the pleasant land of counterpane ...

...which i am inhabiting post a (mercifully short) indisposition, the gorier details of which i will spare you, save to say that it came on very suddenly, involved an horrendous drive home, as i was away babysitting the gorgeous grandson at the time, and has forced me into a day of bedrest, because i 'came over all dizzy like'! so as you can see, i am experimenting with the blog, because i want the text to be wider and therefore shorter. however, being not v au fait, am not getting other things right. heighho, win some lose some, as they say. i do really need to get a grip on this blogging thing, but where to find the time? :(

managed to leave some knitting behind - again, I hear you cry! Well, this time it's not lost, just left at my daughter's. and i was feeling distinctly poorly. moreover, it is not the christmas present knitting, which is finished, but which cannot be displayed as yet, because of christmas present secrecy! so i shall now start on my mother's stole/scarf, whilst awaiting the return of the errant shawl. further enquiry of the Berlin authorities have revealed no sign of my lost bee fields shawl KAL, but as i have now got replacement yarn, will soon have that back on the needles. and i have a picture of the original, at a very early stage.

am somewhat disappointed, because i was supposed to be out with my eldest daughter and granddaughter, who rarely grace London because their lives in Dorset are so full. but Maddie was picking Jessie, who is about to celebrate her eighteenth birthday, up from a brief holiday with her stepgrandma at her house in France, up from the airport which is local to us, so they broke their journey with an o'n stay here. Jessie is gorgeous and clever, and i know i am biased, but after the party in 10 days time i shall have the photos to prove the former, and her marks - often 100% prove the latter. they are spending the day looking at art, in preparation for her interview for a famous university, fingers crossed. she doesn't knit, but you can't have everything, and she appreciates the knitting i do for her, so that's good enough for me.

son Jos managed to arrive and depart in my absence, ostensibly for his grandfather's 82nd birthday party, altho i do sometimes wonder!! and hopefully i should see the younger of my gorgeous granddaughters tomorrow, as she is coming up with her mum to go to an exhibition on recycling all being well. that's almost a full house, one way and another. in fact the long-suffering Peter thinks it's almost too much of a full house anyway you look at it. but i tell him having young people about keeps you young. and anyway, they're all so gorgeous, and yes, i know i'm biased, but ... ;) e.g., see above for picture of 'happy-go-Luke-y'!! :)

in any case, i must prepare for my PhD upgrade viva voce next tuesday. not sure whether the butterflies are excitement or terror, but am pleased neverthless to have got this far at long last.

and to cap this posting, some pictures of mother russia, at long last!!! :) as you can see, there not entirely your conventional pix - the first a cossack who just happened to be passing, the second a scots guard bandsman, just what you expect to see in Moscow, not! they were performing in a military tattoo, and when i tell you that the scots girls were in tartan trews - goodness knows what the Russians made of it all!! Finally, Marshall Zhukov, great hero of WWII, maybe??? Well, make of all that what you will. the rest next time!!! ;)

no, i haven't disappeared, but i have been travelling ...

i guess anybody who was ever interested in my blog has given up on me. in fact, i guess i am a very bad blogger :(. they say you find time to do the things you really want to do. but that's not entirely true, unless you take it to its most extreme. fact is, there are things which the life i have chosen impels me to do, like keep me, my home and my husband's life running (and before anyone raises the question, yes, he does his share, indeed, these days, with me away so much, or lost in work, probably more than his fair ... i am married to a saint, Peter is indeed my rock, and i love him dearly. he would say, very dearly, with my penchant for spending ;) but that's another blog entirely), ie, with clean, ironed clothes, food, a tidy home etc. plus my commitment to my immediate family, which now includes: 4 children, 3 grandchildren, husband, mother, sister, nephew. then there is the wider family, many of whom live abroad. not forgetting friends, tho some of them must think i HAVE forgotten them lately. and i have hardly seen my lovely grandchildren, who are getting on getting bigger. Ellie's walking, talking and turned into a real live toddler while i was away, and Luke's not far behind.

then there's the PhD! and yes, that has been full-on lately. i have submitted 2 major pieces of work, a chapter plan, a time plan and a working bibliography, in two copies and am to be viva'd on 30th to determine if it is ok to continue to a PhD! so no small matter, then.

then there's the knitting. which i fit into the spaces and interstices of my life, eg, if watching tv or travelling on buses, tubes and trains, or cars when other people are driving - no, i don't think it's a good idea to knit and drive ;) having lost my beautiful bee fields KAL shawl half-knitted in September on the Berlin transport system somewhere (no, no sign of it returning, hope it's gone to a good home!), i have got as far as edging the secret Christmas present shawl i am knitting, mostly done while travelling. but why, o why can't i knit on the plane? :( it's so mean, just think what i could get done in those wasted hours, not just on the plane itself, but in the time between check-in and travel. anyone for an airport knitting sit-down demo??? with bamboo or plastic needles, of course.

travel. yes, that's the main reason i have not posted, in addition to the PhD i mean. and even then, it's involved the PhD, as i attended another conference in Munich for it, and then spent 5 days buried in an archive there. a very fruitful trip, workwise. and the chance to catch up with some friends, the very lovely Uli and Toby, who kindly offered me bed and board, and whose company and friendship made this archive trip much nicer than those where i skulk in a lonely cheap hotel room in the evenings. i also did manage an afternoon's sightseeing in Munich while waiting to catch my plane.

all you blogging fanatics out there, how do you find enough time to do it, while doing such interesting things? i mean i find my days just whizz by, and i do need 8 hours' sleep, or i just go under, vitamin pills or not. i guess it's just what happens, getting older.

anyway, that's enough for now. those of you who are still interested in my feeble efforts, i shall make every effort to blog some pictures of travel and knitting very soon. life permitting, of course! ;)

it's good to be home ...

got back yesterday, after struggling through mammoth traffic jam on M6 - apparently due to a festival - hmm. luckily for me, Peter was driving at that point, as my left (ie, clutch) leg still doesn't like stop-start driving. unlucky for him though, he was shattered, so i drove to London after the congestion had eased. did manage to get 3 parts round the edge of my sampler shawl though, so not all bad!


Lake District and hotel perfick!! will post some pix tomorrow. right now just too tired after spending all day catching up on phd. still, did get to see round Hill Top Farm, home of Beatrix Potter, and buy some (more!) books, including a lovely one of her illustrations. she really was the most remarkable woman, far beyond her children's books, however wonderful.


anyone who wants more info should look here and here and here. (and please don't mention Renee Zellweger in my hearing!)


oh, and we also went to Dove Cottage to pay homage to Wordsworth, see here. can't manage a picture tonight, but here's Benjamin Bunny, to keep you going ;)

sundays closed ... (said with a strong French accent)

Probably not many people will get the reference, but there used to be a comedian in France who was pretty rude about the UK, (just the one? you ask ;) ) and one of his 'insults' was the fact that everything, incl the pubs, was closed on sunday, the implication being that this was a benighted land, with little to commend it. i suppose that in today's London , with its constant claim to be a 24/7, vibrant city, you might be tempted to think that all that had changed. well, not really. for ordinary people life on Sunday can still seem
pretty slow. which is just a long way round of saying that although of late work on the phd has been progressing, and i have had a bit of a social life lately, life is pretty slow today, sunday. so by way of entertainment, i offer a couple of pictures of my husband, Peter - 'i don't do babies', caught in positions which bely his words! ;)

i have also added a list of my projects and projected projects, after the reading of which i thought i maybe ought to and lie down for a spell, it seemed so ambitious. having said which, other people's lists seem much much longer, so i guess i'm still an amateur! ;)

climbing slowly - but surely ...

here is Luke trying to escape his grandmama's clutches

well, the work is beginning to roll again, thank goodness. mind you the knitting's suffering, but you can't have everything, can you? did manage to wind a ball of the lacis shetland lace pashmina, ready for something else - but not sure what. well, plenty to be going on with, anyway.

in the meantime, here's a pic of darling Ellie looking very moody this w/e:



she'd just ended her nap, but was still a bit dopey.

.

shan't get any work done this w/e, as visiting Peter's daughter in Hereford for 3 days. still am taking a book for my research, and some - guess what - lace knitting. well, it's a long car journey both ways, and as i still can't drive (broke my hip joint on the last day of February, and am not out of the woods yet) something must be done to fill the hours.

incidentally, i saw a link to a website for a lace knitting museum, and am having to ration myself, it's just too gorgeous, and time-consuming!! ;) i've added the link right.

still trailing ...

really can't write much today, still trailing behind with all my work. :( but i did find time to set up a flickr account, trouble is, there's not much to see on there yet, but at least i'm ready to go! :)

had a lovely w/e playing grandmother to Ellie. she is walking now, and talking - if we only understood her language. still, no mistaking wuf wuf everytime she sees a dog, including the sculpture on our sideboard. at 13 months she is now interested in everything around her. she loved watching ducks and pigeons coming to eat bread from my husband's hand. and having arrived able to walk just 4-5 steps before halting or falling, 24 hours later she could get up to 10. i never cease to marvel at the speed at which a healthy child acquires skills and knowledge. if only a) we knew how to educate them in such a way that we didn't kill their interest, and b) we kept those abilities ourselves. too often i have watched the light of curiosity in a child's eyes dim as some pompous adult crushes the pleasure out of learning and prowess. and i know many adults who regret 'not having paid attention when i was younger', castigating themselves in the belief that the fault lay with them, not with inadequate teaching. sorry, i feel an orangebox rising beneath me, but since i'm not at Speaker's Corner, i'll quit!

when Ellie went off with mum and dad, fed, watered and freshly bathed before the long drive home, husband Peter and i collapsed into the nearest armchairs with a drink, ruefully acknowledging our declining energy. we have decided he is to be called granpeter by the new grandchildren, since he is technically a step-grandparent. he is quite funny really. having pronounced vehemently and often 'i don't do babies' he is frequently to be found playing ardently with one or other of them, or explaining things to them in great detail. then much embarrassed huffing and excusing when he realises he has been discovered!!! ;) but no matter, we are enjoying our life together and with them, so why worry?

still rabbitIng ...

oh my ears and whiskers ... my supervisor likes my first submission. so i'm not so dumb after all!?!?

so now i guess i'd better finish the second. .... or shall i start some new lace knitting ... hmm, difficult one, that ... rabbit, rabbit .........