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Thursday 6 October 2011

The Experimental Experiment

I made a big decision 3 months back which I'm only just beginning to feel the effects of.  I stopped paying my TV lisence and it has now run out.  I decided that I would like to try life without the constant stream of available programmes.  I've grown up with TV and it's been a constant in my life.  Anti TV people say it zombifies you and deadens the mind, and to be perfectly honest I agree, but this is exactly the effect I look for and why I enjoy watching it.  You see I have a very busy mind and watching TV helps me to 'zone out' and think of nothing.  Which for me is blissful.  I'm normally doing something else whilst watching, be it knitting, crochet, computering and even ironing.  However, I found I that I had got into the habit of sitting down in the morning, switching on the set, then looking up a couple of hours later and wondering where my day had gone.  Some of you may be thinking "why go to the extreme of cancelling, why doesn't she just not turn on the TV in the first place?", which I grant you is an excellent point.  However, I have zero will power.  Absolutely none.  And habit is a strong thing.  So the executive decision was made.  Fear not for my sanity though, or my child (who could do with watching less too anyway), all is not lost.  I have access to the BBC i player through my Wii.  Which has a suprising amount of programmes available, including just about everything on CBBC.  Plus I'll probably be renting a couple more films from the library to cover my evenings.  It's my time during the day that I am hoping to spend more proactively.  So far so good this week.  I've watched a few programmes that I'm catching up with past episodes, so this should wean me off and stop the shakes!  Do you all have a staple TV diet?

In yarn related news, I finally received a delightfully squishy package this week.  I've been waiting ever so patiently.  I had to pre-order a few colours and so was prepared for the 2-3 weeks wait as indicated on the website, but after passing into the forth week my patience abruptly stopped and I had to make a chase up call.  I was informed that they had all but two of the colours, but these could take another couple of weeks to arrive.  When enquiring why this was I was told they come from Germany and were on pre-order. Why they didn't come through with the other colours and why they don't say on the website it can actually take 6 weeks to arrive I don't know.  Instead I was pacified with the colours that were ready being posted that day and the others sent on when they arrive.  I would much rather people be honest and up front about things.  I may be being too hard but I guess next time I'll be using a different website when I want that yarn again. 

The yarn I bought is Rico Creative Cotton.  The colours are gorgeous and are just what I need to inject some brights into my prefered muted tones.  There are many projects I have in mind for these colourful little bundles of cotton that the acrylic I usually use just don't seem right to use.
 


Plus I couldn't resist a sneaky luxury buy too.  I got a ball of Noro Sekku.  It's a lace weight and I'm hoping I should be able to make a small shawl with just the one ball.  I justified it by wanting to start to experience knitting with different types of yarn.  A lace pattern for a shawl will also be a challenge.  And one, no doubt, I'm sure to learn from!  Anybody got any good patterns in mind?

Peace Out x

5 comments:

Heather said...

We don't have a TV and I rarely miss it. I do like to watch something if I'm doing a lot of crocheting but I just use iplayer or watch a DVD. The people I work with LIVE for their televisions and think I'm crackers, but I'm not. I don't miss it at all.

The Craft Giraffe said...

The color's in the cotton yarn are fabulous. They would definitely brighten up any stash. I can't wait to see what you make with it. I don't think you'll miss the tv that much. When I was pregnant I couldn't watch tv without getting a headache and I found when he was born and I could watch it again that I wasn't bothered. I think the radio is way better company.

Anonymous said...

I love the colours in your cotton they are so cheery.

WIth reference to TV I don't really watch much TV I have a couple of programmes I like but i don't watch soaps i probably watch 3-3 hours of tv a week, but when i watch tv i usually have either a hooky project on the go or my lap top reading lovely blogs. good luck and keep us posted.

Rainy Day Crafter said...

Good luck with your TV experiment :) I don't really watch much TV these days, although a lot of that is down to the fact that there's hardly ever anything on that interests me. I do like to have something on in the background though when I'm crocheting, so if there's nothing on that I fancy, I'll quite often put a DVD on - preferably something I've already seen or doesn't require too much concentration though as I end up so distracted by the crochet that I'm only half watching it, lol!

Your cotton yarn looks lovely - such gorgeous colours. I've been wanting to order some for a while, but the wait has put me off, especially as I've read other people saying that they've had to wait for longer than the 2 weeks too. I totally agree that people should be honest about how long it's going to take btw! I'm glad that you've got yours eventually though and I hope the other 2 colours don't take too long to get to you!

Oops, that was a bit of an essay wasn't it?! Lol!

Lulu said...

oooooh i love the colors..