Yarn Projects and Notions for 2024

The holiday period allows me to focus on my yarnwork and reading – both of which there is plenty. It’s how I get through this period every year now. I am mostly divorced from a couple’s lifestyle - I listen (not too much) and then move on. There seem to be many people struggling post-lockdowns, and I feel the need to stay clear of personal drama. I have my own and my immediate family’s wellbeing to attend to.

The PhD journey is also something I can lock into for now, and I am taking it one step at a time. I may complete it, or maybe not. A commitment of six years is long when a person has a health condition that brings other issues.

I still dream of going to some places – a road trip here and there. It may also be relevant to my research – this I am beginning to sense. With the UK’s postgraduate research system, I can visit university libraries across the British Isles. Time will tell whether this is feasible.

Steady plans therefore for 2024 are being made. In the meantime – K1 P1.

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Past, present, future – writing and making for here and now.

Knitting and stitching projects, story-writing and rediscovering poetry are working towards being in the here and now and creating a new tomorrow.

I think it can take quite some time to make a shift, through the generations, out of tradition and into modernity. I am reading a mix of novels at the moment, including Lacuna by Kingsolver, Bosnian Chronicle, by Andric, The Ministry of.. by Roy. All of them evolve around cultures and the shifting of humanity across time. I have also learnt to accept that it’s fine to be between times, one foot here and another over there.

Progress is often slow, with a lot of stalling. It can be frustrating when a vision seems to take forever to transpire. But knitting and writing demand pacing, giving time and trusting the imagination. Trusting that if something wants to happen it will, when it’s ready. The vision of my work in progress is constantly there and I allow it to lead me to tell the story of others.

It’s Easter this weekend, and that draws me to painting eggs, baking with filo. The tradition would have been to pick food colouring from shelves, make a gibanica loaded with cheeses. Now it’s more about the natural (modern) way. Eggs are dyed with turmeric and coffee, as I used to with yarn years ago. Gibanica has a heavy dose of spinach and eggs, with sparing use of sheets.

 

Shifting is possible, keeping some traditions is too, if they are a part of you, ingrained. But a new way of being is also essential, for all of us. We travel constantly. Be sure to document your journey, and of others too. There’s a common theme for all of us.

I enjoyed a year of reading Italy, fiction and history, language and cuisine. I haven’t done yet. The dream is to go back again, soon, if possible.

 

 

 

 

Poetry, yarn, books.

This weekend I’ll be going along to new poetry events in my locale. They have suddenly appeared! I’ll write about them after I have been.

I decided to play with a short story and turn it in to a poem. The purple yarn is waiting for a new project as soon as the old one has been completed.

Reading – there is plenty of it. A revisit of The Bell Jar just now.

Summer is reluctant so far. The morning is dark already. The sun has been kidnapped again. Just as well I’m not growing beans and peas.