Monday: Today I got my first Etsy ‘Custom Order’

So after a bit of searching for suitable supplies and back and forth with photos of swirling coloured wool samples, yarn was chosen and ordered. The big spoiler for today is that I spent the rest of the week anxiously awaiting it’s arrival…which was REALLY annoying when it usually only takes a couple of days. (It would have been ironic after last weeks slightly smug gratitude post if the problem had been with the couriers but it wasn’t, it was the suppliers that I was chasing for my order on Friday).

I spent the rest of today making giant ammonites to try to remember how many stitches on the needle it took. (Yes, I write down my patterns….now….not back then…but I do now).

Tuesday: I ventured out of the house today and everyone in the post office were wearing masks, which made me feel a little less like the whole of humanity is out to kill each other. I know that’s an optimistic view right now, but I’ll take my positive outlooks wherever I can get them.

As an experiment on myself, to try to determine just how self destructive I can be (or not), I covered the electronic display on the treadmill as I was using it. I managed to complete a Couch to 5K programme recently and now attempt 5K every other day.

This does not always work out as planned.

I have decided that the main reason I either give up halfway through and walk the rest, or give up halfway through and get off the treadmill in a huff, is because of my mind more than my body. Having completed 5K (admittedly, on the relatively easy treadmill rather than in the more difficult outdoors) I know it is perfectly possibly for me to do it, but my brain get so bored, so quickly that the notion of staying on there, watching numbers for distance and time slowly, oh so slowly, climb up is torture.

So, as there doesn’t seem to be an option for count-down rather than count-up, I decided to cover the display and just run until either my legs gave out or my podcast/playlist ended.

As you may notice the cover is only stuck down at the top. Of course this is so that I can see and set my speed before I set off but yes, it also means I can flip it up and see my progress as I jog ever onwards towards infinity.

But I check it a LOT less often than I used to, when a simply flick of the eyes would tell me how little I had travelled, so long story short, it works. (Which, in terms of the self experimentation, means I am slightly less self-destructive than I used to be, I hope).

Wednesday: I had a visitor whilst dog-sitting today, fortunately this one has swapped to drinking green tea, rather than regular tea, so I didn’t have to worry about poisoning her with my dreadful brew making abilities.

(I am mostly English but I really don’t understand tea drinkers. Firstly it tastes horrible and secondly every single one of them wants it made in a different way. Some have builders tea, so strong you can stand the spoon up in it, others have it so weak you can barely tell there has ever been a teabag within a 5 mile radius of it, with every variation in between to cater for as well. Maybe one day I’ll get it, never say never an’ all that).

This visitor, although more interested in the dog than a conversation with me – completely understandable – is a former work colleague. We talked about the people still working there and some very minor gossip and even though I did enjoy our catch-up I was left with an overwhelming sense of relief than I no longer have to play the work games or office politics that she does, that almost all 9-5’ers do in fact.

I realise just how much crap I used to put up with, mostly because it is just the done thing but also because everyone in work worries about staying in work, stuff that would get swiftly shut down or challenged if it happened now. Unwanted hugging (from men who should know better), inappropriate topics of conversation (from men who should know better), thoughtless and cruelly judgemental pronouncements (from senior managers who should know better) were just the tip of the iceberg. All of this pondering makes me even more in awe and admiration of the people, mostly young people, who are publicly challenging this sort of thing. More power to them.

Thursday: Spent today clearing the decks so that when my new wool finally arrives I can just get started straight away. This means I also started some new stuff because I am contrary and ridiculous.

Finished a book (I’m getting good at this…) White Silence – Jodi Taylor. I enjoyed this very much, mostly because even though the storyline and plot devices may change, her characters stay pretty much the same, and that’s fine – I like her characters. (Waves of ‘Hello and Thanks!’ to the person who reminded me that Jodi Taylor is an author I like).

Friday: Finally gave in to my (very polite) urge to chase the suppliers for my missing yarn and, surprise surprise, I got a dispatch email an hour later. What I did not get however, was a reply to my email. This does not make me happy. How difficult is it to write ‘Sorry there was a delay, your order is now on it’s way’?

Saturday: I got a message from the courier saying my delivery would be between 11am – 1pm so I left the house, wool-less, at 1:10pm, desperately hoping they would leave in in my designated ‘safe place’ – better late then never. I did not spend the time between 1:10 and 2:45pm stressing about wool though, instead I spent it walking in the drizzle with my kid and her dog, which is not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

NO housework got done on Saturday afternoon (nothing unusual there then…) instead I spent it beginning my first Etsy custom order. I also stayed up TWO HOURS after my normal bedtime (which is ridiculously early, so I’m not going to admit when that is) just so that I could sleep knowing that the cushion’s background is complete.

Sunday: This was not a day of rest. This was a day of knitting a giant ammonite then unravelling it to re-knit it using different needles and from the other end of the wool ball so that the colours came out another way…bliss. All of the faffing, undoing, redoing, pausing, considering, reconsidering, deciding and pondering were part of the mind-state I needed. The course I did on Monozukuri (the Japanese philosophy of craftsmanship) helped me recognise first tries as prototypes NOT failures and as soon as that bit of info settled into my brain all of my attempts at…pretty much anything…now have meaning, even if they don’t work. I learn something from everything I try now, even if it how not to do something.

I am very much enjoying this state of mind and craft.

End note: finally got an email from the wool supply people. It was a standard ‘sorry for the delay’ email, but far better than nowt.

Feature Photo Credit: Unsplash.com