking village in North Yorkshire, as well as its rural surroundings. And she still is! Check out this post from November 2022... wouldn't it be amazing to walk out your front door and into one of these pictures, then follow up with a cup of tea and a piece of cake and a chat with a friend over some yarn?
My area is not Attic 24-level cute, but the snow dustings on our flagstone looked pretty enough this week to tempt me outside in short sleeves (worth it):
And I was delighted to find a the fondant-smooth snow blanket on our back deck halfway through our latest storm:
Later, cleared away for a fresh layer, we even got Morse code!
What we did not get was knitting. Not once, all week long. I must say I'm very impressed that Lucy at Attic 24 is still keeping up with her gorgeous stripey blankets. In a snowy season like this, blankets are one thing you can plan on enjoying!
This weekend I'm going to make a new schedule that builds in room for the unexpected, and for disruptions generally. It may not guarantee actual knitting, but I'm going to aim for downtime somewhere, however brief. And I'm also going to finish the latest Ann Cleeves mystery (The Rising Tide. SO GOOD.)
Naturally, a highlight in the schedule I'll make will be popping in for a Hug next weekend, yay! And in the meantime, take care. I hope there's plenty of cute in your days, and absolutely no computer problems - not even one.