Some things

1. I am, despite all appearances, in fact alive.
2. My beloved partner in crime, and in Purlescence, is about as busy as I am — which is to say, shockingly, outrageously, life-threateningly* busy. This is unfortunate for Purlescence, since his involvement in it is at this point, entirely for love, not money, and must be maintained alongside his real job. And, of late, his real job-related but out-of-hours pet project. Yep. He busy man.
3. I have finished judging Alice (and what a great bunch of entries they were); the winners have been notified. But because of this crazy busyness abovementioned, we’re struggling to get them published in any kind of reasonable time. I’m so sorry. It’s coming, I promise.
4. Similarly, Scheherazade is now closed and will be judged soon – but not just yet. I can tell you that I’ve looked at just a handful of the entries, and of those, absolutely every one has made me go “Oh! This one’s a winner for sure.” Probably going to be a really difficult decision, then…
5. The first of our winners’ completed patterns are in my hands for editing and, in one case, photography. Given the huge monster busyness etc, it’s going to be just a leetle bit longer before you get to see them… but not long. I mean it.
6. Finally, as you know, the Storytellers competition is drawing to a close. This month is the last of the six challenges, so it’s absolutely your last chance to get the glory and the swag…
…or is it?
Well, sort of. But we’ve had such a strong response to the idea, and have had so very much fun with it, that I’ve come up with a way of continuing the party. We can’t keep up the monthly competition as it now stands — we don’t have the budget, and more importantly, as is becoming apparent, we don’t have the time. But that’s a lousy reason to put an end to the fun, isn’t it?
So in not very much time, we’ll tell you all about the new, ongoing Storytellers challenge. Are you excited?
7. Last thing. We’re going on holiday for a week. Yes yes, I know, we only just went away over Christmas! Forgive me, knitters. Let me tell you just how important this holiday is: it’s our long delayed honeymoon. And it is our third attempt to go to Venice: the one city in the world I have always, always longed to see.** The first two attempts (one of which was scheduled for our first wedding anniversary, and first honeymoon opportunity) were foiled by visa problems.
Now, it was quite clear to me that nowhere but Venice would do for a honeymoon, so we put it off… and off. We got married almost five years ago. And this year also marks our 10th anniversary of, y’know, being together. So we thought this year was clearly the time to make this honeymoon happen. Originally, the plan was to go for our actual wedding anniversary, in May. But, wouldn’t you know? Visa issues again. It’s like I’m cursed. Still, this time it turned out I could still go; just had to go a little bit earlier.
So we’re going. Honeymoon (and, incidentally, my birthday) in Venice in Florence. I’m so excited, it’s almost, almost enough to assuage my guilt at abandoning Storytellers for a week when there’s so much to be done. You know what? After a couple of days in Italy, I think it just might turn out to be enough, after all.
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* Using “life” in the colloquial, “get a life” sense, that is. We have been working too hard, to the detriment of any “life” we previously aspired to have. And by the way, who came up with that horrid phrase, “work-life balance”? I’m all in favour of balance (especially these days, when I have none), but I reject the implied opposition. Work is not the opposite of life. At least, not mine. I like my work. It’s a great part of my life. And I’m pretty sure my life continues while I’m working. Let’s just call it life balance, then, okay? Work, play, rest — all combined in balance, in a healthy life. Does that work?
** Being from South Africa, my travel opportunities were for most of my life pretty limited, so you shouldn’t be too surprised that this rather modest ambition went unrealised for so long.