Falling

I’ve always had dodgy ankles. Ones that have a tendency to turn sideways, even on a flat surface. This has led to me ending up sitting on the ground facing the way I’ve just come from more times than I can recall over the years. And so, I wear walking sandals in the summer, avoid heels and try, generally, to be careful.

Isn’t this beautiful? This is the view over Denbighshire from about halfway up Moel Famau (roughly pronounced “Moll Vam-eye”). We went up there last Thursday, with me wearing very sensible walking shoes. The rain had eased for about the first time in a few days and it was good to be outside. In fact, I haven’t been up Moel Famau in over four years, but that’s another story. The sheep were very talkative, if a little shy.

We got most of the way to the top and the Jubilee Tower was looking less like a blob and more like a monument.

The last part of the walk is rather steep though and, as I was already quite puffed out, we decided to save the last part of the hill for the next visit. So, after a little rest on one of the very welcome benches, we started downhill.

Sue was slightly ahead of me and said a cheery hello to the four ladies coming up. It was their exclamation of “Oh! Are you ok?” that made her stop and turn around. My ankle had done it again, but rather than spinning me round to sit facing the other way, I landed face down on my hip, knee and elbow. Very embarrassing and I was a little worried I might have damaged something more than my pride. Once the kind ladies had been reassured, Sue hauled me up again and we slowly made our way onward as the bottom of the hill and the car was still about 2km away. It’s amazing what adrenalin can do, isn’t it?

I was very lucky. Nothing broken, just some rather impressive bruises and an elbow that didn’t take kindly to being moved much for the next few days. However, not much will keep me away from my knitting and I did manage to block the first of my two Into the Vortex shawls before we went to visit my mum for the weekend.

And I have just blocked the second one.

The point is turned in on itself a little more with this one so I might adjust the pins while it’s still damp. The brilliant thing about blocking a shape like this is that you only really need pins on the outside edge – the vortex shape takes care of the inside edge and if it’s not taut then you haven’t pulled it out far enough. I start by measuring the points shown on the schematic and pinning those. I then add pins around the edge from there and will move them repeatedly if I’m not satisfied with the curve/line being created.

While we were away over the weekend (and as I wasn’t driving) I have been able to get lots more of my Brioche + Mystery Shawl done. I’ve only got half the i-cord edging left to go now! Hopefully the next day or so should see that completed. I’ll post pics of that next week. Then it’s back to the final Vortex to make it super-sized.

We’ve been eating homegrown produce again today – we harvested our Pink Fir Apple potatoes yesterday (using a sack to grow them in has been SO much less hassle) and they are delicious. We’ve also been enjoying some fab greengages that I picked from Mum’s garden at the weekend.

Visiting Mum in August inevitably means getting plums from the local farm shop and we were able to get enough Pershore Yellow Egg plums for me to make a full batch of jam (and then some!) yesterday morning.

Our courgettes are threatening to become marrows and the raspberries need picking, so I’m glad the next couple of weeks are forecast to be dry. I will also be able to finish picking over Doris’ fleece before I wash it. I’ve done half of it inside with an old sheet laid out on the study carpet, and I think being outside in the sunshine would make the task more enjoyable.

My main aim for the next week, though, is to stay on both feet and not fall over again! What are you aiming to do this week?

Take care, whatever it is, and keep knitting, K x