Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside ...

As I am about to rush off to Killarney to visit my youngest grandson, the adorable Finn, I thought I'd get a quick blog in about my middle two.

I spent the past weekend with my youngest daughter, Imogen, and as I had agreed to look after my grandson Luke on Sunday, he came along too.

We took him and Imogen's daughter ellie to the seaside, Worthing to be precise. We had a wonderfully typical old-fashioned English seaside Sunday. Strong tea and icecreams on the beach, whilst beachcombing:

Walking up and down the promenade, Luke pushing his own pushchair, and Ellie pushing her toy buggy with Pooh bear ensconced:

Finally fish and chips with more strong tea before driving two exhausted but happy children snoring loudly all the way back home!

I was able to get pictures of Pooh in the jacket I knitted for him, although carelessly, he had left his scarf somewhere, but did have his hat!

Less enjoyable was the realisation that my niggling tooth had morphed into raging toothache requiring almost constant ingestion of painkillers. Mindful of the potential difficulties of having dental problems abroad, I succumbed to common sense and sought an emergency appointment with my lovely dentist. Right call. He diagnosed an abcess, did all sorts of things I prefer not to dwell on to make the tooth temporarily secure and roped me for more appointments to deal with the problem thoroughly on my return. What a nice prospect, eh? Still, it could have been worse, if I hadn't seen him!

Still, I have no intention of letting it put a dampener on my lovely stay in the Emerald Isle. And I am taking knitting with me, the jumper I am knitting for my son, Finn's dad (back and front complete, halfway up the sleeves) which I intend to finish while I'm out there. Now I know that wooden and bamboo needles don't upset the security cameras, I can get loads done in-flight. Fantastic.

Mind you, I think long-suffering Peter will soon forget what I look like, I seem to be away so much. Especially since in my absence he welcomed and installed the replacement for our ailing ousted fridge, with no help at all from me!!

Off with the old:

And on with the new!!

How lucky I am to have a tolerant spouse. I love you, Peter. XXX :)

Oh dear, I have been very remiss about blogging, haven’t I? L but I have been very busy, so perhaps I can be forgiven.

At the end of November I went to Killarney to visit No. 1 son, his lovely girlfriend Lisa, and my darling 5-month old grandson, Finn. For the first time in all my visits the weather was beautiful, and I had great fun walking the babe and visiting all sorts of things. The whole family travelled back with me, and stayed for almost a week.

On Saturday, 6th December I drove Jos and Finn to a sponsorship launch for his friend Richard Hume, who together with Tom Barnes is going to row the Atlantic next year to raise funds for Ataxia UK. Richard is godfather to Finn, and a fabulous person who overcomes his own physical problems to do these great things. This is a very worthy cause, as Ataxia strikes down young, healthy people, and does not get nearly enough funds, so do look at the website, and then support them in this great project. Imagine rowing the Atlantic in this little boat?

As usual, Finn played to an audience, and delighted all who saw him, including his other godfather, Pete, who was also there:

On Sunday, 7th my first grandson Luke had his second birthday party – how the time has flown since he made his debut in this world. I have been reading The Baby in the Mirror: A Child’s World from Birth to Three by Charles Ferneyhough, and it describes so interestingly how a child develops his/her personality over the first three years, that I cannot recommend it too highly. I was also able to see the difference that six months makes, by the way his older cousin Ellie behaves in comparison. And of course, joy of joys, my youngest grandchild was able to be present, although I don’t suppose he was aware of how wonderful it was to have all three of them together!

Since Jos and family returned home to Ireland I have been rushing around trying to get everything ready for our departure to spend Christmas with Peter’s son Simon and his family in Singapore. At the same time, precisely because of that departure, I had to prepare and present a pre-Christmas lunch on Saturday gone for two of my children and their families plus my mother!

On Friday last when my mother arrived in London I took her to the new Westfield shopping centre in White City. I have to admit that I, who am no consumerist shopaholic, quite the opposite in fact, was impressed. So much so that I even ended up buying things, mostly Christmas presents, but also a gorgeous cashmere jumper for myself! Oh well, it’s Christmas ain’t it? Surely goodwill to all men should apply to oneself too?

On Sunday I left my mother in the good care of my daughter Kathy, with husband Andy and son Luke. Of course my mother was delighted to spend time with her great grandson, and Andy, who is as I believe I said before an ace cook, produced a lovely lunch for her. The reason for this abandonment was to take husband Peter, who will be 79 tomorrow, to the new (-ish) Wembley stadium to see the Race of Champions. I should explain my l-sh (long-suffering husband) is a Formula 1 fanatic who used in a previous life BI (before Ingrid) to mix in the paddock with all the greats at Formula 1 races throughout Europe. So when I heard of the ROC, I knew that I just had to get tickets for his birthday treat. He had no idea where I was taking him until we got there, when he was just blown away. His hero Lewis Hamilton was there, as well Jensen Button, David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, and numerous rally champions.

And I should add, I had a wonderful time myself, cheering myself hoarse. Hamilton and Coulthard drove their Formula 1 cars around between the races, and we had a fabulous afternoon. And what’s more, the new Wembley Stadium is so impressive. The facilities are great and the arch looks great against the sky at night. Plus I got mega mega brownie points!! ;)))

So what about the knitting, I hear all you knits out there cry? Well, I have been getting on with my Princess; I am now on to the main border. And for in between times I am working on the Cap Shawl from Jane Sowerby’s Victorian Lace Knitting (pp. 28-9). I am using Heirloom Knitting’s Merino Lace in Emerald Green, and KnitPick’s Harmony Wood Circulars, 4mm. These last are from my fantastic Christmas present from l-sh (see above, and yes, I did prompt him! ;) in my defence, he likes to be prompted, because he says he can never think of anything – which is not true, because he has in the past bought me wonderful jewelry, some of which he designed himself!). They are the Royale Harmony Interchangeable Boxed Set (Gold Plated), and I am in love with these beauties. I now just have to get some of the bigger dpns to complete my collection of Harmony Woods.

So they are the first of my three beautiful things tonight:

The second is my finished Honeybee stole, blocked:

And last but not least, the third is the first picture ever of my three youngest grandchildren all together under one roof, with their proud parents:

what Alastair Campbell and I have in common ...

Depression, that's what. And thank goodness he's come out about it, maybe he'll make it acceptable, if not downright fashionable. Then we can say goodbye to the 'sock' school of psychiatry (you just need to pull your socks up) and the 'curtain' school (just pull yourself together!) and the idea that depression is just another word for not feeling so good, so I won't bother going to work/cooking the supper/writing the essay/fill your own in here.

In spite of my best efforts then: the yoga, pilates, bone breathing, self-hypnosis, aromatherapy, CBT, counting my blessings, listing my virtues and achievements rather than my shortcomings, etc., etc., etc., even knitting (yep, it gets so bad that even knitting can't help), I have not been able to overcome my feelings of doom lately. Thanks to Alastair, however, i.e., after reading some of the recent spate of his interviews, and his refreshingly common sensical take on the subject, I have betaken myself to the doc to get some chemical help, not for the first time, I must admit.

Trouble is, when you're feeling truly depressed, you only need to look around you to feel that depression is the rational response to the awfulness of the world outside: fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Congo, to name but three. Pollution, energy crisis, world poverty, child labour, excessive consumption, credit crunch, knife crime - what's not to get depressed about?

And that's why I am trying out the 3 beautiful - or good -things idea. The idea being that if I can find three beautiful or good things each day, they will tot up to counteract the dreadful things served up each day by the news media, and remind me that for every horror there is a delight, and that by concentrating on, and where possible adding to, the delights, we may at least keep a balance, and thereby our sanity.

So here goes:

1) The election of Barack Obama! Although I am too old and not stupid enough to imagine he can put the world to rights overnight, or even ever, I do feel it's a step in the right direction. If the good people of the United States can get it right, there's hope in the world.

2) a wonderful bonfire night on Wednesday. Just a local get-together at Chipstead Rugby Club, with my daughter Kathy, her husband Andy and grandson Luke, but it was great fun, the bonfire was fantastic - 'big hot', Luke informed me - and the fireworks spectacular, although Luke was a bit taken aback - 'big bang, big bang', before he fell silent with a worried look on his face. But that soon gave way to his usual cheerful face when supper appeared!

3) I have finished Scarf from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today. Great news, as it is to be a Christmas present. I used Habu 2/10 Kusaki-Zome yarn from the fantastic 'I Knit' shop in Waterloo. This Aladdin's cave for knitters stocks the most amazing stuff, and also does knitting get-togethers. Haven't managed to get to one yet, but I will, I will. This is my first time knitting pure silk, and although it was fun, I 'druther' Shetland. But it's good for me to try something new.



This was also my first time using my new 4 mm Harmony Straight Needles. As soon as these came out, I bought a whole set in its own beautiful black damask roll. I am ecstatic about these needles; they rock, they roll, they do everything bar knit on their own when I am asleep (I am working on that). They are made of the same laminate as the circulars and the twin pins, and I would knit anything and everything with them, if I could, but sadly the straights are not (yet) made in the smaller sizes. BTW, I'm first in the queue, so get in line behind me!!

The presentee is a student, so I embellished the scarf with gold beads and shimmery pearl drops on the points - no hint of 'made by grandma' there then! ;) I just hope she'll think it's cool and it's fashionable and it rocks!!

Another good/beautiful thing is that I have reached point eight on the edging for my Princess, but that would be four, so you'll just have to wait!! ;))))

Princess Shawl

Have been working on the Rowan bag, but it's slow going. Being a perfectionist Virgo, or as my daughter once called me, a picky worry wort, I don't really like intarsia, it always worries me that I'm not really doing it 'right'. That's why I've never gone in for much in the way of picture knitting. More than that, I don't really feel that it's 'real' knitting, in that I feel it's straining the technique, rather than using it to advantage. I have done my fair share in my time; pictures for the children and so on. And I like it on things like tumbling blocks, vertical or diagonal stripes, and such. It's the finicky stuff that's all over the place that has my anxiety levels rising. Which is my excuse for not having finished the intarsia yet!

So today I'm showing my swatch for the Princess Shawl:


I can't start the shawl proper yet, as I am still waiting for my yarn (Sharon Miller's Gossamer CashSilk in Viola) and needles. So I'm swatching to see how the yarn works. To date I have done 8 points, and I am going to do a full feather, to get the whole effect. The CashSilk is very soft and slightly shining, but rather firm and slippy. I don't think it will block as crisply as a Shetland, but I don't mind, because this is for me, and I like its cuddly feel. Mind you, the slippiness of the yarn, and a slight tendency to split means that it will be a bit of a challenge, I think. I am also waiting for 14" long bamboo straights, size 2 mm - yes straights! Because another thing I don't really like is circular needles. I just can't get up any speed. I prefer to have my right-hand needle tucked under my right arm, so that I can whiz along. As I have decided to do a square shawl, this will enable me to knit it in sections, thereby NOT having 800++ stitches on a row. Sorry if that's sacrilege to some. My knitting, my method!! ;) Anyway, traditionally that's how Shetland shawls were knit, so I claim precedent.