Run - craft - read - cook : a bit of everything

A minor technological fail, a few other real-life distractions and do you know what? It's suddenly 3 weeks since I last blogged.  I have been doing a bit of this and that, but not really enough of anything, it feels.

Despite running along seafronts and through exciting gates, it feels like my running is on a bit of a back burner at the moment.  I really want this to change so I'm trying to schedule runs with friends to make myself feel obliged to go out - fingers crossed it works.

Crafting is currently all about crochet - I'm on a desperate mission to finish the enormous blanket by next Friday. I think it can be done if I focus really really hard ... I'm on the border (the swatch in the photo) and it's looking ok but taking ages to do each round now the blanket's so big. And there are STILL about 50 ends to sew in - booo

Reading is happening (a bit)  ... The Goldfinch was such an epic read that I had to take a little breather for a while, but I'm just finishing off  The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, which is absolutely lovely (I will blog about it properly when I've finished reading it).

Cooking is actually something I've been doing a bit more of.  I was very inspired by Angel Jem to do some proper meal planning and make more use of recipe books, and it's been going ok. Despite the photographic evidence, we've been surviving on more than luridly pink marshmallow cakes, but this was a recipe I made with my youngest who thoroughly enjoys both the process and outcome of cooking. I will try and share some of the meals that have been popular in my house as I always find food inspiration very helpful (and meal planning quite laborious). Recently I've cooked a few dishes from Nigella Express : Croque Monsieur Bake, Rapid Ragu and Quick Chilli (not on the website) have all been surprisingly successful in our house.

So - I'm not sure what exactly led to my blogging hiatus - I think it's just very hard to get started again after losing the momentum.  But I'm going to really try and keep going this time - off to check comments and have a good catch up with some of my favourite blogs now to keep me inspired.

Craft - train crochet

A blurry snap of crochet in progress on the train - I've finally picked up the big blanket again.

I love travelling by train - I find a train journey so much more relaxing than a car journey - and a two hour train trip by myself feels like a proper treat. Two hours for crochet, reading, thinking, gazing at the rolling countryside.  If the destination is the seaside it's pretty much perfect.

A few things - I'm currently blogging on my phone which is a bit fiddly and it's hard to add links and stuff. I might put them in later. And I wrote this post yesterday but fell asleep before finishing it  (just in case I write again today and it doesn't make sense).

Run - running through the seasons

A few weeks ago this field was bare earth, and it was hard to see where the footpath should go across the mud.

Now there are bean plants nearly up to my knees, and a neatly worn path leads the way through the field from the gate on one side to a little hole in the hedge on the other.  For me, the rhythm of paths being ploughed over and remade as the seasons change is one of the (many, many) pleasures of running in the countryside.

Craft - crafters' block (and a completed flower garland)

I love having a project on the go but sometimes (often? always?) I have the delusion that I'm much more capable of finishing things than I really am, and end up with numerous things on the go at once. Then I think - wouldn't it be nice to whip up a small hook roll or garland as a present for a dear friend.  Then I start to panic because there's a deadline, and the item inevitably doesn't get made on time, but I can't possibly get on with anything else because I have to concentrate on the present I'm making. Except I'm not actually making it.

This garland (and the hook roll I made a couple of weeks ago) were just this sort of project. I'd been putting off making them - and been busy with other non-crafting (or reading or cooking or running)  stuff - for so long that I'm sure I've been having dreams about them.  But once I knuckled down to making it,the hook roll got finished in one night. Then I made myself do a bit of the garland every evening this week.  And do you know what? It only took a few evenings.

The main problem was not quite knowing how I wanted it to be. First of all I made an enormous butterfly which was too big (and a bit scary) for the delicate garland I had envisaged.  So then I found a lovely small butterfly pattern, and tweaked this flower pattern to make some smaller flowers, and invented (=cobbled together) a new tiny flower pattern (I'm quite proud of that!) and they all seem to go together quite well.

The cotton is lovely - it's Cascade Ultra Pima Fine in Wood Violet, Pansy, Dark Sea Foam, Primrose and Spring Green from Wool Warehouse and was a delight to work with, soft and non-splitty with lovely muted colours with a slight sheen. I used a 3.5mm hook which seemed to be about right.

Run - fun running

Another race today - this time a local 10k which goes through the local countryside that I do most of my training runs in.  I worked out that we must have been coming to this event as a family for the last 10 years - I think it was the second race I ever did after I started running.  Some years I've run the 10k, some years I've run the 2k fun run with one of my children, some years I've run both. I've even run it when 7 months pregnant! Today was very special as my daughter and I ran her first 10k together - I'm so pleased it was this race that she chose to run.

We had such a lovely race - the weather was great, the event was even better organised than usual with a great route (the route has changed several times over the last 10 years but I think it's now the best route), helpful marshals, all-important chip timing which proved it took us a minute or so to cross the start line (and so our official time was under an hour - hurrah!). I'm really proud of the way my daughter tackled the race and dug deep when she needed to - and most importantly we enjoyed running together, so fingers crossed we'll be racing together again. Oh, and there was a very enticing bbq at the end.  What's the point of racing if you can't have a treat afterwards?

Read - The goldfinch (#9/52)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt was another book club book,  but I would have read it anyway as I loved Donna Tartt's first novel (The Secret History).  Luckily book club didn't meet in April (our usual date fell in the Easter holidays) as this book really needed more than a month to read.

It's long, complex, full of twists and unexpected turns of plot - I absolutely loved it! It's so cleverly written in the voice of Theo, who is 13 at the start of the events recounted in the novel, 27 at the end, and tells the story of what happens to him after he is involved in an explosion at a museum. I don't really want to say much more about the plot than that as it was great reading it and being truly surprised and intrigued by all the different elements of the plot.  The characters are brilliantly written and I felt real affection for several of them - we spent a long time at book group discussing who would play each role if it was made into a film (and it would be a great film - or tv series)  - we all had very strong opinions, as the characters had become very real to us all!

It's not without its flaws - I felt there were some slips in historical accuracy when Theo's teenage years were being narrated,  and a few sections could have done with stricter editing.  But overall it's a fabulous book to read - a worthy winner of the Pulitzer prize and wholeheartedly recommended by me.

Craft - my new favourite shop

Today was one of those unplanned days where I managed to seize an unexpected opportunity. I was in London for a work event in Mile End. I was unsure what time I'd be getting home and had made sure all childcare was taken care of, so when it finished just after 3pm I decided to walk from Mile End to Islington along Regents Canal as I'd spotted a sign saying it was 3.5 miles along the towpath. It was a lovely walk through some very varied areas of London, skirting round Victoria Park which looks worthy of a visit on another day, passing this amazing bookshop, seeing all sorts of people using the towpath for their daily journeys.

Eventually (after an hour) I ended up in Islington. I had a quick peer through the window of Loop but decided to visit another day as I really don't need any more yarn right now.  I really don't need any more sewing stuff either but I couldn't resist finding the amazing Ray-stitch which I'd seen mentioned in lots of places.  And oh, it was worth the visit.  The shelves are stacked high with the most gorgeous fabrics, there are notions and trims galore and the staff are lovely. I bought a few items (which I won't divulge just yet as I'm sure they'll be making an appearance in the blog soon) but I could have bought loads more.

  I was too timid to take a photo in the shop, but sneaked a quick shot outside - the windows are too reflective to see properly, but there are lovely dresses on display plus loads of sample items of clothing inside so you can see how the fabrics work with different patterns.  It really is worth a visit - or multiple visits!