30 June: Woolfest

As DH and I sat in the marquee extension to the Woolfest cafe, eating our sandwiches and listening to the rain hammering on the canvas above us, we began to think it was a really good idea to have brought our raincoats, but not such a good idea to have left them in the car.

There was more to see than last year, perhaps fewer animals, but this year there were llamas and alpacas as well as sheep and at least one rabbit. It was also much more crowded with visitors, hence the lack of photos.

I did lots of browsing, a bit of chatting, and some buying.

At the back is a peg loom - a simple but effective tool. Five minutes to get the hang of, and then it's down to materials and colour choices. It could be the solution to the lifetime supply of rug wool in my workroom.

Then at the front, on the left is some of The Yarn Yard's hand-dyed organic merino roving; when spun it will make exciting knitting yarn. I shall probably start spinning it tomorrow. And probably start knitting it on Monday.

Next is a hank of undyed sock wool, wool and nylon mixed - for me to dye myself.

Then 2 balls of Socka sock wool (thinking ahead to the winter here, folks), the peg loom instruction booklet, and at the front a small bag of expensive, but very attractive buttons (really good buttons can be quite hard to find, and can make a lot of difference to a cardigan or waistcoat), and lastly another row counter, for those times when I have 2 projects in progress at the same time.

There were lots of spinning wheels about, of course, but the one that I really fancied was the Majacraft Suzie - but at rather over £400, no way I can justify buying one of those. Especially as I already have 2 wheels. But what if I disposed of one, and then upgraded.......

28 June: While it's not raining...

After yesterday evening's hail, which sent the cat scooting to hide in his favourite cardboard box, this morning the sun was shining. It was an ideal opportunity to do some gardening.

The hydrangea that was becoming stunted in a tub by the front door is now starting to stretch its roots out next to a buddleia in the back garden. One of the roses, which had grown very tall and had extremely disappointing flowers has been hacked down. The roots appear to be as extensive as the top growth was, and after struggling with the stump for an hour, I came over all feak and weeble (or indeed weak and feeble) and decided it was a job for two people, and that I needed a restorative cup of coffee.

All the time the powerful scent of the philadelphus was filling the garden. A dismissive comment in a gardening article recently remarked that this shrub very often takes up a lot of space in small gardens, where it is very dull for most of the year. But that dullness for 11 months is quite forgotten when it flowers!


At the other end of that border is a nice pink - named not for the colour but for the ragged (pinked) edge to the petals. This one might be a Cheddar pink, but there are lots of little pinks tucked into the border edges. The dark leaf behind it belongs to another plant with disappointing flowers (ligularia), but the leaves make up for it - when the snails don't eat them all.


And this clematis is really doing well on the pergola. Called Etoile Violette, I think.


Purple again!

27 June: Nearly ...... finished

The bathroom is now painted, but still lacks a blind; and perhaps the towels should all kinda match. After the purchase of a number of small tester pots of paint and much deliberation, we decided on purple.


It probably needs a picture on the wall too, but we'll have to see something we like.

Here is the latest knitted hat posing on the shelf -


And the same colour theme recurs in the latest pair of socks -

Most of the people who knit socks seem to delight in fancy lace or complicated cables, often knitted in merino; I suspect that they don't actually wear these socks regularly, as fancy stitches are not always as kind to the feet as plain knitting. And merino is famous for the ease with which it felts, so is not the best choice for an item that gets worn and washed time and time again.

We won't be able to go shopping for bathroom stuff on Saturday, as we are going to the Woolfest at Cockermouth. Lots of fibre, wool, sheep, and similar stuff. Last year I bought a spinning wheel and several kilos of fibre. Will I find lots to buy there this year?

23 June: Not only bathrooms, but also water

The main bathroom is now refitted, but not yet painted and finished. I haven't yet been able to take a good photo, as the mirrors have this person with a camera in them. It's also difficult to photograph a small room with fittings all round.

The past couple of days have been spent cleaning the film of dust from everywhere; the bathroom fitting is not entirely to blame for that, but it's been a good opportunity to have a good clean up. There is no longer a skip on the drive, and our cars are no longer parked in awkward places in the street.

Today I went to a meeting in Durham. Two or three lime trees grow below one end of Milburngate Bridge, and their flowers are wonderfully sweet, and full of bees.

The river was boiling over the weirs, murky and full of branches.

After the meeting, I walked down Saddler Street in a monsoon . It was quite spectacular - water was spurting from downpipes unable to accommodate the downpour and bubbling up from the drains. Not wishing to get my camera wet, I took only one snap, of the stream at the bottom of Saddler Street, gushing down the steps to the left. Then I dashed on to meet DH, who was picking me up at a pre-arranged place and time.

21 June: The End is in Sight

Tomorrow the bathroom is due to be finished. The skip is to be collected at lunch-time, and by tea-time we shall have the house, with 2 sparkling new bathrooms, to ourselves again.

Mind, the whole place is totally filthy - a fine film of plaster dust (or similar) all over everything. A spring cleaning event beckons. And there's a certain amount of decorating to do, along with tracking down towels and bathmats in the right shade, and deciding where to store the various toiletries and medicines.

No more cheerful chats with the bathroom fitter - but then I can also be radio-free if I choose. And I needn't be up, washed and dressed by 8.30 if I don't want to.

Afternoon naps lie in wait, spur-of-the-moment outings, Blondie records at top volume, wearing shorts round the house. Total giddiness. After 4 weeks, I'll be able to please myself again.

17 June: Time passes

A Happy Birthday to Number One Grandchild!

The bathroom progresses; the skip fills.


The shower room is getting finished. Walls are painted, blind is up, new bits and pieces have been found and added. We spotted this hare, a copy of one by Rodin, in Bainbridges yesterday - actually it might have been Fenwicks, as I am permanently confused about which shop I am in. Anyway, the hare goes rather well with this jug that's been lurking in the back of a cupboard for the best part of 40 years; I knew it would come in handy one day, and it's fun to have a culinary theme rather than a sea one.

And here is an almost-finished sock, knitted from the bamboo and Shetland mixture that I carded, spun, and dyed in the past 3 weeks. As there is limited yarn, the other sock may have to be green with lilac "points".

15 June: Suspended

The bathroom re-fitting goes on. And on.

The house is in such chaos that I feel quite stopped - can't get on with anything, can't concentrate, can't even think straight.

Just hanging onto the thought that it will only be another (working) week, perhaps a day or two longer, then I will have the place to myself again, and I'll be able to walk about without having to climb over a pile of stuff moved from somewhere else, I'll be able to get on with a task without having to stop and make a decision about the exact position of something, and I'll be able to have quiet. Not that it's Radio 1, it's actually much the sort of thing I choose when I choose to have the radio on - which is not usually more than 2 part-afternoons a week.

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I've been spending a lot of time trawling blogs, following links, then other links, and finding some wonderful new stuff.

But there's another thing. Interesting blogs that promptly stop as soon as you discover them. So many seem to be running along quite well, with fairly frequent postings, then, just as you're getting into the swing of it, and liking the stuff that's there, it stops. No explanation or anything, just no more postings. Particularly frustrating on a knitting blog when you've just asked a technical question, and would actually like to know the answer.

Has the blogger been struck down by some dreadful disease or accident? Lying paralysed in hospital? Wandering in another town with no memory of who they are or where they belong? Or simply got fed up and stopped? Or, even worse, started a blog in a different format, under a different name?

How many bloggers have a split blogging personality, with no advertised connection between different blogs? Are 2 of your favourite blogs in fact written by the same person? Makes you wonder.

11 June: Sounds of Summer

The blackbirds must have chosen a nest site that is easily spotted by the local cats. And now they are exhausting themselves jumping up and down on the fence or in a tree, shouting "There's a cat! There's a cat!" in blackbird-speak. They spend so long doing that, I begin to wonder if they have enough time and energy left to gather food for the nestlings (their second batch this year).

And the black cat from across the street strolls casually along the path, glancing up at the birds just out of reach in the little trees, and then stops to drink from the ground level bird bath, before sauntering off to check out another garden.

Meanwhile, the bathroom fitter is hammering, bashing and crashing as he removes the fittings, tiles, carpet, the lot, from the bathroom. From time to time he calls me to make a decision about the exact place one of the new items is going to go.

Then another call - can I find a couple of old towels - quick!

While he is cutting a hole in the floor for new pipework, the cutting machine has caught a (plastic) pipe to the existing radiator, and water is spurting out under the floor, onto the ceiling of the kitchen below.

Frantic scrabbling to shove a thick towel underneath, then I take over pressing my thumbs onto the ends of the pipes, while he swiftly grabs some valves and seals the cut pipe ends. And what looked like gallons of water gushing out turns out to be just a couple of damp towels.

10 June: More boring stuff

The shower room is now fitted out, apart from a mirror. Here is a picture of it before I started to paint the walls this morning -

When the walls are done, we shall need a new blind, then a different colour bathmat might be good, and a smart new lavvy brush and waste bin. Sounds like a trip to John Lewis next weekend.

Meanwhile, the bamboo fibre blended with Shetland wool has been dyed, and is waiting to be knitted into socks -

7 June: Some thoughts on knitting

A comment on the last entry has started a chain of thought.

The method of constructing a sock which I used is almost certainly not new, though I only came across it recently (on the Internet, of course). Knitting is one of the more ancient arts or crafts - and I don't intend to argue about the difference between those two. So it follows that anything we are able to do with knitting nowadays has almost certainly been done in the past (our ancestors did, after all, invent the wheel). It's only sticks and some yarn.

A few books provide basic techniques of starting and finishing, and ways of combining stitches to make patterns, and other books show how garments were made in other places and at other times. Current magazines and the Internet provide information on what is currently being made - not worn, though; some of the weird and wonderful garments are destined for the What Not to Knit website.

So the garment is chosen, and the shape and size worked out. Most things can be started at either end, some in the middle. Knitting can be done from bottom to top, top to bottom, side to side, or diagonally. It depends what suits - drape, or the lack of it, thickness of fabric, stitch pattern, all need to be considered. If you can draw it, you can knit it, and even if you can't draw a 3D shape, if you can see it in your mind's eye, you can knit it.

The yarn has to be selected - wool, cotton, linen, hemp, polyester, soy, bamboo, alpaca, dog hair, bison, mohair, lurex, or strips cut from plastic bags. The world's your lobster.

Then colour - plain or fancy, subtle or bold, how many colours, and how to combine them; whether to use colours already held, or to make some different ones.

There are enough combinations there to provide hours of fun. Then the actual knitting process is enjoyable. And when it's finished, something to wear or give, and to feel proud of. Or perhaps to frog and start again!

5 June: Behold the yellow socks

The yellow socks knitted from the mixture of soy and Blue Faced Leicester are finished, and here they are -

They are a good fit and feel very comfortable. It remains to be seen how they wash and wear. They were made from the toe end first, using a provisional cast on and short row shaping. I got the basic design from a knitlist posting from 1999 by Mary Sherman Lycan, who called it the Sherman Sock.

I am presently spinning a mixture of bamboo fibre and Shetland wool; when I have a few skeins I will dye them in different colours and make socks from them, probably to this design. The way of knitting the toe and the heel (which is identical to the toe) is ideal for doing contrast colours there, so I might try that next time.

When we came back from our weekend visit to DD and the GrandKids, the rose on the pergola was in full bloom. There is a lovely blue clematis on one side, which you can just see towards the bottom left hand corner. This picture may not be too clear, as I took it through the glass of the window.

The bathroom refurbishment is into its second week. We may have the shower room in operation for the weekend. Or again, perhaps not...

1 June: Bathroom refitting

We have a skip.


The shower room is the first part of the exercise. All the materials are stowed in the garage -


At the end of 3 days ' work it looked like this where the new shower will be (new radiator/towel rail already in place) -


And the new cistern is boxed in, ready for the WC pan. Today we will have mostly tiling.


But I've been busy. The yellow socks are progressing well, I've carded some bamboo and some Shetland wool together, to try knitting it as socks. When I've spun a few skeins of it, I'll dye them and start a sock or three.

Meanwhile, the football scarf is now blocked and finished.

28 May: Later the same day

Staring gloomily out of the front window, I spotted a pale *something* on the dogwood in the border. Its first "flower"!


So I took a photo. Then I wandered round the back garden, discovering that there were several other plants offering some comfort. Alliums like these have been all the rage at Chelsea this year, I hear. (I did watch one of the TV broadcasts from Chelsea, but just to spot the only Chelsea Pensioner I know - he always has at least one pretty girl holding his arm!)

The little apple trees promise good things later in the year -


And by reaching up and taking a picture at arm's length, I've captured the first clematis, on the top of the pergola.

And a sneaky angle makes this border look more interesting than it may be in reality. But the camera never lies, does it?


That's better now - think I'll have another go at that sock; very plain and not at all subversive, this pair. They are yellow, though.

28 May: Still lazy

Is it the weather? The end of the holidays? The imminent arrival of workmen? Whatever it is, I just can't get motivated.

The purple merino scarf (not a football one) has been finished for ages, but I haven't got round to blocking it yet. A crochet project to use up odds end ends has been lurching onwards for some time, and still a way to go; and there's a pair of socks in progress - in a mixture of Blue Faced Leicester wool and soy. Very vegetarian.

StatCounter shows that people have been here looking for "fibonacci knitt**g stripes" (too City and Guilds for my liking), and "agapanthus producti*ns" (though probably not photos of one admiring itself in a mirror), and the evergreen "fred knit**e".

Apropos of which, I see the Zimmers (google them if you don't already know) are getting a whole hour's TV programme this evening. While I admire them for getting up and singing, I don't think the resulting performance is nearly as good as the Young@Heart Chorus.

TV tonight brings the end of the current series of New Tricks. Not popular with the critics, it seems, but I've enjoyed them all. It may not be Art, but I know what I like, and it's not Dr Who any more.

Another series sneered at by the critics, but which I have enjoyed, is Kingdom - wonderful locations, and even if the scripts are nearly as wooden and crackers as Morse or Midsummer, the acting is far better. You will note that I prefer the more gentle, middle-aged dramas, in finite series. Plus, of course, You've Been Framed, and Police, Camera, Action. When they finish, what are we going to have left to watch? Nature programmes?

I've already watched spring here, and it's been strange; plants that normally flourish are struggling, others are doing better than usual, the house martins are back, but only about a dozen of them instead of the scores of last year, the blue tits don't seem to have nested nearby this year, though the magpies have 3 juveniles with them (perhaps they have eaten all the blue tit chicks?). Now the roses and the clematis are out and the forget-me-nots are going over, it's more like summer than spring.

With a bit of luck, there may be photos of bathroom devastation tomorrow - but there again, am I bovvered?

26 May: Lazy

This is just instead of replying to comments in the comments box.

The photo of Mont Orgueil castle was a lucky shot - one of those times when you can't see what is in the viewfinder/display screen because of the light. I hadn't noticed the row of houses below the castle, but would have tried to include them if I had, as the contrast in scale and colour is brill.

It does resemble a photo I took of Durham Castle earlier in the year - here it is if you want to compare. (That is actually Pizza Hut, and Pizza Italia in the foreground, not houses.)

Cat update - poor boy has an over-active thyroid, a bottle of tablets to take for a month, then more blood tests. Quite common in the older cat, apparently. Most likely outcome after the tablets is surgery. Still, it's slimmed him down considerably. Wonder if I could get mine revved up a bit....

Bit busy this weekend, as the bathroom re-modelling starts on Tuesday.

24 May: And..

I forgot to mention the lady in St. Brelade's church.

We went in to have a look around; there were a few people in the aisle and a man with a sheet of paper in his hand explaining something about one of the stained glass windows. He was giving a lot of detail, and the people all walked off in different directions.

I thought it a bit odd, but then a lady came up to us and told us that he was "just practising", and we were to carry on and ignore him. Although it might have been better practice for him to give his guided tour to some real visitors, and it would have been interesting to hear his talk, we were then buttonholed by the lady (and I use that word in preference to "woman"), who asked lots of questions about where we were going and where we were staying. She told us firmly that we should be staying in St. Brelade, and then was horrified when we mentioned that we planned to walk back to St. Helier.

"But it's 6 or 7 miles!" she exclaimed. (Hey! - dialogue.) Well, it might have seemed like that if you drive, but walking in a direct route it was actually about 4, and after that we didn't like to mention how far we'd walked already.

She did amuse us when she asked which airline we'd travelled on. We told her FlyBe, and that we'd had about an hour's delay starting out of Newcastle. She snorted and said that was why the locals called it FlyMayBe.

23 May: More snaps.

Now Blogger seems to have got over the doolally turn it had earlier, I'll continue about the holiday.

There were lots of flowers growing where we walked. This was the only orchid we saw, and I guess at it being an early purple orchid; I'm sure if either of my readers can identify it, you'll tell me. (It really was very blue.)


Bright gladioli in this piercing shade of - what? magenta? puce? - cheered up even the most neglected gardens. The one I photographed was in a tidy garden.


This slightly surreal shot of an agapanthus growing beside a large mirror was irresistible.


But the plant that we saw most was this one, plastered all over the shady and damp banks of the green lanes, and growing pretty well everywhere else too. We saw it named as "pennywort" , but my copy of the inestimable Fitter and Blamey book calls it Navelwort - just look at the leaves!

The other ubiquitous (there's a good word for a Wednesday) plant was the potato, and I searched for a really good view of a field of taters.

The cows were nowhere near as plentiful. I blame the low fat diets and hydrogenated fats that people prefer these days. Or are all the Jersey cows now in Spain, where most of our food seems to come from now?


I could show you all several pictures of sweeping empty beaches, mostly with interesting banks of cloud sailing overhead, but here is one with me modelling my new rain jacket, which I bought in the Jersey Woollen Mill. Of course I had to go there; they had the dullest knitwear I have seen in a long time, but masses of "Leisurewear" and oddly enough, some very nice ear-rings.

About 200 more snaps can be posted in response to popular demand.

23 May: Holiday snaps

Our photo album of our holiday is now done, all neatly labelled and ready to bore any passing friend or family member.

It was delayed by the breakdown of the old printer, and the installation and oohing and aahing over what the new one can do - doesn't technology move quickly when you're not looking?

Many of the pictures are a bit dull, because that's what the weather was like, and we realised that what we hadn't photographed were the little lanes we mostly walked along, so the pictures aren't very representative of our experience. Anyway...

This was taken inside the Neolithic chamber at La Hougue Bie, using the lights installed. The camera wobbled a bit during the long exposure, but it rather adds to the effect.


This is St. Brelade's church, overlooking the harbour.


And this is Samares Manor; we call this one the Manor with the Fallen Rhododendrons -


Mont Orgueil castle above Gorey Pier. The castle was full of sculptures and installations which really made it something special. Totally worth a visit, even if you can't climb all the way to the top of the keep because of vertigo.


More later - must do some ironing now.

20 May: Back from Jersey

That is not a knitting reference.

We arrived back yesterday lunch-time, and since then we've waded through the pile of mail on the mat, washed most of the laundry, been to the supermarket, watered the house plants, cut the grass and tidied the garden - now needing a lie down!

We had a great holiday. In spite of the weather - variously mist, rain, cloud, wind, and just a bit of sunshine - we managed to do many of the things we wanted to, and have returned rejuvenated, and with batteries re-charged.

Actually, if you are under 75, it's not hard to feel young on Jersey. At Newcastle Airport, the tide of grey heads creeping and hobbling towards the plane was slightly alarming. And the tourist buses and cafes were also wall to wall with white hair and walking sticks. But when I claimed the reduced OAP entry fee for one attraction, the dear lady was very reluctant to believe me.

It was strange to use our usual money and get foreign coins and pound notes (yes, pound notes) in change. There are what seem to be about 2 million cars on the island, mostly enormous BMWs, Mercedes, giant 4x4s, or people carriers. Everywhere is prominently labelled *No Parking*, or *Parking for Residents Only*, so there seems to be a problem with cars. Having said that, all the drivers are extremely courteous to each other, and to the cyclists and pedestrians on the narrow, twisting, and often pavement-free roads.

Little of the island is left from housing and agriculture. There were, surprisingly, not many cows to be seen, but many, many fields were devoted to potatoes - and if they are all Jersey Royals, they may be putting too many eggs (or indeed potatoes) into one basket. Remember what happened to Ireland when they went in for a mono-culture of potatoes? All the woods are in valleys too steep and rocky, or too marshy, for other use, and there are small areas of nature reserve and sand dunes.

We avoided all the parking problems by not hiring a car, but walking everywhere we could, and using the excellent bus network. We did go to several of the visitor attractions, and wondered what the many German tourists felt about the emphasis on WW2 and the Liberation.

Most of the cafes, hotels, and tourist shops are staffed by people from Eastern Europe - as was the excellent Polish Deli near our apartment.

The photos - over 200 - have been downloaded to the computer, but not yet sorted out. They will follow in due course.

Before I whizz round and see what everyone else has been up to in the past week, I'll leave you with the story of the piece of cod that passeth all understanding.

Having arrived on Saturday afternoon and had a brief walk round the locality, we were very hungry. (When on holiday, we are not strict veggies, as it's not always possible, and local food enhances the trip.) So we thought fish and chips were a good and simple meal. And we ate probably the worst cod and chips that either of us has ever had. A day or two later we were in the Jersey Museum (it was raining), and there was a large display devoted to the cod trade, which claimed that the trade in dried cod had completely disappeared; well of course it hasn't, it's alive and well, and being badly battered, teamed with tasteless soggy chips, and being sold round the corner!

11 May: Health and Holiday

The cat needed his booster jab, so we took him along on Wednesday evening. As he used to be a very tubby tabby, we have been trying to slim him down over the past couple of years. Last year, at his check-up, he had lost a bit of weight; this time, we thought the scales were wrong. He has lost quite a lot, and when the vet checked him over, she declared he has a heart murmur and an enlarged thyroid. She also spoke about diabetes, and geriatric cats - he's only 11!

So he will need some blood tests to find out exactly what is wrong, then probably medication.

But we can't get that sorted out just yet, as we are going off on a holiday tomorrow. Hurrah!
Except that the 5-day weather forecast is not good. But at least it will be a change from lazing around doing exactly as I please. Hmm...

(Later update: The cat has spent much of the afternoon in the conservatory, keeping an eye on the blackbirds, who have 3 fledglings to feed, and rely on the messy habits of the greenfinches to provide them with seed from the hanging feeder. The cat does not look incapacitated.)

So, knowing how much you'll all miss my regular knitting items, here are a few to keep you going. I have been trying out some Elizabeth Zimmerman designs, which have a whole blog devoted to them at Zimmermania. This one is called the Ganomey (or Gnome) Hat -


Pretty neat shaping, I think. Now all I need to do is work out how to make it big enough to fit a human head.

One of her designs gets a lot of attention; it's called the Baby Surprise Jacket, or BSJ. The book in which this pattern was published is out of print, and I haven't been able to get hold of a copy. However, a handy website called Knit Wiki has a nice clear photo, pointing out where it is started from. So I think I've worked it out - slightly odd way of shaping, rather like origami, and it looks a proper mess till you fold it over .


This one is just a sample, and I got the mitres wrong at the corners of the front band, but as it was tea-time, I couldn't be bothered to frog that bit and re-do it. Don't know if I would bother to make a baby sized one - unless somebody produces a rather square baby.

And here's the colourwork/Fair Isle hat I was knitting at the demonstration last weekend - modelled by me.


While I'm away, look after yourselves and don't do anything I wouldn't do.
And you'll never guess where a knitter goes on holiday - yes, Jersey!