Trying to Be Organised

How organised are you?

At work I am very organised, everything has a place, and I am quite anal about how my desk is laid out, including all the items on the desk which have to be neat and tidy and in specific places. However, at home, I can be a bit of a slob, I mean, right now, I can see two knitting projects on the other couch back (a hat for M and a baby blanket for a workmate). Behind me I can see a bag with some yarn in that I have not long got for another project (a hat for me). On the coffee table in front of me, I can see knitting magazines and food/cooking magazines as well as a few knitting patterns and a few other bits of mine. Now, if I was at work, this would never happen, so why at home do I allow myself to let things slide. At work everyone else’s desk’s are untidy, bordering on the side of chaos. My desk at home is tidy at the moment as I have not been using it since I put it into one of the spare bedrooms, however, when I was downstairs I used it as a dumping ground and invariably it had more knitting paraphernalia on it that really can be considered sane. Again, why can I not be as neat and tidy at home as I am at work?

I look in the kitchen now, as I am cooking dinner and it is tidy, again, I like my kitchen neat and tidy, but with all my gadgets to hand. It really does beggar belief why I cannot continue in this vane. So, with the thought of being organised, I decided to get my patterns, laminate them and put them in a lever arch file, all indexed to be super organised. Yes, my magazines are still in the same place, but one thing at a time people!

But, what do I do with my knitting magazine? Do I remove the patterns I want and discard the rest? or do I keep them in a tidy pile on one of the shelves next to my desk? If I remove and discard, then the question of filing comes to mind. I have digital copies of some of the magazines, but not all. I have a scanner and can scan them, but then it removes the fun out of flicking through them looking for inspiration. With regards to digital copies, I have never been a fan, I love ebooks, but then I have a Kindle Oasis made for the job. I have several tablets including an old iPad, but again I am not thrilled with them as they do not hold my attention.

So what does everyone else do? Keep magazines? Throw? Suggestions, please. I do have lots of patterns on Ravelry, but when I want to knit an item I print it out and tend to keep it rather than throwing it out when finished. Part of me thinks I need to move home and find a place with an archive and many large craft rooms etc., but we can all dream.

My yarn also needs to be sorted out as I have so much I could start a small shop and sell it, and with the funds take two weeks all expenses paid holiday in Rome. However, I am sure that most of you will relate to that as all the knitters I know are the same and have more yarn than they will ever need, and within that stash, there will be yarn that they, as have I, bought just because they liked it but its not enough to make a whole project. In one of the spare rooms, I have 6 giant plastic boxes that are full to the gunnels with yarn. These boxes are that big that they have wheels to move them about, so I am sure you now get the picture. But like an advert on the TV, “but there’s more”, so much more, I have about 20 projects that are all in bags with their respective yarn, some of them are very big bags.

I have managed to organise my circular needles with an expanding pocket file and each pocket has a different thickness of needle in various lengths. I have a box that all my straight needles are in and several small boxes that have sewing needles, stitch markers and more, all in compartments. I have even allocated a storage unit with shelves for my boxes of needles etc together with my sewing machine parts, including bobbins, thread, feet and more besides that. I feel I am winning with the organisation, so far so good, but still room for improvement.

Drop me a message and tell me what your organisational techniques are and how you deal with all the paraphernalia that goes with crafting.

Until next time…

COVID-19

COVID jab, Done and done. Glad it’s all sorted. Just have to wait for M to have his final one and we are safe to start living again. On saying all that we have no interest in going to the pubs, clubs or on holiday at the moment. Knowing our luck we would book a holiday and then the world would go to hell again and everything would be cancelled. I am hoping that my reaction to the jab is the same as the first one, which was no reaction at all. M had the AZ vaccine and was ill for about a week and I don’t fancy that.

I have to admit the whole process was so easy. I received a text with a link, clicked it then was offered a series of appointments to which I picked the first available to get it over with on both occasions. The medical centre was great as they had the whole thing worked out and everyone was in a one way system. I give the whole process ten out of ten.

This week M and I have been doing the rapid lateral flow tests and will continue for the next two weeks. All clear, but we expected that. I have to do the test tonight, so it will be interesting to see if my vaccine will show up, I doubt it, but I’m not a scientist.

Walking Challenge – Rome

Back in 2016, I took M to Rome. He had always wanted to go as it was a bit of a dream of his, who was I to deny him this? I, therefore, surprised him with a week trip. We had a great time, we ate great food, drank too much fine red wine, walked what seemed hundreds of miles, needless to say, we had the best time.

I was on Instagram and noticed an advert for a virtual walking challenge around Rome and could not resist. We cannot travel at the moment due to COVID-19, so why not tour the city virtually. The challenge was a limited-time challenge that hit all the major attractions we had visited 5 years ago. The challenge used my Apple Watch to monitor the steps and distance and maps it out where I was in the city with virtual postcards at all the major spots. It was nice to do and brought back more memories of what a great time we had.

Checkpoints

• Roman Forum (Start Point)
• Pantheon
• Villa Borghese
• Milvian Bridge
• Castel Sant’Angelo
• Vatican City
• St Paul’s Outside the Walls
• Catacomb of Callixtus
• Colosseum (Finish Point)

At each of the checkpoints and the “postcard’s”, there is a write up about the place giving the history and some interesting facts all with a virtual 360 visit to the site. Once at the end of the challenge I got a certificate and was sent a medal which can be seen below. The medal is really nice and as can be seen, is hinged to reveal another view of the city.

Until next time…

Animal Rescue

I have written in the past about our animal rescues, from polecats to dogs we will rescue any animal that needs help. This week was no exception. On Monday, we heard a bit of a bang on the house, but could not work out what it was or where it came from. An hour later I went to get the car off the drive only to see a large seagull sat next front of the building quietly sitting there sheltering from the elements. I put the dogs and M in the car then showed M the seagull. At this point, I decided that I need to go over to him to see if he was injured. He flapped his wings but did not run away, which is unusual for a bird like this. As I had to take the dogs out for a walk I left him there until I got back. My neighbour called to me when I was getting out of my car, pointing to the bird. I told her that I knew about it, and with a large dog blanket, I put it over him and gently lifted him and took him into our back garden, where he was put into a rather large box with a cushion to keep him comfortable.

As the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the rain started and the winds picked up, we decided to put him in the gazebo and close the walls to keep him safe and out of the elements. Once he was settled I fed him with moist brown seeded bread, chicken and fat pellets. At this point, I decided to call him Gilbert, no idea if he liked that name though.

I kept checking on him through the day and evening, then left him for the night to rest. In the morning he was very alert and interested in watching me through the window as I went about the garden. We checked him and gave him more food. He still was not wanting to walk, so I think he has damaged either his hip or sustained nerve damage after his crash. I called a lady who looks after swans and other birds that need to recuperate before being let go into the wild again, and she said that she thinks he had damaged his legs since he wasn’t using them and to see if he improves, however, as his condition did not improve I decided to take him to our vets as they could x-ray him and give him the care he needed. So far they have not called me back to let me know what his condition is, so I will call on Thursday with my fingers crossed that he is on the road to recovery.

Finished Mystery Shawl

Finished the shawl today, although I decided rather than do a standard cast off, I crocheted it. Now, I am not a crochet man, and this is the first real time I have done it. I have produced chains in the past that were tighter than cramp, however, this binding off seems perfectly done, which was more of a shock than anything else. I had seen a woman doing that binding off on Instagram, and thought it would be a nice finish. Who knew I would manage to get it right first time.

The pattern was from The Knitting Circle, Mystery KAL.