Two Busy Days

 

If I said that was an elderflower presse (which it is) then several readers might well say 'oh you've been to that antiques place again', and if they said that they would be right. I went to see a podiatrist last week and her clinic is in Doune. I daresay there are more local ones but I had seen this one advertise itself on Facebook and there were good reviews so I decided to go there. The appointment was at 11.30 which meant it finished in nice time for us to go and have lunch at the restaurant attached to the Antiques Centre in Doune and after lunch we had a pootle about in the centre  as well. We didn't buy anything although I picked up contact details for someone who I hope will upcycle a bookcase for me. There were some very nice things in there, also some of the other kind, but nothing that leaped off the shelves shouting 'Buy Me, Buy Me' so we didn't get anything. I did look in the modern bit of the shop for wax melts but they didn't even have any of those. So a nice day ( I even enjoyed having my feet looked at and pampered a bit)  without spending a fortune. 

On Friday we went to the SEC in Glasgow for Model Railway Scotland. I felt that we might well spend a fortune here but in the event the OH was very restrained and contented himself with buying some bits of bendable track to add to his 00-9 layout. That's  going to have to come off the coffee table in the living room shortly but we're not quite ready for that step yet. 

I have to say we were both overwhelmed by the show. It was huge, it was full of people, it was very noisy and there were a lot of model railway layouts which, to the untutored eye, like mine, all looked the same. Here's my big takeaway from this; at the end of the day model train layouts are basically model trains going round and round in a circle. Or an oval, at a push.  You can put in backgrounds, of distilleries, or paper mills, or small gauge railways in the Yorkshire Dales or the Welsh Valleys but at the end of the day it's a train on a track and most of them have scenery that's basically hills with grass and sheep. 

Some of them stood out a bit from the rest; this was my favourite 

although why the neighbourhood giants are cultivating equally giant primulas I don't know. I was of course well outnumbered on the gender front;

there were a few women there but they were mainly staffing the stalls. 

I did however make one amazing, and delicious, discovery 

And I say it's delicious even though I'm not the world's greatest fan of marshmallow. There were lots of other flavours too, we got some raspberry and some orange ones too. 

Three posts in one day! But I wanted to get caught up because life is picking up pace and we're off on holiday in less than a week, after which there will be lots to blog about,  without needing to catch up on the knitting, the jigsaws and What We Did Before We Went Away as well! Or at least I hope so. 

Stashdown - The Jigsaw Edition

I have lots of lots of different things; books, CDs, DVDs, wool and jigsaw puzzles. The books, cds and dvds all got thinned out before we moved, which is not to say they couldn't do with a bit more thinning out but you know ... I also donated lots of jigsaw puzzles to the library in Orkney but I still brought 65 puzzles to Alloa with me. 

My goal is to reduce this to 50 by the end of the year. I was told, when taking a couple to the charity shop for the cat shelter we got Cosimo from, that they have someone who likes 500 piece puzzles so I did all my puzzles of  500 pieces and under over the winter, reprieved one  and took seven to the shop a couple of weeks ago. This should have  meant I was down to 58, but I bought one while I was in there which brought me back to 59. That's not a problem as I have now finished it  and will be taking it back to the shop shortly. 

Here it is

The World of Frankenstein. I have several of these 'World of  ' puzzles. Originally three were only a few but the range has expanded over the past few years. I'm not a completist so there are a lot I don't have simply because I'm not particularly interested in the subject matter and Frankenstein was one of those. I wouldn't ever have bought it  full price and I don;t see it as being something I'd want to do over and over. But it was only £2 in the charity shop and I enjoyed the challenge of doing it and now it can go back and they can sell it all over again. 

I did get a rather lovely late Christmas present of another jigsaw which I dd before the Frankenstein one but ti will be a long time before that one goes to the charity shop. 

So 58 down from 65 whic means another 8 to go before the end of the year. Can I do it? watch this space!

WiP progress and a finished project.

So I've dealt with two more things from the Wip list recently. 

One got frogged; it was a DK  cowl that I was never going to finish as I only had two colours for it and you really needed three, or even better, four. Obviously for some reason I didn't realise that before I cast on. I've been out this morning helping someone from knit group teach knitting at a local school, and we all took along some DK leftovers for the children to practice on/take home and the wool from the cowl went to that. So a project off the list and wool destashed - definitely a win. 

The finished project was a hat. I bought the kit for this at the Glasgow School of Yarn in 2024. I'm a huge fan of the skyline kits from Wee County Yarns, which is now very local to me! - I've done   their  Glasgow Skyline and the Firth of Forth Bridges ( I think I have recorded here recently the sad news that the bridges one is lost which is upsetting.) Anyway back in Nov 24 we knew we'd be looking to relocate to the Stirling area so it was a no brainer to buy the Stirling Skyline pattern and some wool to knit it in. Sadly between then and now my desire for a pink hat has definitely waned, and although the two colours I chose were a good contrast in the ball they could have been a better contrast in the knitting. Too late now. 

It's not my bets knitting ever and I'm not 100% happy with it, ( my knitting not the pattern!) but I am pleased enough to  wear it. And some time I must reknit the Forth Bridges one. 
 

Quick Dash South

 We zapped off to Newcastle at the weekend with son no 2. Down on Saturday, back Sunday. The occasion was my last remaining aunt's 90th birthday; something well worth celebrating. One of my cousins had done all the organising so all we had to do was turn up at the selected restaurant at the right time. It was an Italian and part of a chain; not the best Italian food I've ever had in my life, and the place was extremely noisy so conversation with the various relatives at the table was quite difficult. We still all managed to enjoy ourselves and catch up a bit on our news. My aunt was delighted to see everyone and one of my cousin's step-daughters had baked a birthday cake so we all sang Happy Birthday, not very tunefully and she blew out however many candles there were on the top. Not 90, I do know that! Looks like it might have been nine. 

The next day we popped in to see her at home, together with my sister, and had a cup of tea before we set off in opposite directions; sister going south and us back north. The house was like a florist's shop; obviously no-one knowing what to get a 90 year old  nearly everyone resorted to flowers and I'm only amazed she had sufficient vases for them all. 

She was reminiscing about the days when we were all small and how we are now 'all grown up'. I pointed out we were not so much all grown up as 'old' but was roundly told that I wasn't old at all, which was consoling. I don't feel it, but a chill falls over me when I look at the age creeping up on my next birthday. 

I did a little looking back myself. When I was young I had 9 aunts and 8 uncles and I'm now reduced to one of each, and my remaining uncle,  who was also there and is 92, was looking very frail. It's very sad to see what time can do to those you remember in their prime. I'm told there are consolations to growing old but looking around I do wonder ... what I would give sometimes to be 15 again and in the middle of a big family gathering with all those people I grew up with  still safely around me. 

 

Hair Again

 I feel I want to add 'and gone tomorrow' to that title but it would be wrong - although not rhythmically.

Anyway, it being spring I went to the  hairdressers a couple of days ago,  had what was left of the winter blue ( which had faded to a rather nice teal) taken out and replaced it with pink. 

It's quite bright and there's rather more of it than there was of the blue. I love it. 

I put up a photo on Facebook and the person who was less than complimentary about the blue confined themselves to a 'nice cut' comment this time around. I was pleased about that. Wonder how they will feel about what I have planned for October ....

And It's Done!

 

The cross stitch kit I bought at the Palestinian Embroidery Exhibition at the V and A in Dundee.

I'm thrilled with this for several reasons. 

1 I like the design

2 It was a quick and easy stitch

3 I didn't need to wear my head magnifier! 

and the third one is the most thrilling because I thought I was destined to wear that or just not cross stitch for ever. I have no idea why this was easy to do without a magnifier, it's not huge or anything. Possibly it's that the fabric is a block weave, or maybe it's the fact that it was in a hoop and the tension made the holes easier to see? Who knows? In any case I was sufficiently happy to order a new kit to start which is on similar fabric and I'll put it in a hoop, a thing I have previously avoided like the plague and see how I go. 

There were a couple of things I wasn't so happy about though. One was that I thought the hoop was both for working and hanging but closer inspection revealed that it wasn't, it's just a working one. Not a problem though as I will use it on my new kit, and get the trees framed. The other was  more problematic. The box says clearly that it contains 6 colours of embroidery thread, which it does. The design as printed on the box, and the chart inside it, contains seven colours. This meant  a bit of creative input on my part, as I tried to stretch six colours to cover the job of seven, but I'm happy with the  result. I could have bought some extra thread but I didn't know the make or the weight or even if it would be available locally, not to mention that I wouldn't have had any use for the large amount that would have bene left over. So six it was. 

February Reading Round Up

 Well it had to come

The February book for the Crime Fiction Book Group was The Dry by Jane Harper. I had read this before many years ago ( possibly for the crime fiction group in Orkney? or maybe I just found it myself. It was long enough ago that I thought I had better re-read so that I had all the details to mind. Due to a mix up with the library catalogue system I ended up with a version on CD which was a bit annoying but finally prodded me into buying a new portable CD player that I could carry round the house. It was not as portable as all that and it isn't just a CD player which was all that I wanted but that's a story for another day. I listened to The Dry, and found it quite slow, a bit like the film version which I saw was on Sky the week after we had discussed the book. I recorded it and have so far managed to force myself through 20 minutes of it. I should delete from my recording list I know. Apart from that the ending is very tense if you haven't read it before, and not very tense if you have. 

My 'send me to sleep books' fr the month were Mick Herron's Bad Actors, a perennial favourite, and Agatha Christie's Nemesis. 

There were two detective novels; J D Kirk's latest which is A Killer of Influence and stretched credibility to its limit and then somewhere beyond. I still enjoyed it though. I really should read these in order but  it's too late now. The other was A Long Time Dead by J M Dalglish. People are always telling me how good he is. This is the first of a series set on Skye; I always like getting the first book of an established detective series because then you know that if you like it there is more enjoyment to come. I was ambivalent about this one. I didn't take to the lead character, it lacks Kirk's humour and I was able to spot the murderer quite early on. Maybe because there was a big spangly signpost over their head saying 'It Was Me'. That said it was a bit more complex than I had anticipated and the plot was well thought out. I'd sum it up as ;workmanlike and although I'm not rushing to the library to see what others they have I wouldn't rule out reading the next few at some time in the future.

I had a vague thought about working my way trough the sci fi and fantasy section at Stirling Library by picking books alphabetically by author, so one by someone with a surname beginning with A, then one for B and so on. So far I have only managed the A ( I don't get to the library that often!) and this was Tonight I Burn by Katherine J Adams. By borrowing this I unwittingly broke one of my own rules whihc is never to read Part 1 of a fantasy series if it it isn't finished ( the scars of GRR Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire run deep). In my defence I had seen a ( favourable) review of her most recent one called Tonight I Bleed and thought it was the last of three rather than the second. In the event it doesn't matter as I shan't be following up book 1. I enjoyed it but I wasn't sufficiently pulled in to care about what happens to the characters over another two tomes. The writing was good though and the plot set up and world building were well done. 

The there was Wintering by Katherine May. I can't describe this except to say it's the author's description of a winter in her life in which she tells somethign of what happens to her and also expands this into reflections on life, it's currents, the importance of resting and retiring from interaction to build up strength and motivation to go back into the world. It was done month by month and by the time we reached February I felt as though I had been reading it all winter long and it would never end. It didn't; teach me anything I didn't already know about the importance, and difficulty,  of finding a balance in your life between being out and in, or active and at rest, if you prefer that terminology. Her chapter on March was basically a long description of how she got into cold water swimming and there was far too much of it. My reaction to the whole book  basically was, what makes this woman think that anyone else if going to be interested in her wittering on about motherhood, her lost career, and the benefits of cold water bathing? Long time readers may recall I had a similar reaction many years ago to the work of Robert Macfarlane whihc I was forced to read by by my Ph D supervisor, possibly because he knew I would hate them, and I think the lesson is that this is just not my type of book. I had hoped for more psychology and rather less poor me really. 

And finally although I haven't read it from cover to cover I have been dipping into this 

because as previously mentioned we have booked a week's holiday in Tuscany and it's coming up quite fast. 

A Day in Dundee

 I was just starting to think that the blog had degenerated into something approaching what it was in Orkney when I remembered that I hadn't written up my day in Dundee. This has spared readers, for now, my reading review for February, but it cant be far away ....  We haven't been very active recently because the weather has been appalling and I've had something wrong with my left leg which has left me hobbling. Very frustrating. However it seems to be well on the mend now, although not before time. 

Anyway. - Dundee. I went on the train; there's a good service from Stirling, two trains an hour although not every 30 minutes for reasons which escape me but presumably make sense to railway controllers. I met my friend S just by the station and we immediately decamped to the V & A Dundee which is basically just over the road. First stop was the cafe for coffee, cake and a catch up and then we went to look at the Palestinian Embroidery Exhibition. This was interesting and the garments on show were beautiful. I didn't take any photographs, something I've been kicking myself over ever since. I couldn't remember whether it was allowed or not, which was silly of me because the OH and I both took oodles of photos when we went there for the Kimono Exhibition last year. However I'm hoping to go again and I will take photos - meanwhile I couldn't resist a little related treat for  myself in the shop.

I have not yet started this, but as it is pouring with rain and blowing a gale today I have decided to give it a go this afternoon. 

After the V & A we walked up to the Mcmanus Art Gallery where they are currently hosting an exhibition called Curtain Call - more info here. I did take pictures at this one 

that's the front and back of a film costume for Mary Queen of Scots

and this one is from various TV shows, mainly Poldark, although the wedding dress is from the  recent adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small. 

The exhibition was smaller than I expected, while the V & A one was larger. It focussed on designers and costume makers with a connection to Dundee, but although small it was a delight. Again I plan a return visit before it closes. After we'd looked at that we had lunch in the McManus' very nice cafe, put our families and the world to rights and then walked back to S's bus stop and then the station for me.

It was  a lovely day, both because of the company and the things I saw: the only downside was the weather. The temperature was Winter Baltic and the wind was as strong as anything I ever experienced in Orkney. Hopefully the weather  will be kinder when I go again. 

Finished Project No 8 ( not a WIP )

 

I don't suppose many readers remember the tale of how we came to acquire the bear called irresistible but the story is  here. I had in fact forgotten all about the irresistible  bear myself until I came across the post while I was browsing some old entries on the blog. He belongs to son no 2 and as we were going to visit him last weekend I decided to see if the bear  was still about. (How could I have doubted). 

In another part of my domestic planet I had come across a jumper pattern that I wanted to try and I thought I could get it to fit the bear so I borrowed him. As things turned out I used a totally different pattern, but still produced a rather nice stripy jumper for Irresistible Bear. 

Voila

So cute. And as I thought, only a couple of evening's work, so not distracting me too much from the work of sorting out the wips. 

Two More Wips bite the dust ...

 although only one resulted in a finished project. That was the Eye Cowl, a pattern from  my Fellowship of the Knits book. 

Sadly my grafted edge is not all I could wish, but then again, who is going to see it when I'm actually wearing the cowl? I did have a moment while knitting it,  thinking that I didn't know where I could wear this; it's not everywhere you can go with the Eye of Sauron round your neck! But then someone at knit group told me she'd never heard of Sauron but the cowl was gorgeous colours, so I expect I can take it anywhere really. 

After this I pulled out a thing called  Catkin. According to my Ravelry project page I started this in 2012, and I have no memory of why I gave up on it. I took some time to work out where i was in the pattern, which is largely made up of multifarious charts so it took some time, tried knitting one row while juggling the requisite 14 stitch markers, and went wrong multiple times before accepting that my vision is just not good enough to follow the charts anymore. They're too small. I daresay  I could have faffed about and done wonderful things with enlarging technology, but when I thought about it my enthusiasm for the pattern - well, I was going to say it had waned but the truth is it had evaporated altogether. No point in forcing yourself to slowly work your way through a pile of charts that are almost too small for you to make out if in the end you're going to end up with something you don't actually want. So I pulled it out ( or frogged as we say in the trade) and the yarn has gone back into stash where it will stay until next year when we reach the Year of Knitting up Random Stash Yarn as opposed to this year which is the Year of Finishing Wips and Kits.

That  said I am about to go and cast on something new but it''s very small and very special and in theory will take me at most two evenings to complete. Well, we'll see how that goes. 

Smaller Plot: More Plants

Not quite sure how that works, but we certainly seem to be keener on garden related things since moving from Orkney where we had an overwhelming 2.8 acres. We mostly ignored it, bar the OH's efforts to keep a huge expanse of grass under control, and now we have a small patch which is mainly patio and astroturf. Definitely ticked the box 'Small easily maintained garden'. 

Last autumn we bought spring bulbs and put them in a variety of pots; rather to my surprise they have grown and flowered. Here's one of them

Crocus and iris. We have a similar one which also has daffodils on the verge of blooming too. And another pot which has tulips in it but they aren't nearly as far on. Possibly they will be our failure as far as pots go. Or maybe it's just too early for them to be out. 

At the weekend we went to the local garden centre and splashed out on some primroses to add  a bit more spring cheer

and I also treated myself to a hellebore. It's a bit late for this year, although there are still plenty of flowers on it to enjoy,. Normally you see them in the run up to Christmas and there's too much else to think about/spend money on at that time of year so I've never bought one, even though I've wanted one for years. But now was the time! The variety is Ivory Prince and the colour tinge is a sort of dusky pinkish brown - it's beautiful. 

And a couple of weeks ago the OH brought home a camellia. When we moved to Orkney we left behind the most beautiful camellia. We'd bought it as a small plant and nurtured it for years, but there was no point in taking it to Orkney as that would have been a death sentence for it. One of the things I was looking forward to when we moved was getting a new one, but at the time there were none in the garden centres. Obviously we had missed the boat for that year. They  are appearing now though. 

Here's the plant; it has masses of buds

and here's one of its open flowers

So beautiful. The plant was a bit tall and spindly but we've repotted it and hopefully it will bush out as it grows. And who knows what else we may buy for the garden as time goes on.

2026 Finished Project No 6, and wool stats for February.

 I literally can't remember how old this project is. I know the wool came from Rowan as part of being a Rowan Member and I was only one of those for two years and it was a long long time ago. The pattern came from a small booklet included with Knit Now magazine, and it has been kicking around as an unfinished project for many years. 

I don't know why we knitters ( or possibly crafters in general) do this sort of thing to ourselves because, when I looked this out to finish it off, all it needed was for the hat to be seamed up and the cord to be made and inserted, and for the jumper to get six buttons and two press studs. For that it had been taking  up space for years? Part of not finishing it was not liking the hat very much and part of it was not having anyone to give it to, but this being the year of Finishing Things, and given that this didn't need much doing to it, it was a high priority. I even have someone I can send it to so it's a win/win. 

Stats are looking very good this month, thanks largely to finishing the Debbie Abrahams blanket and selling quite a large amount of sock yarn leftovers. 

Wool in was Nil ( hooray!) and wool out was 2297g and the cumulative total for the year to date is therefore 2413g. Not every month will be this good I know, but it's still a pleasing start.