Knitting Jewish Mother

Weekend

2012-01-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

My weekend was nothing short of fabulous!
I went to a weekend workshop for City and Guilds Knitting Design students. This is an extra mural course and it was wonderful to meet with other students and see what they are doing.
I have said it before and I will say it again. I really do find a weekend of intellectual stimulation far more invigorating, more joyful than doing nothing.
I have come home with lots great ideas and highly motivated.
Knitters did you know about biscuitsandjam/stripe_generator .This generates random strip patterns-fabulous.
Also fabulous and already ordered from Amazon are the Pattern Magic books from Tomoko Nakamichi.
All in all a great weekend.

Dublin and why you should go,

2012-01-24T01:30:00.000-08:00

Too much sun gives you cancer so why waste your holiday fund ruining your health when you can go to Dublin.
Here's why you should go.
The joy of language. Dublin has been the home of a number of important writers-Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Jonathan Swift to name but a few. This love of language permeates the city. People talk, they talk to people they have never met for the sheer joy of just talking. Go get inspired and maybe even finish Ulysses. If you do or have finished this most difficult of books I am truly impressed. Chapter one was great.
Do the Literary Pub Tour.
Statistics show the Irish are very charitable and there are noticeably far more examples of, well niceness than I am used to. I saw many examples of the elderly walking out into traffic knowing cars will stop for them and smile whilst doing so. There is an optimism that I sense comes from being charitable. Many people told me that things were bad economically but that they will improve. 'We'll be all right'.
The city is big enough but not too big. We could walk everywhere. The guy in the music shop knew the great slide guitarist from the night before.
Go to Dublin. We walked down Baggot Street on Saturday night and for 3 blocks there were taxis on either side of the road. Take a taxi and talk to your driver.

Ryan Air

2012-01-07T05:33:00.000-08:00

Ryan Air shall I compare thee to a nightmare thou art more ghastly and more horrid...
I flew Ryan Air yesterday. Writing this will help.Well I hope it will help.
The board at Luton showed the Check in counters for a lot of flights after ours. We we passengers to Dublin had to go to check in remained a mystery. Strange but hey this is Ryan Air.
Finally we were told which check in desk to go to and we happy little travelers bounded along to queue. To queue and to queue. I am constantly amazed by the tolerance of the English. After half and hour of queuing with no Ryan Air staff in sight I could stand it no longer and went and asked a member of staff at another desk.
She made the huge effort to look to her left to the queue of very patient travelers and said she did not know what was happening. I asked her to find out what was going on. Looking exhausted by my demands she phoned someone and found out it was Hussein who was meant to be at that desk.
II asked her where Hussein was-he was at another desk chatting with another member of staff with no one waiting to be served.
I went and asked why he was not helping us. He said he was busy (doing what??). I suggested as there was two of them serving well no body maybe Hussein could come and help us. The other chap asked if I wanted to take over managing Ryan Air at Luton. Trust me by then it did not seem such a bad idea.
Hussein then said it would be 10 minutes and he would open the Counter. Hah! Lies. Another half and hour later 2 other frazzled women opened the counter. Of course we were late taking off. Of course there was no apology.
Ryan Air cheap but maybe not worth it.

Stowe

2012-01-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

We went to Stowe Gardens today. This National Trust Property was owned by Lord Cobham who in his day was richer than the Royals. The property has several lakes and 40 buildings and statues in the gardens. Makes our humble garden shed look, well , humble.
The thing is that today was a full day. The husband had to fly back to Dublin this afternoon and our daughter was battling Israeli bureaucracy in readiness for when she goes back later this year.
Nonetheless we went to Stowe and walked the gardens for an hour. So not a major day out and we only saw a small fraction of what the gardens offer. Yet it was still great, cold and crisp and that very special light of a mid winter sunny day.

The point of all this is that it is worthwhile to get out and walk in a beautiful place even when time is short. We came home feeling calm and centred and I have been a paradigm of efficiency all evening.

Good ideas

2011-12-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-19T02:40:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-11T04:18:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-11-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-14T08:59:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-13T08:07:00.001-08:00

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

My Mother has passed

2011-10-22T03:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-10T02:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-24T03:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-05T04:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-22T03:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-25T00:53:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-17T04:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-06-27T03:51:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

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

Graduate Fashion Week

2011-06-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-06-05T05:02:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-22T08:20:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-08T04:59:00.001-07:00

Finished, done, over, complete, ended.

Holidays

2011-05-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-10T03:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-27T09:18:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-07T03:07:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-27T03:36:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-13T10:23:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-06T23:34:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-01-17T02:58:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-09T04:55:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-09T04:39:00.000-08:00

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.

Winter wonderland and IT frustration

2010-12-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

I make a habit of going into the West End every December to see the Christmas decorations. I figure that even though it is not my festival I might as well enjoy the transformation of the West end. After all the windows and decorations must cost a fortune and it is free to enjoy. Anyway I always end my Winterwonderland Tour at Trafalgar Square. Every year the people of Norway donate a Christmas tree in honour of the role the British military played in WW2. I think this is quite lovely and when I got there Lubavitch of Hendon had a Channukah Menorah in the Square-how cool.

Summary of decorations

Harrods- Wonderful I still can't work out how to place my pictures in the middle of the text but it is above. All based on Peter Pan

Fortnum and Mason-Sort of 3 d famous painting reproductions -may as well buy a tacky chocolate box and be domne with it.

Liberties-Big black and red thing with flowers too sylish and somewhat boring

Selfridges-Bit tacky-Katie Price as Christmas decorations

The street lights were great

This not being able to place my photos in the middle of my blog is not my only challenge, I tried to upload photos from my new phone and could not do it? Anyone know how to get photos from an HTC Smart to a computer-all hints gratefully accepted

Israel

2010-12-06T23:11:00.001-08:00

I spent 10 days at Kibbutz Degana Aleph on the outskirts of Tiberius where my daughter now lives. (She is now based at the Army Base in Tiberius.) Tiberius is 200 m below sea level and is extremely hot. Yesterday to the relief of everyone it finally rained. There is a green hue for about 3 metres from the shoreline of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). This is the area that was under water last year. Water conservation is a real issue in Israel. As a knitter it was amazing the bright light somewhat softened by the shorter days and the dryness of the environment .

The above photos were taken in and around the kibbutz and to me say knitting design.

It was an amazing trip Hannah was in a car at 5.30am to get to work on time from Baram and it is now a 15 minute bus ride. She is living in a old apartment building where all the tenants are young people. They all eat salad for breakfast and seem to have more of a lust for life than is the norm in England.

Back to my knitting design course

2010-11-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the support of my lovely husband I am now back on my City and Guilds Knitting Design course. I feel really happy about this. I am going to Israel and am now thinking about taking a load of photos to use for design inspiration-the colours and textures of the Israeli landscape are so different to here.

I felt really sad when I gave this course up but Social Work left me drained and I was only capable of the most simple knitting. This is actually a dream come true.

coming out as a baker

2010-11-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

I was liberated last weekend. I decided that my minimal Shabbat observance could decline even further as I wanted to watch the All Blacks. My friend who has Sky agreed to host in return for homemade muffins. Cranberry and banana muffins and chocolate brownies were duly baked. However other friends were also invited and my friends wife did not want these drunken blokes hanging around their home and I was called to say we were now meeting at the function room in a local pub. This is how I found myself with tupperware boxes full of baking in a room full of blokes. I felt really embarrassed and like some sort of walking stereotype. Then I thought I don't care I am a stereotype and baking is not a bad thing. Once they all got over their shock the baking went down really well. All these blokes obsessively kept track of football games as they watched the rugby. Do these men have no idea of just how important All Black games are and what do they obsess over for the few weeks they do not play football in summer?

I have by writing kept up my weekly write-if not slightly late. My knitting/crochet angst-when will the 140 squares in my blanket be finished-I am getting a tad bored and what do I take to knit to Israel next week-it is 30C in Jerusalem today and apparently even hotter in Tiberius where I will be staying with my daughter

Looking

2010-11-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

I worked with a client on Sunday to sort out her room and I realised there is a link between knitting and my Lifestyle management business and that is looking. I work with clients to stop and really look at that room/wardrobe/office and think about how they want it to be and then we get on and do it. Good knitting is also about looking-how is that knitting on my needles? Is it what I really want-I now believe good knitters are often the knitters prepared to start again as many times as it takes to get knitting right.

I also walked to a friends house on Shabbat and made the decision to really look around me. I noticed a climbing plant with autumnal leaves that went from red to green across the plant-against the dark grey of the wet concrete it looked amazing and I saw amazing jumpers and blankets in my mind-it is about taking that time to see. I have made a decision to go and see art once a week in this time of minimal employment.

Tomorrow I want to see the London Underground designs and cameraless photography at the V&A and also to visit WhiteCube in Hoxton

Hats

2010-10-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

At the risk of sounding over organised (well at least I can make use of this slightly weird aspect of my nature by turning it into a business) I went through my knitting records since 2006-a scary amount of socks and I do not even see myself as a sock knitter and 20 hats. But none for myself-I found myself needing to wear a hat to keep warm to go out one evening and my options were a New Zealand Possum beanie-great for hiking or skiing or a acrylic pink hat I bought in Jerusalem. That sounds great but the hat definitely isn't. How ridiculous. So my knitting pile got put aside to make 2 hats. I would include photos except I do not know how to get photos from my new phone yet. I struggle in an humiliating old lady way with these modern phones.

I like to knit one project at a time but I am weak So on the needles are:

-the Elizabeth Zimmerman Surprise Jacket-weird scary knitting in the extreme that I started out of curiosity and now struggle to stay curious about.

-the sock wool cushion cover-I am a little tired of those tiny stitches

-a big scarf I decided would go well with the fine black wool top I am yet to buy

-socks that have been a bus project for months and owing to London traffic jams are going really well.

-and my crocheted blanket that goes really well. The colour scheme came from a trip to the V & A. I aim to have one item on the needles by December

I have an acylic hat and photos

2010-10-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

This is the lovely wool for my new bed cover-so far I have managed 2 rounds of the first crocheted square. I have difficulty facing the fact that it really is not happening. The pink walls and yellow dressing table are remnants of my daughter's teen years which I am really rather fond of.

This is part of the reason for the delay.This scarf and hat is for Becka a truly fabulous friend of my daughter who is gloriously loud and American. I adore her. She asked me to make her a scarf and hat. This is made from strands of machine knitting yarn I inherited when my friends mother died. I really like inheriting stuff that was valued and no one wants anymore and giving it a second life. I like the idea of this yarn from an attic in Kenton will now be around the neck of a young woman in Jerusalem.

Even more this makes me think about Nick Hornby's 'About a Boy' (trust me this will make sense) In this book Marcus, the boy, talks about how it used to only be him and his Mum and that we all need a circle of friends. People come and go from our circle and that's OK. Knitting is a wonderful way to be part of someones circle. What better way to tell a 22 year old that this 51 year old thinks she is pretty darn special.

This is the next cushion cover for the much beloved couch below. Sock wool is great for cushions covers. Also so much of this yarn is too nice to be hidden in my boots all winter.

This is the perfect knitting couch. It has it's own DAB radio and a floor to ceiling window looking out on the back garden. It is perfect on a cold rainy day with Radio 4 and a blanket. This was the cat's all time favourite place.

Anyway time to iron, Tesco order and rewrite my pitch and then when I have used up all avoidance options attempt a web site

Cat died, new job and knitting neurosis

2010-10-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

I'm back. I went back to Social Work-bad bad idea and lost the plot to do anything. My G.P and I now agree that it is time to move on. As part of that I want to blog regularly and ask any readers who find this to haunt my dreams if I do not get to this blog weekly.

First the cat as this leads on to my second point. Izzy the most neurotic unfriendly 17 year old cat had to be put down on Sunday and my God do I miss her. We have had pets the last 20 years and the house seems very empty. I keep looking for her on the stairs in the morning and wondering where her food bowl has gone. Towards the end she was very messy. I cleaned the couches and cushions and Clive cleaned the vomit and poo on the floor. Now she has gone the 2 handmade cushions are back on my scruffy old couch in the backroom-the one designed for knitting. However 2 of the cushions need knitted cushion covers and I bought lovely cheap Texere yarn for a bed blanket. WHAT DO I DO FIRST? Why would I never even consider buying covers or a blanket.

Sadly I cannot knit all day and do need to make an income. I have decided to go with what I do well-that is being over organised.I have helped friends to sort out paperwork, edit and sort their wardrobe and arrange kitchens. I am now building this up as a business. I made this decision 2 weeks ago and already have 2 definite bookings and 3 more in discussion. I call it lifestyle management and will do all the jobs people do not have time to do from booking workmen to organising filing systems. I am about to enter the world of websites and business cards. I have a lovely sense of calm excitement about this one.

Are you all enjoying the leaf rain of Autumn? I saw brown and gold leaves on the dark grey pavement last night and sadly thought -I could knit that.

I am using my husband's computer to do this and he will feel really annoyed if I add photos to it so I will log off now and add photos next time

Why buying the boxed set of the West Wing was ok

2009-07-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

1. It was only £50 quid and my friend got £250 for referring me to the Social Work agency I got my job through and he gave me half.
2. Anne wants to borrow them so there not just for me
3. Lots of the West Wing is people walking quickly down corridors talking a lot so you get the story if your not really watching-i.e knitting. Therefore owning the WW is good for my creativity.
4. The extras DVD is really good and includes a Documentary about the real WW that features amongst others, Carter, Clinton, Ford and Kissinger-how cool is that?
5.The husband is away from home 2 nights a week and the WW is a comfort (and to be honest Clive hates it).
6. Social worker need an escape and it is better than chocolate or alcohol

child has gone

2009-07-17T03:55:00.001-07:00

I am back in my daughter's old room and she is home in Israel by now. I am back with my cavemem type son and husband. Hannah has a strong and vibrant personality that fills a room and it feels really quiet.
Bot to look at the good-she realy enjoyed being in our house but realised that Israel not London is home now-I am proud that she has been able to build her own life at 20-I always wanted independant kids and I do have them. She also spend a lot of time with my son that was really nice to see-he has also said he will go to see her in Israel-all so very very good.
Knitting helps I am making her an Alpaca cardigan and it is a real sense of connection.
and to be honest I do like my space-it took a serious clean-my child is not the world's most obsessive duster-but here I am back in my knitting space with radio 4 and not at work-life is not all that bad!

Long time no write

2009-07-05T05:07:00.000-07:00

Well I am not that self disciplined when it comes to writing but in my defence I have now been back at work for 2 weeks-4 days a week at Hillingdon Children's Services and my daughter is home for a month from Israel.
So important lessons since I last wrote.
1 weight loss and working
The only way to keep up the weight loss is to take lunch-the world is full of calorific yummy crap and I am weak. The only way to take lunch is to make it the moment you get home from work-trust me on this one.
2 Travel comfort
Uxbridge tube station is a schlep but a very empty train as most people are travelling in the opposite direction therefore entertainment is important-knitting, sudoku and a book. Therefore a comfortable bag that will last and hide the dirt is essential. I am now the proud owner of a good quality back pack from John Lewis and it is wonderful-no more sagging shoulder and I march along the road like some aging Girl Guide.
3Clothes
My child does not do tact just like her father-thank god for my advanced levels of diplomacy. But there are times when this is useful. She sat on her bed and passed judgement on my entire wardrobe-the result is that everything left fits well and choosing clothes in the morning is so much easier. Did my checked shirt really make me look like a butch lesbian?
4. Breakfast
Starting the day with tea from a tea pot is essential

job hunting

2009-06-11T03:36:00.000-07:00

I got rejected by the second team that interviewed me at Westminister and Chelsea for a lack of experience-it is amazing how blah this makes me feel. I have been put forward for other work so we shall see. The daughter comes home for a month next week so as least as things stand I will have more time for her.
I take amazing comfort from the fact that I have almost finished the wrap around from Big Girl Knits-I started it in 2007 and made a complete mess of the front shaping-very very complex. Somehow it is extremely satisfying to finish the back of the cupboard reject. I have knitted this in a lovely cotton silk mix and will really enjoy wearing it a sense of achievement amonsgst all this getting no where in particular job hunting. -which lets be honest is a remarkably unpleasant process of selling yourself.

being nice warning

2009-06-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

I went for a job interview on Tuesday-the office was in Kings Road-past the Saatchi Gallery with lovely park and trees and Peter Jones and various other gorgeous shops i.e what a pretty amazing place to work. This is almost too good to be true and it was-the job had already gone and my agent failed to pass on the message. Ho hum.
I comforted myself with a picnic dinner outside the Southbank Centre. I got to thinking how rare it is for women to feel really good about themselves and as a consequence I have decided that if I see a woman who looks really good I will tell her.
Sitting there watching the boats go by I saw this amazing woman wearing a long hippy dress really really well; a good belt and great jewellery. Anyway I told her she looked fabulous and she was really pleased. But sitting on the bench next to me was a rather batty looking woman who got incredibly annoyed that I had not complimented her on her clothes. I really truly despair

try try again

2009-05-28T01:38:00.000-07:00

The husband did not come to Israel with me and with job hunting, exams coming up etc etc he has been feeling really burnt out. He found a good deal and booked us into the Grand in Brighton last weekend. Being the devoted wife I am I agreed to go with him even if it meant sacrificing intensive long weekend knitting marathons.
I love 5 star hotels it is like going into the gorgeous alternative reality and the Grand has that slightly battered aged look-it is so much nicer than a plastic fantastic new hotel.
We were able to catch the end of the Brighton Festival we went to hear Markus Zusak who wrote The Book Thief speak. He was not happy with the voice of the book and ended up rewriting it twice. Would I ever reknit a garment twice to get it exactly right? Zusak is an incredibly successful author and he deserves it.

Home

2009-05-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

I am back home-the husband and son obviously see touching a broom or a cleaning cloth as some sort of swine flu risk factor and therefore the house was a complete dust bowl on my return.
But somehow it is all ok and life flows smoothly-it is amazing how powerful time out can be.
I have resolutions-I will work much harder on my knitting design course-there is always calls to make and stuff to organise and I need to make time for this.
I am also really excited about my next project for moi moi. I have now lost 19 and half pounds and I am starting to swim in some of my clothes-I look forward to making a fitted jumper with waist shaping-I realise more and more how much nicer fitted clothes look

Magical day in Israel

2009-05-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

I am still in Israel and it can truly be a magical place. This morning we went to Akko market, which dates back to the time of the Crusaders and has changed little in the intervening centuries.
We started our journey at the kibbutz, where my daughter is based. They have a wonderful computerised system where you can check who is leaving the kibbutz when and where to in order to get a ride. This is not England.

We managed to find someone going to Tzfat. Soldiers in uniform travel on public transport for free in Israel so daughter was in uniform, but had to change before we went to the market. It is a sad but true fact that it is not such a good idea being in a predominantly Arab market in an IDF uniform.

At the market we bought dried tea herbs, spices and various foods that all come in large sacks and big hunks of honey scented olive oil soap. The smells and the colours are other worldly, although the trays of every sort of fish and seafood, barely dead, with a sprinkling of flies is somewhat unappealing. The market looks as if it should star in a'chasing-the-baddie-through-the-market' scene in a James Bond movie. We ate in a restaurant that my daughter claims sells the best hummus in Israel. They sell three types of hummus and nothing else, and because of the speed at which the waiters have to work to keep up with the crowds, the food is essentially thrown at the customer rather than served.

We managed to catch the one bus a day that passes through Akko and eventually ends up at my daughter's kibbutz. This bus meanders through town and country, Arab village, religious settlements, mountains and valleys before arriving at the kibbutz. This 30 shekel trip gives a sense of the spectrum lifestyles in even a small part of this vibrant country.

We got back to the kibbutz just in time for the Lag B'Omer party. This was a picnic in the forest with all the kids playing bongos for all they were worth followed by the traditional Bonfire.

A magical day yes yes yes

weight loss/books and finishing things

2009-05-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

WHY why why-I am in the process of losing weight-I want to get off medication for high blood pressure-it is going ok-18 pounds so far. Essentially it is about accepting that I have to eat differently if I want to lose weight. I am now seeing some difference in appearance but could absolutely scream-while my flabby stomach hangs in there like some sort of anarchic squatter my feet have lost half an inch in diameter-as I say why why.
I Knit has a wonderful book group that I have not been able to get to for months and months-the next meeting is Tuesday and I will be in Israel. They always choose great books-the latest is Watching the English written by an anthropologist about the idiosyncrasies of English behaviour. It is absolutely wonderful-read it if you can.
Finally I am in the process of finishing the wrap around from the first Big Girl Knits book which I abandoned 17 months ago when I realised I had put the arm hole shaping on the front instead of the side of the front pieces-such a brain dead mistake I really do not know how I managed it. But what joy actually getting the dead from the back of the cupboard projects and actually getting then finished. Try this- live the joy!

aerobics and coffee

2009-04-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

Our Wednesday morning beautiful though probably gay (the pink shorts does make one wonder) instructor has left us! We now have a muscle bound bloke who insists on taking off his tee shirt and plays the sort of thumpy thump boom boom music that one would expect to hear being played loudly by a car been driven by a 30 year old virgin going to a Division 4 football game.

Change is not always easy.

I go to Israel for 10 days Monday week to see the daughter and of course I have not thought about clothes but have the knitting sorted-a lacy scarf in the beautiful baby camelyarn spun and dyed by a friend. Going over will be a challenge amongst other things I am taking a charity shop bone china tea set , Meakin 1970's tea pot and milk jug and the Readers Digest sewing book.-I shall have to casually womble up to the check in pretending my hand luggage does not weigh a ton.

Coffee ah coffee almost as important as toast. Instant is slutty, cafetere bland and drip filter comes from the country that elected Nixon. Regan and Bush and tastes like it. My friend Richard has a £500 pound coffee (I know -he has no children) machine-it is bloody wonderful and my aim in life has been to replicate the coffee he makes on the cheap. I bought a second hand coffee machine that Richard and I tried to use without instructions-we both have degrees-how hard can it be. We ended up with limescale intensive water all over the kitchen and half a cup of the most ghastly luke warm coffee I have ever tasted. Do I give in and buy a Nespresso-thus being trapped into buying there overpriced coffee supplies or do I battle on?

God I love toast// knitting warning

2009-04-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

I very long time ago the G2 section of the Guardian had a photo of a scarf with mittens on the end-brilliant I thought. I could not get the idea out of my mind especially when I decided this would be a great idea to knit in left over sock wool. I am 50 years old and I really should know by now that my great ideas should probably be very VERY carefully considered.

Firstly the scarf had to be long enough to wind around the neck and then hang low enough so my hands could comfortably hang by my sides in the mittens. Trust me this meant it had to be an extremely long scarf. Well after a year of mocking my impulsiveness this scarf was dragged out of the darkest back corner of my wardrobe and has now been knitted to the right length.

However there is another problem: knitting the second mitten results in the knitting twisting into a very long deranged spiral-and after all this -exactly how often in London do you need mittens any way. Furthermore I now think this crosses the line from funky to care in the community chic-oh well.

Why oh why do I miss toast. Because it is still Passover and this means no bread-ie no toast. It is incredible how much you miss the simple pleasures when they are gone. Thank God for my friend Julie who realised I have 31 teapots and none for Passover- and bought me a teapot for the festival. This does make life a lot more pleasant. My Slimming World class was awash with weight gain but at least the Christians gained their weight in a pleasureable way-Easter Eggs while the Jews have gained weight on matza oil eggs and potatoes. Trust me chocolate is a much better option.

I'm back/annual Pesach disaster

2009-04-08T05:19:00.000-07:00

Many of the truely wonderful women on the truely wonderful Skip North told me I should blog again so here I am!
I have just finished preparing for the Passover (Pesach) this involves completely and utterly cleaning the home.-The principle being that the house is ready for the special foods of Pesach and any crumb of normal food is gone. I hate it and my muscles ache but it does mean that once a year the house is throughly cleaned-I find it amazing that the cloth I use to wipe the inside of wardrobes comes out black despite having done the same job a year previously.
But in this unnatural flurry of hyper cleaning there is always a complete disaster.
Last year I was in my husbands overcrowded office (that is overcrowded by his perpensity to keep piles of useless paper and to buy overpriced guitars-more of that another time.)
Anyway he is also doing an extramural degree in Applied Economics.Last year I attempted to talk on the phone-I needed a little pleasure-and clean his office and ended up with his text books in a bucket of soapy water.
This year I was looking at all these phone wires all around the lounge/dining room-why? The internet is wireless-that means no wires doesn't it? and a phone line with no phone. So with great pleasure I ripped wires that added nothing to the overall look of the room only to find that wireless broadband does have a wire-how ridiculous and the phone line is re directed to Clive's mobile. Once again I failed wife of the week until I saw the look on my husbands face when he realised that he could mention this for YEARS. I cannot tell you how often he is able to bring a cut wire into any conversation

Winter

2009-01-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

I really love winter-the drama of the dark and cold, the excuse to knit and the wintery foods.
There are disadvantages.
Over knitting-that is once again starting all too many projects-why am I so weak? Hannah mentioned a friend who is also a solider in the IDF needed a plain black scarf-I am needed and instantly all other projects are dropped. The thing is a garter stitch black scarf does not take time-lots of the projects on the go at the moment are not difficult but it all adds up and once again I am completely overwhelmed. I will not keep adding projects to the pile-I will not. I will experience finishing.
The second problem is the cold makes me want to wee and this country is diabolical for public loos. The husband and I went to Oxford for the day-it is a lovely place but lacking in loos. I ended up squatting in the middle of a bamboo grove in the Oxford Botanical Gardens-the problem being it is somewhat hard to exit a bamboo grove with an iota of dignity when the wee you left behind is actually steaming on the ground.

winter

2008-12-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

I love winter in this country. It is dark at 4.30pm and it all feels so cuddly-there is absolutely no guilt in snuggling down at home with the knitting needles and a pot of tea. All the blankets I have made are in use and knitting is a perfectly reasonable use of time.
I also love Christmas -as a Jew is is totally stress free-for me it means buying last minute food at the Supermarket-who cares what and watching loads of good tele. We also act as a support service for non Jewish friends who tend to make calls or visit when the extended family gets too much.
I find the whole time quite magical-in my opinion when you are cold you can get warm with more clothes but when I am hot and bothered there is buggar all I can do. Besides knitting in the heat is a little challenging.
So my beloved readers eat, knit, blob and enjoy!

a lot of ball winding

2008-12-06T09:03:00.000-08:00

All the yarn I got is now in balls, samples in my knitting book waiting for a new battery in my scales to weigh it all. It was enourmously satisfying making up my own yarns from all these lovely threads.

I am now really determined to stop buying and start using-I really do have enough yarn to last an awfully long time.

Now is also drama group time-we put on a show each year at the end of January-it makes me feel really energised and motivated to get things done. I am now going to go and get work done for my knitting design course.

I throughly reccomend using Texere silk thread mixed with cotton to make up the most lovely yarns.

I also did the Christmas lights tour of the West End Harrods windows were based on the new James Bond movie-how tacky is that, Liberites was ho hum, Fortnum and Mason lovely-though the prices are simply unbelievable.Regent Street is simply gorgeous. Go look!

Joy oh joy

2008-12-05T02:00:00.000-08:00

My friend and her Dad gave me free range on her late mother's wool collection-she was a machine knitter and I have had great fun mixing fine yarns together to make knitting yarn. An incredibly obsessive activity the need to finish the cone is almost too much. I am now getting space issues big time-Julie came to visit the yarn pile/me and took some home. I do not need to take advantage of every cheap/free yarn opportunity

Shiva highlights

2008-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

Up to 24 men in our lounge doing their morning prayers with their white prayer shawls and tefillin-a haunting beautiful sight.
One of my dear friends going up to Clive and shoving homepathic remedy down his throat while he sat on the traditional low chair.
His friend coming down for the day from Leeds to pay her respects.
Cakes, cakes, cakes and biscuits-I have turned into some sort of mother Channukah handing out cakes to all and sundry.
Realising how lovely it is having so many visitors.
Simply stopping for a week.
Having people bring food all week and not having to cook-I tried to convince a friend she would grow as a human being if she would take on cooking for us on a weekly basis-she would have none of it.
My husband deciding to take on saying Kaddish for his Mum 3 times a day-shis means being at shul with at least 9 other men.
One morning when we had 9 men getting the neighbours teenage son to come to make up the minyan (group of ten men) this meant 9 men in suits and one half awake teenager in a dodgy yellow tee shirt.
Doing serious amounts of knitting
Getting back to normal-tele!

Sweet and sad

2008-11-19T02:29:00.000-08:00

Israel, see above, was an amazing experience. We stayed with Hannah on her kibbutz which was a real milestone-staying at our child's home. It was lovely to be in Israel with someone fluent in Ivrit. We went to the wonderful market at Akko originally built by the Crusaders and found amongst the smutter beautiful glass balls that now hang in the garden, saffron, incredibly cheap embroidered cushion covers and stunning coffee. In the Akko market is a hummous resturant that people will cue to get into-they sell tea, coffee, coke and 3 types of hummous with various vegetables and pickles and pita. The food is almost thrown on to the table but is really lovely.

The daughter's new boyfriend is lovely and incredibly tolerant-the first time they went out she made him get changed. He cooks beautifully in this lovely simple Italian way-interestingly no onion in his tomato sauce.

The kibbutz is beautiful we has a meal with Joseph's kibbutz family-their home overlooks the hills of the upper Gallilee and to the left is Lebanon-all the homes have a bomb shelter.

The elderly members of the kibbuts all have golf carts and all 18 year olds get their own flats.

Everyone sorts of gets dressed up for Shabbat dinner but they also serve pork-all somewhat contradictory.

Hannah will be working with problem children in a boarding school preparing them for the army as her army service. Ah karmic revenge-she will be dealing with vile teenagers having been incredibly vile herself.-I will probably enjoy it all too much.

Then we found out that Clive's Mum was very ill and she passed on Shabbat. We were due to come home on Sunday anyway. The family had problems getting the death certificate and Jewish tradition requires we bury as soon as possible.

This meant finding out at 11am yesterday that she was to be buried at 2pm on the same day-I have never got food ready so quickly. Clive is sitting shiva at home. People were amazing -between the post levaya eating and the prayers at 8pm soup for everyone in the house appeared on the stove. Endless cups of tea were made and dishes washed-I have loads of meals in my fridge already and more cakes and biscuits that a small shop.

Clive is up and down but at times like this I realise how precious community is.

Election party

2008-11-06T02:25:00.000-08:00

I will not attempt to write about the Barak Obama win-writers with far greater skill than me have written far more profound words than I ever could.
Last night we went to the Democrats Abroad party in a Bar/Resturant in Trafalgar Square. Ironically spending the evening with a load of Americans made me feel incredibly homesick even though I have spent very little time in America. Why? Like NZers Americans happily talk to strangers-such fun.
There were 2 english chappies there having dinner who did not know the party was planned for that evening. They were grumpy and sarcastic-sad sad. However this was not the norm-many of the Democrats there said that they were really touched by the number of english people who congratualted them on the election result.
Three of us abandoned knitting group for the night-such is the sacrifices of historical events

It has been far too long

2008-11-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Holidays are over and it is time to get back to writing. I will try to blog twice a week.
Startitis and bus rides
I went on a fabulous Knitting workshop for my knitting course in Bournemouth. I met readers of this blog which was truly inspiring. Owing to what is known as 'planned works' on the rail but should be known as 'planned chaos' I took the bus home. I have decided it is just like knitting-beginning the trip is great-you sit back warm and relaxed enjoying the front seat view. But dear readers it changes-boredom sets in exacerbated by the complete closure of the north bound M4, the bum turns to concrete and all you want to do is get off the bus. But you can't-it is a matter of hanging in there till one arrives at the genteel surroundings of Victoria Bus Station. So it should be with knitting-no matter how traumatic the mistakes I will finish things, I will resist the call of the new yarn and that particularly appealing pattern.
Once I saw myself as a one project girl how this has changed. I will now complete the following before I begin anything else:
Gila's blanket
My socks
Hannah's socks
Hannah's jumper
Clive's socks (my son refuses to allow me to knit for him)
My scarf/mitten thingy
The sock wool cushion cover
The pink silk cotton wrap around begun last winter for the summer that has now gone.
I feel a little overwhelmed by this all.
My honorary American night
Anyway tonight is the American election which is a good excuse to knit.
Then Wednesday night I am going with some of the American women in my knitting group to a Democrats in London event to celebrate/mourn the election results. This is because of obsessive interest in the election and my commitment to The West Wing-all 7 series were obsessively watched.
Let us see what happens tonight

The waiting for the computer sock

2008-10-13T08:03:00.001-07:00

That little egg timer on my computer drives me bonkers-it seems to take for ever. I have found a solution and am now calm and zen like whilst waiting for my computer to do connect to what ever it is I am waiting for. People I knit-I put a sock on my desk and with the greatest of ease I got a sock knitted in what used to be frustrating down time. I am not a naturally enthusiastic sock knitter but I love hand made socks-this seems a wonderful solution.

What did we do Saturday night?

2008-10-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

After Shabbat went out did we:
1. Go out for dinner
2. Go to the theatre-something new and interesting.
3. Go rent a DVD, buy some lovely cheese and nice salads and settle down on the couch.
4. Or did the husband whilst muttering to himself about 'assignment', 'exam' and 'finances' practically dive into his office.In the meantime did I face the fact that it was very nice of me to offer to cook for friends for Yom Tov on Tuesday night, but that the reality is that Motzei Shabbat was the only conceivable time I could actually find time to once again chop onions and crush garlic.
Why did God in his wisdom squash all these Jewish holidays into such a short space of time?
When will the husband give up his non meat eating? If he can eat a fish I really don't see why we can't bung a chicken in the oven occaionally.
Next life I shall be a lesbian Buddist nun with an especially nice begging bowl.

The stash for sale

2008-10-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

My local Help the Aged charity shop had some interesting looking yarn in the window. Inside the shop was even more yarn;half knitted projects even some still on needles, faded yarn, an old pattern and loads of odd balls. Yep someone had died/gone into a home and this was the stash being sold off. It was incredibly sad SABLE (stash accumulation beyond life expectancy) suddenly did not seem such a good idea.
All of this and Rosh Hashannah/Yom Kippur got me thinking. What do I value in the long run.
Knitting especially for my daughter and husband (my son is not all that keen on my efforts).
Friends Although I loved my mega watch of The West Wing-now all watched it was the the meals we shared over Yom Tov I really enjoyed. Especially cool was the meal with me Clive and a table of women. Clive coped but seems to now view the life of Utah polygamists with sympathy rather than envy.
Cultural stuff I am a lazy arse but when I get to Art galleries, BBC audience events etc I really really enjoy it.
So for the new year-knit, socialise and get out more often.
The thing is all of this can be so cheap-I have a range of super cheap recipies, lots of events are free and I do have a stash to use prior to my death.

Non verbal communication at Cold Spring Mill

2008-09-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

We have just got back from 10 days holiday in Scotland. We went via Yorkshire and by a stroke of luck managed to stay close to Cold Spring Mill. What makes it all the more amazing is that last time we went to Scotland we managed to stay in Stoke on Trent which means we were able to easily visit the Portmerion seconds shop.
We did get to Cold Spring Mill-twice and New Larnark once.
The first visit to Cold Spring Mill was a wonderful example of the way we of almost 20 years of marriage really don't bother talking all that much-we have looks instead.
i.e
Clive said "Am I paying for this"
I said "Yes"
The looks went like this
Me: Look I know this is a huge pile of wool but it makes me so happy and it is really really cheap.
Him: You have got to be joking. Do you think I am made of money? Remember we have just redone the bathroom.
Me: I am an incredibly inexpensive wife-how much do I ask you for-ah go on. Please.
Him: All right but I am going to refer to this for months.

Finally thank you to everyone who contacted me about Max it really helped

Good bye Max

2008-09-10T03:46:00.000-07:00

We found our beloved cat Max dead in the garden this morning. He was 15-16 years old and had kidney disease, arthritis, cataracts and had been losing weight. Yesterday he looked extremely weak and could barely drink.
Even so his death is an utter shock and I feel completely bereft.
When we came to England in 1998 with our then 7 and 8 years olds we decided to adopt cats within 2 weeks of arriving to ease the transition to a new place and unexpectedly strangely different culture. Max and Izzy came from a elderly woman who had to move into sheltered accomodation and could not take her cats with her. We got them the day before the were to be put down.
Izzy (still healthy) is completely neurotic-she moved into Aaron's room when we had a dog and till this day she barely leaves.
Max, massive big ginger Max on the other hand has always been remarkaby friendly. No matter the teenage dramas, conflicts going on in the house he has always loved us all.
He seemed to love people who found him frightening (he was big) and took great pains to stay close to them to be a comfort. He was remarkably gentle and would gently tap out shoulder with his paw when he wanted to be stroked. He spent hours with both children cuddled up on couches and on the ends of beds. I am sure he did more to get both of them through adolescence than any of the therapists/counsellors etc we tried.
Max learnt to sit next to me with his head on my lap when I was knitting to not get in the way when I put the needles down he would come into my lap.
Thank you Max thank you for everything you gave to us.
Thank you

E Bay Joy

2008-09-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

I decided to buy an armless chair for knitting and found the above on E-Bay for a fiver. The seller was also advertising a singer sewing machine in a cabinet. I told him I would offer him £10 pounds for it if he couldn't sell it for more.

He didn't sell it and Julian kindly took me to pick it up in Edgware on Thursday (his car is significantly bigger than Clive's) When we got there we met the sellers wife. It turned out that they were selling up his mother's home and contents as she is now in a nursing home. When we were there I also noticed the sewing box above that they did not know what to do with and the wife offered it to me for another fiver.

It was full of absolute treasures-the 1956 Women's Weekly pages on cleaning hints, the wonderful biscuit box and all sorts of odd things like the leather repair kit and tin full of stocking mending thread above.

The sewing machine also had old Simplicity Sewing books-I really love finding such things-I do not think they have any real value but I love them.

The joy of these finds helped me cope with dinner that night-Julian kindly took Clive and me to dinner to say thank you for staying. On the way there Clive had 'one question' to do with his econometrics assignment. This one question lasted all through dinner and all the way home. Is it socially acceptable to knit when dining in a resturant.

I love American politics

2008-09-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Imagine Aaron Sorkin (the wonderful writer of The West Wing-up to series 3 on my watch them all binge). pitching the following idea to his producers.
The aging Republican candidate decides to make his ticket more hip by choosing a woman as his running mate.
He rushes approval through so checks are not done properly and it soon comes to light that:
She supported Alaskan Independence
She believes in creationism
She does not believe that humanity is responsible for global warming
She is the subject of an ethics investigation for trying to get her brother in law fired from his job as a state trooper for divorcing her sister.
Her 17 year old is pregnant to a bloke who described himself as 'a f**king red neck on Facebook.

The producers would say 'aw no way mate who'd believe that' -or however you say that in American. But it has happened-simply incredible.
I went and bought shoes today and changed into a woolen top. Yep Autumn is with us and knitting season is here once more. I am doing a big mohair blanket-big stitches no pattern-lovely-goes well with The West Wing

I shall overcome

2008-08-26T03:42:00.000-07:00

On the last Skipnorth trip I attempted to spin with a spindle and I was completely useless. I have decided the time has come to overcome this.
We went to a fab craft fair at a stately home on Sunday and I picked up this wool fibre for £2. Is that cheap? expensive? OK? I really don't know but Clive paid-bless him. I now have a bid in on a lovely but cheap spindle with ebay and using You Tube I will learn to spin. I really will. I hope.
I am also overcoming stash neurosis-I have some lovely aran weight cashmerino in a soft grey. I have not known quite what to do with it-Hannah was really keen but unsure. I am now using it for long slouchy socks I am knitting for a friend, myself and Hannah. I had lots of socks in this pattern in cotton that Hannah hupped to Israel. I really loved them and in this yarn they will be complete bliss-I have realised I will really enjoy using the yarn this way even if it is not quite what I originally imagined doing.

Simple Pleasures

2008-08-22T10:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I have great conversations with total strangers that makes me feel that life is really not that bad.
Today I went to Sainsburys really early and the nice woman who chopped up my fish for me (makes fish curry so much easier)and I talked about instant meals. As she pointed out some of them can take up to 18 minutes to microwave and we reckoned we could get pan fried fish, salad and potatoes on the table in much the same time with out the chemicals, salt and fat. What stops people-washing a pot? facing a frypan? Very sad I am old enough to have owned a wringer washing machine in my distant past-washing a pot pales to comparison.
Anyway this made me feel on a roll.
Small diversion by way of explanation. Approximately 50,000 Israelis get discharged from the army every year and about a third go to India. Many come back to Israel a little spiritually arrogant and often woefully spiritually ignorant at the same time. Hannah met one such charm bucket who told her that chick peas are not used in Indian cooking.
I was telling my friend Julian about this bizarre level of ignorance and he pointed out that there may be some places in India where chick peas are not used. As you may have already worked out Julian has more niceness in his big toe than in my entire soul.
Anyway the checkout lady at Sainsburys was from India and I told her the story-she said chick peas are used all over India. It turned out she has a relative that runs a boarding house in India and she knows Israeli travellers well. We ended up doing cosmic Israeli traveller imitations and it was truly funny-even more so as you do not really expect to end up in fits of laughter at the Sainsburys checkout-as I say life is alright

Tea pots and other weaknesses

2008-08-19T08:41:00.001-07:00

I got this wonderful Wedgwood Tea Set for £6.25 at our local Red Cross Charity Shop half price sale. Oh joy, even if I probably have a few too many tea pots already. I noticed this set walking past the shop after hours. I did not know what it was put I was pretty sure it was good. I am getting a nose for second hand china-we all have our skills.
My other skill is de-tangling yarn and sewing up garments. One of our knitting group has sewing up issues and we have agreed I will sew up one of her projects for some cotton yarn-love the exchange economy.
If I have a tea pot collecting thing the husband has discovered Facebook and more often than is appropriate for a man in his 50's I find him collecting Facebook friends. I really do not know where this hunter gatherer thing comes from-he is a middle class Jewish boy from Surrey.
I did mention other weaknesses. pause deep breath. No it's not drugs or some bizarre perversion with tea pots it's The Westwing-I am back at series one and intend to work my way through them all. It is this alternative Bush free fairy tale. My only justification is it is great for getting boring knitting done.

Van Morrison

2008-08-17T05:55:00.000-07:00

I went to see Van Morrison on Saturday night with knitting friends. I took one of those very low ( i.e about 4" from the ground) camping chairs. The security guard told me I could not bring it in. I told him I had gynecological problems (not true) and therefore needed a chair. This failed to move him and he still said no. I then told him I had had an operation in my vagina. As soon as I said the word vagina he looked terrified and let me in chair and all.
Why oh why are men so scared of the word vagina?
Heterosexuals are rather keen on putting vulnerable pieces of their anatomy in them and they will use the somewhat vulgar aggressive slang for vagina all the time. Yet the word seems to terrify them-I find this bizarre.
The concert was great and we of course had the most fabulous picnic between us. One group adjacent to us had a wide range of alcohol, loads of fags (outdoor picnic concerts seem to be some sort of smokers liberation meeting) and one of those packets of pistachio nuts available at all good off licences. We took pity and offered them some hand made ginger nuts, reaching out across the social divide.
I also love going to the loo at these things-the cues take forever and you get to bond with total strangers and get their life stories. Maybe the fact that boys miss out on loo cue bonding somehow result in vagina terror-interesting thought.

2008-08-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is my beautiful button collection all in charity shop vases. J suggested I put it on the blog and she was right. I will not comment on the anal retentive colour sorting.
Three of us from knitting are going to see Van Morrison on Sat night-bliss. Going with 2 other knitters and a very tolerant partner (not mine he refused to come) means it is ok to knit-double bliss.
The son got his A level results today 2 B's and a D. I am trying to be cosmic and tolerant and nice about this not easy-he is extremely bright and not at all motivated. Something like his parents-my B+ average degree was something of a miracle bought about by the overnight essay and his father is extremely bright.

The Olympics

2008-08-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

I got the guilts and thought that with all the money, all those people, all that effort I should really watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
I still felt guilty.
At one point the bread maker beeped indicating it was time to shape challah-by the time I got or back to the screen the commentator was saying that "they spent a year rehearsing that" and I missed the entire thing.
Commentators talk about these huge world wide audiences but who watches the every nano second? People drink tea, answer phone calls, use the loo and shape challah. I personally did all four.
I also became a bit Daily Mailish about the athletes on their mobile phones. They spend their lives working towards getting to the Olympics and then on the Opening Ceremony parade they talk on their phones. Now bizarre. What happened to being in the moment? Who are they talking to?
I have just finished 9 pairs of slipper socks and never want to do that pattern again.

bags and men

2008-08-07T06:12:00.001-07:00

This is my new shopping bag knitted in very cheap Lidl cotton (doubled) and using some of my lovely vintage buttons. The bag was very easy-4 rectangles but the zips on both bags, the seams, buttons etc took much longer than actually knitting it. It does work well-it stretches out well and carries loads.

Now Men.

We had a wonderful cultural clash on Monday at aqua aerobics. The regular teacher was away and we had a tall loud male-the type used to adoring women. He failed to understand 3 things when teaching middle age women

1. We do not do 'whoo'.

2. We consider instructions to be more of a suggestion than something we have to do. In fact one of our regulars always ends up sitting on a woggle 'cycling' up and down the pool. She will do this no matter what-crashing into people moving backwards or getting ineveryones way when we do 'abs'exercises. Our instructor found this somewhat incomprehensible.

3. Popping into the pool to chat to your friend who is sort of doing the class is normal.

The husband.

If I ate like my husband I would look at doors in a very different way as I would probably not fit through most of them.

Last night he seemed surprised to find his stomach sticking out a bit. Apparently he had not eaten anything out of the norm.

So we unpicked his day's eating. Every contract my husband gets he finds a sweet thing to eat with his lunch time cup of tea. He then sticks to the chosen sugar fest the entire time he is at that contract. Sometimes it is small cereal bars-sometimes 2 crunchie bars a day. At the moment it is a daily Bounty Bar-he is maintaining himself on one a day. He also had 2 'small' Krispy Kreme doughnuts-if they are small I would hate to see his definition of a large doughnut.
He also had fried fish cakes and fried veges(?) for lunch. What makes this all intolerable is that if he manages to give up the daily chocolate bar and nothing else at all, the weight falls off.
OK I admit to jealousy.

Let the rain not stop us

2008-08-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

We went to the Innocent Village Fete at Regents Park on Sunday.Although the whole thing shamelessly pushes the Innocent corporate image it still was a lovely day.
Lots of interesting music including the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, great food, surprisingly good poetry and of course the knitting tent.
Sunday was a very English summer day i.e loads of rain. But masses and masses of people were there. It was sort of "we're English and we have an umbrella and can therefore go anywhere and attempt anything even if we're a bit crap at it". It was enough for me to almost forgive England for being one of the many nations who have robbed the All Blacks of their entitlement to the Rugby World Cup-but let me not go there.
The poets were great but why oh why do middle class boys doing a poetry slam in Regents Park about Freud and Jung (oh my loves I kid you not) thing that putting on a bad imitation of a black ghetto accent is a good idea. Maybe when Cameron becomes PM young middle class men will feel OK about their roots again and will dust down their old school ties lovingly kept in the back of the wardrobe behind the carefully ripped jeans and scruffy but not too scruffy tee shirts.
Anyway back to umbrellas-I could not help but notice that most of us have incredibly battered cheap small umbrellas. Maybe we need to go back to big strong umbrellas-the type your child could inherit to regain national pride. Was the British Empire built on a Evening Standard freebie umbrella? Then I had the horrible thought-there are far to many people in London now to cope with big umbrellas-we would poke each others eyes out and there would be umbrella jams on Oxford Street. Depressing thought.

Weak weak weak

2008-07-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

I thought I had ended the West Wing with series 6 but there is a final series 7. My friend has the boxed set and it haunted me. I have borrowed it and somehow find time to watch 2 episodes a day-even though I know I will feel really awful when it is over-like a binging crack addict I compulsively keep watching-living in this alternative reality of intelligent government.
My weakness does not end there. I keep starting more and more projects. I can justify MY FIRST COMMISSION, which also justifies watching the West Wing whilst knitting. But how do I justify the wrap cardigan that I buggered up and needs reknitting, the grey silk/wool jacket, the crochet squares, the socks, the slipper socks for all and sundry and the 2 shoppping bags all that need finshing. Before I know it I'll not be sewing in my ends as I go.

Taking photos, common sense and the mathematician

2008-07-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Julian is quite simply a lovely person and profoundly intelligent-he has a Doctorate in Maths. Once when I was feeling especially humbled and stupid in comparison he told me that I had common sense and he didn't. Last night this common sense was needed. Julian went to the USA today to work on Maths Camp (where young maths genius types spend their summer doing maths and not being the maths freak for once). Last night I had to help him pack up all his belongings to send them to storage. There was stuff everywhere-Julian was very proud of the fact that he had packed 7 bookcases up. However there was still lots of rotting food left over from organic boxes, other food, papers, clothes etc etc. My job was to sit there, knit to maintain my sanity and yell at Julain not to look at bits of paper, especially bits of paper with fun maths on it. (Did you know maths can be beautiful or fun?)

Moral of the story-knitting keeps you sane in all sorts of situations.

Yesterday during the day I went all around London with a camera taking photos of anything that caught my eye especially focussing on colour. I am no artist but the more I look the more I see and it is incredibly satisfying. Some of these will be used to do stripped samples for my City and Guilds course-I really reccomend a day with the camera-you will see your stash in a new light.

Age embrassing moment

2008-07-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

These are photos of Ruthie in her super quick knit bat wing jumper-it is actually a teal colour but this has not come out.

Amazing how good batwings can look something to do with the fact that she is 20 and has not added massive shoulder pads a la the 1980's.

The buttons are completely fabulous-the poor husband simply cannot see the appeal.

Had one of those moments-for some reason my phone started playing the music Hannah loaded on to it when it was hers-I felt like a top of the bus thug walking down the road with my Justin Timberlake shrieking on my phone.

I asked for help in the changing room of the gym. The woman I asked had no clue either-we tried randon button pushing and looking inteligent all to no avail. Finally this woman who was under 30 came in and we lunged at her with this phone now playing some god awful hip hop. (Is it just me or does any one else listen to that music and think it's only justification can be to compensate for the singers minute genitalia and lack of sexual prowess.) The poor woman looked a little worried by our presence but managed to turn the thing off in a nano second-another aged moment.

Oh joy

2008-07-10T10:38:00.001-07:00

My neighbour has given me her button collection-oh joy! She is 73 and some are her grandmothers oh joy joy.
Time to go off and sort buttons-oh joy

Knitting the bat wing

2008-07-09T01:06:00.000-07:00

My relationship with sock knitting is not going all that well. Learning magic loop really improved my relationship with sock knitting but the spark has now gone. I am still under the spell of the big needle thing.
I finished knitting a bat wing jumper for Hannah's friend Ruthie-wonderful-2 pieces Aran weight and it looked great when it was finished.
I am now doing a jacket for me in a lovely textured wool/silk mix-no buttons, no bands, it just needs a broach to hold it together in all it's simplicity.
In fact I should be honest I am currently in a brain dead knitting phase while in a good book reading phase along side minimal tele, difficult Sudukus and even more Radio 4 than normal. Maybe my brain can only tolerate so much loftiness and I need to be brain dead in some part of my life.
I went with a friend to see the Last Deb exhibition at Kensington Palace. The construction of the dresses was absolutely fabulous and as for the lingerie and gloves-quite frankly I think I was born in the wrong era. We then saw the Diana dresses and quite frankly in comparison they were shit. The 1950's dresses although most of them were in small sizes were still shaped for a women where Diana's dresses looked ideal for a skinny transexual.-Let us all celebrate the wonders of the pleat and the dart!

Being inspired is just seeing things differently

2008-06-30T01:47:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend on the Isle of Wight which we love-quiet, slow and sunny and we didn't see a Starbucks or a Weatherspoons all weekend. The thing about being away is you have the space to really look at the world around you. Doing the City and Guilds course with the wonderful Loraine McClean is that I am begining to understand that design is not necessarily about thinking up brilliant things but also seeing brilliant things around you and using them in your work. I really liked the colours in this rusty container I saw and the juxtaposition of these boats on the shore. When I saw this cliff face at the Needles I saw lace knitting-should I worry?

The husband does incredibly complexcomputer stuff for a living and compensates by refusing to read instructions in his spare time. This is a middle class Jewish boy version of macho behaviour. This is why it took years for him to grasp the concept of his IPod "What's my library?" "Playlist?" He now has completely got it and is obessing about playlists. But he has no fun music-no 'Sugar Sugar' by the Archies, no Motown, no Dolly. Essentially music to bop to whilst washing the floor or cleaning the kitchen.....but wait why would he need music to mop to he wouldn't know what a bloody mop was for!

He has kindly offered me the chance to use his download service and make my own playlist-however we will put it on in the car and after 2 tracks he will look like he is in the process of root canal surgery and we will have to turn it off and go back to male jazz wank.

We went to the most beautiful garden run by the National Trust. We got there before it opened and found ourselves waiting amongst a gaggle of other middle age couples-is this what we have become-I was somewhat cheered by the sight of the husband bending over obsessively looking for butterflies and bugs to photograph when he gets his new groovy camera which is currently still a fantasy. The Guardian is too blame for this one with their handouts of insects 2 weeks ago.

May be we should have gone to Glastonbury after all.

knitting for others and M&S bras

2008-06-27T05:53:00.000-07:00

Slipper's for my friends daughter who is going through teenage angst, (who would want to be 13 again?) and wanted some home made slippers. They were dyed with Kool Ade, it's very scary how good it is at dying yarn the stuff is.

Hannah's I Pod and Camera cover-some of her friends found these hillarious but she loves them.

Who needs cocaine when you can buy a new bra that fits my less than delicate bosom for £14 at Marks and Spencer. The woman who increased the size range of bras at M&S deserves a sea view in the world to come. It is amazing how great a new bra makes me feel-breasts defying gravity and posture remarkably improved-as I say who needs drugs.

I have decided that the reason I love my knitting group so much is that knitters are incredibly nice people. We all get really enthused about knitting for others. It is this generosity of spirit that is so nice to be around.

I have now worked out photos on my latest computer-the husband's reject. For some reason that are all entitled the 'Acestar Solutions VAT form' I would ask the husband to sort it out but this gives him too good an opportunity to be sarcastic.

He is in pre new I Pod mode. He took over a year to really get his I Pod that I lovingly bought for him but now he is really into it. He is making play lists and down loading music with gay abandon. He is also a little put out as the daughter's I Pod has 40 times the memory of his. I give it 6 months max before we happen to go past the Apple shop on the way to John Lewis for coffee and just happen to go in...

shopping and my lovely readers

2008-06-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is so cool-I have readers in the USA and Israel (that's the daughter), thank you for reading-you are members of a small but growing band of tasteful people.
Anyway, shopping-me and the husband just do not do shopping. Clothes shopping is simply depressing most of the clothes I see, if they fit would look simply hideous and why oh why do manufacturers think women of my size want to wear polyester-manutacturers women who have a body bigger than a size 10 need fabric that breathes.
I have found a catalogue/on line retailer who does well fitting cotton clothes that are long and wide enough -last week I checked how much I have bought from them-it is embarrassing. I hope they do not see me as some sort of mad retail stalker.
Anyway today we had to buy various household things including tiles. The husband is amazing he looks completely miserable if he ever has to spend more than £50. The poor chap trying to sell him tiles ended up feeling sorry for him as he painfully hands over his credit card. He can even make Hannah feel guilty something I cannot do.
We are now shopped out and he is lying on the bed recovering. This pain of shopping somehow dissipates in DIY stores and for some bizarre reason stationary shops weird but true. He actually gets all quivery at Staples.
My reaction to a good charity shop is to embrassing to be anything else but private

Life changes

2008-06-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

It is looking really hopeful for my new job working in an Orthodox school doing one to one. Less status but less stress and more job satisfaction-although I was inevitably incredibly busy as a social worker I very often felt I was achieving essentially nil.
I am attempting let go-I must not tell my son to be careful with his money until he finds a job-that is up to him.
The daughter may be in a dodgy absorption centre on the outskirts of Tel Aviv with the majority of her property scattered around flats in Jerusalem but that is her problem and I have given her the scarf, jumper and blanket and now must accept whatever their fate is.
We have friends coming for Friday night and I am really looking forward to it. I realise I should invite more often cause it is so nice when I do. I wish the husband would give up the anti meat thing-I would love to simply roast a chicken.
Once again my work plans went down the toilet as I faced the mountain of ironing that accumulated-it is so annoying ironing is even more revolting in summer but you end up changing more often and doing more.
Discipline is needed.

Time management melt down

2008-06-17T03:31:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning is the time to work on my course work for the City and Guilds Knitting Design course. I know this is so as it is written into my weekly timetable. However it is now 11.32 am and I have managed to fill the morning booking British gas, ordering groceries, and a whole range of other quick to dos. I am weak and undisciplined! It is amazing how easy it is to while away time.
The discussion has been had with the son who took his impending financial responsibility really well. I am pleasantly surprised.
I now have 2 episodes of the West Wing to go and will probably go into some sort of withdrawl-I will resist the tempation to rent another series-it is a gold medal time waster and even puts emails to shame.
Work calls!

Big needles

2008-06-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else have the need to occasionally get out the BIG needles? 12 rows and the band is done love it love it. I am making a bat wing jumper for Hannah's friend Ruthie. Hannah wants a specific pattern with a list of subtle though mathematically challenging changes in a specific yarn that does not quite match the pattern anyway. Ruthie pointed to a pattern said 'that one' and had a range of acceptable yarns. The bat wing is done in 2 pieces, front and back. So easy. A bit of easy knitting and my current obsession with watching the DVDs of the final series of the West Wing is keeping me sane while:
the husband threatens to buy a digital SLR to run around fields attempting to photograph butterflies. No chance of persuading him that yarn stores of the nation is a much more interesting topic.
The son has his final A level exam on Monday and has reguarly looked horribly stoned in the last 2 weeks. We intend making the July allowance his last-he is blissfully unaware that adult life beckons. We will announce this when he finishes exams.
The daughter got to Israel to find the UJIA had not booked her into an absorption centre and she is on the couch at a friend's flat-essentially homeless, 19 and overseas. She tells me that it is sunny and beautiful so thats OK then.
I say thank god for the comfort of the occasional 10mm needle project.