Monday, February 22, 2016

I am sorry for the gap. All is well here, more or less. I am sorry to have worried you.

My husband is still in hospital, ready to come home, from his own point of view as well as theirs. We are waiting, much as we were late last year, for Social Services to restore our Care Package.  Greek Helen is now here, today and tomorrow, and Ketki should be back at her desk this morning, after the half-term break. Both are forceful characters, far more than I am, and with any luck may be able to get something done.

We need to find out who, exactly, at the hospital is responsible for dealing with Social Services on my husband’s behalf.

Archie and I lived peacefully here last week, he working towards A-levels, I spending much of the day with my husband, knitting. In many ways this life, even in Archie's absence, is easier for me than life when my husband is at home and we live all day with carers and diabetic nurses coming in and a metronome always ticking: but even so, I find it hard. Hospitals are draining even when nothing happens.

So, knitting: I have resumed the Tokyo Shawl. If any of you ever knit it, and have occasion to leave it aside for what might prove to be a considerable while, I can recommend my practice: namely, knit the first row of the next band before you stop. In that way, you can pick it up and knit on before you have to make the next decision.

The colours, at least in the dark version which I am doing, are subtle and not all that easy to distinguish. It’s easier to do when you have been knitting for a bit and have regained courage. I am doing Band 26 of 29, and mean to press on to the end before I do anything else. It would be wonderful to have a Tokyo shawl to wrap around myself in this horrible February weather. No doubt, when I do finish, it will be all daffodils and lambs.

And when I visit my husband, I knit those socks. The first Arne & Carlos sock is finished, the second well started – only a round or two to go of the initial 50-round ribbing. With that done, the rest will knit itself.


I think the only other knitting news I have is Lucy Kellaway’s full page article about Fair Isle knitting in last weekend's Financial Times. It disappoints in various respects, most especially in her treatment of Jamieson & Smith – but, hey! all publicity is good publicity. I wonder if, while on Unst, she took the opportunity to go have a look at Muckle Flugga. She missed a good thing, if not.

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:42 AM

    Fascinating article by Lucy kellaway. Funnily enough we were in the same secondary school class for many years and I never knew she loved the same knitting as I did......

    JennyS

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  2. Well, it's a relief to know all is well. Knit on through all crises!

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  3. Many thanks for the update. I have just discovered your blog and read it all! I have bought several knitting books on your advice!
    Ann M

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  4. Glad to have you back this morning. I hope the "issues" with your husband get themselves sorted out today without too much stress for you. And as for the shawl finishing up just when the weather improves, I think that might be the Murphy's Law of knitting.

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  5. Anonymous12:43 PM

    Thanks for the post - yes we do worry but also realize life can get in the way of the blog.
    Knitting with good yarn can be so restorative.
    I am looking forward to seeing the completed Tokyo shawl.
    Best wishes for dealing with the bureaucracies. Very good that your family can take on those tasks.
    Take care of yourself.
    LisaRR

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  6. Anonymous1:19 PM

    So good to have you back, Jean. I really miss your posts. And always pray that it is only a minor circumstance that accounts for the gap. As a non-Scot and therefore unaware of nuances and major or minor fact discrepancies, I really enjoyed Lucy's article. Her description of life, weather and knitting in the Shetlands was very evocative. Loved the story about the £900 sweater. Seems totally a fair price in my opinion, not that I could afford it Thank you for the link that sent it our way. Hope to see the Tokyo sweater soon. (No pressure:-)). Chloe

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  7. I have a lovely image of you knitting, Archie studying and Perdita running between the two. I hope all goes well with the Social Services planning. I'm sure that all that fuss and bother at home is not very relaxing at the calmest of moments. I was in Washington DC for a few days. I didn't attend Scalia's funeral.

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  8. How wonderful to see a post from you today! Glad to hear that things are okay and that you're getting to spend some time with Archie. :)

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  9. Syd T.3:11 PM

    Happy to hear things are moving along with hubby and the Tokyo Shawl. I love having my morning coffee with your blog, now off to read the Fair Isle Knitting Article.

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