But, naturally quite solitary, I find having guests exhausting. Is that just me? I need a day to recover before our next week of tour-guiding, catering and being consistently "good company" (by which of course I mean eating fatty street food, drinking too many cocktails and shopping). By the time November arrives - after a visit from another set of guests - I'll be done in.
Anyway, she arrived bearing gifts, including reading material that all the Brits must have been keeping a closely-guarded secret from me. Why didn't I get the memo about new(ish) magazine Mollie Makes? Putting the twee title to one side (working on the principle that I have nothing nice to say about the title I'll say almost nothing at all) this magazine is AMAZING! I love so much about it I don't know where to start, so I'll just direct you to the website. And yes, they do have an international subscription service. (phew)
It errs just on the modern side of roses-round-the-door idyllic chintzy-ness, while managing to avoid the jaded, dated style of the vast majority of newsstand knitting/crafting magazines. This really works for me. I must be a glaringly predictable marketing demographic. (But they really should've invited me on the focus group re that title. It doesn't do the publication justice.)
As well as pressies from home, my friend also gave me the gift of gushing admiration for my new piece - a simple skinny scarf based on Brooklyn Tweed's Noro (my version is designed to use up a stash of mixed and coordinating sock yarn). She likes it so much that it'll have to be a surprise gift for her when it is eventually finished. I can't wait to see how it turns out, and I know the unisex colouring and style is a perfect fit for her.
I'll be lost when she goes. So if I can just find that extra reserve of energy to give her exactly the holiday she needs and deserves, hopefully our personal balances of give and take will be in equilibrium.
Linking in with the fantastic Yarn Alongers.
