There are several things in my life, that I have learnt by experience not to talk about in general conversation. Things which, although important to me, other people find well, strange… I started thinking about this because of a comment from Lizzie on the subject of pyjamas this week. She, like me, loves her flannel PJs above all else and was explaining this in detail to someone at work, when she suddenly realized that it made her appear to be, well,  rather odd. Oh I heard you Lizzie – I have so been there!

It’s a shame really because they are some of the things that I love the most and really deep down which make me who I am. But there you go, that’s just how it is. If only for my childrens’ sake, I don’t really want to be known as the village wierdo.

I bet I’ve whet your appetites now and you’re all waiting for something juicy to follow. Sorry, I’m going to disappoint you – you are the people who know all my secrets. In fact I think that maybe this need for secrecy with the locals was one of the things that pushed me towards blogging. I needed to find some kindred spirits, some friends who might even be interested in the same strange things. And you know, I have – and for that I thank you all.

I seldom tell people that I’m a quilter. There are lots of quilters here in Switzerland, but, and I hope I’m not treading on any toes here when I say this, they tend to be Swiss ladies of  a certain age. They are most certainly not Swiss ladies of my age. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever taken any quilting course anywhere where I wasn’t a good few decades younger than everyone else. Which means that my non-quilting friends and acquaintances find what I do to be, frankly, odd. I did tell someone yesterday that I had been piecing stars to reduce stress. BIG MISTAKE. I won’t do that again….

Quilting is a piece of cake though compared to sock knitting:

‘you do what?’

‘I knit socks, you know fancy, thick, wooly, cosy winter socks. I like them better than anything I can buy’.

‘Why? Why would you knit socks when you can buy nice socks?

How long does it take to knit a pair of socks?’

‘ YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING’.

At that point I could as well have ‘very strange person’ tattooed on my forehead. The person who I am talking to starts to edge away from me, having already lost her eyebrows somewhere up onto the top of her head. Nobody knits socks. Well, that’s not true exactly, I do and many of you do and my friend Suzanne in Aptos, California does, but nobody else does. Apart from the old ladies in the Old People’s Home who do it because there is nothing on earth else they can do anymore.

When I was visiting Suzanne and found her knitting basket with a pair of half-knitted socks in it I was almost  delirious. I would not have raised the subject myself, you understand. I’ve been down that road, I’ve had those fingers burned. And I like Suzanne and I really don’t want her to think I’m a strange person. I had always known she was a kindred spirit and this was truly the ultimate proof. We even went on sock wool hunting forays and exchanged patterns. Heaven, I can tell you!

I’m also very wary about telling my friends that I have a blog. Eric and Lindsay know – Eric set the blog up for me – and have never been anything other than supportive – and I don’t think they laugh into their hankies behind my back. In fact I’m always rather thrilled when Eric emails me to say he likes a particular post. How cool is that? I blog about quilting and knitting and a MAN reads my blog. Meg reads too in Germany – but she knows what I’m like, warts and all, so to speak.Kendall knows, but she’s a writer and my favourite running buddy – and knows all my secrets disclosed piecemeal during long runs in the woods. Otherwise, no. I did mention it to an acquaintance in the early days who asked me what I had been up to. Never again. I was subjected to a tirade along the lines of ‘how could you possibly imagine that anyone would want to read what you have to write about. It’s totally self-indulgent’. As I slunk back to go under my rock I vowed, never again to open up like that.

It’s sad really. But maybe I am just a little strange.

But then again, at least I am a happy strange person.

Helen

Sometimes being the mother of teenagers can be a little, shall we say, stressful (I’m choosing my words very carefully here, as I never know who might be reading this…). This afternoon I decided that my resolution not to start anything new was going to have to go out of the window. I find piecing incredibly peaceful – funny that! I have a penchant for stars and flying geese and between concentrating on them and listening to the Afternoon Play on the radio, there isn’t any space left in my brain for worriting over the latest conflict or the fact that family life resembles a war zone at the moment.

It shows how stressed I was that I jumped right in with the fat quarters from Lumiere de Noel by Moda that I have been dreaming about and drooling over ever since they arrived a couple of months ago. Usually I find fabrics like these just too nice to cut into and can’t quite bear to use them. Not today…

I’m trying out another lovely Carrie Nelson pattern – Opening Day from Miss Rosie’s Spice of Life Quilts. It is all stars and flying geese – so this is total self-indulgence for me.

The fabric is a dream, although as you can see from my slightly wonky start, the weave on the checked fabrics isn’t quite straight – so I’m resigned to having a bit of a homely look here!

The other thing that I’m not quite sure about – which I think happens a lot when you buy and work with fabrics from only one line – is that I’m not sure that I’m going to have enough colour variation. I actually think that it’s going to be a little tricky to get the stars to stand out against the backgrounds as the values are all a bit similar. I’ve already decided to throw in some additional dark browns and deep reds and depending on how the stars come out, who knows, I may do something wacky and rebel a little and do something different.

I’m playing this one by ear and winging it … a bit like my life at the moment…

Helen

It’s getting cooler here and I’ve pulled out my autumn/winter pyjamas. This morning I had a paper to finish editing and I did it my PJs. In fact I’m writing this in my PJ’s too. And you know what? It feels so good. A little wicked (I wasn’t brought up to go to work in my pyjamas), but definitely one of the very big plusses of being self-employed and working from home. Just as long as no-one rings the doorbell. I would be a little embarrassed!

My PJs are categorically not of the sexy baby doll variety. They are solid and substantial. I have a penchant for checked flannel. (I know, I know, you can all now sympathize with my husband!) Given the choice I will go for pale blue ….or spots. I possess a very natty pair of pink spotted PJs. Love those.

Pyjamas are most definitely one of the nicest things about the approach of autumn. I just love cozy: good books, roaring log fires, hand-knitted socks, apple punch …and flannel PJs.

I haven’t got the thick cosy hand-knitten socks out yet, but it won’t be long.

And I guess that’s OK!

Helen

This afternoon I should finally finish my second Knitting Pure and Simple wraparound cardigan. It just needs one more tie and then I’m done. Once I’m through and there is someone around to take a photo I’ll show you what it looks like in the flesh (so to speak!). The yarn is by Manos del Uruguay. It’s nice, but not as soft as the Malabrigo yarn that I used for the first cardigan. It is also terrrifically thick – this is going to be one toasty warm cardigan. Roll on the winter. In the skein the yarn was breathtakingly beautiful. Somehow I’m not quite so enamoured of it all knitted up. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will have to be a little careful about how I wear this – it could look a little ‘knitted by your mother’. Maybe I’m wrong – but you will have tell me what you think when it’s done. It isn’t the pattern – I LOVE the pattern – it’s the super multicoloured yarn. I guess I need some really chilly weather and maybe that will do the trick and make me fall in love with it. Funny isn’t it how yarn can seem so different once it’s knitted up.

What I will say though is that I am a HUGE fan of knitting from the top down and in the round. It is absolute bliss not having to struggle away trying to sew side seams so they look nice. Top down knitting is just so clever. Why did we ever knit any other way?

On the sly I have also made a start on another knitting project. It is the Juliet Shell by Cap Sease, as featured in the 2nd Green Mountain Spinnery pattern book 99 Yarns and Counting. Have I already told you that I love this book? It’s a real winner. You may recognize the yarn – it’s Green Mountain Spinnery’s Sylvan Spirit. Does it look familiar?  I knitted a roll-necked sweater in this yarn earlier in the year and had a fair bit of yarn left over. I just needed to buy another two skeins and Bob’s your uncle, here we are. And it’s another top down pattern!

Thanks to all of you who told me I was right in the way I was handling the errant teenager situation. Things seem to have calmed down again, thank goodness. It did help me a lot to get all your reassurance that I was not being unreasonable – I didn’t think I was, but hey anyone can make mistakes. Not that I told my daughter ‘well all the ladies who read my blog wouldn’t let their daughters do that’. I don’t think that would have helped the situation, but it did help me to know that you thought I was on the right track. So thanks for that!

Well a messy house is calling, so I’d better close here,

Have a nice day y’all!

Helen

The tumult of yesterday has blown over. I managed to have a gin and tonic, a bath and an early night, so woke early with a new perspective on life – thankfully! Today the rain has stopped, so I put on a dress and went to church, after which I met my husband (the non church-goer) and went to the Kunsthaus in Zürich to see a collection of photos by the German photographer Thomas Struth. If you happen by any chance to be in Zürich or have the chance somewhere else to see Struth’s work, do take the time to go and see his photos. One of his nature scenes is shown above.

The photos are rather spectacular. We seldom get to see photos blown up to giant size and Struth has some very cool works which are photos taken within museums like the Pergamon in Berlin, the British Museum, the Chicago art museum. I loved seeing famous works of art in their museum setting and also the reactions of the visitors to the galleries photographed with them.

Now I’m home again for a slow Sunday afternoon. I’m almost finished my wrap around cardigan, so I guess I’ll work on that for a little while and then see where I get with the other bits and pieces which need finishing. It doesn’t feel like a day to be starting something new, but rather one to potter on with projects in progress. Hopefully in a day or two I may have something finished to show you – the cardigan if nothing else!

Here’s hoping you have time to slow down and potter a little today…

Helen