I Met A Man With Seven Wives...

No, it was just Kirsten with a ball of wool and a pair of needles!
Here is her October gift Block #49 which the author has named St Ives 

Kirsten says
"These were incredibly quick to knit; it's a ten-row pattern, but astonishingly easy to learn and only five repeats. Plus, there's only one row of the hated purl to knit, and two of rib, which I don't mind so much."

Rows 1 – 3 knit
Row 4 K2P2 to end
Row 5 – knit
Row 6 - K2P2 to end
Row 7 – knit
Rows 8 & 9 – knit
Row 10 -  k1, P to last stitch, K1

Kirsten sent me a beautiful vintage postcard of "Tombland" the medieval area outside Norwich Cathedral- an area I love walking round.

Plus a quirky little book - which Bob recognised instantly and said how brilliant it is. Lem Putt is the Specialist - a carpenter by trade, and specialist in Sanitary Engineering. It is the story of how he builds his friend Elmer a 'mighty pretty privy'

Kirsten made herself golden autumnal one. I love my red/purple piece, the colours of breakfast compost!  She says she will definitely be repeating this one, perhaps in a less fluffy yarn so the stitch definition is clearer.

The people of St Ives, Cornwall claim this poem, written in 1730 for their town. But the folk of St Ives Cambridgeshire say it was written for them! Who knows? I wasn't planning to go to St Ives anyway

All Mixed Up

Over the summer, I have developed a fondness for 'topping up' my breakfast cereal, with yogurt and/or fruit. In Cyprus, Wendy prepared a lovely bowl of chopped fruit each morning [with fresh figs from her garden] and had a tub of Greek yogurt alongside. Staying with my SIL, there was fresh fruit, and also a tub of summer fruits compôte. Back here, I have a jar of home made compôte and one of home-made yogurt in the fridge, which I put out on the breakfast table. 

Bob refers to this as fruit compost. But this jewelled red delight is not to be confused with compost heap jelly.  [See Sue's post from earlier in the year] I have made CHJ in the past, they are two very different products.

The jelly is made by cooking the fruit, straining it, and boiling it up with sugar and water. Quite a long process, but it does yield a proper preserve which keeps for ages. The compôte is much quicker - chop up the fruit, add a little water and sugar to taste, bring to the boil, then simmer for 2-3 minutes, cool and keep in the fridge, use within 4-5 days.

My latest batch was some ripe strawberries and plums from the fridge, and in place of sugar, I emptied a tiny Tiptree pot of blackcurrant jam which came with a scone recently.
But I started wondering - where did the name come from? The word compôte is French, and the circumflex over the ô indicates a historical missing S [like pâté for paste, and hôtel  was originally hostel]

But how does this connect with my garden compost bin?
I finally found the answer - the word comes from the Latin compostum - which means to put together, or to mix.

So mixed fruits in a jar, or mixed decaying materials in a garden bin, are both compost. As usual, Bob was right!

VERTI

This sequence of letters appears in both VERTIgo, and oVERTIred. I suspect being the second is what caused a bout of the first yesterday. So I am taking it easy today. That way I can diVERTI [Italian for 'have fun'] later in the week. 

Holey, Holey, Holey

Block #74 – Alternate Eyelets -AA

After K sent me an eyelets square last month, I was greatly challenged to try a lace pattern myself. The next one seemed to be this alternate eyelets pattern. Seven or eight eyelets in each row, but adjusted so that they made a diamond pattern. I memorised the 8 row sequence very quickly, and was able to knit a square in the car on the journey to London [to see the Tapestry] and another on the way back. I was so taken with these two [random yarns] that I quickly knitted two more in plain yarns. I used that blue random in July, and the autumnal golds in August. The top plain one reminds me of raspberries! The last one is snowy white. Summer-autumn-winter, how the seasons flow into one another…

I like very simple memorable stitch patterns. If we are going to make enough for a jumper, doing twice as many each month will help. I am sending K one plain and one fancy.

There is an old hymn which begins Holy, Holy, Holy - when I was very young, the choir always sang it in church just as we began the Sunday Morning Service. I was baffled by a verse which referred to "Cherubim and Seraphim, falling down before Thee, which wert and art and evermore shalt be"
"Wert and Art" was such an odd phrase, incomprehensible to a 6 year old.
And I was bothered by the heavenly beings falling down. I knew that Isaiah the prophet saw the seraphim, and declared "with twain he covered his feet" [Is 6:2] I wasn't sure about the word twain, and confused it with tallow. Thus I thought the seraph had waxy feet!

UPDATE - Katie's Hospice Coffee Morning raised just shy of £1000. Amazing!

Seeking God's Peace

This is the title of a prayer by Nick Fawcett, which Bob found on the Baptists Together website, and used last Thursday when he was leading a time of worship [for our group of Retired Baptist Ministers and Spouses] I thought it was a good one to share here on the blog

Breathe your peace within me, Lord
    peace such as only you can give.
When I fret about tomorrow,
when I worry about my loved ones
when I question whether I can cope
when my stomach feels knotted 
    and panic rises within me
help me to hear your still small voice
rebuking the wind and waves
stilling the storm
calming the roiling waves
and in place of turmoil bring tranquillity
    in place of chaos, quietness
    in place of a troubled, anxious spirit
    rest for my soul.
            Amen.

Not A Ship In A Bottle...

 ...A Nativity In A JamJar

Last week's Teaser post. What have I been making for Katie's Fundraiser at the Chapel today? I had such fun last year making a pegdoll Nativity Set for a friend, and I was wondering how I could use these little people to make a smaller nativity scene. I wondered if I could put the family [Jesus, Mary and Joseph - but not a wee donkey] into a jam jar and illuminate it.

Practice model - I put two pegdolls, and a small biscuit in a jar. Then I inverted a battery powered tealight through a hole in the lid, and sat a conical cardboard roof on top. Bob said it looked a bit like a pixie house [agreed] But on the other hand, I needed a bit of height to cover the light. I also tucked some paper behind to make the figures stand out. I put a bible verse on the reverse side. I cut tiny felt pieces for garments - and hunted for a small wooden bead [for the baby's head]  I did not find wooden beads, just coloured plastic ones- so painted them to match parents.

You will see that each little roof now has a lower flattish top.I could not disguise the hole in the bead for the baby's head, so I used it as a way of attaching a little halo!
A cute little Nativity Scene to brighten a Christmas display. I am charging £5 [it is for charity after all] I used 8 jamjars and 16 pegs from my stash, and some felt sent anonymously by blogfriends [thank you] I hope I sell them all! Update. Sold just 3 jars. Made £37, I'm happy with that. Will find out total raised at the event tomorrow.

Location, Location, Location

Location One; Central London - Liz lives in Southwark, and for a long time worked in Bloomsbury. These two areas often appear in TV shows, 

and I was forever checking the background in thrillers like "Spooks" and "Trigger Point" in case I spotted her cycling past. 

Location Two: Manchester - Since Steph moved there, I've watched Cold Feet and various Harlan Coben thrillers, filmed around the area, and a number in central Manchester near her 

And Gary Oldman as Churchill in "Darkest Hour" has some scenes shot in the John Rylands Library just up the street from Steph's company offices in Deansgate.  And that brings me to

Location Three: Romford. Where I was born, and where Julian lives- and he works in Primark. This week's Slow Horses featured the Primark Loading Bay 

behind the Liberty Shopping Centre. Signs were put up to make it look like the back of a bowling alley. Filming was all done months ago, and I have been waiting to see this for ages. I really enjoy SH, and I think Gary Oldman's portrayal of Jackson Lamb is amazing.

I really enjoy seeing places I know and have visited on TV - even if they are car parks, housing estates, and loading bays. Especially when they have connections with the important people in my life. 

On the subject of Slow Horses - does anyone else think that Jack Louden [who plays River Cartwright] would make an excellent James Bond??