Marathon

This time of year always feels like a bit of a marathon, with lots of birthdays, it feels like I am never without needles in my hands, either sewing or knitting.  I have endeavoured to be a little more organised this year, starting things off a bit earlier which has paid off as I now have over a month to Alice's birthday which is the finishing line.  I have already started on some sewing which is cut out and getting more and more creased as it waits on the back of a chair.  But now that I can focus on her presents I am completely undecided as to what to make!  I don't want a finishing straight of late nights so I hope my mojo comes back soon.  In the meantime I have cast on a cardigan which I hope I can finish in time, I am not a fan of knitting to deadlines, I have just less than five weeks......

Late night making would put paid to my reading time which is rather precious to me.  I have found that I sleep so much better if I read before going to sleep, I spend anything up to an hour.  This is not something I could contemplate when the children were younger but now that they are getting older, the small bits of me time are treasured and used wisely.  My current reading is a large book which has kept me occupied for a few weeks now.  A history of the British Landscape as sculpted by man, it starts with prehistoric times and takes you right up to the modern day.  The author is an archeologist based in the Fens, which he has a slight bias towards in this book, naturally I suppose as this has probably been his major area of study.

Joining Ginny

Knitting

I am joining Ginny and others for this week's sharing of knitting and reading.

On the needles this week are a hooded cardigan for my eldest.  I started this some time ago and needed to sew all the pieces together before carrying on. It is not my favourite part of a knitting project as I find I need time and space and I don't have much of either.  'Tis done, so I have picked up the stiches and am working on the hood.  The yarn is Rowan purelife cotton.

I have managed to find some time to read a bit this week which has been lovely.  I am reading Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith lent to me by this lovely mama.  It is an interesting read but I have yet to find anything in the book that I feel I will adopt in our house.  I think it would be more useful for parents who are considering home education or are looking for a different approach to their current one, but I have yet to finish so maybe I will find inspiration further through the book.   I only came across the concept of unschooling very recently it seems to me to be a strange label for education and not one that I intend to adopt, nevertheless it is interesting to read about it.

Knitting

I am joining Ginny and others with this week's sharing of knitting and reading. On the needles this week is Lacy Julian Hat by Raya Budrevich.  I am using a Debbie Bliss eco baby cotton yarn, which is lovely and soft it is a left over ball from another project.   This is my first project on circular needles in the round. The pattern is easy to follow, if you are concentrating! It has an eight row lacy pattern which I made several mistakes in during the first time round. Unravelling the stitches was a nightmare and I ended up spending a whole evening sorting out all the dropped stitches. 

Reading wise, it is very slow at the moment. If I have time to knit I am not reading and vice versa. I used to be an avid reader, reading two or three books a week. My time is spent elsewhere at this time of my life, I am sure the time to read my own books, as opposed to those to my children, will return one day. I am dipping in and out of The Secret Life of Birds by Colin Tudge. It is a very readable exploration into the lives of our feathered friends and a good book to put down and not pick up for a few weeks as there is no storyline to forget in the meantime. I am also reading War Horse by Michael Morpurgo to my eldest child as a bedtime story.