New skills...and cake

It's been a while since I learnt a new technique or skill and so it was with some trepidation that I approached brioche knitting. I have long admired the fabulous brioche shawls a la Stephen West on Ravelry but somehow refused to consider them as potential projects because, "I don't knit brioche"

Daft I know, but I had somehow got into the mindset that I simply was not a brioche knitter. It was a beautiful stitch and gave the most fantastic results but nope, it simply wasn't for me.

Fast forward to December of this year and I found myself going through old bullet journals. I realised that for the past three years, one of my New Years goals had been to learn Brioche knitting. Slightly embarrassed that I still hadn't managed I decided that 2017 would be the year - and declaring it publicly meant that this time I wouldn't be able to wimp out.

IN the end it turned out to be not nearly so horrific as I thought and after a few false starts I soon got into the swing of this soothing and strangely addictive stitch. I found this tutorial to be really helpful and also the pattern instructions for the Purl Soho cowl and hat are super clear and informative too.

Yes, I made some mistakes - as the slightly dodgy photo above shows - but I really enjoyed the project and am now casting around for another brioche project. Next time I would definitely pay more attention to gauge. An 88st cast on should have been for a hat but it came out much larger than that - happily it works as a snug cowl. On relfection I think a smaller needle size would have helped with this and might also have helped to tighten up my slightly wibbly sticthes. But on the whole I'm counting it as a success ... and awarding mysekf some cake,

Simplicity

In keeping with my newly chosen word for this year I have been quietly taking stock and reviewing some aspects of my life and my daily routines that I am less than happy with. My weeks holiday with the family has given me a great chance to reconnect with some of the things that I genuinely enjoy doing and I have realised that I have slipped into some bad habits with regard to my screen time and social media use almost without thinking about it.

So I have decided to make a few simple changes, starting today which hopefully I can sustain as we get back to our normal daily life this week.

1. My mobile phone does not live in the bedroom. It's home is the charger in the kitchen and I will use my trusty old radio alarm clock to make sure I get up (no snooze button allowed).

2. Knit on some simple socks for 15 minutes with my morning coffee - ideally in bed

3. Read a book for 15 minutes before bed (no screen surfing allowed)

I have been doing all of these things while we have been away and I really do think it has made a difference to how I feel. Time will tell whether I manage to keep it going once we are back into the daily grind but by telling you all I feel as though it will hold me to account more.

Are there any simple changes you could make to your daily routine to allow more time for reading/knitting/daydreaming. If you have any fabulously sneaky tips do let me know - I'd love to hear them.

Simple choices

At this time of year I often find myself seized with a burst of frantic startitis. The urge to knit all the things is very strong and I survey my stash with a mounting sense of urgency. So many beautiful yarns hoarded away and so little time in which to knit them. This is then usually followed by feelings of guilt that I have managed to amass such a stash in the first place and that all these gorgrous yarns are being hidden away, unable to show themselves to the world.

Also, at this time of year there seem to be KALs without number, my social media feed is awash with a host of fabulous looking KALs, all tempting me to cast on right now.

Fortunately for me however I am approximately 300 miles away from my stash and my knitting is strictly limited to that which I brought with me. I have my Rift pullover for DH, my new brioche project for the Everyday Knitter #briochechallenge, my Foolproof cowl and my emergency sock knitting bag. And, that's it.

No need to agonise over yarn choices, no point in browsing through the Ravelry queue to find potential projects. Just pick up a project I have with me and work on it - now there's a novel idea.

That's all well and good though, but pretties win over a dark grey, plain pullover any day - sorry DH but your sweater may not be ready to wear until next Christmas.

Morning!

Well, here we are are on January 1st, 2017. All set and ready to go for the first of my daily blog posts this month. Fortunately I have hot coffee and am currently holed up in a cosy lakeland cottage with my small and slightly bonkers family to keep me company.

Today sees the start of my first Everyday Knitter monthly challenge too - and this month we are focusing on brioche knitting. I was up bright and early this morning - one advantage of staying in on New Years Eve and playing board games with the kids - so I made a start on my first brioche project. It is going pretty well so far but I don't want to jinx things. So I will keep quiet and move on.

I don't normally make a lot of New Years resolutions but this year has seen some fairly big ups and downs and I'm grateful for these quiet few days, alone with my boys to take stock of events and to formulate an action plan for the coming year. Tucked up here in our favourite part of the world, everyday life seems a long way away and it's easy to have lots of good intentions which quickly evaporate when faced with the harsh reality of our normal, busy routine.

One thing which I do want to get into the habit of is setting aside 15 minutes every morning just for me. To sit and knit before doing anything else and certainly before turning on any news or social media. Just a few minutes, just me, my knitting and my coffee is a great way to start the day and if it helps me finally finish a few long term projects, then so much the better.

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