Taking stock
Losing my Grandad was a much bigger blow than I was expecting. I'd thought that since we'd already lost who he was as his mind shut down, there wouldn't be much grieving to do. I was wrong about that. Crafting and making ground to an almost halt while thoughts flittered this way and that, making new sense of the way that things are, evaluating where I was going, and puzzling what a life is made of.
One of the most important lessons that Grandad left me with is how important it is to always keep learning new things, finding new passions, getting your mind to keep working. For some people, keeping going and moving forward is a literal moving, finding new places, striving, travelling. For me, I think it's much more about unfurling where I am. So I will keep crafting and making. And I've decided to teach myself calligraphy. It's one of those interests I picked up in my teens, embraced fully for a short time, and then left by the wayside. My multi-tasking abilities have improved over the years! When I was younger, it was Gothic lettering that drew my fancy, whereas now it's Copperplate and modern typography. There's a whole lot to learn, and my first lesson was to learn that I'm rubbish at it. This is good to know; it's always handy to have a baseline assessment of where you're starting from. I will proceed with as much patience as I can muster, and keep you posted on the results.
The great news is that it's half term, yaaaaay! I adore my day job, but it's also exhausting and when there is limited energy to go round, the day job sucks up a lot of it. Now though, I have a gorgeously clear week in which to indulge all the craftiness I wish, and get a whole load more things listed in my shop and ready to go off to new home. I've become a little obsessed with the bakelite beehive wool holders from the '50s and am intent on having one of each colour. Every time I think I'm nearly there, a new one appears from in the wings. I had no idea until last week that there were grey ones. I'd thought that the delft blue was my favourite, but I think the grey might have trumped it. Will be pricing that one higher in the hopes that no one will buy it. I'll also be doing more dyeing and a heap of spinning. I've still not set up the large flyer that I got for my birthday but will aim to this week. I have a large bag of darker brown BFL that I think would make a perfect felted cat bed for my three-legged hoppity one. She's developed a real thing about undyed BFL and goes utterly nuts when she can either smell and lick the floof, or wrap herself around a skein and chew on it for a while. There'll be blog posts on the way too, on cats, books, spinning and gardening. It's finally seed planting time.
Capitals definitely need work.