Thursday, January 18, 2018

A day of small things

After feeling generally low and washed out for what feels like weeks I've had a really good day off. The sort that starts with a solid nine hours sleep (after a week veering towards insomnia and a truly terrifying anxiety dream where I was in Shetland but couldn't buy any yarn) and the luxury of knowing you don't have to be up for any particular time.

The sort of day that allows for a leisurely breakfast and where you don't feel guilty for whiling away the best part of an hour following links on twitter. A day when the paperwork I've been procrastinating over gets cleared up in minutes, and the other things I've been meaning to book or generally sort out get done too. 

I'm off to Vienna for a few days on Sunday, and hadn't really felt excited about it, but I do now. It's amazing the difference a good nights sleep makes. It's also helpful that I've finally had a good look at a guide book. We're not there for very long so the list of things we 'must' see is short, but we're both agreed there will be a lot of exploring, coffee, and cake. 

I've also managed to finish knitting a cowl - so that's 3 balls of wool gone from the stash - which I'm pleased with. It's Donna Smith's 'Brake Cowl' (the pattern is free on ravelry, is pleasingly simple, and didn't take long to knit) which uses a traditional 'horseshoe' lace pattern. It's a lace I really like, so I'm looking forward to wearing it. 


14 comments:

  1. I couldn’t agree more; there is nothing better than a good night’s sleep. Have a great time in Vienna and lots of photos of cake, please.

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    1. Yes, thank you, and I'll try and oblige on the cake front :)

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  2. Vienna is such a wonderful city! You will love it. I'm sure you've already covered this BUT the Belvedere museum is a must. It is rare when a museum displays art in exactly the way that you would like o see it, but this one does. :) You can also (weather permitting) sit out side the opera house witha picnic and wine and enjoy the opera on large screens. It's fab. Enjoy Vienna, it's one of the most romantic and hospitable cities in the world. (and be sure to try the apricot liqueur. X

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    1. The Belvedere museum is the one I'm determined to go to so I'm delighted to see it get such a glowing endorsement. Really looking forward to just walking about and exploring as well. Thank you for the tips.

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  3. Hello Hayley and happy new year! I'm so sorry you've been feeling bad, sleep is such a precious lovely thing. And how cool is your cowl? Respect.

    Have a great time in Vienna! Dare I ask what you're taking to read...?

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    1. Thank you, and happy new year back. It's a case of January blues here I think, but the prospect of a holiday is brightening things up considerably. I'm pleased with the bowl, but it's not quite snug enough for really cold weather. Book wise I think it's going to be New Grub Street. I watched the Limehouse Golum yesterday, in which he is a character, and it reminded me I'm long overdue to read it. There's plenty of it to keep me busy too.

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  4. I'm sorry to admit that when I read about your 'truly terrifying anxiety dream' about being in Shetland and not being able to buy any yarn, I laughed! I'm a knitter, and were I ever lucky enough to travel to Shetland but not be able to buy yarn--well, I shudder to imagine what that would do to me and my psyche. Never been to Vienna, but my favorite German teacher was from there, and on days when we, her students, seemed particularly stupid, she would drop her lesson plan and her proper Hochdeutsch and charm us by just chatting in her native dialect.

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    1. It was horrible in the dream, in real life I wouldn't be to worried about it. It's considerably cheaper (about 2/3rds of the price) to buy the yarn in the shop rather than online - but I could always send an obliging family member to get anything I really needed and send it down to me. Of course that's nowhere near as much fun as choosing the colours in front of you, or chatting to the people in the shop. I hope you do get to Shetland one day, it's a unique and generally brilliant place, especially for knitters, with a ton of inspiration to be found.

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  5. Have a marvellous time and I hope you sleep very well indeed.

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    1. Thank you, I'll think of you when I look at gin in the airport!

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  6. Haven't been to either Shetland Islands or Vienna but given a choice I would pick the Shetlands every time. And I would so love to be able to visit a yarn shop there (perhaps Jamieson) because there is an embargo on them selling anything to us in the US except through a somewhat unsatisfactory representative in California (only the lighter weight yarns as well) or a much more helpful company in Canada. I would so love to try the Scottish cheeses, shortbread and other things. If I were still drinking, which is no longer, I would have a wonderful time trying single malt scotches. And I would so enjoy the scenery as well as the maritime and avian wildlife. Have a great time in Vienna and have some delicious times as well as treats.

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  7. Shetland is generally my first choice destination and both the Jamiesons and jamiesons and smith wool shops are great, not least for the lovely people who work in them. Leicester (where I live) has a reasonable independent yarn shop, and haberdashery section in a department store, but both are quite limited and i like to see and feel yarn before I buy it. I hope you do get to Scotland one day, and Shetland particularly. It's a beautiful part of the world in all its moods (though some of them make you work hard to appreciate the beauty - and it does rain a lot).

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  8. I understand how you feel. I finally slept well last night, after a week of insomnia, and I feel so much better today. Last week I was so edgy I was yelling at appliances.

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    1. I've done that, and cried too. It's amazing the difference sleep makes.

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