In a spin

Today was the day I chose to try out the drop spindle. I read the instructions thoroughly and it looked straightforward enough (remember that old adage "pride comes before a fall"?) so off I went. After several minutes of bad language and broken bits of fibre it occurred to me that I must be missing a piece of the jigsaw.

Thank goodness for Google which lead me to this clip. Megan made it look so easy! "Don't worry if your yarn breaks, it's easy to fix it", she said. "No it isn't!" I replied as I broke yet another chunk off the strand.

So back I went to the drop spindle and the actual spinning. The first 12" looked really good (Mike said it looked like real yarn!) but then it broke again and it all went downhill from there. It actually looks like one of those 'thick and thin' novelty yarns!

Back to the drawing board methinks!!!

Back with a vengeance

Over the past few months I've acquired several cones of very fine wool - some cobweb, some 2 ply from various charity shops.

I've had it in the back of my mind that I would learn spinning one day and this seemed like the ideal opportunity to make a start with a drop spindle.

So here it is, a beginner's kit from Sara at itsavintagething on eBay. I emailed her beforehand to ask advice and she was very helpful. She has a little group I can join if I get stuck. I must say that the roving feels gorgeous and I shall have a little play later on to see if I can get to grips with it.



















I whipped up these fingerless mitts as a gift and I know it's safe to show them as the recipient doesn't know about my blog (yet!).










Last but not least we have the poor neglected Oregon cardigan. I just picked her up the other day and knitted 2" on the sleeve so there's just about 2 more inches to go and the first sleeve is complete. Hallelujah! What finally persuaded me to pick her up and finish her was the thought of all that work going to waste. She's far to beautiful to end up as a ufo so I've made myself get on with it.

Morrigan's on!

I finished Morrigan a while ago but didn't get round to sewing on the buttons until this week.

That didn't stop Mike wearing it though and it's already turned into a favourite. It's so warm that I'm really rather jealous!

Good-bye and good luck

Last week we said good-bye to our lovely Anna who's gone to start a new job leading her very own Team.

We've worked together for 9 months now and have had great fun as well as producing good work and I was very sorry to see her go.

I've never worked anywhere before where staff are employed on 'Seasonal' contracts and it's very strange to be saying good-bye to lots of people all at the same time. I have 2 more staff to say good-bye to over the next 7 weeks so I'd better get knitting!

I felt the only way to wrap the scarf was as a triangle and it seemed to work out OK. Here she is modelling it on the hip as in the photo in the book.

She's a very stylish young lady and I know she will wear it in her own unique way.

Hello Graham!

A couple of weeks ago a letter arrived in our box and there was hardly any address information on it, except that along the bottom was written "Marathon Runner, Scarf Knitter".

When I turned the envelope over I saw it was from my dear friend Graham in France who I hadn't heard from for a couple of years (we usually exchange Christmas cards and news). I was very relieved as I had wondered if perhaps the worst had happened and I just hadn't been told.

I chuckled at the way he had found me as he'd googled my name and seen the knitting stunts then found my blog. Then, knowing that I live in a small village he hoped that the postie knew how to find me - thankfully he did! Apparently he'd moved house without passing on his new address (men!) and then lost our details (men again!).

So Graham, if you see this, I have received your letter and will write asap but we have a postal strike at the moment so there is no point even trying. It was lovely to hear from you and I look forward to catching up soon.

An inbetweenie

I finished Morrigan, bar the sewing together, last week but before I could do that I realised I had something else to make - yet another leaving prezzie for someone at work! I'd decided on a lacy scarf or a shawl so had been swatching patterns from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby.

Nothing was right for the young lady in question so I flicked through the book again and spotted this simple fichu and realised that was just the thing for Anna as she is young and very petite. I love the suggestion of wearing on the hip and it will be just perfect for her.

The trouble was that by the time I'd finally decided on the pattern, the week was nearly over and it was the Abingdon marathon this weekend. So on Monday evening I was looking at my progress and wondering if on earth I'd get it done in time. Panic over and it's blocking now ready for gifting to her tomorrow. Phew!

A full report on the marathon will follow asap - as usual, there's loads to tell.

No. 17 done and dusted

Last Sunday was the Abingdon marathon. The one for which I've trained really hard all year. I was so excited about it and had tapered sensibly (reduced my mileage ahead of the race) but there was a fly in the ointment - I felt grotty for the whole week prior to the event. It felt as if I was about to come down with a cold so I dosed myself up and fought like mad!

The alarm clock rang at 4am and I got up feeling OK. I hadn't slept much the night before but that is not unusual. I had a long drive of roughly 2 hours 45 minutes ahead of me so I left at 5am and drove off into the darkness.

I'd only gone about 20 miles when I encountered my first twit of a driver. I was going up a hill towards a blind bend when 2 cars came round the bend, one overtaking and the other obviously trying to prevent the car overtaking by speeding up. Instinct kicked in - I knew there was a car behind me but that it was far enough back not to worry so I flashed my lights like mad and slammed the breaks on hoping that the airbag wouldn't come out. The fool who was overtaking managed to get past the other car and sped off whilst the other driver laughed and waved at me. What a pair of &6%4£@s!!!!

That did shake me a bit but I pulled myself together and drove on, arriving in good time so I had a cup of coffee and phoned home before heading off to the registration point. There I met lots of runners I've met before - Hippo, Blisters, One Blue Leg (who was doing her 100th marathon dressed as an old lady in a dress and wearing a grey wig!), Johnny Blaze, Jim the Plum, Mick'n'Phil plus I met lots of new people from the Fetch and RW sites which was nice.

It was jolly cold at the start and I was glad I'd worn a long-sleeved top underneath my running vest plus I wore my fingerless gloves which are great because they're small and easy to stash away if I get too hot.

At 9am we were off. The race started and finished with a circuit of a sports stadium so I felt like a real athlete! As usual, I started near the back and quickly settled into my pace of 10 minute miling. It felt good and I was in a very positive frame of mind. Ar around the 2 miles mark I hooked up with Beders and Mitten from the RW forum and we struck up a conversatiion that lasted until mile 17 which really helped to pass the miles - but I'm jumping ahead of myself. Just remember mile 17 for later.

The course was a loop around Abingdon which is an attractive small town with prehistoric connections. I didn't have time for sight-seeing but the houses I saw looked very interesting. Then it went out along a couple of quieter country lanes although the scenery wasn't particularly nice. At one point we ran past a turkey farm where they were roaming free and they made such a noise as the runners streamed past; it was as if they were cheering us on.

I deliberately didn't take my camera with me as I was concentrating on beating my pb time of 4:50 set at the London marathon in 2006. The reason I had chosen this particular marathon was that it has a reputation for being fast and flat and therefore a good pb course. What I hadn't realised is that being a semi-urban marathon it involved lots of hopping up and down pavements and running with traffic (which I hate and is the reason I will never run the Thanet marathon again!). Plus, lots of the roads had potholes and the pavements were very uneven.

Anyway, the company was nice and we held a good pace, reaching the 17 mile mark in 2:50 which is spot on 10 minute miling. Now this is why you had to remember '17' because this is when my right ITB band started to twinge and my hamstring began to cramp. I tried desperately to ignore it as I couldn't believe it was happening again. This is an old problem that I thought I'd overcome as it hadn't surfaced since my very first marathon at Loch Ness in October 2004. Suffice to say that during that marathon I had to literally drag my leg for 13.5 miles in order to finish. So it was with great sadness that I told Beders and Mittens to go on ahead whilst I slowed my pace right down.

I could quite happily have curled up at the side of the road and sobbed it was so painful. Giving up was not an option as people have made donations to the Alzheimer's Research Trust and I couldn't let them down so I had to get my head together and struggle on.

So struggle on I did, watching all hopes of a pb disappear with every painful step. There was little crowd support en-route but the people who did come out were vociferous and generous with their encouragement. This photo was taken by the lovely RichK at FetchPoint where the fantastic Fetchies cheered and clapped everyone who passed through, Thank you to all of you as you really helped when the going got tough. A massive thank you also to RichK who I have chatted to on-line, since I started running 7 years ago, and who has taken photos of me at various events but who I had never actually met before. Thanks for the hug and kiss and good luck (you know what I mean).

Finally I neared the stadium and my watch told me that I was very close to my pb time but I simply could not speed up. As I worked my way around the track I heard several shouts of 'Redhead' from the stadium and I saw a group of forumites waving and cheering. My smile got bigger and bigger as I neared them and I gave a massive wave as I headed towards the finish. As if that wasn't enough, the lovely Ant Bliss from Sussex Sport Photography was there snapping away and he gave me the biggest hug ever after I crossed the line. There are loads of photos of me on his site if your enter my number - 48. I should mention that I first saw Ant when I was doing my 7 marathons in my 50th birthday challenge and he took photos at several of them so he's seen me looking much worse than this!

So there it is, marathon number 17 done and dusted. A minute and a half outside my pb - how annoying is that! Never mind, there's always next year.........................................................................

Extraordinary Service

Most of the time we consumers have to put up with mediocre or downright poor service so when I get good service I shout about it!

So, on Sunday I ran out of yarn and I thought I'd have to wait an absolute age for it to arrive. As the yarn is now discontinued I thought it might have been a problem but I was fortunate to find it on eBay. I did not have high hopes of receiving it quickly and resigned myself to swatching for a lace scarf for a friend whilst waiting.

However, I ordered the wool on Sunday evening and it arrived with the post on Tuesday. Now that is really impressive.

So, I would like to recommend eBayer Aileen for her outstanding service. I notice that she's got the latest Louisa Harding book Queen of Hearts which I like the look of so I may be popping back there in the near future.

Sadly Aileen's life has been touched by Alzheimer's too so I will add her to my growing list of people to think of when I'm pounding out the miles.

I've run out of yarn

Can you believe it? I've just started the second sleeve of Morrigan and I've run out of the mottled red/brown colourway and the green is looking a bit dodgy too. I bought the quantities as stated and my tension is spot on. Now that is very irritating. Thankfully I've found some on eBay and it isn't too expensive but now I'll have to wait for it to arrive.

So many things.......

There are simply not enough hours in each day to do everything I want to do! I keep meaning to update my blog but finding the time to do that takes me away from all sorts of other things. But then I actually enjoy writing my blog as it's great record of what's been going on in redheadland.

So, things get forgotten and written about out of sequence. I must be more organised!

Since I last wrote, Denny and Daniel have been to stay and it was wonderful to see them both. Just to clarify their significance in our lives, it was Denny who suggested that at my great age I should stay at home and do my knitting rather than run marathons - and so the running and knitting idea was born! Here she is looking rather uncomfy with the beautiful Esther, my Haflinger.

I've bought a really old loom on eBay and been playing around with that. I only threaded a small section of it - it can go up to about 16" which is wide enough for a cushion - just to see how I liked it.

The creative possibilities are endless and I know I shall great fun with it.



Just in case anyone has every wondered what field gates are for other than to keep livestock in the correct place, Kizzy is demonstrating their use as a bottom-scratcher!

She is such a lovely old mare and a joy to care for.





Isobel loved the scarf I knitted for her but adopted a completely unnatural pose when I tried to snap her wearing it!







At last I managed to catch the sheep in the graveyard!

One was very friendly and couldn't wait to be stroked. Her coat was really thick and she must have been roasting as it was a very warm day.







The other was quite timid and kept her distance.

She's so pretty and dainty. Mike said she looked as if she was all dressed up to go out somewhere!






I loved Shan's comment on my earlier entry about how eco-friendly it is. It just seemed so natural for them to be there, especially as there are so many sheep in this area.







We've been taking lots of photos of clouds recently as reference for Mike in his paintings and I couldn't resist these 2 beauties taken on 1st and 2nd October.




What glorious colours.















In knitting news, Morrigan is coming on nicely with one more sleeve to complete and I'm feeling much happier about going back to Oregon (the cardigan that is, not the place!).

On the running front I'm now tapering (ie reducing my mileage) ahead of the Abingdon marathon. I find it very hard to reduce my mileage nowadays as running high mileage has become so much a part of my life. All this extra time has been put to good use though and I've had more time for my many crafts.

The other thing I'm pondering is which events to do next year. There are 2 marathons planned already - Brighton on 18th April, followed by London on 25th April (where there will be another stunt but I can't reveal it just yet!!!). Although I ran the Kent 52.4 mile race I've never done marathons with just a week apart so that will be a novel experience. Of course, things are never quite as simple as that in my world and I've just had an email about the Paris marathon on 11th April and I'm wondering if I could manage 3 marathons in 3 weeks................

My penultimate 20 miler before Abingdon

Hoorah, hoorah, this morning I ran my penultimate 20 mile training run before I start to taper (ie cut down my weekly mileage) for the Abingdon marathon. Although the marathon is a road race and mostly flat, almost all my training routes are hilly so I reckon doing a 20 miler of hills should stand me in good stead to produce a faster time on a flat route (fingers crossed anyway).

Was the weather kind to me? Was it heck!

I left home at first light around 6:30am and it was misty but fine. That lasted for all of 20 minutes and then the heavens opened. Not just a few spots of rain but the sort of stuff that bounces off the road and sploshes all over you. Within minutes I was soaked so at least I couldn't get any wetter! When that happens there really is no point feeling sorry for yourself or complaining so I just stuck my head down and got on with it, pounding out the miles.

3 hours and 40 minutes later I arrived home, soaked but happy as that meant I had managed perfect 11 minute miling on a jolly hilly route. It has given me a massive confidence boost and I will see if I can match it next week on my final 20 miler.

I celebrated by stuffing my face with croissants spread with the lovely pear and damson jam I made a few days ago. Heaven!

Chunky monkey

Thank goodness there's some knitting to show at last. I really can't get myself back into Oregon at all so decided to give myself a kick start by doing a quick and easy project for Mike - Morrigan, from the Rowan Country Escape book.









It's knit using Rowan Country, a chunky multicoloured wool which knits up very quickly on 9mm needles and is a simple pattern using colour and texture to create an interesting fabric.









I'm liking the effect already and Mike's going to be snug as a bug in a rug wearing this! The beauty is it's only taken me a couple of hours each evening over the last 3 days to complete the back.

Hopefully by the time I've completed it I will feel like finishing off Oregon. The trouble is I associate it with some bad stuff that happened earlier in the year and I think that's what's putting me off. Never mind, I'm sure I'll get over it sooner or later as I really can't have such a beautiful Fair Isle cardigan languishing in the UFO pile now can I?!

Hedgerow Harvest

It's that time of year when I'm busy jamming, pickling, freezing and otherwise preserving all manner of goodies.

The blackberries, everybody's favourite hedgrow fruit, have already been turned into the most precious of velvety jellies, with a few more stashed in the freezer for winter crumbles etc., so that just leaves the Rosehips (Rosehip syrup) and Sloes (Sloe Gin) to deal with.

Aren't the colours amazing.

Sheep may safely graze

The other day I spotted a sheep standing atop a large stone tomb in the churchyard at Salehurst. "Oh dear", I thought, "I'd better go and see if I can get it out of there and back to where it belongs". That's when I spotted this sign. How lovely that they are using nature's own mowers!

Of course, I hadn't got the camera with me that day and when I returned yesterday, camera at the ready, there was no sign of them. The second photo is the view looking out of the churchyard across towards Bodiam.

Today they had reappeared and guess what, I hadn't got my camera!

She sells sea shells......

For as long as I can remember I've hoarded sea shells. I love all the wonderful shapes and colours and have a secret ambition to create a shell grotto one day. Many of them have been brought back by friends from their holidays and so have special memories attached.

Whenever we visit the coast I will happily spend hours searching for interesting specimens which then get stored in carrier bags and biscuit tins in the garage for future use.

The other day Mike and I had a good old clear out in the garage and put all my shells into one easily accessible place so at long last I am now able to get them all out and look at them. This of course lead to hours of fun playing around with designs and remembering where they came from.

I had saved this piece of wood for over 20 years for a craft project "one day" (as you do!). It was a drawer front from the kitchen we fitted in our first flat and it had a slight mark on it so was unusable. I thought I'd use it as a background for a design and played around for a while.

These were my 2 favourite designs.

Stars and Stripes

The lovely Isobel from my workplace is moving on to pastures new soon. I shall be very sad to see her go so I decided to make her something special as a leaving gift.

She is a big girl with an outgoing personality and she loves bright colours such as reds and purples which she offsets against black clothes. Also she has jet black hair so these colours really work for her. The other thing I know is that she loves anything sparkly/glittery and she adores stars.

So I had a rummage round and found all the bits of yarn I had in these colours and then popped off to Kemps who always have a useful supply of discounted 'novelty' yarns - the fluffy, glittery, multi-coloured types to bulk up my stash. I sourced some sparkly stars in red and black from eBay and so the idea developed into a simple garter stitch scarf, with random colour/yarn changes to build up a pleasing fabric.

I cast on 200 stitches on a 5mm circular needle then simply knit back and forth, breaking off the yarn at each end to make tassles. Then I gathered the tassles, adding some stars as I went along, then sewed a few stars in a random pattern on each end and on each side so that it is reversible (I hate it when you have to wear a scarf a certain way round). I used a total of 12 different yarns.

I'm very pleased with the way it's turned out - even though the reds clash horribly with my hair.

Just as well it isn't for me then!








Yesterday was the Autumn Show for our local Horticultural Society so Mike and I had to enter some bits and pieces. He entered a wonderful painting he did of a garden landscape and won first prize in that category - his first ever entry and he's only just started painting. He's too modest to let me show it on here but I can still mention it!

My own offerings yielded 3 x first prizes so quite a satisfactory result:





Here's my beautiful Streptocarpus "Crystal Ice". I absolutely adore Streptocarpus flowers and this is one of my favourites.





Next we have Seville Orange Marmalade and Raspberry Jam. I won a 1st for both of these categories last year but only managed to get 1st prize for the marmalade this time. Never mind, there's always next year!




Finally we have my onions.

I have never entered any vegetables in a show before and had no idea how to display them. I searched the internet for advice and found some photos showing them stripped of their brown outer skins, with their roots trimmed off and their necks tied.

I duly trimmed their roots but they wouldn't stand upright and kept rolling over so I sliced and sliced at the base until they stood firm. I peeled off the outer layers but it was hard to know quite when to stop and I did feel that I'd gone too far. I looked at how the experts had tied the necks of their onions and abandoned all hope of doing it so just left them bare.

When we arrived there a lady was placing her gigantic onions on the bench, beautifully presented with their necks tied with raffia and sitting on what looked like cut up bits of toilet roll (aha, no slicing involved there then!). Having seen them I really didn't think my poor onions would have a chance - but they did and I beat her. Amazing!

I was chatting to one of the Committee members afterwards and she told me that I'd stripped too many outer layers off, trimmed the roots back too far (oops on both counts) and went on to explain how to tie their tops. Despite my errors, the reason my onions had won was because their necks were beautifully small which demonstrated that they had been dried correctly. Phew, I did something right then!

A pin cushion

So why the photo of the Robin? (snapped outside Charleston Farmhouse in early June btw).









Ah well, it's because the next photo shows what's commonly known as a Robin's Pincushion that I spotted on a Dog Rose when out running last week!

Time travelling

Earlier in the year Mike and I walked through the woods and I took this snap of the bluebells.

I think it was around the middle of May.

Last week we walked the same route and I managed to get the same shot and it's really interesting to see how it's changed.

I must make a mental note to take the same shot in Autumn and then in mid-winter and then compare them all.





The next photo is of a plant that has become really invasive in many of our waterways - Impatiens glandulifera aka Himalayan Balsam.

It has the most amazing mechanism for spreading its seed around. There is a coiled spring-like growth within the seedpod which throws the seed far and wide.

You have to admire a plant like that even though it's a complete thug! I think it looks lovely and it is loved by bees and other insects but the problem is that it shades out our beautiful native waterside plants such as marsh marigolds.

Also, it has a very pungent smell which I dislike intensely.

Have a heart

So here it is, the finished heart stuffed with lavender (which you can see poking out of some of the gaps!).

A quick and easy project to make as a gift and it smells divine.

I think I might make some more as Christmas stocking fillers.

Time for a bit of an update!

There has been so much going on recently and so little time to write about it that I'm taking time out to cover it! It isn't all about knitting, although some is, and there's also some news about the Alzheimer's Research Trust and a Ministerial Summit I attended. Plus, I've been mulling over some ideas for my fund-raising stunts for 2010 - all exciting stuff of course!

First of all I must again thank Sue from Kangaroo who so kindly donated this wonderful purple (colour of the Alzheimer's Research Trust and my favourite colour to boot!) yarn for me to knit with on WWKIP day.

I shall be knitting up a lovely stripey scarf from this which I will use as part of my fund-raising activities later in the year.

Also, not only did Sue hold a collection for the Alzheimer's Research Trust at the Lewes Carnival, she has also offered to do some more collections for them in the future. Thank you so much Sue, your generosity is much appreciated.

What else? Well, a few weeks ago I was invited to attend a Ministerial Summit on Dementia Research at the Royal Society London. The Summit brought together a wide range of experts to help shape the future direction of dementia research in the UK. It aimed to identify gaps in existing knowledge and prioritise new areas for research investment.

I was afraid that it would all go right over my head but I found most of it very accessible - well except for when they started using jargon and talking in TLAs - that's three letter acronyms!!!!!

I had never been inside The Royal Society before and it is a glorious building, steeped in history.

There were numerous paintings of the famous scientists who had connections there and I found an exhibition of Darwin's studies on the lower level.

I picked up these postcards from there. The first one shows an illustration from John Lindley's book 'Ladies' Botany' (1865)



The next one is a photomicrograph of plant sections by William Fox Talbot (circa 1839).





The final one shows 2 illustrations form Charles Darwin's 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals' (1873). I love those 2 poses!






I just started this earlier today. It's the beginnings of a heart sachet and I'm whipping it up for a lovely friend from work whose birthday is next week. I shall fill it with home made pot pourri.

I've got to get poor old Oregon finished soon as I want to display it at the Autumn Show of our local Horticultural Society. Having a deadline is just the kick up the backside I need!

On the fund-raising front there's something exciting bubbling away in the background but I don't want to reveal it just yet. My training for the Abingdon marathon is still going strong despite a recent knee injury. Fingers crossed it holds up to my 15 miler tomorrow.