Sanqhar Gloves

I'm going to Ally Pally on Saturday for the Knitting Show. (The incisions are healed and I feel fine though I won't be pushing myself). Two years ago I bought a glove kit for Sanqhar Gloves. Sanqhar, apparently, is a small town in Dumfrieshire and the patterns (included in the kit) are variations on centuries old designs. I'm knitting a verion called "Shepherd's Plaid", because it has a red trim and is the only design without monogramming. (I'm not a fan).

I'd show you a picture but the copy of the pattern is rather poor and the picture was summed up by the BF as "white noise". As the name suggests the pattern is black and white tartan - laceweight so I think the finished result will be rather elegant.

As for the instructions... well, they are rubbish. I have never followed (or attempted to follow) such a shonky pattern in all of my life. My usual approach is to start knitting, having read a few lines of the pattern, rather than reading the entire list in detail because I often put myself off in thinking it's too difficult for me. Big mistake. For the first page (of five), all of the instructions refer to rounds, so my interpretation was that these were knitted in rounds. It's only on the second page that I discovered these first rows are knitted on straight needles - on page two, we convert to DPNs. These kind of errors abound throughout the pattern - it doesn't use charts but lists the stitch colours and does so, badly.

I'm a fairly experience knitter so I've been able (so far and with low levels of swearing) to overcome these problems. However, I am really appalled by the amount of errata in this pattern.

Anyway, stage 1: knitting the cuff on straights. The piece is then looped over and the cast-on edges knitted into "working edge" before continuing...



in the round (stage 2) - moving into the tartan pattern.



Althought it's laceweight, the Fair Isle technique means that the yarn is passed behind the work, making a thicker material. I will be toastie warm when I wear these.



Stage 3: Thumb gusset and stripes up the back of the hand.



Consideration: the pattern offers no advice on whether to stitch the two sides of the open cuff together. I think I'm going to leave it open - for room and because I rather like the look with the red lining showing.

Allons-y!

Being off sick has been productive. (Hmm, that's possibly not what sick leave is for - fortunately I'm going back to work next week). I've finished the gloves for Martin's Tante who is visiting from Denmark next week...



...and I've finished the TARDIS Socks for my SIL too. I am really pleased with these and am going to give them to her this weekend. They were intended as a Christmas gift but she's having a rotten time at the moment - divorcing her abusive husband. (Usual pattern - years of undermining her and when she finally decides she's had enough, intimidation, threats to prove her an unfit mother, followed by a sudden and unexpected desire for reconciliation. Is there a textbook out there that these scumbags all share?)



Anyway, bring on the sonic screwdriver.

Meanwhile (2)

It has been another break between posting. I ended up in hospital. Long story short - I am now better: all of the hormonal problems have stopped, no more hot flushes, no mood swings, no weeping for random reasons and the bleeding has stopped. Turned out there was a small lump on the ovary which has been removed during keyhole surgery. I have been signed off work for three weeks(!) but I'm recovering well. So, it's all good.

Anyway, since getting home, my knitting mojo has come back. (I was so unenthusiastic previously).

I've finally finished Shaun the Sheep for Niece No 2. It only took an afternoon - being unable to move very far kept me focused! I have been struggling to finish this one which is ironic because it's a series of quick knits (for each body part) and you can see how much progress you are making.



I've also been cracking on with some random pieces - a pair of gloves for the BF's Tante in "Regia - Bamboo". I have no idea what the colourway is (there's no name on the label) but I think it's very pretty.



And here's a small selection of projects that I have finished. (I have been watching lots of movies): "Sirdar Escape" scarf for Niece No 1; "Sirdar Escape" gloves for a colleague; "Touch Yarns - Cascade" gloves for me; and a pair of "Regia" socks for Dayle to thank him for shifting paving slabs with us.



And then there is this... and I am really excited about this...



It's a TARDIS Sock (by Swallowed by Sky via Ravelry).



This is a really easy pattern to follow though I've made a few ammendments - the TARDIS windows are in panels of six whereas the original does not group them. (I'm retentive about Doctor Who and the recipient (SIL) is even worse than me). I'm also knitting the heel and sock in a different colour (and yarn) "Rowan - 4ply soft" (with some reinforcement) because I don't have enough "Regia - Solid - Blue".

I am unfeasibly excited about these!

Meanwhile...

It has been a little while since I posted. A few things have happened:

1. The BF is making good progress on the garden redesign - prepping it for when my lovely Step-Dad comes to visit.
2. The Great North Swim was cancelled because of green-blue algae in Lake Windermere.
3. I wouldn't have been able to do it anyway, because my GP told me not to.

Reason? If you're squeamish stop reading now. Normal service will resume next posting. Once I've done some decent knitting.

Still here?

OK, I'm having problems with my menstrual cycle/system for the last few months and currently I have been bleeding for five weeks now, apart from three days courtesy of Norithesterone. How does this make me feel? Mostly knackered. :-) And slightly peeved with a locum I saw in my first appointment (I'm never away from the GPs at the moment. I'm going to reserve a seat). Why was I peeved? On listening to me describe my symptoms, he grimaced and looked thoroughly squeamish. I felt I had to apologise but seriously, he's a GP. I'm happy to accept that the human body tends to have a few habits that just aren't tasteful in polite society, but I expect a GP to be a little tougher when it comes to bodily functions.

I've had scans and there are no lumps, bumps, polycystic ovaries or anything else that shouldn't be there. My iron levels are normal. Next stage, further blood tests - thyroid and Follicle Stimulation Hormone - plus a gynae referral. Personally, I think my current problems are hormone related. I'm having very strange mood swings - wanting to burst into tears for no logical reason. For example, I was shopping, picked up a bag of rice and was overwhelmed by the need to weep - you'd think I was grieving. Now, I freely admit that I dislike food shopping (though I love cooking and easting) but the aversion isn't enough to be traumatic. Generally all is good in my life and then on occasion I "feel" this unrelenting "sadness" - whilst thinking I've nothing to be upset about. It is completely bizarre. (The women at work who have gone through the menopause all nod in recognition and I've had a lot of stories about bursting into tears on the bus and leaving family members utterly bemused). I'm also very forgetful and finding it difficult to concentrate but tiredness would do that too.

And, on top of this (oh, yes - the list goes on) I've had what I'm pretty certain are hot flushes. The heat rises up from my feet through (it feels like it, anyway) the top of my head and it is unbearable. I've found myself hanging out of the office window and feeling like I'm about to faint. (Another story that makes the post-menopausal ladies nod in recognition).

By the way, I'm 33 not 53.

So, this may be a temporary glitch that can be fixed - contraceptive pills are the norm - or it may be 'just one of those things' that is unexplainable though passes. Or the GP thinks my ovaries might be packing in and I have an outside chance of premature menopause (though the excessive bleeding wouldn't make sense would it? There are varying opinions on this on both the 'respectable' medical websites and the hypochondriac sites). This would probably mean being on HRT until I'm at the usual age range for beginning the menopause as the biggest health risk is missing out on the protective benefits of oestrogen.

Ho hum. We'll see what the blood test results bring next week.

Ferns

When I haven't been making jam and chutney (see posts below) I've been knitting some socks for myself in "Regia - Ringels". The pattern is Fern Lace and has been quite straight forward. well, I haven't had to restart three times, I have knitted one sock from start to finish in one go.

It's another twelve row repeat and I have maintained my rule of not stopping in the middle of a repeat, which has worked pretty well. So, here is one finished sock. It has used a lot more yarn than a plain knit sock, obviously, but also more than some of the other stitch patterns I have done before.



Though I am not sure if it is too busy a stitch pattern for the colour-pattern?



I'm pleased with it even if it is.

Chutney!

Today, I has mostly been making chutney - to psych myself up for another afternoon of marking plagiarised assignments. I have been attempting to eat more fruit but had ended up with a bag of apples and pears that were not going to be eaten any time soon. So, I thought, I'd have a break from jam and make some.

I ended up combining a classic chutney recipe with a pear chutney recipe by someone called Peggy.

Here's the combined ingredients - the ones I focused on, anyway:

500g pears and apples
1/2 large red onion
300ml vinegar (bog standard, none of your fancy white wine, cider, honey vinegars)
250ml honey
100g sultanas
several splashes of lemon juice
4 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 grated nutmeg
shake of salt

First of all, chop the fruit, having peeled and cored it.



Add the finely diced onion. Heat it and mash it a bit.



Add the vinegar. Heat until it boils and then simmer until everything is tender. Open the windows, get the extractor fan on and shut the kitchen door, unless you are a devotee of Eau de Vinegar.

Having simmered, chuck in the rest of the agreements and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Or until you have hung out the washing, scraped the labels of the jars, Milton'd them and then warmed them up...



...in preparation for spooning the results into the jars.



I spilled a fair amount as I was doing this. It tastes pretty good.

Jam Today, Jam Tomorrow, Always with the Jam

I thought fruit picking would be fun while I was on leave. And then it rained, and then I realised I am a lazy sod and couldn't really be arsed. Plus when I tracked down local fruit picking farms' websites, there seemed to be just too much faff involved: "There has been a bumper crop because of the recent rain and sunshine. However, we had too many people come fruit picking at the weekend so don't bother unless there has been a full moon, your name has an 'x' in it or if you can navigate the orienteering course to get in."

Ok, ok. I'm paraphrasing.

However, the local supermarket was selling strawberries at only £2 for £400g - a bargain I thought. So, I bought a couple of punnets, brought them home to chop up and then boil, whilst mashing them - very therapeutic. (I'm honestly not a violent psychotic, but I think I sometimes may give that impression of myself... violence against fruit, as long as it doesn't escalate I suppose). No water is added to this - the liquid comes from the melting fruit.



Next stage - sugar. I use low pectin preserving sugar because I use the MIL's recipe which is a Danish low-sugar version. Instead if the usual recipes (that I've seen) that require around 3x the amount of sugar to fruit ratio, this has a pectin supplement (Melatin) so you end up using 2/3 of the fruit's weight in sugar. E.g. 1600g fruit needs 1100g sugar.



Once boiled for ten minutes, the next stage is picking the scum of the surface - a finnicky job but it means that your jam won't go off. I've got a jar of blackberry jam I made last September, still in the fridge, and it is still good. No sign of mould and it tastes sweet. I also wonder if this has anything to do with the reduced sugar? (If anyone knows I'd love to hear from you).



And finally, the finished product.



Mmmm.