bronzed

We had a day out today. Miss M was going to her first gymnastics competition, so we headed east to West Lothian and the sun (a little bit). Not being enthused about sitting watching gymnastics, the gentlemen of the family wandered off to visit Linlithgow Palace - the Boy is keen on castles and stuff and was looking at it in Minecraft terms as 11-year-olds are inclined to do - and it's probably just as well, as the competition over-ran, as such things often do from what I can gather.  Must remember to take a cushion next time. I took my knitting but didn't have enough elbow room for knitting as it was quite busy and I was wedged in between two dads. It did drag on a bit*, but Miss M and her partners (she does acro gymnastics as part of a trio) got a bronze medal in their category so that was a nice end to it. She's knackered though - they didn't do their routine until fairly near the end so she had a long time to get nervous.

When we got home it had obviously been hailing and the forecast says snow over the next few days. I can't say I'm enthusiastic about it turning colder again, but just now I have a large and radiantly warm cat asleep on my legs so that's okay.


* not the gymnastics bits so much as the judging. It hadn't occurred to me how much arithmetic they need to do! Makes sense of course - they wouldn't want to get it wrong.

embroidered

A few weeks ago I was tidying up and found some embroidery I was doing back in our re-enactment days, pre-children. It was intended as decoration to go round the cuffs of my green linen Viking/mediaeval dress, so I could be a bit posher. What I've learned as a dyer since then of course is that naturally dyed green is an elusive beast even on wool, and linen I imagine would be even more difficult, so as authenticity goes it wasn't that great, but we were limited in what we could get back then. 

Anyway, I rather thought this bit of unfinished embroidery had got lost at some point over the years and through various house-moves so I was quite pleased to find it again, even if it was a bit crumpled and grubby. So I gave it a wash:

I quite like the way it looked damp and crumpled in the sunlight.

Eventually it dried out and I ironed it very carefully. I'm really not much of an embroiderer so this is probably the pinnacle of my achievements, but even looking at it now I'm quite pleased with how neat it was. I have no idea what to do with it now though!

An imperfect photograph

This is really just a very quick post so that I break the long break, as it were. You know how the longer it is since you did a blog post the harder it is? That! And what better to do it with than the boy cat enjoying a bit of sunshine on a frosty day. Technically not a good photograph but it captures a moment and a feeling!


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edited for general incoherence - that's what you get when you try to blog five mins before going to get the kids from school!

Traditional

Yesterday was the last Tuesday in January and I was to be found at my brother's flat where it has become traditional that we order a Chinese takeaway, watch Promote Shetland/60 North TV's live webcast of the Up Helly Aa procession and get horribly nostalgic for howling gales and the smell of paraffin. The coverage was particularly good this year, with no real glitches, and we were following it all on Twitter too (#UpHellyAa of course) which was entertaining - the webcast commentary team read out the more amusing and interesting tweets during the procession so it's all very interactive these days.

I took my knitting of course  - I'm using Álafoss Lopi at the moment so that's thematically appropriate. My brother took this picture and laughed because in it I'm knitting, the galley is burning on the telly and there's a copy of the Shetland Times on the coffee table. All we need are bannocks and we'll have all the clichés - so that's the plan for next year! A Chinese takeaway and bannocks...

There are some nice Up Helly Aa photos on the Shetland Times website if you're interested.

January is always a Shetlandy kind of month for me because folk there have Up Helly Aa to look forward to and, by contrast, there's not a lot to look forward to where I live now, unless you count Burns' Night, which I don't. I do like haggis but I buy it cheap after Burns' Night, when the supermarkets realise they've overstocked it. I got 60 North magazine in the post the other day to fuel my homesickness entertain me, and I enjoyed it very much. There are various articles about knitting-related stuff, including one by Donna Smith. There's also a good article about the whaling which obviously is a very emotive subject now, but it was once very important in Shetland.

January here is about my children learning Scots poetry at school, oh joy.   My son hates it (he's not a performer) and my daughter relishes it but has never got into the final of the school's Scots poetry competition much to her disgust. However I had a mysterious text from the school yesterday saying, to my amusement, that she's getting a Road Safety/Scots Poetry prize at assembly tomorrow (parents are invited along if their kids are getting Best Work Award or anything). The amalgamation of Road Safety and Scots Poetry tickled me. I shall go along tomorrow with anticipation.  Ssh, don't tell her, it's a surprise.

This is the poem her class had to learn:

Lament for a Lost Dinner Ticket by Margaret Hamilton

See ma mammy
See ma dinner ticket
A pititnma
Pokit an she pititny
Washnmachine.

See thon burnty
Up wherra firewiz
Ma mammy says
Am no tellynagain
No’y playnit.
A jist wen’y eatma
Pokacrisps furma dinner
Nabigwoffldoon.

The wummin sed Aver near
Clapsd
Jistur heednur
Wee wellies sticknoot.

They sed Wot heppind?
Nme’nma belly
Na bedna hospital.
A sed A pititnma
Pokit an she pititny
Washnmachine.

They sed Ees thees chaild eb slootly
Non verbal?
A sed MA BUMSAIR
Nwen’y sleep.


The Blogger spellchecky thing is completely freaking out at that!

Things Fall Apart

Our microwave packed in the other day. My Beloved poked at it a bit and declared it beyond his help (as he was waving a rolling-pin at it, this perhaps wasn't surprising - however he is usually quite good at this sort of thing so I'll believe him). So today I went out a-hunting microwave ovens.

Apparently I've bought a conventional one. The opposite of conventional is not, alas, unconventional or even bohemian, but y'know, those-ones-with-the-grill-built-in, which I was mildly tempted by but you can't grill much on them and we have a George Foreman thing, and even, technically, a grill in the real oven (though it's rubbish and smokes a lot so is not often used) so it wasn't necessary.  I quite like the idea of bohemian microwave ovens, but cheap, small and not overly complicated was what I was looking for.  Mission accomplished.

The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the snow is mostly white, so it was quite nice being out and about today, even in retail parks.

Far from being gruntled

The cats are not entirely keen on the snow (neither are the kids for that matter - weird), but as long as the roads are clear, which they mostly are, I quite like it. It brightens things up no end, and there's that satisfying muted crunch when you walk in it and the cold smell, and  fascinating footprints and sparkly bits. I think it will thaw tonight so I'm enjoying it while I can!

Warm feet

Woohoo! I'm out the other side! The fuzzy ear turned out to be an ear infection and though I'm not completely better I'm feeling an awful lot better than I have the last few weeks. I had to get an extension for my OU assignment in the end because I was feeling so fuzzy, but the downside of that was I was still trying to get it done, feeling guilty because I was running over (even though my tutor was fine about it), getting frustrated because I was losing my train of thought mid-sentence, and ultimately just getting fed up with it. But I submitted it last week, whether it's gibberish or not, and it's time to move on - yay! Apart from all that I have also achieved the final weaving in of ends on my Elgin socks, with the help of the boy-cat.

Obviously when I sat down with the socks to finish them off, he came to see what I was doing and equally obviously sat on one of the socks. There was a thread on Ravelry a while back where somebody, apparently genuinely, wondered why so many people 'put' their cats on their knitting for their project pictures, to general amusement from cat people and some gentle explaining.

Also finished is the purple cabled headband of doom, as I finally anchored that random dropped stitch  and got to wear it. To be honest it looks ridiculous on me because it makes my hair stick up in funny ways, but it keeps my ears warm so I don't care. It does of course look gorgeous on Miss M who borrowed it the other night (well, afternoon, it was five-ish but dark) when she and her friend were attempting to build a snowman with much giggling and throwing of snow, but very little actual building.

There has been a bit of the white stuff and it's a bit on the chilly side so I'm particularly glad I got my Elgin socks finished now rather than, you know, in June or something, which is when I usually finish winter things. They're a bit big really but I wear them as slippers over another pair of socks

 This was also on the walk to school, near the top of the hill, hence the leaning trees - I'm not that bad a photographer! Though don't look to closely at the horizons on beach photos..

Totally gratuitous cute cat picture - she was sticking to the bit by the back door where it was sheltered and there was only a scattering of snow. Cold paws are not her thing. I don't blame her.

But clearer skies yesterday meant sunshine and the daffodils on my kitchen windowsill looked so happy. I'm so glad that something as cheap as a bunch of daffodils can cheer me up so much!

Daffodil-coloured snow? Just snow by the light of the streetlights.

Argh, no, time to get the kids from school - bye!

toasty

I have been fairly flattened by a lurgy, a proper head cold, which meant I slept until nearly midday today. I can only hear out of one ear, I seem to have conjunctivitis and everything is fuzzy. At least I've got my voice back though! I can sing, tralala (don't worry, I'm not really singing). Luckily there was no need to do anything much today other than veg out in a satisfyingly lazy manner. I finished my library book (What Would Mary Berry Do? by Clare Sandy) which I enjoyed very much, just what I needed when feeling grotty. I'm trying very hard not to think about my next OU assignment which is due in next Friday. I did start work on it before Christmas and was feeling okay about it but looking at the OU forums and Facebook pages has left me feeling as if I'm not taking it seriously enough. Which is silly. 

I would like to be witty and sparkling at this point but alas it seems that wit and sparkle only appear with a head not full of swamp ooze. Also typing on a tablet is a pain in the bum  - the visible area of text while typing is minute and I keep losing my train of thought, always assuming I had one in the first place. I should probably write my posts as haikus. Not sure why autocorrect wanted to apostrophise that.

So, the first of January - as pointless as ever! I have no particular resolutions apart from the perennial 'be more organised' which I should probably get tattooed on my body somewhere. The back of my left hand probably. Followed by 'buy milk' and 'don't forget that thing' (which actually reminds that the kids have got dental checkups next week and I Must Not Forget).  On that random note, good night all!