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Here be Dragons (again)

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Back in October, (yes, yes I know that I haven’t written anything for that long, life gets in the way) I wrote about finally getting to knit the sweater of my dreams – Nagano by Dale of Norway, it was a big deal for me, and the problem was that after years of searching for the pattern, I had mythologised the knit to the point that when I got around to starting, I had got so in my head about making it, that it absolutely had to be totally perfect, nothing else would do.

So I picked my colours, knit the body and started one arm, and I kept looking at the body, and looking, and grumbling about my bloody stupid colour choices. And this kept on until about a month ago, when in a fit of loneliness and self contempt at my own uselessness, I frogged the entire thing and started again using the colours Dale of Norway used back in the 90’s.

Now I know why this happened, I am a man very much on my own during the week, I don’t use social media and I don’t have any friends, so knitting, reading and running have become the core of my identity and what I knit has to be perfect, what I read has to be enlightening or entertaining, and when I run I have to compete against myself. I am often alone in my head and the self saboteur who lives in there really didn’t like my knitting…

That said, he was right, the colour choices were wrong, it looks much better now and so here I am, mid July with a daily heat warning, knitting a winter jumper. But, by gum it looks good. (And we have a puppy!!!)

Badger Makes

Here be Dragons

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I have a real problem with dragons.
Truth is I’ve always had a problem with them in that despite my age I still love dragons. It is a silly interest, probably a hangover from my obsession with Ann McCafferys PERN books back when I was a preteen (lets not pretend it ended there, I still own all the books and have reread them many many times).

I honestly cannot put my finger on why I love these silly fantasy creatures, probably they are a fascinating animal that never existed, but have managed to manifest in the imagination of so many human cultures. Dragons in human culture is another post altogether and this is about knitting

So it is little wonder that when I came across Dale of Norway and their amazing knitwear designed for the Norwegian Ski teams of the last 50+ years, I was immediately drawn to the one for the Nagano winter Olympics in 1998. It has dragons!


And that lead to a hyper obessive four year search for the pattern booklet, which arrived a fortnight ago. The English translation has been out of print for year and is nigh on impossible to find, but find it I did.

And now, after a week of knitting, I am so very close to Dragons

Badger Writes

Hello 2023

adrian2 Comments

I’ve never really been a new years resolutions kind of boy, and yes, I know that I’ve made half arsed attempts at great self improvement promises to myself, but any changes I’ve ever made to my life or lifestyle have been incremental and never as a result of grandiose statements made in the haze of New Years champagne (or prosecco).

In fact, the older I get, the more content I am with everything in my life. I know that comes from a certain amount of privilege, but at 53, I find myself sat in my living room typing this, a fire burning in the grate, a cat stretched out in front of it. Classical music in the background, a fresh ground coffee at my elbow and feeling content is pretty easy.

But, I do have some intentions or goals for 2023 that are smart S.M.A.R.T.
smart as it Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound
(See my dearest heart, I do listen and absorb).

Knitting
1. Finish St Brigid (my current project), fully, completely and wearable. I have a terrible habit of starting new projects midway through long ones and getting distracted. I have at least three abandoned jumpers in project bags that need attention to be finished.
2. I have a huge stash of yarn, some bought and some inherited and I intend to sort through and make sensible decisions about what I should do with it. It’s been six years since my mother died and I inherited her stash and it’s way past time I stopped being soppy and be realistic about what I will actually use and what I should donate.
3. I will use the really nice yarn that is in my deep stash, the wet spun linens and cobweb weight stuff that I was given years ago and terrifies me.
4. I will not start new projects that require me to buy new yarn.

Reading
I switched to a e-reader a number of years ago, as I get older my eyes appreciate the resizable text and adjustable lights my Boox provides (and the warm light option means I can read in bed without the blue light problem that phones and tablets have with interrupting sleep). But I rarely give myself time to sit and read, so I tend to only read in bed before sleep and I read junk.
I want to read more of the serious literature I avoided in favour of my SF addiction.
I’ve been reading more Waugh and Orwell last year, I love Wodehouse, but feel regret that I never finished The Ragged Trouser Philanthropists, in fact I abandoned it to reread an old favourite. I Keep promising myself that I will start reading the Margaret Attwood novels I have, but found myself looking the violent TV adaptation of a Handmaids Tale and was deterred from opening her books, which is unfair of me, to judge her entire career based on one television adaptation. So fewer sweet treat SF novels and more serious broccoli ones, I like broccoli and I know I like decent literature if I make myself start.

Exercise
Just before the pandemic really hit, I was persuaded to join a “learn to run” course at out local community center and much to my disgust I discovered that not only did I enjoy running, I was actually good at it. We had a few weeks running together and then it was lockdown and I was stuck with running on the treadmill in our basement. So on and off and nursing a tendon injury, I’ve been running. It’s been an amazing boost to my mental health, I’ve lost weight and I feel great.

So, now that things are getting “Back to normal” it’s my intention to increase my running training and start doing the Saturday park run in Victoria Park if and when they resume in the spring. It’s a flat 5k course, I’ve walked it with the dog before and the route is in a lovely wooded park. I know I can do it, I’ve run treadmill 5ks, I just need to up increase my stamina and endurance.



These are all still self improvement of sort, but things that I enjoy anyway. Personal domestic stuff I keep off the internet, but there are house renos and boxes in the basement from our move to the new house (6 years ago) that desperately need my attention this year and lets not talk about the state of the garage.

Badger Makes

Making badgers

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After making my husband his Mastodon, I decided that of course I should make myself a Badger.
Ravelry has been my go to knitting pattern source for years, but I’ve never bothered much with crochet because I was a snob about the way crochet fabric looked. I’ve evolved on that and have come to appreciate the craft more, admittedly I’m never going to crochet a garment because I still don’t like the look, but I have learned to love making crochet things. It’s been fascinating learning how increases and decreases in the right places shape the fabric in different ways.

I found a badger amigurumi I wanted to make, then another, and then another. I fear that I have created a problem for myself, because I know that one way or another, this year I will have to make them all…

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And that’s just the crochet badgers…

The remarkable Claire Garland (Dot Pebbles) created knitted badgers too. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/claire-garland-dot-pebbles-ravelry-store

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