Bartimaeus

On Christmas Day Bryn suggested watching Wallace and Gromit, the new one, Vengeance Most Fowl. We had enjoyed watching them, when the boys were little. The handcrafted detail and humour made it fun viewing as adults too. On Christmas morning, while dinner preparation was in full flow, Shane had helped jolly us along by finding an advertisement-free Christmas radio station. It was no surprise that “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin Stevens came on more than once. Independently Shane and I commented on remembering Bryn making a stop motion animation to accompany this song, using a combination of toys, plasticine figures and a lot of cotton wool. He soon discovered it took a very long time to make a one minute video and timing the actions to fit the words of the song was a further challenge. He did well but soon concluded this might to too time consuming a hobby. I don’t know if the inspiration was entirely from Wallace and Gromit, but he obviously hadn’t fallen out of love with their animations, in fact his admiration might even have grown, as a result.

We all enjoyed enjoyed the film immensely with the added bonus that both knitting and narrowboats get more than a passing mention and the notion of retiring to live on the water was a dream that was very much alive and relevant to the plot. I don’t intend to copy the making of a knitted onesie as shown in the animation. I have plenty projects on the go already. The latest in parallel with the  cardigan for myself is a hat that a friend asked about, saying he had always had a fancy for such a hat. Even Ashe was asking about whether  I could knit one, he realised that the style he was imagining was in fact sewn, not knitted, a nightcap as worn by Scrooge in a Christmas Carol, with a tassel. These are indeed usually sewn in cotton, but I found a pattern. While the pattern depicts it, complete with tassel, it does not tell you how to make one. I am not at all sure how this is going to work out. I am only on the brim or headband. His birthday is late January so perhaps I will make progress in the next few weeks.

On Boxing Day we had no specific plans. Bryn, Shane and I had another walk this time to Arthur’s Seat and down to Duddingston then back along the low road. It was after two when we were heading round the higher road and it looked like there was not much light left but we did get home in the light.

We heard lots of birds but didn’t see many other than jackdaws and distant swans. Merlin claimed to have heard a goldcrest and a teal among many others. We did see some hardy, possibly rare breed cows.

I was delighted to be contacted on Boxing Day by my friend Rhona, who often has a full diary, offering dates between Christmas and New Year. In the vague time between Christmas and new year, Shane was vaguer than usual. He had several days with no energy, but not strong symptoms of anything in particular. He did a lot of sitting and sleeping but ate normally and didn’t need any nursing so I was free to continue to socialise, or carry on crafting without interruption. Meeting Rhona offered both those possibilities. I packed my projects as I set off to meet her from the station.

It was a much brighter day then when I had met fellow friend and craftswoman, Margaret, off the train. She knits sews and crochets. She made my wedding dress and Rhona and her together made the silk roses for the head circle, and dress. I didn’t attempt them, as sewing is not my forte. It was a beautiful day and I wondered if she might come back to our flat later, but was unsure if Shane had something infectious. It looked a pleasant enough day to stay out.

This time I thought the News steps down to Market Street were easy to manage. The steps often have a beggar on them but not today. I hoped this meant homeless people had found shelter over the festive period, and not that they had been’cleared’ during a tourist time. It surprised me to see this place chosen as a romantic location. There may be a view across Edinburgh but t is also a back shortcut to the station as far as I am concerned.

Her train was on time and we wended our way up Cockburn Street and sent pictures to our friend who once lived there. 

One shop I used to go to even before I knew them was still around. It still has eclectic clothes and accessories. Their business strategy was not pie in the sky and they seem to have outlasted nearly everything there.

We had a plan to visit The Dovecot Studios which had a special exhibition on embroidery, Stitches, as well as new display of artist Ptolemy Mann’s paintings and textile art. But first coffee and cake! 

The Stitches exhibition had stitchwork from all over Scotland, some highly decorative pieces but often with an additional function, a bed spread, a face guard to protect from the heat of a fire, upholstery, room dividers that occluded draughts, pelmets and curtains. There were also some practice pieces by young ladies learning stitches. Most of the pieces came from grand houses and castles but a few were from a lower income family who had reused bits of carpet and stitched them together and stitched patterns on to make them attractive. Alongside intricate bedspreads were home made blankets stitched, hemmed and decorated.

There were also some practice pieces by young ladies learning stitches. Most of the pieces came from grand houses and castles but a few were from a lower income family who had reused bits of carpet and stitched them together and stitched patterns on to make them attractive. Alongside intricate bedspreads were home made blankets stitched, hemmed and decorated.

Before seeing the tapestries upstairs we had lunch. We had both packed our current projects and got them out to discuss the stitching, design and colours of each. My cardigan included a skein that Rhona had gifted me so I wanted her to see it in progress. She had brought me a gift of a book, The Golden Fleece, A Journey Through Britain’s Knitted History by Esther Rutter. In the absence of boaty travelling I can follow her travels and her untangling patterns of the intricacies of local knitting specialities as she tackles recreating them.