Instagram Part 2

 

January 2022 - Sunrise

In February this year (2025 if you’re a visitor from the future) I started making daily Instagram posts, I wrote about it here. Prior to that I had been a really intermittent poster (bit like this blog, amirite), sometimes I only made one post in a month. When I first started on Instagram I was a daily poster but it just fizzled out, this is actually my second go at it, I cannot remember my first accounts details at all which is a bummer, I do have some pics from it though because it was before it started to get really difficult to get photos from an Apple device on to a Windows one. There’s some heavy filter use.

December 2016 - A macramé collage and some mitts I was knitting.

 

May 2021 - Escaped sheep eating my grass. This is a surprisingly frequent occurrence.

 

Anyway, I started my current account in December 2016 which I only know because I just downloaded all my data, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

 

April 2017 - I made a quill pen! A tam I was knitting and the blanket that has everything.

 

May 2019 - Big pivot to cross stitch in 2019. Pic on right is Caernarfon.

When I stopped being a regular user was when the algorithm started being really weird and all the suggested posts and ads came in. I went back to it after reading a post on Buzzfeed about the "following feed" where you could just see posts from the people that you follow. That rescued Instagram for me. Apparently if you’re in the U.K. or E.U. they have to offer you a feed without ads and nonsense, I think it’s to do with GDPR but don’t quote me on that.

May 2017 - Y Felinheli (sorry if you're using a screen reader, it's a place in Wales), another crocheted blanket and a sparrow feeding frenzy.

 

November 2017 - My first ever sock! Some squares for yet another crocheted blanket, this one is still in hibernation and some new glasses.

Fast forward to now, I opened Instagram a couple of days ago and there’s a notice telling me that I have to submit to cookies and ads or pay £3.99 a month for an ad free experience. That is absolutely not happening, none of the above thanks. Which is how I came to download my data, I have hardly any of the photos that I have taken over the last five years or so because, firstly, my phone was saving them in a format that was not compatible with a Windows PC, secondly, after I sorted out the format, iTunes decided that it didn’t need to be syncing the phone with the PC any more because Windows has it’s own phone software and I should just use that. Have you used it? It’s shocking. Also the new USB-C data cable causes File Explorer to crash so that’s convenient.

August 2018 - In 2018 I joined a lot of knit-alongs and crochet-alongs. L-R: a henley top I made for a summer garment knit-along, one the blocks from the block a month crochet-along and a knitted block from a blanket knit-along.

 

October 2019 - That is a cracking mushroom/toadstool, I can't remember where I took that one.

 

What a trip down memory lane the data was (it was really quick and easy too, I thought they’d be a right pain in the bumbum about it), I have all my photos back and am peppering them throughout this post.

November 2018 - Another tam, I recall this one was a bit weird in the decreases so I just bodged it, very comfy hat though, the hill I can see from my back door and another sunrise through the sycamore.

August 2019 - A spot of colouring

To get back to the point, I am thinking of just binning Instagram and using this blog and my extremely neglected BlueSky account to share photos, so far the following feed on Instagram has no ads but as soon as it does it’s going in the bin. Though I will probably still share more photos on the blog (this post has been really fun), it will encourage me to post more regularly. Hopefully without being as rambling as I have here. 

September 2019 - I dyed my hair black! No idea what I was thinking there, what a nightmare to grow out that proved to be. Middle pic is my chickpea chopped salad which I ate all summer. Right is a lovely Frida Kahlo cross stitch, I got the pattern from Etsy in a bogof with the tea pattern above.

 

September 2017 - I can't remember why I posted this, there must've been a hashtag. I do remember that I captioned it with something about missing summer already.

May 2019 - a hole in the sky and getting arty with plants. I've always been like this, I don't know what to tell you.

I could literally sit here all day posting photographs but we all have things to do so I'll quit now. Well, for now anyway.....

Autumn.

 

The sycamore at the bottom of the garden looking a bit sad.

Let me preface this by saying that I do not particularly like the dark half of the year. I am quite literally a summer child as I was born during the longest days of midsummer. Once the summer solstice has passed I start to feel anxious about the coming darker months, which is a bit silly I admit as there’s still July and August to go, though in August I can feel the approaching autumn and it gives me the willies. The clocks have just gone back to GMT which means that it is dark by teatime and I hate it. It is a little lighter in the morning when I get up but in a couple of weeks it’ll be dark then too. I do know though, that from the clocks going back it is only 8 weeks to the winter solstice and the days will start to draw out again and I cling onto this fact like it’s a life raft.

I do like the idea of autumn, the changing colours of the leaves, the crisp mornings and all of that but, sadly, where I am currently it is just grey, wet and a bit bleak. Still, I do have to get through it and I would rather do it cheerfully (with gritted teeth maybe) than by wallowing in despair. I have my high strength vitamin D this year which I am hoping will be helpful and there are the bright lights and delicious foods of the festive season to look forward to (mostly the foods though, let’s be real here).

We do get some interesting sunsets at this time of year though.

 

That was quite a long preface actually, I need to crack on.

The weather has been a bit all over the place, there was a dry spell but that has been replaced by almost constant rain. There was a named storm a week or so ago which nearly finished off the leaves on the sycamore at the bottom of the garden. One more good gust and it’ll be as bald as a badger.

The garden path being swallowed up by leaves. I have since cleared these, there was four of those big rubbery buckets full.

 

A few plants I have do come into their own at this time of year, the dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) has bright red stems which almost glow in the wet weather. I saw a bee on the ivy yesterday but by the time I’d grabbed my phone to get a picture it had gone. Google tells me it was an ivy bee which are an autumnal species. My fuchsia is covered in flowers weirdly; it was bought as an annual plant about four/five years ago and is still going strong. Also there is some cracking moss growing, that’s probably to do with all the rain.

L-R: moss growing on a brick, dogwood stems, ivy "flowers"

 

Fuchsia in October

I have purchased a few little treats because why not? CultPens were having a 5 for 4 across most of their inks so I grabbed a couple (well five obviously) including the delightfully seasonal Pumpkin Shimmer. It is bright orange and has a gold sheen to it which unfortunately didn’t come through in the photo I took. I’ve filled up my favourite pen with it. I have added to my collection of 1970s smoked glassware with a beautiful water jug and three glasses. I am okay with there only being the three glasses as I have quite a few already, I tend to buy them whenever I see them on eBay. I saw this cute little memo pad in T.K.Maxx and as a lifelong Snoopy fan I had to get it. As an aside has anybody else been disappointed by T.K.Maxx's Hallowe'en offerings this past couple of years?

L-R: Shiny ink, 1970s smoked glassware (pic is from the eBay listing), Snoopy memo pad, too cute.

 

My favourite ink pen, see how she sparkles.

I’ve also added to my collection of second-hand knitting books, this pile was the first of a two-part order there’s also a couple of Kaffe Fassett books. I can’t believe how obsessed I am with Kaffe Fassett as I wear 98% black clothes (the other 2% is the white stripes on my black and white striped shirt). But his coat patterns are fantastic and I desperately want to knit the Romeo and Juliet coat in dark colours. I am currently knitting the Lauren jumper by Elizabeth Lavold, it’s coming along but it’s in moss stitch and boy is that some slow work.

Second hand knitting books, I have become obsessed with old Rowan books and Kaffe Fassett.

 

Current work in progress, it's knit side-to-side in moss stitch. Yarn is Yarnsmiths Pebble Haze it is a DK cotton/acrylic blend.

Once Lauren is done I think I’m going to start a big turtleneck jumper, this was a free pattern on Ravelry the other day with loads of pictures but it appears to have been removed so the picture I have is a screenshot from the pattern. Hopefully they're just editing it as there is only one size and it's going to require some maths to make one for myself. The yarn used looks very similar to what I used in my big cardigan so I may get a couple more balls of that for it.

Lowlands Sweater by Stoarmwiif, pic from pattern.

 

I have finished off a pair of spooky pyjama bottoms which I cut out a year ago (it might be two if I’m being honest), I confused myself over the pockets and put it into hibernation. The problem was largely that I was sewing on an overlocker because I didn’t think my sewing machine could cope with the stretch fabric. I have since discovered all the stretch stitches that it can do and I cracked on and finished them. They are sooo comfy, and having a leg cuff means that they don’t ride up, I love them. I’m going to make a daytime pyjama from some stretch velour stuff that I have stashed.

Super comfy jimjams! Pattern is Simplicity S9020

 

I have started cooking a bit more, I tend to live on salads in the warmer months but they won’t do for this time of year. I had a crack at a lentil soup last night, I’m never sure whether or not I like lentils. I like the idea of them but they can taste a bit muddy sometimes. Anyway this soup was delicious, couldn’t believe how good it was, that’s definitely going to be a winter staple I think. I had it with the cheesy bread as seen in this post.

L-R: Egg fried rice with vegetables and prawns, everyday brownies (I call them everyday because they use store cupboard ingredients. I thought they'd be a bit rubbish just using cocoa and no block chocolate but they are delicious), lentil soup

 

I have also made some mincemeat for the festive mince pies, it’s ridiculously easy to make and I much prefer it to shop bought, it’s much less sweet and I put orange zest and juice in to lift it a bit.

Mincemeat! Cannot wait to make mince pies with it.

 

I have some things to say about Instagram but I think that can be another post as this one is getting quite long so I’ll just chuck in a couple more photos to finish this off.

This wee bugger had made its web right across the path, luckily I saw it from the back door and didn't walk through it and spend the rest of the day wearing a spider.

 

Rainbows! One of my favourite things to see. Left is a morning one from the front of the house and right is an afternoon one from the back.

 

The robin who has still not quite figured out how to use a seed feeder.

Amazing sunset

I'll leave you with one of my favourite photos from the past month. It was raining but the sun was shining and it was lighting up the raindrops. This is taken from my back door.