Thankyou , Rosemary !

                           Mary Isabella Grant ,  Painted by Sir Frances Grant

Sonata :

This morning it was suddenly only one degree Celsius outside , so it's just as well I'm not waiting for my new cardi . Still , I'm knitting away and the front's now finished ( both sides are even the same length ! ) and ten inches of the back and there's still all of November to go before it gets really chilly  .... 

The trouble is I've only really knitted scarves before , so I'm helpless once the instructions get technical . Rib to end of row held no fears  , neither did k. or p.   But the sudden appearance of p.u.k. nearly prompted a rhyming expletive .YouTube tutorials are good , though I probably look like the little girl in the middle here while watching them 

 but then I remembered I had my own personal tutor sitting on a shelf in the sitting room . Written in 1951 by Rosemary Brinley for Foyles Handbooks , Crafts For Girls says calmly and firmly " it is worth learning to do things in the easiest and correct manner " so I washed my hands , put on my Needlework apron and breathed deeply . And she's right .  I'll be swathed in faultlessly executed mohair cosiness by Christmas Eve .

And maybe I'll have enough time to make a few presents from the book , too . There are instructions for nightdress cases , silver paper pictures ( remember those ?) , shoe bags and comb cases . Actually it's a pity I don't have some of the other volumes in the series . Caravan Construction , for instance , Boat Building or Crinothene Craft . Never mind , there's plenty of time till Christmas 2013 .

P.S . To any of you who read my last entry and now think I'm tiny ... Liz kindly said petite .... I'm actually five foot five inches  , so not exactly elfin . After a few other customers had the same problem , the Eko shop have reset their doors . I can get in !!

Rather Porridge Than Steroids

There's a very nice health shop in town ... well , actually , there are two  but the other one's more for things like Devil's Claw or Mega Ginseng Brain Food supplements .  So I go to the plain one that reckons that organic is good and affordable organic is even better . And anyway , they're the only place in town with Jumbo oats which I mix with the ordinary kind to produce my own Mega Brain Food ... hearty porridge .
So if you're ever in town ... not totally unlikely since Leeuwarden is now officially a candidate for European Culture Capital in 2018 .... and you're admiring the very fine Art Nouveau pharmacy , take a quick look down the alley at the side .You might catch a glimpse of me trying to get into the Eko winkel . According to the large-ish young man behind the till  , my "profile" isn't big enough to be recognised by their new automatic doors . We reckoned I should eat more porridge .