Out of steam

This week, after all the rushing of recent weeks, I am out of steam.  I’ve spent the week not getting very far very fast and I’ve tried to remember that sometimes, this is just how is.  We’re very close to a new moon and I am often tired in the days before (it’s known as “dark moon” and it affects many people), but I am getting better at recognising it and realising that I can’t continue at full pelt indefinitely and I just need a rest!

To be honest, there hasn’t been anything less to do but I’ve been going through my lists of jobs (oh, I do love a good list) and taking off anything that wasn’t urgent or felt like too much effort (no pointing of the gable wall or icing the ceiling this week!).  For me, this is progress.  I used to keep pushing on and pushing on and wouldn’t stop at all, but at last I am noticing what my body tells me and trying to do what it asks.  Lots of you told me that you were feeling the same rush and had been charging about – how have you felt this week?

I’ve still been out for walks with the dog, and there have still been dramatic skies …

He’s had a lovely time this week as we’ve had lots of rain so his favourite ponds are filling up again.

Do you remember I showed you the same pond the other week?

It’s still not quite as full as it usually is, but it’s certainly better than it was – and that can only be good news for other lakes and reservoirs too!  (That droopy tail made me laugh when I looked at the two photos, it looks like he’s really sad in the second photo but you can see his big grin in the top one 🙂 )

The conkers are growing on the trees – can you see them?  The round spiky things; I hadn’t noticed them before but suddenly, they were big enough to catch my eye this week.

What I also noticed this week – and was so pleased to see – were butterflies on the Buddleja bush.  I was worrying that I hadn’t seen any this year and usually, it’s full of large peacock butterflies.  Well, I walked past it the other day and there were so many butterflies, I couldn’t believe it!

The peacocks are back – the peacock butterfly is the one at the top of the photo.  It’s upside down, those large blue spots that look a bit like eyes are usually at the bottom of its wings.  It’s not just peacocks this year, though, there are other varieties too.  The red and black butterfly below it is a red admiral – they used to be in my Dad’s garden all the time but I’ve never really seen them here.

I don’t know how well you can see them, but there are orange butterflies here too.  They’re called commas.

This is a better photo of a comma …

It was amazing to see so many!  I had to look this one up on a butterfly website as I don’t remember seeing these in the garden before either.  I think I must have expected to see them too early but I am so very glad to see them now.  The bush was covered in bees of different varieties too; this is definitely a bush for the wildlife!

Changing the subject now … thank you so much to everyone who has offered help and tutorial ideas for not so small daughter who’s learning to crochet.  We were both overwhelmed by your kindness, from which videos to watch to even offering her left-handed lessons if she needs them – what a wonderful place the yarn community is!  So far, she’s finding it comfortable to hold her hook in her right hand and is still following video tutorials, although I’ve noticed that she’s referring to stitches by name and this week, even printed out a pattern to have a go at making an amigurumi duck.  I should have taken photos of what she’s been doing but I’ll remember for next time.  She’s even persuaded her boyfriend to pick up a hook so at one point, I walked into the living room to see him part-way through a granny square and her showing him what to do.  I tiptoed past so as not to break the concentration.

I’ve had a yarn breakthrough of my own this week, although not quite the one I was hoping for.  If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I told you that I had stalled on my husband’s sock.

I was using up the remains of a skein of some lovely Yarn Badger yarn in the colourway Marine Rainbow, and trying out a Fish Lips Kiss short row heel (the contrast is WYS Signature 4ply in Fuchsia) … and I ran out part way down the sock.  If it had only been a few rounds, I’d have made the contrast toe a bit longer but this was half way up the foot so it would have looked a bit odd.  Of course, I hadn’t weighed the yarn before I started but this week, I found the second half-ball and popped it on the scales.

Oh dear.  That was never going to stretch to be a UK size 8 sock with a 68 st cast on, even with contrast cuffs, heels and toes, so I could have saved myself quite a bit of time if I’d weighed it before I started!  However, nothing is ever wasted.  I’ve had a go at a Fish Lips Kiss heel and I may be able to get a sock for me out of that weight of yarn if I use contrasts and possibly a slightly longer contrast toe, so that’s good news.  I just can’t quite bring myself to unravel it just yet!

In the meantime, my husband has spotted another sock that’s been on my needles (another one I can’t show you just yet) and he wants a pair of those instead – it’s a big compliment that he likes one of my designs enough to want a pair for himself as usually, he says he likes the socks but obviously can’t see himself wearing them!  I’ve not much more to go on the can’t-show-you socks and then I’ll be back onto stuff that I can show you.  Oh, and I know it’s early but I’m going to run the Winter Haven KAL again next year so I’ll be getting on with that pattern too.  I won’t spoil the surprise of the pattern but I will tell you the colours I’m using as I was chatting to Sharon at Eskdale Yarns in New Zealand and she said that for people who live a long away from Winwick, it’s really helpful to know that information early.  You won’t have to use the same colour (or is that colours – you’ll have to wait and see!) as me, of course, but it will give you an idea of what to rummage about in your stash for, or drop into your basket if you happen to be in a yarn shop and you think you might like to knit the Winter Haven pattern next year 🙂

Oh, and one more yarn-related thing.  I’m going to be making some more videos to with the Sockalong tutorials and this week, I was asking in the Winwick Mum Sockalong Facebook group if there was anything in particular that people were getting stuck on that I should add to my list.  I’ve got a few more things so it was definitely helpful to ask – and now I’m asking you!  If you’re a beginner, where have you got stuck?  These are not going to be follow-along videos, more in the line of specific issues as I like people to be able to work out how to knit socks for themselves (and others), so if you’ve got any thoughts, please do let me know!

Right, that’s me for this week, I think – I’ve run out of steam on the blog post now too!  I hope you’ve got a great weekend planned, what are you up to?