Hello my wonderful knitting friends.
The last time you saw a post from me it appeared that I was riding off into the sunset with the man whom I had chosen to share my life with. Well, life as we know has good bits and bad bits, and it turned out that 2018 ended on one of the most horrible notes I have ever experienced. My relationship came to a sudden and shocking ending and I found myself heading once again back to Wellington, where it was possible for me to get a job that allowed me to be self-sufficient. That’s about it in a nutshell. My Instagram account has detailed some of the general happenings of the last year, so let’s fast forward get to something more positive.
2019 has begun with us once again back in Wellington. After house hunting, new job starting, new school searches and unpacking our lives from storage, life has begun to settle into a semblance of normality, for which I am very grateful.
Much to my relief, the boy is enjoying his new school. He is in no mood to move again, which I fully appreciate! This year is his first year of senior school, and we have agreed that it would be a good idea to stay in one place for the next couple of years until he graduates.
The good thing for me is that I have knitting time again, my creative pressure valve which keeps me sane and connects me to my wonderful tribe of like-minded people.
This is the Suburban Wrap by Joji Locatelli. I’d like to thank the very lovely Jose for the gift of this pattern. I like it so much that I’m tempted to knit another.
I used a merino/silk/yak single base for this pattern. Two skeins were from Happy-go-knitty, in Sikkim, and a third from Circus Tonic Handmade in the Hojtid base. I love the drape and warmth of this wrap. As you can see, it’s a little shorter than the shawls I usually knit. If I did work this again, I think I’d add another lace panel repeat. I certainly had enough yarn left over to do that.

I have also finished the Maniototo Sweater using the very wonderful Maniototo Wool. This is the DK woollen spun version in Blackberry. So cosy and warm – it has served me well in the first days of winter experienced this week.

I’d like to also talk about another good thing that happened. During the move from Wellington, I lost our dear and wonderful kitty, Roly. He has always had a horror of the cat carrier, change and the car, and in the attempt to move him into the car on the day of the shift, he ran away in fright, and I was unable to catch him in time to come with me to Nelson. Despite frantic notices on lost pet sites, and friends looking for him at our old house, I heard nothing for six months. Then one day, the phone rang, and it was the vet, telling me that the neighbour had found him!
By that stage, it was unclear which direction life was going in, so I arranged for him to go into a cattery until life became more certain.

And now, he is home. I am so very, very happy that we have him with us again. He has settled back into his old routines as if nothing has ever changed. This is a blessing for which I am also very grateful.
I have to say that I am not at all comfortable with this new format that WordPress has developed for blog entries… I’m really struggling with getting the look right, and time is precious.
So, a brief’ish note from me today. I am not sure if I will be able to continue writing here, but it seemed wrong to end this blog on the previous entry, which is so not my life any more.
Writing a blog takes a very large investment in time, and a strong desire to share in a personal way. Life events of the past six months have left me feeling more than a little broken. Culminating on top of years that have mostly felt like a struggle, my mojo to blog is at an all-time low.
I’m hoping that with time as my healer, my desire to share all the goodness that the knitting world has to offer will resurface. In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram, where it is easier to put little snippets and moments of life. Happy knitting, and may good karma be with you always.