Blogtober 2021 : Day 6

It’s quite a relief to see blue sky today albeit with more than a few clouds in there.  Phew, it didn’t half put down some rain last night!  It was windy too, and the dog kept thinking that someone was outside and he needed to go and investigate – I was like a yo-yo up and down to let him in and out!

This is not really helpful when you’re trying to count rows of your shawl – you can see my sheet with the rows marked off, and sometimes there are two sets of marks as I’ve gone wrong and have had to take it back.  Progress has definitely slowed down!

A partly-knitted purple shawl on two long double pointed needles. A sheet marked with rows worked and the pattern are visible, and one of the needles is pushed into a knitting belt

I am still having a good time using my knitting belt, though, and I still have every intention of having this shawl finished by the end of the month.  The yarn is lovely to knit with, although it’s quite slippy and feels very different to the woolly sock yarn that I use most of the time.

I’ve had a go at a sock cuff on the knitting belt too – I wanted to see how it would work out compared to my knitting it in the round because I’ve discovered that knitting belt purl is significantly faster for me.  I’m afraid it’s a bit of an odd photo as I can’t show you the rest of the sock at the moment so I’ve done some nifty stuff with the photo editor but it does still look rather super-imposed – which of course it is!

Two sock cuffs lying next to each other on a wooden table. Both are shades of red

The one on the left is knitted on my short circular needle and the one on the right is with the double pointed needles using the knitting belt.  It wasn’t any faster as I had to keep stopping to change needles, as of course you do with double points, but it wasn’t significantly slower or more awkward once I’d got going either which surprised me.  What’s interesting for me is the twisted stitches on the right seem to lie a little straighter but it could be because I didn’t go any further with that cuff and I’m using the one on the left so it looks different because of the rest of the sock that’s attached.  I like having new things like this to investigate – I am a researcher at heart and I like to know how things work!

In today’s dog walk update, it was still all a bit wet and soggy underfoot.  I can’t tell you how much rain has been put down over the last few days but the brooks were all running very high and just past the gate is a place where the dog usually goes into the water but even he decided against it.

A tarmac cycle path leads towards an offset gate between trees

I usually take the dog on a different route every day and at slightly different times too.  It stops him getting too familiar with our route which is a recipe for disaster – he thinks it’s OK to head off on his own route and then I either have to chase after him or spend time looking for him when he’s disappeared.  It also means that we meet different people and dogs to say hello to as well.  Dog walkers are generally very sociable people (if you’re a dog walker you’ll know exactly what I mean, although there are a few exceptions!) and some people we have seen out and about and chatted to on walks for years now.

I thought it was funny during the first lockdown last year that you could spot the dog walkers a mile off during the daily exercise time – no, not just because they had a dog, but because they were the ones that would say hello even if they didn’t have a dog with them.  The non-dog walkers would hurry past with their heads down but as time went by I noticed that they were more likely to say hello back – and with so many people completely isolated at the time, I was glad of that.

Here’s the brook that the dog avoided swimming in.  It’s actually not as high as we have seen it but he doesn’t really like the water to be too deep or to be flowing too quickly either, and when the water is like this, I am very glad of that!  Remember I mentioned the Himalayan balsam on the canal towpath on Monday?  Look at it all here on the banks of the brook.  It likes to live in a places like this where it’s a bit damp so it’s certainly in the right spot!

Banks of Himalayan balsam on either side of a brook. In the distance are houses.

It’s here too, crowding the cycle path.  Once you notice it, you see it everywhere!

Himalayan balsam on both sides of a tarmac cycle path.

The colours are definitely starting to change now, and I love that about the Autumn.  I think this might be Rosebay Willowherb and the stems are the most wonderful colour.

Red stems of Rosebay Willowherb in the grass verge

I’m looking forward to seeing the leaves change this  year – it’s good to be out and about to see them!

Thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed reading The Marlow Murder Club, it’s always good to know that the book you’re reading is worth reading! 🙂

See you tomorrow! xx

 

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2 Responses

  1. Sherin Jarvis says:

    Lovely to red your blog Christine, and Im sorry tho hear about your cat.
    I was also intrigued with the photo you took on your drive to Lucy’s place. I live in Sydney, Australia, and our landscapes are so different. I have been ploughing my way through Vera on BritBox and often comment to my husband about the landscapes sometimes depicted on the show, the remoteness and isolation of some of the farmhouses has me wondering what life must be like for the people living there. Your photo reminded me of many a Vera-scene!

    • winwickmum says:

      Vera is a fantastic series, we thoroughly enjoy watching it. It’s filmed in the north east of England and the landscape there is different again, although it’s still a beautiful part of the world. It will certainly be very different to Sydney! xx

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