Good ideas

If you have a Wii www.wiifitroutine.com is a fantastic web site. I replaced my gym membership with a Wii two years ago and have been feeling extremely bored. This site has a range of 15, 30, 45 and 1 hour routines that combines what the Wii offers in ways I never would have thought of combining them.


 Every now and again exercise habits need a boost but, as I have realised, the body needs blob time. The festive season for a Jew means Chanukah candles, a few doughnuts and not much else, such calm in the midst of people in pre-Xmas melt down. My inactivity reached it's trough today with  the annual Anne & Sue mid winter slob day. We ate and watched DVDs. In our defense we did watch a PBS documentary series on the American Civil War. This is probably a little more meaningful than previous choices such as 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and was much more interesting than it probably sounds and has inspired me to finally actually look for a American Studies course at the Open U.


The moral of the story: stopping every now and again is incredibly energising. Just don't do it. 

say no to perfection

Tis the season that those of us who do not do Xmas to feel wise and slightly guru-like as the rest of the world seems to go mad.
At this point I would like to make the link between parties, weddings and Christmas celebrations.
Television is full of advertisements and programmes showing the perfect Christmas. Brides want 'the perfect day' and who has not been to an over-planned and somewhat stiff and uncomfortable party. 
People perfection does not exist. How liberating, how joyful to drop any attempt at any time at all to attempt to achieve perfection. Relax and enjoy life and laugh at the mistakes.

My email to Fortnum and Mason

I love living in London and one of my annual delights is to go around the West End looking at the seasonal lights and decorations.
As usual Fortnum and Mason trumped everyone else with your stunning window displays. So on Thursday 8th December I decided the icing on the cake of a lovely afternoon had to be afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason.
Afternoon tea was 18 pounds but this is once a year and Fortnum and Mason.
The menu also states there is a discretionary service charge. I have followed, over the years, discussions on Radio 4 about such discretionary charges and just how discretionary they are. I was interested to see how Fortnum and Mason dealt with this. I told my waiter I did not want to pay the charge. He looked puzzled and took my 20 pound note. After some time no change appeared and I asked what was happening. I got given a second copy of my bill and still no change. When it finally came it was a collection of small coins (was that really necessary) and was scattered over my table some falling to the floor. The waiter did apologise but his general surly demeanor giving me my change said a lot more than his apology.
Ironically my change was 2.25. What did I do with this change? I put it in a Shelter collection bucket.
And the icing on the cake? The undercooked  iced cup cake.

Brighton

We had a great weekend. Hannah went to see Aaron in Brighton on Friday. Ruthie went down on Saturday and Clive and I came down on Sunday. Aaron pointed out that no one from their families come to visit his flatmates. We all looked at him blankly-of course we had to come and see him. It is times like this I really do feel like the Jewish mother.
I also had 2 opportunities to do the wise old aged one thing.
Ruthie went to Brighton with a friend whose birthday it was and was wondering what to buy with a very limited budget. I showed her how to make her first cake explaining that baking is essentially chemistry and measuring really is a good idea. The girl is a natural born cake decorating genius and it looked fab. She now knows the  power of cake making to impress.
Sunday the husband took a hung over Ruthie and a very amused Hannah walking whilst Aaron and I looked at possibilities for his Masters and strategies to get there. I persuaded him to buy a diary. I really believe to do's in the diary stop them floating around in my head and as a consequence make life a lot less stressful. Aaron now agrees. I am the Yoda of NW4.
So what cake? Of course the wondrous One Egg Chocolate Sponge  from the Edmonds Cookbook-a NZ staple. This is my slack version of making it,
Melt 50gm of butter and a tablespoon of golden strup.
Stir in a cup of sugar and 1 egg.
Add a splash of vanilla essence.
Add
1 tsp baking powder
1 and 3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
Mix in a cup of milk in which 1 tsp of baking soda has been dissolved.
bake half an hour at 190
I have made this since I was 9 and it has never failed.

Just do it.

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to go to Covent Garden. A friend was ill and his wife offered me his ticket.
I originally was not keen.
-it was knitting group night
-it was dark
-I did not know the Opera
-I had a very mild man type cold.
But then I thought just say yes, just do it even if I do not own a pair of Nikes.
This was a good decision. I had a wonderful night and really enjoyed it. We were up in the Gods with all the scruffy people who pack food and drink and can talk knowledgeably about what is happening on stage. This contrasts with the people downstairs who have lovely nibbles and lovely drinkies at intermission and wear lovely clothes and talk about lovely things. Lovely.
I guess this is it. Good things take effort.
A good read takes more effort than The Sun.
Good food takes more effort than a takeaway
A good relationship with another takes time and effort.
A good life takes effort.
So my daughter and I  have decided to just say yes.
-

Finished

The circus figures are finished. This was not an easy project but one which I learnt from.
Essentially the knitting of toys is easy the sewing up,the embroidery and all the embellishments that take the time.
Essentially it is an extreme version of the normal challenges of sewing up our projects. Why do we knitters lose our patience with a sewing needle in our hands?

When I have finished my circus

I will blog again when I am ready to photograph the 7 circus figures I have knitted-hopefully tomorrow.

My Mother has passed

My mother died last night in New Zealand.
Both my brother and I wish we could truly mourn and that we could celebrate her life. Sadly we cannot.
I find the genre of childhood misery confessions books tasteless in the extreme and I have no intention of writing anything like that. All I want to say is that not everyone who is capable of giving birth is capable of mothering and this most certainly applies to our mother.
There are good things that came from such a childhood.
Both my brother and I had no second thoughts at all about leaving home. Had we been raised by a loving and caring mother there is a chance we could still be living in Hamilton.Sorry Hamilton but not a nice thought. We both used education as a means of escape. Both my children value education as well and this gives me such happiness.
Secondly I am grateful to all the people throughout my life who have shown me kindness, generosity and by example how to be a good person. I do not know what would have happened to me had I not known such people especially during my teens and young adulthood.
Finally my main coping mechanism as a child was, at the risk of sounding crude, to grab happiness by the balls. To relish every moment of happiness life offered. Trust me this is a pretty good if simplistic way to live.
For Halachic and personal reasons there will be no Shiva or anything resembling one but if anyone wants to join me for tea served in my nicest cups from the silver teapot please do.

Dublin

I had forgotten what a magical place Dublin is. It is small enough to be able to explore by walking and has maintained a sense of history that Starbucks and McDonalds have not completely destroyed.
But what is really special is the use of language. I spent most of the day wandering around and got into long conversations with total strangers-people in shops, in the National Library and on the street. Total strangers, all day.
It makes you realise why Ireland has produced far more writers of note than is to be expected from such a small population. People talk for the sheer joy of it. Conversation flows lyrically and rhythmically from topic to topic.
Come to Dublin walk and talk.

My son

My son has a intern.

My son is 21 years old and he has an intern. He works in a part time job for an internet company.

He is in his third year at University reading psychology when he is not working. He, of course on his way to a first. He got well about the class average in all his courses last year

My son was also really really good at being a challenging teenager.

He had a fabulous teacher at school who told me my son had been a lovely child and would be a lovely adult. He was and he is.

6am wake up

I am really annoyed with myself. Working as a Social Worker I was a powerhouse of efficiency. Yet now I knit commissions and study knitting design I have lost my efficiency. Basically I have not been such a good worker for myself. 


People life changed today. My daughter started work and I have the house to myself. So I jumped out of bed at 6am-well 6.15 and got going. I am now on a roll and feel really pleased. Yesterday went past in a fug of disorganisation, not helped by getting up at 3am to watch the All Blacks World Cup game and then going back to bed. By contrast everything I wanted to do yesterday will be done by lunch time. 


The thing is that knitting takes time and I need to make that time.


I mentioned that my daughter has work. She is home for a year after 3 years in the IDF and prior to going to Hebrew U. She had a month at home last year and the year before and got casual work with the greatest of ease. She has work as a Nanny but it took 8 weeks to find. It seems now any job for a young adult is good. I know how hard it has been for my kids in periods of unemployment and it has never been long term. The profound and long term damage that long term unemployment   brings to young adults frightens me.

Knitting trauma and the Rugby World Cup

 I have got overwhelmed with knitting again. Above is a simple jumper for me! Yes me! It's a 2 stitch cable so there is no need for a cable needle. However even this is a little to complicated to knit when watching the All Blacks play in the Rugby World Cup-I forget the garter stitches.

 I could always use the sock wool above. Hannah home from Israel is cold already. She left a lot of her things in Israel including her hand knit socks. I know we will not have enough socks to between us for winter and I really should get knitting. But if I cannot do garter stitch can I possibly knit a sock?

I also have City and Guilds course work and commissions (yep cables). But I need to knit to stay calm whilst watching rugby and have nothing simple enough.
We have a substantial blanket collection so I cannot really justify strips of stocking stitch which I fear is all I am currently capable of.

unemployment

We read about growing unemployment but I think for most of us it is difficult to comprehend exactly what this means for people.


I went to the excellent Museum of London this week and saw the exhibition based on the Evening Standard's anti poverty campaign.
Two things I found really haunting were the young man who could simply not afford the £19 UCAS application fee. It was humbling to think I did not even think about spending this money for my children and could not even remember that we had paid any fee at all.


Secondly was a family who lost a new born baby.They could not afford to pay for a burial and had to have a council burial.. Their London Borough Council buried children in mass graves. Their child's body was taken by a fox as they were waiting for more bodies to fill the grave. The good thing is that since then all London Councils except one now bury children in individual graves.


But on a more humdrum level I now know a few people looking for work and it is the tedium of it all that seems to be incredibly difficult. Lots of time and no money. I really do not know when and if this will all end but I hope it is soon.

always have some slob knitting

I have good genes I really do not do illness all that often but Sunday I sat and blobbed, felt dizzy and did nothing of any use.
People at times like this you need slob knitting. Knitting that grows without thought, knitting that encourages the limited range of random thoughts your brain is capable of. Knitting that makes you feel you can still do something. This is my resolution-I will always ensure I have a back burner slob knitting project. This week it really was the source of much happiness.

time out knitting

I have made a knitting mistake-course work and commissions are challenging and satisfying but I realised I need evening time out knitting. Please please check out www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/annie-lee-designs. I am now making her Groovy shawl in the evenings and my other knitting flows so much better. It is one of those patterns where it is blindingly simple to keep track of the pattern and it is the sort of shawl I have always wanted.

The daughter is off at a second job interview. She now has a Sunday job and a tutoring job for an hour a week. (The joys of being bilingual). No doubt it is tough out there. My husband is working in Dublin as he could not find work in London. But that is what it comes down to all of us will take on any work we can find and we have all found work comes from work. My son is working 6 days a week in a summer job that began as a 2 hour a week job. I do feel for this generation I cannot begin to imagine the challenges they will face. I guess the best thing is to help them be resilient and flexible-there world will be even more in flux and constant change than ours ever was.

the most outrageous cook book

The 100 Glories of French Cooking is the most outrageous cook book ever.

I found it for 50p in a charity shop and never has 50p been spent more enjoyably.

The book is translated from French. It was written in 1971 by Robert Courtine who is 'the most famous gourmet in France'.

If my understanding of history is in anyway accurate this was written prior to the foundation of the Common Market when I suspect France was a more inward looking country.

Proof dear readers proof-

On Onion soup he writes 'She gets up early and goes to bed late. Though in between she makes sure of a good siesta, for she adores the city lights and the chiaroscuro of amorous emotions-like the true hooker she is' Remember this is onion soup.

Then there is the Sorbet. Sorbet at it's most simple: juice water and sugar. Robert says; 'For there is still an Oriental element lingering in it: it is a seraglio sweet with the power to evoke potentates' palaces,where contented digestions are lulled by the tinkling and tingling music to which beautiful dancing girls keep time.'

Hannah's coming home

Hannah comes home Wednesday night. We have rearranged the house, found her a wonderful old table and chair for her room and there are lots of flowers in the garden to put in vases.

It is such a strange day today. I am really happy that Hannah is coming home and also Aaron will be home between flats for 2 weeks.

But but but-there are always buts in life the husband is working in Dublin now and the transition when he goes back to Ireland is always weird. I get into the flow of my week but it takes some time to get there.

I am busy working on a commission for a set of circus figures. The embroidery, stuffing and sewing together requires a calm neatness which is I feel good for the soul.

Simple things that make life easier and Husband's taste

This is the jumper I made for my husband in the colours of his choice. He loves it, enough said.

Life has been a challenge. The Husband has been job hunting for 8 weeks. He now has work but it really has not been easy. I have also have friends with a range of serious challenges and a daughter waiting to leave the Army in 3 weeks who is yet to have her leaving date confirmed.

I realised that simple things make life so much nicer. So here is my ideas for stress relief-

1. Make a breakfast tray. Tea in a small teapot and nice china. It is seriously worth getting up a little earlier for.

2. Sort the washing as you take it off the line by putting items for each room together in the basket . This means sorting the washing out side in the sun rather than indoors.

3. When trying to knit from a difficult pattern I have taken to writing it out one row per line. This makes it so much easier and makes 'reverse all shaping' a doddle.

4. I plan my meals then do the on line grocery order. It is great to go to make dinner and know what to make and to have all the ingredients available.

5. Have phone free time at least once a day.

6. I do not keep to do lists in my head-I put them into my diary-less to think about.

7. As I go to sleep I try to think of a good thing I have done that day. If I cannot think of anything I plan something for the next day.

8. Walk

I hope this helps

New computer blues

My aged computer finally lost it-it needed a signal booster, camera and headphones for Skype (vital if your child lives overseas) . This is fine until the USB ports in the computer dies.

I now have my husbands notebook mini computer. It works. It does not take 20 minutes to start. But, of course, there are teething problems. Namely with photos. I will get there but in the meantime this blog will not have as many photos as I planned.

We live in a London Terrace house. We have a small back yard-no lawn but 2 big garden beds. Nonetheless we have some lovely plants. For me it is about food-so I take great delight in the plums, figs, grapes, and herbs.

I have also managed tomatoes, beans and mange tout in pots. But my great delight is a small daisy plant. We broke a piece of our daisy off moving the pot and I put the broken piece in soil in another small pot. Nothing happened for weeks. Nothing. It would seem the plant had to build roots first. Suddenly this small plant is blooming with endless flowers. It is a symbol of optimism. A friend is recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumour. I am going to give her this plant this week.

Hopefully photos next time.

Time management

I thought about what to write about this week and realised this is on my mind. I have been lucky enough to get 3 commissions in the past week.

I have agreed to make a set of 9 circus figures in 4 weeks and then a cuckoo clock followed by a Princess Diana sheep jumper.

The thing is my time is my own and without the high pressure of a Social work office it is so easy to waste.

The rules are

Keep smart phone out of reach.

Go on computer once a day

Plan my week

Have specific breaks for limited time

Have weekly goals of what I need to do.

This is really working. I got up really early (for me on a Sunday) as I know what I want to achieve today. It does feel good.

Costa does not care

This is the email I sent to Costa 10 days ago that they have not bothered to reply to.

My knitting group meets every Wednesday in Costa Golders Green. Last night two young men were trying to sell us flowers. We had difficulty getting them to leave. I went to the counter to get some help and whilst I was explaining the situation I heard my friend yell at these men, they left and I went back to our table.

We soon realised they had taken my friend's I phone. She is self employed and her phone is an important business tool. We told the staff what had happened. I was told that these things happen and that they tell customers to be careful. I found this strange; no Costa staff member has ever had anything resembling a conversation with me.The manager said they would have film. I suggested the police needed to be called.

Some of my friends went up and down the street to see if they could find these young men. I saw the manager outside smoking and talking on the phone. I assumed he was talking to the police. Sometime later I went again to the counter to ask was was happening and found the police had not been called.

This incident raises many concerns.

1.Until they changed their opening hours we met for many years in Starbucks Golders Green where the staff were consistently warm and welcoming. We have never in any way been acknowledged by your staff. Remember we come every week. There is also a church group who met on Wednesdays in this store. I doubt they have been made to feel welcome either.

2. No staff member at any point bothered to walk over to see how we were. This was a very distressing incident, but hey I guess cleaning up and packing up the store early is far more important.

3. What is happening in the store should be monitored much more carefully. As soon as hawkers walk in they should be asked to leave.

4. What is the procedure when a crime occurs in a Costa store? Have those procedures been followed as a consequence of this incident.

I have no idea what Costa spends on advertising but I imagine it is a significant amount. Yet manners, smiles and a concern for customers is free and incredibly effective and sadly not to be found in Costa Golders Green.

Sue Margolis

easy cooking

Every now and again I play with an old favourite recipe and come up with something really good.

This may take 45 minutes but the preparation can be done in under 10 minutes. Tasty and easy.

Leek baseless quiche with jacket potatoes

Turn oven to 200 and put potatoes in oven.

Grease a quiche dish or any old dish

Scatter 1 cup grated cheese and 2 leeks washed and chopped up in dish.

Mix (I use the small bowl attachment that came with my hand blender) half cup flour, half teaspoon baking powder, one and half cups of milk, 3 eggs, and 1 tablespoon of oil.

Pour into dish and place in oven with potatoes.

Turn oven down to 170 and bake for 40 minutes.

Make a salad or microwave peas to go with it.

Graphic design and The Science Museum.

This is the horribly un photogenic me with the very photogenic Abigail Lee. I did some knitting for her graduate show-she studied Graphic design at Kingston. Her work was based around OCD and used missed stitches in knitting to symbolise OCD around numbers. It was simple and powerful work. She also did a piece where she made a book of her fellow students with photos and contact details. However the photos she used were downloaded from Facebook and did not reflect well on the students concerned. She was able to get such photos of the vast majority of students. As she pointed out over 30% of employers now check Facebook before employing someone. Just telling my daughter about this was enough to make change her Facebook security. Another example of a simple but very effective piece of work.

Please please see her work-www.steptripstep.co.uk/projects/abigaail-lee
This is the husband who actually learnt to knit at the Knitted Universe Installation at the Science Museum on Sunday. He was taught by a lovely and incredibly patient neuroscientist. We have been married 22 years. I never had a chance in hell of teaching him to knit.

My commission on line

See steptripstep.co.uk/projects/abigail-lee the jumper is one I knitted.

Graduate Fashion Week

What fun. My friend and I got somewhat confused about where we should go at Earls Court and wombled into the back bit. This man came rushing up to us and with a look on his face that said 'must I deal with you oiks' asked 'can I help you Ladies?' I explained I had done some work for one of the exhibitors and had come to pick up my tickets. With a look of complete disbelief he directed us to the desk. There the snotty woman said there were no tickets for us. By this time I had had enough and got a tad grumpy that resulting in them giving us tickets anyway.

We went up stairs to find ourselves in a Invitation Only Preview Evening for a South American Art Exhibition amongst the Gallery owners, The Press and selected buyers.

The staff were happy to escort us off the Premises and show us the way to London Graduate Fashion Week.

This was great fun. It was a buzz seeing my work on the catwalk.Amongst the outlandish and bizarre were some lovely pieces. Some European schools had stands and the Milan School there stood out with the quality of their construction.

I networked like mad and had a lot of interest in doing work with students next year. One college wants me to go and speak to their students.

An evening well passed my friend and I thought we should go back to the Art Exhibition and quaff champagne which we did. We walked in again and the staff came rushing up to us but WE HAD TICKETS!. Ha! Great fun was had pretending we had some interest in £20,000 paintings and meaningful sculptures.

The tube home did not quite match the evening but still a fab night out.

What do you wear to London Fashion Week?

Love Skype love it. My daughter now has internet in her apartment on Kibbutz Degania in Tiberius. This proved remarkably useful as on Monday I am going to the London Fashion Week Graduate Show where hats I made on commission will make their way down the runway. We were able to fine tune what I am to wear.

This was a big decision. I am too old, too fat and not rich enough to do interesting-it would rapidly be transformed into deranged if I even tried.

So I am going for natural classic-dark blue linen trousers, cream linen top (loose over the stomach)

birkenstocks and wooden jewellery.

This will mean a trip to Topshop for said jewellery. Hannah suggested a nice wooden necklace I found in a charity shop and then remembered it is now in Israel with her. Ah the joys of children.

I will of course report on this.

Two other things.

We went to a friend's 31st party last night (yes by at least a decade we were the aged ones of the evening) and I made a birthday cake. Only thing was the New Zealand bible of laughingly easy cake baking; The Edmonds Cookbook has been kidnapped by a friend. I ended up using a recipe I had never used, replacing cream cheese with marscapone and whats more it came out of the oven more a burnt offering than food. Never being one to waste a perfectly good though burnt cake I scrapped the burnt bits off and covered it in icing.

The birthday boy's boyfriend did a big cake thing-lights out singing happy birthday etc and all I could think was that I had no idea at all what it was going to taste like. Luckily it was fine but the morals of the story is to only bake for people with recipes you know and love and never loan out your favourite cookbooks.

Last rant for the day put your pillows and cushions out in the sunshine for several hours. This dries out all the sweat that accumulates and the sun sterilises them. They come back inside smelling sweet and all puffed up. Trust me on this one. Do you really want to continue to sleep on the pillow version of a manky tee shirt?

Obsessive compulsive knitting

These two items were knitted for a graphic Design student's Graduate Exhibition. Her work was looking at OCD. The jumper has every 5th stitch missed,every 2nd row to help tell the story of a woman with a fear of the number 5. The hat has the 33rd stitch missed in the same way telling the story of another woman's fear of that number.

It was great to do work like this. I used Anne Budd Handy Book of Sweater Patterns-probably the most useful knitting book anywhere and the hat is adapted from a 1970's pattern.

The hat is knitted from machine knitting yarn I plyed together. It came from my friend's mothers stash after her mother died. She left behind a room full of yarn and knitting and sewing paraphernalia. It was great to use her yarn that she had treasured in a new way.

Done

Finished, done, over, complete, ended.

Holidays

We are back from Israel which was wonderful if not a little hard to leave this time.

Once again we stayed in a self catering unit on a community in the Galilean hill surrounded by Arab villages. One day I was in the garden watching the weird and wonderful birds and generally feeling life was pretty good even though I was knitting the evil thing (p.s knitting now completed, ends sewn in and currently doing the Swiss darning-it will one day end).Anyway there was suddenly a barrage of gun fire and no one anywhere panicked at all. I whilst thinking about my will strolled in and attempted to calmly ask the daughter what was happening-apparently it is a tradition at Arab weddings, yes people do sometimes get hurt and I do not think it will become popular here.

We did a day in the completely fabulous Biblical Lands Museum in Israel it is a beautiful fascinating place. Each room is a different time in history and the exhibits go back to prehistoric flint. It is amazing to see the Matriarchal religious figures disappear as Patriarchal religion comes into prominence about the same time commerce develops. Go if you can.

Knit knit knit

The front of the horrid Fair Isle is 20 rows on the left hand side from being finished. The husband is in Israel to be there when our daughter became a 2nd Lieutenant and I took advantage became incredibly anti social and knitted like crazy. My friend Anne lent me her boxed set of The Wire to help me through this knitting nightmare but I have to admit that knitting and listening to the radio is way more efficient.

The Wire is great though...

why Brent Cross stresses me out

I went to Brent Cross before Shabbat to get a charger for my new phone. For updates on my attempt to read the 211 page user guide for my phone please see Facebook-I need all the support I can get.

Anyway. On Friday the new Apple Pad thingy came out and the centre was full with a figure 8 shaped queue from one end to the other all waiting to buy one. Why? Did those hundreds of people have a big Apple pad whats-it-called gap in their lives? Could it not wait? How many of them could actually afford it?

It took 40 minutes to get served in the O2 shop and the guy actually attempted to make me pay for the phone charger-it did not happen.

In Waitrose a women in her 30's and her mother were arguing about who and when a chicken was to be cooked. The check out woman waited, they were unable to argue and take their groceries out of the trolley at the same time. It was a tad bizarre. I told them I only wanted to buy one thing and went ahead. For a moment the argument was forgotten as they united in their horror at my audacity. I paid and as I left they were still arguing and not unloading their shopping.

I really do not understand how anyone can enjoy shopping that does not take place in a yarn or charity shop.

Good and really really bad

Above is an update on my fair isle commission. When I began knitting this a small quiet sensible and truthful voice said swatch the fair isle. Did I listen? Fair isle knits to a tight tension compared to stocking stitch. When I measured I was way way out. I can blame no one but myself. Even the husband expressed sympathy. Before I could begin the unpicking (including the carefully sewn in ends) I coped by stomping the approximately 3 miles to my friend Mandy for tea and sympathy. She was fabulous and she is not a knitter.

Still life is not all bad above is also the fabulous vase I got for £8 in Howarth. Charity shops outside of London are indeed treasure troves.

Skip North 2010

what complete and utter fun is this annual jaunt to Yorkshire and how simply wonderful are the women there. It is really weird-some of them now really do feel like really good long term friends yet we see each other once a year-this year something must be done about this.

How do I give the sense of how good this weekend makes me feel.

The put put train into Leeds only went as far as Skipton then we had to go on a replacement bus. The late afternoon sun gave a softening light, the driver had a slightly out of tune radio and Radio Two was playing Neil Young's Heart of Gold and everything, yes everything was good in my world.

trauma

This is my latest commission. Fair Isle is oh so slow. I feel like I have been knitting forever only to realise I have done two rows.

Still let us be positive. We went to Norfolk Broads yesterday. An aside: People a bog is a bog not a Fen, a lake is a lake and a lake surrounded by bogs is still a lake not a Broad. Weird country.

Anyway I did not feel I could do this knitting in the car and after doing this Clive's 4ply grey V neck jumper was easy, fun and satisfying.

I try

The indestructible daisy plant has it's first daisy.
The plum tree has buds
The glass balls from Akko glisten in the sun in the morning.
I just posted this blog on the web site for students of my City and Guilds Knitting Course instead of here. I really stun myself with my stupidity at times. So if Friends can be repeated and repeated and repeated I can re blog here.

People Spring has sprung!

How does the 51 year old Jewish mother celebrate this.

1. This morning on my breakfast tray could be found my lovely pink teapot Jane bought me even though it is usually saved for Shabbat. On the tray could also be found my latest charity shop find a pink milk jug.

2. Windows (note the plural) are open

3. I jogged on the spot for 30 minutes with the Wii-my glasses steamed up and I felt totally athletic-I have low standards

4. I dusted down these pieces of plastic and metal remembered they are called clothes pegs and actually hung washing on the line for the first time since last September

5. I have naked sock free feet

Weight

Dearest readers I am fat. Yep rolls of it. God it feels liberating to write the word fat. But I am on medication for high blood pressure and know it is not good. So I go on my Wii for half an hour 5 days a week and I make sure I also walk or do a second half hour exercise session for half an hour as well.

We do not buy junk food and are careful what we eat.

Sadly the medication lists on the wordy sheet that comes in the packet in remarkably small letters that weight gain is a side effect.

None the less when I got on the scales this morning and I was 2 pounds heavier that yesterday I felt terrible and suddenly wanted hot chocolate and a monster sized danish. Hell I don't even like hot chocolate. Readers I was not in a good place.

Then I thought I am not perfect-I am trying, I ran after a UPS delivery truck and caught up with him AND was not gasping for breath. I am not perfect. No one is but danish pastries and hot chocolate will not help and if I feel like crying I will. I didn't cry.I got loads done. Right now life is good even if I am fat.

I am still a mother

It would be completely fair to say that if my son rang 2 days in a row I would know that something was seriously wrong. If my daughter did not ring 2 days in a row I would know something was seriously wrong.

Well I am still mobile phone less. I do reccomend a mobile holiday, it really has unforeseen advantages. I find myself with more time and the space to simply do what I am doing.

Like visiting the wonderfully weird Wicken Fen National Trust Nature Reserve in Cambridgeshire. A strange and haunting wet flat windy landscape loved by Darwin and the home to plant and animal species found nowhere else in this overcrowded land of ours. The husband had been before when I was away and had loved it. I really wanted to go inspired by a wonderful series of plays on Radio 4. As I wrote that I felt hideously middle aged and middle class but any way ....

We had a wonderful peaceful walk, driving home all was well in the world. Clive's phone rang, it was our daughter in Israel worried that we were not answering the phone and that something terrible might have happened to us.

As I say I may base my recreational choices on Radio 4 and feel choosing the teapot to use at breakfast is an important decision but I am still needed to mother across the seas on a daily basis.

I have no mobile phone and my computer switches off

My mobile is away being repaired. This has resulted in this amazing feeling of achievement. Somehow without any effort I have got a lot more done. I really feel that structured screen time is a powerful tool towards a fulfilling life. I check my emails daily, Ravelry and my knitting design course weekly. I do a Sunday internet roam and apart from that the computer is generally off. If I need to do anything else I do so and then turn it off again. As a result we eat well, I am keeping to my exercise programme, my knitting design course and business progress well and I am up to the arm pit in the horror that is the men's grey v neck 4ply jumper.

Never ever underestimate the power of the off button.

4 ply grey knitting

9 rows per inch.

It is knitted in the round

15 1/2 inches to the arm.

8 1/2 inches done

So if I can do 9 rows per day I will be at the arm hole by next weekend.

This will mean significant progress.

I can do this

I will not start anything else until I have completed this.

If he does not wear it with monotonous regularity I will be very cross.

What is love and the joys of a rearrange.

Above is my current knitting-a 4 ply V neck jumper for the husband. Knitting this my dear readers is an act of love. Especially when...
This cushion cover is what I was knitting. I used cones of wool I got for a pound and sock yarn. This was great fun and the joy of this log cabin knitting is the fact that you pick up stitches rather than sewing pieces together. Note the colour no grey
Also I wanted to write about the complete and utter joy of a rearrange. I had half my clothes in my daughter's old room and half in our bedroom. Everything is now in Hannah's old room. Trust me as a really bad morning person this makes my life seriously easier. I also re-arrranged furniture a little. Small changes that make the room so much easier to work in. Trust me on this one rearrange a room and life your life. Even better pay me to help you do it.

Knitting 2010

18 pairs of socks of which 8 pairs were grey army socks for Hannah

1 bathmat made on giant needles

3 blankets

2 sleeveless vests

1 sideways cardigan

2 yoga mat covers

2 cushion covers

8 hats

2 scarves

2 dish cloths

2 octopi

That is 43 items of which 22 were gifts

Not so bad

Making my daughter's old room mine

How do you make your child's old room your own? This is my guide. These are all things that I treasure that cost next to nothing. This circular needle holder was made in a spinning workshop one year on Skipnorth. I didn't do the workshop but scored this. It reminds me of fabulous times
One of my 4 beloved digital radios all tuned to Radio 4. The Archers, Women's Hour The Plays Comedy such bliss. Knitting and Radio 4 is the perfect combination.
Knitting needles in a Portmerion container what could be more perfect.
This notice board is all really positive things I have been given including the poem Clive wrote for me when we had been married 20 years. How gorgeous is that?
Anne's Mum in America found a Moses rubber ducky and sent it to me. I found this an amazingly kind thing to do
These have no value but they no longer sell thread on wooden reels and I love them. Especially the big ones of linen thread.
The Aaron Margolis tea pot of charity-all my 1, 2 and 5p pieces go in this and Aaron gets to empty it when he comes home from Uni
Post at least 3 viewings of all 7 series of the West Wing I find American politics fascinating. This is my American President Tea towel. I also have a White House Mug-how cool is that.