AWAKE: Thoughts on Giving Up

"I won't give up, this won't be the last you'll hear from me," sobs the contestant just voted off a televised talent show. "Don't give up, you can do it!" Shout the people on the sidelines of the London Marathon, cheering on the runners. "Never gonna give you up!" Sang Rick Astley (truly deeply sorry about this reference).

Here's the thing though - I think we should cut 'giving up' a bit of slack. Sure there's a lot to be said about perseverance, and there are a lot of things that I didn't think I would ever manage to do, but got there in the end after a lot of blood, sweat and tears. However, there are also things that I've given up on that I do not regret at all. In fact, I want to reclaim the territory of 'giving up' - I believe it's important to know when to call time on things, especially when they are no longer bringing you joy and you don't want to do them anymore.

So, read on to find a few things that I gave up on (big things and little things) and couldn't be happier about...

AWAKE: Dinas Bran in Autumn

Last weekend I finally got around to making my way up to Dinas Bran, a ruined Norman castle in North Wales, and although it was something I was thinking I would do this summer, I'm really pleased I did the walk in autumn. This past week has seen the trees start to change colour, and it was great to be able to see nature do its work from up high. Here are a few photos of the walk, and I'll let them do the talking before I start rambling on about jumpers and candles and pumpkin spiced lattes and all thing autumn :)

Slow Fashion October II: Quality vs Quantity

Buying and making things that are higher in quality, rather than having a lot of lower quality items is something that I've been thinking over a lot lately. And seeing as my recent thoughts on this tie in nicely with #slowfashionoctober I thought I would dedicate a post to my thoughts on this. I'm not promising any conclusions, because it's just a jumble in my head at the moment! Although usually getting things down on paper (or, er, the web) organises my thoughts a little better, so here goes!

Slow Fashion October I: My Slow Fashion Story

When I first heard the concept of Slow Fashion October over on Fringe Association, I was really excited by the idea of a month that celebrated individual takes on slow fashion. What I love in particular about Karen's idea is that it's inclusive of all - whether you're a thrifter, a maker, a mender, a minimalist, or just interested in supporting local, or sustainable, fair-trade companies, you can take part. It just so happens that with a quirk of coincidence, I was already planning a couple of posts touching on some of the issues connected with slow fashion, so thought I might as well tie them in with everyone else in October. Here's a quick introduction of how I got interested in slow fashion, and where I am today with my consumer habits...

KNIT: Fairisle Stripe

Hats are definitely my knitting comfort zone. I like the fact that they knit up super quickly, are pretty easy shaping wise, yet there's still enough details to keep me interested. They also require very little wool, so there's also that (however, if I saved up all the wool I used in hats, I think I'd easily have enough for a jumper!). One thing I keep challenging myself with (in both knitting and sewing) is to try new things however, so I find if I am knitting a hat, I do try to stretch myself in some form or another. In this case, it was knitting in the round (you can see this hat in progress on that post), and I have to say that I'm a definite convert. So, here's how this little hat went, and my final thoughts on knitting in the round!

SEWN: Vintage Pledge 1 - Cartoon Flowers

Does anyone remember when I wrote out my Vintage Pledge for the year? Yeah, I had to reread that post too just to remind myself of what I'd written! But the truth is that whilst I haven't been blogging much of my sewing of late, I have actually been sewing more than ever, so there's a little bit of a backlog. Naturally, a good blogger would start in order and blog older things first, so here I am blogging the latest thing I've made. Somehow it's just always more exciting to write about things that are fresh off of the sewing machine!

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AWAKE: City of Spires

A couple of weeks ago saw my first ever visit to Oxford, and whilst it took me a ridiculously long time to discover this gorgeous city, I'm hoping it won't be too long until my next visit. Whilst planning for my whistle-stop visit, I was unsure how much I would be able to fit in, but upon arriving found that Oxford is delightfully compact. Seeing as how everything I wanted to see was easily within a 20 minute walk of the city centre, I'm pleased with how much of the city I saw, and yet I'm still left wanting more. Here are the highlights of my visit...

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