' If you can learn to lift your ribs right out of your waist...you will soon develop that upward buoyant poise which is the secret of grace and which would bring less drudgery and more joy to the daily dusting.'
Just a little extract from the 1949 book 101 Things for the Housewife To Do, and all I needed to hear after this week of persistent household attention. Bookhound's been outside doing a spot of building and I've been inside working, reading and very half-heartedly and intermittently trying to plough my way through the remains of last week's mess.
Anyway I called a halt to work, computer the lot and had not one but two treats.
Two Completer-Finisher afternoons in the kitchen with the radio on, so it's knitting all the way here this weekend.
I caught up with The Archers again after a very long gap and with that the sad news about the death of dear old Phil Archer.
RIP Norman Painting,
The afternoon plays this week have been a trilogy on the murder of language teacher Daisy Whitelock in Tokyo, these have made compelling listening and then a Sophie Hannah short story on Thursday which was excellent and reminds me to read the rest of them in The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets.
But what of the Completer- Finishing?
Just ignore that Halloween cat but you might remember this wool?
The cats took a real shine to it, wherever I stashed it they found it. So it was part-knitted up in about ten minutes two years ago, then a bit more in about five minutes last year, the pattern is Suzy from the Rowan Big Wool book by Kim Hargreaves. Then I washed all the bits and hid them from the cats and those bits have stayed out of sight out of mind waiting for those finishing touches ever since.
Honestly, I'm never knitting anything as refined as a cardigan in Rowan Big Wool ever again.
It's fine for scarves and hats but not anything wearable in my humble opinion, it's a bit akin to a string vest for it's sheer hole-iness. Then there are the two caber-sized 15mm needles, and despite the fact that you blink and the sleeves are done, it hasn't been to my liking.
I need a project to last at least a few weeks, not an hour.
So I've strung it out for two years, but I set to and knitted up the collar and stitched it together, added a touch of eccentricity to the buttons to detract from the four rows of garter stitch on one hem and the three on the other and tried it on.
Unfortunately I think it makes me look a bit like a ruby-coloured Yeti.
Nevertheless I braved it out and paraded it for the Gamekeeper who happened to walk through the kitchen at that moment.
First thing he said...'It's uneven at the bottom.'
He has partly redeemed himself by catching not one but seven mice in the loft this week, which to my mind constitutes an invasion of terrifying proportions and he will be fully forgiven when he finds the point of ingress.
I hope people who were kind enough to say they enjoyed the blog before will visit both. I have had so many e-mails about books and reading after HEIOTL that I just had to start again.
Thank you all for your kind words and comments and thanks Lynne, for your hospitality on your blog.
PS - Susan has very kindly offered free postage worldwide to anyone who orders a copy of Howards End is on the Landing via her website to all readers of dovegreyreader scribbles.
Just put "via dovegreyreader" in the Paypal notes and include the postage you have to pay to get the order processed via Paypal and it will be refunded afterwards (or it throws the website into confusion apparently)