Most of my days are busy, but today feels busier than usually. I think that’s because I’m going to the dentist. Just a check up, nothing exciting, but not exactly fun either.
The other important thing to do today is writing up the pattern for the Welsh Skies waistcoat which I finished yesterday. I’ll press it today too, then I’ll be able to photograph it. The pattern is giving me a few headaches: creating the garment is one thing, but pattern writing is fraught with potential disaster. This one has darts in the front and back and it’s not easy to write those without a lot of repetition. Never mind, it should be done by the end of the day, and that could be quite late: the old chap has a meeting to go to this evening so I’ll be home alone.
Now: as for this meeting: nothing posh, certainly not a suit and tie job, it’s being held in a barn. It’s planning for the annual cider and skittles event: second year. This is the cider he and our neighbour have spent all winter nurturing, to be shared with the rest of the village and the neighbouring one. Many people contributed apples, so that’s only fair. There will be plenty of food, games of skittles in a skittle alley made from bales of straw… Very bucolic and lots of fun. To put the icing on the cake it’s on my birthday too! There may be pictures. It all depends.
Right: this won’t get the baby a new set of parsnips, so I’d better start getting on with stuff…
mochyn, May 13th 2010 |
Posted in General
On Mondy I went to see my ENT specialist. I was diagnosed with (probably) Meniere’s disease a while ago and I’ve been on a horrible diet for the past six months. No red wine, no tea or coffee, no cheese, no Marmite and NO CHOCOLATE! It was getting me down: I know it’s not the worst thing that could happen by any means, but it was depressing. Not only was I not allowed some of my favourite foods (apart from tea = boiled compost), but I was on a restricted fluid thing: not more than 2.5 PINTS of fluids a day.
I was quite worried about the appointment: would he say “Well, slowly: bit more fluids this month, introduce something else next month” or what? I got there in good time and was called straight in. It was a different chap! He asked how I was getting on, I said not too good (still feeling strange). He said how about the restricted fluids thing; I said it gave me headaches. He said “Well, I suppose you’d better come off that then: eat and drink what you like!” I could have hugged him.
So the upshot is that now if I have another turn (which means suddenly falling over for no apparent reason) I phone the hospital for an emergency appointment! It may never happen (let’s hope it doesn’t) but there’s not much to be done so here we go for the next part of life…
mochyn, March 24th 2010 |
Posted in General
We have a small group here: there are five of us, all in a 20 mile radius of here. That may sound like quite a distance, but we’re very rural here and there aren’t that many people in that area! We really do have more sheep than people here. We try to meet at least once a month and spend the whole day knitting with some crochet and spinning thrown in. Meetings rotate between members’ homes, that way no-one’s lumbered with all the driving or all the catering. We used to have a rule that the hostess made lunch, but the cooking took too much knitting time, so now we bring sandwiches and there is always cake: often more than one.
Sometimes we go and knit at people: Soloalpaca in shrewsbury was our last destination and very pleasant it was too! Next month there will be two meeting: our regular one and a trip to Wonderwool so we’re all getting excited at that prospect.
Apart from knitting, eating and gossiping we bring show and tells: last week I had a whole heap of stuff. There were Yvonne’s lacey fingerlsee mitts, a crocheted beret made from Noro Silk Garden sock yarn, and a baby’s waistcoat in British Breeds Blue Face Leicester DK (www.britishwool.com). A casual little garment, no fastenings, very simple. The pattern is being tested as I type, so that should go live next week, hopefully. My WIP was an adult beret from Fybrespates’ (www.fyberspates.co.uk) Scrumptious in shades of blue.
My friend who understands these things will be back from cardiff tomorrow so, hopefully, I’ll be able to post some pics before the end of the week.
mochyn, March 12th 2010 |
Posted in Knitting
Well, how exciting. My first ever blog, and its first day. I’ve just put a big tray of flapjacks in the oven and I’ve got a while until they’re cooked so here I am!
This morning, after I fed all the livestock, I knitted a pair of fingerless mittens for my friend Yvonne. They’re drying now, so I’ll be able to put up pictures of them soon and write the pattern up. I used some of the lovely Angora yarn from another friend, Irene’s goats in France. i love using her yarn: since the undyed version comes to me in the grease it leaves my hands very soft. The gloves are a very simple lace and the yarn shows off the pattern nicely. They’re knitted in the round so there’s minimal sewing up too.
A bit about me. I live halfway up a hill in Montgomeryshire with my husband (referred to as the Old Chap); two cats, Wacke and Mrs. P.; a large tamwroth sow, Heulog, and her daughter, Bathsheba and assorted hens and ducks. We grow most of our own fruit and veg., although the old chap’s off at work during the week so the heavy stuff gets one at the weekend. I retired a couple of years ago from being a self-employed garden designer and now, like many retired people, find there’s too much to do and not enough time.
I suppose that’s it for now: back soon!
mochyn, March 8th 2010 |
Posted in General