The cold months renew my interest in knitting, every year I try to learn a new style or pattern, usually spurred on by my desire to wear the item. From the start I always wanted to learn fairisle, and wear it, so one of the very first things I taught myself was to work with several colours and follow the graph pattern.
I learnt to knit about six years ago by watching You Tube videos, every time I didn't understand an instruction I would just look up a tutorial.
While in Sweden this year I hunted down some local wool with the plan to make traditional Scandinavian mittens. There are lots of patterns on Ravelry but as usual, I find that the free patterns from Drops/Garnstudio are both the easiest to follow and the best illustrated. Often with Fairisle I make my own design by taking parts of several different patterns. This wool is quite rough and thin, ideal for this project as gloves need to be hard wearing, and it has a type of water repellence to it.
Another job to do at this hiatus between events is to take the decorations down and have a clear and tidy. Maybe even contemplate some decorating and garden faffing.
As a photographer I try to see the beauty in everything, perhaps taking longer than is normal to look at the everyday details. The art of slow living is perhaps one way to describe this. Having moved away from the fast pace of London and going into semi-retirement from work gives me the ability to practise this discipline without any real effort.
Photography definitely makes you look at the world differently and the inspiration I get from other photographers on Instagram is hugely fulfilling. It's like meditation, and a way to appreciate the miniscule, finding beauty in every drop of dew, dried twig and petal.
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| poster calendar from The Future Kept |
Even if you only take photos with your phone, why not take a break every day with a cuppa and play with making a cute photo. Learn as much as you can about how to work in different light and mood and if you start to really enjoy it then try an online tutorial.
Perhaps this should be your new year's resolution ... take photos every day, make it a part of your routine, a few moments to yourself to focus on just a small detail of your everyday. It's a beautiful thing to awake your inner creativity and a very nurturing thing to do.
I wish you all a very happy new year, may it bring you all you wish for. I'm preparing my home to feature on a rather fabulous blog soon and I seriously need to clean and tidy my studio for a fresh start.
Lots of love to readers of this blog, thank you very much for your support during 2015, I wouldn't be doing this without you. Janice.
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