the bloosmartie blog

This week's roundup of crafting... FOs I have finished Jo's Pride and just need to get a decent photo - to edit shortly I hope. It has turned out really well, very wearable thankfully! WIPs I have started swatching for another shawl from the Victorian Lace Today book, not sure I like the yarn yet... Plans I am going to Ribes y Casals in Palma tomorrow so will keep an eye out for fabric there for the things I fancy making from the Moda de Pasarela magazine I have.

A favourite word of my mother in law, said in a strong Nothern Irish accent, nearly rolling the 'r' and with an emphasis on the first syllable - WONderful. Trips My mother-in-law and a friend of hers are staying with us at the moment. This has been a great excuse to see some things that Mr Smartie isn't that interested in, and to revisit some of our favourite spots. We have of course been to the beach a fair bit (the weather has been generally hot) but also took the train to Sóller from Palma, visited S'Albufera, walked around Alcúdia, and revisited the Coves d'Αrta and Canyamel.  We tried to have an afternoon at the beach at Son Serra de Marina but there had obviously been a storm out at sea because the beach was covered in mounds of seaweed. Even the sea was full of it, making the waves look black. Not especially inviting, although some of the locals did go out in it. Gargoyles at Palma Cathedral I have really enjoyed having them both here, they are gr...

This week's spots: Around and about Pigeons Sparrows Swifts Swallows Blackcaps Gecko Carpenter bee (absolutely enormous, very relieved to discover it wasn't a hornet!) S'Albufera Park Plovers (both ringed and Kentish) Black winged stilts Shelducks Speckled wood butterfly Cleopatra butterfly

This week's roundup of crafty things... Finished Objects (FOs) Technically none this week. We were away with my sister-in-law and her family in Menorca for most of the week so didn't get that much done. I finished a top just over a week ago which I took with me on our holiday. I'm really pleased with how it came out and just need to get a photo to show it off. I also haven't managed to get any new fabric yet so I am trying to plan how to use up some stash instead (see plans below). We walked most of the way to Ribes y Casals in Palma (a truly amazing fabric shop which I am sure would become my second home if we were closer so it's probably a good thing we are a little further away) before I realised that it was early afternoon so it would be closed for a while yet. I guess I will get used to Spanish opening times eventually. Work in progress (WIPs) I've mostly been working on my Jo's Pride hooded shawl  (Ravelry link) which I started about 2 an...

It's been a busy few weeks, mostly with the joy of being an accountant in January but with a good dollop of fun things and crafting on the side. I'm just on my way home from a lovely day out in London. I managed to meet up with my eldest brother and then a couple of my longest-standing friends, both of which involved eating a lot and a good catch up. Plus some pina coladas at my friend's, as you do. We all tried to remember when we'd last actually drunk Malibu and the only time I really recall is a holiday in Spain with the same two girls and our other friends which must have been over a decade ago now. Very scary. I'm still working on the dinosaur embroidery for my nephew. I haven't really made huge progress; I'm still on the first of six dinosaurs but I haven't spent a lot of time on it really. Part of the reason is that it's been quite cold and my hands in particular get frosty very quickly so working on things is difficult. Mr Smartie has sligh...

I thought I would attempt to resurrect this as I still haven't found a better way to gather my different bits and pieces together. I have my knitting on ravelry, sewing sort of in Evernote, books in goodreads and now films on letterboxd but it all feels a bit all over the place. I hardly read any books last year, or the year before possibly. We sorted out the spare room when doing some decorating and I realised the obscene number of books in there that I've never read, which was only made worse by all the books we got for Christmas. So I am trying to read a few pages every day. I started reading One Hundred Years of Solitude ages ago but couldn't remember any of it so I started again. In English sadly but I think that may be a good thing with magical realism; it's harder in a  foreign language to identify whether it's just weird or you've misunderstood! So far I'm enjoying it and speaking of which I should get back to tonight's episode!

It seems to have been a while, sorry about that. In my defence, I've been pretty busy. The weekend away was lovely, just the right mixture of chatting, pampering, drinking and enjoying the countryside. I think we'll definitely be going again, we're heartily converted to spa breaks now! Since then though, work has been crazy busy and also just more difficult. I know it sounds stupid but I seem to be dealing with a lot more stuff that used to be above me. It would be great (career progression and all that) except that I've had basically no training or support to make sure I know what to do, so I'm basically making it up a lot of the time. Add to that working for some pretty awkward people and generally I've been incredibly stressed. I think that has triggered my depression so everything has been several times more difficult to deal with. I know I haven't been a lot of fun to be around! We have booked a holiday for next month though; we're going camping ...