befogged

Gary The Gas Man finally prevailed against the oddness of our previous central heating system, so that we are now basking in the warmth and efficiency of a new boiler and the knowledge that we no longer need to put the water on hours before we might possibly want to have a bath. Yay!

The kitchen is looking much closer to being done - floor and wall tiles are down and up respectively and just need grouting, and then it’s cupboard doors, repairing the bit of wall from which Gary The Gas Man removed the (wonkily fitted) original heating controls, and not really a huge amount else.

By way of celebration, earlier I gathered what ingredients and equipment I could ferret out of the smaller spare room (where the surviving contents of the kitchen cupboards that were water damaged went) and conducted a coconut-related experiment:

Yum. Coconut experiment declared a success to be repeated.

I made more yarn, too:

Extremely soft and squishy merino this time, plied into a result that looks remarkably pudding-like.

Pump for old boiler is inexplicably in our bedroom, in the corner, under my wardrobe. Gary the Gas Man is as bemused about Where Stuff Is in this house as Rog The Decorator (who only managed to find the main water stopcock when he removed the kitchen floor - of all the thoroughly bizarre places to put it!) has been. Apparently the pump is normally somewhere more accessible and rather closer to the actual boiler than in an entirely different room and on a different floor. New boiler, now resplendently new and energy-efficient looking in what was previously an unnecessarily large bathroom cupboard, has pump inside it like a sensible appliance and should therefore not present this problem to future occupants of the house. 

Still, for Gary the Gas Man to connect new boiler up and disconnect old boiler safely the old pump needs to be capped off and therefore the dratted thing needs to be got at. Our predecessors’ removal of the fitted wardrobes from the conveniently fitted wardrobe-sized alcove is actually proving to have been a helpful choice after all. Whoda thunkit.

Contents of wardrobe are now on the bed and in the little spare room and me and the birds have decamped to the big spare room. Birds weren’t impressed at this manoevre (well, if someone started rolling my house somewhere different I’d be a bit startled, too), but have responded to the crisis by eating lots, peering interestedly at everything, and squabbling to be the bird on the perch nearest the window. 

Gary The Gas Man reckons he should be able to get what he needs to do in there done today so can put the wardrobe and its contents back again this evening. Fingers crossed.

Immediately after this unexpected shifting of stuff, pets and self, sale-purchased flooring for downstairs turned up as promised and seems to be all present and correct. Renewed satisfaction in our choice of style and colouring. Second chappie met me at door to offer a quote for trimming our lamentably overgrown front hedge at precise same time as was attempting to count packs of flooring and sign delivery note. We do need hedge trimming, but as I was at that time trying to work, take delivery of 32 packs of laminate flooring, talk to decorator bod and not trip over the temporary pipe leading from old boiler to outside was really not in frame of mind to consider An Extra Thing. Took leaflet and said appropriately half-interested, half-non-commital things.

Scuttled upstairs, established reasonably comfy pillow arrangement on spare room bed, had foresight to remember to bring snack supplies and knitting-for-lunchtime in, and shut the door on all the palaver in attempt to do work. Work quite relaxing, after all that!

Cold Feet. I currently have them. This is because as part of the general works going on in the house at the moment we are taking the opportunity to replace our deeply unattractive, old, and not very efficient back boiler with a hidden-in-a-cupboard combi boiler. The heating is therefore off while Gary-the-Gas-Bod affixes one system in a new place and removes the old system from its current lurking place on the downstairs wall. It should be fine to use it when he’s not actively buggering about with it, it’s just not ideal while he is working and since I am here in a supervisory capacity (ie I opened the door, showed him where stuff was now and was supposed to go, and pointed him towards the kettle and teabags before retreating to the bedroom to work) that means I’m a tad chilly despite my several layers. Feet, though, only have one layer of clothing. Must knit some very thick socks that are large enough to go over other socks…

Things are coming on, though. Once Gary-the-Gas-Bod has removed the old boiler the last remaining bit of wall can be plastered and once that’s dry we can do the painting thing downstairs. I’m hoping after we’ve all developed arm ache doing that it should move relatively quickly - installation of new fire & flooring & skirting being about all that will be left after the painting. The kitchen is usable (shiny oven! shiny hob!) and just needs painting, tiling, doors affixing to cupboards, and the floor putting down.

Incidentally, debate at work the other day - what is the room with the sofas in it in known as in your house? A lounge? A living room? A front room? A sitting room? I always struggle because our living and dining areas are open plan so to me it’s just ‘downstairs’, since the only other downstairs space is the kitchen which is clearly functionally distinct. My parents always had a front room, though.

On another note, I have managed to successfully ply the pumpkin-coloured Corriedale with some more of the same, to make the very small but very squishable skein of yarn at right. No idea what I am going to do with it, but for now I am keeping it as evidence of how far I’ve come in the event of me getting sufficiently far for that to be measurable!

It’s an interesting thing to learn, really - it’s a bit like driving a car, in that when you first start you understand theoretically what you need to do with your hands and feet but it takes a little while before the movements flow properly from one another and become automatic and feel natural.

I am currently tackling some merino, about which I have been told both that it’s supposed to be tricky for beginners because of its slipperyness and that it’s ideal for beginners because of its staple length. It’s a good job, really, that I am not listening to ‘what it’s best to start with’ and just having a play with a variety of fibres on the theory that I’ll likely want to learn how they all behave at some point anyway so I might as well dive in! All animal fibres so far, though - I think I’ll leave slippery silks and bamboos until I have played with a blend and/or generally got the hang of the basics. I feel as though I’m making progress, though, and starting to draft a bit better.

Ah, that looks a bit more like actual yarn! The contents of that spindle represent half of that particular roving, so at some point I might end up with enough yarn to attempt plying. I’ve yet to measure properly, but it looks like it’s coming out as a dk/aran weight overall as a single, so I’m pondering seeing if the yardage is sufficient for it to actually be turned into something - it’s not perfectly even, but it’s certainly knittable.

Of course, it would have to be a something I don’t mind being bright orange - it’s a rather more virulent shade than that picture suggests (think ‘Halloween decoration plastic pumpkin of the sort that’s all over the shops at the moment’ and you’re probably about there). Very not like me, but I deliberately picked something very not like me and had huge fun all the same! It’s Corriedale, purchased from Scottish Fibres whose service was excellent, friendly and quick.

We have an oven again! It was installed yesterday, so I came home from work to find it looking all sleek and silver and like it had the ability to bake things. After a couple of months of not being able to do so this is really very welcome! The kitchen has yet to be painted, tiled (both wall & floor) and have doors attached to the cupboards so we can’t really put back everything that previously lived in cupboards on that wall but we can at least use it like a proper kitchen provided we don’t mind having things in slightly odd places.

The rest of downstairs is similarly coming along - we’re still rather plaster dust-y, but everywhere that can be plastered (we also took the opportunity to skim the oh-so-charming textured ceilings) has been (including all the way up the stairs and the landing - the joys of open plan and the continuous decor resulting therefrom!), so we’re waiting for that to dry so it can be painted. We’re also taking the opportunity to replace our back boiler with a combi boiler in a more convenient place than slap-in–the-middle-of-the-living-area, so we are waiting for that to happen before we can really finish off in there. We’ve bought the flooring ready for putting down post-painting (local B&Q refurbished itself and had a 10% day to celebrate, whilst simultaneously having 15% off flooring, so we ordered it before we really needed it), though, so fingers crossed it won’t be a horrendously long time before we are back down there.

I escaped the chaos for a little while this weekend, though. Friend Sarah came up on Friday evening for dinner at The Lambley for excellent food with excellent service since entertaining in home is a bit tricky right now, and then Al very kindly dropped us off at the train station at 6.30 on Saturday morning so that we could go to the Knitting and Stitching Show. 

We got to Alexandra Palace slightly after 10 and managed to meet up with a few online friends beforeand shortly after venturing into the fray. I think Sarah and I had more or less oriented ourselves by the time we met Becky a couple of hours later, so were able to lead her astray as quickly and efficiently as possible. There is an incredible amount to take in - Ally Pally is vast, and absolutely filled to the rafters with stalls, exhibitions and thousands of people. I can see why some people go over two days, as it’s exhausting and you do feel like you’re missing bits in the course of one day. I managed to make a few purchases, though:

Yes, amongst two skeins of sock yarn, one of laceweight and a lovely shawl pin from Purlescence that’s a spindle and some fibre. I have never attempted it before, but have been tempted by some of the wonderful spinners on Ravelry to give it a try!

When our feet, and possibly our bank balances, could stand no more it was back to Becky’s, where we met her gorgeous 8 month old twins and generally spent the evening chilling out with the family. Sarah and I knitted a toy each for the babies which seemed to go down well (i.e. both were in mouths within minutes!).

Here’s a slightly blurred shot of the Elijah I made:

I would have taken a better shot avec baby, but as he was christened in pretty short order that would also have involved baby-sick so I decided against it. Good job we made them washable

And back to that spindle… Well, my first ever attempts at using it yesterday evening have resulted in a small amount of decidedly rustic looking thick-and-thin sort of yarn, but it is yarn rather than fibre nevertheless and I am assured that as with anything it pays to persist. It was fun to be learning (well, trying to learn!) a new skill, too, so we shall see how it goes.

Pattern: Spring Forward Socks, by Linda Welch

Yarn: Yarn Yard Bonny, in ‘Fall’

Well. Either my knitting has suddenly speeded up or that was a very quick pattern! It’s a really nice simple-but-effective pattern which zoomed along. The yarn was a pleasure to work with, too - and nice and summery, considering it was decidedly grey and soggy for much of the time I was knitting these!

I was sorting out my overflowing sock drawer earlier and thought now would be a good time to take stock of the handknitted socks I now own:

Arranged in rough order of knitting, clockwise from the striped ones at the top. I thought the differences in wear were useful to know, so here’s the detail. Bear in mind that I’m fairly kind to my handiwork - sturdier socks with nylon in will go on a gentlish wash cycle, ones without are hand washed, and only the really hardy ones like the Lana Grossa and some Opal I’ve used for Alan’s socks ever make it anywhere near the dryer when I use that (Opal, incidentally, softens loads on washing and wears like a trouper even in the tumble dryer. Total workhorse sock yarn.).

Basic Ribbed Socks - 21 months old - the Lana Grossa Meilenweit has held up pretty well. A little worn looking, but would probably hold up better at the tighter tension at which I now tend to knit socks.

Anastasia Socks - 17 months old - still holding together, but the Lorna’s Laces has a tiny hole coming and is bobbling a bit.

Vine Lace Socks - 16 months old - Posh Yarn Lucia. These have bloomed a bit, but still look pretty fresh. One of the best wearing yarns I’ve used, and it involves cashmere. Well there you go!

Corded Rib Socks - 11 months old. Silkwood Sock Yarn. These have a bit of a tendency to shrink in the wash but stretch out to normal size again on wearing. Looking a bit the worse for wear, but not too bad.

Chevron Socks - 13 months old (this is where my memory slipped up in the photo!). The Bright Dyes yarn is wearing ok but not as well as the Lucia, and has lost some of the vibrancy of the colours. Still going strong, though.

Yarn Over Cable Socks - 7 months old. I’m sorry to say it, but the HipKnits Merino has worn by far the worst of the lot, and obviously these socks have had much less wear than some of the older ones. These are fuzzy to the point of losing some stitch definition, and just generally look very worn. Still very soft and comfy, so I suppose at some stage I might use my remaining skein for slouchy socks with a simple pattern that won’t be obscured by fuzz.

Spring Forward Socks - er. About 3 days old. The yarn was great to knit with, and funnily enough shows no signs of wear whatsoever yet! This could be because they’ve yet to be worn, of course…

I have made a Liesl:

The colours are a bit more true here, though:

And just to show the feather and fan pattern off a bit more, and because I rambled for ages without an image in my last post:

What I don’t have at the moment is photographic evidence that it fits me like a glove, so unless you happen to know me personally you might have to take my word for that. It does, though. It is toasty, too, being made from Manos del Uruguay wool and silk blend.

I had to do a fair amount of maths to make it work, since the pattern is written for aran and chunky yarns and the Manos (which is Really Quite Lovely) is more of a DK, but it looks like my mathematic skills haven’t quite deserted me yet. Probably the knitted garment with which I’m happiest, over all. Wooyay!

Aand the work on our house has finally started! It’s felt like it’s taken a while to get going, but to be honest the insurance company have been good to deal with so far. The delay is mostly because the value of the insurance claim meant a few different people had to come and inspect it, which means arranging a convenient time for them to visit, them completing the visit, and then them filing a report before the next person can come out and so on.

Still, we have the go-ahead for our preferred contractor to do the work, so he’s made a start today after we spent yesterday moving various bits of downstairs upstairs and into the garage and various other bits to the tip. We haven’t done the half of it yet, though - we’ve just cleared the dining room area and one half of the kitchen cupboards and surfaces, but as the dining room/living room are open plan we’ll need to clear the whole shebang when it comes to be time to prepare to redecorate. I think we’ll be tripping over things upstairs for a while! You should see the amount of books we’ve evicted between us, too. I’ve been being ruthless with them for weeks now (there are still loads that I can’t part with, but I have finally managed to evict all my University anthologies except Shakespeare) and still found three carriers of ‘my’ books to go to the charity shop!

We’ve also moved the birds into our bedroom in order to keep them away from as much of the noise and dust as possible, which has meant an interestingly early morning on particularly sunny mornings, when they all get up at the crack of dawn and clamber down their cage for food. Sometimes it’s a pain to sleep lightly!

Everything, including plaster, is now in the process of being removed from one wall of the kitchen (That being the wall which has the oven and the hob on it - wooyay. The microwave and toaster are now in the boxroom and represent, with the kettle, our ability to heat food and drink for the time being. I’m just glad it’s summer…) and the reverse side of the same wall in the dining area, plus both floors need to come up and the corresponding bathroom wall also needs to be exposed. The start that’s already been made demonstrates that our kitchen must once have been a green-fest, as the lino under the existing lino appears to be the same sort of mildly drab shades as the tiles. I bet we’ll find that the sunshiney yellow paint was once a faintly industrial green, too.

Once the relevant bits of wall and floor are exposed, people will come in with some industrial dryers and we can’t get any of it put back together again until those have done their job. Then the leak under the shower needs sorting (it was stopped weeks ago, but we haven’t been able to arrange the repair - thank goodness we have a separate bath!) and downstairs can be redecorated, rebuilt and reorganised back into a liveable space again.

I’m glad we hadn’t got around to decorating downstairs already - that would have been rather annoying! While we’re in such chaos, though, we might see what money we can find to make a few improvements that it would be easiest to make while we’ve got someone already working on the house. Until then, at least I’ve managed to find a way (with cunning use of masking tape, a long network cable, and the fact that our stairs are open tread) to use t’internet in the bedroom so that I can keep the birds company amidst the impending chaos!

Well, they were intended to be white, but… I can forgive lilies quite a bit really. Especially when they have rewarded my patience en masse and so prettily. I wonder if they’d mind having a chat with the irises for me…

As I mentioned earlier this month, I was keen to take up yoga again after never having established a really strong routine, so last weekend I went along to a first-thing-on-Saturday class and remembered all over again just how good a class can be when the teacher is good. It was a nice balance between the physical and the more spiritual aspects of yoga. I’ll definitely go again, although I didn’t yesterday morning as we were out for dinner with friends the previous night and while I was up well before the 8am start time I’m not sure inversions would have been a brilliant idea!

I have, though, found some excellent online resources which are making the doing-it-at-home thing more interesting. There are a few free video podcasts to be found, including a good one at YOGAmazing. It makes it much easier than using a book (you don’t have to pause to read or to turn the page) and there’s less likelihood of getting bored with a set dvd (I had a video that I did every day for a while, but once you’ve memorised everything the instructor says it does start to get a bit tedious!). There’s also a full length free daily class at Yoga Today, which looks very good but isn’t downloadable (although there is an archive).

I’m still keeping up with going to the gym a reasonable amount, so between the two I am really starting to notice a difference in myself. My energy is much higher (though that could also be partly due to no longer being in a working environment which drained me), my stamina is noticeably improved, my heartrate is measurably lower, my upper body strength and balance are at least a bit less rubbish than they were previously, and, well, I’m more contented (that could be contributed to by the job as well, of course!).

As for today… well, I managed some in-home yoga, although I think it would have been rather easier in an air conditioned gym! Today was hot! We did go for a nice pub lunch with my folks and his folks, which we should really do more often, though.

This sprang from a forum discussion related to pride in one’s country, but I reckon it’s worth repeating.

Most people, I think, feel that there is a difference between loving one’s country and being proud of said country.

I love my country. I love the rolling hills, the history (by ‘history’ I mean ‘fascinating historical heritage’, incidentally. Not ‘I just love everything this country has ever done at any point in its history’!), the ancient sites, the beautiful-yet-unassuming flora and fauna, I even love the weather, gods help me (and I say this on a miserably soggy day in what’s supposed to be the middle of summer)! I love the people, by and large. It’s home, and I am very grateful that it is my home.

I don’t have such love for my government and for its actions, and nor do I have pride in same. The government is paid, by myself and my countrypeople, to do a job to the best of their ability, and I will consider their performance, and therefore the actions of ‘This Country’ on the world stage, and judge accordingly with my vote. There’s a difference between ‘my country the home’ and ‘my country the political power’.