Thursday, February 12, 2009

Rarely if ever can an non-knit topic have been brought so neatly around to knitting:


It is undated and unpriced – the latter information would have let us know whether it was before or after decimalization. I think late '60’s, though, rather than early '70’s. Note the cigarette. I never knit the pattern. And I am quietly proud of the fact that it took me considerably less than five minutes to dig it out of the cupboard yesterday.

I never saw nor was even aware of Mr Campion on television. Davison would be a perfect choice. I think there was once an attempt to cast Richard Briars as Lord Peter Wimsey – that would be a disaster. Briars can do the upper-class silly-ass aspect, but not highly-bred-as-a-racehorse nor the steel-trap mind.

Since I’ve started with literature, I might as well go straight on to today’s Kindle news, which isn’t good. Jan sent me an item from PC Magazine explaining why it isn’t available over here. Firstly, because it uses a Sprint modem which is only compatible with the US network, and secondly, because all the contracts with publishers would have to be renegotiated.

A firm with the clout of Amazon could get over the second hurdle, I am sure. The majority of books in English are published both in the US and in Britain, which gets things off to a good start, and in these hard times publishers would be only too delighted to have a new revenue stream. But the modem is bad news, and strongly implies that if I got one in the States I wouldn’t be able to call down reading material from the ether over here.

Still, I have great faith in eCommerce, as I’ve mentioned before. And we’ve still got five months.

Princess

I am knitting row 43 of 46 – I could finish the 10th repeat today! Pic tomorrow, if so.

I spotted a fairly horrendous hole in the border yesterday, presumably one of the ones which prompted me to keep the Princess in the freezer during the months of inaction. I think it has to be moth rather than the lace-knitter’s other nightmare, the escaped stitch from a double decrease, because I can see yarn-ends. I’d better pin it out on a cushion and deal with it soon.

In an object of this scale, it won’t matter too much, if I can do a reasonably tidy repair. It’ll even add a note of antiquity. But it seemed for a moment an image of all life – the beginning falling into corruption even as the work proceeds. I had a dreadful moment of wondering whether the whole thing was riddled with moth holes, but I shook it out and looked – no, it’s not.

14 comments:

  1. Richard Briers as Lord Peter! Ian Carmichael was pretty bad but Richard would have been worse. The one and only Lord Peter is Edward Petherbridge, pity he wasn't able to do them all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:31 AM

    3 thoughts, in order:

    Peter Davison had the look, but didn't capture Campion's deceptive air of fatuity. ( fatuousness?)

    The Kindle does not download from the ether anywhere outside of the US, but does download through the USB port of your computer. You just need a USB cable. It's not a problem. There are parts of the US where I could not download from the air as well, like coastal Maine.

    Lastly, but not least....Princess. EEEK!!!! Good luck on fixing the hole, and kudos on having the wisdom to put the shawl in your freezer, which probably prevented worse damage. You can always look at it as verification that you have the ability and experience to deal with the issue, and the knowledge that comes with years of knitting.

    Cynthia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow. I like both those sweaters very much. What is the pattern number in the upper right corner, in the hope that I can somehow find a used copy? I can make out the "5"...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good morning Jean,
    For years I have been trying to track down one of "Tristan's" designs. My son has been after me to knit him a replica.
    I know the feeling when you see a hole in your lace that shouldn't be there. I just finished a lace stole out of Malabrigo Lace weight.(www.nant-y-gloneedles.blogspot.com) Whilst it was drying the wool snapped in two places. I did not have it blocked out tightly either. My poor husband came running when I let out a shriek of horror. I have grafted the holes now so all is well. suffice it to say i won't use that wool again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I heard this on my drive home yesterday and thought of you.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100584020

    It seems the publishing industry is moving a lot slower than the music industry did when it comes to e-commerce.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1:00 PM

    The publishing industry is moving slower but individual authors are jumping to ecommerce as to a life preserver. Self-publishing is becoming a norm.

    What an astonishing difference between the two iterations of the pullover, just by switching the colors.

    I thought Davison did a good job as Campion, but then I hadn't read the stories so I had nothing to compare. I thought he was one of the better Doctors but had the worst scripts.

    ReplyDelete
  7. (Sister again) I think I heard the same NPR story--the big news to me is that publishers and booksellers HATE the Kindle because of the fact that all downloads must come from the Kindle site, like itunes. There is speculation that this won't last and the publishers are certainly not going to be kind in renegotiating. Check out the Sony Reader which is on an open platform. You can do your own search but I did find a good comparison here:
    http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/11/amazon-kindle-v.html

    Also it sounds like other people, including Apple, are noticing the Kindle's attractiveness so there may be more competitors soon.

    And just for the record Old Saybrook has an excellent library and a very good second hand bookstore full of things you might want to read.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3:24 PM

    Hi Jean -
    Thanks for posting the knitting pattern with Tristan on the cover. Takes me back to the days when my whole family would watch All Creatures Great & Small.

    Maybe we should start a Peter Davidson group on Ravelery? (ha ha!)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have a rather fancy mobile (Palm Treo) and I added some free software (ereader) that can read ebooks. You can pick up older Palms quite cheaply on Ebay and just transfer the books via USB/cradle. I am currently reading "Little Women" which was free because it is out of copyright. So there are alternatives to the Kindle - the Palm is also a mini organiser and you can add games and all sorts to it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I only know Davison from 'All Creatures', though I expect that's not surprising.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think it must be later than it looks, as Peter Davison was still at school in the late 60s, and didn't appear on television until 1975. He's always been rather timeless though.

    One of my lesser claims to fame is that I went to school with a distant cousin of his.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:40 PM

    I recently read that Peter's daughter is dating David Tennant. So Daddy was Dr. Who, and now so is her boyfriend!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous6:47 PM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:28 AM

    Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
    Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!

    ReplyDelete