of light and feet

It’s all go here, as we prepare for the launch of Knitting Wester Ross this Friday. Club members: look out for a welcome email in your inboxes tomorrow, which will tell you everything you need to know. Meanwhile, I wanted to give a shout-out to this lovely wee book, a copy of which Hayden Lorimer kindly sent to me, following my mention of his Winter Well series on Radio 4 (a highly recommended listen for those of us who find the dark months tricky).

Last year, in preparation for our Making Light project, I did quite a bit of reading about winter, and different approaches to it. There are several books on this interesting and wide-ranging subject – some of which are quite popular and well-known. Some of these books are great, others less so, and there were certainly some books about winter that I found a little irritating and / or entitled. Not all of us are able to randomly sack off our jobs to take an ad-hoc trip to the Blue Lagoon, and one of the many wonderful things about the book that Hayden has put together with Hester Parr, Shawn Bodden and poet, Alec Finlay is that it is so completely about being where you are.

I loved this book. If you, like me, find winter difficult, you can read Light is a Right: A Guide to Wintering Well for free online here, and you’ll also find other brilliant resources (including a CBT-guided course) at the project’s website. Thank you, Hayden.

Meanwhile, my own pedestrian approaches to wintering well have taken something of a knock after a ridiculous accident last week in which I broke a bone in my left foot. I unfortunately also managed to make things worse by ignoring some fairly excruciating pain, and only going for a fracture-confirming x-ray several days later, after things became unbearable. After a year of debilitating injuries and illnesses, this feels like another blow, but I intend to replace my daily walk with a daily swim, and a winter a little differently this year. 

Only two more sleeps until the first pattern drops for Knitting Wester Ross!