NEW MONTH, NEW PROJECT

I had a message from a friend this morning to say that her husband, B was deliberating about going out for a walk - so I asked Mr. HCB if he felt like going with him, because until B was poorly a few months ago, they used to go out walking every week.  At first Mr. HCB said he had planned to position the bird boxes in the garden but then he said that it wasn't desperate that this job was done today and in fact, it might be good to go out with someone different and also somewhere different, so off he went.

That meant I was left on my own - not that it bothered me - so as today is the start of a new month, I decided that I would start my new knitting project.  I had downloaded a pattern, mainly to find out the basic size and how many stitches to use;  however, I don’t think I will be following the pattern strictly but this is the start.  I’m not even sure that it will fit the brief of “bright colours” since it is quite a muted blue colour, but time will tell.  

It will also keep me off my computer, which is no bad thing, because I am trying at the moment, to tag all my photographs with a keyword - and when you have over 22,000 going back well over 10 years, that is quite a job.

However, being fairly well organised, I have made myself a spreadsheet and as I do each month for the years back to 2010, I can tick them off, and that’s quite a good feeling.  I am also trying to get rid of duplicates on the way, so I might get them down to 21,500!  

It’s another cold, grey and dank day, so I may not go out - but now that Mr. HCB has come back - and he enjoyed his walk and chat with B - I may go up into my Quiet Room, put some music on so that I can knit, pray and meditate.  I must say that from a person who was always out, I have adapted to staying in very well and having such a lovely room upstairs is a joy.  However, it will be good when the weather gets warmer and we can go into the garden and work out there together.  I know that many people, including Mr. HCB, go out and work, even in the cold weather, but I do have to think of my fingers and knees, which feel the cold and are prone to arthritis, so a few more weeks and hopefully Spring will be here.

Hope you all have a happy week - keep well, stay safe and stay strong.  We can do this!

“Properly practiced, knitting
     soothes the trouble spirit,
          and it doesn’t hurt the
               untroubled spirit either.”
Elizabeth Zimmermann

P.S.  I found out that Elizabeth Zimmermann was born in Devon but emigrated to the United States of America in 1937 with her new husband, German Brewery Master, Arnold Zimmermann, from where she started a mail-order knitting business, which is carried on by her daughter.  She is credited with knitting the first example of an Aran sweater seen in an American magazine - Vogue Knitting.  I guessed she had some connection with America because of the way the word “practiced” is spelt in the above quote, which what prompted me to look her up.  Her spelling is the US version, whereas the English way of spelling it would be “practised”.  Amazing how much these little nuances can tell something about a person.