Yikes

I can hardly believe that it has been nearly a year since I last wrote a post. Where does the time go? What happened? New grandchildren, a wedding!!, new hens and ducks and........a builder!! In the village we started Zumba classes, got rid of the WI and started our own group - very topical, according to The Times and other press, met lots of new people, had illnesses, bereavements and continued with life as we do amidst snow and the trials of BT!!! (Unconnected with snow) 10days without a phone line in an area with no mobile signal and 15 days with no broadband......words fail me as to customer service - but that would take such a long blog - maybe one day.
Back now with building gems - stone lintels, fireplaces, dust......and other non related matters - if I could only figure how to add photos...

Back

To the past.

In recent months I have returned to the joys and frustrations of family History research. Our local WI set up a family History group and this prompted a resurgence of interest.

My main topic of recent research has been this rather colourful character - Harry Harris Davies, former American Consul to Wales and a distant cousin. More about him later.

In the meantime 2 granddaughters have arrived and additional hens and ducks. So overrun with grandchildren and eggs and yet no baking. Not great as a wedding cake to practise for a July wedding!

Runners

The highlight of the summer has been the arrival of 5 new ducks. The first three were inherited from a neighbour who was looking for better layers so we acquired a trio of Miniature Appleyards. Then, on the day of our village fete, the local farrier who has started a duck and hen business - or rather his wife has, arrived with two statuesque Indian runners - and can they run! 

I went along to the pick up with my son to help carry the new ducks, plus two new hens - Light Sussex, pretty but currently boring and one of the runners made a run for it. Eventually she was caught, just coming up to the neighbourhood alpacas who didn't seem at all interested, and we concluded that the best way to get them home was one under each of my arms with the dear son carrying the box with the hens.

The Appleyards were not impressed and, a month later, are still exerting dominance but the runners are superb. They seem to love the pond and it is great to see it being useful again. They have this amusing honk and are currently providing a good home security service. The younger grandson is smitten.

Oh, and a trip to Croatia

More

Where does the time go?

I rarely get a moment to sit and think, let alone write but, presumably, this is what life is meant to be like. Grandsons are now 7 and 1 and the 1 year old is just recovering from chickenpox. Childhood illnesses, nowadays, involve time off nursery and, as parents continue to need to work, grandparents spend time soothing spots in calamine lotion. Time away looking after grandchildren then results in gardens becoming ridiculously overgrown, rain doesn't help in the need to garden and makes matters worse by bringing on extra growth and then, when the sun finally arrives, it is just too hot to be outdoors!

However, for the past few days, it has been possible to:

A - not be called on to look after a sick child

B - spend considerable time in the garden

C - feel a sense of achievement in not leaving the curtillage and eking out meals from leftovers in the fridge and freezer.

One of the other inevitabilities in looking after grandchildren and not being home has been in the food we have been eating. Travelling, always seems to me, to bring on the unhealthy. Picking up a coffee and a pastry on the early morning drive to the kids' home. A sandwich from a supermarket for lunch or even fish and chips. Then, exhausted on the way home, an instant microwaveable meal from Waitrose. The past few days we have been eating:

Griddled courgettes from the garden

Greek salad with feta that has been sitting in the fridge for nearly too long

Salads with store cupboard essentials 

Lots of eggs from the chickens who seem happy to have us around again

Cakes from the freezer which weren't quite good enough for WI bakes but taste just fine

Tomatoes from the garden

Lots of herbs from the garden which make a difference to every meal.

As for knitting and crochet - I am doing bits in between childcare. Another set of hen party hens went off to Sussex recently and baby knits are coming on, slowly.

A return to knitting

I don't know where the past few months went. Life was taken over by a new grandson, a growing acquired grandson, a daughter having brain surgery!!!, the garden, the builder who sort of moved in, a family funeral...... Nowhere along the line did I manage to desist from adding to the stash but not a lot of knotting nor crocheting has been done for months. Then came the announcement of new babies for near friends and a daughter so the needles came out again and new items are coming thick and fast. A few crocheted blankets came off the needle first and now I am back to the knitting. As ever, I have found a couple of patterns that I like so we are into multiples again. Some 3 ply purchased many years ago has been brought back into action - unraveled a number of times and now becoming a c2c, I hope. Some more star blankets are inevitable and large granny squares. Nice bright cardigans are the order of the day too - oh, I am having fun!

Crochet seems to have taken over

A useful bag for storing nappies and various other items of baby sundries.

 A beautiful star blanket in Baby Bamboo and cotton for Diana's new baby - her choice of colours.

Now this is to cover a bench in our village in our yarn bombing for the village fete - hopefully more photos to follow on fete day when all is revealed.

Again for the fete - to decorate some borders.

C2C

My latest craze on the crochet front - the corner to corner blanket. Had so much fun doing these and another huge one on the hook at the moment.

Creepers and Ocelots

I had always tried to keep in touch with what I suppose is called youth culture but as music and language started to baffle me some time ago I rather lost the plot. When I hear the words -"listen to this, you will like it" I immediately doubt if I will and it is often a surprise when it is tolerable and sometimes rather good and enjoyable. Computer or console games are another matter. I really do not like the violent, shooting games and I just don't understand the fantasy. I was never that into The Lord of the Rings or even The Hobbit - although I did sit through the film a couple of weeks ago and it was alright, just not my taste. I am reliably informed that I will not like Game of Thrones so I will believe that and not bother. So when's heard that the latest craze amongst younger children was a game called Minecraft I was prepared to be confused. I still am. I think I understand the concept but, well I haven't actually played it so I can't really comment. However, having a six year old in our midst has meant that some vague knowledge is required, if only to know what to look for when the cry rings out - "Has anyone seen my Ocelot?" A visit from the said six year old led to a discussion about the various characters and a desire to make him something relevant. Searches online brought forward some knitting charts for some of the characters and discussions and bits of graph paper produced some more. I started to knit and here is the result. Needless to say it went down well.

The turtles on the sleeves totally the design of the young recipient.

Baby boys

Are a joy!!

Hence some knitting for boys:

More star blankets

I have stopped for a while - after 12 I think - and trying out a new pattern. I can't quite believe just how much time I must have spent in the past few weeks crocheting.

Star blankets and Spider-Man

This is definitely my latest addiction. I am loving making star blankets. Some are coming out better than others but they are coming out at a fantastic rate. No wonder people like to crochet blankets - you can make them in record time, especially if you go for chunky yarn and a larger hook too.

A delicate one:

A chunky one:

 A special one for a little boy:

Learning how to crochet

My great grandmother could crochet. She made the most intricate and delicate doilies and mats and dressed tiny dolls in beautiful outfits. She taught me how to do a chain, a double and a treble crochet but I never really picked up the skill.

I inherited all her old crochet patterns, needles, cottons and works in progress but they have been sitting in a box with no prospect of ever being even looked at. The fine work she did will, I fear, always be beyond me but, this past week or so I have finally given crochet a go.

To begin with I found a couple of needles and some cotton yarn and had a go at a granny square. I tried following patterns in a book, online tutorials and YouTube tutorials. Many squares were made and abandoned. I despaired of ever getting it right but then I made something that was reasonably presentable. I still hadn't mastered the pattern correctly but it looked ok.

I gained confidence and decided to try something a little more complex. Needless to say I have done little else over the past 2 weeks. I saw some star patterned blankets online and decided to have a go. I started and unravelled so many times but again, eventually, came up with something presentable.

Not prepared to cut my losses and run back to knitting I was determined to master something slightly more complex. A 12 point star blanket. I think it was probably a whole morning before I could get to the stage when I believed that it was going to work. Crochet could well become the new addiction and I read today in the newspaper that a crochet dress is the thing to have. Maybe not for me but I am clearly "on trend" as they say.

A batch of baby blankets

Go to wool shop, buy 5 balls of yarn from the sale basket, cast on 10 stitches, garter stitch 10 ridges, cast off, turn, pick up, repeat until wool runs out. Result:

Go to wool stash and select double knitting yarn in colours vaguely resembling Elmer the elephant. Make 20 mini log cabin squares. Join with 3 needle cast offs. Make borders. Result:

Hedgehogs, finishing off and looking back.

Yesterday had a certain poignancy. It was Valentine's Day and the dear husband actually splashed out on a card that wasn't buy one get one free or heavily reduced stock. We had a lovely lunch in a riverside pub with the pregnant daughter and her husband and then, being so close by, decided to try to pay a visit to an elderly sort of relative.

I'm not sure how old Ann is but I am guessing 80s. She was the second wife of my uncle, John, who was my father's best man at my parents' wedding. To complicate matters John wasn't his real name. He married my Dad's sister then they divorced and he married Ann then they divorced and he married again. We kept in touch over the years as he was the father of my cousin and, travelling to this part of the country frequently, we would sometimes call in to see them on the farm. 

I had last seen Ann at my uncle's funeral about 6 years ago and she is now rather frail but still has the most beautiful voice and is as sharp and bright as she ever was. I learned a great deal about wood burning stoves in our short visit, heard about a new place for Sunday lunch and the range of events that can be held in a village hall - very helpful.

The mind does tend to wander back though. This beautiful woman who is now confined to her home used to pilot a light aircraft. I took my husband to be to meet them some 30 odd years ago and they separately took us up in their little plane to fly across the amazing countryside around the Wye valley. I loved it but the fiancé was a little anxious going up in such a tiny aircraft with this lovely delicate woman whom he had only just met. She is a delight to know,

Back home it is a hive of activity. I am anxious to complete items of knitting for the new baby and to get on with so many outstanding projects. Spring is beckoning and the garden is more than beckoning for attention and it is time now to start to work on the house. The decorating which was needed when we moved in is still needed - that isn't going away and, to add to the work, the middlest child is buying her first house so work will be needed there. Retirement is fun.

Some completed projects:

New Year projects

A wonderful Christmas with all the family in our new home. This house suits family and Christmas so long as the younger members don't mind mattresses on the floor and uncomfortable, elderly sofa beds.

The new year brings nearer the prospect of a new grandchild, Masters degree graduations, a first real winter in the new house and the delights of getting to know our new neighbours better.

Knitting for the new baby carries on apace with so many works I progress that I have been forced to seriously organise my stash, the needles and knitting paraphernalia and the current projects. Only 3 projects allowed in the sitting room at any one time and everything else on show and easily accessible upstairs.

The weather has dictated the wearing of warm clothes and the production of warm hats.

There is also an ongoing project - hedgehogs for next Christmas!

Christmas decorative knitting

We are having a village Christmas Fayre and I have volunteered, with the help of a friend, to provide a centrepiece of knitted Christmas decorations. I have been having a lot of fun making simple garter stitch Christmas trees, small mittens, mini sweaters and little socks - with the odd bauble or owl thrown in for good measure.

The patterns have mostly been free ones readily available online with some from one of the Christmas knits books I bought recently. Standard acrylic double knitting wool already in stock has produced something which I think looks rather festive.

Miscellany

Overheard:

Actually a conversation in a hardware store where I was buying wellies for the eldest daughter. Young man - " I need wellies that I can run fast in" me - " do you normally run in wellies?" Young man - " yes, I need to chase my birds of prey"

Things I never bought before:

Roof felt for the shed where we keep straw for the hens and ducks.

Items of knitting finished:

Items of knitting started:

Christmas decorative mittens - see above and little jumpers.

Baby cardigans  x 2

Chunky chevron baby blanket - started but unravelled.

P.S. We have owls in the garden every night from dusk. They sound like a tape playing of the sound of owls. If you stand at the door and hoot at them they respond. I adore living here.

Startitis

I have had a bad case of startitis. For non knitters a basic explanation of this condition is starting a piece of knitting then another and another and never quite finishing any of them. It started with a baby blanket in a soft cotton double knitting. I had been making the same pattern in 4 ply and quite liked it. The double knitting, however, did not seem right. Then I found a pattern for a chunky baby blanket and had some delightful yarn that I had bought in our local Red Cross charity shop. I like the pattern, there is a cable - but I am finding it boring. Then I had a request for a child's log cabin in the colours of Elmer the elephant. That sounded fun so I started that. Making the log cabin squares I realised that if I made them the usual size it would detract  from the Elmer type pattern so I made a few smaller squares and then hesitated. In my box of favourite wools I had a selection of Bamboo cottons in various pastel shades. I had a pattern for a throw called Building Blocks and thought the Bamboo would be good for that - so I started the first square, made a mistake, unravelled it and put the pattern and yarn and needles in a box at my feet next to the sofa - where there is another similar box of chunky wool ready for me to make another Cowichan inspired child's jacket. I haven't casted on with this one, fortunately but I can see it tucked under the coffee table.

I think I want to knit something else - maybe a baby cardigan, maybe something for Christmas. However, yesterday I bought some fabric to make Christmas bunting so maybe this is the time to confess that I have a similar problem with sewing. Upstairs there is, cut out, a red linen top, some pretty floral bunting and a dress. Oh, and, of course, some knitted chickens which need to finished off, a few owls, a Snowdog and a fair isle sweater.