Find the SecondStar and soar, and then straight on till the morning…

KajiKita

So glad the mattress worked out well. As you get used to it (and the weather cools) you will get so much more sleep! 😊

Two years already for you and boyfriend??! Where did that time go …?? So glad you’ve found a good ‘un 😊❤️

I may have a number of half finished craft projects as well … <shuffle, shuffle, ahem, harrumph … > 😂😂

KK

Afdaff

I know very well the surrounded by partly completed craft projects feeling too! In fact I am currently sat in bed sorting through my sock projects…

SecondStar

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I deleted Facebook, Instagram & Reddit off of my phone. I still have Facebook on my iPad, and I’ll download it and IG onto my phone for a few minutes every couple of days to check in with my friends who I talk to there, but it’s mostly deleted. I don’t have the frantic urgency to scroll through reels like I used to, it’s more overwhelming now and so I put it back down.

I’ve been listening to my favourite podcasts again, and have signed up for my favourite creator’s patreon for extra written pieces and long-form content - £6 / month from my personal spending amount. There’s a discord of other followers too, and a lot of them are on the Finch ap that I use as well, which is nice.

Partner’s brother did the service on my car on Sunday too, and spotted that my front tyres are in desperate need of replacing - 1 is cracked, and the other is very badly unevenly worn. It’s going to the garage this afternoon for new tyres and an alignment, or to see if it needs work before being aligned. I don’t have the cash saved up, as my car repair pot was emptied, so I’ll pay on my credit card and then draw down from my emergency fund and then pay that amount in full. Not ideal, but that’s what the emergency fund is for after all.

SecondStar

What a lovely weekend! It was our ‘anniversary’ event - actual anniversary is on Tuesday, but we started dating at this event 2 years ago - and it went really well. The weather was beautiful, it was well attended, and it was so good to see all our friends since June.

We decided not to trade this weekend - no one wants to buy wool in August, and my partner doesn’t have enough stock made yet - and so we got given the task of hosting kids games. Neither of us were enthused about this to be honest, and I was really dreading it on the run up, however it turned out to be much more fun than expected. We oversaw a lawn game called Kubb, which is sort of like skittles, and encouraged visitors and vikings alike to come and play. It’s the sort of thing which I would never be caught dead doing by myself, as I’m far too shy and self conscious, but my partner has a way of bringing me out of my shell and so we had a really good time in the end.

We also got chance to chat with people, chill out a bit, I got some spinning done, and my partner got the new forge he’s built all set up and firing - it was the talk of the whole weekend, everyone was so impressed and grateful for his help. He can be very critical and self-deprecating about his work and his skills, and so hearing all the well deserved praise from everyone was a real confidence boost.

I couldn’t resist giving him his present early - a bronze and silver viking torque bracelet from a good friend and talented metal smith. The maker came down to the event especially to hand deliver it, to be sure my partner would get it on time for Tuesday. He was thrilled! I’ve also got him a card, and a silly bumper sticker for his new car to open tomorrow.

I’ve also booked us a 2-person floatation tank session for tomorrow - neither of us have done one before, but we’ve both been interested, so I’ve booked that as a surprise. After that, we have a lunchtime table booked at our favourite pizza place, and we’ll do some charity shop diving in a new town - very excited!

My partner has all week off work, but I’m back in Wed - Fri, then we’re both off at the weekend. The following weekend is a textiles-based event that we’ll be demoing at, and the 2nd September weekend is a casual Viking hangout, with selling and swapping bits now that the season is nearly over. What a summer it’s been!  

Humdinger1

Wonderful to read your happy, productive diary @SecondStar.  It's amazing how echos linger and fascinating to see how you tackle them. What is nail binding? Love Humdinger xx 

SecondStar

Nalbinding is a form of looped textile technique, which predates knitting and crochet. It’s pretty fascinating, if you’re a textile history nerd!

My front tyres & alignment cost £162, which I had to take from my emergency fund.

I’m also kicking myself, because I accidentally missed 1 month of paying into my 12 month 6.5% Nationwide savings account - I got paid on July 31st last month, but didn’t move the savings amount of £200 across until 1st August! So I missed out on putting in July’s amount, and so will only have 11 months saved by the end of it - that’ll be £13 of interest missed out on. And now I have to wait until 1st September to put in the £200 from August’s pay.

My partner still isn’t having any luck with cars. Luckily he’s off work this weekend, but his Volvo still isn’t ready - we’ve been told Saturday, but who knows at this point - and the Land Rover he had been borrowing from his brother these past few weeks has now developed a problem with the fuel pump, and again won’t be fixed until tomorrow. It’ll mean a lot of back and forth for me this weekend, and possibly lending him my car so he can get to work next week.

I am looking forward to the events over the 1st & 2nd September weekends though. We’re also planning on going to the circus which is making it’s final round this month, booking for a Halloween horror night in October, as well as booking tickets for a gig over in Glasgow for next March - it’s mine and my bffs favourite band, and they’re not playing near me this time, so it’s a great excuse to get over and visit.

SecondStar

The Volvo passed its MOT yesterday! So hopefully that should be the last of our car troubles for a long time. I also booked the gig tickets in Glasgow, as they said they were running low and I didn’t want to miss out. We’ll look at flights closer to the time. Partner is paying me back by booking our circus tickets, and I’ll book the Halloween horror night once I’m paid at the end of September - hopefully there’ll still be dates & times free!

I’m not missing having Instagram at all, which has been a huge surprise. Although I have noticed an increase in my reliance of Facebook reels. I’ve kept Facebook in my iPad, as I use it to communicate with different groups of people. I just wish I could remove the reels button, so it wasn’t so tempting to click! I suppose I could remove it from my iPad too, and just re-download to catch up every couple of days. I’ll do that now, actually, and see how I get on! All gone!

My cat was at the vets yesterday for her arthritis jab, and got weighed - she’s around 300 - 350g overweight, so the poor girl is now on a diet! It’s harder for her to lose weight, being an older girl and an indoor cat, so we just have to monitor her food intake and keep weighing her regularly.

The Pekins will also need to be winterproofed in the next few weeks, as the weather is starting to turn. They’ll need kickboards installed, Woodchip delivered and laid down, and a new tarp for the roof. They don’t need to be insulated against the cold, but they do need to be kept dry and out of the wind. Poor things got soaked in the most recent storm - the wind whips up the length of the garden, straight into their run. I love living by the sea, but the air is just NEVER still, and I do get sick and tired of how bloody windy it always is.

I bought my first Christmas present last week - a copy of The Secret Garden for my bff. It’s one of her favourites, and this version is beautifully illustrated, with pop up and interactive sections. I think she’s going to love it! I’m not usually so prompt, but it was in an independent shop which I won’t be passing again anytime soon, so I got it whilst I was there. One of the benefits of saving up for Christmas all year round, is that I have the cash available for sudden presents!

It likely won’t be an expensive Christmas this year, with India still top of our savings goals. But I’ll buy for my partner, 2 friends, and my cousin’s 2 kids; and there’s 2 pre-Xmas birthdays to buy for as well.

Don’t remember if I said, but I also got a few new-to-me bits for my wardrobe - a cropped blue long-sleeve cardigan, 2 long sleeve tops in green and navy blue, and a dark blue wool cardigan. That should be all I need to see me through the winter, and I need to go through and put away my more summery dresses, which can’t be winterised with tights and cardis.

I’ve been meaning to go through and do a ‘look book’ of my clothes, as I sometimes find myself in the ‘I have nothing to wear’ loop which is not true! But those types of thoughts tend to prompt scrolling on Vinted, and sighing over things which I feel I Need to buy, when I actually don’t at all. Watch this space.

SecondStar

A lovely weekend at the textiles event, and my partner joined me there on the Sunday for the first time too. Fewer of us were available this year, and we’d been moved indoors as opposed to our usual pitch on the green space in the thick of the action. That meant we didn’t have to pitch and take down the tents, and also kept us out of the bloody awful wind and rain! The past 2 years had been beautiful weather, but not this time.

We weren’t running workshops this year, which I was glad of, and instead were doing demonstrations and chatting to people. I also got chance to trade which I hadn’t done at previous years, and it’s just the right place for my nalbinding kits & handmade goodies. I made £180, and spent £30 on other people’s lovely yarn, and then £25 on pizza for us on the way home! It’s always nice to come away with some money & some more confidence in my work.

SecondStar

Another lovely weekend! There was an invite on Saturday, but I was too people’d out to socialise, and we’ll be meeting up again in 2 weeks time.

I had expressed an interest in learning to identify different types of trees, but I hadn’t been able to find a useful book in the local libraries. I downloaded a useful ap from the Woodland Trust, but my partner also bought me a very comprehensive field guide!

Yesterday we went out to a national trust property, and spent the day collecting fallen leaves and identifying their tree, doing rubbings of the leaves and bark, and making notes about them for our own reference. It was great fun, and really interesting too! I’ve pressed the leaves we collected to do a nice write up in a little sketchbook of mine, and there’s a few pages still left.

It showed me how little intentional study I’ve done as an adult, since I left university - I miss learning things! There’s an online trend right now for ‘personal curriculums’, with September being back-to-school time. People pick their own study topics, and then set themselves tasks and reference materials to learn about their topics, culminating with a project. ‘Trees’ was definitely a fun one to start with, and I’ve been inspired to think up some more as well.

Humdinger1

Thanks @SecondStar for your explanation re nailbinding!  I'd never realised that there was a time before knitting and crochet till I read that.   Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx