Rest in peace.

It is a strange feeling.

This time yesterday, I would have said that the MD80 plane that we flew on was comfortable and a pleasure to ride in. Now one has crashed, and a lot of people have died.

I am not so sanguine about the prospect of flying again. Perhaps I shall just stay at home and write letters.

Sorrow for those who's lives have been cut short. They didn't deserve to die, but they died. I didn't deserve to die, and I am alive.

As I said, it is a strange feeling.

What a trip!

What a long way to go to get stash! But when the yarn store is as good as this one, it doesn't seem like too much trouble. If you are ever in Lafayette CA, I commend it to you highly.

This is my sock yarn being wound - the smile was free, as was the great conversation. Of course, having had the yarn wound, I needed some needles to be able to knit on the plane.

I bought a set of the casein ones, since it seemed like a good idea to try them. Only one slight problem - they said size 2.5 which is what I use for socks. But I use 2.5mm and these were 2.5 US, which equates to 3.0mm. so my good work had to be frogged. Ah Well . . . it was an opportunity to try them out. They were disconcertingly bendy until I got used to that and then they were very pleasant to use. They are also excellent for use in low light situations provided you are using a darkish yarn. Which was handy when I couldn't sleep because the children-who-couldn't-stop-talking couldn't sleep either.


It really is as steep as it looks. What is more I managed to walk two blocks uphill. Just wait till I boast about that to my doctor!


You will have seen pictures of the cable cars, so here is one of the brake mechanism - looking straight through to the road. It really is as rudimentary as it looks, and you are dependant on the sheer muscular strength of the brakeman.


This is the light falling through the windows of Grace Cathedral. I don't know if the Californian sunshine is extra bright or the glass is more intensely coloured, but it is beautiful.


The flying was fascinating - to see a geography lesson rolling past beneath. Typical - I discover it just as we are all supposed to stop doing it to save the planet. Well I shall be able to say I have got family there when I get around to doing it again!

Just a very few words.

America was great. I would go back tomorrow (but right now I need to sleep).

The quilt was where I hoped it would be, ready to be loved. The yarn store was fabulous, and the Chinese meal in San Francisco's Chinatown was great.

Photos to come.

No more a secret.

I can let my secret project out in company.

Tomorrow I fly to San Francisco for my son's wedding reception. When I agreed to go, the two words 'quilt' and 'wedding' started linking up in my brain, and I realised that if I got a move on, I could finish my patchwork project and hand it over.

I have sent it on before me, and now that I know that it has arrived, and that she has seen it and approved, I can show it off.


Sadly I didn't have time to make it larger than single size, but I reckon that they can keep it on the sofa, for huddling under while watching scary movies.


I managed to find a rather nice heart print for the binding.


I had a large piece of Liberty Tana lawn in the cupboard which was just right for the backing.

I'm just a bit pleased with myself - no, I'm really unbearably smug!

Sewed a skirt

Some lovely crisp, quietly green linen, from the last consignment of fabric from the late, much lamented, Croft Mill.


Finally got to do something I have been wanting to do for ages - overedged the bottom, turned a tiny hem and anchored it with a decorative stitch. That's why I spent all that money on the new machine, last year.


I also used the quarter inch foot to do the seams, and then overedged. This meant I didn't have to trim the edges - I am not so good at cutting straight lines. Didn't it turn out neat? I am very pleased with the result.