Out and about

Back on the road (actually rails) again as I travel to meetings with teachers and colleagues.

On a trip to Sheffield on a sunny day I saw this water feature for the first time. We had arrived in the dark and travelled by taxi the previous evening, so seeing this the following afternoon was completely unexpected. It lines one side of a pleasant open space, Sheaf Square, in front of Sheffield Midland Station.
There is a cascade of water



















and a steel wall, appropriate for Sheffield, over which water runs. The wall reflects the Victorian station opposite.





















A few days later another trip to London and an early train gave me some time to kill on the way to my meetings. This building just off the Euston Road has an intriguing label over the door - "20th Middlesex Artists RV" Googling reveals they were a brigade of Rifle Volunteers for the Boer War.















Another building in the same area, dwarfed by its neighbours is Flaxman Lodge.




Tavistock Square includes a number of memorials to people including Virginia Woolf (well we are in Bloomsbury)

and Gandhi













And on to Bedford Square, which has a private garden at the centre, around the perimeter ar the ubiquitous plane trees, the lungs of London. The Post Office Tower, just visible is an important navigational aid on my wandering through this part of London.

The sculpture Driftwood is still in Bedford Square, and now slightly more weathered than back in July.












Eventually it is back to St Pancras and my heart always lifts when I see that great building, getting better on every visit as the scaffolding comes down.












Of course all this travelling means plenty of knitting time on the train. I have finished a lacy baktus, knitted in High Twist Haze from the Natural Dye Studio:











And I did finish my moebius cowl, but decided it was not long enough, so frogged the border to add some more depth. It really is a moebius loop and quite magic!

Still here

I hadn't realised quite how long it has been since I blogged.

Much has changed.

I am now working in York during the week and going back home at the weekends.
I have a new bike, which fits me much better than my old one and am comfortably cycling the mile or so to the gym for a swim. I am aiming to do that at least two or three mornings a week while in York - so far I have done 1, 1, 2 times. And increasing the number of lengths as I go.
I am living in a little microhouse - a living room with kitchen and a 'mezzanine' bedroom and small study area. And a small garden whenre I need ot do something about the weeds. Enough for me and my knitting. The house is only a mile from work so a brisk walk in the morning is so much better than the 40 minute drive in the last job.
The job is going well, working with lovely people, some I already knew and some I had heard of but didn't know.

I am still knitting.
I knitted 30 squares to go into a couple of large blankets which were raffled for medicin sans frontieres.
The top one on my pile is showing on the blanket at iKnit.













In the summer my Mum had a hip operation and spent a week or so keeping her company and helping her recuperate. I began to knit a blanket of my own, with scraps of sock yarn.
The first square was this one.
And now many more squares have been added. My new avatar at the top is a close-up.

Cropredy 2009

I have enjoyed Fairport Convention's music over the years but never been to Cropredy. Fortunately we have some good friends who have been several times before, so we were guided through the experience. We just went for the Saturday this time, maybe longer next year. There is just one stage so the plan is to get your pitch and stay there for the day, with occasional wanders to buy t-shirts, food and other goodies.















Its a great place to people watch of course:




















The music was diverse, including golden oldies such as Ralph McTell and Yusuf .















With 12 hours of music there was plenty of time to knit of course:

Relaxing at the seaside

We've been to the seaside and I took loads of pics (of course).

Southwold is a very genteel seaside resort, and so relaxing.

For words and many more pics you need to go to flickr.

Walking in London

The teaching is over but the new job doesn't really start until September. However I have the odd day to do before then and yesterday was one such day. I had to go to London.

And there was no rush so I had time to walk.

Arriving at St Pancras is always such a joy - the refurbished new-old station is a pleasure to see, with its Derbyshire brick and soaring glass roof.



I was early so had time to drop into the British Museum - and another wonderful glass roof.

And then to Bedford Square to my meeting.

Imagine my delight to come round the corner and see this:



A sculpture named Driftwood Commissioned by the Architectural Association. More about it here.

On another corner there was 'driftwood' on a smaller scale.

A heavy downpour had washed material from the trees into pattern reminiscent of the beach.

And after the meeting a wander back through the streets, taking a different route and knowing I could 'tack' back to the station that I would end up somewhere along the Euston Road.
Taking an unfamiliar turn I came across this building, which looked like the Stasi might be behind the portcullis.


It is the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, so maybe I wasn't too wrong!

Back to the British Library, I always want to walk through the courtyard even if I don't have time to go inside. And here is Newton after Blake by Paolozzi.



And finally back to the wonders of St Pancras again.

More pictures on Flickr.

Tour de France - new challenges

So that's teaching over - finished 10 days ago actually. Still a couple of loose ends to tie off but will do those this week. Since the end of term I've done some long overdue visiting to my mum and to my daughter.

Alongside that I have been knitting of course.

My current focus is the Tour de France Knitalong - we're a weird lot we knitters and sometimes we have to find a justification for sitting on the sofa and knitting obsessively. This KAL is about knitting while watching the Tour.
We set ourselves a challenge - to go for the yellow jersey and knit something challenging that may take the three weeks to complete; the polka dot jersey - to climb all those peaks that are lying unfinished in your knitting basket; or the green jersey, short sharp sprints making lots of smaller items.
I have gone for the green jersey; I am aiming to make a blanket square everyday for the p/hop blanket. So far, in addition to a couple I made earlier I have made fourteen - the last two are currently blocking, but here are the rest.



The yarn has come from a number of very generous knitters who I don't knowpersonally, it is almost all the leftovers from knitting socks. There is a fantastic variety of sock yarn out there - as you can see - much of it is dyed in such a way that you get a pretty fair isle effect without having to change balls.

That's it then ...

The hospital appointment today has confirmed my forebodings.

No more running - when the man himself says 'well its your knee so I can't tell you not to but looking at the wear .....' you can't ignore the advice.

I'll probably get an VLM place now :<(

So its walking and swimming and learning to love the bike - but I don't actually have a bike at the moment. I shall wait until I get to the new job, when I can buy one through the 'bike to work' scheme and get Alistair Darling to cough up his share.

No more running

After some real pain with my knee over the past week I have decided to give up on trying to run until some serious weight has disappeared. Although the last straw was not running but sitting on a train and driving to and from school, I have to do something.

So resting, icing and exercising the joint at the moment. To be followed by seeing the phyzz and and another hospital appointment.

To lose weight I have to find some new exercise to do that I can fit in to life while still at school. The school pool has opened for use after refurbishment, so I think that will be the way forward for the next few weeks to the end of term.

Meanwhile feet up and more knitting:

Amongst other things:

A breast to help breastfeeding counsellors teach expectant mothers about latching on.



And a couple of squares for the p/hop blanket

Back to plodding (a little)

Plodded twice this week. Only 20 minutes of RW each time - but I have to start somewhere. After all I have put in for the VLM ballot - like zillions of others. So its base building until October when we know the result of the ballot.

A little knitting too.

Some more squares for the blanket - I love this one:

And another dishcloth - this is based on a much larger version called 'Curve of Pursuit' designed some clever mathematical knitters called "Woolly Thoughts". One day I'll do the full blanket.

FLM day

Its FLM day and for the last 4 years I have been down there for it - running or supporting.

I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't go down this year - it is a tiring day just supporting and I have a full teaching day until 5.30 on a Monday, so it was not a good idea.

So I watched the early part of the race while ironing. And of course I want to do it again now. So I've renewed my club membership, to increase my chances of getting a place, just got to get out there and start plodding now.

I'll let you know.

I have been knitting:

These little chaps were knitted to fit Kinder eggs, so each of the Beanzes had one for Easter.

no running, some knitting, much stressing

A long time since I blogged.

My work-life balance is all wrong. During term time the working day is too long to do anything and at the weekends I am too tired and have become very slothful. As a result I have put on weight too.
Its now the Easter holidays and I have frittered away this first week, still no exercise apart from the odd walk.

I have managed a little knitting - some more mystery blanket squares:

Others are on my flickr pages.
I have made various other things but find it difficult to focus on a bigger project while I am at work.
As a result of this lack of balance I have decided to make a move and will be going back into the curriculum development world in September. I shall not be freelance this time, but full time in one post. For the first time I will be working in an office regularly. I hope I can cope!
I am hoping this will give me a better structure to my day and week. As a result I plan to do more exercise and more knitting.

Snow snow snow

OK it was pretty to start but a day off work was not as much fun as I thought it might be - missed teaching exam classes that I am worried about, felt guilty about not getting as much done as I might have done.

And it is definitely not running outside weather.

But there is always knitting.

I've been knitting a few projects that are to be surprises for people who may or may not lurk on here, so no details yet.

You'll notice a new widget on here. This is a fund raiser for Médecins sans Frontières.

A nice idea from Ravelry knitting forum, where there are many free patterns and much generous advice. Essentially the message is - if you receive a kindness pass it on. So after downloading and knitting a pattern make a donation to MsF. Or any other justification you can think of come to that!

So that'll be quite a bit from me then.

Work-Life balance

At the moment my work-life balance is all wrong.
Well it must be if I have no time/energy to run in the week, mustn't it?

I have been intending to go swimming on a Wednesday but it just is not going to happen. I am working long days, and I know I get long holidays but that doesn't help the balance. Eery holiday I am starting from scratch again with the running and not making any progress.

So in the short term I am just going to do what I can and see how it goes without beating myself up about it. I did go for a plod yesterday - just a couple of miles but felt much better for it.

Maybe I have just transferred my addiction to knitting. I have discovered that knitted dishcloths do not have to be made from that string we learned to knit with at primary school.

Last weekend I visited Create and Knit a (fairly) local yarn shop run by a knitter I met on Ravelry. She has a lovely stock of yarns, including cotton yarns in an amazing range of colours.
As a result this week I have knitted two dishcloths.













The only trouble is they are so pretty it seems a shame to use them!

Running AND Knitting AND Swimming

Running first. Yesterday was such a beautiful morning that I could not resist going out for a short plod. I decided to go in the park - which is beautiful but hilly and fairly soggy underfoot. So it was a slow plod - run-walk going out and walk-run coming back up the hill. But I felt so much better for doing it and my knee did not object at the time - or since.

Then I went to my not very local yarn shop - in Nottingham - to buy yarn for some of the projects I plan to knit over the next few weeks and months. There are so many lovely yarns and great ideas for how to use them, it is great to do something creative after a long time of not doing anything crafty.

This morning I have swum - the first time since the end of November, and boy did it show. I needed to do it because I want to return to the swimfit sessions I was doing last term, before I caught a dreadful cold.

So a good weekend - I am now so full of endorphins that I believe I can do anything. I am sure I will return to normal soon!

Knitting

Since I went to a knitting workshop last October I have begun to get into knitting more. It is a great activity for dark nights, even if it does mean I stay up too late and not get up in the morning for a run.

Actually after a few more twinges with my knee I have decided to stay off running until I see the specialist again in a couple of weeks. I haven't done any exercise in the past week, but fully intend to swim this week at least.

The knitting is going much better. I have joined Debbie Abrahams Mystery Knitting Club. Each month we are sent the materials and pattern to knit 5 suqare stowards a blanket. We don't kwo what the overall design will be like, though I did have some idea of the colours because I met Debbie at a workshop before Christmas. At the workshop we were making Christmas things and I made some napkin rings.











Since the first package for the blanket arrived on 31st December I have been hooked on that.
Knitting has come on a long way in the last 25 years, since I really did any knitting and now there are so many lovely yarns and new techniques for knitting texture that this blanket is so exciting.
The photos don't do the squares justice, and I haven't 'blocked' them yet, so they are a bit curled at the edges at the moment.

I am going to have to keep the knitting to the weekends in termtime otherwise I will never get anything else done!

The forums are just as addictive as RW, to add to the distractions.

New Year - old beginnings

It is has made me feel quite low really - all the talk of resolutions and the joke that they will have failed by Monday.

Well I am living proof of that a year on and no progress with running or weight loss. See last year's new year's day post.

I did manage to keep my sugar free eating going for a month, but fell off the wagon when I went to give blood and succumbed to the biscuits. It was followed by lots of home baking with too many temptations, I have not stuck to the plan for the last couple of weeks - and little exercise too.

However a long chat today with a good friend has encouraged me to get back to it - lots more I could say but enough.

Bleurgh

A head full of cold and a very busy week at work have conspired to mean no exercise.

Just over a week ago I had a conversation with a colleague who, as a result of a routine healthcheck, was diagnosed with diabetes in the summer. He is not as old as me or as overweight. He is a pleasant chap and he talked quite a lot about the shock he had and how he is dealing with it. Basically he has cut out all sugar, has lost weight and feels much better in many ways.

As far as I know I do not have diabetes at the moment (last blood test did not show it anyway) but my Mum has type II, and I have many of the risk indicators.
Every time I speak to my Mum on the phone she asks about my weight; it makes me impatient, but as both her parents and a sister died in their 50s from strokes I have recently realised how anxious she is about me dying before her.
So the result of all this is that I have a renewed keenness to improve my diet.

So since that conversation I have cut (as far as possible) added sugar foods - so no cakes, biscuits etc and tried to eat more fruit and veg. It has been good and I now don't really think too much about it. 10 days completed - including selling fairtrade chocolate at the school bazaar and on a stall sited next to the cake stall!!

A long time ago Womble wrote 'The changes that work are the small ones that you can stick to and are easy to do, one by one.'

So the sugar has gone - it is not a small change but it is just one change and for me it seems easier to just have not biscuits or cake than say, well I can have one but no more. Losing the habit is better.

Next is cutting down on the fat. I have a lot of bad habits in that department. And I can cut those in small changes - no spread in the sandwiches is this weeks change.

Sorry this has been self indulgent.

No bike

The sun is rising later and I was first in the car park - so couldn't resist.

A forum friend was looking for a bike - so she can Tri. My bike does not fit me, so I have passed it on to her. She will give a bike to Oxfam.

So no cycling. Maybe in the spring, if finances allow, I will get a new hybrid bike that fits.

But I did go back to SwimFit and it was good again. And I am not slowest (provided we don't do too much breaststroke!).

And I've been back this morning to practice what I have learned, concentrating on form. At swimfit we only do one length at a time at the moment, so today I tried to keep going. And managed 2:4:6:8:8:2:2 then it was time to get changed and meet MrBeanz.

A plod :>)

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks.

Last week was the High Peak Relay which we haven't done for the last two years. But this year we managed to get together a forum team. The hardest bit is the logistics of getting everyone to the right place to start their leg, without leaving them to freeze, and making sure the is someone with a warm jacket for them at the far end when they finish their leg. We managed it almost perfectly. And the chap who ran rather more than was planned (and didn't have any kit when he got to the finish) still wants to do it again next year! I was not running but driving and supplying the cake. Both Runner Beanz and MrBeanz ran. The weather was atrocious for the first half which included both their legs.
We were able to shelter in an old railway hut while waiting for RunnerBeanz to finish and MrBeanz to start.















Runnerbeanz ran the tough first leg, with a climb of 800 feet.



















On Wednesday I went to SwimFit at the gym. I was a bit anxious about not being good enough but I managed to keep up with the drills, although I had dreadful cramp on some of the legs only lengths. I certainly enjoyed it and will go again. Although I have swum further in a session I certainly worked harder than I would have done on my own.

If we go to the gym MrBeanz likes to go early. But were both up very early yesterday and we decided that this morning we needed a bit of a lie-in. But I knew I needed some exercise - I've been feeling rather lethargic recently.

So I had a bit of a lie in then went to try out my knee with a plod. More walk than run but I did manage the running bits with no pain and (so far) no after effects :>)

A highlight of the last few weeks has been the autumn colour. I had to stop the car one morning this week and take some pictures.

Away days

We had a few days away over half term. We returned to Malvern, last visited in 2004 when I was beginning my running career and went for some early morning plods on the hills.
Not this time I went for the lie in and then walking later.

We visited Hanbury Hall on the way - they have restored the garden to the design it had before Capability Brown came along and went for the makeover country park style.















We went to Westonbirt Arboretum, famous for its autumn colour. We managed to escape the greenwelly brigade and their children doing the half term stuff.














And we had a walk in the October snow.















More pics on Flickr