January’s Coming – Time for A New Journal?

Each year like so many other planner people, I start thinking about a new planner. This year it started to brew around September when the new Hobonichi planners were released. My friend was ordering, so we shared the shipping and customs and I ordered a Hobonichi Weeks Mega to carry with me everyday. Alongside this as usual I’ll be running my bullet journal to try and keep my brain in some kind of order.

I’m currently on page 83 of my current Leuchtturm1917 journal (it has 251 pages). And yet, the thought crossed my mind, do I start a new year with a new journal? Do I carry on with the one I have? Do I set up the new journal anyway but carry on with the one I’m in currently so that it’s good to go when I need it?

Then I got thinking about the ins and outs of a new journal. It’s a new year right? So why not a fresh start? Why not leave the “junk” of 2022 in my 2022 journal and move into a new journal for a fresh start.

I can be a little nerdy with numbers so I did the maths, I’m on page 84, there are 251 pages total (251 – 84 = 167). That’s 167 pages to use between now and the end of December. That’s 6.4 pages a day… no pressure, right?? I guess if I was more of a long form journaling type person, I could quite easily fill those pages maybe. (I started this, this morning, then I had my Danish lesson and I’ve filled 6 pages today so maybe some days it won’t be as hard as others but it’s still a lot right? Which means i’m on Page 90 not 83 and that works out at an average of 6.2 pages per day…)

So that’s a con, the wasted pages and the missing joy of a full journal. But what else are the pros or cons of both sides?

New Journal for a New Year

This is recommended by Ryder Carroll – both on the Bullet Journal website and in his book The Bullet Journal Method (Can be purchased here – it’s an affiliate link)

The New Year is as good a time as any to set up a new notebook, because it’s an unavoidable cultural milestone, both literally and metaphorically. It delineates the old from the new, what has been from what could be. Why not welcome this opportunity for a fresh start? It gives us an excuse to drop any useless baggage weighing us down, lightening our load for the new adventures to come.
Yearly Migration > Migration > The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll

So in short, leave the junk of last year there and more forward on to the new year.

Volume by Year

If you’re someone who knows exactly how much space they expect to use, then maybe you can predict that by starting a new journal you might get 3 or 4 full months to a book (and therefore 3 or 4 journals to a year then yes maybe it makes sense to move so that you can then have a nice even number etc.

Filling a journal

There’s just something about picking up a journal and knowing that it’s filled from cover to cover of the things you got up to in that period of time. Sometimes it varies and once you’ve included tickets or leaflets from adventures, it can fill up quick quickly (and become rather chunky!). My current bullet journal was started in October so I really don’t want to be wasting the rest of the notebook)

This one in the picture was one of my old Stalogy notebooks – I loved them for the size and the feel of the pages but the lines were so faint on each page that I really struggled when it came to writing to do lists when I’d got into bed or trying to write in a rush.

Putting off Starting a New Journal

So you decide that you’re going to hold on and start a new journal in January but it’s only September… what do you do for the rest of that year? Do you start a new journal and switch again in January or just don’t use anything until January 1st and then crack open the new journal? This is definitely why I’d stick and then switch when my journal is full (Having said that if I got to less than maybe 20/30 pages I might decide to switch on the basis that I might not be able to get a full month in but I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule there…)

Christmas Crazy

I don’t know about you but pre-pandemic Decembers were always insane. There’s be Nativity rehearsals, Choir rehearsals, Christmas dinners, other Christmas related activities not to mention work and/or parenting in there too. Now I’m juggling commitments with the kids and the idea of trying to setup a new journal now ready to use in 3 weeks ish feelings like another thing that doesn’t need to be on the plate. I’m sure there are people who sit down on Christmas Day afternoon and start to migrate their bullet journal across so they are good to go.

So, no I don’t think one of the argument is naturally better than the other. I think there are die hards who will come down on either side of the argument and say it’s the best. For me, as much as part of me would like a new journal (new shiny thing!). The green more environmentally conscious part of me/the part of me that just loves a really chunky full journal really thinks I should carry on.

How about you? Are you starting a new journal with the new year or carrying on with your current one? Are you using a different setup than this year or maybe starting from scratch… I’d love to hear about it.

My Brain Has Too Many Tabs Open…

… 4 of them are frozen and I have no idea where the music is coming from.

I’d like to say this a one off or maybe it just happens when I’m overwhelmed but some days it’s the norm and somedays it involves falling down rabbit holes. It also probably doesn’t help that my desk often resembles this squiggly mess too.

This picture is actually too calm for the way that my brain feels some days. At this moment, if I close my eyes and “focus” (haha!), I have Rend Collective’s version of Hark The Herald Angels Sing playing but just the hook (maybe it’s a glockenspiel or xylophone and why would I even need to know that?). There’s then how I need to finish the Christmas present that is next to me (or at least get it past the increases so that it’s just around and around until the end). But there’s at least one sock on my desk too – it’s just past the heel turn so I want to carry on going and get to the end. But what’s this in front of me on my notebook, oh yeah I fell down a hole. In my husband’s family, there’s a “connection” to Admiral Byng (he was an Admiral in the British Navy but was court-marshalled and then executed for failing to “do his utmost”. He was given orders that his ship and some others had to go and take part in a battle but he chose to ignore this order, this meant that he saved all the crew from what was a massive disaster but because he’d disobeyed his orders he was court-marshalled and so on. But what’s that got to do with Chris’s family…. well somewhere along the line, his family are some how related to Admiral Byng. I’ve been trying to do my WDYTYA bit and figure out the link but as you can imagine 400+ years of history combined with no idea where to really go means it’s taking a while lol. (Thankfully in a way a lot of Byng’s family are pretty high up MPs or Earls/Dukes/other and so there is information about them which is at least giving a rough idea although I’m never 100% how correct it is. I almost hope that somewhere along the line I’ll hit a name I know or something but it’s probably like aiming at a dart board while blindfolded and facing the wrong way lol.

Anyway, so now I’ve spend 10-15 minutes writing a blog post about how my brain is a scrambled mess because I can’t keep on one task right now… Oh! Squirrel! (Anyone else love UP?)

Recently Off The Needles: Shawlography by Stephen West

This time last year, we were heading towards Clue 4 of Shawlography which was the MKAL from West Knits for 2021. I’d been discussing it with my knitting friends prior to moving to Copenhagen and when I got here, the knitting group I joined then were also discussing it.

In my first week here, I went to Nicoline Garn to start looking at yarn choices. I knew I was after 4Ply weight yarn but I wasn’t aware that here in Denmark it’s measured/called something different. However, the lady who helped me in Nicoline Garn had been helping someone else the weekend before (on the same project) and was able to direct me to the Drops Baby Merino and I set about trying to decide which colour lineup I wanted to use.

After a few messages back and forth with my friend back in the UK, I had an idea and put the grey and cream back (having finished I’m now wondering if I might have been a good idea to have one of those in there to break up the colours). These are 50g balls and the pattern called for 100g but I decided I’d take these away and get started then I could come back for what I needed after that.

This time last year I’d been working on Clue 1 and maybe Clue 2 as well. Even by the time I’d finished Clue 1 I was already learning so much more than I don’t think I knew before – like i-cord and short rows. With each section I’d learn something new, when I got to the Brioche section, I gave it a go but really struggled.

My Shawlography went into the naughty corner and stayed there. I told my friend back in the UK (The same one that I talked colours with) that I was going to either leave it there or I was going to frog it all. I know drastic but I wasn’t really loving that I couldn’t get through the brioche. She told me I was not to do that, next time I went back to the UK, I was to take it with me, she’d figure out what was going wrong and knit that section for me. Great! Thank you. But…

So I took it back with me, handed it over and came back to DK, on the my next visit home, my friend presented me with my shawl and that brioche section was completed. YAY! I then brought it back with me, and after attempting to get on with the next section, I got to the border and was getting stuck again.

I think in my head, I’d decided that it was too hard but actually it just took a couple of repeats in and then I got the hang of what I needed to do rather than relying on the instructions.

So between me bringing the shawl back and actually finishing the border was almost 5 months. Between one projects and another, the Shawlography shawl just kept getting put away and ignored while I worked on other things.

I was asked by one of my knitting group friends whether I’d be doing the Twists and Turns MKAL this year. Well I wanted to but I decided that I couldn’t start this years without finishing last years one. So, I got it out, I sat down one afternoon and figured out exactly what was left – what did I need to get done?

Well after a few bumps and getting in a little bit of a knot at one point I got it finished. While we were away this weekend just gone, I sat in the hall way outside our room while Chris tried to get Rex to sleep (Jaxon was playing on his iPad or my Phone next to me) and I got it sorted. (We had no internet and with all four of us in one room it make bedtimes a bit of a challenge). When I was down to the last 6 stitches (that needed to be kitchener-ed together) I had to temporarily surrender. Without internet access, I was unable to look up how to kitchener stitch these last stitches and needed to put that on hold at least until we were back. That bit will only take me maybe 15 minutes so for now I’m classing it as finished! YEAH!

Did you take part in the Shawlography MKAL? Are you taking part in the Twists and Turns? Maybe you’ve completed a previous one (or another one of Stephen’s patterns)

Trains, Planes and Buses – An Adventurous Kulturnatten 2022

For one night in October, more than 250 locations across the city open for Copenhagen’s biggest annual one-day event, Kulturnatten. The whole city comes to show off its many sides of cultural life.

The first Kulturnatten was in 1993 and this was our second (you can read about last year here). This year you could either buy the ‘physical’ Kulturpas which is a badge that you wear to show you’ve got a ticket or you could get a digital ticket to be shown on your smart phone.

Cisternerne (The Cisterns in South Field /Cisternerne i Søndermarken)

This year we headed to Frederiksberg to start at the Cisternerne (The Cisterns – You can read more here). However when we got there the queue was already getting very long (maybe next time C needs to join the queue on his way home from work and then we join the queue once I have the boys from school or something like that!). The exhibition here was by the artist Chiharu Shiota. She’s created “cobweb-like yarn structures” within the Cisternerne. The activity available this evening was to create a giant yarn installation using Shiota’s techniques while a DJ plays music in the background. (More info here)

It definitely sounds like it would have been right up my street but it wouldn’t have been fun for the boys to stand it the queue so we decided to head across the road to our next stop.

Frederiksberg Slot (Folkekirken på Frederiksberg og Hærens Officersskole)

So across the road from Cisternerne is Frederiksberg Slot (Frederiksberg Palace) and Hærebs Officersskole (Royal Danish Military Academy). With it being part of an active military base, normally this is closed off to members of the public but tonight it was open. Through the evening there was the military brass band playing and there were demonstrations of sword finding and role playing, these were all in the courtyard outside. Then inside you could take a look around the rooms of the palace.

There were other things including a performance/film called Tolkien’s Ring – this was another one that sounded really interesting but really wouldn’t have been something for the boys (having looked at further information it’s an hour long and aimed at adults).

So after taking a look at the Palace and a few of the rooms we moved on again.

(Quick side note – there are lots of things to see at Kulturnatten so although it was disappointing these things weren’t what we thought or weren’t ‘accessible’ for us all it was still fun to see things that would normally be closed to the public or we wouldn’t normally go to do)

Copenhagen Zoo

J is desperate to go for a proper trip to the zoo – he’s been a couple of times with school but of course wants to go with us. With the Zoo being open (and it being right next door!) we had to stop by). On our arrival in the park we were given a peg and a paper bag with a battery operated candle in it. The idea was that as you went around the Zoo, you attached your bag onto a tree or something like that as decoration. It’s possible there were “animal care” choices made about the lighting (which is fine, I totally get why it might be a thing) but the lower lighting did mean that it wasn’t so easy to see the animals in the zoo. We could see the lion and lionesses and a few lemurs in another enclosure but it was just proving a bit too hard. (I managed to snap this picture of the lions and it definitely makes it look a lot brighten than it was in person!).

To The Bus!

As we left the zoo, C checked the route we needed to go to get towards the centre to visit some more stops. We managed to dash across the road quickly and get on the next bus which would take us to Frederiksberg Allé Metro Station. We took the Metro to Gammel Strand where we were able to have a quick look at Christiansborg Palace (the building that the Danish Parliament meets in), in the courtyard outside there was a horse show with carriages and other bits. We briefly saw a little bit before moving onto our next stop.

Ministry of Transport

Now this whole bit was perfect for both boys (and both Grandpas would have loved it too if they’d been here). The Ministry of Transport had all sorts going on. There was Sikker Trafik showing a rotating car – I think this was to give you the idea of what it’s like to be in a car that’s rolled during an accident.

Then there were Naviair talking about tracking aircraft (there was this big screen with FlightRadar24 running to watch the planes coming in and out of Copenhagen).

Home Time for Two of Us…

So, at this point, I had to head home with R, it was past his bedtime and he wasn’t loving being strapped in the buggy. We’d hoped he might just snuggle down for a nap especially after the week he’d been having but nope, too much excitement to see and enjoy. R and I headed for the bus stop while C and J went on to further adventures including a ride on a vintage bus. (Movia, the bus operator in CPH, were running 8-9 vintage buses from 1961-1990 through out the city).

R made friends with a group of tourists on the bus and was high-fiving them and chatting away at them for a lot of the ride lol. He was being very cute and they were friendly – I think they were visiting a friend as one of their party sounded Danish. We got to the stop we normally get off at and the bus driver didn’t stop! We ended up having to get off at the next stop and walk back instead.

And then the rest…

Once R and I got home, I kept getting pictures and updates from C about what he’d been up to with J. It sounds like they had a great time again. Once again it was a lovely adventure to see so many different places in the city in one evening and well worth the effort even after the crazy week we’ve had!

You can find more information about Kulturnatten on their website and also follow them on Social Media: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

You can read about last year’s Kulturnatten here.

Two Frogged Projects in One Night

It got drastic on the knitting front.

If you follow me on Instagram (or have had a listen to Episode 1 of In A Tangle) then you know that my goal was to finish the projects that I had already started and tucked away.

One was a Christmas present and the other was the Starflanket. Now my Starflanket wasn’t in the plan, I hadn’t planned to do any more WestKnits projects until Shawlography was finished and yet the other morning I found myself casting it on, I got back from church on Sunday and finished the i-cord cast on (I always feel like I should write it like it’s an Apple product… iCord – which seems rather appropriate given the news about phone charges and USB-C).

So the Christmas present wasn’t going right. Something was a amiss and I couldn’t find the issue so in the end I had to frog it all and start again. Thankfully my alternative starts with a tubular cast on and setup rows so the rib section around the neck is growing again.

Starflanket was giving me a headache though. I’d got part 1 done, I was ploughing through part 2, then I went to join part 3 and it just wasn’t right. I tweaked, I attempted to somehow hack it a bit and hope for the best but no, it was not right. My increase was on the wrong side which meant it was just not right. By the end of the music quiz on Tuesday, it had had it. It needed to be pulled back all the way to the i-Cord cast on and then work my way back through again. Not get distracted mid-row. Not try to hack it and hope. Just get it right and go from there.

So I’m back to one of these projects being on the go, but it definitely gives me a story for the next In A Tangle episode…

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