deep dark winter

This is me right now. It's Friday afternoon, it's miserable and rainy outside, I'm wearing socks I knitted last year and although I have absolutely nothing to complain about, I'm feeling flat and a bit grumpy.

It's crazy what a hold winter has on me because despite the constant reminding myself of all the wonderful things going on in my life, I don't seem to have any control of my mood. It's deep winter, it's been days since we last saw any sunshine, and the arctic gale blasting outside is so icy as it pinches and whips.

It's tempting to make a list of my many blessings here in the hope that it will somehow tip my balance over into the happy, but the truth is that this blog is all about the seasons and the seasonal, and this it appears is my annual, seasonal reality.

So let's get on with the week shall we.

july 14

Last weekend we had some friends to stay on our farm and on Saturday they came up to our house with a bucket full of shakshuka and some Turkish bread and together we cooked and then sat around to eat. We knew these friends at school, we had our kids at the same time, and now here we are as families sharing stories and food all these years later. How wonderful that feels.

july 15

Bren has been turning bowls again. This latest batch are the size of salad bowls and they're incredibly beautiful. He makes the bowls from the wood while it's still green and he leaves the edges thick so that when they dry out he can put them back on the lathe and reshape them. I'll take some better photos for next week's blog so you can see the scale and the shapes.

july 16

On Monday I looked around my room at the piles of books and unfinished knitting projects and decided to make a bit of sense of it all before the big move into my studio in a few weeks time. I put books back up on the shelves, I folded up bits of material and I finished the last few rows of a few knitting projects, then I soaked them and blocked them.

It's crazy how I'm always in such a rush to cast on and knit a new project, but then I often leave them for dead so close to the finish line. 

Hopefully these two will be dry, photographed and worn before the weekend is through.

Merricks shawl details here.

Lily Pond cardigan details here.

july 17

There's nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a book you really didn't like the tone of and starting something new and fresh. So far The Dry is everything I need in a book right now; it's engaging, entertaining, suspenseful, and steady paced, thank you Jane Harper.

july 18

On Wednesday Bren and Jobbo made one of my life-long dreams come true when they built me a window-box for my studio. It's incredible how much of a difference it's made to the space by framing the window and the view and inviting you to stop and sit. I imagine many a future blog post will be written in that new spot.

july 19

The power was out for most of the day yesterday so I planted seeds and split wood and the boys nailed shingles onto the front of my studio.

There's a small chance that by this time next week it will no longer be a building site but a small studio instead. Imagine that?!

july 20

The package full of yarn that I ordered full of typos last week arrived this morning. I think I'm going to use the yarn in the top photo to knit a Telija. But first I must finish those wine coloured socks. I pulled them apart twice more during the week. Once because the pattern I was knitting was driving me crazy and not at all fun to knit, and then again when I found a few mistakes. Fourth time lucky I'm going to knit them plain the whole way up to the cuff where I might do something fancy. Watch this space.

Which brings me to now and a little bit of surprise and relief that I managed to string all of those words together considering the grumpiness and the PMS and the rain. As soon as I've published I'll put some wood on both fires, hang out the washing, water my seeds, help Bren with the dinner and hopefully sneak in an episode of The Crown before the girls get home from school.

Hooray for the weekend!

Do you have anything fun planned?
Does your mood sometimes defy justification?
Do you know how much of a difference watching Glow on the iPad while running on the treadmill has made to my endurance?
Do you love peanut butter on corn crackers?
Do you know why our cat spends the day sleeping outside in the cold when she could easily sleep inside by the fire?
What else?

See you next week lovelies.

Love, Kate x

Talamh-at long last.

Ugh, no wonder my kids have had enough of posing for me and my blog. Standing in front of the camera really doesn't feel all that comfortable for me either.

I did consider a couple of photos of my Talamh cardi on a hanger, but then you wouldn't get the shapeliness or the placement of the waffle lace.

So after lunch today I was brave and I stood up near the shed and told my Farmer Boy what sort of photos to take and what bits to focus on. I stood there and twirled and whirled and he snapped away. All the while the other farmer boys were pretending not to watch and I was hoping like anything that he got some good ones and we could hurry it all up and go back to what we were doing before that.

Just in case you are wondering, Talamh means land, earth and ground in Old Irish. I have absolutely no idea how it is pronounced.

My Talamh was finished a couple of months ago but after I stretched out the lacy bits while blocking, it grew about three sizes and was unwearable. So it sat in a grumpy, bad tempered heap in my sewing room until two days ago when I decided to give it one more go. This time I soaked it and laid it out on a towel without any stretching at all. As you can see, it does fit a bit better now but it still does slip off my shoulders. I'm thinking a couple of buttons and something underneath might help fix that situation further.

Ok, so there it is. Talamh Raveled and blogged and we can all go about our business.

How do you feel about standing in front of the camera?

Are all of us bloggers better at being behind it than in front?

I'm starting a few Friday photography classes tomorrow so chances are no one will ever be allowed to touch my camera again once I really know how to use it.

I hope you are having a sunshiny afternoon where ever you are.

We're having tofu wraps for dinner. You?

See ya. xx

My place and yours - Blog H.Q.

My blog H.Q. is at the kitchen/dining room table, down the far end away from sticky fingers. The computer used to be down the other end of the house in the study, but I found I would only check on it every few days. Now it is in the 'cockpit' of the house that isn't a problem any more.

There's my current pot holder in progress. There's usually another one underneath my laptop as that is my way of blocking them. Can get a bit wobbly when typing though.

There are always school notices and bits and pieces around, but this morning there's also the Saturday morning garage sale treasures.

A box full of tea spoons from a deceased estate for my sister Emily who collects them.

They are pretty beautiful to look at and imagine someone's great adventures travelling around Australia collecting them from places they visited. They are all made in Australia too.

These four are my favourites. From left Deloraine is near where my parents live, Castlemaine & Malden is the closest I could find to here, I love Strahan's dangly anchor and Burnie's apple.

Some lovely old linen.

And a tin of buttons.

When I walked down the hill to this garage sale a woman called out that she'd wondered if I would turn up as there'd been another blogger who'd already been earlier, but these were perfect for me. Bren loved this story. He said my blogutation had preceded me.

I have no idea if these buttons are old or precious but they are already being picked over and threaded and glued onto cards and presents for my birthday in a few days time. It looks like these buttons came just in time as I have a handmade cards and presents only rule this year.

Thanks Ninon for this week's theme and to Pip for hosting the big list.