Catching Up

Two months since my last post! How quickly one gets out of the habit of blogging, eh?

Me-wise - it was the middle of March before I actually started to feel physically well. I've been doing a group therapy thing which has been an emotional strain but has led to improvements in my mental health. I managed to attend the knitting group in Borders a couple of weeks ago, and intend to go back. General life stuff rather than anxiety has prevented me going the last two weeks, and I won't be able to go next week because I have another engagement but the week after that? Yeah, I want to go.

Don't try to catch up on four months of housework in ten days. It ain't gonna happen and you'll feel horrible when you fail. Set a more reasonable goal of just doing 'some' catching up.

Wool-wise - I got my German learn to knit book but it took three weeks to arrive and by then my brain had moved onto a new mini obsession. Can't remember what it was, because several mini obsessions have come and gone since then, including the Quest for The Perfect Sock Cast On, an epic journey which would have brought Indiana Jones to knees and which had the end result of me deciding that I'd rather do a toe up pattern and then cast off stretchily in rib. My book and pattern collection has expanded but that probably deserves a post all to itself because I have acquired some beautifully freaky vintage patterns.

I've finally finished the kiddy raglan in Marble Chunky but Lilliana and the Smoke Ring are still lurking. Admittedly, Lilliana just needs all her ends sewn in, and if I could just stop feeling indecisive about long I want the Smoke Ring, I could probably rattle through the rest in a couple of days now my health has returned to it's standard settings.

This is my most recent FO: a crocheted baby bonnet which is supposed to resemble a flower shoved onto the baby's head. The pattern is in Leisure Arts #3176 Pretty Posies. I enjoyed making it as it was both easy and absorbing. There are actually two small mistakes in it, and I didn't frog back to re-do and make it perfect. I figured that if I couldn't find the mistakes without serious examination, no one else would be able to. This is me trying to defeat my perfectionist streak.

This is my most recent cast on. Ignore the colour, it's actually a much nicer bright orange. The pattern is a Patons pattern from 1988 which I got last weekend in a St Andrews charity shop. The yarn is Sirdar Salsa. I like entrelac, the eyelet entrelac isn't really any harder to do, and I like the look and feel of Sirdar Salsa. However, the pattern and the yarn don't suit each other. I feel that the slight fuzziness of the Salsa interferes with the clarity of the eyelets and I would prefer much crisper stitch definition for them, so it's going to be rattled back into non-existence.

I think I'm going to make myself finish off something before I give myself the treat of a new project. This is mainly because I don't have a strong preference for any particular pattern just now, and the horror of weaving in ends, joining seams, etc. will probably be a huge inspiration.

I'm going to also try and catch up on blog reading but the internet isn't holding my interest much ATM. I much around on Ravelry a couple of times a week but not much else.