Monday, November 05, 2007

Guy Fawkes

Little to report. I’ve finished the first repeat of the Earth Stripe stripe sequence – the repeat won’t look at all mechanical because I’ve moved the colours around a bit as I progressed and also, of course, because I’m more than half-way there so the second repeat won’t get finished.

MaryJo0, the Earth Stripe stole will be deliciously warm I think – it’s like knitting the cat. I may have said that before. It’s very light-weight for its size, but that’s not a bad thing: is that what you meant by “lighter”? Or were you talking about colour? My fear is that what with our warmer winters, my one won’t get much of an outing here in GB.

Your enthusiasm inspires me to think about Latvian mittens. They’d be a quick, fun project. I read someone on the Knitlist long ago who said she routinely knit single mittens, not pairs, and kept them in a basket by the door for family and visitors to employ as needed. That would work well at Burnside except that I’d have to knit a lot of them to get the show on the road. And it’s a bit late to get started, with everyone grown up and gone away and mostly visiting there only in the summer.

Thank you for the suggestions about VKB’s. I agree about not liking the idea of binding. I didn’t know about archival-quality sleeves, although it makes sense. At the moment I keep them in individual cheap plastic sleeves, in box files which must be pretty similar to standing pamphlet boxes. I like them like that.

No, Fishwife, I’ve never visited the Knitting and Crochet Guild. I’d love to. I’ve been a member for a long time. I tried to drop out once, because it seemed sort of expensive and the journal isn’t all that good, but I got a series of such pathetic letters saying why-haven’t-you-renewed that in the end I gave up.

Thanks to Helen for tracking down David Rudkin, the author of “No Title”. (She googled on “No Title Birmingham Rep”. I sent him a brief e-fan letter.) And for valuable off-comment suggestions about libraries as possible destinations for those VKBs.

We – by which I mean, this quadrant of Drummond Place – got no mail at all on Saturday. That’s no way to treat a woman expecting the winter IK. I take some comfort from the fact that Mar is waiting too – and she wrote the damn thing. And it also shows why I didn’t want VKB#1 simply to be entrusted to the ordinary mail.

6 comments:

  1. I started laughing about four minutes ago at the idea of you knitting the cat, and haven't been able to stop yet.

    Of course, you made such a success of knitting a ram that going on to other animals - indeed, a menagerie - makes perfect sense.

    xo

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  2. Anonymous12:44 PM

    I think it's worth looking into archival sleeves--or at least asking a good archivist what the ordinary ones are likely to do to the paper over time--this is now officially a Real Collection and needs proper care.
    I should note that we can always use mittens here in Connecticut, matched or otherwise. Likewise for Theo and Jenni in Colorado.

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  3. Anonymous3:45 PM

    I have used cheap plastic page cover sleeves (from the thrift shop) and some of them seemed fine, but one batch really were bad - I put colored printouts in them and they changed the colors within two weeks. Fortunately I could print another copy (not always possible, with websites vanishing). Of course I tossed the lot and bought archival ones (readily available here at Staples). The colors have remained stable for over a year now.

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  4. Our cat, Harvey Mudd, is shedding worse than the denim bag at the moment. If you think your stole could be a little 'hairier', I'm happy to donate some of his cloud.

    Between waiting for IK Winter and
    Yarn Summer and wondering whether the IK Holiday special edition will make it here, I'm working up to a Magazine Frenzy! No point in subscribing to O.S. magazines; we never get them before they hit the shelves here and that's usually 6 weeks after they've come out. I think someone has to swim across the Pacific with them. Perhaps a relay across Micronesia?

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  5. I can't believe I forgot about Guy Fawkes this year: I went to British elementary school "donkey's years" ago and can still recite, to the amusement of my family, the first verse of "Remember, remember, the 5th of November.." One year we Googled the man and it truly is an interesting story.

    Earth stripes -- sounds "better" today and probably what I need. I broke my arm months ago, and it was left alone, and it didn't heal properly. So I had surgery in London in May/June, and am still doing PT for the frozen shoulder aspects. It's coming along, but I can't tolerate any drafts on my upper shoulder, so I wear a shawl most of the time. And as we don't have a cat at the moment, the Earth stripes sound even more useful!!

    I finished all my ball winding and finding patterns for the balls, so I think I am set for the winter. There are a lot of mittens up on Ravelry now, so I obviously need to get going. Put it this way -- I can see the floor now in my office/sewing room, and ALL my yarn is organized-- quite a feat which took me two weeks! Maryjo

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  6. forgot to mention that people always appreciate mittens, and as I am sure you know, the best kind of project just to have sitting around waiting to be worked on anytime. And where I live ... it gets COLD! Maryjo

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