We’ve paid off mortgages before, but as far as my fading recall can tell, only when we’ve moved house. Late last week, having decided it was a Good Idea, I phoned the building society for a redemption figure. It was about what I’d expected, and the next day the payment was set up to redeem the mortgage on Tuesday. The mortgage was originally due to be repaid when Gordon retired, in just under two years. I reasoned, Gordon is effectively retired now, so I may as well pay it off and reduce monthly outgoings.
Stormy Shore
It should be a joyful occasion, but it felt like just another transaction. Maybe it will sink in when the paperwork is completed. But I did my best to celebrate: I bought an iron. I’d been looking at it for months, watching it become unavailable, then available, then the price spooling up and down like a yo-yo. The old one, bought in 1985, gave up the ghost last summer. This sturdy old iron was a good hefty weight for pressing seams. Of course, I don’t really need a new iron – the backlog of Gordon’s shirts, which were about the only things ironed regularly – were ironed at the end of last year. Those shirts hung on a door for months, glaring at me as I went up and down the stairs to my office. I had to iron them, it just wasn’t right to hang them in the wardrobe unironed. And now, to justify the purchase of the new iron, I’ll have to carve time to sew out of my flabby schedule.
St Fergus at end of day
And what exactly is a ‘mortgage’? Where does that strange word come from? The OED, always a go-to source, says it comes from Middle French – ‘mort’ + ‘gage’, or ‘dead pledge’. The explanation gets a bit complicated after that; the concept seems to be that the loan (pledge) is ‘dead’ after it’s been paid off. But I’m happy enough to know that it came from French.
Looking South from The Trinkie
There has been better progress on the gansey this week. I was able to do a good tranche of knitting on Saturday afternoon, when I visited a friend. We sat in the sun lounge listening to music and knitting. I’d taken the gansey along, just in case. It was windy and cold, not a great day to wander the muddy back lanes of Caithness. But even with the chilly weather, I was thankful. Looking through photos yesterday, I saw that last year at this time there was snow and ice on the ground. We were supervised in our knitting by the wise old cat Solomon. Though I’m sure he must have been a young, silly, and carefree kitten in his earlier years, chasing leaves around the garden and being the terror of the bird population. Now he watches them from the comfort of his favourite chair in the sun, cursing them for their flightiness.
Which reminds me of a bit of trivia I heard the other evening: a collective noun for kittens is ‘kindle’. It comes from Middle English, and was apparently revived in the 20th C, according to the OED.
Thank you for continuing to post and to share your thoughts, experience and knowledge with us; I read them all and you write so beautifully.
Congratulations on paying off the mortgage… I somehow assued a rather puzzling dead glove came into it but had never pursued it! We were able to pay ours off a while back and it was a huge relief to know that whatever else, the house was safely ours, even though that wasn’t a thought had been keeping us awake at night at all, and as you rightly say it reduced the monthly outgoing greatly. (I have to admit that because we took it out around 1975 and extended it a bit in 1982 it was a tiny amount compared to more recent ones.)
You’re brave to knit in company with a feline.
We paid off our mortgage when we retired, it was a quiet relief, one less thing. Congratulations, you certainly deserve a new iron for that “transaction”, it reflects a great deal of time and work to get to that point. Right now, I feeling lucky I don’t own waterfront property, as extreme coastal storms have caused flooding, erosion and damage to much of the existing coastline in New England.
Good for you!
A good iron is one of those things you “don’t need” until suddenly you do, and nothing else will do.
The gansey is coming along nicely.
To continue on the theme of continental knitting and the purl stitch,I suggest a YouTube video 9 minutes long.
“ How to Knit continental style knitting (Lara’s method )”. Purl stitch is demonstrated as well as knit 1 purl 1. This may give you some guidance. Lara Simonson is her name. Take care, happy 😊 knitting.
Thanks Kevin – Interesting video! I taught myself from books as well (I think, it was a long time ago, in the days before t’internet). I fear if I used her method my fingers would look like Swiss cheese!