Monday, December 12, 2016

Not a bad day. I walked up through Gayfield Square to a post office (conveniently next to Valvona and Crolla). I dispatched the American Christmas cards and a couple of packages. I bought more than enough stamps for any further cards I may write. That ought to be my last post office queue of 2016.

I went on to John Lewis and bought cartridges for my fountain pen, and ink for my printer. One spends money so irresponsibly in this dark fortnight that it seemed a good moment to buy printer ink, absurdly expensive as it is, when the cost would merge into the general misery.. On to Boots, but it was too soon for them to have my next dose of blood-thinning pills.

I feel I am getting weaker, and sometimes wish I had a marker for how I'm doing. Today might prove to be such a marker. The route just described covers a mile or a bit more, much of it up hill. I got home pretty tired, but still functioning. Now I can remember that In December, 2016, I was able to walk up through Gayfield Square and...

Not much knitting got done, but I did finish the edging of the second side of Mrs Hunter's shawl, and, indeed, did one more scallop for good measure. I weighed the yarn when I reached  the corner point and was gratified to discover that it weighed 83 grams (having started at 100, presumably). I sit and knit and knit and feel I'm not achieving much. But 20 grams of lace weight are not to be sneezed at.

Then I cast on the second stripey hat, with a considerable lifting of the heart, except that the needles haven't arrived. I went back through emails and found one from the excellent Meadow Yarn to say that the sizes I had ordered had been out of stock, but should have been delivered to them today and therefore, since I chose 1st class postage, should be with me tomorrow. It doesn't at all matter. I knit all of the first hat on the smaller size needle (because, mysteriously, I don’t have the larger size in a hat length) and nobody's complaining.


The problem of Ross' hat and the washing of the swatches has been shelved for the moment

4 comments:

  1. Perhaps when things settle a bit you can get out for more regular walking. Good for the body and the spirit. I am not planning much walking today, it is minus 1 F. More normal December weather is expected to return. Meanwhile, it is conducive to knitting. Twenty grams of laceweight is a milestone, certainly. I've looked at the stripey hat again, and keep telling myself how much yarn I have that I could make my own stripey hat with. I may yet give in, justifying it as a Christmas gift.

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  2. Yes, regular walking will help you keep the strength you have. It is also a good way to banish the cobwebs and lift your spirits.

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  3. Another vote for regular walking. And if you can find a partner it makes the time go by more quickly. That, or a good destination. (Yarn store? Tea shop? Coffee house?)

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  4. =Tamar7:45 PM

    I do most of my walking indoors, either at a large grocery store or at a rather large thrift shop not too far away. I can lean on a wheeled shopping cart and keep plodding along for hours. The hard part is not buying too much.

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