SKIP NORTH!!!


About three weekends ago I went on a Walking Women's Holiday in the Lake District. The weather was quite unreasonably warm and clear and the walking absolutely amazing. It's a tad hillier ooop North than down yer on Dartmoor.

Then last weekend, I joined Teignbridge Canoe Club in Tintagel, Cornwall - and went walking again.

More good weather -not as excellent and unseasonal as in the Lake District, but still mild and wonderful for walking in the countryside and drinking up the views of the Atlantic Ocean.





This weekend I'm SKIPPING NORTH to Haworth with a bunch of knitters (must go pack and put DOWN the mouse). I expect to be knitting. A lot. And drinking. A little.


And in between having a grand ol' time, I've been working as usual.



I'll stop gallivanting when I get back on Monday and try and upload a few pics and update the old blog.

And I've been tagged, by Angie! (Thanks m'dear!)
The first tag of the year... is 4

4 jobs I have held:
Bus Conductor/Clippie
Care Assistant (with the Elderly)
Registered General Nurse
Registered Psychiatric Nurse

4 movies I like:
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
"Water" (by Deepa Mehta)
"The Star Wars trilogy" - all in one go!
"Rabbit Proof Fence"

4 Places I've been:
Marrakech, Morocco
Paris, France
Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, China
Chiang Mai, Thailand

4 places I have lived:
Laugharne, Carmarthenshire
Balham, London
Burlington, Wisconsin
Lustleigh, Devon

4 TV shows/programs I watch:
I don't have a telly, but I have watched
Life on Mars
David Attenborough's 'Planet Earth'
Star Trek
Have I got News for You

4 Radio-shows I listen to:
Radio 4 (how appropriate) - the Archers
'I'm sorry I haven't a clue' (ISIHAC)
Radio 2 generally
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I have the original recording on a cassette tape!)

4 favorite foods
Cheesecake
Chocolate
Curry
Spag Bol (damn - that spoiled the run of 'C's)

4 places I'd rather be:
Walking on Dartmoor
Floating down the river Dart on a lovely sunny autumnal day in a kayak,
Curled up in a big comfy armchair sipping a glass of mulled wine, in front of a roaring fire surrounded by convivial friends, on a snowy winter's night.
In bed

The 4 I tag:
WyeSue (well, wye not?)
Mrs Piglottie in the parlour
Rainie at Frog in Knots
and Knit Tigger Ra

And of course feel entirely free to join in - or not!

I can think of a few more? How about:

4 favourite books read last year:

"Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell

"Arthur and George" by Julian Barnes

"The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" by Maggie O'Farrell

Another FO. Another Wellington Hat. This is the third Wellington Hat I have knit. So the pattern must be EXCELLENT right? RIGHT! 'Specially as I don't ever knit a pattern more than once.It works so well with Noro Kureyon - those lovely blended colour changes set off the simple fairisle design to perfection. This one is a presi for Sal, from the Teignbridge Canoe Club.

And thinking ab0ut hats - I've ordered Woolly Wormhead's Going Straight. Can't wait.

Update, 6th March: Gave the hat to its intended recipient and it fit! She seemed really pleased with it :-)

The 'Mutton Jeff Midwife', has a certain ring, but it's a serious business, this gradual hearing loss of mine: I went for a review of my hearing at the audiology department - us 'hearing impaired' can have a repeat 'pure tone' hearing test every 3 years or so, courtesy of the NHS. It involves having a pair of headphones stuck on your head and having the audiologist fire notes into one ear or the other and you having to press a button when you can hear them. The tones can be very faint - and I start imagining noises are happening even when they're not! I already knew that my high frequencies were shot to pieces - but now they are just about ready to fall off the bottom of the scale. This means I can't hear the consonants of speech, as 'p', 't', 's', 'sh', 'k and 'g'' are all in the high frequencies. Most people sound like they are mumbling. And children are just impossible to interpret. I work out a lot of what people are saying from context - my lipreading skills leave much to be desired. I can sometimes get a conversation hilariously wrong: like when a doc said to me that "we'll wait and see" and I responded "No, nothing wrong with her pee"...

It helps if you attract my attention first before speaking to me, so I can pay attention!

This is the audiogram for my Right ear: Anything between 0 - 25 dB is considered to be Normal Hearing (above that dashed line). Then:
26 - 40 dB Mild Hearing Loss
41 - 55 dB Moderate Hearing Loss
56 - 70 dB Moderately Severe Hearing Loss
71 - 90 dB Severe Hearing Loss
>91 dB Profound Hearing Loss

So I have normal hearing in the Low Frequencies, but a severe to profound loss in the high frequencies, commonly known as a 'ski-slope' loss. As my audiologist said - there comes a point when hearing aids aren't much help as they can only amplify the hearing you have. No wonder my speech discrimination isn't much cop - even WITH my hearing aids, I'll have problems deciphering some words because so many of the consonants are missing - "00 u unneran?"

And that is my Left ear.

The 'speech banana' and the pictures show the sounds I can hear to the left of the line, and all the sounds I can't hear to the right of the line. I can hear jackhammers, crows, dogs barking, pianos, bass lines. I can't hear folk whispering, clocks ticking, high pitched alarms and bleeps, crickets chirping and birds singing - often not even with my HAs IN! This has implications for work: I can hear Fetal heart tones fine - and take blood pressures OK - though I have to take my hearing aids out to use a stethoscope which is a pain in the butt. I can't hear the new alarms from the rooms on Delivery Suite - they are very high pitched. This means I rely on others to tell me when a woman I'm caring for pushes her call bell when I'm out of the room. And I wonder what's going on when everyone rushes to answer the emergency buzzer. This is NOT ideal. Phone calls are variable: for some reason, '2' and '3' sound exactly alike when spoken over the phone. This makes taking down phone numbers and the like problematic. Sound quality varies - I'm OK if the line is clear and the person's voice is distinct. But I'm useless if they are quiet or on a mobile with a poor reception. I can use the phone with my hearing aids in, but I strain, so I prefer to take one out and jam the earpiece against my earlobe and ask the other person to shout at me. Anyway I'm off to 'Soundbase' in Exeter next Wednesday to see what sort of 'Assistive Listening Devices' I can get hold of to help me out which I guess I should have done way before now, but I'm good at procrastinating. I am fortunate to work in a Team with very supportive colleagues - everyone is aware of my hearing loss (well - it's not something that can be hidden, even though it's not particularly visible - the constant use of 'whaaaaaaat?' is a bit of a giveaway).

I guess what's got me so preoccupied with all this is that there has been a definite deterioration since my last hearing test - and I'm YOUNG to have this happen. What will I be like when I'm 60? I'll cross my fingers that the technology available will keep pace with my hearing loss, and try and protect the hearing I have left.

I have digital behind-the-ear aids - and the one good thing that came out of yesterday was that I was given a new pair - rounded and a dark grey colour called 'granite' - no more pink slugs for me! I like them. Thanks to Mary (Quite Contrary) who has the most gorgeous purpley blue HAs (and got them on the NHS) for the inspiration: As a result of seeing hers I asked for a different colour. I was told that they do do different colours but that these are for children and more expensive. (So is glitter in the clear ear moulds for children, but I got that!). But the 'granite' pair comes at no extra cost so I got those. There's an amusing (and so true) response to an article on getting used to hearing aids - see Amanda Kvaslvig's letter: "Follow up of people fitted with hearing aids" BMJ 2002; 325:1304.

As a result of the new aids, I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone texted me the other day. The sound was so loud!

Done something rash this afternoon: I've taken several steps towards signing up to train as an NCT Antenatal teacher. Do I have enough time? Probably not. But I see it as serving two purposes - 1) I can do more of one of the things I enjoy most: teaching prospective parents how to achieve the kind of birth they want and 2) keeping myself up to date - which I have to do for the day job anyway, thus killing two birds with one stone.

As a result I'm thinking of splitting the midwifery/NCT part of this blog off into a new 'baby catching' blog.

Hmm. Babies. My better half reckons they ALL look like Winston Churchill.

I saw this today, on the Net, from the "Musings of Harry":

Dear “medical practitioners”
You are not doctors. You exist because the government can’t afford more doctors. You are the NHS equivalent of Police Community Support Officers.
The fact that your job exists is probably a bad thing. It’s certainly a bad thing when “negligence isn’t really an issue for us” midwives kill their patients with epidurals.
Would this woman have survived if a doctor had administered the injection? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But if you had to choose between a doctor and a midwife to give you your epidural, who would you choose? I wonder who administered Sarah Brown’s medication when she was in labour?
Doctors are trained to diagnose. Doctors are trained to understand how drugs work. Doctors study these things for longer and in much greater depth than any other “medical practitioners”. Doctors should be diagnosing and prescribing, not ancilliary staff — especially not those who are currently unable to obtain insurance because the insurance companies refuse to insure them."

Dear Harry

This would be a one off occurrence you're talking about? A midwife killing a patient by administering bupivicaine down the IV line instead of the epidural catheter? I feel so sorry for Marie To and the family of the victim of this dreadful event. It was certainly a terrible, tragic happening and the sort of thing that has to be every midwives' nightmare, but might I remind you of the activities of another doctor: wasn't Harold Shipman a one off occurrence? Though the one was an accident and the other was far more malign as I recall.

As a midwife I do epidural top ups frequently - as do thousands of my colleagues - without mishap. (I must correct your terminology - no midwife 'gives' anyone an epidural - the anaesthetist sites it, we just administer the drugs after the initial 'loading dose' has been given, and look after it - AND I suspect a midwife administered Sarah Brown's medication!). I also do all the antenatal/intrapartum/postnatal care for my clients (who fall within the 'normal' pregnancy remit) without mishap at home and in hospital and have done so for the last 15 years. I don't hesitate to transfer women in from home if I'm at all concerned, or call for a doctor if the pregnancy or labour deviates from the norm.

LET me give you an example of the training I undergo: I can now undertake the 'Examination of the Newborn' - a simple all over check looking for abnormality that takes place 6-48 hours after the birth which includes checking for heart murmurs and congenital hip dislocation. To do this check I had to undertake over 6 months of lectures and tutorials, including the writing of two essays, and the completion of a portfolio with 40 exams documented (8 of which were overseen by a paediatric Consultant or Registrar). This work was marked and verified by the University of Plymouth and was separate and on top of my basic training. My Paediatric Senior House Officer colleagues (who, to be fair, have undergone extensive basic medical training) get shown how to do the examination once then told to get on with it.

I am insured because I work for the NHS. My independent colleagues could also be insured but that the insurance companies want the same rates for that coverage that they ask of obstetricians, and they just can't afford to pay that kind of sum. Which is not quite the same thing as you're saying, Harry. Also, independent midwives work exclusively in the home in the UK - so wouldn't even be administering epidural top ups.

I doubt if many doctors would want to do my job - care for women through the long hours of labour - though they might do what they do in many countries (including USA) where they get 'Obstetric Nurses' to do the hard slog then gallop in at the last moment on their handsome white charger to 'catch the baby', which any old fool could do. Ah, why am I bothering to respond to this garbage?

Finished object... Debbie Bliss Cable Jacket

At last I've finished the Debbie Bliss Cable Cardigan which I started last July - with just a few hiccups toward the end.

Any sensible knitter would take the pattern and highlight the size they are actually knitting, wouldn't they? Nah, not me, mate. So that's why, when I find that I'm running out of yarn I suddenly notice that the first sleeve I finished is over an inch too long. ON the pattern it says, after finishing the increases - work a further 32/24/16 rows. I'm knitting the medium size folks. So what do I do? I knit an extra 32 rows. So that's 8 rows too many. So I have to frog the top. I would have saved me so much time and effort if I'd just got the highlighter out in the beginning.

Well that surely means I'll have enough yarn to finish, right? 'Specially as I've knitted it in the round and saved some yarn on not knitting extra stitches for seams. Well noooo. I'm definitely going to run out of yarn.

I can't get the same colour yarn from the place I originally bought it, let alone the same dyelot. After much gnashing of teeth and wailing at the dogs and anyone else who will listen to me, I order a different dyelot but same colourway from a different company: Cnyttan wools (my saviours) - lo and behold and all saints be praised it is so similar to the original dyelot as to not make any difference.

I carry on knitting - only to find I'm STILL going to be short of yarn - by about 20 rows. You can see how much yarn I had left, with the entire of the top of the sleeve shaping still to do. I've photographed the top of the finished sleeve so you can see just how close it was. I suppose having several rows to finish is better than having just a few stitches left, but it's so frustrating to see the end and not be able to finish because I have to order yet another ball of wool then wait for it to arrive.

The pattern asked for 19 balls of wool. I needed 21. Did I swatch, you ask? Don't be ridiculous.

Today I finished it. It was all worthwhile.

It was, it really was.

I grafted the back collar - Now I'm really quite impressed with that. Not fantastically tidy - see the not very clear picture - but perfectly adequate AND I grafted CABLES for goodness sake.

The collar has a tacked down facing which makes it thick and snuggly, like wearing a scarf. And the Debbie Bliss cashmerino is lovely and soft and warm, mmm. I wore it to the Bovey Tracey Stitch 'N Bitch today and was suitably gratified by the positive response when I did a twirl. (We are such a lovely knitting group!). I shall wear it to Skip North.

Next week I'm off to the Lake District on a 'Walking Women's Holiday' - and I'm going up by train! I love travelling by train - all that knitting time! Cross fingers (and toes) the weather won't be too wet.

The January 12th RAVELRY OUTING TO GET KNITTED

In the pic: the computer geek whose name I can't remember, (I'm not being rude: she had it written on her T-chirt!) but she was an architectural student, Rainie and Wyesue.

Was it really two whole weeks ago?

Before Christmas, I'd suggested to the monthly Bovey S'NB group that we have a winter outing - maybe to 'Get Knitted' in Bristol. This was met with general enthusiasm. I then posted the suggestion on the Ravelry WestCountry forum and before I knew it, the outing had become a RAVELRY outing!

Sue, the manager, promised us all CAKE and a 10%discount off all non sale goods. What more could a knitter ask for? Get Knitted is a converted supermarket with a huge range of yarn, plush pink sofas and glasstopped tables and help yourself to coffee and tea. (Shame there's no bar!)

That's Mytilus hiding her face with a bag, with Anniken (yarnaddictanni) laughing at her, and (Mynameis)Clare studying 'Victorian Lace Today' with intent.

A trainload of knitters joined us from London, and folk came from as far away as Nottingham and Cornwall - there were so many ideas flitting about, and lovely garments being worn and knitting on the needles, it was truly inspirational. Much stash was bought, much cake was eaten.


WyeSue brought her trusty spinning wheel along and was letting folk have a go as well as showing me how to navajo ply and SarahW was showing several youngsters how to use her beatifully light and delicate drop spindles. Woollywormhead was there sporting a lovely shaped bump (action shot to the left) - there were several copies of her new hat book, 'Going Straight' with probably the best illustrated sections on kichener stitch inside that I've yet to see, but she hadn't brought any extras to sell, mores the pity. I 'specially enjoyed meeting Quitecontrary (Mary) who is mutton jeff like me, and wears gorgeous purpley/blue coloured hearing aids - (not at all like the pink slugs that I've got, though I did impress her with the sparkly bits in my ear moulds!) and she got them from the NHS too...

That's Rain's lovely circular cardigan being displayed in a batman like fashion in the picture below - with Mary, quite contrary down in the right hand corner...




And off the top of my head there was also Mytilus, YarnaddictAnni, MyNameisClare, Ork, Noonahs (who I was pleased to meet as she was the generous sender of the Bluefaced Leicester sockyarn I got in a Ravelry swap), Robynn, Yogicknitter, Erqsome, Museinmeltdown, Knittingpixie, Rainie, TussahSilk, Angua, Cupoftea and Custard and Silk910 was also there, I think. From our S'NB there was Ruth, Kathryn and Chris who haven't made it on to Ravelry so go by their ordinary names. Apologies for anyone I've missed out and I know I didn't get round to talking to quite a few Ravellers.

I had put together a quiz - not that anyone needed entertaining, but in the unlikely event that conversation flagged...

GET KNITTED QUIZ
A mere 26 questions.

Ravelry

1) Name the pair who set it up.
2) As well as various groups which you can choose to join, there are main boards in the ‘forums’ section: Patterns
Yarns
For the Love of Ravelry
Needlework on the Net
And a) Scraps
b) Offcuts or
c) Remnants

3) Who or what is Bob?
4) Just when DID the two who made Ravelry start tinkering around with ideas and computer codes?
Was it a) January 2007
b) January 1997
c) January 2005

5) Just how many hits/page views per day does Ravelry clock up? (according to the Ravelry Blog entry on January 4th) is it
a) 100,500
b) 1.5 million
c) 5.5 million


Get Knitted

1) Before Christmas the team at Get Knitted posed a riddle: “What’s multi-coloured, eagerly awaited and comes from the other side of the Atlantic?”
It’s arrived, but what is it?
2) A fairy was getting plumper while the rest were trying not to. Who is expecting something pink and cuddly in the Spring?
3) Beginning of February, Penny Santer is running what kind of workshop?

People

1) “Schoolhouse Press was founded in 1959 by British-born masterknitter, Elizabeth Zimmermann, who wanted to supply handknitters with pure wool and circular needles (both a rarity in those days), as well as books, tools, and original designs. Elizabeth’s humour and unique approach to seamless garment construction gradually attracted followers through her semi-annual Newsletter, a steady stream of designs in magazines, two television series’ taped for PBS-TV, the annual summer Knitting Camp and publication of her four books. Elizabeth’s philosophy was received with glad cries by knitters who were eager to think for themselves and, through EPS (Elizabeth’s Percentage System) were able to achieve perfectly-fitted garments while applying their own ideas to their knitting.”
What’s the name of her daughter?
2) Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is better known as what, to knitting bloggers?
3) Who wrote the New York Times best seller “Stitch ‘n Bitch”?
4) What is the name of the former Bishop of Leicester who wrote “The History of Handknitting”? 5) Marit Guldseth Ernstad, born 1841, was known as “The mother of Selbu Knitting”. Selbu, in Norway, is renown for the knitting of what garment?
6) He’s just brought out a new book called “____ Knits Again” – the guy with the amazing sense of colour, who is he?
7) Of what is Amy R Singer the publisher/editor?

Techniques

1) What’s another name for the tension/gauge square of knitting that should be done before starting any knitted project?
2) “ 3 stitches on a double pointed needle (dpn). Knit those stitches – switch the needles in your hand without turning the work, and slide the stitches to the other end of the needle. With the yarn still hanging from the left of the work, knit across using your second dpn. Be sure to pull the yarn tight when you make your first stitch so that the fabric rolls in on itself.”
What has just been described?
3) Sewing over the top of knitting to imitate a knit stitch is called what, commonly?
4) A flat, slow growing fabric – sometimes called ‘plain knitting’ – all rows are knit (or purl) when you are knitting on two needles. What stitch is this?
5) Row 1: *K1, P1* continue to end of row.
Row 2: knit the purl stitches and purl the knit stitches of the previous row.
What stitch pattern will this make?
6) Colour knitting in which separate balls or bobbins of yarn are used for large blocks of colour and the yarn is not stranded across the back – sometimes also called picture knitting, collage, geometric or patchwork knitting. What is the common name for this technique?

General:

1) Angora yarn comes from what animal?
2) A tool used to aid skeining after spinning yarn. It is a rod which has bars each end, set at right angles to each other. What is this commonly known as?
3) What year was the Knitting and Crochet Guild of Great Britain established?
a) 1978
b) 1958
c) 1908
4) How would Americans refer to sock/4ply yarn?
5)On what piece of equipment would you find the ‘mother-of-all’?

And here are the Answers:

Ravelry: 1) Jess and Casey 2) c) Remnants
3)A Boston Terrier DOG 4) a) January 2007 5)b) 1.5 million

Get Knitted: 1)Knitpicks Harmony Options
2) Jules (and bump) 3) Wet and Dry Felting

People: 1) Meg Swansen 2) The Yarn Harlot
4) Debbie Stoller 4) Richard Rutt
5) mittens (or gloves) (the winning team also said jumpers, shawls etc etc and since their leader is from Norway I didn't argue!) (waves at YarnAddictAnni!)
6) Kaffe Fassett 7) Knitty.com

Techniques: 1) A Swatch 2) swiss darning
3) garter stitch 4) Moss or seed stitch
5)Intarsia
General: 1) the angora rabbit (lots of folk said 'goat'!) 2) Niddy Noddy
3) a)1978 4) superfine/fingering
5) a spinning wheel

And to finish, here's the recipe for Ginger Applecake that I brought along to share - I didn't eat any, (smug b****** that I am) because I'm off sugar (and caffeine and alcohol) for January after the excesses of Christmas and the New Year. Blimey, what self restraint!

Ginger Applecake can be served warm, with cream or custard, or cold and gloopy.

Ingredients:

175g/6oz self raising flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

76g/3oz caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

6-8tbs milk

1oz melted butter, cooled.

Topping: 500g/1 lb cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly

juice of 1 lemon

75g/3oz demerara sugar (I've used raw cane or molasses sugar)

1tsp ground ginger

50g/2oz melted butter.

Method:

Sift the flour into a bowl with the ginger, baking powder and salt. Stir in the caster sugar. Add the egg and 6 tbs milk and the melted butter and beat to a soft dropping consistency, adding more milk if the mixture is too stiff. Set aside.

Topping: Put the thinly sliced apple wedges in a bowl with the lemon juice, demerara sugar and ginger. Fold gently to mix (I usually just use my fingers for this - verrry gloopy).

Now put the cake mixture into the bottom of a well greased 35x20cm/12x8" swiss roll tin and level the surface. Arrange the apple wedges prettily on top - overlapping and layering in rows so it looks like those posh french tarts (no euphemism intended). Pour over any liquid left in the bowl then drizzle the melted butter over the top of that.

Bake in a preheated moderately hot oven (200 degrees C/400 degrees F/gas mark 6) for 35 minutes until the apples are golden brown on top (or singed black if you're as scatty as me - it still tasted good!). Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Cut into wedges or squares - freezes well.

I usually double the recipe and bake it in a roasting tin.

Courtesy of the 'Seasonal Freezer Cookbook' by Jeni Wright et al, Octopus books.

As you all may know, I'm mutton jeff.
A joke I gleaned from the UKHPL mailing list I lurk on:

patient -- "Doctor, doctor, I think I'm going deaf."
doctor -- "What are the symptoms?"
patient -- "They're a small yellow family from America, but what's that
got to do with my hearing??"

tee hee.

Thanks Chocolate Sheep!


I've been waylaid by 'Ravelry', like thousands of other knitters, crocheters and spinners... More than a community, it's a way of crossreferencing patterns and yarns and keeping track of projects. I joined the Almanac KAL forum and offered up my spare Almanac - Chocolate Sheep took me up on it - and look what I received in return! (Yep - that's Cherry Tree Hill yarn). Which just goes to reinforce my opinion that knitters are just the nicest most generous group of people in the world. Isn't that a lovley picture of a chocolate sheep?

Reading the Wisconsin Wintersock booklet brought back memories of just how cold Wisconsin winters can get. (lived there from when I was 16 to when I was just about 18yrs). I can remember running home late one night, when it was 16 degrees below freezing and the windchill factor was even chillier, and pulling my jumper collar up over my nose. I knew it was that cold because the Bank of America had one of those signs that flashed up the temperature alternating with the time in neon bright digital figures. The condensation from my breath froze the neck of my jumper solid before I made it home. The men used to shave off beards and moustaches because they would freeze too. Ouch.

Saying hullo to an old friend.

I haven't paddled the Loop for a couple of years, so I was a tad apprehensive when old buddy Colin invited dh and me to paddle the 'Loop' last Sunday. The Loop is an intermediate section of the River Dart, about 4 miles long, and called the 'Classic SW paddle' by the UK rivers Guidebook. It's on our doorstep, not far away from Ashburton and the A38. The 'put-in' is at New Bridge where there is a large carpark which looked like boat city. (When I started paddling, I thought people were talking about a PUB when they spoke of the put-in!). The 'Get-Out' is now just below Holne Weir.

See that little blue boat on top of the silver car in the photo below? It's a little 'open boat' rather than a closed cockpit kayak - those gnarly paddlers went off to paddle the Upper Dart.I was relieved to see that the water was barely reaching the top of the slab by the bridge - which is a good guide to water level on the river. Roughly translated this meant that the river was a medium level, despite all the rain the week before, and easy enough to negotiate even for rusty old me. The Loop (as do many rivers) has delightfully scary names for its features like "Washing machine", "Lover's Leap", "Triple drop" and the "Spin Dryer". The latter is little more than a big eddy which has a high fence which is difficult to climb out of at high water levels, so you end up going round and round and round and...

The carpark was full of old friends from Teignmouth Canoe Club (TCC)- here's Chris and Sally, with Jude to Chris' right and their son Alex's legs in the background.

We also caught up with Ben May's mum Sally, who isn't paddling at the moment after injuring her knee and shoulder/arm in a serious car accident in Chile. That's dh by the boats, and Colin in the middle, talking to Sally. You can't see it, but I brought my knitting - it's in a little red bag, sitting in front of the large dry bag in the middle kayak. I've got a Dagger RPM - not the most up to date little boat, but reliable and a good all rounder - IN fact me and DH have matching kayaks - like tweedledum and tweededee! The trip down the river was great - the weather was a bit grey and watery, but at least it wasn't raining. The paddle itself was like saying hullo to an old friend. There was no need to be apprehensive - once you get past a drop, you look round and say to yourself, "Oh, is that all it was? - wheeeee!" or something like that anyway. Must do more paddling. If you want to see pics of paddlers on the river itself, see here, as my camera isn't waterproof.

And finally - a rather less than flattering pic of me, showing off a lovely orangey red tideline across my forehead which came from the dye in the hat my sister gave me for chrimble. It kept me warm underneath my helmet anyway. That's not ALL my hips you can see - that's the spray deck. Honest.

Sal encouraged me so I've signed up to join the TCC in Tintagel next month- bit of kayak surfing, some walking, cycling, good company, mmmm. Shame DH doesn't want to come too. He reckons it'll be too bleak.

SEASON'S GREETINGS!

Wishing everyone Season's Greetings and a very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, yarnbookchocolatewine filled, Knitty Knew Year...
I'm off for a quick visit to Eire to play Santa to my nephews, then back here on Christmas Eve for Christmas day with my men - we've got the neighbours coming over in the evening to play silly games (I bought Cranium 'specially). Then it's off to Horsham to see M-I-L on her birthday and back to work a week Friday. No time/opportunity for blogging next week then.
I can feel a blogging New Year's resolution coming on.


Before I go - couple of rants, just to get 'em off my chest. I met the postie t'other morning, whilst out walking the mutts before work. He gave me a card with £1.06 excess charge to pay. I handed over the money - but read on the envelope whilst strolling home, that £1 was a 'handling charge' because a friend had not realised that her (normal sized) card was a fraction too large and thus fell into the 'large letter' category and should have had 6p over the first class stamp she had affixed. What bloody bureaucratic nonsense is this? Are the Royal Mail so uncharitable that they can't waive 6p at Christmas? I resent paying this penalty, but I can at least afford it. What about pensioners who can ill afford that quid? Take note, card manufacturers and bah humbug to the W****** at the Royal Mail who are responsible. Reckon we should all not bother with cards and donate to charity instead (like I've done for the last couple of years, then felt cosumed with guilt that I'd neglected my friends...)
And later that same day - I phoned Irish Ferries to book a foot passenger ticket for me - and my dogs - to go to Ireland for the weekend. "Sorry", says the telesales person on the end of the 'phone, "Dogs are no longer allowed on board with footpassengers". I do sincerely apologise for my curt response, Mrs telesales person, as I realise it's not YOUR fault that I can't bring my dogs to Eire, but I am outraged that dogs have been banned because of "hygeine and safety". They've never been allowed anywhere but in the kennels on the cardeck anyway. And if I wanted to take them in my car (for an extra £160) then THAT'S ok - and hygeine and safety are no longer an issue - despite having to lodge in those self same kennels.
Shakes fist at anonymous b******* in offices who have no hearts.

See you all next year.

I have a new obsession: SPINNING!

I blame it on the knitting blogospere - all that enthusiasm from you lot for spinning just could not go ignored. After the Spin-A-Yarn workshop (which I actually managed to blog about back a while) I bought a fleece - a naturally coloured Ryeland fleece which is gorgeously soft - this is a pic of a Ryeland sheep: isn't she amazing? Cost me all of £6 which I'm told is expensive??? Seemed very cheap to me. I tried to sort the fleece, but apart from the skirt - it ALL seemed really soft and luscious, if a bit mucky.

Now - times that £6 by 10 and you get what my Mum paid for this spinning wheel for my birthday present - courtesy of Susan from the Devon Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers - an Ashford Traditional - isn't it also gorgeous? Tilly looks suitably impressed - NOT (Can you eat it? no. Can you play with it. NO!).

Well I can. Play with it I mean. Tough knitty, dog. And this was my first attempt at spinning on my very own wheel with the roving that WyeSue gave me for my birthday (thank you Sue! HUGS!)
Lumpy, bumpy, thick and thin. What fun! Think I'll try and dye this.
Here's the bag of stash I was presented with at Get Knitted by the incredibly generous WyeSue, a few weeks back. I bought just a few other items too - well you just got to make that long drive worthwhile, don't you? I said DON'T YOU!?

Not sure how to deal with my fleece - I read various tomes and followed various instructions found on the web:

Following Yarn Harlot's instructions - I laid out all the locks in line, inside a ripped apart pillowcase and then laid in a roasting tin. Then I made a neat little parcel of it all. I soaked it once in hot water. Then I put the pan, hot water and a dash of fairy liquid on the cooker and steamed the lot for an hour! Then I rinsed it and rinsed it again. I got lovely clean soft locks all ready for spinning. I've been carding them as well, but the experienced spinners I met at the Guild meeting (my first) on December 8th assured me I could spin it as is...

This next picture is of the fleece drying. I've got fed up with all this sorting out - so next I tried sticking a larger amount in the bathtub and washing it that way - result? Slightly felted and therefore harder to card, but just as clean. I was told that this fleece is easy for beginners to spin up - I'm going to spin enough chunky yarn to knit Sonnet methinks. Probably over ambitious, but WTH I'm sure I'll learn heaps. I've already spun and plied about 8oz of lumpy bumpy chunky which I beat up on the pretext of 'setting the twist' (these spinners are a kinky lot). I've also tried spinning more tops from the pile that WyeSue gave me - coloured stuff (you can see it peeking through the plastic in the picture above) - I didn't know about predrafting when I did it - but now I do. The chunky green result will be a green stripe in the Sonnet.

When Knitting and Midwifery collide: A Birth Story.

Apologies for the length - but I just got to share this one!

"A midwife should have a good pair of hands and know how to sit on them" says Michel Odent? Or maybe knit with them says I.
I was at O and R's birth the other day - O is a midwife herself and knew exactly what she wanted - a home birth, with a quiet and dimmed atmosphere, with lots of love around. She wanted as few interventions as possible, and wanted to use TENs and for R to use Shiatsu for pain relief. They both had an array of homeopathic and bach flower remedies to hand... O had a long prelabour - she'd been up for two nights before I got there and R hadn't had much sleep either. We'd only met once before, but it's always so much easier for me when a couple know what they want...
I arrived at 11am and she was pleased to be told her cervix was 5cm dilated and the baby was in a good position and his heart was always really reassuring and steady. R has the most amazing smile that lights up the place and great big hands just great for massaging - mine didn't compare and O only wanted R's hands doing their magic on her shoulders and lower back.
I went off to collect the resus equipment and entonox (and grab some lunch). When I got back at about 1pm, O's contractions were still plodding along at about 2-3:10, strong but slightly irregular. Using acupressure would bring them up to speed slightly but they would always drop back to 2-3:10.
Still, O's cervix was 8 cm dilated at 17.15hrs (I'd left it a bit longer to check as I knew that we weren't going to get 1cm an hour!). I'm getting a bit of pressure from Labour Ward by this time - the coordinator would phone and want to know if I was happy and why didn't I do an ARM?!

Again, I can stave off unhelpful advice if I'm backed up by a birthplan!

ho hum, 3 hours later, t'was still the same. But far from getting discouraged O became even more determined. I've called the second midwife who was also really supportive and all the time I'm knitting socks and listening in to baby and checking O and R were OK but they were getting on so well without me doing anything but knit and keep a watchful eye on the slooooow but steady progress. We debate the usefulness of ARM and R gives O caulophyllum (sp?) and SRM happens - wahey! I think the baby heard us. Light meconium staining but we can live with that as junior's heart is still steady as a rock... Contractions are now strong 4:10. so I'm disappointed when O's cervix is STILL the same 2hrs later.
But even as we're arranging transfer for delay, O starts to make that wonderful grunting noise that signifies second stage and there's a show and so, we cancel the ambulance and we say welcome to baby boy just half an hour later. And wait for the cord to stop pulsing and admire the true knot. The placenta only takes 11 minutes to arrive.
Beautiful baby boy is so alert and goes straight on the breast. O has achieved everything on her birth plan - a wonderful normal birth with just a whiff of entonox to get through transition, and R would make a wonderful midwife... His smile lights up the room after its all over. I have such admiration for their love and strength and courage and determination and teamwork.
HA! - I frogged the sock I'd knitted because I'd made it too narrow, but the next day I knitted up a teeny tiny pair of socks in the same yarn for O and R's baby boy, to remind them of that incredible journey - just as O had soaked a silk square in liquor (mec and all) to remind their son of his time in the womb.

I called them I ching socks because the lines remind me of those little pictograms.

If any of my blogland friends have been wondering where I've been - I've been over on Ravelry! What a wonderful place to get lost in. I've also been celebrating my half century - and made my birthday last an entire week - wonderful.

'K-TOG'

I needn't have worried about noone turning up - we gridlocked Lustleigh! It was a lovely, sunny, autumnal day so the walkers turned out in force - but we also had a good crowd appear for the K-TOG. We stuck several laminated posters on the railings outside to draw in the punters and Annie the Sheep from Alison Murray's Gingerbread house greeted everyone at the door.
WE also tried to keep everything really affordable - £1 entrance and only £4 extra for the sockknitting and felting workshops. Here's Jill keeping busy...There was a really happy atmosphere - knitters wondering around with smiles on their faces and children trailing long lengths of fingerknitting behind them...

This is Rosie the blue sheep, hiding under the entrance table...

I didn't take any of the photographs - all credit is due to my young friend Kate.

As you all know, our 'stitch 'n bitch' group had been planning this event for ages - although it's not easy when you only meet up once a month. The planning was helped considerably by the fact that one of our members - Mary - has lots of experience at organising this kind of thing. She's an Honiton Lace Maker as well as a knitter and crocheter of some distinction - and is often asked to judge competetions. She was there good and early to help me set up the hall - but pointed out that we should have had plenty of young men to help us do the manhandling. Point to remember if we ever do it again. Other members turned up later - Jill and Ruth (and Ruth's dh who DID do a lot of manhandling before he went off in his walking boots with the Dartmoor Explorer map to discover Lustleigh Cleave) and Kathryn - with her wonderful knitted bunting. (Again - no pics of bunting - but it's inspired - knit triangles in garter stitch starting at the point and increasing one stitch every row - all different sizes and colours depending on your stash! - we attatched it to a length of fingerknitting and Kathryn sewed beads to the points of all the triangles).

My friend Cath also turned up early to organise the tea squad - She'd asked her mum to bring flowers to decorate the tables - what a star! Here she is standing with her back to us, talking to Sue and Dawn from my bookclub - over half the bookclub supported the K-TOG - yay!I'm busily knitting sock bookmarkers to thank all the helpers. You can get the pattern here

All proceeds went to South Devon Womens Aid - and Christine (the manager of the charity) turned up with a bundle of leaflets and annual reports, to tell people all about the refuge and what the charity does. WE made a grand total of £120 to give them - here's a pic of the raffle prizes - with the first prize being a place on the Christmas Decorations workshop at Spin-a-yarn (lunch provided) --It was won by a local lady from the village.

As well as Annie and Rosie the sheep, we also had a miniature version of a 30ft high Christmas tree on display. This was Alison Murray's project a couple of years before the Gingerbread house. It sat in Atlantic Village shopping Mall in Bideford and raised thousands of pounds for North Devon Children's Hospice and Great Ormond Street Hospital. The Herald Express Article here gave the impression that we would have lots of items from the Gingerbread house and several people came thinking we'd have the entire thing! We WERE hoping to get more objects from the the House but, unfortunately, Anne and Alison had been offered free lockup storage for the house and most of it was inaccessible. It would have been inpractical to put up the whole thing (it's huuuge!) just for the afternoon, so we had to be content with the two sheep, the tree and several knitted cakes intermingling with the real ones that friends donated to the cause! Nice cakes guys! - apart from the one where Sue forgot the egg - hmm - interesting.

Knitted cakes- an interesting new weightloss product.

WE had lots of yarn put out in the Stitch 'n Bitch cafe: that's Mary demonstrating finger knitting on the front right, and Kate the photographer holding Josh the knitting recipient on her knee in the background. Here's a picture of Vinny in green: and some of her pals from Plymouth.The cafe made over £100 - that's a lot of cups of tea!

Here's a picture of moi battling with giant knitting needles in the cafe. Had to be done. And, before you ask, no I didn't knit my cardi - spotted it in a charity shop for a fiver - I recognise good workmanship when I see it - all hand knitted with no seams and pewter clasps to boot.I'd brought my knitting library down so folk could browse in the cafe - The Alice Starmore book on 'Fishermans Sweaters' could have been auctioned off at a grand price if the amount of knitters asking if it was for sale was anything to go by. That's Jill from our S'NB group guarding the books!

WE also had Mary from Ashburton doing spinning demonstrations, ably assisted by Sue (in the foreground who came to my spinning workshop and has come on leaps and bounds since then!)

Lookit Shaun watching the goings on.

Mary had brought her own items to exhibit including this cute sheep (think it must be Shaun's nephew).

The exhibition part of the exhibition must be the least successful part of the afternoon - we weren't able to stick anything on the walls - though we did manage to hang coathangers from the picture rail. I'd hired stands from the Bovey tracey Society of Artists - cheap and cheerful at £5 per stand - but then I lost my double sided tape (found it after it was all over!) which left Ruth and Kathryn trying to be resourceful with needle and thread. I'd also make laminated posters of some of Yarn Harlot's sayings to amuse: eg "sweater 'n': a garment put on the child when the mother feels chilly".

Joyce (our local yarn store proprieter from Spin-A-Yarn) had brought along lots of samples:

Mountains of luscious yarns and goodies - which is, after all, what it's all about!

LYS - speaking of which, I went up to Get Knitted t'other day - what a wonderful place! Spin-a-yarn expanded into supermarket size! I digress.

So we didn't display our knitted items very well - in fact lots remained in bags awaiting labelling as I didn't want to risk losing them! Some of my favourite items were knitted during the second world war: this christening shawl was knitted for a baby that was born on VE day, whilst Churchill was making his famous speech! I also had some (darned) lace stockings knitted during the war. I love the knitted wire and bead bangle I was given by Yvonne - displayed
We also had a WIPS table, which displayed Mary's unblocked lace tablecloth - the one she's been knitting since we started our S'NB group! But Kate didn't photograph it :-(

We also had a list of internet resources and some knitty.com patterns for people to take away free: French market bag was very popular.

Most popular of all were the feltmaking workshops : Sara (my neighbour and 'environmental artist extraordinaire) explained how to put together a brightly coloured little felt square.

Bright bright dyed fleece. Someone made a green man!

No pics - but Anniken also led a successful workshop on how to knit socks: I saw some gorgeous miniature socks being clutched by pleased owners. Anni also brought along some of her beautiful handdyed yarn and donated a couple of hanks to the raffle.
Then our very own Chris did some wonderful demonstrations and answered lots of queries on dyeing wool yarn with acid dyes in the microwave oven.

Finally we had so many people let us know what a good time they had and wanted us to let them know when we were doing it again. Many non-knitters felt inspired to take up the pins and get knitting.
I think we achieved our aims.

Thanks to Jill, Kathryn, Mary, Ruth and Chris from our Stitch 'n Bitch group, and Chris (Ruth's partner - who helped mantle and dismantle the stands!) . Thanks to Joyce from Spin-a-yarn, Anniken from Cornwall, and Mary from Ashburton - for all your hard work. Also Cath, Sue next door, Sue from Bovey, Dawn, Gill, Cheryl and Caroline from my bookclub who all helped with the teas. Mike and Kirsty from the Village Hall committee also deserve a mention for pitching in at various points during the day and Pete Harvey for fetching and carrying all those stands from Bovey Tracey. That's a lot of little socks for me to knit!!!