Reclaiming Osborne Street for the Gorillas

When I moved over here from Oxford I was faced with a choice of buying a ‘nice’ new house in a quiet suburban estate (I’m dosing off just thinking about it) or somewhere less respectable. It was a no brainer. I bought a small Edwardian house by Bletchley station and I’ve been doing my little bit to improve the neighbourhood by stealth ever since.

We are a mixed community of Bangladeshi, English, Scottish, Polish, Norwegian and Italian residents and there is a really great community feel to the place – but there is a lot of rubbish and some of the gardens are in a bit of a state. I am now implementing a three point plan to rectify the situation. It goes something like this:

• Clean up and enhance one of the worst public spaces as an example of cheap, independent, sustainable community action


• Use my own front yard as a ‘show yard’ to display what can be done to improve the environment


• Bring together a small group of the willing to develop their own yards, lobby for improved public services and defend the improvements

I’m not a natural door-banger so I have chosen to lead by example and casual conversation. This makes things slow but I think it communicates the sincerity of the mission; and though I say so myself I’ve achieved quite a lot.

The public space I chose to improve was a narrow strip of land neglected by Vincci and Sainsbury and favoured by local yobs and fly tippers. So far I have removed 10 sacks of rubbish, 15 abandoned shopping trolleys, one lot of building waste and a car but it appears that respect breeds respect and the space requires a decreasing level of clearance.

In place of the broken bottles and shopping baskets I have planted over 400 bulbs, 20 or 30 native hedging plants, various free reclaimed shrubs and a riot of the most delicious hollyhocks. Most of it was free or freely given – some by neighbours. The transformation is amazing.

My ‘show yard’ is also taking shape. So far I have only spent £10 on compost and £8 on a hippo bag with the plants and tools all being gifts from family and loans from neighbours. The idea is to transform the depressing concrete rectangle into a tea theme garden with a small camomile lawn, a herb parch with mint, bergamot and (ornamental) nettles and a small hedge of Camellia Sinensis. I am pleased to say that the concrete has now gone and the earth exhales. Mmm… maybe I’ll get cabbages.

George Mallory's Knitwear: going strongly for the top

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a somewhat ‘early 20th century’ streak. I’m fond of tales of gentlemanly exploration, tweed, pipes and casual acts of selfless heroism. There is a little part of me that wishes to disappear into the gathering cloud and be last seen ‘going strongly for the top’. It was with this in mind that I embarked on my current project.

The aim is to research and commission a copy of the sweater worn by George Mallory as he and Sandy Irvine disappeared into that mist on Everest in 1924 and to test it, in my own small way, on a serious route in the Alps. The Alps are, of course, not the Himalayas and with modern telecommunications are about as remote as Great Yarmouth but then again I am not George Mallory or the foremost anything of my age. Consequently I’m hoping these things even themselves out and I'll get a small glimpse into that world of wool from between the wars.

My plan is to tackle both the Traverse and Brenva Spur routes of the Mont Blanc Massif wearing my replica sweater and clutching my pipe between my teeth. Then, if all goes well, I hope to be seen ‘going strongly for a beer’ in Chamonix before nightfall.

The research hasn’t been as easy as you may think but after several loops through the Mountain Heritage Trust and the universities of Derby and Southampton I finally managed to contact the lady who created the hand knits of the official Mallory recreation project. Thanks to Joyce Meader I obtained a materials specification and a textual pattern.

Things now seem to have gone into fast forward. I found a skilled and enthusiastic knitter (Catriona) through The Open University intranet and ordered the wool online through Shetland wool brokers Jamieson & Smith. I have chosen the same pattern as Joyce's Replicas and a sample is reproduced here. The next step is measuring and starting a trial knit. I'm really looking forward to it.

The pattern below was taken from a pre 1924 pattern book of knits for the forces:

Gent’s Sweater (knitted)

Material required
1 ¼ lbs. 5 play Greenock Fingering or Super Fingering; set of bone needles, size 9, set of 4 steel needles, size 12.*

Cast on 200 stitches, knit 1 plain 1 purl for 3 inches. Knit plain 23 inches or length required to arm-hole. Now run half the stitches on to a thread of wool and leave. Work the remaining 100 as follows:-

At the beginning of the next 8 rows knit 1st 2 stitches together (4 decreasing on each side), then work 8 inches without decreasing. Knit 28 stitches, leave on thread, cast off 36 stitches for neck, knit 4 rows on 1st 28 stitches, leave on wool. Take the 100 that are left and work in same manner until shoulders are completed. Cast off shoulders back and front together, taking 2 stitches at a time, 1 from front and 1 from back.

Sleeve
On steel needles cast on 70 stitches, knit 5 inches of 1 and 1, now substitute bone needles and knit 12 rows, and on every 6th row thereafter increase 1 at each end until there are 92 stitches. Continue knitting the 92 stitches until the sleeve is the desired length, then cast off 2 at the beginning of the next 8 rows. Knit 1 row and cast off the remaining stitches.

Collar
On steel needles cast on 100 stitches, rib 3 inches working round as stocking, then knit 4 inches working backward and forward, cast off loosely. Sew on stitches of collar to neck neatly, sew in sleeves.

*Joyce recommends Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight for this type of knitting