My first pair of socks - day two

Yesterday I purchased the following:
2 balls of Regia 4-fadig Ringel Color
1 sock pattern
1 set of 3.25mm double pointed ends needles

Today I concluded that I didn't understand the pattern at all so downloaded what I hope will be an English translation - in knitting terms, of the American pattern. I also realised that the needles I had bought were too thick so I spent an "enjoyable" hour or so sorting out the needles in my late grandmother's knitting needle bag. In there I found a large number of double pointed needles and, thank goodness, a little device for measuring such needles. I found that I had, in different lengths, some 15 needles in what seems to be the approximate correct size.
Sitting with the wool, the 2 patterns and a set of longish needles I started to cast on the 60 stitches required for the size I am attempting. This proved to be the first "issue" or "challenge" I faced. I have never done any knitting like this before and wasn't quite sure how to cast on over the needles. I was finally happy with my 15 stitches on each of the 4 needles. Then came the next challenge. I really didn't know how to proceed. Did I just knit 15 on to an existing 15 but then they would all be on the same needle? Why did I seem to have multiples of 5 needles? I then realised, what must be so obvious, that I used the 5th needle to knit on to. It only took one round of stitches for me to understand that I was using needles which were just too long and cumbersome and so I "frogged" ( a new term I have just discovered - unravelled and started again).
The second attempt at casting on was easier on the shorter needles and I began the ribbing. I was still puzzled about whether to have the new needle on top or underneath the previous one but after a while it all seemed rather more intuitive. The patterns were not specific as to exact sizing so I continued in rib for about 2 cms and then proceeded on to stocking stitch. I was bemused by the term - obviously the stitch for stockings and hence socks. It was also a revelation that, if I continued to knit then it would come out as stocking stitch without the need to do a row of knit and then one of purl - you learn something new every day if you try new things!

Having moved on to the main leg section of the first sock I must stop thinking about what on earth is going to happen when I get to the heel. It is never useful to project about what might happen in the future or to constantly worry about "what if..." I am enjoying this knitting so far and will carry on and just take it one stage at a time.
In terms of actual physical progress on day two there is not a great deal but it terms of a learning experience it is great.

Remembrance

The symbolic wearing of a poppy in remembrance of those who died for our freedom has always been a part of my life. My mother would watch the Remembrance Day service on the television every year in tears and I, who cannot stem tears in any situation, would do the same. My grandfather was a stalwart of the British legion and, having been in an ambulance blown up during the second world war, instilled in us all this belief in respec,t and I would wish to see this continue. A couple of years ago we went over to France and Belgium to visit the war cemetries where I knew that I had family members remembered. These were men I never knew - a great uncle on my mother's side and a great great uncle on my father's side, both killed in the Great War. Tyne Cot was a moving experience but that small corner of a foreign field that is Auberchicourt moved me beyond belief. Albert was the youngest of the nine brothers and sisters in my Great Grandfather's family. He died on the 27th March 1918 and is laid to rest in Northern France. I don't know if anyone before me had visited his grave. I suspect not. It was beautiful.

Contemplating socks

Having developed an addiction to www.ravelry.com I believe that I need to try knitting a pair of socks. My late mother in law used to knit socks and there is a pair of very sturdy knee length walking socks in the sock drawer. They are showing no signs of wear after a considerable number of years and are a testament to her considerable knitting skills. I remember some 30 years ago when I was knitting a Fair Isle jumper she showed me how to neatly weave in the different colours - a skill I had never been shown before and it made such a great difference. I have vague memories of her saying, when handing over the aforementioned socks, that she was never going to knit another pair and I don't think that she did. I do think that I should make an attempt at socks though - at least one. Consequently I have been investigating patterns and wools and have concluded that this is not going to be straightforward. I like the look of self-striping wools and I wonder if making baby or child size socks to begin with may be an idea. But - and there are a lot of buts. I made a trip to my, very local, craft shop and found some wool. I also found a pattern but there didn't seem to be any needles of the correct size for the wool and the pattern. I do have a large bag of needles inherited from my mother and my grandmother but nothing seems to be the correct size. Neither does there seem to be a pattern in my extensive collection of patterns from the 1950s and 1960s. How funny some of them seem now yet others are so stylish. Back to socks. The next issue is whether to use a circular needle or 2 circular needles or a set of 3 or a set of 4? Each pattern seems to suggest something different. Patterns called "easy" say things like "turn the heel in your usual way" !! I have not knitted a pair of socks before so I don't have a usual way. I want a pattern which will guide me through, row by row. I have invested in a pattern to go with the wool. I use the word " invested" as the cost of a pattern certainly seems to have increased disproprtionately since those of the 1950s and 60s that I have been looking at. Yet I am not sure that I actually understand this pattern. It all seems so vague but, as I don't seem to have the correct needles  there is little I can do about any of this. I still have the intention to knit a pair of socks and the willingness to have a go and for the moment that will have to be enough.

Baby Blankets

I like to have a knitting project that I can just throw into a bag and take along with me on a trip. The prerequisites of such a project have to be:
a that it requires only one set of needles
b that I can continue knitting whilst talking to other people
c that I do not have to remember to take a pattern with me
d there is no urgency to finish the project
e there is enough wool to keep me going throughout the trip
The ideal candidate is a baby blanket. Not a shawl which is cumbersome unless I know that I will be away for a while and have plenty of space for extra wool but a baby blanket that I know the pattern by heart and can just sit and knit anywhere, anytime.

In true form I now have a glut of baby blankets. I made one for my god daughter's daughter, Emily - a shawl and another one, a blanket, for her sister's baby. Then I seemed to have a number of trips - Cornwall produced another shawl and recent visits to children have resulted in 2 more blankets without a baby to attach them to. They can stay "in stock" and no doubt will come into use before too long but they have already served a purpose - to keep me occupied and to provide, what my husband calls, that soporific click of knitting needles on a long dark evening.

Forest of Dean genealogy

Prompted by recent events I return to family history research in the Forest of Dean. For various reasons my research in this area has lain dormant for a number of years hence the need to re- register on the excellent Forest of Dean Family History site - http://www.forest-of-dean.net/
Gratitude, as ever, goes to the teams of volunteers who give their time to enable the development of resources on such sites and the advantage that brings to researchers. I was helped a number of years ago by forum members on the site in my search for the families of Savery, Giles, Pegley and Anthony to name but a few and I note continued interest in some of these families by fellow family historians. I am faced with the dilemma of not quite knowing where to start with my current surge of enthusiasm and the obvious answer is to go back to basics with all these strands and work through in a systematic way. The temptation, which I find hard to resist, is to take one line of interest and run with it but that can become rather haphazard and records are missed or filed in a slipshod way. I must try to resist the charms of the Saverys and begin, again with Jones and do the best I can today.

Eggs for supper

A few days away and back to a large supply of eggs. The hens have not been laying particularly well recently but 3 or 4 a day from the 9 of them soon mount up. The only other garden produce seems to be a few marrows, the last potatoes and onions and some self-seeding coriander and rocket. First thought is a Spanish omelette with a little colour added by half a red pepper left in the fridge. A couple of slices cur from a marrow and quite finely diced can be fried in some olive oil and garlic with a finely chopped onion and the diced red pepper. The potatoes can be boiled and sliced in rings and added to the pan before the beaten eggs - 6 this time and some crumbled cheese on the top. Some leftover Saint Agur works quite well but any blue veined cheese adds a certain, if not authentic flavoour. I like to finish the omelette off under the grill and then serve with a little salad - rocket and coriander today with a couple of tomatoes. The tomatoes would go equally as well chopped into the omelette and provide some colour.
For dessert it is to the freezer and some of the stewed figs from earlier in the summer. These, together with  Bramley apples which have fallen from the tree over the past few days make the base of a fruit crumble - a figumble or figappumble - the latter I think, with a custard made from fresh egg yolks.

The Forest of Dean

A beautiful journey in the November sunshine through the Forest of Dean. Spending so much time as a small child on the borders of the Forest, just outside Monmouth, I had known about its existence but had never really got to know the place until family history research took me there some years later. I had driven along the A449 from the M50 to the M4 countless times and always loved the sight to my left. Day trips to Chepstow and Tintern Abbey gave a taste of what the area had to offer but it was only following the lives of those in the 19th century that I feel I truly began to get to know the place. Wandering into the church at St Braivel's and seeing the list of clergymen over the years in the porch with  the name of the one who married Isaac and Jane in 1843. Having a drink in a pub near to Tidenham Chase and talking to the owner who confirmed that families with the same name still lived there. Walking up to the church at Tidenham in the steps of Charles and Eliza who married there in 1870. On a walk along Offa's Dyke some years ago we came across a cottage which had been the home of ancestors and would have loved to have knocked on the door. House hunting in an area not too far from the Forest at the moment has, on occasions, stretched to cover some of the villages we love there. My abiding memory of the Forest, though, is a sad one. The funeral of an uncle at what must be one of the most wonderful settings for a crematorium in the land. I went alone but sat looking out of the floor to ceiling glass window at the Forest and knew that Alf was at rest.