What Catty did...

I just spent a week at Rye - intending to finish the novel I'm currently working on. I was fired up and ready and - I got half way there. I was disappointed that I didn't forge further ahead, but on reflection I'm in a good place with the revision and proud of what I achieved.

I also did some freewriting, which I really enjoyed and discovered that my muse is Mary Poppins. Not Julie Andrews - but Mary Poppins. A governess who fixes everything with just the right balance of sternness and joyfulness. She carries a carpet bag. I've always wanted a carpet bag. What I don't like are her sudden disappearances - but what is her practical magic.

I tried to harness some of that practical magic for my other non-writing projects this week, too. I cut out some patterns and basted together the Merchant & Mills Bantam racer top. I like the aesthetics of Merchant and Mills and the fact that the patterns are simple but lend themselves to being altered. Just not sure that I'm quite good enough at sewing to alter them!

I also finished the back of my new cardigan - it's beautifully soft and I love the colours. I had hoped to finish the entire cardigan while I was away but I always plan too much and then, mid-week, have to acknowledge reality.

In between fighting and acknowledging reality, I also looked at the sea, found a cafe (Sacre Bleu) where I could eat fruit toast and practise my French and bought some bargains. The op shops and secondhand clothes shops on the Peninsula are treasure troves! (I confess, though, I also bought some new things - but they were bargains - and I really do mean bargains.)


Now, it's back home and I admit I feel a little despair already at the general lack of light in the house and the pile up of stuff. I can feel a trip to the op shop coming on but first I might do a bit of a clean-out of knitting things to see if I can tempt my knitting group.