Longest Rainy Day

I've picked a great year to resume knitting. So it is meant to be a winter pastime, but tell the weather that. Been peeing down continuously here today...

I have just finished my fifth pair of socks - and I am getting better.

These used the Skew pattern by Lana Holden via Ravelry.com. An interesting pattern but very easy, just need to concentrate on what row you are on. Certainly my best effort to date.

So I have now progressed from Jean's basic top-down pattern (one 4-ply and one DK with two colours), a toe-up disaster pair with a 'waste' odd ball of dk, an OK toe-up pair with left-over DK from a jumper and now these with basic 4-ply sock wool. I have learnt how to knit on two circulars, almost mastered kitchener stitch and Judy's magic cast on.

I have been building up a good stash of quality sock yarns via Ebay and fellow Raveler destashes (I am picking up the lingo). So far I have resisted Wollmeise, which appears to be THE yarn - but it is very difficult to get unless you pay way over the odds. It can't be that good, can it?

My KF jacket is on hold again. I had resumed, but then ran out of the blue I was using for the current row of star outlines. More should be on its way from Inner Mongolia!

I have fitted in some scrabble. The Scottish NSC heat just over a week ago, and for the second year in a row I won with a 7-0 record. Simon almost beat me, having been ahead for the whole game except for the last move after I had made a second bonus opening leaving one tile in the bag. My final bonus played in both places - phew. I also was very pleased to spot (J)OL(L)ITIES in the game against Kate when OILIEST/IOLITES did not play. The Border Reivers (Allan, Stuart and me) also won the team event to progress to the finals later in the year.

Two days later I played my round 3 BEST match against Amy. I won 5-1, but it may have been very different. Game 1 and I got off to a flier, but Amy almost caught me back up before I surged ahead again - certainly had me worried. Game 2 was close, but a couple of phonies by Amy probably cost her that game. In game 3 I got away with ENTOTO(M)Y (misremembered TENOTOMY) but Amy was 140 ahead after CRAZIES and held onto it until I hit back with two consecutive bonuses (REALIGN (74) and then hooking FlASHED on to the triple for 110) to take a 25 point lead and empty the bag. With INSVWY she should still have won if she blocked my WINY for 36 on a triple but I think she was in shock so I scraped home by 9. A scrappy game 4 that Amy won when she had a play out of MIRAGE which I couldn't score enough in blocking it. Game 5 was mine all the way - a nice spot of DAMASSI(N) near the end and Amy conceded. Game 6 also went my way, opening with QUIRKY for 64 and then a bonus on move 2, a mid game bonus and a 9x final play of FID(D)LeRS for 158 saw me score 616 to Amy's not many.

I have only got out in the garden a couple of times. One foray up the high bank to pull out nettles and cleavers - it looks a lot better. Yesterday I got in a full day - mainly spent on the last section of the LBE, removing weeds, stone and clay from the bottom couple of feet, but ending with some enjoyment. A trip to Edrom nursery on Saturday so some planting. Two unusual yellow flowering hardy impatiens, both of which I managed to split into two .And two more saxifrages, one of which I could split, the other I didn't want to risk yet. And a few other things that still need to be planted... I also relocated a patch of baby hellebores that I was pleased to spot as their parent was long dead.

Now I am back to weather forecast watching. Rain doesn't look like stopping up here for the foreseeable future...

Early To Rise

I woke up really early this morning and just couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided to get up at 5.24 according to our bedroom clock. Cleared cardbox and went out to photograph the garden as although it was cloudy there was also no wind. And then just as I was finishing the sun came out and transformed the morning. Blue skies, birds singing, glad to be alive drinking coffee on the lawn morning. I fear Paul has missed it as it is clouding over again now and the trees are starting to sway.

The current highlights in the garden are:



Where does the time all go? Nearly three weeks since my last post and what have I done?

Well, I finished knitting the jumper that I had started and taken with me to Malta, and am currently wearing it. I love it. And then I knitted a matching pair of socks with most of the left over wool. And I have almost finished knitting another jumper in super chunky Araucania limari yarn knitted on 9mm needles - super quick. It will definitely not be worn until it gets a lot colder - winter dog walking insulation. Body finished, turtle neck completed and have almost finished the first sleeve. I will get back to my KF jacket at some point but Paul made me clear away all the yarn from the sunroom when we had a house load of guests for a BBQ and to watch the Jim Clark rally that came past our house again, and I haven't got around to laying it all out again yet.

And I have been gardening.

A couple of days weeding the long bank extension that had run amok whilst I had been away, trying to get it looking respectable before the JCR. And then pulling out the weeds I could see I had missed during a break in the JCR. It was torture just looking at them.

Veggie patch is now almost back under control. Weeded. Potatoes earthed up as best I could. Dwarf beans planted out. So far nine tomato plants in the ground, following Monty Don's advice to plant them deep - so mine are about half buried. Still have fifteen that need to be rehomed... The peas and mangetout are flowering away merrily, and I have sown the remainder of the row directly into the ground. The onion sets that I planted have already bolted and no signs that they are bulbing up. Bamboo wigwam erected ready for the runner beans - had a better success rate with the last ones sown with four out of five germinating.

Raised planters also in better shape now. Lettuces thinned out and two more rows from the thinnings. More rocket, spinach, spring onions, radishes sown. First sowings of carrots and pak choi. I think I may give up on trying to grow bulb onions altogether as they obviously don't like me - I sowed three rows earlier in the year and I may be lucky to have a dozen in amongst the weeds. The pickling onions and leeks that I sowed at the same time are doing fine.

I think today may be a pottering in the garden day - or I may get the energy up to scale the high bank on yet more nettle removal.

Malta 2011

An early start on the 5th to catch the 6.55 flight to Malta, still trying to throw off the cold I had acquired the week before. Met up with Simon, Sheena and Margaret at the departure gate.The flight wasn't fully booked so Simon and I had a spare seat between us to put our books etc. on.

Was met at the airport by Geoff and Tess and, after a detour to buy a new coffee percolator, was safely deposited on their sofa by the early afternoon.

The European Open commenced the following afternoon. It did not go well for me - a combination of poor picks and not playing at my best meant that I was never in contention. Tess, on the other hand, was flying high and had won the event with games to spare. After staying late to help Amy clear the equipment away we met up with Tess's family and she treated us all to a celebration meal.

The following day was the Brousson Invitational Scrabble Tournament. Amy, John Chew, Mohammad Sulaiman, Simon, Cecil, Vince, Kevin, Mikki, myself and Tess. We each put 10 euros in the kitty and played 6 swiss rounds followed by a king-of-the-hill. Prizes agreed beforehand - 50/30/20. Amy was on fire. having beaten Simon in their BEST match in the morning, winning 6-1, Tess second 5-2 just pipping me on spread. Mikki in fourth meant a complete thrashing of the weaker sex :)

We had a lazy next day, but a quick trip to the Medina glass factory and I spent my winnings on a very pretty small vase.

Thursday was a trip over to Gozo, Geoff and the dogs (Poppet, Lily and Smudge) replacing Mikki and Mohammad from the BIST line-up. A very pleasant day - a couple of drinks overlooking the sea, then lunch and then off to the beach in the afternoon. Ice-cream, another beer, a few concensus games and a quick paddle. It was warmer than last year but I still opted to not go for a swim...

The Malta International Scrabble Open started the following afternoon.

After having only a third of the available blanks in the EO the tile gods decided to laugh at me from on high. They gave me every single one on the Friday but with such utter dross that I was only 4-3 at the end of play. Hence my report will be somewhat lacking in detail as I was beginning to lose the will to carry on...

But carry on I did.

Lucky T-shirt donned on the Saturday and with more balanced racks but fewer blanks I rallied back to 11-6 at the end of day 2. Still 3.5 wins behind Evan but now well positioned to make third or even second place. The lucky (and not too smelly) T-shirt was going to be worn again the next day!

Tess first game up on the Sunday. It did not start well but I was feeling a lot more focused and soon my luck changed. A pivotal moment was when Tess laid SHRIGhT on the board for a good score, but had doubts and picked it back up. Then RIGHTeS(T) went down, opening a 9x. She changed her mind again and finally played bRIGHTS for a much lower score, leaving me the E I required for a high scoring DISTHEN(E) rather than a face-value H(A)NDIEST. I had enough ammunition to go on to win the game.

Next was Terry Kirk, who had beaten me on day 1 after I had played a phony and then got severely punished for my mistake. A bonus in the last quarter of the game should have seen him home and dry. My rack of DEEENNS and I made the correct decision of playing D(O)EN, leaving the N as the floater rather than D(O)NE and a good pick of COT. An eternity passed waiting to see if Terry would block the N but he opted to score. The bonus went down giving me a 17 point lead with three tiles in the bag. A long hold from Terry and then he challenged. I knew I must be safe with a playout from the last three tiles. Phew!

Evan next - an opportunity to close the gap, which was now down to 2.5. And I took it - the game is on centrestar - game 20.

I was beginning to believe I was in with a chance.

Last game before lunch, Yi En Gan. I had also lost to him earlier by 7 points when he had inadvertently created a 9x spot, and I had played for and picked the A I needed for ANTID(O)RA/(MAUN)D and he blocked it again in blocking a different opening :( This game went much more smoothly for me, countering his bonuses with my own higher scoring ones and picking up a couple of 5-point penalties to boot (BOOMINGS and ARCHAIZE).

I really didn't want a lunch break. Not only that but before we resumed there was a raffle that I thought was never going to end. Like a recurring nightmare every time I thought it was over another colour and number was boomed out over the microphone. However, eventually it did come to an end.

Carmel Dodd, who had been having a very good run, next. But this time the tile gods smiled on me and I ran out an easy victory.

I was now the only person who could catch Evan, 1.5 games behind with two to play. My fate was in my own and Evan's hands.

Game 23

I spent far too long trying to decide what to play when I had both blanks, and eventually just plonked something on the board as I was down to about 6 minutes and Evan plays like a rocket. Luckily my racks balanced and I could play reasonably quickly for the remainder of the game and held on to win.

Game 24

What a relief to see a bonus on my opening rack - I think only my second of the whole tourney. It certainly settled my nerves and probably did the opposite for Evan. It is interesting being annotated - I was far from convinced that MONEY(I)NG was good but was concerned that I could look rather foolish if it was and I didn't play it! It did help that I had a healthy lead. Apart from that I did play reasonably well...

So I ended the trip on a high. A celebratory meal at Avenue on the Sunday night with Tess, Geoff and John, and a thankyou meal at Mamma Mia on the following night.

The diet will be starting soon...

Do Knitters Dream In Colour?

So I made a decision to check out a local knitting group at St. Abbs last Saturday.

And then came down with a cold.

However, it didn't seem too bad in the morning so I set off with my latest partly finished sock and a pack of tissues stashed in my handbag. I had stayed up the previous night to get the heel turned so that I was at the ankle - my first attempt at toe-ups...

A morning of coffee, scones and knitting. There were two other knitters there along with our hostess and a non-knitting friend of hers over on holiday. I felt a little out of it, not knowing anyone but I guess that was inevitable. Will I keep going - time will tell, as I cannot take anything too complicated to do there.

However, they did introduce me to the website Ravelry.

And now I have wasted days on there, logging my yarns, browsing patterns, yarns, groups and forums. And drooling over other people's yarn stashes. And discovering that you can buy yarn from people who are 'de-stashing'. Am waiting to hear back from a lady in the USA on postage costs for a wish list of stuff I just can't get here and the pound is quite strong at the moment so it may be cost effective...

But I'm off to Malta tomorrow - up at some God awful time to catch a 6.55 flight from Edinburgh - so I need to get back in to scrabble mode and stop dreaming of beautiful colours and soft fluffy fibres.

Seeing Stars

Two weeks on from the planning stage and I have completed 60% of the back...

Changing yellows every two rows.

Changing greys every three rows at most.

I have used silks for the star outlines.

In theory I only have three colours per row but at times on the first star I was juggling ten balls of wool! Now I prewind the silk into balls of four strands and life is a lot easier.

And it looks pretty good on the wrong side too...

But I have now reached the point of casting on the stitches for the sleeves. Three more star repeats for each sleeve.

So I have managed to get the extra stitches on the needle - just. But I am concerned about how squidged it is. When it comes to stranding the yarn at the back when I start the stars it may well pucker so it is all systems stop.

Luckily I foresaw this may happen and have bought some 48" circular needles, but they probably won't arrive until I get back from Malta.

The Long Bank Massacre

The time had come.

Loppers, secateurs and garden saw...

The start of the long bank dead shrub clearance.

Three hebes and a senecio down.

And a lot of cleared space.

A nicer day today - procrastinating over the fate of the mahonias and photinia.

Gentle weeding of the long bank extension, potted up a few self seeded heucheras and relocated a lot of baby foxgloves up to the high bank. Still got a load more for when I am ready.

I am back on to pea watch. Two weeks on from the first sowing (old seed) and only about a third of them have come up. But the mangetout (new seed) sown the following day are almost all up and thriving. So a trial now - I have sown all the peas that I saved from my own crop last year. And I have extended the trial to the runner beans and dwarf beans - pots sown with both old beans and my own saved ones. Oh the excitement of it all :)

Kaffe Fassett Outlined Star Jacket - Planning Stage

I gained a lot of confidence from knitting my first KF jacket and immediately started scouring his Glorious Knitting book for what to do next.

And this is what I decided on...

I just loved the vibrancy of the yellows, from pale primroses through to in your face golds, with the calming influences of the greys stars. Contrasting colours for the star outlines in pastel shades was recommended. He says the colours are based on seeing the costumes and sets of the Peking Opera.

Design put into spreadsheet and play around with the colours. It may look a little odd but it is knitted in one piece - front, back and sleeves.

Unfortunately I possessed very little in the way of the required colours in my stash - a couple of odd balls of yellow and a few part balls from some of the mixed lots.

So on to ebay and start bidding on required colours/yarns. A sustained campaign over several weeks with some failures and a few side-tracks but I now have enough to go for it. What I have found is that not much yellow yarn is on there, and what is is keenly fought over. Bodes well if I want to sell on what is left over. And I also bought the last of what I needed from The Black Sheep, along with a few other odd balls...

And here it is - jacket in kit form:

Background (needs about 600g total):
Some rather strange gold/yellow tricel/nylon £0.99 120g
Patons Cotton in a gold/yellow £3.20 200g
Silk/Wool/Cashmere bright yellow £6.65 150g
Silk/Wool/Cashmere yellow £6.45 150g
Debbie Bliss Cashmerino chunky mustardy yellow £6.51 150g
Debbie Bliss Pale Yellow cotton £3.33 200g

Stars (needs about 400g total):
DK dark grey £2.80 100g
DK grey/white mix £2.58 100g
Variata flax/wool silvery grey £2.20 400g

Star Outlines (needs about 200g total):
DK wool mauve £1.40 50g
DK acrylic/mohair mauve £1.56 150g
Silk/Wool/Cashmere turquois/coral/pink £6.23 150g
Debbie Bliss peachy orange cotton £6.50 200g
Jaeger 100% silk pale blue £12.50 275g (bargain- retailed at about £10/50g)

I also have got the buttons... an absolute snip at £1.24 and enough here for 3 jackets.

And not forgetting the postage - £19.15, although I take that into account when I am bidding. The silk/wool/cashmere appropriately has come all the way from Inner Mongolia!

A total outlay of over £100 plus some oddments I already had, but I will use under half of it on this project...

Busily Doing Nothing

I really don't know where the time goes. I would never be able to fit work in again...

A few busy days in the garden followed by an enforced rest due to gale force winds. It is now very clear that I have lost a lot of shrubs due to the severely cold winter. The long bank has suffered badly - most of the hebes, both mahonias, the photinia as well as the previously mentioned brooms. And in the herb patch all the lavenders and both rosemaries.

However, I decided to continue on my plan for the high bank rather than attack the long bank at this time. I fully removed the previously hacked back spiraea - a good physical work out with fork, secateurs and loppers but eventually I prevailed. Paul volunteered for more slash and burn duty. The honeysuckle that I guess was meant to climb up the telegraph pole but actually layered more and more growth on top and forwards had to go - every year I tried to control it and dismally failed. And then the spiraea behind it that had been neglected due to previous lack of access. Once Paul had finished I made an attempt at removing the root but even after a good hour of digging around it it remained solid as a rock. I satisfied myself with just digging over and removing as much root as I could find in front of it.

The second acer that was living in a pot has now been relocated into the cleared space.

The work done has completely changed the view of the left side, now allowing me to see the previously hidden top of the high bank, which necessitated one more trip up there for bramble control. I plan to split and transplant primroses/primulas and a lot of foxglove seedlings that I have found in the LBE up the top to supplement the daffodils and bluebells that are already up there. A trip to Lamberton/Edrom nurseries is also on the cards as the area is well suited to some woodland plants - damp shade...

I am really loving looking at the LBE - almost every day I see something new flowering or bursting through the ground - and not just weeds :)

On the knitting front I finished the Kaffe Fassett inspired jacket and now have to decide whether to change the buttons. I didn't win the buttons I originally wanted on Ebay so bought some others. And just after I had sewn them on I got a second chance offer on the first ones! I decided to get them and they do look a lot more suitable...

I then embarked on my first pair of socks. The first sock is done and I have got to the toe of the second. I have found knitting on two circulars is a lot easier for me than a set of DPNs.

Another reorganisation of my wool stash and ebay buying strategy into colours. Not quite a rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and mauves/purples and black, white, pink and brown... I have been busily buying different shades of yellows and oranges in different fibres ready for my next couple of KF projects.

The bridge season is coming to an end. A topsy-turvy season for Berwick A, but great relief on Monday when a winning draw in our penultimate league match meant we were safe from relegation. Great relief for our opponents too, who like us needed a single point for safety. It is going to make my captain's report at the AGM a lot easier...

Ongoing scrabble study and I hit the 30000 mark on 8s a while back. Now keeping cardbox under control, going back through 7s and revising 4s again. BEST match is organised for the 13th April and then off to Malta in May.

Mini Orchard Completed

There has been much activity on the good weather days in the garden. And some on the not quite so good weather days.

The pear trees, gage and everything else I had ordered from J. Parkers arrived as a single delivery a week ago.

So straight on with the planting of the trees. And then trying to work out what pruning, if any, was needed. The conference pear had quite a few branches that I cut back. The Beth pear only had three branches above 18 inches and the Concorde a mere one...

The gage has been installed on the last remaining cane against the wall/railings.

So that completes the trees in the fruit tree bed - assuming they all survive! Still got space for some fruit bushes - I have planted two redcurrants that were cuttings from last year that had rooted. I have some rooted blackcurrant cuttings also in a pot but they will eventually go against the wall on the other side if they survive that long.

So far the only springing into obvious life is from the cherry tree.

I then quickly planted up the plug plant gentians which looked very healthy and monardas which didn't. I keep inspecting them to see if I can see any improvement - I will be lucky to get 4 out of 6 I reckon.

The next day was cold but I needed to plant the dicentras, paeonies and day lilies in the LBE.

However, the weather has improved this week and even Paul has been helping with removal of some of the dead shrubs and playing with bonfires to dispose of them. Two brooms out of the long bank and another small shrub from the high bank.

This then afforded a great opportunity with easy access to get him to cut the buddleia back there down to a stump.

Which in turn gave me the opportunity to relocate an acer from a winter broken pot...

I have done my annual snowdrop transplantation, adding small clumps to the trellis bed bank and the next couple of sections of the LBE.

The trellis bed itself has been tidied up.

Onion sets have been planted in the veggie patch.

The gooseberry bushes have been pruned - I am covered in little scratches now.

I have started on the high bank tidy up - autumn debris removal, nettle and bramble control. It really does get slightly better each year which is just as well as I get achier each year :)

I severely pruned back a couple of spiraeas and made one trip to almost the top to remove an enormous section of an unknown shrubby tree that had split under the weight of snow in the winter. There is a dead looking berberis up there which needs tackling. I am contemplating a total revamp of the middle section, which is still more or less the same as when we moved up here. Apart from three very nice paeonies the plants are not really to my liking. Hacking back the spiraea in the middle has opened it up and I think I may remove it permanently...

The garden is starting to get very colourful. Spring heathers, crocuses, daffodils, tulips, primroses... But my pick of the lot has got to be the hepatica, unfortunately now beginning to fade but I captured it at its peak...

The Pear Trees Cometh

So why did I say I was ahead of last year???

It was a cue for winter to return.

The only thing actually done in the garden was the planting of a Victoria plum (again from Morrison's) as a cordon on one of the remaining canes.

Still, the knitting is progressing. Front, back and first sleeve completed, and second sleeve well underway.

Word study also plodding along. Should hit the 30000 mark on 8s this week. More motivated now that the WSC has been confirmed (Warsaw in October) and Michael Tang's exciting announcement w.r.t. his expansion of the Causeway scrabble tourneys.

I have now ordered the four remaining fruit trees I wanted from J. Parker. An Imperial gage for the last cane and three pear trees (Beth, Concorde and Conference).

I am planning to grow the pears as dwarf pyramids - they are on Quince C 'dwarfing' rootstocks. So I have wasted a hell of a lot of time looking on the web for reasonably priced 2.4m tree stakes. And failing dismally - they are either cheap and the postage extortionate or expensive to start with. I really don't want to pay more for the stakes than the trees cost!

I have finally decided to improvise. I will get shorter stakes (1.2m) from Cheviot trees this afternoon and make my own taller stakes from binding three 8 foot bamboo canes together and hopefully attach them behind the tree stake.

It is getting a little late for planting pear trees, but as J Parker have taken the money, which they normally only do as the plants are dispatched, they are hopefully making their way here as I type.

All Systems Go

The apple trees (aka big sticks) eventually arrived. We had been phoned on the Friday to say they had just been dispatched and would be here on Monday. I was a little peeved as they had missed the good weather window. Luckily we did not have a hard frost and the ground was not frozen so in the morning I went out and dug 10 holes ready for planting. They arrived in the afternoon. I needed Paul's help to hold them at the angle of the canes while I refilled the holes and tied them loosely in place. Once in I tied them to the canes more securely and after checking my bible lightly tip pruned them to a suitable bud. Last job was to get the chicken wire in place to protect them from Jen and Poncho. This will have to be done better in the future as it is not rabbit proof...

I have a good selection with a long cropping season of August right through to the end of the year, and some storing in to the next spring:
Keswick Codlin - dual purpose
Belle de Boskoop - cooker
Saturn - dessert
King of the Pippins - dual purpose
Katy - dessert
Scotch Bridget - cooker
James Grieve - dual purpose
Suntan - dessert
Laxton Superb - dessert
Ellison's Orange - dessert

However, it will be 2013 before we should get any as my bible says to remove the blossom in the first couple of years to let the trees put their energy into growth...

I started weeding the LBE on Thursday. This hadn't been planned but on taking the dogs out at lunch time I had stopped to pick out a couple of weeds. And then I handed Jen over to Paul and just kept going. An hour and a half later and it looked a lot better.

I can now see more and more wild baby primroses coming through - the fruit of my labour last year in transplanting clumps from the rockery area. The pansies also seem to have spread their seed far and wide.

Yesterday was veggie patch day.

All the dead runner beans were unwrapped from the wigwams and obelisks and pulled out. Beds were weeded and forked over.

Cabbages were assessed and I now have one that is pickable, four that look as if they are attempting to form new heads and the rest were pulled out. Any greenery on them was bagged up and given to Margaret to feed to her geese. The curly kale looks as if it is re-sprouting - I have left it in but am not sure whether it is worthwhile.

I still need to hand weed that bed and around my disappointing leeks. Some look as if they may be worth picking, but the vast majority don't look much bigger than when I planted them.

The nettles are doing better :(

On the bright side, all three clumps of rhubarb are coming through strongly...

And I made a start on clearing the leaves and debris from the raised planters.

I still have a lot of last year's carrots unharvested and it looks as if a lot have survived the winter. They are pushing themselves out of the soil. I pulled one up and it tasted absolutely fine.

It may also be worth my time harvesting some of the larger onions that overwintered. And plant the Red Baron onion sets I bought a couple of weeks ago.

And my requested cow muck from Margaret has just been delivered - perfect timing...

I am ahead of last year , and this March I do not need to spend 30+ hours sifting topsoil and loading the fruit tree bed. I just hope the weather keeps behaving itself.

Going Green

I admit it. I may have got a little carried away with Ebay.

But everything I have bought was a lot cheaper than if I had got it in a shop. And my pricing cost/ball includes postage.

And where it wasn't I found a great on-line shop to get it. For some reason people wanted to pay more for fancy sock wool on ebay than they could get it here in the sale. So I now have 2 balls of regia sudsee sock wool, one of Noro silk garden sock, a couple of balls of baby alpaca and one of extra fine merino dk.

I took it as a challenge to see how cheaply I could get some of the yarns. Since my last post on the matter I have won a few more loads...

Rowan natural aran silk yarns were originally over £5/50g ball. I found a couple of sites where I could get restricted colours at £4, and a couple where a very restricted colour range (browns/beiges) were £3 - excluding postage. My first 5 won balls (pink, cream and green) came in at £2.65/ball, the next four (dark pink which was nicer than the purply colour in the photo) at £2.54/ball but my coup d'etat was 7 balls of blue at £1.31/ball.

Another triumph was 600+ grammes of mixed mohair at 78 pence/ball.

My final bargains were some dk tweeds. I had spotted a series of badly marketed lots ending on a weekday lunchtime. Photos of two balls with tatty labels and description of merely knitting wool/yarn. They were actually selling 400-500g lots of 100% wool. I tested the water on the first lot, raising the bid by the minimum amount. And won it. I didn't like the colour of the second lot so skipped it, but tried the same tactic on the third. And won it. Someone had bid on the fourth lot and had put in a max bid. I decided it was still a good price and increased their bid. When they bid again I gave up on it, now costing almost twice as much as the first lot. But I won the fifth lot with no competition. And then I requested a combined P&P invoice and got another 2 quid off - just over 80p/ball. Still waiting for it to arrive via parcel post.

I gave up on the ten 2oz skeins of 1920's knitting silk - very hard to gauge its value. If it was in good condition it could be worth two to three times my maximum bid, if not it could be virtually worthless as far as knitting was concerned. I was outbid in the last minute, and although I still had time to fight I didn't...

Odd-balls jacket was completed last week.

But now I am on to one of my planned projects for all that I have been buying. The ultimate in odd-ball, mixed yarn designs. A Kaffe Fassett jacket. I have a couple of his books but have only ever attempted one of his designs before.

I have gone for his damask flower design applied to one of his jacket patterns, down-sized width-wise. I am using one of my new circular needles as advised as the front and back are worked in one piece and the weight will be very heavy on normal needles. Not sure how much wool it will take but I guess over a kilo even with the reduction in size.

I am half way up the second flower of the back and have already used 30 different yarns!

The photo makes it look as if the background is in mixed blues but it is actually currently using 26 different shades of green - one of the reasons I bought the mixed green oddments lot to go with the odd balls I already had.

I still have a few more I can add in.

A mix of yarns (wool, chenille, silk, mohairs and other man-made fibres) and plies combined to make an approximate chunky weight.

I need to keep track of what yarns/combination I have used, building up a list of each row as I go along, so that when I get to the front I can duplicate the background. As so many of the colours are so similar I have had to letter-label them - there are only so many ways of describing different subtle shades of green! I couldn't resist a QZ combo for one row...

They are laid out on the window sill...

The bottom flowers are the previously mentioned unpicked burgundy chenille. I decided it was a little too thick doubled so changed to one strand chenille and one strand red mohair for the upper petals of the first flowers. This worked well, so I am continuing that with a different colour mohair for each of the flower bands - currently a shocking pink.

I reckon about a month to completion...

Growing Canes

I phoned up to arrange apple tree delivery for the latter part of this week. The weather forecast was for T-shirt weather - well, double figures.

And for once it was right. None of this moving back to never actually get the promised good days.

So on Tuesday I was out getting the canes in place. Every seventy five centimetres at 45 degree angles, tied in to the railings.

No delivery yesterday so I made a start on tidying up the long bank.

And still no sign of them today.

So I finished off the long bank autumn/winter debris clearance.





And now I can really see the bulbs


and signs of spring coming...

First Gardening Day of 2011

I may have missed out on the fruit trees at Aldi last week but today Paul spotted that Morrisons had some. Morello cherry purchased for five quid.

Time to change the fruit-tree-bed-to-be to the fruit-tree-bed.

A little concerned at how many potatoes I found in digging the hole to plant it.

Pleased to re-discover a good sturdy stake, an old stocking used as the tree tie and one of the cut sections of chicken wire as a temporary rabbit/dog defence.

Having checked in my RHS fruit and veg bible it should not be pruned until the spring, when it will be reduced to a stick and two side branches which have been identified to be eventually trained as a fan.

One fruit tree in, ten apple trees still to be delivered...

In the rest of the garden

Snowdrops and more snowdrops... The high bank is covered. My colonisation program of the long bank and LBE has proved successful - another couple of years should see them all the way along. The only disappointment is the bank at the top of the drive where only three rather sad looking small patches have appeared so far. But my stocks at the back of the sheds are thriving so I will be able to dig up and redistribute another few hundred later in the year.

The winter aconites are flowering. I now have four decent sized clumps. Maybe still some more to come up at the back of the sheds. Not sure if I have enough to split them yet.

The hellebore that I thought had died last year has reappeared...

I really need to get out there soon to clear away all the autumn and winter debris. I almost made a start today after planting the tree as it was so mild, but it is also very wet and muddy. I have, however, managed to do a couple of inspections to see what else is happening. Daffodils, tulips and crocuses poking up. New signs of life from a lot of the perennials. Pulmonarias in bud despite looking dead and yukky with all their brown rotting leaves from last year needing to be removed. Hopefully I can get stuck in next week as the weather forecast is looking optimistic.









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Win Some, Win Some More

Where to start?

Berwick A played and won their third match of the season, leaping from the bottom of the second division league into fifth place with games in hand.

Ebay... Well, I have now bought :

400g grey aran (£4.40) that turned out to be fawn. I didn't mind but seller seemed a little upset when I down marked her on lot description in the feedback!

1230g assorted yarns (£10.11) - a good mix of colours, plies and textures

570g chunky/aran (£11.20) - five different colours

350g 4ply/dk mixed greens (£5.55) - included some chenille and a fancy silky yarn

300g+ mohair mix (£7.25) - pale green and a pretty pink

500g+ eyelash/feather fancy yarns (£7.20) - pinks, mauves, blues and blacks

610g small balls (£9.50) - 60 different colours

500g grey 30% wool aran (£17.55) - this was the colour on the photo!

I have started using some of it - doing one of the patterns from the Odd-Ball knitting book.

11 piece set of 60cm stainless steel circular needles (£7.00)

15 piece set of 80cm bamboo circular needles (£6.50)

I am particularly pleased with the bamboo needles having not won the previous 3 sets I bid on which were going for £8.00+. Patience paid off.

I am having great fun on ebay. The cut-and-thrust of competetive knitters. Watching the last few minutes of what you have bid on counting down. Watching the last few minutes of what you are 'watching' when there is a bidding war going on. One batch of wool leapt from £10 to £26.00 in the last two minutes...

Also I am quite interested in the fact that people overbid, obviously not researching what they are bidding on. There was one lot that I was watching that you can buy on Amazon for under £27.00 but has just sold at £31.00! I have two more lots I am currently winning on that end this afternoon and I have done my homework. Maximum bids at cheapest price found - n%, n varying depending upon how much I want it. Fingers crossed...

Finally, scrabble.

I had never done well in the Scottish Masters despite being the top seed every time I have played in it. Well, this year I lived up to my seeding. 9 wins out of 12. 12 blanks out of 24. The three games I lost were all blank-less, against Neil, Simon and finally Allan in the king-of-the-hill round when I was a game ahead and he needed to beat me by about 500 to overtake me. I had beaten Allan in the round-robin earlier in the day when he also had both the blanks.

Some nice bonuses played:

ORIGaMI, PINWEED and NONBaS(I)C against Ross

sHOWTI(M)E and PANDITS against Ricky

IN(U)NDATE and ELONGAT(E) against Stu

PALELIN(G) against Neil

POTIONs, INUNDAT(E) (again) and SCURVIES against Kate

(R)EASONER and SHERbE(R)T against Ray

PAIGLEs and OGREISM against Alan

ZENITHA(L), W(I)NTRiER, PERTAIN, TOURACO and DUELIST against Marion

INHERIT against Allan

zilch against Simon

CROZIER, BADGERS and TOLUENE against Amy

Two more against Allan but can't remember what...

And another stupendous sperm count of +1221...

Win Some, Lose Some

I had a very pleasant long weekend at the Chester scrabble tourney. I didn't quite manage to win the required 14 games to maintain my rating but 13 was good damage limitation, and as the Phenomenon would say (but I can't, being a woman) had a massive sperm count amassing a spread of +1543. I lost my third game to Beverley when I emptied the bag taking off a spot for a 7 and she spotted a great outplay of (T)ONGSTER making 4 two-letter parallel words. I also lost to David Shenkin, giving him extra spread when I made a last-ditch attempt to win and he bonused out. My third loss was to Robert Richland - I had been keeping up with him as he played off all the goodies except the Q which he kindly let me have at the end when I had just opened a second bingo line keeping a bonus-friendly rack. My final loss was to Wayne Kelly by 2 points when I couldn't play out in 2 and score enough holding ACELNNV.

I did play some very nice bonus words over the weekend including GRYPHON(S) and picking INVADE? straight after playing MELTONS opening up a 9-x with S in sixth to finish the tourney with a 200+ win against Phil Robertshaw.

We finished playing at around 10 p.m. in the evenings which allowed some very enjoyable socialising, playing other board games and a few drinks...

I thoroughly recommend this tournament - 17 games, enough time to relax, very well run and the food at the hotel was excellent. Many thanks to Kathy and Dave for making my first outing here so much fun.

Now on to some things I have won!

Paul and I played in the Bobby Allan simultaneous pairs a week ago. We knew we had done well at the Berwick bridge club, scoring 73.7%. We then had a very nervous wait whilst all the scores from the other clubs came in. Our score came down slightly as the other results came in but the result was finalised yesterday and with 71.6% we finished well ahead of second place. I did notice that the pair in sixth place appear to be impostors, Stuart and Dave, as this was a mixed pairs event!

Having got back in to knitting and chatting to Mike O'Rourke over the weekend, who I was permanently sat next to other than the one game when I played him, he mentioned a friend of his who dyes and sells her own wool. On Monday he gave me a link to her website and I went and had a look. Glorious looking wool, but then I wandered off looking at other wool. And got drawn in to ebay...

After failing on a few bids I won my first auction this morning, 400 grammes of grey aran. My next deadline is in about another hour and a half. And I have bids in on another 8 lots and watching another 13! My mountain is in danger of becoming a range. However, I did see 'The Odd-Ball Knitting Book' on there and found I could get a second hand copy with free postage from Amazon at about the same price as just the ebay postage. It arrived today and is full of great ideas, with patterns for hats, gloves, scarves, socks, cushion covers through to a rather glorious looking entralac jacket.

Wool, Wild Birds, Wegetables and Words

The new jumper was finished last Friday - 2 weeks from design to completion. I am very pleased with it - a great way of using up a lot of leftover balls and part balls of wool. I knitted the sleeves 'in sync' as it was a bit touch and go whether I actually had enough wool in a few of the colours and didn't want to have to undo too much if I ran out. As it was I was okay but only had a few inches to spare on a couple of the zigzags! I am sure that the same pattern could be used to give very different effect jumpers if done in pastels or different shades of a single colour. I may well try out this theory at some time with other colours - I have a lot of greens, yellows and browns for an autumn version...

I did an inventory of my wool mountain last weekend while Paul was away. The sitting room was filled with bags retrieved from two of the spare bedrooms and I emptied the camphor chest that is my main storage area. I now have a file with it all listed by type, colour and weight. The kitchen scales were kept busy weighing odd balls and groups of mohair greys etc. It has all been re-bagged into (I hope) more sensible groupings. Over 10 kg of assorted yarns. I also unpicked the back of a chenille 'jumper' from years back - I had not appreciated that chenille came in different plies and had tried to knit a cotton chenille pattern with something nearer to chunky weight!

New jumper has been started. I had four balls of a scarlet boucle type wool and three balls of a matching wool with gold threads in (along with some balls of blue and grey) which I bought many years ago from an oddments bin but could never decide what to do with it. I found the pattern booklet for that type of wool and there was a pattern I liked for a lacy jumper that only required four balls main and two contrast so off I went. It is a pain to knit with - more so because of the pattern having blocks of alternating rows with y.r.n. p2tog and y.fwd sl1 k1 psso which isn't so easy with bobbly yarn but I guess that is why I don't need so much as plain jumpers...

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The bird feeding station is a roaring success after some early setbacks - namely a pheasant attacking it. We still get the occasional pheasant attempting to fly on to the seed tray, flapping wildly and falling off.

After complaining about the neglected nyjer seeds the goldfinches are now arriving in flocks. They are extremely feisty, chasing off other birds and giving me great entertainment. Lots of squabbles amongst themselves too - they like to control the seed tray against other invaders, running across it to fend off other incoming birds. Not much scares them away. The tits are very different, generally flying in, grabbing a seed and straight off again.

I am not good at recognising many species and now have my Scottish Birds book close at hand. So far I think I have seen chaffinches, goldfinches, greenfinches, siskins, blue tits, coal tits and/or marsh tits and/or willow tits (less likely), possibly long-tailed tits, robins, blackbirds and sparrows. We are extremely lucky here in having a great variety of habitats nearby - river, woodland, farmland and hedgerows.

~~~~~

I am starting to think about the garden again. New spreadsheet created for 2011 listing all my vegetable seed. I have bought some pak choi, spring onions and mangetout to add to my collection this year. Having seen a link in Town Mouse's blog for a seed catalogue I may be tempted to send off for a few more packets - maybe early tomatoes and giant radishes.

I seem to have recovered now from my fall on the ice and can now bend down without pain, so hopefully will manage to start tidying the garden in the next few weeks. If the mildish weather continues I will get the fruit-tree-bed-to-be ready and organise apple tree delivery.

I do appear to have lost a few shrubs this winter. The hebe that was badly damaged last year seems to have been killed of this time around. The photinia is also looking very sad. It does appear to be the evergreens that have suffered worst, although I am also worried about the saxifrages.

On a brighter note the snowdrops are pushing through with even the first signs of flower buds. There are also other signs of life from some of the perennials and other bulbs. Hellebores are flowering, daphnes are in bud and the primroses transplanted last year seem to be thriving with a couple in flower already and plenty in bud.

~~~~~

And finally scrabble. It is time to get back on the horse. Chester this weekend and as top seed I need to win 14 games out of 17 just to stay still. I have continued my studying 8s and have now reached 26750 at around the 90% correct mark before adding those missed to the cardbox. Scottish masters is two weeks later and that will see me meet the WSC qualification criteria.

We have been told the WSC details should be announced shortly - somewhere in Europe. I am guessing Romania but am probably totally wrong. I am more concerned about the dates with Causeway being at the end of November/start of December. However, Causeway is getting to be very expensive but the potential rewards are also going up. Life is full of tough choices...

Chirpy Chirpy

Feeding the birds doesn't come cheap cheap...

They definitely have their favourites in the bird food offerings, starting at the most expensive. Have you seen the cost of mealworms? I'll leave those for others...

I could barely keep up with them on the sunflower hearts front, having to refill the feeder every day and sprinkle some on the wall for the blackbirds. The 1.75 kg bag did not last long. Expensive taste at over three quid a kilo at the local farm shop...

Number two on the list was the peanuts. These lasted approximately a day and a half between refills, but that may have been aided by them jamming in the feeder and me having to periodically give it a shake. I also rescued the broken mesh peanut feeder and improvised a lid from an old jam jar and threaded some garden string through it to hang it up.

My home made fat/bird seed coconut refills also went down well - the blackbirds could get at them. I also ran out of bird seed...

But the nyjer seed has been given a good ignoring. Although I saw finches they were the wrong kind (chaffinches) and were happily going for the sunflower hearts. I have on occasions seen green and/or goldfinches but not at my feeders.

I had hung a lot of the feeders on the railings outside the sunroom, but as we were hunkering down in the sitting room I was not getting to see the birds very much. I decided I wanted a bird feeding station. So I went on-line before the new year to investigate.

I eventually decided on this site, Wild Bird Direct, where I could also bulk buy bird food at more reasonable prices. Feeding station, ground feeder, 25kg of sunflower hearts, 12.5kg of bird seed and three packs of suet balls later...

It all arrived just over a week ago. The garden was still covered in snow and the ground was rock solid. Paul suggested I tried to see if it fitted in the parasol base, but the pole was to thin. I then decided to see if I could get it into the fruit-tree-bed-to-be.

Big mistake.

The paving slab on to the lawn was covered in ice. My legs went straight out in front of me and I went down on to my coccyx. The only thing that slightly aided my fall was my right thumb.

Not only costing me an arm and a leg but also a thumb and a bum!

The pain was excruciating if somewhat brief - I think I went in to some kind of shock. Luckily I didn't seem to have done too much damage and was able to get up. My thumb subsequently swelled up and I had an impressive bruise all the way around it. I still have a small bruise under the nail. Luckily, it hasn't stopped me knitting...

I thought the other part of my anatomy had escaped as I could sit down with no pain. However, I have since found that sitting from a prone position in the bath almost caused my to scream with the switch of weight on to that area. I am now feeling slight pain when I bend down :(

Anyway, over the last couple of days the weather has changed allowing all the snow on the garden to disappear. The ground is now very soft and the bird feeding station has been erected outside the back sitting room window. It hasn't taken very long for the avian population to find it and I can watch them from the comfort of the sofa...

Knitting-By-Spreadsheet

Two pairs of leg warmers and four hats done and the quick fix of chunky wool and large needles has worn off. Time to get back to another jumper which I can start and then put down for another year or three before finishing it.

I had been doodling with various pattern ideas on some knitting graph paper when a light bulb moment occurred. Spreadsheets! Absolutely perfect for creating knitting patterns. The cells can be scaled to match the tension. And more colours than I could ever use.

The above is my first attempt and I have started knitting it.

But I am choosing my colours as I go along to use up odd balls in various shades of blues, pinks and purples. And I don't think the squiggly pattern section will work in double knitting - the detail won't show up well enough, more of a chunky pattern so that bit will be changed...

Clicking Needles

I have rediscovered the joy of knitting.

And my wool mountain.

Having finished the jumper I started on a new project - leg warmers. I was quite pleased with my first effort. They have stretched more than I would like but are still fine over jeans and they do achieve their purpose. I will certainly have some more attempts until I get my perfect pattern.

Spurred on by the prolonged snow, ice and well below freezing temperatures here I decided the next must have accessory was a hat with ear flaps. I had first thought of Scandinavian-type ski hats. There are a surprising number of free knitting patterns on the web but you really need to know what you are looking for. In the end I found this site for South American chullos.

I used UK chunky wool and 5mm needles, which gave the correct 16 stitches/4 inches but only 20 rows/4 inches. However, this has still worked for the pattern and meant that it was very quick to knit!

The jumper wasn't bad either - my own design. Well, I made it up as I went along...