Bits and bobs
I have had a few days away with my parents, catching up on family things. It was lovely to see them but very good to come back home at the end of the visit. Funny how being away makes you very aware of the patterns of life that are so woven into your day you hardly think about them when you are in your own place doing your own things: the time you get up, the time you go to bed, when and how much you eat.
Coming back home yesterday and settling into my own bed was ridiculously blissful. I had been sleeping in a perfectly comfortable bed but my own bed folded itself around me like a lover. I must be getting seriously fixated.
The wind has blown cold up here today but in the morning the sun shone bright and I wandered around catching up with the garden. Snowdrops are filling out now along the bottom of the stone walls. I found three eggs nestling in the nest box, the first of the year. I had them scrambled for lunch with buttery toast made from home made bread. I love eggs, boiled, poached, scrambled and every which way and I used to eat loads of free range eggs even before we had hens. The trouble is that I get so used to the vivid yellowy orange yolks and the rich buttery taste of our own eggs that when the hens stop laying for the winter shop bought eggs just don't do it for me anymore. Now that the days are beginning to lengthen we should have two or three eggs a day again. Spring must be on its way.
While I was away I worked away on the sock I am knitting. Here it is, ready for me to graft the toes, whatever that means. I thought it was quite likely that this is as good as it is going to get, there are so many ways to mess the next stage up, so here is a picture still on the needles! Isn't the wool fabulous? It's called Crofter and was recommended by genuine superknitter Pipany I am not a superknitter. I have lost count of the careful taking back I have had to do as I learnt all over again how to knit. I do love the wool though and if this sock is ok when I have done the next bit I might even make its partner (or just pretend I never intended to). I found the most marvellous sock knitting tutorial which holds your hand through practically every row. It's amazing what you can find on the internet!
I am here by myself tonight. The peacock has flown up onto the house roof and from there into the yew tree to roost and the hens are shut in for the night. Inside the stove is burning. I do love home.
Coming back home yesterday and settling into my own bed was ridiculously blissful. I had been sleeping in a perfectly comfortable bed but my own bed folded itself around me like a lover. I must be getting seriously fixated.
Knitting socks by the fire - bliss!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried starting at the toe end? I found a pattern on the web. Great - you can then keep knitting until the wool is used up.
We had 3 eggs today :-)
Celia
I love the sock. How beautiful. Looks very complicated, but you must make the other one!
ReplyDeleteI went away on my own last week and though it was bliss to be able to simply get up, get dressed, eat breakfast without providing for everyone else, i did love getting back. Definitely makes you appreciate home all the more (and I too missed my bed!)
Yes, you do love your home, and we love reading about it, Aw, I love the thought of the peacock taking itself off to bed, but I feel a bit sorry for it all by itself.
ReplyDeleteThis week I actually found myself looking for excuses to shorten a holiday we're due to take in Ireland in May. Ten days has been successfully reduced to a long weekend (although with the promise we'll go to Spain in the autumn). But I find any time away from Orkney feels wasted.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me sound a bit mad.
On a night in Virginia that is snowy, windy, and cold, your socks and warm stove are perfect!!!
ReplyDeleteSnowdrops,I must remember to put them on my list of wants.I forget how lovely they are esp right now when things are still grey here.
ReplyDeleteI agree nothing is better than your own bed no matter how good the trip was.
And store eggs are sad and make me wish for spring even harder.Our girls are starting to lay again so soon there won't be a need to buy eggs.
The snowdrops have shown up on several blogs I have read today. I don't think I have seen any of them around my neck of the woods. I love being home too, so much I seldom go out except with my HH to our childen's homes.
ReplyDeleteQMM
I enjoy your writings about your life, surroundings, and how your day has gone. Your blog is like fresh air, like a warm house, like a comfy hug, like good food when a person is hungry. It just calms and soothes me. The sock is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, home, your own bed, so nice to go away but even nicer to return home.
ReplyDeleteI love eggs too, scrambled with a sprinkle of chopped up parsly, that's a childhood memor. As a grown up my favourite is eggs benedict, mmmmmmm!
Love the name of the sock yarn - Crofter. Just remember Elizabeth, if you don't knit up the second sock then make sure you never wash the first. You know what happens when you throw a pair of socks into the washing machine - only one comes out!!
Thank you so much for the sock tutorial, it is much better than the one I found, never could quite get the toe bit right.
ReplyDeleteLove the color of your wool.
It has been too hot to think of socks or knitting here but today, glorious gentle rain and the temperatures have dropped dramatically. Everything in the garden is singing.
You are living my dream.
ReplyDeleteNot only are you living in Wales, but you also have hens and a peacock. I have always yearned for a peacock since visiting Brownsea Island as a child. AND you are knitting socks!!!!
Ah, your blog made me feel all warm and cosy! I am no great knitter, so I am full of admiration for your sock! And you have snowdrops too! Ours are teeny, struggling and no more than two ins. high, though they are blooming, sort of!
ReplyDeleteA very cosy post with the prospect of good things to come.
ReplyDeleteSo many things here I can relate to: the comfort of one's own bed; the buttery new-laid eggs; the warmth of the fire. And then so many I can't: the peacock clambering soulfully to roost (dragging its tail behind it - like the cows (or was it sheep? - my mind is befuddled) of the nursery rhyme; and knitting. I have always said I wanted to knit and for several months my great aunt, then in her eighties and nearly blind, tried to teach me. But I could never master the technique and all I produced was an untidy piece of knotting. Though not to be beaten I
ReplyDeleteturned to crocheting and made a serviceable egg cosy. I suppose I could try again - but there are so many other things to do. I suspect you are someone who uses your time most efficiently and it is this secret that I think you should impart.
Ther is NO place like home and no place nearly as comforting as you own bed. Dear Charlie will travel late at night to come home to his own bed even if it means he stays less than 6 hours!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, home....the very best place to be, even without a peacock.
ReplyDeleteA very comforting sort of post from you today.
Socks though? Maybe one day....
I love snowdrops. I must get some this year for my garden! But it'll be another month and a half before we see anything coming up from the ground -- other than frost, that is!
ReplyDeleteEast, West, Home's Best as they say Elizabeth. I do agree that eggs from one's own hens have these wonderful golden yolks - all other eggs seem pallid by comparison.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to hear from someone whose life fits all needs and expectations.
ReplyDeleteAnd once gardening starts in earnest, it's going to get even better!
I don't mind strange beds ( that sounds perhaps more louche than I intend ) but I love coming home to my own pillow . Nothing else will do . And if I had obliging egg laying chickens , I might never leave at all .
ReplyDeleteOne sock ? How good are you at hopping ?
oh, your making me miss the winter we didn't have this year. And I love your sock. My husband is the knitter so I'll have to tell him I need those socks!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone has said what I can only echo. A farm just up the road from us sells free range eggs - would never want the pale yolked watery shop variety again. I'm no knitter but very appreciative of those that are. Please knit another sock to match the one you've nearly completed.
ReplyDeleteFor a mere knitter of scarves a sock knitter is indeed a super knitter :)
ReplyDeleteI bow to the Goddess of Sock Knitting, known to the Greeks as Anyone Who Can Follow A Pattern.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful how satisfying "bits and bobs" can be! Love the colours in that sock - do make the pair - the second one will knit up so quickly now you know what you are doing!
ReplyDeleteI love Crofter yarn - I have made lots of wristwarmers and legwarmers from it. Ann Budd's sock book is also very good if you want patterns for different yarn weights.
ReplyDeletePomona x
your home sounds so inviting. A question. You have a peacock?
ReplyDeleteDo you have to have a house for it in the winter?. I almost bought a
pair of swans but they said I had to have a warm house for them.
Love the colors you are using on the socks.
yvonne
I am very impressed with your sock knitting - I seem to be totally unable to knit - but then I am also unable to drive a car with gears, must be something about using two hands.
ReplyDeleteOwn beds are always best.
K
xx
I know EXACTLY how you feel about Home...And socks, comfiest things in the world...
ReplyDeleteThere's no where, anywhere, like home. I had a grand time in Toronto, but like you, melted into my own bed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the sock tutorial. I'd like to try my hand to knitting for my foot, and this might be just the nudge I need.