How did you feel at the end of 2021? I felt like I was running on an empty tank, on fumes. My 2022 started out wearily. Words I used in my journal for 2021 this time last year: frazzled, burnt-out, depleted. I’m only half-way through my 2022-year review but the list will be a bit […]
Yesterday I shared some of the ways in which online teaching opens up possibilities for lovely long learning experiences. Realising the enormous advantages of teaching online has informed my decision to only teach The KNITSONIK System in this format, from now on. Today I thought you might appreciate hearing what this can look like from […]
Remember how much my parents liked Shetland? They are going back at the end of August via overnight train from London and overnight ferry from Aberdeen, bringing one of my Niblings – Barney. Luckily Barney is an enormous fan of travel and especially travel by train. On hearing about this wonderful trip, I invoked The […]
Do you remember this post? It’s been a few months since we finished the kitchen refit and I thought you might like to see some photos. Let us compare and contrast the sink, old with new. I am really happy with the transformation of this area! We have refreshed the dingy brie-yellow of the walls […]
There are many special places in Shetland, but one of my favourites is the road to Heoghland. This single-track road winds its way north from East Burra, hugging the peatlands and the hills, through a wide open landscape dotted with bog-cotton, sphagnum moss and sheep. This is where my friend Caroline walks every single day […]
Greetings from three weeks into the KNITSONIK & Friends Colour to Knit Club! Today I’ve been editing the recording of our second Zoom session and I’m feeling thoroughly inspired. In the enthusiasm of working on the eBook and seeing what everyone else is making, I’ve been happily making my own version of our first club […]
I’m really excited that, as part of their virtual May event, Vogue Knitting Live are debuting a new kind of creative class – one intended to support mental health through therapeutic writing. The new class is called “Using Therapeutic Writing to Tell Your Crafting Stories” and is led by counsellor and writer Shirley Anstis, who […]
We got COVID again. For me it was worse this time than before, but this week I am feeling a bit better than last. Happily my sense of smell seems to be gradually returning – I was surprised by how deeply lonely and sad I felt to be temporarily without it. Hello again, smells. All […]
Today our street and several nearby are being resurfaced! Long-term readers who remember #TarmacTuesdays may appreciate my excitement over this process. It’s been amazing to watch and very strange to experience the street with no cars on it and this completely untouched, brand-new surface. The company doing this work posted fliers through all our doors […]
Do you remember when I wrote this post about saving plants from my garden with which to make a basket? Some time back in November I did finally manage to conclude this creative adventure. This hairy little basket is made of ivy, nettles and hazel from my own garden and is just the right size […]