In which I muse on ALL THE THINGS

There's a bit of an "ALL THE THINGS" meme going around the Over the Fence Ravelry and twitter groups thanks to Zephyrama sharing a blog post from Hyperbole and a Half: "This is why I'll never be an adult". In it Allie describes the cycle of enthusiasm, burnout and avoidance associated with the burden of adult responsibilities. It's hilarious and I highly recommend you read it.

It particularly resonated with me at the moment. We are thinking and planning for a baby (no this is not a formal announcement of any kind: thinking and planning does not imply pregnancy!) and this just seems to double that burden of "adult" responsibility.

On top of working full time and managing our little household we must now consider a whole raft of additional concerns, from redoing our health care cover to considering a new car, where to live, trying to work out new budgets so we can save more, and wondering and how we will ever manage to maintain a semblance of our current lifestyle with an extra mouth and less income.

Even trying to work out how we can reduce the grocery and electricity bill implies an upfront investment of time and money (menu plans! and fancy switch-off powerboards etc) along with lifestyle changes. I've been reading about making savings on these and the recommendations others are at once inspiring and depressing. Usually because the trade off for saving money is spending extra time to do so. Shopping at multiple stores just takes more time than the Woolies dash. It's hard to cook from scratch nightly when one partner arrives home at 5.30 and the other at 6.30. Without menu plans (or even with them!) it's easy to fall prey to the quick pre-packaged dinner or takeaway - but making them eats into precious weekend time.

It's very easy to get super enthusiastic about changing your lifestyle for a week, or even a weekend. But to attempt ALL THE THINGS at once, to try change it all overnight, is definitely not the answer. Burnout sets in rapidly, expectations of improvements in finances etc take too long to appear (at least a month on our pay cycle, generally more), disappointment grows and the towel is thrown in.

So DH and I need to work out a sustainable timetable of incremental change and set some realistic expectations (god I sound like a project manager). One thing at a time. This weekend I tackled menu planning for the week. Today as well as a bit of cleaning and cooking I MIGHT update our finances and compare expenditure against the budget. Maybe I'll leave looking at cars and electricity savings until next week.

There's no need for me to feel guilty about not doing ALL THE THINGS, as long as I do some of them.

In which I crash out of the race

My Tour de Fleece plans came undone this week thanks to a lower back injury. I am not sure what caused the injury - I just woke up one morning in a lot of pain - but I suspect that poor posture while hand sewing and spinning contributed to it. So no more spinning until it settles down which is sad. The hand sewing I won't miss!

The injury is kind of frustrating because I have two singles ready to ply together (and was thinking of spinning a third to see how tangled up I could get plying 3ply).

I also got bored of the natural fleece and had a shot at some pretty pink/purple merino I picked up last year. It was very cheap and I know why now - it's actually pretty horrible to spin, it was quite matted and I had to pre-draft the life out of it. I suspect it did not help the lower back. Anyway here is what I managed pre-injury.

In which I learn to spin

It's been almost exactly a year since I last posted, which is a bit embarrassing. I tend to go through cycles of reading or writing, and clearly I've been in a reading cycle for a while.

I'm breaking the silence to report that I am learning to spin. Yes, as if knitting, bellydancing etc isn't enough I have further cluttered my living room with an Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. Spinning is quite enjoyable, although I still have to concentrate a fair bit on what I'm doing.

Here's my first, lumpy, overspun/underspun skein.


Here's my second, which is a definite improvement.


And here's what will be the third - I'm still in the process of spinning it. I am finally achieving some consistency in the thickness and twist of the yarn.


I am unofficially taking part in the Tour de Fleece, where you are supposed to spin everyday during the Tour de France. The idea is to set goals and challenges for yourself. My goal is to spin all of the crossbred top I have been learning on, so I can finally move onto something other than natural colours. I haven't managed to spin every day but I have been spinning most days. Which apparently is the best way to improve at spinning. Here's hoping!