Sometimes The Ace, Sometimes The Deuces

So, yes, I have put on a little weight since coming back here. It was inevitable. Not having room to exercise, and not really being able to take as many walks as before, it has all made a dent. As has access to Food. With a capital ‘F'. My gods, but the UK is full of food. Good and bad food. But so much of it! (Or it feels as if there is, to my mind at least!!)

But my excuses, well, not that any are actually forthcoming on this particular post apart from the pseudo ones above, are not needed. 

The annoying thing is that I'm heading precariously back in the direction of the mindset of O MY GODS BUT I AM HUGE AND HORRIBLE AND NO-ONE WILL APPRECIATE ME AND OH OH OH I'M A USELESS HUMAN BEING and it is a silly mindset. Silly.

Therefore this post is to affirm how fabulous I am. At least in a couple of things! 

See this? This was in 2005. Portugal, a few days before I broke my foot. Hilarious person, seemingly full of life, always making folk crack up with laughter, trying to ‘make up' for the fact that I am large.

This was in 2015. Still enjoying making people laugh, but not using it so much as a diverting tactic. It seems that clown part of me is a good part, after all!

This was in 2009. I made that dress. I was very proud of it. I have it still, and one day I'll learn the skills to take it in from, I guess, a size 30 down to a size 18/20.

This was in 2015. In the ‘Twenty-Seven, uh wait, Five Dresses' post, I did succeed once in making an excellent alteration to one dress! The dress in the picture below, in fact!!

This was in 2010. My Little Brain Weasel™ (like My Little Pony but less cute toy, and more evil destroyer of self-confidence) is telling me “Let's not open our mouth too wide, or that quadruple chin will be caught on video for ever".

This was in 2016. I believe the term is called ‘Ah, Feck It, Let's Just Gie It Laldie!'

This was in 2011. My Little Brain Weasel™ says “Hide! Hide those chins! HIDE, I SAY!"

This was in 2017. Ach, still chins, but still dimples, too, so deal with it, My Little Brain Weasel™!

I do admit to myself now that I was at least a little fabulous before, too. I just wasn't in the right place, mind-wise, to appreciate it. I do wish I had known I wasn't truly horrendous when I was younger, but hind-sight is 20/20, as they say. But being fabulous and fit(ish) is better all round for me now, and just because I'm in a little slump losing-weight-wise at the moment, it doesn't mean to say that I'll end up back where I started. I've learned too much about myself for that to happen.

(One thing I've learned is that I appear to be made up of cookies and nature walks... But in the end, Gloria Gaynor said it best: I am what I am, and what I am needs no excuses!!)

Her Grace, Mary, Queen of Scots

...bids you come and have a gander at these...

mary, queen of socks, by yours truly

The blurb:

Mary, Queen of Socks is a companion pattern to Gloriana (my socks inspired by Elizabeth I) and is another design in the series inspired by costume and clothing through the ages. The main beaded motif is an adaptation of embroidered embellishments seen on the gown of a 12- or 13-year-old Mary in a sketch by Clouet c.1555, and the cabled eyelet pattern running parallel to the main motif is a nod towards the famous six ropes of black pearls given to Mary for the occasion of her first marriage (pearls that were coveted, then owned by Elizabeth I). 

This is a toe-up, beaded, lace, and cable sock, with a Fish Lips Kiss Heel, and comes in four sizes from small to XL.

black version: the knitting goddess UK 4-ply sock 75/25 in ‘onyx'
and holiday yarns flocksock sock in ‘bloody mary mix'
white version: ice yarns freddo aplpaca lux in ‘silver white'

The main pattern is worked in one colour, and for this version I chose a cream and silver yarn as a nod towards the opulent gown in the Clouet portrait, but my second version used an onyx yarn to represent the colour Mary was known to wear continuously after the death of the first husband. The chains or red that I chose at the side are a not to the (possibly apocryphal) tale that before her beheading, Mary disrobed her customary black to reveal a crimson under-gown - the colour of Catholic martyrdom.

The centrepiece of the sock design is adapted from the gold embroidery found on the 12- or 13-year-old Mary's dress in a portrait by Couet c.1555,

and is flanked by two rows of stylised pearls representing the famous six strings of black pearls given to Mary on her wedding day to Francois, dauphin of France, by Catherine de Medici. These are described as “six cordons of large pearls, strung as paternosters [...] These are for the most part like black muscades (grapes)." You can see one of these strings in a portrait after Clouet (below), and if you want to see all six worn together, check out Elizabeth I in the Armada portrait!

The cables represent something a little more sinister - bindings for captivity, and in my onyx version, showing the colour of the under-dress Mary is reported to have worn under the black satin dress she wore for her execution - crimson red, the colour of blood and Catholic martyrdom.

The sock starts at the toe (with a nice easy cast-on like the Turkish cast-on that I used) where the square motif and pearls are introduced early on:

Knowing my horrifying way with yarn-overs at the best of time, you will no doubt be very impressed with this little effort! I always try to end up working towards my own strengths, or trying to cover up my weaknesses in my own patterns, and I think not shying away from my ancient yo adversary in this instance has... helped. Well, you can see the pattern I was aiming for, at least. I call this a WIN in my book. Or at least a draw!

You have the option to add a bead at the mid-point of the cross in the square part of the main motif, but if you prefer to keep the eyelet pattern complete throughout, or only add beads to the leg of the sock, there's an option for that in the pattern.

I chose the wonderful Fish Lips Kiss heel again, as it just seems to work. Like I said in my Shirley Temple Socks post, I've never made such a well-fitting sock! You do have to pay $1 for the heel pattern, but I will continue to laud it to the heavens and say that I think it'll be the best sock-related $1 you'll ever spend!

The leg section gives a bit of lee-way regarding where you start the pattern at the back. The directions for the heel (which I can't really divulge here, per the instructions of the heel pattern's designer) is to continue after the construction with another inch or stockinette stitch before carrying on with the pattern up the back of the leg. 

Well. You can see above that in the white version (above) I started the ‘pearl' pattern at the first crossover immediately after the heel (on the same row as the front) but didn't start the main motif pattern until I hit the first round of the internal beaded square. In fact, I did the start of this motif in exactly the same way I started the toe, just with the correct amount of stitches either side! But how and where you start is completely up to you, as long as you're working the same round as the front!

The onyx version continued the pearl motif at the same point as the white version (at the first crossover of the ‘pearl' pattern) but waited an inch to start the main motif, which I began at round 1 when I reached it at the front.

I chose to start the colour-work section at the first bind stitch after the heel, and using 2 balls of the contrasting colour, one for each side, I slowly worked the chain cable. The key is to keep the yarn taut, but not too taut. I have one tester who decided to work the entire bind section from the toe to the cuff in a contrasting colour, with a couple of changes to stitch placement on the sole (details on the link to the project HERE), and the effect is also pretty special.

And that's pretty much it. The cuff is more of a recipe than an actual set of instructions; basically you continue the knit stitches as twisted knit stitches, the purls and yo's as purls, and the bind cable as the rest of the sock, but without the cables. Simple!

For the white version I stopped after row 10 and continued:

p1, (ktbl, p2) x2, B3 (or k3 depending on which round you're on), p2, B3/k3, p2, ktbl, p2, ktbl, p1, ktbl x2, (p1, ktbl) x3, p1, ktbl x2. 
and for the onyx version I stopped on round 24 and continued: 
p1, (ktbl, p2) x2, (k3/B3, p2) x2, ktbl, p2, ktbl, (p1, ktbl) x4.
for about an inch and half or so, binding off with a nice stretchy stitch - I used Jeny's Suprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, but feel free to use your favourite! Of course, you are free to stop the leg for the cuff any place you want, but if you want to keep the wider bind stitches apart, then I'd suggest stopping either between rounds 8 to 12, or rounds 20 to 24. You'll see what I mean if you buy the pattern!

And talking of buying... (see how nicely I slipped that in there??) you can, you can!! and all you need to do is click THIS LINK which will take you to the pattern page on Ravelry (of which you don't need to be a member if you want to buy any patterns there) or you can click the link below which will take you straight to the PayPal page, where you will be asked to part with a paltry €3 (or £2.62. or $3.34 at current exchange rates, plus VAT should you live in the EU) to have the royal pattern in your grasp!

Go on, you know you want to!

With thanks to my Intrepid Ravelry Testers™ ChocolateKate, confiance, crochestist, KnittingNightElf, knotginaj, Mimmyknits, MooseJean, Naehall, Purple TX, renater59, sharpei4kris, SitNKnit, Skalman277, and TigerSharkknits.

Scotland The Baked

“We haven't had rain for nearly two months (the covering of snow mid-April notwithstanding) and the ground is parched. We get the promise of rain with roiling clouds which then pass over without crying over our forgotten land [Ed: pretentious, much?] leaving blazing sunshine in its wake. (Oh woe for unseasonably gorgeous weather!)

The fields of wheat are turning brown two seasons too soon, the garden is alive but in stasis, yet the wildflowers and blossom of the countryside aren't bothered in the slightest! Vive La Nature!!"

My first Spring looking after a garden, and no rain. I mean, huzzah, because I can partake of a jolly good tramp around the countryside without worrying about slipping about in mud eight steps out of nine, but seven-and-a-bit weeks without rain? IN THIS PART OF SCOTLAND? This never happens even in the most Summery of Summers. No, scratch that. This just never happens, full stop.

Yet the earth along the track to Blebo begs to differ. 

I should have put something for scale in the photo, but that crack was about a foot long.

It's not like we've had record-breaking temperatures for the duration. It's been more of a long bake on a low heat than a short roast on a high setting! (Hey, look at that - culinary terminology in a non-Fake-Food-Blogger™ post - must mean that cooking lingo is starting to make sense in my old noggin at last!)

Still, it seems apt - the long leaves of the crops up Clatto Hill did look a little bit on the WE-SAID-FAHRENHEIT-NOT-CELSIUS side.

But for every desiccated piece of man-made ex-wilderness, there were ten examples of Mother Nature not giving a f*ck.

Broom

Perennial Cornflower

Common Dandelion

Red Campion

Gorse

Wild Violets

White Dead Nettle

Bluebells

Wild Cherry

She just didn't care about the drought, our Màthair Nàdar, she merely changed her style of creating art from watercolours to pastels and chalk! 

And Happy Birthday to my Granddad, who would have been 115 today. One day I'll get your garden back to it's full glory, promise xx

With Verdure Clad...

... the trees appear,
delightful to the ravish'd sense...*

As you'll have already realised, I'm a huge fan of the Clingendael Estate in the eastern part of Den Haag. So east that it's technically in Waasenaar. And I say ‘Clingendael Estate' but really there are several parks and estates incorporated into my generalised description: 

† Landgoed Clingendael (‘landgoed' meaning ‘estate' in Dutch);

‡ Landgoed Oosterbeek; 

the § Japanse Tuin (photo from May last year); 

and the ‖ Oud-Hollandse Tuin. 

I do have to admit here that I occasionally include a completely different park that's perhaps a mile closer to the centre of The Hague on the walk to Clingendael, called ¶ Landgoed Oostduin en Arendsdorp.

Worthy of inclusion, in my humble opinion!

Wikipedia tells me that ‘Clingendael' means ‘valley in the dunes', so I'm guessing ‘dael' is the Dutch equivalent of the English ‘dale', or the Scots ‘strath'. Just, yannow, a much less undulating version than the ones we know and love in the UK! ;) 

I was a good few weeks too early for the azaleas and rhododendrons to be doing their colourful path-enhancing fiesta when I was over, but Spring already had her green on, and was in the process of happily (at least for me) festooning the parks with her verdant bunting.

I love this time of year so much. (Oh, okay, I know you know I love all seasons except for Summer, but indulge me a moment or two...) You can still see the beautiful framework of the trees against the sky (something I find hauntingly alluring) but now smudged a little with the colours of new growth and Spring.

Tender, half-formed leaflets slowly opening to cloak black boughs in colour,

and bright, fresh greens softening the harsher greys of stone.

Likewise, a hint of rose-gold to draw together early blossom and the beautiful red bricks of an old Tea-House into a homogeneous whole.

It's true I get a little sad once Spring has completely clad her arboreal minions in green, meaning I lose sight of the esoteric structures I so love. I know, I know - it sounds somewhat topsy-turvy, as surely the bare branches are easier to comprehend without the all-encompassing shroud of Summer green? I have yet to come to a discernible conclusion, but for me, partly anyway, it may be because I think that if there is no mask of camouflage to hide behind, the inner, truer being must surely be given a chance to be recognised for its own beauty, not just as a simple framework waiting for something else more wonderful, or indeed, more disagreeable, to cover it, but truly just for its complicated self. And that's perhaps a thought to pursue another day...

* Lyrics shamelessly stolen and slightly amended from the work of Gottfried van Swieten.
† g pronounced like the ch in the Scottish ‘loch'. This is pronounced ‘Landt-choodt Kling-en-dahl.
‡ g pronounced like the ch in the Scottish ‘loch'. This is pronounced ‘Landt-choodt Oaster-bake, and means ‘Estate of the East Stream'.
§ pronounced ‘Yapansuh Town' and means ‘Japanese Garden'.
‖ ‘ou' in this case is also pronounced like the ‘ow' in ‘town'. This is pronounced ‘Owdt Hollandsuh Town' and means ‘Old Dutch Garden'.
¶ pronounced ‘Oast-Down' and ‘Arendsdorp' pretty much as written, and means ‘Estate of the East Dunes,
and the Village of Arend'.

Going Back To My Routes

Ah Sorghvliet. The perfect oasis of arboreal peace and tranquillity amidst the hub-bub of city life!

And bluebells. 

And there was I, worried that I might not see any Sorghvliet bluebells this year, but Fate kindly stepped in and decreed otherwise. 

Mind you, after all the tree conservation and tending over the Winter, my favourite shady bluebell path was slightly denuded of the long and elegant branches that used to sweep majestically over the flowers.

Boo-hiss. 

I know, I know. It's for the health of the trees, and like all bad haircuts, it'll eventually grow back. But still... :: pouts ::

But Mama Nature was just getting on with things, despite my sentimental predilection for how things used to be.

I'll let her off.

This time.

I was perhaps a couple of weeks early for the full show, it must be said, but a dreich April day didn't detract from the beauty of blue and fresh green, nor from the promise of more to come.

Or, indeed, the beauty of white, blue, and fresh green (one of my favourite combinations),

lilac, blue, and fresh green,

or, indeed, black and ivy green!

And, yes, the sun came out the next day and I do confess to going back for a sunlit shot, or two...

I mean, how could I not?!