Skip to main content

late January: making plans

 


January is swimming along.  We went to the zoo a couple weeks ago, have been to walks in the park, to visit friends, and one day I convinced my middle kid to go pick up trash at the park with me.  And we put in a new kitchen faucet, which does not leak. 

Currently, I have eight items captured and crossed off my annual photo list, which is better than usual for this time of year.  The weather has been mild, and the skies bright, and that always makes it easier for me to do photo-creating, whereas the cool and dark weather makes me want to sink into blankets and read or do knitting-creating.  

I am working on sleeping better.  I am a night owl by nature, but it doesn't fit as well with the rest of my world to be up late.  Instead of sitting on the computer, watching or listening to something while I knit into the wee hours, I've been working on reading books, which I hear is better for sleep.  Not sure.  I am not so extremely tired, so I wake up more in the night, but it is making it easier to get up in the morning, and I'm reading more.  That's good.  I'm also knitting less; neither good nor bad. 

Recently I went through my "things I want to read" list on a website that's popular for buying everything under the sun but also apparently not big on free speech.  I'm working on going through all the items (250!) on the list and sorting out why I was interested in them - recommendation? author? topic? and whether I do still want to read them.  I can't imagine I'll have time to read them all this year, but if I'm really ambitious, perhaps ten percent.  Also, whether I can borrow them from the library, or perhaps track them down at my local used book shop.  I'll write more about books soon. 

Currently, I am reading my grandmother's diary from 1938.  She was 19!  It has been fun, I never knew her to stay out until midnight but apparently she had a little more energy back then.  

Other plans include what to grow...  I am thinking of starting some basil under grow lights.  I have never had luck starting basil from seed, and I get the impression it is much easier to buy than start.  But I have the time and the lights, and we really love basil pesto and basil in tomato sauce, so I think I'll just see about it.  

I'm also working on some photo things, still lifes, and I bought an umbrella for an idea.  When I get it done, I'll post it.  I also got some fun stuff sent off to a birthday person on time, maybe even early.  And I still have a week left to make some good use of January.  What about you?  Finishing anything from the to-dos this month? 

Comments

  1. I adore those photos!!! Is your goal just to creat 121 good photos or is your list more detailed?

    ReplyDelete
  2. i am very good at crossing things off my to-do-list. i see you are a knitter, i am as well. i think we have a lot in common and i have enjoyed getting to know you!!!

    the lanterns are spectacular!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love reading your comments! Please be sure to LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS (if it isn't included in your profile) so that I may respond to you. Thank you!

Popular posts from this blog

reasons I knit

I haven't posted a lot of knitting on here in the last few years.  Not much to say about it but I still knit.   I knit because I love to create. I knit because I love sweaters. I knit because I grew up with a mom who is artistic beyond the acknowledgement she receives, and it's in my blood to do something creative. I knit because I love the good things God grows, like sheep and wool and muskox and cotton. I knit because I love colors. I knit because my boys wear what I knit. I knit because I like the rhythm. I knit because it has a beginning and an end, and they are achievable.  I knit because when my hands are busy, my mouth slows down, and it gives my brain a chance to make better decisions. I knit because I'm really, really good at it, and it's one of the few things that others acknowledge, and we all need that. I knit because I love to knit. I'm working on a colorful shawl in alpaca. 

modular knitting

On the plus side, modular knitting gives one interesting options for colorwork and color blocking.  Sometimes the dye process can give the yarn its own commentary, like this changing of scales. However, there are often many more ends to weave in.  This one is not too bad, but there's at least four ends on every row - 14 rows.  Still, interesting to try something new! Details on my Ravelry page , if you are interested!!  Have you tried modular knitting?  Thumbs up or down??

getting through winter

As classes of all sorts get scheduled, rescheduled and postponed due to weather, and with the short days with less light, I often find January and February to be a forced pause.  Years like this convince me that I should get good at reading rain gauges and keeping track of the temperature.  It seems like we've had an usual amount of snow.  That should be good for our snow pack and seasonal runoff to fill creeks, lakes, basins, but we'll see what the spring brings.  In the meantime, I have been trying to tick off indoor chores and projects, and working on garden things.   We have started a handful of seedlings:  basil, foxgloves, verbascum, lavender, rosemary, onions and something new to us, naranjilla .  We have varying levels of success.  The naranjilla did take a long time to germinate; I think we used 11 seeds, and we currently have five seedlings, some a couple weeks older than others!  We're still 12-14 weeks out from planting and I really had my hands full last year -