Aubergines, Autumn & An Awkward Selfie

Hello!

First of all, I’d like to apologise. I haven’t been here in a little while, and I’ve just spotted that I’ve received a lot of comments on my previous posts since I posted my introductory reel on Instagram! For some reason I’m not actually able to reply to individual comments on my journal posts, so I’d like to say a very big thank you to the people who took the time to comment. It’s very kind of you, and it’s lovely to have you here.

To be very honest, since I posted the reel and it got far more attention than I ever imagined it would, I’ve felt a bit wobbly about posting another. I wanted to create a video explaining who I am and what I do, because when people ask me, it’s usually quite hard to explain! 

“So, what do you do?”

“I make little wool animals…”

“Oh, how do you do that?” 

“I stab them…” 

Cue a surprised, slightly fearful look.

“I mean…into existence…using a needle…” 

The look remains.

“...Oh.”

“Yes.” *Feels awkward and wonders if they feel safe in my presence.*

Also, I think that because I received such lovely, generous comments on the reel, a part of me feels like I’ve been dishonest. People mentioned what a peaceful life I seem to have, and how it’s quite idyllic. I recognised in these comments how lucky I am to have this life. That’s something I’ll never take for granted. But equally, I wouldn’t describe my life as peaceful at all. It comes with its own stresses, they’re just different. In my reel, I just distilled what the good bits of my life look like. I do like sitting down and knitting in the evenings. I have a wool obsession, and spend hours trawling through the deepest darkest depths of Ravelry for new patterns when I’ve already got three projects on the go.

But spending time on knitting means the laundry may pile up a little more than some people would find acceptable, or gardening in the day means I have to make up the work time in the evening, working well past midnight and feeling groggy and achy the next day. I now feel like I’m moaning. I suppose I might be, but I guess I’m saying that when we give our attention to one thing, we’re taking it away from something else. I think those choices define what our lives are. 

Anyhow, I actually wanted to come on here and say a general autumnal hello and to share some thoughts and photos. I made the reel in the summer, before I had any veg in the garden. It’s been my first year with my own veg garden. I made a few mistakes, and planted too many of certain things ‘just in case they didn’t work’ and not enough of other things. Needless to say, the veggies I wasn’t super excited about flourished, and a lot of the veggies I love to eat didn’t really work.

First of all, here’s a little hello from my helper, Pippi. She’s a sweetie when it comes to being in the garden - constantly pottering along next to me. Meanwhile, Colin the Italian Greyhound is inside under a blanket.

And here’s today’s haul. It’s been raining here so I haven’t been out picking tomatoes the past few days, hence the fact there are loads today. They’ve done amazingly and are still going strong. I wonder if it’s because the weather’s still quite warm?

I really like aubergines, so I decided to grow a few plants (by a few I mean eight) to increase the chance of them working. Well, they worked. A bit too well. My daughter’s decided she doesn’t like aubergines, so the eating’s been left to me. I’ve averaged two a week I reckon. Wondering when I might turn into one. I currently still enjoy eating them, but I’m looking forward to a break from them over winter…

One thing that intrigued me the other day was that as dinnertime was nearing, I decided I’d have some padron peppers (a very unexpected and welcome growing success). I went out to pick some and only one was ready. I was annoyed, as I then had to change the dinner I’d planned. Then as I looked around the garden for what else was ready, I realised that this is precisely what gardening is about for me. We’ve become so used to getting what we want when we want it. It was quite humbling to realise that nature was basically saying ‘nope…slow down, I’m not ready’. It was also quite freeing that the decision was taken out of my hands.

Oh, here’s a photo of my favourite flowers in the garden this year… Cosmos ‘Cupcakes White’. I’m definitely going to focus more on flowers next year. I'm currently looking at which bulbs I’d like to plant. (Any recommendations?)

Just to round off the extra-curricular activities, here’s a photo of a jumper I just finished knitting for my daughter. The colours aren’t what I’d have picked (she’s very particular!) but I’m very happy about how it turned out. Mainly the fact that it fits her and there aren’t any holes in it! For anyone wondering, it’s the PetiteKnit Novice Sweater Junior in a mix of Drops Air and Drops Kid Silk held together. I currently have the PetiteKnit Cloud Sweater on my needles (where it’s been slowly growing for two years), a Savory Knitting Basil Cardigan on another set, and a free range rust orange ribbed scarf on another! I’ll share more here when they’ve grown a bit.

If you’ve got this far, I applaud you, and thank you for sticking with me and my rambles. I’ll leave you with an awkwardly framed selfie of me and Pip. 

Hello wherever you are, and bye for now. x