what's bringing me joy lately
You may have noticed a pause in updates from me over the last couple of weeks. Our family has been through a bit of illness. Nothing serious, just lots of overlapping, long-lasting, energy-sapping sickness. We’ve had strep, bronchitis and walking pneumonia and maybe a couple of other bugs mixed in, which seems a bit excessive if you ask me.
After antibiotics, a lot of rest, and time, we’re starting to come back to our regular energy and activity levels and I’m feeling so joyful about it. Here are three things that brought me a lot of happiness this week:
Just a Normal Day
Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I felt well enough to do everything I typically do in a day: early morning reading, a workout, homeschool and home tasks, a little work, art, a few errands, a long walk in the winter sunshine with Jason, running the kids to their activities/classes, a delicious dinner. Our days are typically pretty full of joyful things but I have been dragging so much lately that it was all I could do to get through the bare minimum. Yesterday felt like such a gift after a long season of sickness for us all.
Homemade Valentines
We have pretty low-key Valentine’s Day celebrations around here: love notes, a little candy, maybe a tiny gift. One of my favorite traditions is making valentine cards for my family each year. This year I created some collage cards using photographs from discarded books and some scrap paper I had in my studio. It was such a joy to sit down and make these in little bursts over the last few days.
I shared the whole process in this video:
Starting Again
I recently started making another Musselburgh Hat. This is my second time knitting this internet favorite pattern, and it’s intended to be a gift for my husband. Unfortunately, I made a gauge/math mistake when setting up the sizing and ended up knitting the entire hat MUCH too large. I had a sneaking suspicion it would be too big from the very beginning, but I ignored my knitterly intuition and kept on going.
I blame the above-mentioned illness and medication I was taking due to the illness.
After attempting to fix the size with blocking (impossible under the best circumstances and especially so if the hat is nearly twice as large as it should be), I ended up ripping the entire thing back to the set-up portion. I corrected my math mistakes and began again.
It’s been such a delight to work on this hat for a second time, now that the sizing is right. It’s coming along rather quickly and I’m hoping I’ll still be able to gift it for Valentine’s Day, maybe just a day or two late.
I’m finding a lot of joy lately in coming back to routines, starting again on projects and moving forward after setbacks.
Where have you found joy lately?
On My Desk:
A few new felted pieces (including the beginning of a bird series that I’m adoring), as well as Snowflake Grid, my new kit that was a delight to stitch and create.
Around Here
Reading:
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (4 stars)
This is a memoir about grief as well as a fascinating history of training hawks and an exploration of the life of T.H. White, author of The Sword in the Stone and The Once and Future King. It’s hard to imagine all of those topics coming together well, but they really do. This was a book I had to read slowly, but I ended up really enjoying the experience.
The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher (5 Stars)
Loved this mystery + more. We learn about protagonist Florrie’s incredible, difficult, beautiful life through small snippets looking back as she solves a mystery in current time. I thoroughly enjoyed the elderly characters, the deep friendships, and the way this story was laid out. Wonderfully written, and completely engrossing.
Watching:
We just discovered this youtube channel and I have enjoyed watching some of the “Kids Meet” series with my younger kids during our homeschool morning time gathering.
Dabbling in:
I’m getting ready to start an English Paper Piecing (hand sewing) project, so I’ve been learning all about how to get started. I purchased fabric and templates with some of my birthday money and I can’t wait to get started!
Here’s to making the time for the things we love to do!
Heidi