Hey friends,
Hope you’re all doing well this winter and wishing you a very blessed New Year! Here in Nova Scotia, we are experiencing a snowless winter. It’s unusual and truthfully a little depressing to not have a cover a snow. I still hold out hope that a few decent snowstorms await us but for now, my thoughts are turning to the sun that sets a little bit later each evening. To what’s growing under the grow lights: saplings collected in September reaching up for the warm artificial light. I can’t wait to bury their roots in the rocky soil!
As always, I can’t help starting with the weather. It’s mid February now and I swear I haven’t made an update in months. Life is pretty different lately but I’m still knitting away, tending a fire, dreaming. I felt the need to design a pair of durable, simple socks for the winter and ended up loving the result so much that I created a pattern for you guys as well! I’m naming them “kindling” socks because of the amount of time I’ve spent knitting them while tending a wood stove. In total, I’ve knit 5 pairs and bought a few extra skeins of Briggs & Little Tuffy so that we can have many more in the future. I honestly love squishy, warm cable knits and thought you might too 🙂 always to be stuffed in my kitbag to go on winter cabin adventures.
The pattern is available on the etsy site (you can click the shop link or follow through right here). The pattern itself calls for Briggs & Little Tuffy but you can also use Alafoss Hosuband. The light grey pair is knit in Hosuband – they will knit up a little bit larger than Tuffy but are super warm and cozy so I suggest giving it a shot if you are like me and enjoy knitting the same item over and over ! Please do share the pattern with anyone that you think may enjoy them as well. Jamie and I are both enjoying wearing them.
I’ve been pretty silent this winter which is a complete change from the past 7 winters. I know I’ve been saying it over and over but life offline is increasingly becoming more desirable to me. I do want to expand upon this for you guys but will probably wait until I’ve completely shifted offline. It’s definitely in the near future but for now, I want to continue sharing some of my patterns and artwork. This winter I have started a new remote job that I’m really enjoying, I love using my mind in different and challenging ways. I’ve been baking, drawing, exploring, walking Henry and working on a few different patterns (like the butterfly mitts featured here as well as the folkloric lopi sweater that is featured here as well!). It takes me an age to get out a pattern, no matter how simple it ends up being. My process is to knit the item over and over and over again until I’m happy with the result and find the written instructions I’ve provided as clear as possible. Hopefully by the end of this winter, these 2 others will also be available for you!
I hope you’re all doing well and feeling all that light airy optimism that the lingering light brings. Please let me know what you think of Kindling socks and I hope they’ll bring you the same joy that they brought to me.
Take care,
Julia xo
“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Ways of Wood Folk 
What a beautiful, inspiring post. I am writing from a hot and windy Cape Town. The cold and snuggling, along with the knitting, sounds glorious.
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Thanks Alison ❤ For reading and leaving a comment.
Oh wow, Cape Town! Such a magical looking place. It's funny, lately, I've been longing for escaping to a hot place for a time in the winter! Perhaps some day 😛 But I admit, I do love winter partly because of the hibernating aspects 🙂
Take care!
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Hi Julia, these are just beautiful photos again. Thank you for sharing them here! What kind of job do you have that makes you happy?
I think everyone needs a change like that. The socks look very cosy. I can’t wait to knit them too.
Best regards
Jasmin
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Hey Jasmin,
Thanks for reading and leaving your thoughts! I’m glad you like the photos as well! I’m doing a part time job at a tech company with data entry. It’s more aligned with the degree I have and just completely opposite anything I’ve been doing for the past several years which is weirdly very refreshing. I like having balance 🙂
Hope you enjoy knitting these! I was actually very selfish and decided to keep all the pairs I made rather than put them in the shop because I liked them so much 😛
Be well!
Julia
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Always a pleasure to read your words, Julia! Congratulations on the new job, I’m so glad it’s bringing you joy and refreshment.
I so hear you on the offline life. I left Instagram last year and it was the best decision I could have made. It felt slightly odd at the time to let go of such a large amount of eyes on my work, but what I understand more and more is that I don’t need a large “audience” to thrive, be happy, and be content. A life lived in quiet is exactly the balm I needed — and this is true so many others too, I know!
I’m currently finishing a cabled cardigan with bobbles and hope to be wearing this fluffy piece soon. Your new socks are gorgeous, Julia. I haven’t knitted socks in a while and am feeling inspired to start a new pair now…
Stay warm,
Cat x
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Hey Cat! Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts with me ❤ They were really nice to read and wow, I am impressed that you left! Good for you! It's such a massive step I think to realize that and indicative of so much personal growth and honestly, I think such a beautiful realization. There is something so much more nourishing to realize that you want a more humble, connected life. I definitely resonate with that as well. Did you delete your account or just remove it from your phone? Right now, I just don't log onto the app unless I post to showcase some of my work but my plan is to just remove it from my phone when the time is right and leave it as a little capsule so I can someday look back (because sadly, I can't find so many of the pictures elsewhere!). I had the exact same realization though, yeah so many thoughts actually bubble up and it's crazy because truthfully it was such a huge part of our lives?? Anyway, I'm really happy to hear that you're doing well and happy! It's funny because so many people think something must be wrong when you leave SM and in reality, it's the exact opposite! ❤
Take care lovely,
J xo
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I wholeheartedly agree with all that you shared! As for my account, I made a post announcing that I’m leaving the app, and updated my bio to include that I left, and to please email to get in touch. I turned the account private (so at least if someone comes around, they can still see the link in bio where I have my book, blog and email), blocked the ability to receive DMs, and deleted it from my phone. I’m also not logged in to it on my browser. So it feels like a really big cut, and I’ve kind of forgotten that is there. Which is great! It’s a memory keeper at this point and, like yourself, many of those pictures aren’t anywhere else. I might delete the account one day, but not ready for that just yet, even though I don’t plan on coming back 💛
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