11 April: Work in progress, and stitchwort

Somehow I seem to have started 3 projects. Normally there's only one main one, and perhaps a small, simple one like a sock.

After several swatches, and knitting over two-thirds of the back of a waistcoat in one way, I decided I didn't like it, and frogged it. Started again, different design, different yarns, much better, about 3 inches of the body done.

Yesterday I spun 2 skeins of yarn, one of 50 grams and one of 80 grams, using 3 plys of BFL, coming out about 17 or 18 w.p.i. This is the latest attempt to spin yarn suitable for socks. Previous efforts have produced nice yarn and pleasant socks, which have felted and shrunk hideously in washing. It is possible that a 3-ply yarn may stand up to wearing and washing rather better. This yarn has not been dyed, as some plain white (natural wool white, not when-a-mother-cares-it-shows white) socks would be handy for the summer. Half a sock foot has been knitted already.

And the third project is a bit of a gamble, using some sock yarn that I don't want to make socks out of. If it works out, there may be more about this. It's only just started, about a dozen rounds worked.

And then, out for a walk this afternoon, there were a few stitchwort plants in flower!


The flowers may not be in very good focus, but the grass is OK.

7 April: Upper Teesdale

A glorious walk today in Teesdale, from Cotherstone to Egglestone and back, mostly beside the River Tees.


There were ruins - this farm for example. The sheep here had no lambs with them, as many others did.


The chapel at Egglestone Hall is ruined and full of plants -


There were several bridges on our route; this 17th century one at Egglestone -



a footbridge over the Tees, with varied materials -


and another over the Balder; this one has a metal parish marker by the near end -


A few April showers, plenty of sunshine, good company, and a sensational lunch. Brilliant!

3 April: The Amazing Spotted CronePants

After knitting hats, scarves, mittens, socks and jerseys, what else is there to knit? Why, trousers, of course.

Everyone needs a warm and comfy pair of pants to lounge around the house. And they are really easy to knit, there's just rather a lot of leg, if you're as tall as me.

To make them warm, they are stranded, but only on alternate rounds (knitted in the round to avoid seams), in a stitch pattern graphically described as "Lice pattern" - presumably it represents the bite marks!

This pattern also lends itself to colour changes whenever the knitter runs out of, or gets bored with, one colour. Ideal for the knitter with a low boredom threshold, especially on long legs.

The waist is fastened with a drawstring, made on a lucet, and tied at the side, as these are Reversible Pants (and vice versa, as we always say).


After the warm sunshine of the past couple of days, we have a suitable chill in the air today - just right for the new pants.

2 April: But I digress...

I was sitting in the garden, enjoying the warm sunshine, and idly knitting a sock, when I remembered that I have just missed a couple of anniversaries.

So, Happy (belated but Significant) Birthday, dear Bro!

And the other is yesterday's 17th anniversary of my bowel cancer operation. It's hard to feel you've actually had cancer when you didn't have any radiation treatment or chemotherapy and you still have and always had hair. Still, I am frequently reminded by my remaining bowel. Too much information?

So this all led on to musings about "where did all that time go?", and "what have we got to show for it?", and "does that really matter?" And that all very quickly becomes too deep.

Another happy half-hour wasted browsing through the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (I've been a fan of dictionaries ever since school, when a substitute for detention was having to copy out pages from the dictionary - I did a lot of that).

Never mind; "what is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare", as W.H.Davis wrote. Herman Hupfeld told us "the fundamental things apply, as time goes by", and Bob Dylan "the times they are a-changin"", and C. Northcote Parkinson that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion", who of course is on the same page as Dorothy Parker, who gave us such gems as "you can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think", and "she ran the whole gamut of emotions from A to B", as well as "men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses".

And just over there is a most appropriate quote from Emmeline Pankhurst - "The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics".

As Cicero said - "O tempora, O mores!"

27 March: Dyeing

And here is Wednesday's spinning dyed.


The soy/BFL is orange, the soy/BFL/cotton is purple (except that cotton needs different dyes from wool, so hasn't taken the dye), and the BFL/BFL is green.

The green is an excellent shade; most green dyes are rather blue or greyed, and a good green is hard to obtain. This was a mix of Landscape dyes in the colours Tarragon and Mustard - a sort of "salad green".

26 March: Spinning! Texture! Spring!

At last a whole morning when I could concentrate on some spinning.

Diane Varney's book "Spinning Designer Yarns" has sat on my shelf for quite a long time, while I was focusing on spinning straightforward even (-ish) yarns for knitting. The time was ripe for trying something new. Three-ply yarn is quite simple, and offers possibilities of fibre mixes which will take dye differently - that's another exciting area waiting for exploration.

Yesterday spiral and boucle yarn was the objective. Here comes some technical stuff, so just skip to the picture if you're not fascinated by the details.

I failed to spin soy silk alone into a suitable thread, so carded soy with some BFL (Blue Faced Leicester - it's the breed of sheep that grows that particular fleece/fibre) for the core thread.

Next a loose and thick strand of BFL; when you've spent months trying to get your thread fine and even, it's terribly difficult to make it erratic, but I did my best.

The next step is to ply the thicker wrapping thread loosely and spirally around the finer core thread. Again, normally the aim is even tension and equal plys, but it was fascinating to watch the looser-tensioned thick thread spiral around the finer one.

And lastly a fine thread is used, wound in the opposite direction, to bind the whole thing together. There was enough of the core soy/BFL to do a small skein; then I used a millspun cotton thread to bind the rest of the bobbin-ful of spiral yarn.

As a further experiment, I spun a small 2-ply skein of BFL, one single finer and even and one thick-and-thin and looser, and just plyed these 2 together, spiralling the thicker strand around the thinner one.


In the photo, the top skein is 2 strands of soy/BFL each side of looser BFL; the middle one is soy/BFL, BFL, and cotton; and the bottom one is 2 strands of BFL.

They all have slightly different feels, and the different fibres should make interesting dyeing (in the next day or two), and different textures in knitting (some time).

Aside from the spinning, we have primroses, miniature daffodils, bees, and more birds in the garden. Hedges have blossom and hawthorn leaves. The lawn needs mowing.

And a great flowering of charity collection bags - 3 dropped through the letter-box on Monday and a 4th on Tuesday.

20 March: The Green Man smiles

The Green Man smiles in the spring sunshine.

New lambs are making their appearance, and the skylark has returned.

16 March: Getting out more

When DH was asked by a colleague what he intended to do with his retirement, he replied "Get out more".

With this in mind, we have got ourselves folding bikes, so that we can put them into the car and venture further afield for some gentle cycling.

So today was our first car/bike adventure. The bikes pack neatly into DH's car without having to take out more than the parcel shelf and the lid of the well in the boot. A couple of old bath sheets stop any scraping or rattling and protect the inside of the car.

We looked at the County Council's map of cycle routes in the area, and picked out a railway path that we have walked along, but never cycled.

The car park wasn't busy, apart from a couple of men lopping branches off trees and feeding them into a shredder. We got the bikes out, re-assembled them, found I'd got my cables tangled round my handlebars, untangled them, found my front brake wasn't working, re-aligned the cable, checked all connections were secure. Good. Trip to the toilets. Good. Drinks and snacks in the bum-bags. Good. Helmets and gloves on. Good. Off we go!

Rounded the corner from the car park onto the track, only to be faced with a mini-digger, men in hard hats and fluo jackets, and a big barrier labelled "Path Closed". All the way along. A couple of walkers were speaking to the man from the council, who smugly announced that it had been in the local paper for 4 weeks. A notice at the entrance to the car park would have saved us some effort, but at least we've had plenty of practice at folding and unfolding the bikes.

We folded them up again and took them to another railway track, where we enjoyed an hour or so of exercise. This afternoon DH had a little nap - I've been sitting on a soft cushion.

14 March: Gibside

As we'd been up to Newcastle on a re-cycling mission, we decided to go to Gibside (Gibside Chapel, a NT property) for a bite to eat and a walk.

The path we usually follow goes along by the River Derwent. Beside the stream, beneath the trees - those fuzzy yellow blobs are daffodils.

I love to find an interesting old tree to photograph.


And Gibside has its own Statue of Liberty -


A bit of a lizard-on-a-column* shot, but that was as close as we got to it this visit.

One tree had been "improved" - perhaps by a fan of Gonzo?


* we have (as you may also have) a number of poor holiday photos of the ground, apparently nothing in particular, which were almost all an attempt to photograph a small and indistinct lizard; we find "lizard shot" a very useful label.

10 March: Reliability of cars

It's a good job DH is now retired; no loss of working time taking his car back to the garage. And back again.

Last month there was a problem with the fuel leaking - a seal was replaced, but the fuel pump was mentioned. A couple of weeks ago, after coughing intermittently for for some days, the car simply stalled in the middle of the road, and wouldn't start again; the RAC had to tow it to the dealership, where the fuel pump was replaced.

Yesterday on the motorway it started to cough again. So it has gone back to the dealership again. How fortunate that I still have my little car! It's over 6 years old now, compared with the 15 months of DH's car, and I was thinking that we had no real use for it now, but perhaps that's not right. It's awfully handy for ferrying him to and fro to drop off and pick up his car.

5 March: The Tweedy Cardi

It seems like this project has been on the needles forever, but it's under 2 months.

Last June at the Woolfest I bought (among many other things!) a batt from Wingham Wool Works - it was simply labelled "Wool/Silk", and was rolled up in a plastic bag. Grey in colour, it felt wonderful to the touch, so I happily paid £15.50 for the nominal 800 gms - it weighed a bit more than that on the scales at home.

When unrolled, this batt was full of all sorts of colours and textures, and it was split up into sections for spinning so that the different bits in it were fairly evenly distributed. The spinning was very enjoyable, and the bag full of tweedy yarn demanded to be knitted into something quite simple to show its subtleties.

Barbara Walker's book "Knitting from the Top" provided a recipe for a plain garment in a fairly fine yarn - about 17 wpi.

Working out the pattern as I went along was a bit of a challenge; and although I made notes, I'm not sure now that I can follow exactly what I did! The sleeves were a disaster the first time, but easily remedied by unravelling them and re-knitting them. The buttons chosen were another Woolfest purchase, from an earlier year.

Here are the photos -


And modelled -


This is going to be worn a lot.

3 March: Exit slowly

That's the fourth time recently, when driving into Durham, that I've got held up behind a funeral.

Is there any sort of etiquette about roaring past a hearse and the following cars when you get to the dual carriageway? Should you raise your hat as a mark of respect? Or simply refrain from cursing the 25 miles an hour procession when you are now definitely going to be late for that meeting?

26 February: Visitors

This morning, just after 7.30, I was at the sink, washing the cat's bowl when I noticed a movement in the garden.

It looked exactly like the little bird that had been in the buddleia the previous evening, which we had taken to be a wren - tiny bird darting about looking for insects.

But then it came right up onto the paving and perched in the potted oak tree - a second one darted down from the clematis - too pale to be a wren, and the movement not quite right. A stripe on the head - but not a coal tit - a yellow stripe. Two goldcrests!!!

I have found a picture -

I know it's goldfinches that are a charm, but these little creatures were truly charming.

23 February: 2 seasons in 2 weeks

Ten days ago we were struggling through snow, today the garden has not only these -


but also these -


and even this!

21 February: Hamsterley coatless

At the third attempt, we made it to the forest. The first time, we forgot something, and had to go back, which was just as well, because the second time we set out, the car broke down at the top of the street!

Anyway, after the RAC had towed it away for the pump that was replaced a couple of weeks ago to be done right (we hope) this time, we took my little car, and actually got there.

Glorious sunshine when we arrived, though the wind got up and brought cloud across later. We started off on a different path from usual, made some interesting choices at junctions, and went off-path a few times. There are still plenty of places we haven't yet seen, and you can't really get lost - anyway we had both map and GPS.

Just as we were starting to feel hungry, we found a seat at a major track junction, where we munched on home-made bread rolls and fruit.

A bit later on we followed this stream down the hillside -


to the bigger stream. There was a lot of water coming off the moors above the forest and down the hillsides, and at the ford 2 mountain bikers were just about to cross. Neither of them made it with dry feet, but they did clean their bikes a bit!


The footbridge a few hundred yards further on was our preferred option, beyond this little waterfall-y bit, then we explored another path that was new to us, before returning to more familiar tracks.

As usual, there were few people about in the further parts of the forest, but there were lots of families nearer the car park. A good day to be out and about; the jacket, magic overtrousers, woolly hat and mittens, all stayed in my smart new daybag; a long-sleeved T-shirt and a good wool jersey were all that was required (yes, trousers as well!).

Heavens, at this rate, I may need to look for my shorts next month!

20 February: Durham hatless

How pleasant to be able to walk about without a woolly hat, scarf and gloves!

After a meeting in Durham today, I walked back to the car. Deciding against the riverbank path, I went up South Street for the first time in (possibly) years. As the trees are leafless, the cathedral is visible from the road.

Actually, I think I like the woodland bit better than the cathedral bit.

12 February: Still no snow photos

Happy (significant) Birthday, DD!

Just when it had thawed a bit yesterday, today it snowed constantly all day. DH, extremely glad he didn't have to go out, spent the day moving bits of furniture round, and setting up his hi-fi system in his new playroom study.

And for our tea we had comfort food - chips with our omelette, and then a tin of fruit cocktail. Do you remember when a tin of fruit cocktail was a touch of luxury?

And here are a couple of photos as a reminder that sometimes the sun shines warmly and the flowers bloom:

10 February: No snow photos

Well, I haven't had a minute.

It's not that life has gone into slow motion; more that now there's two of us doing not very much, it seems to take twice as long! (And getting at the computer during the day is now half as likely.)

And all this snow doesn't help. Living above the snow-line as we do, the street in front of the house has been thick with ice for what seems like weeks - in the shadow of the houses it takes ages to melt. The main roads, of course, are clear, but local pavements are still treacherous, and as a visit to A & E is unappealing any foray out of the house has to be carefully negotiated.

In fact I am thoroughly fed up with the snow and ice hampering everything we want to do, and would be most grateful if it would just go away.

2 February: 2 Pensioners

DH has now finished work, and we have been busy all weekend with making a start on re-organising the house. As I have a room for all my fibre stuff, it's only fair that he should have a room to potter about in as well. And there are only the 2 of us in this 4-bedroomed house.

And so there has been much moving about of furniture, clothes, junk, papers, and general stuff, of which we seem to have a huge amount. Some of it has been moved to the tip, and there's a big stack of stuff to go to charity shops.

This morning we woke to snow again, but of course nobody had to struggle through it to get to work [ :) ], so after a second cup of coffee we did some more sorting out of old papers, and some re-constructing of old photo albums.

Knitting continues, and the current project is well advanced, and a photo has been taken for its Ravelry project page. The recently spun wool/silk batt is slowly becoming a top-down raglan cardigan, following Barbara Walker's recipe.

And a few pairs of old hand-knitted socks have been tossed onto the "out" pile, so there's a bit of space in the sock drawer. And we all know nature hates empty space.

25 January: Domestic goddess or what?

Today I have been mostly making marmalade.

I had this idea that home-made marmalade would be nicer than the shop stuff. And there's a preserving pan in the cupboard. We have assiduously recycled all our empty glass jars for months, but recently all jars have been carefully put aside; there were 6 by the time I spotted the marmalade oranges in the supermarket (just when I'd begun to think that Mr Tesco knew that nobody made their own any more, and didn't stock them). Luckily the cook shop in Durham sells jam jars.

Unsure how much would come from a bag of oranges, I bought 2 bags. By the time one bagful was chopped up this morning, it was perfectly clear that there were enough oranges for a couple of years' supply, at least.

So here is 1.5 kilos of oranges, one lemon, and 6 pints of water stewing away merrily -


Unfortunately, the instructions about the pips were a bit unclear, and when the fruit was cooked up, there were about a thousand pips still in it. So a merry hour or so was spent picking the pips out.

In went 3 kilos of sugar, and the whole lot boiled -


until it was done. Then came a rather sticky episode, pouring the (extremely hot) marmalade into a jug which poured it erratically into the assembled warm jars -


This photo is after wiping off the excess stickiness. The recipe booklet is one that my mother extravagantly paid sixpence for, but it's probably been worth it.

I was so pleased with my efforts that I made some labels on the computer; the jars may be an odd assortment, but the labels all match!


Now, what about that second bag of oranges.....

19 January: All change

It's no wonder my eczema's flared up.

DH's application for early retirement (only a few months early) has been approved, and he will retire at the end of this month. After 42 and a half years, man and boy, in the same job, he is finally leaving.

There will be all sorts of adjustments to make. We have considered down-sizing, but whenever we think carefully about that, it seems that what we really need is a bigger house. Anyway, moving anywhere might be rather tricky in the present economic climate.

How will we cope with having each other around all the time? We haven't even got a shed.

He has never been a great one for hobbies or joining clubs and things, and I can't see that changing. When people have been asking him what he plans to do with his retirement, he's been saying he wants to get out more. (His father's answer to the same question was "nothing", which he did very successfully for many years.)

All sorts of possibilities are open, but I certainly found that when I retired and had the time and freedom to do whatever I wanted, I didn't really want to do anything much. It might be different with the two of us - we shall see.

17 January: Sunshine!

"Rain before 7, fine by 11" - held good today, so we decided to park in Hollingside Lane for our shopping trip into Durham.

The sun was shining as we walked through Great High Wood -


and there were signs of spring in the leaf litter -


Walking down from what used to be Mountjoy cottage gives a different view of the cathedral -


A different view across Kingsgate Bridge -


When we walked back along the river bank, there was much activity on the river - a game of kayak basketball under Baths Bridge, and lots of rowing all along the river (with the obligatory view of the cathedral in the background!).

14 January: ABC Wednesday - Z

Zen Buddhism - as Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett said, a religion for adults. You take responsibility for your own training, though there are teachers to guide and help. You do it yourself, meditation and keeping the Precepts; and you get the karmic consequences of your actions. (The law of karma states that every action has a consequence, or an equal and opposite reaction - or was that something else?)

Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, Three Refuges, Ten Great Precepts - lots of numbers. Most of them are different aspects of the same thing. It's not easy, but you try to learn from mistakes, and do better.

As I understand it, and I could be wrong, Soto Zen differs from Rinzai Zen in that there is less emphasis on koans; as the Rules for Meditation tell us "the koan appears naturally in daily life". Zen Buddhism differs from other Buddhist paths in its emphasis on formal seated meditation.

There are probably more varieties of Buddhism than of Christianity. Google will help if you want to know more.

Zen and karma are words that have been taken from their original meanings and applied in a fuzzy way to all sorts of stuff, and Buddha figures have been used as household and garden ornaments - it amuses me to think of people using Jesus in the same way, but at least it gives Buddhists a chance to bow to Buddha more often.

"going, going, going on beyond, and always going on beyond - always becoming Buddha"

Homage to the Buddha,
Homage to the Dharma,
Homage to the Sangha.

12 January: Finished jersey

And here's the jersey mentioned in the previous post, now finished. The pink and turquoise (which were done with dyes named Plum and Sage) are a bit brighter than I expected, and the pattern that started off looking like waves has ended up looking more like circular saws.

But it's lovely and warm, and soft and comfortable.


It's hard to photograph a jersey you're wearing, but here's an attempt.


If that doesn't make the weather warm up a bit, I don't know what will.

7 January: ABC Wednesday - Y

Yarn, of course! My passion is spinning and dyeing my own yarn, so that I have lots to choose from when I knit. Not only wool, sometimes silk, soy, Tencel, even recycled plastic bottle fibre; but mostly wool.

Some of this recently dyed Shetland is my current jersey-in-progress -


This dyed BFL fibre (that's fleece from the Blue Faced Leicester breed of sheep) was spun and knitted up into a big warm shawl -


Most of this yarn, the purple merino and silk, and the tweedy grey mixed wool and silk, are destined for a jacket which is in the planning stage, and may be the next project on the needles -


And this is my current yarn and fibre storage system, 5 folding crates, with associated bags -


And, as the fibre supply is a bit low, an order for more has just been posted - I may need another crate!

31 December - ABC Wednesday - X

Not much to choose from for X, but as I am a life-long "incomer", it's Xenophobia that strikes a chord.

Here is a poem about it -

We and They

Father, Mother, and Me,
Sister and Auntie say
All the people like us are We,
And everyone else is They.
And They live over the sea,
While we live over the way,
But - would you believe it? - They look upon We
As only a sort of They!

We eat pork and beef
With cow-horn handled knives.
They who gobble Their rice off a leaf,
Are horrified out of Their lives;
While They who live up a tree,
And feast on grubs and clay,
(Isn't it scandalous?) look upon We
As a simply disgusting They!

We shoot birds with a gun
They stick lions with spears.
Their full-dress is un-,
We dress up to Our ears.
They like Their friends for tea.
We like Our friends to stay;
And, after all that, They look upon We
As an utterly ignorant They!

We eat kitcheny food.
We have doors that latch.
They drink milk or blood,
Under an open thatch.
We have Doctors to fee.
They have Wizards to pay.
And (impudent heathen!) They look upon We
As a quite impossible They!

All good people agree,
And all good people say,
All nice people, like Us, are We
And everyone else is They:
But if you cross over the sea,
Instead of over the way,
You may end by (think of it!) looking on We
As only a sort of They!

Rudyard Kipling.

Looking forward to another year of war, conflict and hate? Or peace and happiness? We all have choices and the ability to learn.

And on that serious note, I'm off to do a bit of freeform crochet.

28 December - Not Just a Salmon

This pattern was published in the latest knitty, and it appealed to me, so I made it, using some sock yarn that was never going to become socks.


Yes, it's a hat, and it is supposed to look like a dead fish. The yarn used is pretty much the right sort of colour for a bear's leftovers, in my imagination (not being terribly familiar with long-dead fish).

Must wear it next time I go to town on the bus.

24 December: ABC - W for Wednesday Walk 7

W was going to be Wool, and my spinning Wheel, but we had a really glorious walk in Hamsterley Forest today, so it's another Walk.

There were very few vehicles in the car park when we arrived, about 10.30; by the time we left there were more, but it was still a minority choice for a visit today.

The sun shone over the moorland, and there were still some Christmas trees left.

Not all the trees are Forestry Commission planted conifers. This one was there long before the Forestry Commission -


And so was this one, which was pollarded many, many years ago -


There was a lot of water in the ditches and on the tracks, though the river didn't seem particularly full. In a few places, temporary streams were making their own way down to the valley bottom -


When we got home, the postman had brought the Christmas present that DH had been hoping for!

17 December: ABC Wednesday - V

V is for Ventriloquist, who appeared in Variety shows.

This is Maude Edwards, Lady Ventriloquist, with her doll, the little stable boy.

Maude was born in 1886 in Corporation Street, Birmingham, the sixth of eight children of a Horse Keeper (and reputed former jockey). You don't see many horses round there nowadays.

She made her stage debut in 1905, trained and managed by her older brother Tom Edwards, also a ventriloquist, and later a successful theatrical manager. In October 1906 she sailed to the US, where she toured American Music Halls until May 1907. At some point after her return, she decided that brother Tom was taking too large a slice of her earnings, and sued him in the High Court. She won her case, with costs, causing another of the family's well-known "all-fired" rows, and of course a huge rift between the siblings.

She worked in Music Halls in many places, and often toured the North-East of England. She met James Cameron, a singer in a group called The Cameron Quartette (3 Cameron brothers, sometimes with a 4th brother, and sometimes with a friend). They were married in St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle, early in 1910, and later that year their only child was born in Whitley Bay - they were still on tour.

World War 1 interrupted James' career; he was on the way home from a successful tour of Australia when war broke out. He served in the Royal Flying Corps.

Radio killed off the Music Halls, of course, and Maude retired from the stage. Until about 1940 they lived in Brixton, which was a popular place with theatrical folk in the first half of the 20th century.

Much later, after James died (on Christmas Day, 1955), Maude went to live in a retirement home for former stage folk, a home which was run by the Order of Water Rats (a charity organised by people involved in variety), and funded partly by the Royal Variety Performance. She died in 1976.

Maude and James were my grandparents.