I've sold Max

My lovely stud male, Max, is going to a new home in Cornwall. He hasn't had any work for the last two years, well, just two shags with Lissie. There is little demand for rose greys, so I'm very pleased he at last will get some use. And, as important, he will be cared for by a very experienced and caring owner, I couldn't have asked for better for him.

There will be tears.

Spinning, but not in a good way

I want to spin up some lace weight, as I fancy making this, or this. I've some merino and silk top in soft oranges and golden brown which has been in my stash for years. I don't know if I was too uptight, or what, but I didn't take enough care, I seemed to go far to fast, then lose control of the amount of fibre I was drafting, with the result the singles are quite uneven in both diameter and twist. I just rushed the whole thing, now I'm not at all pleased with the result. A sample I've knitted up isn't too bad, so, not all wasted, but not the result I wanted, I wanted it to be perfect dammit. Today, I was much more controlled, slowed down, took my time, and breathed. About 10% will be good, the rest will just be good enough. It's probably going to be the Flower Basket Shawl as there won't be enough for the Aeolian. And that really does deserve some decent work.

Or maybe a moebius.

Victorian Lace Today, Gripe

I have this book, it's wonderful. What I am cheesed off about is that the half hexagon, (Spinder's web shawls, p45) isn't. No doubt it's wonderful to wear, lots of lovely lace flowing around your shoulders, but when a diagram shows a half hexagon, with 3 triangles, the angles which meet at the center of the straight side, should each measure 60 degrees. Well, they don't, they are nearer 90. They are bound to really. When constructing a normal triangular shawl from the neck edge, there are 4 increases every other row, this gives you a straight edge, if you have 6 increases, then no wonder the 180 degree angle increases to 270. I've looked at the VLT group on Ravelry, and no-one complains about it, there are many pictures of stunning shawls. So it must be me, I was using a firm yarn just for sampling, and I think it only works in a fine lace weight, then the shaping is fluid and less noticeable. It does sit around the shoulders instead of across them, so from that point of view it's good. But, as you double the amount for a full 'hexagon' as far as I'm concerned, it just means you are knitting two unnecessary sections, to tight wad me (time and yarn) it's a waste.



The top image is how the half-hexagon is represented in the book, p 180, the lower diagram is how it comes out in practice.

And I'm not the only one either, Jersey Knitter noticed it as well. See what I mean?

Six months gone

I thought I would stop blogging, but I keep feeling the urge to get going again. I never worry if anyone actually reads this stuff, but sometimes I just want to write.

Back in March, as I was uploading photos to Flickr, I realised that many were public that I wanted private, so to save time, I changed them all, in one fail swoop to private.

Today, I get my blog out, dust it down and think I will start again, but all the photo's links are broken (pic set to private - does not work). No worries, re-set them all back to public.

THAT DOESNT WORK EITHER AS THE HTMBUGGERL IS CHANGED AND THE ONLY WAY I CAN GET THEM TO DISPLAY AGAIN IS TO REPOST ALL 65 OR SO IMAGES. Then of course you have to play about with their positioning again as for some reason blogger is incapable of placing them anywhere except at the beginning of your post. I thought I would delete the whole lot in a fit of pique, but some of my posts made me smile. Remembering that during this time I was anything but smiling a lot of the time, I really didn't want to to that. So I will leave it, slowly I may restore the images, but until then, any casual reader will have to make do with an awful lot of this.

Snow?! This is snow....

A Wakes bus stuck in the snow on the Fosse Way in Somerset
The media have been full of stories of heavy snowfall, complete disruption, chaos etc etc. Those of us of more mature vintage who remember '78 clearly and even 1963 know that this is nothing.

On Boxing day 1962, I was with my brother, Mum and Dad as we drove the couple of miles back home from my uncles, where we had spent the afternoon. I was excited when heavy snow began to fall, hoping there would be a decent amount, enough to make snowmen. The following morning, I couldn't see out of my bedroom window for the snow stuck to the glass, outside there was a complete blanket of snow with only trees and the tops of hedges showing through. There had been strong winds which created drifts, 6' of snow across half a road, and just 6" on the other side, an impossible task to clear quickly. I thought it was brilliant! Hard frosts prevented a thaw for weeks, creating a firm crust on the snow, I could walk along the top of the drifts over the hedges. And school stayed shut for 6 weeks.

In 1978 I was working as a staff nurse on nights at Cheddon Road Hospital in Taunton. Driving to work on Friday evening in February, I heard the weather forecast warning of heavy snowfall overnight. During the night I remember looking out of the window towards a car park as I took my coffee for a break, snow had been falling gently, now the wind was whipping it up. When I walked back, there was at least 24" out there! I realised I wouldn't be going anywhere in the morning. I usually did Friday and Saturday night, this week, I carried on and did Sunday and Monday as well, staying in a absent student's room. I walked home on Tuesday morning, it was only about 4 miles. The streets in town were passable by now, but as soon as you reached the country lanes it was difficult again. My husband and daughters met me about a mile from home. We got milk from our neigbouring farmer as he was having to pour it down the drain as the milk lorries couldn't get through to collect it. And the pub stayed open all day.


This is the scene at Bishops Lydeard the day after the Great Blizzard
© Stephen Edge

Creative commons licence

Weaving

I've been weaving these napkins. The loom is borrowed from the class I began back in June. I had only managed to weave 90% of one napkin by October when I needed to pay for another 10 lessons at a cost of £50, they were already the most expensive napkins known to man so I said, 'forget it', I'll pay for the yarn and leave. When I was told they hire out looms for a £ a week, no contest. Today I finished the 4th, I think I've made them too short by a couple of inches, there is quite a lot of warp left but a couple of threads broke and they are tied together, now they've reached the cross sticks so I could only weave about another 6". I know I could have/should have joined yarn, but I didn't. It's possible I might tie more warp onto the broken threads as I have a feeling there might be a few comments about 'waste' if I take it back with 20" of warp left.

She who scoffs....

I began making myself a pair of Monkeys a couple of days ago using double pointers. The pattern calls for 2.5mm, the ball band said use 3.25 - 3.5mm. I found the little packet of Clover needles on which I'd stuck a label which stated "2.5mm" and off I knit.
The pattern was coming out fine, I was very pleased with my choice, the short colour sequences of the yarn pooled, in a good way. I like to use 4 needles with socks as there is one less swop per round, but I always find it tricky with patterns, as they rarely divide into 3, but I persevered. The knit fabric was just right, "3.25 my *ss, " I scoffed.

The designer didn't ask for heel stitch which I invariably use, for heels. But, I went with it, thought it looked sort of baggy but maybe the extra fabric would prevent the lace stitch stretching over my high instep. Sock completed da da! Okay, it's a tad too short, you need to end on a pattern repeat and I went for the 'lets stop now' option and not knit another 8 rows. But with a tug the shaping reaches my heel..., the pattern isn't in the slightest bit stretched, in fact there is a lot of room.

Not completely happy with it now, I decided I would use heel stitch for the second sock and re-knit the 1st. I began knitting with 5 double pointed to better follow the lace pattern, but soon got fed up with changing every 16 stitches so I dug out some addi turbo circs. I found the 2.5mm and ...... they were a lot smaller than the clovers I was using. Getting the needle gauge out, the clovers were...3.5mm. The real 2.5 were bundled in an elastic bag in my needle box.

Not so bad, I was going to re-knit the 1st sock anyway. As the top of the sock is a good fit, I stayed with the first 1" knitted on the 3.5mm. I meant to do that all along.

Signs of spring

Two Good Things.

Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States today, we've just watched it on the TV and listened to his speech. I thought it a very good speech, thoughtful and honest, with no rhetoric; refreshing. God bless and guide him, the world needs it. Oh, and God keep him and his family safe.

I met my old and good friend Sabina, in Marks and Spencer today. I saw her browsing the clothes and called out to her. We hugged, so pleased to see one another. I haven't had any contact with her for years, maybe more than 6. That was my fault, I didn't respond to an email, and when we moved she didn't have our address, and I didn't contact her. Embarrassed that I'd 'cut' her. I was immersed in a depression at the time, and, I don't know why, couldn't bring myself to speak with her, she was a big part of the life I had before..

I've been trying to follow advice that, we can be what we want to be, we are in charge of our own destiny, we can only change ourselves, no-one else. I've been actively seeking out old acquaintances, and somehow, fate popped Sabina back into my life today. Thank you, Lynda Field

Wheels are spining again

It has been 14 months since I posted, life is a bit different now. Life has been very boring, in the sense that there seems to be little purpose to life, no animals, no work. That's a pretty criminal and ungrateful state of mind, so I'm trying to make it less so. There didn't seem to be much point in blogging, but I just feel the need to. We are about to buy another house, so, there should be something to write about.

I can summerise what has happened since that last post when the alpaca moved to Brittany.

• Moved out of Le Pommier on 29th November.
• My lovely Dad died that evening in Yeovil Hospital, I had seen him just 4 days before, he had been slowly deteriorating for months.
• Moved to a gite in Brittany, lovely area, most beautiful coastline. If we'd found it when we visited Brittany before moving to France I don't think we would have settled in Normandy.
  
  
  
  
  • Moved back to the UK early spring, taking the same boat as the alpaca. Rented a small bungalow in a quiet village in Somerset.
  • Alpaca travelled to Alpaca Power in South Gloucester where they have been every since, in the expert care of Helen.
  • Travelled around visiting family and spending some quality time with them.
  • April, signs of banking world going pear shaped. Lots of 'I told you so' from most ordinary people who knew that endless credit, and huge mortgages, was not sustainable.
    
  • In May we bought a motorhome.
    
    
    
    
  • In June I joined the committee of the local guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers. Realise that this wasn't such a wise move as may conflict with my travelling plans.
  • In July we went to the Larmer Tree Festival, had splendid time, will go in '09 but as volunteer so get free entry!
    
  • August more financial chaos
  • In September we spent a month in France. A week with old friends cycling around the Loire, and then 3 weeks in the south, travelling in our van. This included visiting with Wendy and Jim in Beziers. It was a lovely 4 weeks.
  • November, banks disappearing, savings threatened. Brief concern in our household as all our cash in related organisation, proved to be safe.
  • Interest rates plumeting.
  • Searching for a house as living here is getting us down, feel in limbo.
  • Find house, needs lots of work, put in silly offer.
  • December, silly offer accepted.
  • Christmas spent quietly on beautiful site on Stourhead Estate, lovely weather, lovely walks, good pub 500 yds away.
  • Very quiet New Year, efforts to get onto a campsite foiled as all previously booked. Will be quicker off the mark next year.