A few weeks ago, we were teaching a workshop for Avon Guild (lovely day, had a really good time, by the way) and I was roundly taken to task for not blogging enough. I promised I Would Do Better.
Yeah, right. That went well, then.
But I am not going to give up. I like the "sound" of my own voice too much to do that. I could make a load of excuses, indeed have done. They are sort of true. But that gets boring for us all. All I can do is refocus and try harder, ok?
After Bristol, we went on to Cornwall to see the DSM's mum &etc. We took my sister with us - she is in a really good place at the moment, so is trying to get out and about as much as possible while she can. A gorgeous few days, the weather was fabulous and the cottage we stayed in a really nice one. We visited a few favourite pubs for meals as per usual, and did a run down to St Ives because my sister wanted to go to the Hepworth house. We are definitely not averse to doing that!
We left on the Friday to go to London for the Association AGM. These things are much better these days, and it is always good to catch up with people. We ran into an old Guild friend that we hadn't seen in years, which was lovely; and indeed, the meeting wasn't too bad either (although the very expensive sandwich lunch was rubbish. A pack-up next time.)
Meanwhile, my sister was spending the day with a very old friend from her childhood who she hadn't actually met in over 40 years (P doesn't exactly have a formal bucket list, but this sort of thing is figuring in her thinking.) Apparently, they had a wonderful time, a full day of chat and exploration, which may even be repeated. And she still had the energy to go to a nearby Turkish restaurant that we had found on a previous trip and like very much. Seems most odd having a "regular" eating place in London!
Since then, life as usual. I am still working on the same things, so nothing of any great interest to report. The Vortex shawl is very nearly finished, I am actually casting it off, but as I am doing a picot cast-off, it is taking quite a while. I have cast the lace pygora scarf on again, and the DSM has very kindly volunteered to talk me through the four rows of pattern to get me established, because being me, and even though it is a very simple patter, I do my usual lapse of concentration thing and go wrong almost immediately. Once the pattern is established and I can"see" it, I can either put mistakes right or fudge - but I have to get to that point first! I do though need another easy or tv-watching project, but I have no inspiration at the moment......
Studio time is still somewhat of an endangered species, but again, there - Must Do Better. There, I mostly work on Summer School stuff and spinning for the sample of colourwork that I have in mind, which is kind of the same thing.
I am trying to resist distractions - I am getting a yearning to try tapestry weaving again , but that must definitely wait until after SS. And, when at Avon Guild, a friend introduced me to a wonderful book of crocheted animal toys called Edward's Menagerie. With a new great niece coming up fast not to mention the already very much with us great nephew, I want to make a zoo full of these, and I think maybe I can be allowed that small diversion, eh?
Oh - and I have done something rather daft. All my own fault, I got myself in to it, no-one else to blame. I signed up for a drawing class. The DSM and his lovely art tutor have been trying to persuade me to do an art class for the last couple of years, and I really didn't want to. But drawing would be useful in a number of ways in fibre work, plus I did used to rather enjoy it many, many years ago. The first class was last Thursday, and I nearly turned and ran within the first five minutes. But I forced myself to stay by sheer will power, and actually managed to produce something that whilst not brilliant is not total rubbish. Considering I hadn't touched a pencil in that way for over 25 years. Next week though I have been threatened with charcoal, which I am really not sure about. But I will do it.
Yes, I will.
Saturday, May 02, 2015
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Coming up for air.......
The age of miracles is not yet over - I have actually managed to get in to the studio, on my own!, again. So time to squeeze in a quick blog post before getting down to anything else. In my personal reckoning, that counts. It is surprisingly difficult to manage to do it at home, given the large numbers of kittens trampling about on the keys and husbands who decide to make marmalade just as I am about to get the lap top out.
Last Saturday, we taught a spinning workshop at the studios as part of their regular programme. It went very well - we had seven participants, which is counted to be a good number for a newish class, and they all thrived, enjoying their day very much and making excellent progress. I always seem to feel very apprehensive before a class. This is in part because in order to make one viable, we have to be prepared to take all levels in one group and then deal with them appropriately, something made much easier by there being two of us. But you never can be quite sure just what you are going to be faced with, and there is no denying that it can be quite tiring!
We had the usual mix, I suppose, from the "whee! this is great, I'm getting it!" to the "I will never ever ever get this I am so useless (but she did!) via the one with the unstated problem, perhaps having had a stroke, but sticking to it gamely and getting to a good place in the end. This was a particularly rewarding group, that will have given birth to some real new spinners, I am glad to say.
I have talked before about the "tribe". There are different but overlapping groups within the tribe, and the class situation is one. Not quite the same as the "family" tribe of Guild, or dare I mention it, SOAR, but equally important to me. We shall see in August how the DSM and I get on with a class of twenty five! at Summer School. I am sure that I have said before that doing a week-long class is so particularly rewarding, and I am really looking forward to it. Although I still have a mountain of work to do before then in preparation.........
Of late - little bit of spinning, little bit of knitting. The Spiral shawl is growing and has moved on to a longer cir. It remains my only live knitting project at the moment. Must do something about that.
The kittens are gorgeous, affectionate little beasts and really, not too naughty. All four are getting on pretty well, we leave them together when we are both out now, and this weekend, they are going in to the cattery together. We are off to Cambridge for a few days.
And, my sister - has finished chemo. Quite where that leaves us, I don't know. I read an interview in the Guardian yesterday with a GP who said that she liked being one better than working in hospitals because a hospital doctor treated a condition, a GP a patient. Yes! It is very frustrating, especially as the bystander, not the patient. We see a different member of the team at each appointment, sometimes someone who has very obviously only just read the case notes. They tell us what we already know, or rather, some variant of it. Each time, we are promised a fuller review - next time. I am not doubting the standard of the medical care one bit, but yes, my sister has a condition and is not a real person. As exemplified by her being given an appointment to an 8am blood transfusion the day after the last clinic appointment, despite a plea for it being a bit early when it means a two hour+ drive through rush hour traffic. And not explaining that a first ever transfusion has to be done very slowly, and then a second unit given rather faster, so that it is going to take all day, sending us home just in time for the afternoon rush hour.....A five minute explanation would have been nice! However - it did a good job, and she is feeling much better. Fingers crossed that this is the start of a good bit.
Onward and upward, eh?
Last Saturday, we taught a spinning workshop at the studios as part of their regular programme. It went very well - we had seven participants, which is counted to be a good number for a newish class, and they all thrived, enjoying their day very much and making excellent progress. I always seem to feel very apprehensive before a class. This is in part because in order to make one viable, we have to be prepared to take all levels in one group and then deal with them appropriately, something made much easier by there being two of us. But you never can be quite sure just what you are going to be faced with, and there is no denying that it can be quite tiring!
We had the usual mix, I suppose, from the "whee! this is great, I'm getting it!" to the "I will never ever ever get this I am so useless (but she did!) via the one with the unstated problem, perhaps having had a stroke, but sticking to it gamely and getting to a good place in the end. This was a particularly rewarding group, that will have given birth to some real new spinners, I am glad to say.
I have talked before about the "tribe". There are different but overlapping groups within the tribe, and the class situation is one. Not quite the same as the "family" tribe of Guild, or dare I mention it, SOAR, but equally important to me. We shall see in August how the DSM and I get on with a class of twenty five! at Summer School. I am sure that I have said before that doing a week-long class is so particularly rewarding, and I am really looking forward to it. Although I still have a mountain of work to do before then in preparation.........
Of late - little bit of spinning, little bit of knitting. The Spiral shawl is growing and has moved on to a longer cir. It remains my only live knitting project at the moment. Must do something about that.
The kittens are gorgeous, affectionate little beasts and really, not too naughty. All four are getting on pretty well, we leave them together when we are both out now, and this weekend, they are going in to the cattery together. We are off to Cambridge for a few days.
And, my sister - has finished chemo. Quite where that leaves us, I don't know. I read an interview in the Guardian yesterday with a GP who said that she liked being one better than working in hospitals because a hospital doctor treated a condition, a GP a patient. Yes! It is very frustrating, especially as the bystander, not the patient. We see a different member of the team at each appointment, sometimes someone who has very obviously only just read the case notes. They tell us what we already know, or rather, some variant of it. Each time, we are promised a fuller review - next time. I am not doubting the standard of the medical care one bit, but yes, my sister has a condition and is not a real person. As exemplified by her being given an appointment to an 8am blood transfusion the day after the last clinic appointment, despite a plea for it being a bit early when it means a two hour+ drive through rush hour traffic. And not explaining that a first ever transfusion has to be done very slowly, and then a second unit given rather faster, so that it is going to take all day, sending us home just in time for the afternoon rush hour.....A five minute explanation would have been nice! However - it did a good job, and she is feeling much better. Fingers crossed that this is the start of a good bit.
Onward and upward, eh?
Monday, February 16, 2015
I'm not doing too well at this blogging caper at the moment, am I? I do keep meaning to get down to it, but like the fibre crafts, I'm not being very successful!
So, a bit of a mixed bag coming up.
To the usual chaos, add a filthy cold! I was supposed to be joining the DSM on the visit to Cornwall, but had to cancel, partly for DMIL's benefit, partly mine. That was over two weeks ago and I am still not completely free of it' which seems very unfair. Still, it did mean that I could really buckle down to the Landscape shawl and get it finished. In the end, I only managed three stitch patterns with the amount of yarn that I had, but it looks ok and is a generous enough size. It is washed, but would be better for a light steam press which I suppose means that I should do the rest of the ironing, too, dammit.
So then I cast on the Spiral shawl with the gradient three-ply. Quite how I managed to make a fundamental error in such a straightforward pattern within twenty rows I really do not know. But I did - suddenly the repeats weren't working, the DSM had a look, and seemingly I had achieved ten repeats instead of the eight that the pattern called for. Oops. I got back on track last night and so far, so good, but until I start to see the colour changes and do enough to get on a circ instead of dpns, I won't be able to really know if I am going to like it or not. But I think I will, ok?
So, the great big thing........well, two little ones. Yes, crazy old cat people ride again. Two more snowshoe brothers were collected last weekend. I was really quite worried by how Barni would be, but in the event, he is actually being very good, with very little display of bad temper. Ferdi has taken to them immediately - I had rather thought that he might - and they are already quite friendly. They arrived with toys, including some catnip ones. We have shared these with Barni, but we have to ration his exposure or he goes too completely doolally. A little nip has helped to reconcile him to the interlopers, though.
They are of course, monsters. In one week they have learned to jump up on to the kitchen counters and one of them can get through the inner cat flap with ease. In all other respects they seem totally at home and as if they had lived with us all their lives, which I suppose is a compliment to us as well as their breeders. Just as soon as I can find my camera, I will put up some photos - the ones I have done with phone or iPad are not very good, the shutter delay is too long and the beasts move too dam' fast. Oh - Bruno and Madoc, by the way.
One very nice thing that has happened is that at last the UK copies of Ply magazine arrived, having been delayed in the Christmas posts. So at long last I got to see my Worstead article in print. Very nicely laid out, with some of the photos that I took, it looks very well. I feel very proud - Ply may be fairly new, but it hit the ground running when it came out and has since gone from strength to strength. Now I need to watch for another opportunity to pitch an article!
What I really need to be doing now is to get stuck in to putting words down on paper, so to speak, for our Summer School course. It is all in my head all right, but not all out there for all to read. I do know it will not take me long once I really get down to it, but that part really needs to be done before gathering the actual materials. There is a lot of really good buzz about this Summer School, I am looking forward to it, and I do enjoy the planning stage, too. Of course, I still have a fair few samples to do as well.....please can I have a bit more mojo and a few more hours in the day?
OK, the cancer bit.
So, we had something of an alarm and excursion a few weeks back when we heard from my sister that she had gone to A&E. The side effects of the chemo got rather worse and she had to have a transfusion of platelets. After having her next regular appointment with the oncologist her dosage was reduced, and the next round went so much better! And the other piece of good news is that her scan results came back, and her tumour has reduced - from what was said, not massively, but satisfactorily. The chemo this week is the last one, after which things should revert to something quite comfortable for a while, and we are all hoping that she and we and have some good times as the Spring comes on.
And I should have said - our snowdrops are out! one of my favourite landmarks in the wheel of the year.
So, a bit of a mixed bag coming up.
To the usual chaos, add a filthy cold! I was supposed to be joining the DSM on the visit to Cornwall, but had to cancel, partly for DMIL's benefit, partly mine. That was over two weeks ago and I am still not completely free of it' which seems very unfair. Still, it did mean that I could really buckle down to the Landscape shawl and get it finished. In the end, I only managed three stitch patterns with the amount of yarn that I had, but it looks ok and is a generous enough size. It is washed, but would be better for a light steam press which I suppose means that I should do the rest of the ironing, too, dammit.
So then I cast on the Spiral shawl with the gradient three-ply. Quite how I managed to make a fundamental error in such a straightforward pattern within twenty rows I really do not know. But I did - suddenly the repeats weren't working, the DSM had a look, and seemingly I had achieved ten repeats instead of the eight that the pattern called for. Oops. I got back on track last night and so far, so good, but until I start to see the colour changes and do enough to get on a circ instead of dpns, I won't be able to really know if I am going to like it or not. But I think I will, ok?
So, the great big thing........well, two little ones. Yes, crazy old cat people ride again. Two more snowshoe brothers were collected last weekend. I was really quite worried by how Barni would be, but in the event, he is actually being very good, with very little display of bad temper. Ferdi has taken to them immediately - I had rather thought that he might - and they are already quite friendly. They arrived with toys, including some catnip ones. We have shared these with Barni, but we have to ration his exposure or he goes too completely doolally. A little nip has helped to reconcile him to the interlopers, though.
They are of course, monsters. In one week they have learned to jump up on to the kitchen counters and one of them can get through the inner cat flap with ease. In all other respects they seem totally at home and as if they had lived with us all their lives, which I suppose is a compliment to us as well as their breeders. Just as soon as I can find my camera, I will put up some photos - the ones I have done with phone or iPad are not very good, the shutter delay is too long and the beasts move too dam' fast. Oh - Bruno and Madoc, by the way.
One very nice thing that has happened is that at last the UK copies of Ply magazine arrived, having been delayed in the Christmas posts. So at long last I got to see my Worstead article in print. Very nicely laid out, with some of the photos that I took, it looks very well. I feel very proud - Ply may be fairly new, but it hit the ground running when it came out and has since gone from strength to strength. Now I need to watch for another opportunity to pitch an article!
What I really need to be doing now is to get stuck in to putting words down on paper, so to speak, for our Summer School course. It is all in my head all right, but not all out there for all to read. I do know it will not take me long once I really get down to it, but that part really needs to be done before gathering the actual materials. There is a lot of really good buzz about this Summer School, I am looking forward to it, and I do enjoy the planning stage, too. Of course, I still have a fair few samples to do as well.....please can I have a bit more mojo and a few more hours in the day?
OK, the cancer bit.
So, we had something of an alarm and excursion a few weeks back when we heard from my sister that she had gone to A&E. The side effects of the chemo got rather worse and she had to have a transfusion of platelets. After having her next regular appointment with the oncologist her dosage was reduced, and the next round went so much better! And the other piece of good news is that her scan results came back, and her tumour has reduced - from what was said, not massively, but satisfactorily. The chemo this week is the last one, after which things should revert to something quite comfortable for a while, and we are all hoping that she and we and have some good times as the Spring comes on.
And I should have said - our snowdrops are out! one of my favourite landmarks in the wheel of the year.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Oof
Indeed. Where has the last month and a bit gone?
Oh, but first, fair warning, practically zero fibre content in this. It has been like that. I have knitted, often in a state perilously close to slumber (and therefore immediately frogged) and that it about it.
What has happened? My sister moved out of her old house and then in to ours temporarily. We took her for her third chemo. Huge fun. Because of some adverse reactions she is infused at half speed, and as they are often very late starting, it isn't finished until early evening. Then she moved in to her own house in HB at long, long last. Then it was Christmas - everybody to us, which was lovely. Then it was the next chemo, an even slower and longer day. We are all in recovery from that at the moment.
It has been almost impossible to think much at all about fibre, spinning and whatever. But slowly, it has begun to happen, a bit like the shoots of the first snowdrops. First of all, a few things previously scheduled decided to rearrange themselves. A non-fibre trip to Cambridge, off again - on again. A workshop cancelled at a month's notice, about which I probably should have been cross, but am not as they couldn't help not getting the numbers and it gives me some extra unexpected time.
And Woolfest. We have with great sadness decided to withdraw our application this year. Too much family stuff around, with part of it centred pretty much directly on the fortnight in which we would have been in Cumbria. We could have left it awhile to see how things went, but if we had cancelled down the line it seemed to us not to be fair to others, like the show, the people we rent accommodation from and so on. If things work out ok, we will try our damndest to get up there for the two days of Woolfest itself. After all, I shall need to replenish my stash!
I did spend some time over the holidays having a very good look at the Knitsonik book on inspirations and techniques for working out colour schemes for stranded knitting. It is fabulous and indeed inspirational, so much so that I have brought it down to the studio together with a coffee table book of David Hockney paintings and a book on Fairisle patterns to get working on some samples. I lighted on Hockney because I love his use of colour, and the Yorkshire woodland series of paintings in particular. Anyway, if I can get you-know-who to ever stop wittering when we are here, I hope to start on that very soon.
And yes, we are in the studio today for the first time since the beginning of December. I knew I had to do it soon, or I would lose the habit, and not really start doing anything very much at home either. First few visits will be a case of Keep It Simple Stupid, no high-flown ideas of anything grand, it is getting back into the groove that matters. Hence this blog post as first on the list (nearly time to tick!) And I have a huge bobbinful of gradient yarn that I finished spinning ages ago on my Hansen, and could not face winding off on a niddy noddy. So it is down here to be done on the skein winder, much easier. Then I shall just spin - such simple words, but they do sound good.
In a couple of weeks time, we are going down to Cornwall to see DMIL for a couple of days, then when we get back, there will be an announcement, and finally some photos, I promise. I am not making resolutions, intentions or whatever exactly this year. Principally just one foot in front of the other, but maybe also to do what I am doing that little bit more mindfully. (Sorry about the buzz word du jour, but it works.)
Onward, eh?
Oh, but first, fair warning, practically zero fibre content in this. It has been like that. I have knitted, often in a state perilously close to slumber (and therefore immediately frogged) and that it about it.
What has happened? My sister moved out of her old house and then in to ours temporarily. We took her for her third chemo. Huge fun. Because of some adverse reactions she is infused at half speed, and as they are often very late starting, it isn't finished until early evening. Then she moved in to her own house in HB at long, long last. Then it was Christmas - everybody to us, which was lovely. Then it was the next chemo, an even slower and longer day. We are all in recovery from that at the moment.
It has been almost impossible to think much at all about fibre, spinning and whatever. But slowly, it has begun to happen, a bit like the shoots of the first snowdrops. First of all, a few things previously scheduled decided to rearrange themselves. A non-fibre trip to Cambridge, off again - on again. A workshop cancelled at a month's notice, about which I probably should have been cross, but am not as they couldn't help not getting the numbers and it gives me some extra unexpected time.
And Woolfest. We have with great sadness decided to withdraw our application this year. Too much family stuff around, with part of it centred pretty much directly on the fortnight in which we would have been in Cumbria. We could have left it awhile to see how things went, but if we had cancelled down the line it seemed to us not to be fair to others, like the show, the people we rent accommodation from and so on. If things work out ok, we will try our damndest to get up there for the two days of Woolfest itself. After all, I shall need to replenish my stash!
I did spend some time over the holidays having a very good look at the Knitsonik book on inspirations and techniques for working out colour schemes for stranded knitting. It is fabulous and indeed inspirational, so much so that I have brought it down to the studio together with a coffee table book of David Hockney paintings and a book on Fairisle patterns to get working on some samples. I lighted on Hockney because I love his use of colour, and the Yorkshire woodland series of paintings in particular. Anyway, if I can get you-know-who to ever stop wittering when we are here, I hope to start on that very soon.
And yes, we are in the studio today for the first time since the beginning of December. I knew I had to do it soon, or I would lose the habit, and not really start doing anything very much at home either. First few visits will be a case of Keep It Simple Stupid, no high-flown ideas of anything grand, it is getting back into the groove that matters. Hence this blog post as first on the list (nearly time to tick!) And I have a huge bobbinful of gradient yarn that I finished spinning ages ago on my Hansen, and could not face winding off on a niddy noddy. So it is down here to be done on the skein winder, much easier. Then I shall just spin - such simple words, but they do sound good.
In a couple of weeks time, we are going down to Cornwall to see DMIL for a couple of days, then when we get back, there will be an announcement, and finally some photos, I promise. I am not making resolutions, intentions or whatever exactly this year. Principally just one foot in front of the other, but maybe also to do what I am doing that little bit more mindfully. (Sorry about the buzz word du jour, but it works.)
Onward, eh?
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