Memos, Mail, Me: Shoes Choose

So what is it about one Bank Holiday at the beginning of the week that puts the post on a go slow? It's been a very enjoyable few days here, but low on letterbox activity. Maybe it's the sun? I had to wait over an hour to speak to someone on Friday afternoon; and when he apologised I said

 No, really, I was fine. I sat in the sun. I don't mind if it slows us all down. 

And he said Honestly? Everyone else said it should be making us go faster.

Over the weekend we went fast and we went slow and slow was better, sitting in the garden - oh, apart from my (very) fast fingerwork just after I received an email offering a big discount on a pair of shoes I'd been eyeing. Not the Fitflops from a couple of weeks ago, which arrived and fit and don't hurt my feet at all, but an altogether more dangerous pair, which probably will hurt, but I was having a moment and now they're going to be mine. 

I've always wanted a pair of clogs. Ever since Cathy from down the street clicked past our window in a red pair, sometime in the 70's. I wasn't allowed clogs. Why?

Life Pages card by Gossamer Blue, in May

The same reasons - the ones which could never be explained - stopped me from poncho-ing up too. I did manage to achieve poncho ownership, thanks to an understanding aunt, but my present mysteriously disappeared not long after. That'll be the reasons again.

Today I am no longer eight. I could crochet myself a poncho (though, interestingly I don't feel the need) and I can definitely buy myself clogs (these have straps, they're from Seasalt in the UK, they'll probably hurt. I'm going to pretend I don't care).

Maybe I could mortify my children by wearing them with nice cushioning socks? I'm doing a brown pair at the moment, specially to go in a pair of Doc Martens: someone in the family knows how to look after her feet, then..

I haven't enough knitted to make a picture, so instead I have one of a new page in my Traveller's Notebook

With pieces from the new Gossamer Blue Traveler's Notebook Kit

See you soon? Oh, but do please think about making a memo, we'd love to read it! It's fairly obvious from my rambling today that any news at all is very welcome: something you got in the post, something new you learned over the weekend, anything ..

Last time round  Helena, Deb, Alison, Mary- Lou, Ladkyis, Karen, Maggie, Mitra, Eileen, Melissa, Alexandra, Honore and Alexa shared. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Memos, Mail, Me: Not a Problem

Ah, Monday: on a sunny Bank Holiday we don't want to keep anyone for too long, so let's make this quick.

Quick is good because it means that I won't have time to get unreasonably annoyed by my mail fails this week. I'm keeping in mind Captain Jack Sparrow's maxim: "The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem."

So, I tried, I truly did try, to come up with a funny story about how we raced to the docks on Saturday to collect a parcel before the Sorting Office closed at 12.30, and how we screeched to a halt outside said Sorting Office door and I sprinted (if it's a stretch to picture it, imagine how I felt doing it) to the desk at 12.27 only to be told my parcel was actually still in Coventry.

And I thought there might be a joke in the story of how we went home for a cheering corned beef and tomato lunchtime sandwich and the doorbell rang and the postman handed over a very small parcel of new wool, which should have been a much larger parcel because I ordered aran weight for a cosy sweater, though it turns out they sent 4 ply, so my Bank Holiday cast on was stalled.

Instead I'll admire the new grey skein I bought at the craft fair yesterday ( while I was taking time out from a spot of landlording which involved crawling under a bed someone else had been sleeping in for four years, and removing everything he had left under there..) and I'll take a minute to thank Nathalie of An Ounce of Creativity for the surprise of a beautiful card and note this week. Thank you!

So, how about you? Anything new at the weekend? Any mail? Any firsts? Why not make a memo this Monday. Last week

Maggie, Karen, Ruth, Helena, Jane, Mary-Lou, Deb, Ladkyis, Alexandra, Melissa, Eileen, Mitra, Honore and Cheri shared their news. Go on: give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Memos, Mail, Me: Sheep Ahoy

Monday, here's the thing, I need you to keep it to yourself: the microwave dinner, the big bag of liquorice allsorts, the no alarm clock. Just between us. Got it?

I'm on my own for a couple of days here (thanks to a business trip which definitely did not include any hangers-on), so it's probably a nice lamb chop for dinner, box set "Zelda" for afters and then early to bed with my newly arrived Shetland Wool Week Annual.

Is that my mail of the week? Why yes, it is. I've never been to Shetland, for Wool Week, or at any other time; but a girl can dream if she has the pictures, I decided as I clicked buy as a special treat. It arrived on Saturday morning; and as I took in the gorgeous photos of Shetland countryside I thought to myself - you know, bits of that look very much like bits of this, where I live, not far from here. Too much dreaming and not enough doing, Sian, so we got in the car on Saturday afternoon and we drove right round our Coast Road here. And we saw our version of almost everything in my new magazine: the rocky landscape, the sheep, we saw a lifeboat out training, and a castle, and stone walls and ruined cottages and fishing boats. We even saw Scotland.

And it was a very, very good reminder of what I have almost on my own doorstep. I will still dream of Shetland, but for now, I have some new local photos and an annual with ideas for a project or two..

How about you? Anything new? Any mail for a memo? We'd love to hear it! Last week

 Deb, Ruth, Barbara, Jane, Mitra, Barb, Mary-Lou,  Mardi, Alexandra, Melissa, Krafty Karen, Honore, Ladkyis, Karen, Fiona, Maggie and Theresa

made a note. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Oh, and thanks to everyone who made suggestions for my huge pile of magazines. Sorry, I realised  I ought to have said: we have here a special "books only" charity shop which welcomes good quality magazines. It's a great place to spend an hour. At least. The only problem is that if I take any more there, I'll probably come home with a whole different selection..

Memos, Mail, Me: Good In, Goods Out

So Monday, can we do it? We need to find jobs to keep us busy round the house all day. I have to stay in until the big box goes out.

dreaming of finding the sun, thanks to a postcard which arrived last week

It's been a weekend of deliveries here. Saturday, it was cold. Not below freezing cold, but by our standards chilly enough for us to draw a deep breath and turn on the gas fire. It took roughly a minute for us to remember why we hadn't used it in about four years. as the dust it had gathered since the last time we flicked the switch started to burn, the smoke alarms began to shriek. We sorted it and discovered that we were so nicely warmed through by the panic, we didn't need a fire anyway, nooo way. But we had shivered enough to make us think about Studentland and whether it was warm enough down there, if they had enough oil, so we did what I'd been promising to do for weeks now and bought them a little extra electric heater in a big box, which we delivered, with an extension lead. Students do all kinds of things to keep warm - at least they did in our day - so they're probably fine; but now they'll have the flickering glow of fake wood burning stove as they...work.

Other ways of keeping warm: a quick knit to keep her ears from freezing. Midas hat by Laura Reinbach (free pattern on ravelry. It's slouchy and comfy and uses less than a skein of beautiful sock yarn. This is from His Mermaid Yarns by Ewe Mama on etsy)

Sunday, we got up bright and early to make a second delivery, of dinners for Granny to put in her freezer. It's quite a drive, but there was plenty of student news to catch up on on the way. When we got there we discovered that Granny and Little E had been looking at old photos; and as we flipped through the albums we found a set of pictures Little E's mum had taken of us and our two before Little E has even been thought of (no - you're right - it's about as unimaginable as, mmm, no internet, perhaps?) We went back to the days of making cardboard machines and learning to ride without stabilisers and pairing a red dufflecoat with a tutu: long enough ago, now, to make us gasp. I borrowed the photos to scan and clean up, so maybe next week, if I'm on it, I'll have a fresh set of prints in the mail. 

And so to Monday and I'm waiting to send out another delivery. It's the first time we have tried using Uni Baggage to send a box to Scottish Studentland (news just in! he says that he is going to wear a kilt for Graduation in the summer! And no, Mum, you are not going to knit me kilt hose: they're coming from a shop, right?) In theory Uni Baggage sounds excellent. If it's a success, just think of the possibilities. Anything I'm tired of looking at round here? I just wrestle it into a big cardboard box and a nice man will come and put it in his van and take it away..

But that's goods out. And this is Monday and so I need to think of some mail in. Easy. This week's nicest post was a card from Deb featuring her own photo taken in Lagos. It was easy to imagine the Portugal sun warming up my hand as I read her note. She brought back happy memories of a couple of weeks I spent in Lagos some years back, staying with friends. There may have been swimming at midnight. I should look out the photos, add them to my order..

So, thanks, Deb! Now, how about you? Any mail made you smile in the last week? Anything new at the weekend? Maybe you'd like to make a memo. We'd certainly love to read it. Last time I was joied by Mondayers

  Deb, Ruth, Barbara, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Karen, Maggie, Melissa, Lizzy, Honore, Cheri, Mardi, Alexandra, Krafty Karen and Susanne

Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Memos, Mail, Me: Do What You Love

It's the Monday after the weekend before. No: not the Superbowl, not round here, instead we were looking forward to the first matches of the Six Nations rugby competition. We lost. I wasn't going to mention it at all. But when I looked at the photo I'd just taken

all green and red, I realised that I should have added something of my teams, in those colours, into the mix.

But let's not speak of lost opportunities. It's mail day, memo day, or mail memo day. Oh, it's Monday: just write about anything if your mail isn't up to much! I struck lucky this week. 

First up: a catalogue I'd been hoping for. You'll have heard me talking about Gudrun Sjoden before. I visited the shop when we were in Berlin (and I even made a page about it) and I found there a dizzying delight. But the catalogue holds its own pleasures. I'll be holding on to this one; and not simply because I can see another linen tunic in my future. No, this one is heading for the inspiration pile on my desk.

Colour combinations, page layouts, even ideas for knitting socks. It's all there!

So that was worth opening. But then I received a little packet from across the pond, followed by an envelope, and so I had a gift from Mitra and a card from Alexandra and they made my day. Thank you! Alex's card says Do What You Love so I added to my photo the sweater I've been knitting. Remember I ordered the wool for the yoke a couple of weeks back? Over the weekend the croft hooses appeared beneath my fingers as I worked those balls into the final section. I'm so close to finishing..

So before I start another row (or round, as it's on a circular needle) let me ask you: how was your weekend? anything new? do anything for the first time? Or maybe you received something nice in the mail? We'd love to hear about it. Maybe you'd think about joining us?

 Deb, Ruth, Jane, Barbara, Lizzy, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Karen, Honore, Alexandra, Melissa, Barbara, KraftyKaren, Cheri, Alexa and Maggie all contributed a memo last week. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Memos, Mail, Me: Sleep Is Good, Books are Better

"Sleep is good and books are better"

Tyrion Lannister. Game of Thrones.

Monday: I can't believe you persuaded me into getting out of bed. Or maybe I just couldn't do it any more. Sleep, that is. On Friday night - for no particular reason, I wasn't ill, I hadn't been out - I fell into bed and slept til midday, Saturday. That's a record for me. I don't believe I've ever done it before. I guess I must have needed it. But now that it's Monday I feel like I have lost half of my weekend and I'm wondering what to tell you.

Ah, but there are always books. Last week I decided I needed a back to school (still can't break the habit of that thought) treat, so I ordered two books I'd had my eye on for a while. The Knitter's Knowledge by Debbie Bliss (may we say exhaustive? or is that risking a return to the oversleeping? This book collects together everything anyone has ever wanted to know about knitting, plus even more things I didn't know I didn't know. Highly recommended as a reference book. Don't pay full price. Wordery has it for £16) and a stitch dictionary, Up, Down, All-Around by Wendy Bernard. 

The stitch dictionary arrived in a seriously shabby state. It looked as if the packer had wiped his (or her, though she would have needed pretty big feet) shoes on it. I've never had a book come to me in this condition before (personally, I mean. I've stood behind a library desk and accepted returns which looked like they'd been used as dinner plates). It made me stop and think about what's important about a book. It's the words, of course, not the frontispiece; and I had almost persuaded myself to leave it, when I realised that I wouldn't have bought from a bookshop a book crumpled and dirtied in such a way. So I emailed. And they're sending me another, which means that I have more post to look forward to this week and a book to take to the charity shop (the bookseller's suggestion) and that's a win. Sleep is good. Books are better.

And craft fairs rock. Also pictured is a new skein of sock wool called "leather and jeans" - I'm thinking it might make a nice hat for the girl here who loves her jeans and leather jacket - and some stitch markers, both from  Ewe Momma. Did you spot Hogwarts? Knitting, books, both at once, yes.

And that's my mail for this week. How about you? It's Monday: time to make a memo! Anything special in the post? Anything new happe at the weekend? We'd love to know..

Melissa, Deb, Ruth, Helena, Jane, Barbara, Mary-Lou, Maggie, Karen, Mitra, Barbara and Krafty Karen all joined in last week. Go on: give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Memos, Mail, Me: It's Monday (and I'm not drying dishes)

So, Monday, it looks like we're on! We threw our new idea out to the world last week and the Mondayers seem to like it. Now there's a relief! I think we might even have persuaded one or two Monday-ing Freshers to try us out: wouldn't that be excellent?

Of course coming up with a plan is only the beginning for me. First week out, I was under pressure to come up with the goods. I needed an interesting piece of mail with which to Monday. I hovered near the letterbox. I rifled through a stack of brown envelopes. I held up to the light the ones not actually addressed to me. Oh, no: wait, I didn't. But I can't say I wasn't tempted. And then it happened. The doorbell rang and a minute later I was saved. I had in my hands a very fresh looking (for it had travelled a long way..) white envelope, marked with that most exciting of stickers...

...Airmail!

A squishy parcel from my dear blogging, scrapbooking friend, Mardi in Australia. Inside the envelope was a beautifully wrapped (yes I took a picture and a day later I used the wrapping paper on a layout) package; and inside that I discovered the nicest tea towel I have ever owned.

I will  not be drying dishes with this one. It's cute enough to be framed. So, thank you Mardi: not only for the beautiful gift, but also for saving my bacon. Today I have post to post about; and that is entirely down to you.

Of course, next week I could be back to brown envelopes; and if that's the case, I'll regress. Why not? If you have no post which pleases you, then absolutely, yes, keep on writing about your weekend, or what you have learned, or what's new. Just keep on writing! My weekend? Pretty budget conscious, thanks. We went into town to look for buttons for the cardigan I'm knitting for Uncle Dave. My usual shop wanted one of my hard earned pounds for each button. So I backed out of there and we found a different shop, whereupon The Accountant, my better half, proved worthy of his name (it's not a career, it's a lifestyle choice) and found, in the bargain box, five of exactly the right buttons at exactly the right price. Five pence. When we got home I gave him a piece of my Terry's chocolate orange to celebrate.

Have a good week! Oh, and got mail? Let's hear about it!

  Deb, Helena, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Alexandra, Jane, KraftyKaren, Karen, Melissa all joined in last week. Go on, give 'em a wave! Go say hello!

Memos, Mail, Me: It's Monday

Hey, Monday! Were you expecting me? It's become a bit of a tradition, hasn't it? You and I, hanging here at the start of the week, hoping we'll get a cheery wave from anyone else who feels like "doing a Monday". "Mondayers" I believe you suggested we call them. Oh, Monday: remember how we first got to know each other with "Me On Monday", as I forced myself to take more selfies and then wrote about my weekend so that there would be words to go with the pictures. Then, the year after that, we added to the diary idea and you got to hear about what was new, or what I had learned for the first time; and we both learned some very useful nuggets from the other Mondayers.

Keep reading to see why I chose this picture...

So, Monday, will we talk about this year? You know we put our heads together to come up with another twist: something else Mondayers could write about, not a rule, but another source of inspiration. The card I posted last week was a clue. The plan came to me over the holidays, as I enjoyed the arrival of cards from friends, and of interesting catalogues, of gifts I'd ordered: the mail, in other words. What, I thought, if we wrote about our favourite piece of post from the previous week? 

Weave it into your weekend story, definitely, (I like reading about the weekend); but if, like me, you need an extra something to pep up your post every so often, keep an eye on what's coming through your door or into your mailbox. It might be a card from an old friend, or a new one; maybe simply a catalogue with a photo of a challenging colour combination you want to pin to a noticeboard and think about; or something special you'd been saving up to order; or even a charity mailshot that you can't bring yourself to throw away. 

If "The Week" is one of my favourite pieces of regular post - I read it before I mail it to our student in Scotland every week - then this parcel is a favourite one off special. Some of you might recognise the wrapper...

Maybe you'll be inspired to send  more mail, who knows? When I first started blogging I was surprised and delighted by the number of cards and little packets which I discovered were flying round our community. I'd like to think that if we keep the mail gong, the writing will follow. 

....for my copy of Julie Kirk's Snipped Tales, which arrived here last month. 

It can be anything at all, though - honestly: anything. Hospital appointment? We'll wish you luck. Birthday card? We'll help you blow out your candles. And all the while, as you stalk your postman, you are very welcome to keep on trying new things, finding firsts, writing about your weekend. It's the writing that counts. Make a memo, or post about....post. And then, give us a wave. That's about it, Monday, isn't it?

We hope you have a good week, Monday and I: I'll keep picking up the links (so let me know below so I can keep an eye out for you!) and with some luck, we'll keep on waving and wishing you all the very best. Until next time!

Memorandum Monday: I'll Wager a Fully Stuffed Turkey

Gah! I wanted so much to have it finished. I got back from Granny's last night and knitted at warp speed so that I would have a picture for today.

The Wrong Picture: not a pokemon sock but a page, made for a "Nordic Christmas" theme at Get It Scrapped

Because there is a "first" in among the red and white and black stripes of a small pokemon sock: the first time I have tried on for size the sock of a seven year old boy and said

...yep: a few more rows and I'm on to the toe..

Which says something about his feet and mine, though I'm not sure exactly what, except that a size two is a size two is a size two; and after years of hoping, my feet aren't going to grow, but his surely will and I'll be knitting a new pair next year.

also not a sock..

So: the toe. I'll start on it in a minute, after I have strategically placed the mince pie ingredients where a baking-inclined student might chance upon them in between dropping by to ask for a lift to the foot doctor (don't ask) and heading back out to collect her brother from the airport. It's that kind of a day here: when there's a hope in the air that things - Christmassy things - are starting to come together and sheets are being put on beds and rooms dusted and wrapping paper pushed safely out of sight. Oh, it'll be pulled back out again before the end of the week, I'm sure: Uncle Dave will be here on Wednesday. He may have shopped, he may not (there's everything to play for, Sian: what do you fancy?); but I'd wager a fully stuffed turkey that he'll ask to borrow a roll of wrap. That's fine. Wrapping paper I can do. Mince pies (a couple of dozen would start me off, thanks Sian, by my bed, think of them as a reverse hostess gift) not so much. Maybe I should start rolling pastry?

not even close...

With delighted, continued, grateful thanks to everyone who has made a memo over the last year, and to everyone who has encouraged us to keep on writing by waving and saying hello. It has been a real pleasure, each Monday, to drop by and see what's new with you. So, for the last time this year

  Deb, Helena, Eileen, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Maggie and Alexandra

all made a note last week. Go on: give 'em a wave! And have a wonderful week.

Memorandum Monday: And We'll Have Pudding After All

Ah, Monday! A get-up-and-go-to-work day here. A take-care-of yourself-and-don't-stay-late day! (that would be from me). An I'll-be-fine, where's-my-tie? day (that'll be from him, after a break of ten weeks, easing slowly back to the office). We've spent more time together over the last couple of months than at any time since the summer we were married; and I'm not complaining. I have material for a December Memories journal all ready thanks to our extra two-some outings:

In fact, I started early:

and have been filling it with Christmas-in-November. You might remember this one

and there was this one:

and then we squeezed in some baking:

Ah. And at this point, I have to apologise, no excuses, to Mitra, to whom I promised a Christmas pudding recipe several weeks ago now. I completely forgot until I started putting this page together. What did I learn this weekend? That I can't rely on my memory any more. We scrapbookers have a word for that realisation. We call it opportunity. Don't want to forget? Write it down in any number of notebooks, make a page. Can't quite remember? Pull out an album.

Last year, at this time, I made a gift book for our girl, to mark her last Christmas spent at school. Quite a number of friends asked me how I felt about marking that moment in my life when I would no longer have any school children coming home with invitations to carol concerts and Saturday morning fairs. It felt like an ending; and I'm never good with those: but I had no idea how much of a beginning it wold show us at the time time. The race towards Christmas this year has already offered up some unexpected delights here and there are new possibilities for all of us opening up, revealing themselves already, for the new year.

Our girl came home to decorate the Christmas tree on Saturday. She made sure we had our traditional fish and chip supper once the tree lights were finally in place, before she disappeared to find some bright lights of her own. There'll be a page in that, though it's a story I don't expect to forget in a hurry...

....but I'm ramblin' on, when I had intended to post the Christmas pudding recipe for anyone who is curious. Everyone in the UK knows what it is and has a way of making it; but every year I get a question or two from farther afield, so I thought I'd leave it here, just in case.

Granny Fair's Christmas Pudding

Ingredients:

• 3 oz fresh breadcrumbs
• 3 oz self raising flour
• 3 oz Atora vegetable suet
• 3 oz brown sugar
• 8 oz sultanas
• 3 oz mixed peel
• 3 oz crystallised ginger
• 3 ox chopped cherries
• grated rind and juice of one orange 
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 eggs

Method:

1. Grease bowl (2 pint mason bowl) and put disc of greaseproof paper in base
2. Weigh fruit and put in a casserole or bowl. Add orange rind and juice and cover
3. Weigh dry ingredients and put in another bowl. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add fruit to dry ingredients and sprinkle in spice.
5. Beat up eggs and stir in. 
6. Tip into greased mason bowl
7. Cover with two sheets of greaseproof paper and then a double layer of foil. Tie on with string, very tightly.
8. Steam or boil on hob for six hours
9. Remove boil from steamer and take off the cover immediately
10. When cold re-cover, ready to steam again for two hours on Christmas Day.

It sounds complicated. It isn't and this has been the Fair family pudding since the days of Great Grannie Fair, who went to Catering College with Delia Smith's aunt. Mmm..I wonder how it compares with Delia's recipe? I've never thought to check that..

A slightly different memo today! That's mine: how about yours? Anything new? Anything you learned that you didn't know before? You know the drill..

Deb, Helena, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Karen, Fiona, Maggie, Eileen, Alexandra, Barbara, Jane and Mitra made a memo last week. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Memorandum Monday: Hello Old Friend

It was a companionable weekend here, this last one: the kind which adds to that Here's December! feeling. There's the doorbell! Quick! Turn on the twinkling lights!

For on Friday afternoon I had received two messages: one from my dear friend and fellow blogger Alexa, of Trimming the Sails, asking if we'd be about the next morning for a flying visit; and one from Studentland, asking if we'd be around on Sunday. Yes! Yes! we said; and we went to the attic and brought down the fairy lit garlands with which we brighten our very dark stairs over Christmas (and beyond, if I can get away with it). 

And Alexa, and her lovely husband, came and we ate Dundee cake and chatted; and then, for the first time (because you knew there had to be one in there somewhere) I was able to leaf through one of Alexa's stunning photo books. You can read about this one on her blog. It's a beautiful thing to hold in the hands: put together with such care and love and no little skill. Thank you, Alexa, for letting me see! And for making time to visit on a short, busy trip.

But wait: on Sunday I managed another first. I finished another sweater and its owner came from Studentland to collect it: the first one I've knitted on the suggestion of a friend. It's well over a year now - maybe two? - since Fiona linked me up with the Kate Davies Owl Sweater. I thought it was clever and beyond what I knew how to do and it was then; but that was before I learned how to knit a sweater on circular needles. It turned out to be very straightforward, thanks to a clearly written pattern, and fast, thanks to the chunky wool (Rowan British Sheep Breeds).

The trickiest part was in the finding of thirty two - count 'em - tiny buttons to fit onto the faces of sixteen cabled owls. After a bit of thinking I decided to use buttons cut from old white school shirts; and now I like the idea of her wearing a little bit of her old uniform as her new one. 

So that was my weekend. We stayed away from the shops and stayed in with friends. Oh, look:

there we are, colour coordinating just for you. How was your weekend? Anything new?

Maybe you'd like to make a memo, for Monday, just as  Deb, Helena, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Maggie, Barbara, Mitra and Alexandra did last week. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week.

Memorandum Monday: And The Singing

Hey Monday! I hope you aren't having trouble hearing me. I'm a little hoarse. That'll be all the cheering and shouting. And the singing. Don't forget the singing.

Because this weekend, for the first time, instead of sitting at home watching rugby on a screen in my living room, I travelled south to watch it live at the Aviva Stadium. And we were so happy to have made it! The tickets were a birthday gift, months ago, to the patient here; and we've been wishing and hoping for weeks now that he would be well enough to go. He's getting better! We went! We had a blast. 

I've been to matches before. I've even seen Australia play before; but never in Dublin. I could try to describe the atmosphere for you; but it might be quicker if I simply tell you to think about the Irish fans at the Quidditch World Cup. It was loud, it was uplifting; it had fireworks, it had moments of sweet silence as the ball sailed between the posts before the singing began again, over and over, until, with the greatest of good humours, the Australian fans in their yellow striped blazers, conceded defeat. Ireland 27: Australia 24.

It was cold, but my preparations in the thermal underwear department had been meticulous. It was moving: it seems only a couple of years since our kicker was a schoolboy we could watch here on a Saturday morning. Now he's a national hero. It was sparkly and twinkly, as the houses we passed on our walk to the ground were already lit up for Christmas.

And the next morning

there was souvenir yarn to be found and gifts to be bought, before we got back in the car and headed for home. It was a first; but, I hope, a trip we will repeat. Birthday tickets are a very good thing indeed.

How about you? Anything new at the weekend?  Maybe you'd like to make a memo. After all, it is Monday. Last week Deb, Helena, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Karen, Maggie, Alexandra and Krafty Karen dared to share. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Memorandum Monday: It's Not Ice Skating

New Monday, new plan. So I started my plan round about Thursday; but round here, right now, it feels like we can start the weekend - or the new week - any day we choose. And that's why on Thursday Operation Get Out of the House began: because if my patient is to return to work before Christmas, as he plans to, he'll have to stay upright and awake for more than a coupe of hours at a time.

I'm a cheap date: trees 28p each, new gingham tea towel £1.14, handful of buttons £1

It's the best time of the year for trying to Get Out of the House. If I mention Christmas shopping, his eyes light up. He likes Christmas shopping. I suppose, for an Accountant, it goes under the heading of Allowable Essential Expenses, and so it's guilt free. Thursday afternoon, we started out in town, where we discovered a new shop, Sostrene Grene. It's like a very chic Tiger, mixing Ikea's natural wood with a Woolworth selection. There was yarn.

On Friday afternoon we drove further out of town, to another new-to-us gift shop. There was a whole room dedicated to yarn. Sian, I thought, you've got a good thing going here: where to Saturday?

Another little village, out in the country. Ah, no: no wool. But second best: a new museum, a tiny one, for us to visit in the old courthouse. Sunday, then. Could I pull it back? Could I achieve wool piggery for two weekends in a row whilst masquerading as a concerned caregiver and enthusiastic trip adviser? 

Yes, yes, I could. We went to the Narnia themed Craft Fair we had enjoyed so much this time last year. There was a stall piled high with hand dyed yarns. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Today? I've set him to sand one of the chairs we ought in the junk shop. Exercise sitting down, he said. Can do, no problem, I replied. Just let me answer this text from your daughter:

Just paid to go ice skating in the bucketing rain. At least I'm one step closer to finding out what I'm good at, because ice skating is not that thing

There's exercise, and there's exercise; and there's sitting down exercise and there's sitting down hard in an unplanned kind of way. I'm sticking to knitting, when I'm sitting.

Have a good week!

But before you make a start, how about a memo? Do anything new at the weekend? Learn anything you didn't know before? How about making a note! Write it down in a memo, this Monday! We'd be delighted to hear all about it.

Last week Alexandra, Deb, Helena, Jane, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Karen, Maggie and Barbara shared their weekend goings on. GIve 'em a wave! Wish them all the best, this Monday.

Memorandum Monday: Wool Piggery

...or yarn piggery: either, both, all of it...it's my new word, which I acquired at the weekend (thanks to the Grocery Girls knitting podcast), right around the same time that I was unpacking some fresh supplies. In my defence I offer Christmas knitting: these skeins are all destined to be turned into Christmas gifts.

Ah: skeins: now we get to the real memo, this Monday. For here in the UK, for all of my knitting life so far, I've been used to buying my wool in balls, neatly wrapped with a paper band and completely ready for some fast needle action. But it turns out, I am discovering, that it's not the same the world over; and that here too, more and more independent dyers are offering wool in skeins, which have to be wound into balls or cakes before they can be knit. All of my Christmas gift wool arrived in skeins.

But I had a plan. I know a man who still needs a lot of rest and who has just been given another four weeks off work, in time to help out, in a quiet, sitting down kind of way. My plan looked like this:

...until it hit a snag. Because, I discovered, he is the one who knows how to wind wool. I've never done it before. His mum used to use hanks of wool straight from the mill, because she knew someone who worked there. My mum bought balls of wool from the wool shop (which used to have a clever little lay-away scheme. You could choose your wool and set aside as much as you needed for your project and then collect and pay for it, a ball at a time. I often called in at lunchtimes, out of school). So, as you can see from the pictures, we swapped. I held it and he wound it and we surprised ourselves with the little bits of social history we thought about as we worked. Remember black and white films in which a male suitor was pressed into service as a yarn holder? How he'd sit in the parlour and try to impress with his patience? Or, think of a Tom and Jerry cartoon: sometimes a great round ball of yarn would come rolling along the floor. Now I know why it looked like it did, because when we had finished winding, our skein had turned into this:

And that is my "first" for this week. How about you?

  Alexandra, Deb, Ruth, Barbara, Helena, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Maggie, Krafty Karen and Karen made a memo last time round. Go on: give 'em a wave! And maybe think about joining us? Have a good week!

Memorandum Monday: Take a Seat, Make a Wish

Can you smell it? No: I guess not. Our Christmas pudding is safely tucked away, wrapped in greaseproof paper, in its white china bowl, after six hours of boiling on Friday afternoon. And if you too make a pudding, you'll know that with the stirring comes a wish: you mix it together with the oldest wooden spoon in your collection and you think about something nice.

And as I'm mixing I'm thinking about weaving in all the ends...

We had our something nice right there in front of us: our girl called round specially, just to stir. I wonder what she wished for? She has a washing machine in Studentland; so her wish probably wasn't the same as mine, which included a load of clean underwear and the innards of the washing machine removed from the kitchen table.

But that pudding worked fast! The postman brought the spare part first thing on Saturday morning; and before long, freshness reigned once again in the Fair household. That's our first first for the weekend. We (and I use that term loosely) have never fixed our own washing machine before. 

....and working my stretchy cast off again, so that I can fit it over my head...

Riding high on a sweet smelling, sudsy tide of success, our patient decided that he felt up to a trip out, so I told him about a junk shop a friend had mentioned to me recently. Our second first! So close to home and we hadn't even realised it was there, and with all the perfect junk shop essentials: a winding brick alley with signs to follow before we found it, a must-have (but too large) piece to lust after right outside the entrance (a double sided school changing room bench), old sewing mahines, each with a story to tell..

..in the end we chose two chairs, probably from the old school round the corner, with scratched seats and chipped paint. Dare me to carve our initials on one? Or maybe you didn't do that at your school?

....so that I can wear it out on Sunday afternoon (picture on instagram). Pattern is called Strokkur, by Ysolda Teague, on Ravelry, knitted in Istex Lett Lopi from Carreg Yarns

And that's my memo for this Monday. How about you? Anything new? Anything you know now that you didn't know before? Maybe you'd like to make a memo too. We'd love to hear from you!

Deb, Alexandra, Helena, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Maggie, KraftyKaren and Karen made one last week. Go on, give 'em a wave! Good luck with your week!

Memorandum Monday: Sometimes It Works Out Just Fine

Ha, Monday: you have rolled round again and you have brought with you the end of a month to which I'm happy to wave a firm goodbye (and I know I'm not the only one). But I'm making a memo here, so I most definitely have to note that October here saved its best for last.

And all weekend...

A first time memo? I have absolutely, never ever before wished my Mum (or Granny as she is usually known here) a Very Happy 85th Birthday. We used to tease her about her record breaking attempt to be the country's oldest living MS patient ..oh, maybe ten years ago? Now we're serious. When she turned seventy we hired a room in a hotel and threw a big party ("my goodbye party" as she now calls it) because we weren't sure for how much longer, then, she'd be strong enough for hard celebrating. Her three year old grand daughter helped her to unwrap presents.

...whenever I had a minute...

On Saturday we collected that grand daughter from Studentland (they've gone a whole week now without a visit from any kind of recovery vehicle, sewage expert or maintenance man: why did I tell you that? I'm not sure it's a good representation of my landlording abilities) and we went to see the birthday girl. We took cake, but it probably wasn't enough. How much cake would you need to celebrate this kind of an achievement? When my Mum told us about the MS, I was about fourteen. We had lost our Dad just a couple of years earlier. We had no idea what the future would bring. But sometimes, you know, things work out. Sometimes the bad thing doesn't happen And that's good..

Thanks for sticking with me!

I worked on my November pages for Gossamer Blue

Maybe you'd like to make a memo too? Anything new? Anything you did for the first time at the weekend? We'd love to hear from you!

Deb, Helena, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Maggie, Alexandra, Barbara, KraftyKaren, Susanne and Karen  are my lovely memo makers this time round. Go on, give 'em a wave! 

Memorandum Monday: You Need a Bigger Stick

Monday: you've brought us some bright sky here. At last. It has been a watery kind of a weekend; but as the patient here at last has a diagnosis, we were happy to splash through a few puddles.

The Aftur Sweater, from a free pattern by Vedis Jonsdottir, on Ravelry and the Istex Lopi wool site

Took a call from Little E, early Saturday morning. I say early: clearly Little E had been up for hours. We, on the other hand were still in our pyjamas. I hit the button quick smart and his grinning, wide awake face appeared.

"Come see my fish tank!" he said.

And then the screen went blank. His uncle and I looked at each other.

"He's dropped the phone into the fish tank, hasn't he?" we both said at once.

But we were both wrong. The screen flickered back to life.

"Ta - Da!" said Little E

(he's such a showman) and he revealed a brand new model bridge, freshly installed in his fish tank, so that now his fish can get from one side of the tank to the other without getting their feet wet.

At lunchtime the phone rang again. Not my phone, this time, so I didn't take much notice until I heard the words ...

"...just what exactly are you bailing with?"

purposefully followed by

"...you need a bigger stick.."

Flood in Studentland! The extremely heavy rain which had been falling into the little back yard for the previous twelve hours was lying because the drain was blocked. It's hard for a Dad to resist a call like that. 

"Didn't the doctor specifically say NO Landlording" I asked.

"That was a joke. Honestly. I won't be long," he replied, heading off with his wellies. And a bigger stick. 

He was indeed back soon; and he fell back into bed, to sleep for most of the rest of the weekend. Which is why I have another completed woollen to show you. I have never knitted a sweater in two weeks before. And I learned a new stretch bind off (to ensure maximum pull-over-the-head-ability). Oh, and a bought a rice cooker. That's my memo!

So, how about you? Anything new? Anything you learned that you didn't know before? Maybe a memo is in order? We'd love to hear it! Last week Alexandra, Deb, Helena, Linda, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Karen, Maggie, Alexa, Ladkyis, Fiona, Jane, Barbara and Susanne made their notes and were kind enough to share. Go on: give 'em a wave. There's some sad news in among the fun in there: Ladkyis, we're thinking about you.

The best of weeks to you. I'll be back soon.