What Katie Did

No more 'children' ... its official

Today, Owen is 18. I am the mother of adults. I have been remembering the night of his arrival, he was born at 5.00 am about twenty minutes before the midwife arrived. He was born into a stormy day with winds that brought down some of the old scots pines in front of the house. This cut off the electricity for hours and provided some interesting entertainment for Martha (4) and John(2) as the whole lot was cleared and sorted out with emergency vehicles and Jack from the saw mill, right in front of the bedroom window. No-one paid much attention to the baby brother in all the excitement.
Today it is sunny. He has gone off to school with a Full English Breakfast inside him. This is one of his favourite meals and he was as pleased with the mat I made for his wall as he was with the real thing.

eggs, bacon, sausage, 'shrooms, toast and tommy K. Knife and fork (you can just see) and checky tablecloth. It has been fun to make, and Owen thinks it is 'mental' - this is good apparently.

I had a request from someone who flies by the name 'willywagtail' (you couldn't make it up) for more information about mat making. I am going to ask my friend Annie if she will come and help with photos and we will host a little tutorial. Very soon I promise!

For now, it is sunny and mild. The snow has gone and I am going to walk the dog, reflecting on my new status. I am a little sad.

Mum

Happy Mother's Day

Have a happy day Mum, I know you don't need a special day for me to send you a Huge Hug, but its never a bad idea to have an extra bit of love from me!

Here is a look at the Mat Meeting I went to yesterday at Clara Vale. We had a day like this about a year ago this one was lovely too. I am making another 9 square mat, designing this one myself. Its not as much fun as the last one I made with all of you!

Alison is a very accomplished matter!

fast too!

Hazel cut strips from a sheet and crotched this foot which will then be set into a mat with the other foot to be a bathroom mat. (She makes great cake too)

Pauline works in a very organic way - this will be a floor rug for her new house. This is the back of the rug, 'proggy' is worked from the back, hooky from the front - its not very technical! This rug is going to be amazing, Pauline has a magical way with colour and shape.

Lucy's flower is going to look sensational

Sue has appeared on this blog before, she was playing the fool that time too.

The suitcase I got last week was the perfect transport for a selection of jumble sale scraps for my work. Good for swaps too.

Liz left before I had the chance to photograph her frame - and Lynn is seen here on the right starting work on her mat

We had a fun time!

Today it is sunny, windy, cold and just now it was snowing! I have about twenty things I should do, but I suspect I will have difficulty keeping out of the shed for long!

Happy Day to Everyone, but mostly to my Mum.

Busy Weekend

Sometimes you just have to say what you think.

Even if you have to go all the way to Glasgow to do it.  Because when you get there, you discover that you are not alone.

And all the way there and all the way back there is a chance to KNIT, so six hours of knitting later I have one and a half funky evening gloves.

So that was Saturday.

Today, I have had a shed clear out. Carolyn at Laughing Duck has been berating me about the term 'shed'. But if you look at the next few bizarre photographs you will see that it is very aptly named, for that is what it is - a shed.

I wanted to move all the old books out so that I have more room for fabric. The quickest route is as shown - up the ladder and in through window. This saves a long and cumbersome trudge through the house. But this method involved co-operation from the men of the house. Owen was one end of the human chain, I was the other and Geoff was in the middle. Poppy jumped out of the window to see what all the fuss was about.

Here you can clearly see that the place where I make Things is most definitely a shed. Sorry Carolyn, I could never call this a 'studio'. It is now a very tidy shed though. All these books have been stored somewhere else. I can't  tell you where in case Martha is reading this.

Poppy gets into everything doesn't she!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hanna asked if I collect comic papers. Well, I sort of do, in the way that I collect things i can't bear to throw away. So after an afternoon at the Oxfam shop, I usually come home with a few more tatty old books that I plan to turn into 'something'. So if you were reading this in my house rather than yours, you could help yourself to one of these today, made from an old illustrated children's dictionary.

When Martha was little she would say 'What d'you might be inside?'

so now you can see why I needed all those 'bags of love' from M&S the other day. I saw the idea for these bags on a blog a while ago, I am so sorry i can't remember where. If you recognise yourself, please tell me so I can acknowledge you. It's a great little idea.  It was Cindy! go and see!
Happy Valentines Day to you all - help yourself....

and another 'Thankyou' to Martha!

My Year As A Fifty Year Old

Today I am Fifty One.
Here is a look at this momentous year

That is an awful lot of candles, Thea has never seen so many in one place. I had a lovely surprise birthday supper with my friends and a freezing cold walk along the beach with Poppy.
 
and this stack of boxes from my Mum and Dad which revolutionised the way I am able to compute.

I had my real birthday celebration in March when we took a coach load of lots my friends on a mystery tour which included a Five Rhythms Dance Session, fun and games at the Druids Stone Circle in Cumbria followed by a wonderful meal at the Watermill

This was the most fantastic cake! Thank you Caroline, one of the best cooks I know.
I am enjoying reviewing my year!
The Knitting Group has been a wonderful thing for me and this year we added extra sessions on the occasional Satuurday, here is the first at my house

We have knitted some strange things. Hats for drinks?

The Hexham Wave for Knit a River

This is the latest, a blanket for Nancy, the newest Knitting Baby, after Angus and Cala and George.

My 50th year was the one when I lost two of my children to adulthood, an inevitable next step, but a tricky one for me nevertheless. I went to visit Martha in Bristol a couple of times.

Here she is freezing on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, that 'must see' tourist attraction for all visitors to Bristol, regardless of the weather.
John phoned me from South Africa to sing 'Happy Birthday' on the 27th Jan last year. In July, we went to see him. The bit where I got to hug him again after nearly a year was more exciting than the elephants and whales!

So here are my oldest two children at the extremes of cold and heat.

It's been a good year with a great workshop in Whitstable with Ali learning how to make strange papier mache people with Julie Arkell

a trip to Foolfest and the Knitting and Stitching Show for essential supplies!
I ran a workshop of my own for the Garden Station which was very interesting and not a bit like the usual teaching I do at work. None of them were pregnant for a start!

Oh - this is all a bit overwhelming - I've spent the last hour looking at photos from the past year. So rather than try and link them all together in some sort of order, here are a few of my favourites, a random selection of my fiftieth year.

Mum and Dad on their way home

Poppy enjoying the woods

This was half an hour before John shaved the beard off. Why?

My lovely sunny shed. This is before the great curtains and shelf. I'll have to take an update.

Cala yesterday.

Thank you if you are still reading. This has been a very indulgent post. I wrote it yesterday and asked Typepad to post it on my birthday. So at the moment I am on a freezing cold beach with Poppy, Geoff and Owen, enjoying my 51st birthday!

And then there were three...

Now that Christmas and New Year are over, everyone is back to work and school. On Tuesday, Martha went back to Bristol and now John is on his way to Norfolk for his next new challenge. Owen has exams in the offing at school. Work is filling in the spaces that we've enjoyed having for a few weeks and Geoff and I are back to our usual routines. It is so windy and wet. Instead of sharp blue skies and white frosty winter walks, we have rain, wind and so much MUD everywhere. This is all why I am feeling glum.
And I have a knitting injury. Repetitive Strain Injury. This is hardly surprising with the self imposed deadlines I set myself. So I am on a knitting fast to allow time for recovery. This means that I can think about felting and matting instead!

This arrived yesterday to cheer me up. An early birthday present to myself. It looks interesting on first look.
Oh and thank you to the people who asked about the bit of matting that the last couple of photos have had in the background. It is a long thin bit that sits on my bedroom windowsill.

I'd stopped seeing it until some of you asked! I want to crank up the matting again and I have a new mat project in my head. If I can make it work I think it will be exciting. More here soon.
Now though, Poppy still needs a walk even though it is horrid weather, so it's wet weather gear on and a quick blez through the woods.

Fight The Cold

Compulsory carrot, apple and orange juice for all today. I have am just emerging from a cold I picked up at New Year and have very generously shared with my nearest and dearest.

Just reading this makes you feel better when you have a blocked nose, sore throat and a heavy head.

 

This cold has had an extra feeling of my eyes being pushed out from behind which has been particularly unpleasant.

So - extra Vitamin C for everyone who might have been in contact!

Odd Socks

When we were in South Africa last summer, Martha and I bought some delicious wool. I had no idea what to make with my selection and it is still in the shed awaiting inspiration. Martha chose this wonderful chunky merino and made warm wooly bedsocks for her cold student flat. Does it matter that the colours don't match?

I don't think so...
the other hank doesn't match either

it is destined to become a hot water bottle cover. Martha plans to have very warm feet this winter in Bristol.

Birthday Girl

Before Martha came home from University and Helsinki, Geoff was busy in the workshop making her special big birthday present.

and all my knitting efforts were concentrated on finishing her clapotis, seen here in progress at Cafe Nero one Tuesday afternoon.

Here she is modelling both

the different woods are cherry, sycamore, cedar and the middle box is a bit left over from Graham's kitchen - burr oak

Martha isn't minding having a birthday so near Christmas as much as she used to and has especially enjoyed how long this one has gone on for - starting on a bench in Bristol with hot chocolate and carrying on and on until now we are all set to run into Christmas.

BT has finally sorted out our phone and broadband so we are back in business!
Have a wonderful Christmas everyone

Twenty one years ago

We have had Very Big Winds here and the phone lines are affected. The internet cuts off every few minutes making prolonged use impossible. BT have been informed, but I am not hopeful. Today it is still and calm, so I am going to risk a post.
Today is Martha's Twentyfirst Birthday.
Here she is about 18 months, having a tea party with the cat.

She is celebrating her 21st in Helsinki, but I will be remembering the day as it unfolds and all the landmarks of a labour that ended so beautifully with the birth of my darling girl. (about 5pm GMT if anyone wants to get thoughtful with me). She was an angelic baby. I felt sorry for other mothers - their babies looked like piglets dressed up in baby clothes compared with the exquisite child I had produced.

Anyway - while I have been having connection problems, I have been busy with a felt making day (forgot my camera) the Hexham Christmas Market (forgot it again) two knitting days (we sneaked in a Saturday to catch up on some of this CHRISTMAS KNITTING!)

Oh - and work - lets not forget work!
Last monday I was on the panel of a 'Question and Answer' session for a group of orthodox Jewish women in Gateshead, about 60 of them. That was interesting to say the least!
And The Parent Education Department (me and Catherine)  hosted a Christmas Party. A lot of hard work, but worth it  for the happy people.  I am always amazed by how grateful people can be for a sausage on a stick and a cream bun.

The Christmas production at Owen's school is My Fair Lady. For the last several years we have had someone in the play at the end of term - but now that John has left and no longer entertains us with his theatricals, we go to see Owen who sits on the lighting rigging with a set of headphones on. Last night it was magnificent. I grew up with my Mum and Dad singing those songs - I don't think of Audrey Hepburn singing 'All I want is a room somewhere', but my Mum, who didn't have to manufacture a cockeny accent, she could just dig into her recent past and produce an authentic one. Blooming Loverly.

Christmas preparations are slow. I can't believe how little I have done this year. I am usually in a frenzy of activity about now, with the house all decorated and the presents hidden. This year there is Nothing Going On At All and it feels more like October than the week before Christmas. I did make some sweetie garlands the other day.

But with the last posting day on Tuesday I need to get going if we are to have Christmas in this house!

So what am I doing today? Going to a clothes swap in Alnwick? Very seasonal!

Twenty one years ago at this very moment, I was eating a bit of Weetabix and half a banana to keep my strength up and wondering how much more painful contractions could get....... 'a lot' was the answer to that one.

Happy Saturday bloggers!