Notes from the week
Edition 17
According to Substack, it’s been about 7 months since I last did a Notes from the Week. It makes sense, in that post I write about being mid-rewire, with the whole house in disarray. We had no carpet, floorboards up in every room, furniture in piles, and dust sheets over basically everything. Since that point onwards, it was basically a constant procession of contractors until just before Christmas. On the plus side, the house is now rewired, we have a new kitchen, patio doors, a stove, new carpets and floors throughout, most of the walls decorated and new plumbing in parts of the house. On the down side, we still have some pretty extensive work to be getting done in 2026. I’m trying not to think about it, since this is my first proper run of time off over the festive period. I’m spending this first week of January in front of the stove with my book to read, journal to write, knitting, snacks, and Zelda.
I’m going back through last year’s newsletters about goals and aims for 2025 and spending some time thinking about 2026. It’s a good time to think, journal, read, and generally plan, but I think I might start by listening to the 12 Week Year by Brian P Morgan. I struggle to make goals for an entire year, inevitably by the time the end of the year rolls round the aims I set at the start of the year are no longer relevant. I guess that’s kind of a ‘pre-goal’ - to read the book before setting the goals.
It has been super snowy here, we’ve had an amber warning for snow and ice twice in one week. It’s a magical winter wonderland on the one hand (when I’m inside beside the stove, or out running with Rosie) and a logistical nightmare on the other, when I have to deal with emergency cover needs at work for colleagues snowed in, or have to walk to get dog food because the roads are dangerously icy.
It’s a good time to work on some knitting - I’ve got the PetiteKnit November Balaclava on the needles, using yarn gifted to me by a very kind reader, all the way from the US (thanks so much again Susan, if you’re reading!). I’m holding it double with Knitting for Olive Soft Silk Mohair in Pomegranate, bought on a trip to London back in November to visit my bestie. I’m excited to wear this, partly because I recently discovered the joy of the balaclava, and partly because the two yarns are sentimental and will become a wearable artefact from this period in my life. A souvenir of my trip to London and a reminder of the generosity of my newsletter subscribers, all rolled into one.
I finished the Barbara Balaclava from PetiteKnit back in May, and took some seriously badly styled shots of it in my garden. I look like a turtle, skinny head protruding from oversized body. Having worn it a few times in the real world (in actual snow!) I now appreciate the benefit of an additional scarf, to ease the transition from head to body, make it look less stark. This 25p lambswool scarf from the charity shop does the job perfectly.
After many failed attempts at sourdough during Covid, my mum gifted me part of her sourdough starter at the beginning of December. Having not made bread in around 4 years, I was surprised to produce some successful loaves. I wonder if time away from it, where I was still regularly reading and watching videos about baking bread, meant all that prior knowledge coalesced? I sometimes find that with my hobbies, tricky problems are solved when I take time away. I’ve been really enjoying baking bread, and have produced mostly successful boules and focaccia. On the other hand, I had to use wholemeal flour this week, my local supermarket had a dearth of options for bread flours, and the resulting loaf was a bit stodgy and underbaked in the middle, so maybe my successful streak is over? I’m particularly enjoying content from Bake with Jack and Sarah Does Sourdough, who both make sourdough very accessible. When we eventually manage to unpack our books, I have a bread baking book I bought in 2020 I’m planning on donating, it was too prescriptive for me, with a bit of a judgemental tone. Jack and Sarah do a much better job, in my opinion, of making it clear that there are many different ways to bake bread, which has made it much easier to have a go the second time round. I love Sarah’s discussions of running a cottage bakery microbusiness as well, I love some side hustle chat any day of the week.
My Christmas decorations are packed away but I’m leaving my winter wreath up for a bit longer. The ribbon is vintage kimono silk from my stash, and the foliage, seed heads and dried grasses are all from my garden. I’m glad I made time to make it over Christmas, our festive plans went a bit awry between food poisoning, a ceiling leak, and my work intruding into our personal lives. I made time to bake and ice my Christmas cake, which is quietly waiting in a cupboard for me to cut into it, and create this wreath.
I hope you had a restful holiday season, if you celebrate, and a smooth return to work. I’ll be back next week!
I'm going to try to make time to make bread. That loaf looks delish!
Your winter wreath is really beautiful! Love it!