Fiction

This is a quick post today because I’m commuting to the city for work then racing back to get home before noon so I can run payroll — I need to pay myself … right?!!!! LOL!

Crafting:

My crochet throw/blanket is in timeout for now. It didn’t do anything wrong but I’m on a hat knitting binge right now. Three members of my executive team and a senior director really had my back in 2020 when I needed some extra support. I thought of buying them gifts but decided that some handmade love would be so much better. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, it’ll be hats, hats and more hats for the next couple of weeks because I gave myself until February 23rd to get them done so I can mail them all on the 24th. I’m using scrummy yarn so you’ll have something pretty to look at while I overload you with hats! LOL!

One of my coworkers gifted me some wine (you can read the story of that person here) so as a thank you, I made him a hat. I’ll be dropping it off at work today, I hope he likes it.

Project Details:

Pattern: Ribbed Watchman’s Hat (this link leads to Ravelry. Please note that the new interface has caused accessibility issues for some users).
Yarn: MadelineTosh Chunky in colorway Tart (yarn base discontinued)

Reading:

I’m still reading The Water Dancer (blogged here). I’m used to Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ non-fiction style so his fiction voice is throwing me off a bit. The story is an interesting read so I’m taking my time with it before I decide if I like it or not.

As a sort of palette cleanser, I read one of my favourite books — Maya Angelou’s “Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now”. My oldest copy I got in 1995 from a friend and I read this book EVERY YEAR since! My absolute favourite story in this book of shorts is “New Directions”. It’s a story of resilience and starting from where you are, no matter your age. It focuses on the aged old premise that its not how you start but how you finish. My copy of this book is well loved and once again, it hit the spot where content was concerned and an extra boost of inspiration welcomed.

I hope your week is going well and if you have Presidents Day off, I hope your long weekend is just what you need it to be.

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesdays where you can see what everyone is making and reading.

First of all, thank you so very much for all the spin and spindle love from the last post. The comments and private emails encouraged me to plan some “Meet The Maker” posts featuring the spindle makers so stay tuned for that.

Today’s post has multiple working titles — “In Support of an Instagram Fast”, “Nourish”, “Fast Finish”, “Spin, Spin, Spin” — titles which all make sense when I think of this week’s crafty finish. I can ramble on and on and on about Instagram, how much I love it, how many relationships I formed there, how much it upsets me at what the platform has become and how much I despise being at the mercy of an algorithm. What really got my attention was how much time I spent on the platform, how weary it was making me, how much the insta posting was not meeting my need to document my makes, reads or express my thoughts fully and how much I was not engaging in the creative pursuits I enjoy.

The push I needed came when I looked at the time record in my profile. I averaged 3 hours daily on the platform. To say I was shocked was an understatement — it never seemed that long in my mind, especially since I didn’t stay on in one long interval. I thought of all the mindless scrolling, all the comparison, the time wasted and I wasn’t happy. The weekend following my “revelation” I looked at the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma”. That was it! I wouldn’t say more about the documentary but if you have a Netflix account, take a look then let me know — I’d love to hear what you think about it.

So I quit … cold turkey.

I’m still on the platform, my account is still active but I worked my way down from a 3 hours, 15 mins daily average to 15 mins in 10 days.

In the time I’ve quit mindless scrolling, I finished the spin featured in this post, taught myself to use a double drive spinning wheel, finished 2 books, started a crochet project, done some meal planning and cooked more. In other words — I nourished myself, had a fast spin finish, spun, spun then spun some more and am fully in favor of Instagram fasts — no matter how little a person uses the platform.

I’ll show you the crochet throw next week, it should be finished by then but in the mean time: here’s Comfort and Joy — spindle spun and plied (2 ply). The resulting yarn is definitely light fingering and all that’s left to finish the skeins is to wash them. From the almost 2.5 ozs, I got 422 yds in singles and 211 in 2 ply. Next task is to look for a worthy project.