Bartimaeus

Last night as I was holding a rope, some women passing asked if I needed help to pull it. I guess they thought I was in some kind of trouble, but it was normal mooring status really and I was just waiting for the back end to come in. I thanked them for the offer though. We got in easily enough despite a slight curve in the bank. We tried out attaching the spike covers (milk containers in a previous life) with elastic, to make them more secure. Their purpose is to make the spike more visible and should reduce the chance of people tripping or stubbing their toes. 

We had a short slightly muddy walk last night and it rained heavily in the night. Today’s forecast was for more heavy rain. Our plan was to stay in our pleasant quiet spot and catch up with favourite creative projects.

Shane was sporting his new boiler suit. Evidently there were no red boiler suits available and he was  uncharacteristically dark. They’re a good fit and as they were brand new, he was almost smarter than usual, though his footwear left him exposed.

I was working with a much softer material. I decided a couple of days ago that I hadn’t brought enough gloves and Nye had given me some fluffy, super chunky wool last Christmas so I thought I would try mittens. I had to adapt the pattern as I went along as it was really for a less thick wool, but they came along well.

The challenge was to make the other one match. It’s a self- striping wool. There was no white so far in the first mitt, just greys , black and some silver threads, so I wound off the white and started the right one with the grey when it emerged.

There were occasional breaks to watch a squirrel or puppy on the grassy space beside us and I hopped out in a shower free moment to throw vegetable peel in the bushes. I noticed one of the covers was off the spike, but had not travelled far, just half way along the boat, so I reknotted the elastic and reattached it. We shall see tomorrow if it has held.

There was a distinct risk of running out of wool, having no guide as to how much would be needed from the pattern and using different wool anyway. I really thought there would not be enough as I neared the end. It was touch and go….the second mitt used every scrap of the grey and black wool.

Relieved to complete them and a good use of the grey “mystical ” yarn and of a grey day. They are a perfect fit!