This week has been a week much like the last, without the disquietude of a phone call from the consultant. An appointment to see her in Inverness arrived on Saturday, to take place a week before Christmas. I’ll need to leave bright and early to get there by mid-morning. In the meantime, my arm should be nearly normal by then; the stitches in the incision in my arm have fulfilled their purpose and fallen out, leaving a red patch which is fading day by day.
Cling-on
Early in the week, a delivery from Amazon brought an inexpensive whetstone. I can now sharpen the kitchen knives properly, but more importantly, the reed-scraping knife too. I spent at least an hour sharpening one kitchen knife and then the reed knife. The kitchen knife is now acceptably sharp, and I’m not sure about the reed knife. I’m at that stage of scraping reeds where I don’t know if what I’m doing is correct or not, and if it even matters.
After splitting another reed, I’ve had a minor success in achieving a reed that makes a sound. Then I compared it to the oboe reeds I already have, and was dismayed to find that they were 7mm wide, and the new cane is 9mm! I don’t know for sure, but this may be akin to using too large a knitting needle – the results won’t be satisfactory. I’ve queried this with the supplier and await their reply.
Looking downriver
I’ve been practicing the oboe more too, after being quite lazy about it for quite some months. The orchestra has two concerts in a couple of weeks, and I’d like to be able to play at least a few of the notes. Many get left out at rehearsals because I’m just not fast enough to play them. Practice practice practice . . .
Foggy Day
Another activity that’s fallen by the board, particularly when I was concentrating on sewing in the late summer, has been going out for regular walks. I started to rectify that this week. It’s been good to get out with the camera again. A couple of days were drizzly and foggy, one partly sunny, but all were unseasonably warm. The weather held for the Bonfire Night fireworks on Saturday, which I again enjoyed from the top floor window. There wasn’t much wind, either, so having the window wide open to take photos did not send arctic blasts through the house.
As you can see from the photo of the gansey, I decided to add a simple band around the bicep, just where the gusset ends. It’s a simple decoration of a single purl stitch progressing one stitch to the left for five rows, a purl row ‘vein’, and finally a purl stitch moving towards the right for five rows. There are five plain stitches between the purls. It’s so uncomplicated that it doesn’t need charting. Who knows, maybe next week I’ll be knitting the cuff!
I received my prognosis last week, following the recent op/biopsy. The consultant phoned and said she was completely wrongfooted by the results. She had not expected any cancerous cells to be present, yet there were. But, she went on to say, it was a ‘melanoma in situ’, meaning that it was only present in the upper layers of the skin and had not spread. While the prognosis is ‘excellent’, I’ll have two further appointments. One will be for another op where a 5mm margin around the previous incision will be removed. The second will be to see the consultant again in Inverness, when she’ll give me a complete inspection.
While I hadn’t expected this, I can’t say I’m surprised. In fact, I’ve been waiting about 50 years for skin changes to appear. While I’m not one for sunbathing, for a few summers way back when I was a lifeguard, where being in the sun is part of the job. That, and being very fair-skinned, meant it was just a waiting game. Still, having mortality suddenly slapped in your face is unsettling, and it took a few hours to regain balance.
Near sunset
The museum is closed for the winter now. I continue to go in Mondays to edit photos and chart ganseys, but my Thursday morning is free. I’ve decided to use the time to learn how to make oboe reeds. The tools in the beginner’s kit I’d bought a few years ago are simple, but some are specialised. There’s a special knife used to scrape the cane, and there was also a square of ‘fishskin’, which is used to seal the reed. A doubled piece of cane is bound with thread to a metal piece called the staple, which fits into the end of the oboe. This binding needs to be airtight. However, there are substitutes for the blade and skin. Some people use x-acto knives or knives with snap-off blades. For the skin, cling film or plumber’s tape are sometimes substituted. Nail varnish/polish is also used for this purpose. As the book says, it doesn’t really matter how you get there, it’s the results that count.
Backyard fungus
It’s not a difficult process, but needs to be done just so for the reed to work. The first attempt was a total disaster. One half of the cane was satisfactory after binding, but the other half split in two places. The second and third attempts are better, and I’m working on them. It will probably take many tries to achieve a reed that plays as it should.
With the gansey, it took three attempts to get the right number of stitches around the armhole. Usually, I count the rows on one side and compare it to the number of stitches needed. So, 80 rows and 64 stitches would give a rough ratio of three stitches to every four rows. However, being mathematically challenged, my counting was off and it took two further tries. When that was done, I sped off down the ski slope of the sleeve, and have nearly three inches completed. The sleeves on the original are plain, and I am debating whether to add a pattern band above the elbow, if only to reduce the boredom of constant stockinette.
The weather has been getting increasingly wintry as the weeks pass. During last week, nearly every day was damp and windy. It was unpleasant enough that driving was preferable to walking. When I did venture out to post a letter, I didn’t linger. On the positive side, more time indoors means more knitting time.
Rose in the Rain
The week has been filled with little things. The kitchen clock, a wedding gift from work colleagues, stopped working after 40 years of faithful service. I prized it apart and replaced the movement, but this was unsatisfactory. The replacement arms were half the size and their gold colour was indiscernible on the clock’s beige face, and the hour hand wouldn’t grip the spindle properly. The clock is greatly missed, and I’ve chosen a replacement online. There’s also a new vacuum cleaner in the same basket. The old one starts, makes a gasping ‘thwpp’ sound, and loses suction. It too is old, at least 20 years, and like the clock, has given sterling service and is due for retirement.
Later in the week, the kitchen floor and hob & surround were steam-cleaned. Very little cleaning has been done over the past year, so this was a significant event. Both needed it. The kitchen floor was slippery after a frying session and the hob was in a terrible state. Now the floor is safe and the hob gleams pleasingly. For good measure the frying pan was also steam-cleaned because it was still gungy despite an intensive dishwasher cycle.
Tree in infra-red
Over the past few cold weeks, I’ve been puzzled why the radiators weren’t warming up. Finally, I thought to look at the on/off times programmed in heating control box. That was the problem. At some point, when I thought I’d changed the times for the hot water, I’d changed the central heating times instead. A quick face-palm and button-pressing session later, the radiators come on when they should and the house is slowly warming.
A Cloud at Sunset
With the gansey, I can hardly believe the progress that’s been made. The back is complete, and I’m ready to shape the front neckline. The calculations for the are done and have been checked twice. As with most things knitting, numbers and maths are involved. Divide the number of stitches on the front by three. Take the result and divide it by four. Add that number to the first and second thirds of the neckline stitches and subtract double that number from the centre third stitches. With me so far? In this case, I had 179 stitches. That can be divided roughly equally into three segments of 60 – 59 – 60 stitches. Add 14 (from 59/4) to 60 and subtract 28 from 59, to get 74 – 31 – 74. Using removable stitch markers or scraps of yarn, place markers after 60sts, 74 sts, 105 sts, and 119 sts. To shape the neckline, starting on the right side, work to 3 stitches before the 2nd marker, knit two together, knit 1. Turn, k1, p1, work to the end of the row. Decrease 1 st every other row until there are 60 stitches left (this should be the 1st marker), then work straight to the required length. Work the other shoulder in a similar way, but start at the neckline edge with a k1, k2tog.
It’s been a week with appointments and cancellations, though only one of each. The appointment was for day case surgery to remove a small brown patch. This had once been two tiny moles, but over the last ten years had changed to become one larger, paler spot with a different surface texture. I’d seen a consultant a few years ago and was prescribed some cream to treat this and other patches, but this spot was not affected. At the last appointment, the consultant prescribed a different cream, but that didn’t work either. At the follow-up appointment, she recommended that the spot be removed. This is what was removed last week. It’s been sent for testing too. I should hear shortly, but I’m not concerned.
Hospital Stairwell
I haven’t had surgery since my wisdom teeth were removed, so in a way this was a new experience. Then, there had been a stay in hospital and general anaesthetic. This time, I walked to the hospital, was shown to a ward, and knit socks while I waited for the surgeon, who bounced in a while later, preceded by murmurs of “he’s coming” along the corridor. His first remark was not to ask after my health, but to say he admired my shoelaces! (They are dyed the colours of the rainbow, bought to replace boring grey ones.) He explained the procedure and left.
Infrared Landscape
Shortly thereafter, a young nurse escorted me along the winding corridors to the operating theatre. The surgeon, a nurse, and someone I assumed was the anaesthetist were already there. More shoelace admiration occurred as I got on the bed. I was covered with a sheet, the lights blazed on, and I clamped my eyes shut. Local anaesthetic hurts more if you see it being injected. The young nurse sat by my side, and the operation began. Her sole purpose seemed to be to chat, distract, and keep me calm. I only felt from some pressure, and the op was soon over. When I opened my eyes there was a huge dressing on my arm.
Infrared Hawthorn
A few minutes later I felt well enough to sit up, and the nurse escorted me back to the ward. Another nurse made me a cuppa while the discharge letter was prepared, and then I walked home. As with the dentist, the anaesthetic seems to spread further after the filling is done; part of my hand went numb until ten hours later, when the numbness abated. The wound was not painful even then. A few days later, I took the dressing off. There’s a large area of bruising surrounding an inch-long wound which has been closed with dissolvable stitches.
In the gloaming
And the cancellation? The Covid & flu jabs were moved forward to next month.
Having a large portion of my arm under a bandage has not impeded the knitting. The division for front and back has been reached, and I’m zipping to and fro on the back. It’s getting to the stage where it feels heavy and bulky on my lap, but at the same time the weather is cooler so it provides some extra warmth as the nights drawn in.
I returned from my sojourn in southern parts on Friday afternoon. It was a long trek, entailing overnight stops in Stirling, Southport, and Cheltenham. The final stop was Cornwall, where I visited a friend near St Austell for a few days By this time I was just happy to stop moving! As my friend no longer drives, we took advantage of my visit by doing errands in St Austell – weighing the dog at the vets and picking up some bulky items.
Wallace Monument from my hotel window
At the end of my visit, we filled the car with bamboo, corks, tools, music, music stands, and our luggage to drive to Woking, where we both attended the same bamboo pipes workshop. As well as taking my friend, the bamboo and other items were to be transferred to their new keeper, who also attended. Everything packed into the car neatly, with ample space to see through the back window.
Bamboo in Cornwall
The four and a half days of the course were both intensive and relaxing. Days were filled with lots of playing (on bamboo pipes of course), making pipes, enjoying the delicious meals, and socialising in the evening. We were a small group of just over a dozen, and most had been on many pipe courses before at this venue. Most attendees came from the UK, but one came from Greece, another from Switzerland, and two from the Netherlands. Two regulars from the US couldn’t make it this year. On two evenings we had ringing sessions using handchimes borrowed from my handbell group. They loved it, and could have played for hours!
Moving a Piano
Some of us did steal a few moments to visit the nearby shopping area. Once two of us ventured to a local supermarket to get snacks & nibbles for evening socialising. Another day, two of us went to a chargepoint to charge her car. She’d just picked it up a few days previously but hadn’t used a public chargepoint; she asked if I’d go along for moral support. We passed the time while it charged at a coffee shop across the road.
Autumn Colour in Stirling
The few brief days at Woking ended all too soon, and so I headed up the motorways again, returning to Southport for a longer visit with said friend. One morning was occupied doing nothing, then waiting for the piano movers to arrive. My friend had given his baby grand piano away, and the donee had arranged for it to be collected. She later sent a video of her daughter joyfully playing it. The next day, while my friend visited his mum, I took the train to the Big City – Liverpool. I had a good tromp around the shops, made a few purchases, and saw an upside-down house. I’d assumed this house https://www.visitliverpool.com/listing/upside-down-house-liverpool/61389101/ was a promotion for Wicked, but further research indicates it’s an ‘interactive photo attraction’.
Rani, Queen of all she surveys
With all the various stopovers, quite a lot of knitting was accomplished. I have just started the gussets, after long inches of body. The gansey measures 13 inches from the top of the ribbing to the bottom of the gusset. With three inches of ribbing, that’s 16 inches in total. I’m pleased to be nearly halfway done, and hope I can keep up the pace!
This week has been a week much like the last, without the disquietude of a phone call from the consultant. An appointment to see her in Inverness arrived on Saturday, to take place a week before Christmas. I’ll need to leave bright and early to get there by mid-morning. In the meantime, my arm should be nearly normal by then; the stitches in the incision in my arm have fulfilled their purpose and fallen out, leaving a red patch which is fading day by day.
As you can see from the photo of the gansey, I decided to add a simple band around the bicep, just where the gusset ends. It’s a simple decoration of a single purl stitch progressing one stitch to the left for five rows, a purl row ‘vein’, and finally a purl stitch moving towards the right for five rows. There are five plain stitches between the purls. It’s so uncomplicated that it doesn’t need charting. Who knows, maybe next week I’ll be knitting the cuff!
