knitting

Progress, sort of

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I have just finished the second tension sample for the cardigan. Yes. Just. Normally it takes me an evening to knit up a sample square. Hey ho. Well, that one is too big too. I’m going to have to do another one on slightly smaller needles. Ho hum.

Went to Brighton the weekend before Christmas to see family. We stay in a lovely hotel in Bramber, which is right next to an old castle and church. It’s really nice and there is parking! which is an issue in Brighton. It’s about 15 minutes away in the car from ES. The only fraught thing about the whole weekend was charging the electric car. The infrastructure is simply appalling. Even when you find a charging point, you’re lucky if a) it’s working and b) there’s no queue. And it was cold!Christmas Day was wonderful. Just hubby and me. No worrying about the Appalling Mother any more. Just lovely food, gifts (of which more in a moment), siesta and relaxation generally.

One of the things hubby gave me was a paraffin wax bath for my wonky hands. Sometimes used by beauty salons, they are good for arthritic and painful hands. I had a go with it yesterday – takes some setting up the first time, as you have to wait for 3 x 1 lb blocks of paraffin wax to melt, but it was worth it. It’s very hot – 50-55o C – so you just dip the painful part in and take it straight out again, wait for the paraffin to set, and dip again. About 6 – 10 times is recommended. It is so soothing. The paraffin wax just peels off, and you can discard it, but as I’m the only person using it, I’m reusing the wax.

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Both the physio and the surgeon have discharged me from the hospital – 5 months after the operation.

It should continue to improve hopefully. Still a little swollen and quite stiff but I can manage most things.

Watching some excellent tv – Succession series 3, The Great series 2, the films Spencer, and The Power of the Dog. Wonderful drama. Spencer is about Diana (of course) and takes place one Christmas. The stuffiness and insistence on adherence to tradition, however dreadful, is claustrophobic. Some characters are invented, but make a strong point. Charles is portrayed as completely hidebound by the rules, but not a bad chap overall. Diana is portrayed as being very unhappy, resentful of Camilla Parker-Bowles (the mistress), unsurprisingly having mental health problems, and a wonderful mother. The Power of the Dog is a Western of a very different type from usual. Shot in New Zealand, directed by Jane Campion, it’s very very good. Dark and powerful.

Also last night watched Billy Connolly’s “My Absolute Pleasure”. He’s nearly 80 now, has Parkinson’s, and is such a lovely, lovely man. His sense of humour is delightful. I just love him to bits.

Hubby has gone into Solihull to spend some Christmas vouchers. Also he doesn’t feel comfortable being in the house when the cleaners are here. So I’m doing this, he’s in Solihull, and the cleaners are cleaning.

I’ve ordered myself a “monocular”. I can’t see through binoculars because of the stupid double vision, but I can see through a monocular. The plan is that when I see an interesting looking bird through the window I can grab it and actually see what’s going on. Mm. We shall see.

Not terribly pretty, but yum!

Made an apple and almond cake for Christmas. Hubby doesn’t actually like fruit cake. This is a recipe from Nadiya Hussain, who is just wonderful. I didn’t use olive oil for the icing though, just dairy free butter cream. And for Christmas I did white glace icing so it looks a bit more Christmassy. It’s absolutely delicious. Quite rich though. Even I can only manage one slice per day. But Oh. My. Days. it’s yummy.

I had to get a new computer in the end. The motherboard was clearly in distress. Strange random beeping noises and kept falling off the internet, when everything else in the house was fine. Hm. And managed to work out it is 3 years old. Not old for a personal/domestic computer, but the industry standard when I was working in tech (20 years ago now I know!) was to replace workstations every three years. So I’m on Windows 11 now. Had to tweak it a bit because it was quite slow, and took me a whole day to install it – which is usual, I will say, for Windows. But I’d backed everything up, so haven’t lost any data, so am fairly smug about it. I just need to nuke the old hard drive and Freecycle it – with clear warnings about the dodgy motherboard.

Hubby uses his Virgin email address and it wouldn’t work the other day. Eventually after much faffing about I discovered that it was locked for some unfathomable reason. So I ran a virus check (clear) and managed finally to change his password. After an hour it magically unlocked itself. FFS. What is that about? Damned blasted technology. But I think I won, even if I don’t know what happened. Mm.

And here is a photo of our cat. Just because.

And a very Happy New Year to you all.

Further Developments

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Well, you’ll be delighted to know that the “empire” biscuits are absolutely delicious. A bit substantial, but delicious. Even I can only manage one at a time. I will be making those again!

The next day I made a Raspberry Bakewell Slice, which is something I do regularly. The last one wasn’t so great, but this time I made a special effort and actually read the recipe, and checked before/after I did anything. It’s for family at Christmas.

And as I’ve been feeling quite low and pathetic, weak and wobbly, I decided I’d have a go at some exercise for “seniors”. The exercise videos on YouTube for “the elderly” are mostly sitting down ones, and I can actually stand up . . . so I had a go this morning at Joe Wicks’ 10 minute exercise routine. I managed 5 minutes and that was fine. The next 5 minutes are a repeat of the first, so I’ll work up to that. Got the old heart pumping. Feeling quite good about it. If not actually smug.

Dreamed that our garden was horrible. Very glad to wake up and find out it is lovely. Here are some photos.

When I was at my lowest point in July and August, I was trying to think of what would help to cheer me up. The first thought was being by the sea. Not going to happen, I couldn’t have managed the journey. Next thought – being in the countryside. Same. So. I sat in our garden, in my pyjamas, with a cup of tea or a glass of water, just sitting. It was lovely. When it had rained, I could smell the herbs – rosemary, thyme, sage, mint. Just being outside helped so much!

Finally finished the tension sample for the cardi I have planned. It came up a bit big, so I’m doing another sample on a size smaller needles and will see how that turns out. I have a plan A and a plan B (of course!)

Winter is almost here

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Today I did some baking. They’re called Empire biscuits (I don’t like even the word “empire) but they look lovely. Yet to be tasted . . . .

Hubby put up three wicker nest “boxes” at various points around the garden. The other day we were absolutely delighted to spot a little wren going in and out of one of them! excellent! however, as the photos show, I have a wildlife camera situated immediately above it. Now I dare not touch that particular camera because I don’t want to frighten the wrens. And that camera has the best view of both the bird feeding stations. Humph. I’ll just have to wait until any baby birds have fledged and then see where I could move it to.

Slowly starting to knit again. I’m doing a sample tension square, and normally I do one of those in an hour or so. It’s taking me ages and ages. Must be two weeks since I started it, but I can only knit two or three rows at a time – and there are only 28 stitches! ho hum. It still feels nice to be knitting again though.

(It’s actually a dark, garnet red)

I have a yellow rose, much beloved, that my sister gave me for my 60th birthday. It struggled with black spot this year but after some treatment came back fighting, and now there are buds trying to bloom despite the frost. Love it.

Not much happening, but . . .

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Japanese Acer turned brilliant red in the autumn.

When I bought this years ago it was a twig. A tiny little twig. It’s in a pot so I can keep the soil ericaceous as that’s what it likes. It’s just outside the patio door so it’s protected by the house on one side and the fence behind it. I just love it. It needs very little maintenance. Every other year I scrape off the grit and top compost and put new ericaceous compost on top.

Still not started knitting yet – I have settled on a pattern and some yarn (Bergere de France Ecoton in this colour). I’ve gone off the original pattern I bought the yarn for, and found another pattern. (I prefer the shawl collar in this one). Then realised I needed more yarn. Luckily you can order from Bergere de France by dye lot number! which is excellent. However, what has happened now is that the extra yarn has arrived, but the original yarn has not. Apparently their system removes my house number from the label, so it’s probably gone back to the factory. In France. Yeah. Still, I’m enjoying the anticipation. And the colour of the yarn is even better in real life than I’d hoped. Mm.

Youngest granddaughter has lost her first tooth! Her mum has made a special pouch for the tooth so that the tooth fairy can find it easily. Her cousin (who lives in Southampton) is a year older than she is, and he decided to keep all his baby teeth in a box, so he can throw them at people should he want to. Love it.

Yesterday I made a cake. Different from my usual – a recipe from Nadiya Hussain. It’s apple and almond, dairy free. It was really good. My last efforts (muffins) eventually went mouldy, they were so dreadful. But this is nice. May well make it again. In fact, just thinking about it I want to eat some! but will wait till I’ve had my lunch.

Mixed Results

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Had a blood test last week. Our doctor’s surgery has a website you can log in to and have a look at your results. So I did. The good news is that my thyroid levels are fine, and the cholesterol level is better than it’s been for 20 years. Still a little high, but much better. I’m guessing that’s down to giving up dairy altogether.

However, there are several results which are “abnormal” so I have to have a repeat test next week. My red blood cells are too big, and my iron levels are low. I don’t understand any of the other results which are dodgy, so will wait and see what happens. If the doctors want to do anything, they’ll phone me. If they don’t, I’ll arrange a telephone appointment to discuss the endless sleeping.

Today has been a medium day. I have managed to get up, washed and dressed, make a chocolate fudge brownie thing, and eat lunch, but it was touch and go. I’m ready for bed now.

Not doing any handicrafts at all, but just reading a knitting magazine and thinking about crafting helps a bit.

Here are some photos to cheer things up a bit. The flowers in the vase are what’s left still in bloom after our 21st wedding anniversary last weekend. Yeah.

End of an era

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For me, anyway. I have had my Ford Ka for 20 years. I bought it from a local Ford dealership where it had only been used as a demo car, and it was six months old. It’s done 47,000 (UK) miles, and been serviced and MoT’d regularly. (MoT stands for Ministry of Transport [roadworthiness test]).

Well, it failed the MoT spectacularly on Tuesday. The garage said I can still drive it until the old MoT expires on 5th October. However, hubby and I have been talking casually about our next car being an electric one and had done some research.

So we took the plunge and on Wednesday bought a three year old BMW i3 after test driving it. It’s a bit (very) odd, but handles very well and drives like a dream. Most of my driving is local. (I can’t drive for more than 15 minutes at a time). We’re picking it up on Tuesday next week. Very, very excited. The Ka didn’t have air conditioning, electric windows, and was a manual gear change. None of those things were a problem, but to have all the fancy schmancy mod cons is quite exciting. I loved the Ka. It was easy to drive, park, and worked for 20 years. Not bad I think.

Am looking forward to learning all the computery bits and driving it. The only complication is charging it up. We are having a “fast charge” point fitted to our house, and we’re unlikely to use it for long journeys, but there is a bewildering range of public chargers. Some are free, some are not. A variety of different providers. Some do fast charge, some do not. I will ask the garage for advice but honestly! you’d think there would be some sort of universal charge card that would pay for whatever you use wherever you use it. Perhaps there will be eventually.

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Finished the toy I was knitting. It’s lovely. No pics, it’s a gift. Started a new project – a cardi for ESW who is almost 4 now. After that will be a hooded jacket for LCS (he’s nearly 5!)

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The garden is lovely. I absolutely adore autumn. The sun is shining but not too hot. The colours are mellow. Love it.

New project

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My knitting mojo has got up and gone. I’m sure it’ll be back at some point. Luckily I don’t have lots of knitting to do for Christmas (have done most of it anyway and have alternatives for stuff I haven’t done).

I watched a programme called The Repair Shop on BBC2 last night, by chance. It was absolutely lovely. One of the things that was repaired was a very old teddy bear. The process was really interesting, and I thought about getting my ancient bear repaired. Her name is Edwina Sarah Catherine Bear, and she is almost as old as me (64).  Checked out various sites, and it is certainly possible, if expensive. Then I went to the osteopath today and she suggested I could actually have a go myself.

Very old and decrepit!
The yellow dress is practically holding her together.

Well, yes, I could, I thought. I found the episode online, watched the relevant bits, made myself a list of supplies and the order in which to do things, and before I go any further, have ordered a book which should help me on my way. (£2.99, so worth it!). Already decided to use elbow patches for the paws and possibly even the ears, which are in rags. We shall see. I must have some fabric somewhere in my stash which would be good for lining her. But I need more information – what sort of darning thread to use, whether it’s possible even to darn her as much as she needs, how to deal with the joints (oh yes, she’s jointed).

As you can see, she is very well loved, and over the years I have patched her up inexpertly. She seems to be stuffed with very small bits of foam and some straw too. I took the growler out years ago, and have decided probably not to bother with another one.

Anyway, we shall see.

November!

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Did my ironing this morning. All of it. Although I had to do it sitting down, as my stupid back is playing up. Painkillers, ice packs, phone call to osteopath tomorrow to see if I can bring forward the next appointment.

Had the leylandii at the back trimmed, and one of the leylandii hedges at the front cut down by half, so it’s just below the level of the roof of my car, which is an old Ford Ka. The other hedge at the front has been dug up and the stumps ground out. That was quite exciting to watch. Two men, fully kitted up in safety gear/helmets/goggles, with a large noisy machine, took approximately 10 minutes max! Now I just need to get as much of the thuggish ivy out of the soil as I can, weedkiller the rest, and see how it is next spring before I plant some more Photinia Red Robin, to match the little hedge at the front, parallel to the house.

Meanwhile, hubby decided to pollard the willow tree himself. Yes, himself. Worked, hard, all morning, up and down ladders with a saw, despite my bleating about stopping now, and did it all. Cut up the twiggy bits and fitted them all into the green wheelie bin. But he then had (heart) “symptoms”  for three days. I was very worried and a bit cross. It is frustrating not to be able to do the stuff you used to do easily. It is. But still. I’ve had years to come to terms with it (slipped a disc 43 years ago) so I do know how difficult and limiting it is. But harrumph. And of course he’s fine now.

Wasn’t able to knit for a couple of weeks – arthritis in my hands. But I’m ok now and nearly finished the Festival shawl (dark grey Gossypium and white/cream Paradou). It’s lovely and easy enough to knit (though not while I’m watching subtitled Swedish programmes!) and I will be pleased with it when it’s done. Next up, Whelk vest top for hubby, in pale grey Rowan yarn. Need to do a sample tension square, because the pattern is for DK, and the yarn I have is worsted. Not much difference, but enough to check first. Also need to check I’m ok with the pattern . . . . .

Have treated myself, after watching Black Earth Rising, to a cuff earring with two chains attached to a small stud. The heroine of said programme wore one, and looked stunning. I won’t look anything like her, of course, she’s about 6 ft tall, black, muscular and slim. Ah well. I do like it though. Hubby thinks it’s weird. Don’t care.

Christmas – presents all done. Not wrapped yet though. And I need to get my act together with regard to cooking. Planning a Yule Log, so need to practise with an ordinary Swiss Roll (tomorrow). Also need to do a carrot cake and a bakewell raspberry slice. And some mince pies (bought pastry, bought mincemeat, just need to put them together . . .)


Back again

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Well, I did get better from the M.E. episode, but have had a throat infection and no voice for the past 12 days. Harrumph. I’m better enough to do things like have my hair cut, and I went to the knitting group today, but it’s so frustrating only being able to whisper. And the funniest thing is that whenever I explain to anybody I have no voice, which involves pointing my flattened hand, palm down, at my throat, and waving it from side to side, whilst whispering “no voice”, most people then whisper back to me. The guy who cuts my hair actually started using an improvised sign language, bless his heart, so I cough/laughed and said “I can hear you!” and it was all fine.

But for a week or so I was not well. No knitting, no guitar. In bed, very tired and weepy. Bummer, big old bummer.

However, yesterday I felt up to some tidying up in the garden. I cut the dead dicentra right back, deadheaded the buddleias and trimmed the whippy growths off the wisteria and the golden hop. It only took half an hour but the garden looks so much tidier. I do have a new plant (heuchera, Ginger Peach) but haven’t decided where it will go yet. I think I’ll do that tomorrow.

Bought some new stuff at the knitting shop today – some of it is for me to knit Xmas presents, some of it is for a present just as it is. Nearly finished child’s hooded jacket – cast on the hood today. Must find some interesting buttons though. Hmm.

YD is feeling much better now she’s 20 weeks. All is well, she looks fabulous and feels good too. Thank goodness. ED is still luxuriating in motherhood with her delightful little boy.

The Malvern grandchildren came to stay last Friday – Sunday. We went to Ragley Hall, which has an excellent adventure playground, perfect for an 11 year old and an almost 14 year old. Trampoline, high rope bridges, monkey rope, zip wire, wonderful. We just made encouraging noises and provided large pieces of chocolate cake and hot chocolate with cream on top at the fabulous cafe afterwards. And of course we were both in need of sustenance too!

Just treated myself to a new handbag, new ankle boots for the winter, and some new underwear. I had to research it long and hard on the internet, but for once, everything is actually perfect! The bag is the right size and shape, the underwear is fabulous, and the ankle boots I actually went to the shop and tried several pairs on. I’d taken socks and my orthotic insoles with me to make quite sure they would fit with my winter gear. And they do. Good old Marks and Sparks.