A new plan, a new WIP and a new look (or 'how to wing it when things go wrong')

A few weeks ago, I talked about starting the 'new' year afresh (September - the natural time for new things) with my new Blogtacular planner, a list of things to publish on the blog and a schedule to keep on track. I've been blogging around my family for long enough to know that any plans need to be flexible (and to use a pencil for my blog schedule) but hadn't expected to get off-track quite so quickly. It started on Friday when our beloved little Archie Schnauzer suddenly became seriously ill with a nasty stomach bug. He spent three days and two nights at the 'hospital' - thankfully he is now almost recovered. (Special thanks to my Instagram followers for their hand-holding.) 

While waiting for regular updates from the vet, I found myself unable to concentrate on anything. I couldn't read and certainly couldn't write/blog. In fact, there was only one thing that settled my nerves and, despite what you may have read about 40-something women, it wasn't chocolate or wine. Comfort came in the form of stocking stitch knit in-the-round using soft yarn in calming colours. It's the type of knitting that requires no attention and is totally meditative. It seems to have become my default in times of stress. You may do well to remember this if you should ever come across me knitting in-the-round on something completely plain and squishy.

The upshot is there is now another WIP - an almost-finished cowl - on my desk (once Archie was declared fit to come home, I put it down and it's still there) and I missed the slot for publishing one post and drafting two others - this will have a knock-on effect of some sort at some point but the good thing is that my plans were between myself and my planner pages. Were it not for this admission, you'd probably never know that I'm already onto Plan B. 

Then another 'Plan B' happened. Although I've been blogging consistently for over four years, my knowledge of anything beyond writing/editing posts is almost non-existent. Despite, or perhaps because of this, I somehow managed to make a complete mess of some formatting a few weeks ago, and couldn't figure out how to fix it. It was easier (and a lot cheaper) to get someone who knows what they are doing to change the whole thing than to try to work it out. I hope you will have noticed my fresh new 'look' and that you'll agree it is generally much nicer, and is easier to read and navigate on any device. You'll have to excuse a few little blips with some old posts, but the search bar now works properly (yipee!) and you should be able to find everything you're looking for which should make up for it. There are a few more improvements to come, but I am already really happy with it. Had it not been for things going wrong, I doubt I'd have made these changes yet, which is probably a valuable life lesson.