Not as good a day as yesterday; better than Saturday.
I’m pretty well ready for the Mileses tomorrow. James
and Cathy will probably stay here, their daughters will go to Helen’s empty
flat nearby. I got to Waitrose this morning and bought all the ingredients for
an easy Jamie Oliver traybake to feed them with – except that I forgot to get the
principal one. I will have to walk up to the fishmonger’s tomorrow for salmon.
The kitchen is in a state from which, I think, it can
be reduced to order with tomorrow morning’s strength.
When I was last in Strathardle, in May, with C., I
walked with her to the village and back, perhaps a mile and a half in all. I
wonder if I can do that now. I feel I am sliding downhill rather briskly. Of
course, in May, we weren’t in the middle of an epic heatwave.
Would a Fitbit help?
Knitting
I got on with Archie’s socks last night, watching a
truly preposterous episode of Endeavour which I had recorded. Corpses from one
end of Oxford to the other – 15, at least. They managed to get through it with
straight faces.
The socks are very near the toe shaping of the second.
I’ll take them along to Strathardle, and would certainly hope to finish, and to
embark on Rachel’s Sixtieth Birthday ones. Then back to Alexander’s Calcutta
Cup vest in peaceful August.
Thank you for your comments about EZ. It sort of sounds
as if we all found her accidentally, some earlier, some later. I was knitting
circular Fair Isles in the late 70’s-early 80’s, on my own. EZ would have been
a great help.
A major breakthrough for me was the discovery of Mary
Thomas’ Knitting Book. She describes how to catch the colour-not-being-knitted-with
in all four situations (how to catch the left-hand colour when knitting with
the right hand, and vice versa, and similarly when purling). I can’t remember
that EZ does that anywhere. I can't think of it anywhere else. No doubt all on YouTube these days.
I found Mary Thomas accidentally as well. Lots of excellent information. I still have my old Dover edition.
ReplyDeleteDo take care in the heat, Jean.
ReplyDeleteIt never ceases to amaze me when ladies of my acquaintance, keen knitters all their lives, have never heard of EZ even now. We are lucky to have EZ's niece living locally. She certainly thinks of the construction of garments in a fundamentally different way. The Surprise Jacket is only the start of it.
Jean, I have had a FitBit for just over a year, and have found that it has had a positive effect on my behavior. If, as may be the case, you want it mainly to track changes in your activity over time, I think that it would also meet that need. I have an Alta HR, which is perhaps the smallest of the FitBits and records my heart rate (current and resting).
ReplyDeleteReplying to myself to clarify that it also records steps taken, distance walked, calories expended. It does NOT account for stairs. When O purchased mine last year, it was the only model that recorded heart rate. That may have changed.
Delete"Unexpected knitting" by Debbie New is also fascinating - different techniques and examples (who else has knitted a coracle?).
ReplyDeleteThe knitting universe has certainly expanded from knitting company pamphlets - and it is so much more interesting and awe-inspiring.
LMcC
I love my fitbit. I appreciate the reminders to get up and move every hour. I sit at a desk all day and time gets away from me. Aside from the fitbit, the thing about walking is that you need to do something consistently, like walk around the block every day, or walk a mile three times a week, and gradually increase to rebuild stamina and strength. Anything helps, of course, but it is gratifying to say I could only walk to here a month ago and now I can get to there.
ReplyDeleteI like my Fitbit as well with one exception. The wristband that came with kept popping open. Luckily I didn’t lose the darn thing.The replacement bangle type band works much better and I seem to remember that there was one type of Fitbit that you could slip into a cage on a necklace
ReplyDelete