We Are Not Made Of Sugar, Grandma!

Said Rosie, when I muttered about the heavy rain on a trip to the coast last year. Her Mum helpfully gave me the Dutch version "Jij bent niet van suiker gemaakt" - and I try to remind myself of this when it starts to rain, and I'm tempted to get in the car instead of on my bicycle for a quick trip to the Village Shop. Then of course the Norwegians say this little rhyming couplet

there's no

dårlig vær, 

[bad weather] 

just 

dårlig klær! 

[bad clothes]

I have been thinking about this a lot recently.

I did my seasonal wardrobe sort - and then October brought us some very unseasonal weather. Bob has been outside in his shorts, and I've been cycling wearing a teeshirt and no jacket or jumper. I did get caught out one day wearing sandals and came home with rain-sodden cold feet. I am very fond of dressing in layers, so I can add one or peel one off, depending on the temperature 

Then I found another Norwegian word-  friluftsliv - this means "free-air life" and the term was coined by playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1859, to convey a spiritual connection with nature. This 'getting outside in the fresh air is good for your soul' concept is huge in Norway - check out the  Visit Norway website which lists loads of activities, and shares fascinating facts

• 90% of Norwegians say that friluftsliv is important to them - 
• Friluftsliv has its own law, Friluftsloven, which includes the right to roam
• Norway has several outdoor kindergartens [friluftsbarnehager], where the children spend 80 per cent of the time outdoors. [we are getting more 'forest nursery schools' in the UK now]
• Many Norwegians look for an active partner, and it’s not unusual to go hiking or cycling on the first date.
• In Norway, there are government-sponsored “libraries” where you can borrow outdoor gear.
• In Norway, you can take a bachelor’s degree in friluftsliv.

I had friends in Dorset who were into the Japanese idea of shinrin yoku - forest bathing - an ancient practice of being calm and relaxing among the trees. But this is much more than that. 

I am trying to get outside in the fresh air every day if I can. Maybe just a walk to the medical centre to collect our pills [oh, the joys of old age!] or a cycle ride to the village post office. But some days maybe just a walk around the garden, pulling out the odd weeds, saying encouraging words to the walking onions or perhaps having breakfast or a midmorning cuppa sitting outside [if it is not too wet or windy] It ups my body's supply of Vitamin D, and lifts my spirits. Scientists have shown that exposure to morning sunlight helps reset our circadian rhythms and benefits our night time sleep patterns. 

So I WILL wrap my weather scarf round my neck, put on a warm coat and good footwear, and sally forth into the fresh air for a brief while, EVERY day. Even if what I really want is to do my knitting in front of the TV, with a mug of tea beside me.

I'm not sure what the weather was like outside Tate Britain on Saturday - but one member of my family was certainly making sure she had the right clothes for the occasion. [Maybe she wants to audition for Cabaret, or Wicked!]

Are you a fresh air fanatic, or do you prefer warm and cosy?

Warm Words, Top Tips

When we were newlyweds, saving every penny we could to pay for Bob to train for ministry, we lived in a small flat. It was heated in three ways - a tiny gas fire, ridiculously expensive underfloor electric heating [we never used it], and by our neighbours around us [all of whom kept their flats Very Warm, which insulated ours] There was a sign over the gas fire saying "If you are cold, put on another jumper". This statement is still in use in the family. Warm clothes are important, they conserve body heat, they mean we use less energy heating our homes - and they help keep us warm and healthy.

I have some thermal tops and leggings which go under everyday clothes for extra warmth, and I frequently wear tights under trousers. [I did remember to wear footless tights on the Very Cold day of my Podiatrist's appointment. He does not have a changing room!]

I wear warm socks, and have knitted myself some thicker woolly ones

When I go out I have gloves [particularly fond of the fingerless 'milkman's gloves] which leave my fingertips free for texting and such. And hats [the Greta Thunberg Ear Flap one is especially warm]

But my favourite warm garment at the minute is a scarf- the weather scarf wrapped round [three times] as a cowl, the pashmina type shawl Steph gave me, my biker's "buff". I have concluded that if my neck is warm, my body usually feels warmer. Watching The Repair Shop [which is apparently a very draughty venue] I notice many of the presenters there with well wrapped necks. Is it to do with keeping the jugular vein insulated, so the blood to the brain is warmer?

Kirsten is doing an Advent-Knit-Along to make a lovely cowl.

I decided I couldn't manage that with all the other Christmas projects currently on hand, but it may get knitted up after Christmas!

Nightwear is warm pjs, and bedsocks - and in the evening, I often put on my dressing gown over my daytime clothes if we are sitting in front of the TV. And of course, there are plenty of blankets and throws in the lounge to snuggle under.

I'm definitely not a 'onesie woman' nor do I fancy a hooded blanket. And I don't do wild sea swimming [sorry Mags] so I won't be investing in an expensive DryRobe . I met a teenager wearing one recently, and asked where she swam - the reply was "I don't swim, but I thought the coat looked cool" My Skip Parka is proving very warm. And my biker boots grip well on icy paths.

What are your favourite winter clothes?

Have you had snow where you are?

One Finger, One Thumb, Keep Moving

When I finished my weather scarf back in May, I mentioned what I might do with the leftover yarn. I mentioned making some gloves. 

I had made Steph a pair of 'texting gloves' for her birthday ages ago, using self striping sock yarn. I checked back on the blog*, and found the post - but unfortunately there was no note as to where I'd got the pattern. 

Then, quite unexpectedly a coupl e of weeks ago, I found a folded piece of paper inside a craft book- and it was the very pattern I had used back in 2009. I had modified a free pattern I'd found on the net- but [foolishly] not noted the original source.  I rolled my remaining oddments into 2 gram balls [a little smaller than a ping-pong ball] and dropped them into the sections of an eggbox to keep them separate and manageable. I didn't count the rows of each colour, so the two gloves aren't quite perfectly symmetrical [but almost] The pattern has a single seam up the side, and a short seam on the thumb- but it's a simple 2-needle job [no dpns if I can avoid them!] These have gone away in the drawer with the scarf and will wait there until it turns chilly. There is still quite a bit of yarn left. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that. I worked hard to finish these on Friday evening as I wanted to get them out of the way before we went away for the weekend. 

Bob had a Wedding Preparation Session with friends down in Wiltshire, then we were going on to Gloucestershire for 2 nights to stay with his sister Denise, and her husband Kevin. And in the wonderful way these things work out, Denise had a pattern for a baby jacket she was hoping to knit for her grand-daughter. The middle section of the pattern was really complicated and she had struggled to make sense of it. So the pattern and yarn has come back to Cornerstones, and I shall attempt to decipher it. 

Another challenge to enjoy! And I like babyknits - they grow so quickly. Watch this space.

[*do you use your blog as an archive for your crafting/cooking notes?]

Weather Vain

Weather- because I've just finished knitting my weather scarf. Vain - because I keep strolling past the new wardrobe mirror door and saying "I like this, I am really pleased with myself for knitting this..."  Below are all the technical details- if that's boring, you can just skip to the end with the pictures!

I began last April with nine balls of Millarorchy Tweed yarn from the wonderful Kate Davies Designs. 

I used a free online weather programme to note the maximum temperature each day in Ferndown. The idea was that my birthday was April 10th, 2020 and we were leaving Ferndown on April 12th 2021. This scarf would chart one year of my life, the last one spent living in Dorset. 

I'd looked at records of previous years and worked out a temperature scale - nine shades seemed adequate - and I was prepared to buy an extra ball or two of the 'mid-range' temperature shades. The scarf would be 33sts wide, and two rows for each day, in simple k1p1 rib. [which is the same back and front] The records I used for daily temperatures were on this site

The site showed that in the previous 5 years, temperatures were between 5° and 27° Celsius. I worked out a chart allocating the shades to temperature bands of around 3° Last April was surprisingly warm - and that continued- I ended up buying an extra ball for the times the daily maximum was 27° or above. Similarly in the winter [" oh, it never gets really cold here, snow is most unusual!" people had been telling me] it went down to  freezing. Another shade was purchased.

Maximum temperature was on August 8th 32°, minimum on January 7th at minus 1°. I logged the readings in a notebook, writing the shade colour alongside, and every Friday or Saturday evening I'd knit up a dozen rows or so. [easier than knitting two rows every day] I made a decision that I would carry yarn up the side of my work for one day [two rows] at most - I had a lot of ends to darn in, and I did that as I went along. At the end of the year [I did 365 days - April 10th 2020 to April 9th 2021] I finished it.

The scarf is 200cm long, and 12½ cm wide. I made one twist and joined with a three-needle-bind-off [here] to make a Möbius strip 'infinity scarf' 

So that means I can wind the scarf round my neck three times- and arrange it to show all the colours [useful at the neck of a jacket when it is very chilly] 

Or slightly looser in two loops so it hangs lower. And careful arrangement of those two loops can keep it to the blue wintry tones, or the more colourful spring/summer/autumnal hues. In the collage below the triangle arrangement starts with April top left, go clockwise round the Year. 

The ridged join means I can quickly locate April - we had a lovely warm spell and you can see the hot orange shade at the top right of the triangle[Beginning of August] Down the right hand side, Autumn was cooler. Lots of icy blue greys at the end of December, start of January [bottom of triangle] and the early months of 2021 were cold [left hand side] 

The yarn was great to work with, and the scarf is very comfortable to wear. Thank you Kate Davies Designs for the lovely yarn and excellent choice of shades. Thank you Liz and Steph who paid for the yarn as my 2020 birthday present.

The picture top right is all the leftover yarns. I am thinking about making a hat or beret and possibly some striped fingerless gloves. But not just yet!

top tip  - knit a tension square, first, to work out how many stitches you need for your desired width, and how long it will be if you do 1, 2 or 3 rows per day. Otherwise you may end up with a choker that is too short - or a really long scarf

It's Not You, It's Me

Living by myself at Cornerstones for 4 weeks has been an interesting experience. I'm coping OK. And I've learned a lot about myself...

When I last lived alone it was the 1970s as a newly qualified teacher. I got up fairly early, worked hard all day,  and was usually in bed by 10pm. I was a lark. Who married an owl. And over the years, Bob has had to accommodate my early rising, when I need to be out by 7am to get to school in time to set up my classroom. Meanwhile, I've struggled with his late retiring - he often spends the day studying a Bible passage, and around 11pm, the sermon inspiration appears, and he has to write it down. "Burning the candle at both ends" means we've adapted to less sleep.  So I thought I could go back to how it used to be... But I'm still pottering about late at night getting little jobs done, and our goodnight WhatsApp call is rarely before 10.30. Similarly I've noticed that at the Good Morning wakeup call, Bob's already up and dressed and pottering about. I'm permanently tired...

Also, I thought that living alone I'd start to lose weight. I'm run off my feet with Rosie, which ought to burn off the calories.  I thought I'd be eating less because it's only me I am cooking for, and I'm missing the "cup of tea and biscuit" which frequently appears on my desk when I'm working. But my weight hasn't changed at all.

Living alone in a smaller property means less house cleaning and less laundry. But there seems to be just as much to do [no shirts to iron though] and I'm conscious how much Bob does, now he's not around to do it [thank you!]. 

So clearly fatigue, fat and domestic failures are entirely my responsibility. I have no one else to blame... 

But I am not going to be completely negative - 

• I'm teaching 5 days a week [for the first time in years]
• I've got into a regular bread-baking/yogurt-making routine
• I've done a surprising amount of gardening [mostly mowing and weeding]
• I've done a project in the garage using the electric drill
• I'm up to date with my knitting weather scarf
• I've done two jigsaws, finished off a baby cardi and made a cover for the bench seat
• And even managed a socially distanced walk with my best friend Chris and her sister

So yes, I am coping - but I am also looking forward to being in a two-person household again, and even more to when all these strange times are over...

PS - There are even more new people following this blog since I arrived in Norfolk 4 weeks ago. Welcome, thank you for joining us.

Things Are Hotting Up

 

Here's my weather scarf - I've used a couple of evenings since I got to Cornerstones to get it up to date, both in terms of rows and ends darned in. 

Three months completed, so 25% of the way there. I wanted a scarf somewhere around 6 feet long, and I'm on track for that. 

I had nine shades of Millarorchy yarn - and have so far used 8 of them - all but the coolest temperature colour. 

I'm very disciplined,and check off the rows in my notebook as i complete them.

I'm doing a simple k1p1 moss stitich, so the pattern it the same on both sides.The yarn is lovely to knit with, and I have to say that the people at the KDD shop are efficient, and friendly in their communications.

You can see how the weather in Ferndown has varied in the past 12 weeks - between 11° and 31° Celsius. [I get the daily data from this site] But there were more cooler days at the start of April, and it's warming up now. This is a Lockdown Project I am really enjoying - but I do hope Lockdown finishes completely before I get to the end of the scarf.

Meerkats, Masks And Millarorchy

Just one meerkat, actually - a neighbour, very pleased with teddy's pyjamas brought me a lovely handmade card. "Let me know if you need any other outfits" I said, and she asked if I could dress meerkats. Before I could answer, Bob replied "Simples!!"
So I made Mia the Meerkat a little dress. She's got quite generous hips- hence the gathered skirt- and at the back, the dress opens all the way down, to accommodate her tail!
I fastened it with hooks and eyes.
Liz and Jon asked about masks. So I had a go at these. The key thing is pressing the pleats accurately, I think. I also used a white thread in the bobbin, so that once I had done the final line of stitching, it was easy to distinguish the front and back. 

Having looked at loads of YouTube patterns, I finally settled on one I liked. And then, having finished them, I discovered this site, launched this week in conjunction with Patrick Grant which explains things very clearly. If I make more, I might use his pattern. I'm running out of regular elastic- but one of his designs uses hair elastics. I don't have any of those right now - other than a back of super thick ones which won't stay on my ears!
I continue to log the maximum temperature in Ferndown each day, and was thrilled on Friday afternoon when my yarn arrived for knitting the weather scarf. I may put away the sewing stuff and spend some of the weekend knitting tension squares. The parcel looked exciting even before it was opened. The Millarorchy Tweed is beautiful quality and I am really pleased with my yarn colours...

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