29 January: Busy, busy

How time flies when you're busy! After discovering the new cousin, I was prompted to tidy up a lot of the family history, and then of course got interested in another bit, and started following leads, and ending up with a lot more bits of paper and notes that needed sorting out.

Our pile of snow in the front garden has finally gone, though there's still a hillock of ice 3 or 4 feet high at the dead end of the street.

Recent spinning has been non-wool fibres - tencel, milk protein fibre, and flax. Maybe for weaving, when there's enough, and they are dyed - though I might just leave the milk protein fibre as natural cream. :)

And there's been knitting - another hat -


A simple stranded pattern in handspun Shetland yarns, very easy and satisfying to knit.

20 January: A new branch

Recently I've been collaborating with a second cousin on some family history research, trying to find out more about our grandfathers' other siblings.

She is in touch with several sisters (our great-aunts) in Canada, but the youngest brother had been a bit of a mystery. The mention of his name had brought out a rash of pursed lips, head-shakes and tuts from older relatives, so of course we were dying to know!

I spotted him in the 1911 census, with a wife, which was a bit of a surprise, as his marriage certificate dated 1926 describes him as a bachelor.

Then Cousin P found a record of a birth following on from the 1926 marriage, and we we on the trail!

In the last week we have found details of 3 children of this marriage, then a marriage of one of the 3 children, and children and a grandchild. And this evening Cousin P has rung me to say she has been speaking on the phone to a grandson of our "black sheep" great-uncle! His mother and father may be able to give us more family information, too, and possibly even photographs.

It's all quite exciting.

17 January: ....can Spring be far behind

The snow has cleared enough to get down the path to the compost heap. On my way there this morning I saw these -

Couldn't get nearer for a clearer picture, I'm afarid, but you get the idea.

13 January: Spindle spinning

Today we have mostly black ice, so I spent the morning playing spinning with a hand spindle.

I have tried before, and know why it's called a "drop spindle", but I have a new book with improved instructions. It took all morning, but I did produce 2 (very) small skeins of yarn, about as much as I can spin in ten minutes on my wheel.


Probably Corriedale wasn't the best fibre to start with, but it was all I had to hand. There are issues to be resolved, like how to keep the fibre under control while drafting, and leaving the centre-pull ball on the nostepinne while plying, but on the whole I was pleased.

It's called Curate's Egg yarn.

10 January: More snow tonight?

The slight thaw we've had all day must be official now - a snow-plough came round the estate.

Pushed all the snow off the road into everyone's carefully-cleared drives.....

7 January: When icicles hang by the wall

Prompted by Durham Daily Photo, I have tried to take a snap of our best icicle -


Not easy, as it's right outside the window, and behind it is white render and snow. It is beautifully rippled and about 3 feet long.

Edit 8 January: This morning The Icicle has grown to 4 feet long and twice as thick as yesterday. My Dear Husband has moved the car from underneath it.

3 January: Normality soon?

The regular suspension of normal life over the Christmas period, combined with weather that hampers outdoor activity, has led to a concentration on stash-reducing.

There's been another double cap made, plain brown with variegated yellow/apricot/green, and 2 triangular scarves, and a couple of "bags" - the first is knitted from Jamieson and Smith's millspun 2-ply Shetland yarn, and then felted, using a pattern called "Numbers" from knitty -


and the second is crocheted from yarn I spun a couple of years ago, from recycled plastic bottle fibre. I find the yarn is nasty to knit, but fine for crochet, and this little bag is just the right size to keep one of my bowstringers tidy -

The trouble is that this took only 15 grams out of the 200.....

(If you want to see the other knitting, pictures are on my Flickr page.)

1 January: Deep and crisp

This morning we were the only walkers without a newspaper or a dog.

Even the trees that are normally completely unremarkable make an interesting pattern -


There was a bit of blue sky towards the south -


- though it looks to be snowing to the north of the Wear valley.

When life returns to normal again next week after the holiday hiatus, I do hope the snow is not going to hamper our activities.

31 December: Irresolute

A White Christmas - snow fell on 17 December and is still here; there have been a few starts at a thaw, but never enough to clear the packed and frozen snow before more has fallen again. The only consolation of a fresh fall of another inch of snow this evening is that it reduces the chances of being woken in the middle of the night by post-pub fireworks.

Now that neither of us has to go to work (we stay at home and they just pop the money into the bank for us), we have a whole fresh New Year ahead, full of all sorts of possibilities. My Dear Husband has found a new interest, and who knows where that will lead; I have just turned 21 again, and have a list of things to try out at least as long as my arm.

But no New Year resolutions. That's just courting disappointment. Hope for the best, expect the worst, and life is full of delightful little surprises.

25 December: A breath of fresh air

We finally braved the snow and ice, and got out for a walk. After yesterday morning's fall of about 3 inches of snow, there had been a slight thaw, then a freeze overnight. But the sun shone on the path through the wood -


And the pond was sheltered from the wind -

Apart from three or four cars and two dogs taking themselves for an unaccompanied walk, we saw nobody; it was lovely and quiet.

17 December: A rug - and yet another hat

Winter time is just right for making a rug - thick and heavy spread over your lap as you work. Even after my attempts to use up all my stash of rug wool, there was an awful lot left; perhaps something to do with my carrying home an enormous bag full of old Durham Carpets yarn from the Guild one day. They acquired a lot of carpet yarn when the factory closed, and I liked some of the colours.

It's made by hooking lengths of wool into knots on rug canvas, using a latchet hook. Each knot is worked individually. There are 23 rows of 6 sections, and each section is 20 stitches wide and 5 rows deep. Each knot has 2 strands of wool, which have to be cut from the ball or cone. It took nearly 3 weeks to make (not a lot worth watching on TV lately).

The design is simple, based on a couple of carpets seen recently. One was sampler in John Lewis, showing all the available colours in one carpet range, and the other was seen in a shop window in York when we were having coffee in the cafe opposite. My version is 3 feet each way.


There's another hat, too. This one is the Joined Up Thinking hat - it needed a lot of thought (and many pages of squared paper) to work out how the design would carry into the top shaping.


It's come out rather small, though.

13 December: Holly, ivy, and sloes

Part of this afternoon's walk was along a sunlit hedge, festively decorated with holly -


- ivy, and lichen -


- and sloes! This is the first time we've seen fruit on these sloe trees, though they have plenty of blossom every year.


Perhaps the birds find them too sour to eat until everything else has gone.

10 December: More knitted hats

The knitted hat seems to be the current favourite project - a good way to try out a new stranded pattern, but quick to knit and using modest amounts of yarn. Here are two more recent ones -


They are called Choc button hats, because the pattern reminds me of chocolate buttons, and the purple/brownish coloured yarn reminds me of Cadbury's chocolate wrappers.


The black one has a slightly higher crown, as I absent-mindedly decreased in a different way from the intended one. So now it would suit a wearer with bigger hair.

6 December: Welcome sunshine

The sun shone on our walk round Gibside today. Look at the clear blue sky -


and here is a photo of the sun shining over the pond -


This one shows rather better what the afternoon was like -

30 November: Christmas time is here by golly

It's almost time to look for the Tom Lehrer album again, to refresh my memory for the words of his "Christmas Carol".

Over the past weekend, several nearby residents braved the cold and the torrential rain to put up their outdoor Christmas decorations. The most popular item in this street is the string of flashing lights hung across the gutter above the garage and front door, so that on all sides there are flashing strands of blue or white lights, and even one that changes colour every few moments.

This morning our first Christmas card arrived.

I suppose normal life will be resumed about the 7th of January next year; in the meantime I may hibernate.

28 November: Wildlife friendly

We like to think we run a wildlife friendly garden. There are snags. Slugs and aphids. The odd mouse and rat. And when you feed the birds, it's not just the little pretty ones - it's also the ones that eat the little pretty ones.

This morning the sparrowhawk breakfasted on our lawn. All that was left was a small scatter of tiny grey feathers. When she'd finished eating, she sat on the fence and cleaned her feet and her beak. Then she dozed a while and digested. She was very beautiful.

But I hope she eats elsewhere for a while.

25 November: Showers

The weather forecast was for strong winds, showers, and bright spells. So we thought we'd have a walk in Hamsterley Forest.

The shower started as we left the car, and continued with only a short break (when it dripped from the trees) until we got back, an hour and three-quarters later. The sun did come out briefly, while it was still raining; so at least there was a rainbow.

There was plenty of water already in the stream -


- looking rather like Guinness. There were a surprising number of people about, mostly on mountain bikes.

I wonder why raincoat hoods always fall down over your face, keeping your glasses dry but allowing you to see only about 6 feet in front of you?

24 November: The birds

It was so dark this morning that the birds had only just got up when I was in the kitchen, so I was able to see the flock descend. It's funny how they all seem to move from one garden to another all together.

A robin and a couple of blackbirds were first, followed by lots of tits, great, blue and coal. Two starlings spilled enough seed from the hanging feeder for the blackbirds and the dunnock, and then a few collared doves arrived to clear up. Our friendly neighbourhood mouse will polish off anything left.

A charming wren checked out the potted trees on the paving, giving me an unusually clear view. Then some finches swooped into the birch tree, and a greenfinch came to the feeder; of the two goldfinches perched on the fence, only one visited the feeder. They do seem to like the mixture of seed that has extra mealworms and suet pellets.

Yesterday the local sparrowhawk was perched on a neighbour's roof - it was very quiet while she was there.

And then later on, from a traffic queue on Milburngate Bridge in Durham, we spotted a grey heron roosting on the roof of the Passport Office. Perhaps it was the one seen standing by the weir when the fish were going upstream recently.

14 November: Down but not out

We have both been laid low with the lurgy, a virus we brought home with the shopping a couple of weeks ago.

But coughing does not involve the fingers (well, not all the time), so I've been able to do a little light knitting. Another Baktus scarf in sock yarn -


and another sort of stranded hat, starting with one colour and gradually changing to a second. The first A to B Hat turned out a bit subtle -


so the second one was done with more contrast in the yarns.


A slight dent in the mountain of stashed yarn.

3 November: Topical TV

This evening we saw a TV programme about Ray Mears in Canada, travelling with voyageurs in canoes along the rivers, as they did in the 1800s.

Then he spoke about the voyageurs' sashes, and went to talk to Carol James, who makes sashes for historical groups.

It was her website, Sashweaver, that showed me how to do finger-weaving. Very low-tech. And actually, I always spin worsted, not woollen.