It is dark now when I get home from work, so pottering in the garden is no longer an option. It’s time to snuggle down, put the lights on, close the curtains and make myself comfortable on the sofa with my knitting. This consists of jumpers for the grandchildren, scarves and gloves for Christmas presents and anything else that takes my fancy. I am as addicted to wool shops come the Autumn as I am to garden centres in the Spring.
This week, along with other wools, I bought the most beautiful soft cashmere/merino baby wool for a jumper and hat for my granddaughter.
When I dug out the knitting box, I found a half knitted jumper, started earlier this year with good intentions until it was sidelined because the garden called. At the bottom of the box there are eight balls of untouched cotton yarn in red, orange and yellow, ready for a striped jumper that didn’t get as far as a cast-on row. I have promised myself that these will be finished before the Spring.
Books have the same effect on me, but this addiction is all year round. There is something inspiring about the feel of a new book and turning pages that no-one else has turned before. I very much doubt if I will be one to move on to a Kindle or the like, somehow I don’t think, for me anyway, that these will replace the joy I get from reading a book made of paper, being able to hold it and turn each page. I can almost hear all you Kindle readers saying ” You should try it, you will soon become a convert”, well all I can say is time will tell.
Again, like buying too many knitting patterns, I buy too many books. Fortunately, most bookshops seem to no longer run 3 for 2 deals. Someone told me it was because authors were not getting their fair share of royalties, and that is why if you go to bookshops such as WH Smith or Waterstones you will find a “Buy one get one half price” deals instead. This will stop me from buying that third book I don’t really need and probably would never have bought if it was not ‘free’. How often do you stand in a bookshop for longer than you intended just because you were pondering on which third book to choose? Did you really need it and have you read it yet?
Airports are also a bad place for me. There I am, with the book I recently bought to read on the plane in my bag and an hour to kill, so what do I do? Head to the bookshops and buy ANOTHER book!!!
So presently, not only do I have three lots of knitting projects, I have the following books by my bedside:-
- Alexander McCall Smith – Berties Plays the Blues
- Dodie Smith – I Captured a Castle
- Kathryn Stockett – The Help
You will note from the selection above that I am not a heavy weight, highly intellectual reader. I like to read at bedtime, in bed, which is probably a throw-back to having bedtime stories read to me.
Is it any wonder that I am struggling to find time to catch up on reading other blogs too. Reading blogs is important to me, I have some lovely followers now and feel it is somewhat selfish to expect them to give the time to visit my blog and for me not to visit them.
Also there is photography which is a growing hobby of mine. I love contributing to some brilliant blogs and their photographic challenges. I never go anywhere without a camera now, my Fuji compact is always in my bag and my Nikon SDLR I take out with me at weekends, always on the look out for a good opportunity.
Add all the above to spending the necessary time in the garden, which still needs some care and attention, I think maybe Winter is going to be busier than I had expected. I can’t think why I was wondering earlier today what I was going to be blogging about now there is little happening in the garden. Yes, that is something else I have to find time for, writing my blog. The content now will be more variable until the Spring when I can start to share the garden again with you and I hope you will all continue to enjoy “Hurtled To 60 and Now Beyond” and keep coming back for more.
