New Year, New Blog Post

So I didn't blog much at all in 2011...largely because I was in the writing-up year of my PhD, and had few words to spare for non-thesis writing. But I submitted it in December (woo-hoo!) and want to make an effort to write regularly in this blog in 2012. My other New Year's Resolutions are the usual sort about being healthier, and I've also decided to become a vegetarian. And to learn to love job applications (which will be a big part of Life After the Thesis).

2011 may have been a fairly horrendous year for humankind in general, but it's been a good one for me. I'm enjoying my late 20s more than any previous phase of my life - I'm a lot more at ease with myself and able to value the present moment. I (mostly) found writing up my thesis to be pleasurable and rewarding. And I got a tattoo!

This year all the places I've visited have ancient associations as sacred sites, not only Israel, but also Northumberland and Iona. In June I returned to the familiar landscape of the North East, visiting Bamburgh, Holy Island, and the Farne Islands for the first time.

In September I had an amazing time on Iona, which was far more beautiful than I'd imagined:

In cultural terms, my 2011 included going to lots of gigs: highlights were Patrick Wolf, Wild Beasts, Anna Calvi, Anaïs Mitchell, Vivian Girls, Amanda Palmer, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Los Campesinos! and Josh T. Pearson. My favourite albums of the year were Anna's Calvi's self-titled debut, The Rip Tide by Beirut, Paradise by Slow Club, Let England Shake by the ever-glorious PJ Harvey, and Alela Diane's Alela Diane and Wild Divine.

This year I read some wonderful novels: I really enjoyed Michael Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White, which reminded me how much I love being absorbed in a really long, transportative book. A.S. Byatt's Possession and Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin were both books that I should have read long ago, and that provoked lots of ideas important for my thesis, as well as being a delight to read. The HBO TV series drew me into George RR Martin's behemoth series A Song of Ice and Fire. I love its world-building, depth of characters, complexity, and unsentimental portrayal of war, but it does have an underlying sexism and racism that troubles me somewhat.

I've knitted lots, as ever, and I'm most proud of my Chrysanthemittens...

...and May Woodland Shawl:

The knits that have proved to be most wearable are the scarf I made for Brigid's Day...

...and the cheap and cheerful I Can Sing a Rainbow jumper:

I want to knit lots more lace shawls in 2012, and to perfect the act of knitting and reading at the same time. And come up with a plan for postdoctoral work that combines my love of knitting, theology and feminism...We'll see.

Happy New Year!