A Onesie Update - part 4

Surely there can't be much more? Yep, there certainly is, but first I think I'd better show my finished mittens before I forget about them!

They were a fun knit and it really was wonderful to see all the different colour choices people in the KAL made. My turquoise doesn't really show off the pattern very well so I've done close-ups of the tips to show the detail.

The design is based on the novel The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a charming story which I only re-read last year. In the photos below, the right mitten (confusingly placed on the left!) has a representation of the character Colin who was confined to a wheelchair whilst the left mitten (yep, it's on the right) shows Mary and the door to the garden which was locked.

Back of hands

Palms

The top of the right mitten shows the key which unlocked the garden door and the left mitten shows the robin who alerted Mary to the hidden door. Both thumbs have the image of a keyhole and there are lots of hearts throughout.

Right hand top detail

Left hand top detail

The top of the mittens was joined using Kitchener stitch (aka 'grafting') and rather than using the usual method which requires a darning needle I found this excellent tutorial on how to do a knitted Kitchener stitch. It was so much easier.

Kitchener Stitch join

One thing I've learnt from making them is that I much prefer the 'sore thumb' to the 'afterthought thumb' used in my Seahorse mittens  (here). I find the afterthought thumb position rather unnatural and not as comfy.

There's crochet in the offing now as I'm feeling the need for some hooky time.

Back to early December 2013

I sometimes like to include some of Mike's things just for a bit of variety even though he's not into blogging at all. In December we headed back to the Yehudi Menuhin School in Stoke d'Abernon to record a piece of Mike's music, a piece entitled 'Partita Concordia'.

They have a wonderful concert hall that you can hire and it's much nicer and more economical than heading off into London!

The concert Hall

Behind the scenes

There is nothing remotely glamourous doing this sort of thing 'cos for me it entails mostly waiting around and either making coffee/tea or feeding the players. It was a good time to catch up on some knitting and reading but I'd also taken my running kit as I needed to fit in a run at some stage during the day - we had to leave home at 5:30am in order to beat the traffic on the M25 so I couldn't do it beforehand.

When everything had been set up I joined Mike, the sound engineer, for a spot of knitting.

Mike Ponder, the sound engineer

The players; Alexandra Wood (a wonderfully talented violinist), Levine Andrade (viola, seated) our good friend and founder member of the Arditti quartet & Richard Harwood (cellist) - all top class players

After a couple of hours I decided to head out for a run to stretch my legs. The sky looked rather ominous but soon cleared.

I loved this mass planting of red-stemmed dogwoods in the car park. They really shone on a rather dark day.

It was a novelty for me to run on pavements next to busy roads and I took lots of photos of things that I don't usually see together with the little things that caught my eye.

It seemed strange to be running over a motorway with traffic whizzing underneath my feet!

The river was swollen even then

Yep, a lovely sentiment in this pavement graffiti

When I reached the village I found it was more like a small town with loads of shops and I was glad to find a few footpaths that took me off on an adventure away from the highstreet.

I loved the curvy wall along this ginnel

Nature always finds a way to soften manmade structures as this pretty cranesbill shows

One of my favourite wall shrubs - Hydrangea petiolaris with its wonderful cinnamon-coloured peeling bark

By the time I got back it was lunchtime and so I had to set out the food and drinks. Then it was time to clear away and go back to my knitting/reading.

The recording went well but it was a long day and we didn't get home until very late in the evening.

Am I bang up to date yet? 

Not quite but I think I'll just add things as and when I can or this onesie stuff will go on forever. Now I've typed that I realise there are a few radio interviews and a TV thingy to write about which I probably won't get round to so will just have to add them in if they become relevant in what's going on at the time!

I really must stop using exclamation marks all the time!…………….