It's that oddball week between Christmas and New Year's Eve when nobody is sure what day or time it is, how many mince pies constitute an adequate breakfast, when the bins might next be collected, and whether or not the cat has been fed. We don't even have a cat (sadly), so this problem really shouldn't tax us as much as it does. I was back at work yesterday. Driving to the hospital on near-empty roads, I battled anxious thoughts about whether it really was definitely, definitely Friday, Continue Reading
Standing Up.
My father-in-law is not a man to idle away his retirement years alphabetising his sock drawer or polishing the cat. In fact, he spent the first part of his 'retirement' (I use the word loosely) teaching part-time at the roughest school in his area, where one's ability to teach was secondary to one's skill in crowd-control. As a result, he became master of the withering one-liner, for when those nine-foot-tall, hormonal, teens tried giving him jip. The meanest class bully soon learned not to push Continue Reading
In Which I Took A Tiny Break From Knitting To Visit The Family Seat
There is an old pub, deep in the rolling English countryside, not so very far from here. Baskets of flowers hang from its every exterior beam and bracket. A little fountain plays on the lawn out front, and a stone lizard guards its small pond. A ghost roams its cellar. There are rooms to rent for the weary traveller, and the bar is crowded with a collection of champagne bottles and every beer you could imagine. Returning outside, the flowerbeds are edged with bright pool balls, and the view is Continue Reading
Knitted family dolls… FINISHED!
Meet the family. :-) They're done! I have knitted us, and we do bear at least a passing resemblance to ourselves. Here we are: me, Mr TwistedYarn the stoic spouse, and the toddler twinnage. Can't tell the difference between the twins? Nor can I, half the time. Anyway here we are, saying hello. And here we are again:- And here we are enjoying our photo-shoot, never knowingly camera-shy:- Just in case you want to knit your own family too, all of these dolls are based on Continue Reading
Self-portrait in yarn
I've been busy. Not busy doing the sensible things that I ought to be doing you understand, but busy with sticks and string.The 'about' page on this blog needs some pictures doesn't it? Just to give you an idea of what I, and Mr TwistedYarn and the twinnage, and this crazy house actually look like. But I'm slightly wary of posting photos of all of us, so I came up with an alternative idea: I'll knit us! It's taking a while, though, hence my silence for the last few days. So far, I've managed a Continue Reading