Crowding into the Daylight

Are we not better and at home

In dreamful Autumn, we who deem

No harvest joy is worth a dream?

A little while and night shall come, 

A little while, then, let us dream. 

--From Autumnal, Ernest Dowson

 I've been finding it difficult to sit down and write my blog posts recently. I think it might have something to do with the shortened daylight hours this time of year. I feel the need to pack everything into the day so that by the time the evening comes, all I want to do is get into bed and laze around until I fall asleep. This is the time of year when trying to get Seymour out twice a day for a walk becomes a juggling act, although the chilly, icy weather outside this morning meant that Seymour was unconvinced that outdoor activity was strictly necessary:

There is a distinct holiday feel around here these days. I'm usually totally oblivious to it because I tend to be so busy this time of year that I hardly have time to look around. I did get a couple of chances to wander around last week, so I took the opportunity to soak in some of the goodtime cheer:

And I took the opportunity to attend a Christmas market on Saturday at one of the local tree nurseries. It was a lovely day, and I decided to purchase my first ever Christmas wreath. I adore the willow and rowan branches in this. I'm going to keep it indoors because I want the rowan buds to have a chance to sprout a bit more. Besides that, it's so pretty that it seems a shame to not look at it all the time. I think I may thread some mini lights through it and hang it above the fireplace:

Meanwhile, in the knitting world: my attempt to match a solid green with the variegated yarn was a failure. I was working away at it, trying to pretend that I didn't hate it, that it would all be ok, that I just needed to keep going at it... Luckily, I came to my senses before I got too far into it and took a trip to a local yarn shop to seek the assistance of the fellow yarnheads there. I came home with gold, almost literally. I knew in my heart that gold was the colour I needed and I was fortunate to find something that was exactly the right colour:

And yes, this time I kept the yarn bands:

It's hard to explain exactly what I'm trying to achieve with this yarn, except that I'm playing around yet again with stripes and I don't exactly know yet how it's all going to pan out. I just know that I am stubborn enough to keep working at it until the image in my brain becomes reality... or at least close enough to reality for me to finally let it go:

Meanwhile, I have been seized by the insane idea of painting all my Christmas cards again this year. I learned last year that it's best to take an assembly-line approach to these kinds of things. so I made a template to paint all the backgrounds somewhat consistently. The next step will involve ink, so I'm trying out some pretty-but-not-too-complicated designs that will eventually make their way onto each card. We'll see if I actually finish them all before Christmas!

I'm also realizing that it's really important for me to schedule a day at home each weekend in order to really allow myself to feel rested. I got a little gung-ho this weekend with parties and shopping and markets and I'm really feeling it today. I think what I need is a quiet afternoon with a podcast and some tea and a little bit of quiet crafting to keep my brain aligned where it needs to be until springtime comes... and goodness knows it will come soon enough.

Have a great week!