Archive for the 'family' Category

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someone else’s fo: fingerless gloves

So, I was shopping at our local farm shop the other day, and as well as all the normal food I saw a couple of pairs of handknitted fingerless gloves. There was no label saying what they were made of, but it looked and felt to me like self-patterning sock yarn. There were a couple of different colourways, but I really loved this pink, grey and beige version.

I showed Steve, who asked me why I would buy them when I could make my own? He’s right, of course I could make them myself, but I liked them, and was struck by how nice it would feel wearing something handmade by someone other than me, even if I don’t know who that person is. Besides, I don’t didn’t have any fingerless gloves, and they are perfect for gardening!

Of the women in my family who taught me to knit, my grandmother has been gone for a very long time, one aunt had to stop knitting due to arthritis, and the other aunt is in Germany and makes socks for her and her husband. She taught me to knit Continental style when I lived with her for a while in my teens.

My grandmother used to make the most adorable clothes for my dolls, and my English aunt (the one with arthritis)  made cute sweaters for my boys when they were babies. I used to love taking them to see her when they were little, and sitting knitting and chattting with her for the afternoon.

Are you lucky enough to have someone to knit for you?

Published on April 1, 2009. 19 Comments Tags: .

bullet point post

I don’t have much to show for knitting this week.

  • My Hedera socks are coming along nicely, I’m almost down to the heels now, and as I’m knitting them both at once I’ll be wearing them pretty soon!
  • The Hemlock Ring blanket that I’m working on is a joy to knit in the still-cold evenings. It’s warm and cosy to have on my lap, and requires almost no concentration at all!

Instead, I thought I’d fill you in on a couple of other things I’ve been up to.

I had just the best day last Saturday – here’s what I did:

  • My day started with a Laura Mercier makeover (not something that I do often!) The makeup artist put a LOT more makeup on me than I would normally wear, but she did have some really good ideas. I swear that they use four times as many products as you would yourself just in the hope that you buy something!
  • Afterwards, I went to stock up on a few essential oils, and discovered that the store’s massage therapist was offering a massive discount on aromatherapy massages. I must point out that this kind of spontaneous self-indulgence is really not the norm for me, but I managed to overcome that obstacle, and had a massage straight away!
  • After that I met Steve, and we had a lovely lunch together at a French restaurent next to the river Thames (photo above). It was the most fabulously sunny, warm spring day, and the river was full of rowers and canoeists. Wine was drunk, and our noses turned a little pink (in the sun, you understand…).
  • Oh, and that blue bag in the chair may just indicate a little retail therapy on the pretty frock front…
  • …but I should probably point out that the pushchair is nothing to do with me. Honest.

In other news, the yoga foundation course that I’m on ends soon, and I’ve been trying to decide which teacher training course to sign up to. Turns out it’s a bit of a minefield.

  • There is a UK governing body of yoga who claim that any training course not accredited by them is not ‘proper’ training. And then there are interational yoga schools, such as the Sivananda centres, who have been training teachers for forty years and have no desire to be accredited by the British Wheel.
  • The Sivananda training really appeals to me; it’s the type of yoga that I love practising the most. But I need to figure out whether doing their training might inhibit the possibility of teaching in the UK. If you have any experience of this area, I’d really love to hear your views!
Published on March 26, 2009. 18 Comments Tags: .

… snow day … teenage style …

Yesterday we had the most snow in the south of England that there has been for eighteen years. Which means that my kids had the first school-free snow day in their lives.

The tone of the day was set when Alex (son no.2) built an anatomically correct snowman on our front lawn, proudly displaying his snowy assets to all passers-by. No photo of that, unfortunately, as Steve, returning home from Heathrow airport after an abortive attempt to travel to Chicago, asked Alex to decent up the snowman.

So, at least the snow lady in the picture above is exhibiting a modicum of modesty…

Published on February 3, 2009. 23 Comments Tags: , .

on our holidays we are…

… baking bread …

…for lunch with soup …

… doing a puzzle …

… walking the dog …

… while wearing new gloves …

… playing PS3 games (while wearing new socks) …

… playing guitar …

… and knitting, watching old movies and The Muppets …

Whatever you are doing, I hope you are having/have had a good holiday break!

Published on December 28, 2008. 19 Comments Tags: .

christmas concerts

So, there are some things that I love about this time of year. Yes, it’s manic, no, there’s never enough time to get everything done, yes, I’m panicking over the gift knitting and the gift buying, and stressing out about the cards, and the food, and hoping that no-one gets ill, or if they do, that they get better in time for Christmas…

But then there are the concerts, and these moments are among the ones that remind me that life is precious, and fleeting, and that my beautiful children will only play this piece, here, now, just this once, and I need to concentrate and appreciate it because soon it will be gone. And because I always think thoughts like this when I watch my children perform, I always cry, and have to pretend not to, because they will be embarrassed and I will be panda-eyed. And because I want to concentrate fully on the moment, I never video the concerts, and what photographs I take are hardly worthy of the name; instead they serve as markers in time, reminders that we were there, then, and that piece, that moment, happened.

Every year, Alex busks with his cello group to raise money for charity. When he started, he was one of the little ones at the front wearing the Santa hat or the reindeer antlers. Now he is one of the big ones at the back (to the right of this photo), clad in black and with his floppy fringe covering his face.

The last day of term at my boys’ school is always the end of term concert. This year Will (on the left) and a friend performed the Leonard Cohen song ‘Hallelujah’, and Alex and a friend performed the Tears for Fears song ‘Mad World’. Both songs were beautiful, and yes, both made me cry…

On Saturday (which was also Will’s sixteenth birthday), both boys performed in the musical  The Music Man with their drama group. You might be able to spot Will at the back on the right, with a top hat on, and Alex over on the left, wearing a dark jacket and a straw boater. It was the first time they have performed on stage together, and it was lovely watching them.

Published on December 16, 2008. 9 Comments Tags: .