Back with the blues and a blanket dilemma...

After getting into the swing of being a Good Blogger and really starting to enjoy getting posts out with a pleasing regularity, I took a break. I wish there was a good reason for that like I was having too much fun living my awesome fun-filled life, but the truth is much more simple - I was down in the doldrums. I, like I do every year at the start of every single winter, was suffering from the rain cloud blues; the feeling of claustrophobia and melancholy that comes over me the first time there are three days in a row with no sunshine. It's hard to explain but when the sky is heavy and grey I feel like my world has actually literally reduced in size, like the sky is pressing down and there is less distance between the ground and the atmosphere. It's a miserable feeling and the reason why I dread the start of winter and loathe it while it was here.

Now, the operative phrase in that sentence is "every year at the start of every winter". Despite some blatant examples of my inability to learn from my mistakes, this year I took measures to minimise the bleurghs. Firstly, feelings of isolation are worse if you isolate yourself (no, really, it's true), so I have made an effort to leave the house and see people other than my cat (who is not technically a person, although she really thinks she is).  One of the worst things about winter is feeling trapped inside because the weather outside is too wet and cold to go for my daily walk. It has been raining every single day so the feeling of being trapped has been even worse than past winters when Melbourne was in a drought.  Therefore, my second strategy to avoid the winter blues has been to keep exercising. I have been doing a Pilates-placed daily stretching routine and been trying to find sizeable covered areas like shopping centres to get a bit of movement happening. Thirdly, and possibly the most effectively, I have increased my Vitamin D supplements. So now I have retained my equilibrium and I'm here back on my blog, ready to share.

In other news...


As their collective deadlines draw near, I have been plugging away at my Cast On Mania projects. I have a hit a wall in one of them though - I've run out of yarn for my Radiating Star Blanket! (excuse the unmade bed iPhone photo)

I am stuck! I have three 'corners' of the border to go but only enough yarn to finish one more. The yarn has been discontinued and I haven't had any luck finding any yarn available for sale secondhand in this colourway. I have four options:
1. Buy another yarn of a similar thickness in the same colour, although it will have a different fibre composition which  will affect the drape of the yarn and may warp when washed;
2. Buy the same yarn but in a lighter colour;
3. Rip back the whole entire border (3.5 balls) and knit it again more narrowly; or
4. Put it in a cupboard and start a lifelong search for this yarn in this colourway. Start a new blanket which must be completed in three weeks.

None of these options are appealing to me at all but the baby is going to be here in three weeks and I need to make a decision. ARGH! What shall I do?