23 May: Tagged - Fives

Tagged by Kaz.

5 things in my bag: I have many bags, some made of string, many containing knitting, but I guess this means the shoulder bag - come - mobile life support system.
money
keys
phone
pen
tissues

Simple, but effective. Sadly, my Swiss Army penknife, with tweezers, scissors, and a tiny tiny screwdriver handy for repairing spectacles, has to be left at home, as it is now an Offensive Weapon.

5 favourite things in the house: (we have more than one room here)

my spinning wheel -


My large supply of fibre and yarn (fabric, thread, buttons, braid, etc, etc.)
The shawl on the back of my armchair (handy when it turns a bit chilly) -

The kitchen Buddha -


And the Mac, without which.....

5 things I always wanted to do:
garden - my own chunk of "nature"
be physically active
be open to different ideas, interests and activities
enjoy the company of others, and my own company
retire - do as I fancy, and they post me the money.

5 things I'm currently into:
spinning and knitting
exploring Hamsterley Forest
lolcats
books by Oliver James - Affluenza and They F*** You Up
keeping it simple

5 persons to tag:
You may all (both?) feel free to pick this up and run with it, past someone or up a flagpole, blue-sky thinking outside the box, expanding the envelope.....

16 November: Birthday, Knitting, Tag

Happy Birthday, Son!

One of the current knitting projects is a scarf, in the pattern Here and There Cables by Norah Gaughan, from the book Scarf Style.


The scarf illustrated in the book is knitted from much thicker yarn, in a variegated pale green. My version is in hand-spun black Wensleydale yarn, about 17 w.p.i., so is much narrower. The wool is sensationally soft, and much, much nicer than white Wensleydale. And of course, it isn't really black - more of a dark brown.

This stitch pattern attracted me because it is the same on both sides, and initially I couldn't see how it was done. It turns out to be remarkably simple, with the cabling on every 7th row, so it makes ideal work for TV watching (if any programmes appeal), or to take along to a Guild workshop day, where much chat occurs.

Tagged again by Granny J - this time it's 7 Things About Me.

1 - I have never read any of Jane Austen's novels.

2- I enjoy train journeys, apart from the stations and the other passengers.

3 - Maps fascinate me.

4 - 25 years in County Durham have failed to eradicate my southern accent.

5 - I would never make a mathematician

6 - I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

All passing readers are invited to pick up this tag and give us their own 7 Things.

5 October: A little navel-gazing

Tagged again by Granny J - about blogging.

Far too much to post again (you can always see the full thing over at hers), but a few of the "rules" struck a chord.

*Blog about what you're interested in, and what you want to share.

*It's your blog - you make the rules.

*Keep the blog simple.

Other than that, there's not much to add. Pictures often add to the interest, though some blogs don't have them, and are still interesting. And personally I find comments important. (Diamond Geezer covered comments very well on 3 September in his series about his 5th blogging anniversary.)

The comments can inform, amuse, and delight. I find I return frequently to some blogs purely to read the updates to the comments. But on certain blogs, when you arrive and there are already 279 comments, oddly enough you already know what they're all saying, and don't bother to read them.

And it's good when commenting is made easy; although the word verification is clearly necessary if there's a lot of spam, it can be irritating (especially when you've typed correctly twice already). And when it requires your e-mail address to make a comment, that's a definite bar to me commenting.

Mind you, comments like "me too" and "wow, fantastic" are not nearly so much appreciated as ones that add something to the topic. Having said that, sometimes "beautiful picture" is all that's needed, or - perhaps the highest praise - "highly amusing".

And there are new blogs coming along all the time, but you only find out about them when their bloggers add a comment somewhere and you idly click on the link.

But how often does it happen that you've just found a new (to you) blog, and you've popped in a few times to get the hang of it, and you're just thinking you'll de-lurk and make a comment, and they stop.

20 September: Tagged

Granny J from over at Walking Prescott (that's Prescott, Arizona, not John) tagged me a couple of days ago.

The game is to list something relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name, or for those without a middle name, for each letter of a preferred middle name.

I rather enjoy word games, and after some thought, out came the Thesaurus. Well, you know how that diverts the attention for a few hours......

Not wishing to use my middle name, I ran my eye over the family tree, spotting various grandmothers and other foremothers, looking for something

Simple
Apt
Right
And
Honest

It might be

Mostly
Antisocial
Usually
Dodging
Entanglement

or

Always
Guessing
Never
Entirely
Seeing

but it turns out to be

Just
Another
Normal
Eccentric.