Starting swimming later in life

 

A new start after 60: I overcame my fear of water – and learned to swim at 69 | Life and style | The Guardian

I know this is named as a yarn blog but swimming is also a passion of mine and this article caught my eye. The lady learned to swim at 69. I've always maintained that age is no barrier to achieving things. It's us, ourselves, that is often holding us back. I learned to swim head-in crawl at 45 having believed that it was a skill for "other people" and I wouldn't ever be able do. It's still a work in progress and I can always work on my technique, but with the help of some friends, moral support from my family, I have achieved it. I often swim outside but that is a post for another time.

WIPs

One of my Work In Progress (WIP)s is a pair of socks. I knit socks really slowly and can only do plain knitting and not a pattern. I like to use self-striping yarn or yarn with a gradient so I like to think the colours do all the talking. These are for my youngest as the rest of us already have homemade socks. They are great for winter as they are soo warm, and they are very portable project (I guess compared to a blanket which I am more often than not, also working on. I have two sets of DPNs (double pointed needles) which is admittedly, an old fashioned way to make them but it works for me. With two sets of DPNs I don't have an issue where you have finished one sock and have the whole process to start again. I like knitting them simultaneously. I don't seem to get issues with the "ladders" you sometimes see where the boundaries of the needles were. I have also taken my bamboo DPNs on planes and never had a problem. I haven't tried the steel ones as I presume they wouldn't be allowed. The steel DPNs you can see are shorter and I think in an ideal world, they would be the same length as the bamboo. The bamboo needles do have a tendency to break though (I used to have 10, I now only have 5!). I feel I can knit these while watching TV or listening to a podcast. Although with the heel and the toe, I need to concentrate, count stitches and write everything down but apart from that, they are quite relaxing project. I learned to knit socks via Winwick Mum (Learn to knit socks and Join the Sockalong! – Winwick Mum), who has a great tutorial, and also basically taught me how to knit and to start to read patterns. I'm really happy with the yarn and how it is looking so far. Self-striping yarn is very satisfying to work with!

Equinox thoughts and beach colours

 Friday 23rd was the equinox where the days and nights are the same length. I marked it by going to a nearby beach and sitting with the wildlife and enjoying breakfast. 

I like the rocks with the dark almost charcoal colour and the lighter, white and yellow lichens. There is the water, the sky and the stones which together creates a unique colour palette. I'd like to play about with these colours and see if they would look good together in a blanket for example.