Friday 9 May 2014

Blogger admits neglect.

Yes this little blog has been sadly neglected of late - it needs a little cwtch every now and then to keep it happy.  The thing is, when I started writing it, I did it because I like writing.  It helps to keep things ordered in my mind.  It was never a thing I wanted to have to do out of a sense of duty - otherwise it would become a chore. Thus my blog posts are sporadic but enjoyable to do.  

What have I been up to?  Well lots of things, really. Apart from the day job (which only accounts for three days of every week) there are lots of things I enjoy which take up my time.  The biggie at the moment is sewing. My daughter is moving house so I am on curtain making duty.  I hate the cutting out - it requires accuracy so I have to check and recheck before I get out the scissors, as a mistake can be expensive.  What wouldn't I give for a massive worktable where I could spread out all the fabric to see what's what.  Unfortunately, our cottage is small so that's out of the question.  Instead I wrestle with metres of fabric and lining, scissors and tape measures and the always elusive air-drying pen, cursing loudly as I go. Heigh-ho.  I now have two pairs of curtains cut out and tacked ready to machine stitch.  So far so good.

The felting continues on a monthly basis at Funky Felters.  Last week I nuno felted a georgette scarf in a bright shade of emerald green.  Vast quantities of turquoise coloured dye came out of the fabric in the process, so that my hands were stained for several days afterwards. I was reasonably pleased with the result but still have lots of hand stitching and embellishing to do to finish it off.

Since I got the Kindle I've been catching up on some reading.  I've managed to work my way through a whole series of six books by Martin Edwards which are detective stories set in the Lake District.  As I love the area I was interested to read them.  They're quite well written although I guessed 'who'd done it' quite early on.  One thing I did like were the little snippets of Lake District history that keep popping up.  One of the main characters is a historian who helps the detective who heads up the cold case unit.  Did you know there's a blue plaque on a (now closed) sub-post office in Kendal because it's the one that inspired the Postman Pat stories?  Neither did I - but now I quite want to go and look for it.  I've just started a book called Heresy, the first in a series set in Elizabethan times about an Italian ex-monk who escapes the Inquisition and ends up in England working as a spy.  It's by S.J.Parris and reminds me of the Shardlake series by C.J.Sansom, although I don't think it's as sharply written.          

Finally, I've been doing a bit of knitting.  I enjoy knitting but I usually knit on very large needles with chunky wool.  That's because, firstly, I'm going to felt what I make and you have to knit big because of the shrinkage that occurs during the felting process.  Secondly, I don't like knitting with small needles partly because the knitting takes ages to grow but also because I have annoying arthritis in my hands which means that I can only do it for a short while before it gets painful.  Oh the joys of the aging process!!  However, I am doggedly pressing on with my bit of knitting because that's what grandmas do, and I am going to be one at the end of August.  I am so excited to meet my first grandchild and the weeks are going by unexpectedly quickly.  I can't wait :-)

Until next time. Be happy and healthy.