J & Dianne

My partner collects photos. He likes going through old photos in junk shops and buying whichever catches his eyes. He recently found these photos. In his own words:

There's something a bit sad and also a bit voyeuristic about this, but it spans maybe 20 years of this woman's life and a chunk of her daughter's. It's mostly sad because I found these photos scattered in amongst a couple of hundred more in a junk shop..

I am posting them here in roughly chronological order (as far as we can tell). The first woman is identified only as J. and the baby is identified as "Dianne" (also pictured as a young woman in the last photo).

The Good Life

Sunday afternoons. Don't you just love them? Depending upon our mood and energy level, we either curl up with books or head out to explore our neighbourhood on foot. Yesterday we donned our coats and went for a walk along the Forth and Clyde canal. Glasgow Council had obviously decided the footpaths needed a spring overhaul, as the topsoil had been scraped off the sides of the paths by diggers. Quite quickly our walk turned into something else: a treasure hunt. It started off with us noticing some lumps of jet-black glass, but when I started digging with a stick, something white started emerging. Clay tobacco pipes - most likely 19th century and quite possibly from when the canals were built? We found several stems and one bowl (which you can see in the photo). I'm fairly used to finding things in the ground - I grew up in a part of Denmark which has been populated since the Neolithic period and I have found flint arrow heads etc - but it is the first time I have found anything in Scotland. It makes me want to learn even more about our local history.

Knitting continues, of course. I have a few inches to go on the body before I'm starting the edging. I'm dragging it out a bit as I'll be knitting the button band next and my buttons won't arrive for a few days.

I'm a tiny bit concerned about the fit as the cardigan is quite tight on me at the moment, but I think the alpaca yarn will stretch considerably during blocking, so it will be okay. I hope blocking will also sort out the difference between the handspun yarn (which is relatively loose) and the alpaca yarn (which is relatively tight and curling a great deal). Blocking solves everything, right?

As the cardigan grows bigger every day, I have begun to think about tiny, portable projects. Recently I promised five friends that I'd make them a little handmade something each, so I have that in the back of my head too. I was wondering whether it would be possible for me to make five items using five different crafts - and while it would becompletely feasible, I'm slightly worried about quality control. Surely I'm not the only one who's a bit paranoid about the quality of the things I make?

Thank you all for the books and TV suggestions. One of these days I should take photos of our bookshelves because I suspect you think I'm slightly bonkers when I say "oh, we already have that" or "oooh, David has that tucked away". We have a lot of books (although not quite as many I used to have in Denmark, but that's another story for another day).

PS. I cannot find my iPod. I'm mildly distressed.