32 things: #23: Finish my PhD

No, I haven't finished my PhD yet. It's due at the end of February. So, no New Year's Resolutions this year, I just need to get this thing finished!

Don't expect to hear much from me in the next couple of months. If you want me, I'll be buried under some paper somewhere. See you all on the other side.

Happy New Year! All the best for 2016 and whatever adventures it may bring.

Hello?

Hello! I'm aware it's been a while since I last wrote a proper post; I'm now a little over three months from my PhD deadline, so I'm frantically working at that, while getting on with all the other usual life activities.

I haven't completely gone into hiding, and am still posting plenty of knitting and baking pictures on Instagram (new followers are always welcome), as well as enjoying weekends with family and friends. I'll also be getting involved in the Indie Design GAL over on Ravelry (all the information can be found here;* the fun starts on Thursday evening), which you may remember from last year, and will be posting about it here over the next six weeks.

Halloween cupcakes with bat and pumpkin sprinkles

Bonfire cupcakes for Bonfire Night

Chocolate orange cake for a charity raffle (we won a cake, but ate it before it could be photographed!)

Durham's rose window, reproduced in plastic blastic bottles for the Lumiere festival

Frankly enormous knitting. Again for the Lumiere festival, but I liked this one better unlit

The beginning's of my mystery Wyrt socks

We're also gearing up for Christmas in the Bird house. I've made a huge dent in my Christmas shopping this week as I realised it was making me a bit stressed. Many people who I'd planned to make things for now have shop-bought alternatives arranged to ease the pressure a little, and I can pass lots of presents on to friends I'm seeing over the next few weeks, thus saving on postage. I am very much looking forward to my son's first school Christmas - school shows, parties and dressing up; Christmas with small people is so much fun!

Festive knitting. These are for me

Hope everyone is enjoying Autumn. What have you all been up to recently?

*Note that you must be logged into Ravelry for this link to work.

Sunny days

Today the weather was beautiful. Pretty much perfect: bright sunshine, warm, the occasional gentle breeze. A perfect day for doing nothing.

Durham Castle in the sun

But nothing isn't generally possible, and today was no exception. Tomorrow I start back at work after a year off, so there was the list of chores - things I'm not sure when I'll next get the chance to do: a couple of submissions to finish swatches for; a couple of patterns to add the finishing touches to; a test notice to write and post. And my son's school taster session, and having a little look over my work notes wouldn't do any harm, especially as both children were out of my hands for the afternoon.

So I spent the morning playing with my daughter and doing easy household things (loading and unloading the dishwasher, throwing several loads of washing in) while her brother was at school, whizzing her round the supermarket while she had a nap so as to make the most efficient use of time.

I probably should have spent the afternoon at home getting on with all the things that needed doing in the house, but instead opted for a quick walk round town to take in some sunshine and an hour in a coffee shop to have a look at a textbook relating to my PhD without the distractions of the house (it's hard going back to work after a fortnight's holiday, never mind a year off), before going back home and getting on with the chores,

I am aware that juggling two children, looking after a house, writing knitting patterns and working at my day job (especially during the intense write-up period) isn't going to be easy, so I'm not sure what will happen to this blog. The frequency of posts is likely to go down, as I suspect knitting and baking may have to take a bit of a back seat once I'm back in the office. But I will try to post at least once a week, which should be manageable. I'll still be happy to hear from you all, so please keep reading, even if it is a little less often - it's probably better that blogging takes a break rather than sleeping!