Sunday, April 26, 2009

Princess

I’m well forward with the garter stitch rows that finish off the centre – I should have them dispatched this week, the stitches threaded onto waste yarn, and the top edging begun. It has occurred to me that when it comes to that moth hole, the damage seems to be confined to the original edging. I may be able to take back a whole repeat and re-knit it and lace-graft it to what follows. At that point the edging pattern will be to the forefront of my aging brain, and I will have mastered lace-grafting to finish off the top edging.


Dreams of glory. At least when I have done half a dozen repeats of the top edging, I will have a real sense of how much longer the job is going to take. I doubt if I can finish before I have to stop – July 1 at the latest – and finish the Adult Surprise for my Games entry, but at least I should know where I'm going.

Other

Thanks for the help on “Knitting and Tea”. Mary Lou I’ve got patterns for cricket sweaters all right – it’s just that I fancied that one, and hoped for a moment that the whole book was devoted to the subject. The more so because in a proper, full length test match, play pauses in the afternoon for the “tea break”. Cricket is the only sport with that feature.

(Thank you for the quotation from Pepys!)

Judith, wasn’t it you who was knitting from a Jane Waller book during our happy afternoon at I Knit recently? I meant to order it when I got back here – too heavy to buy that day and carry back – but I haven’t done it. Now I’d better add the men’s volume to my mental list.

Non-knit

I think I may have solved my wedding outfit problem. I am going to wear an old dress for the wedding itself – one that was made for the wedding of one of our own children, years ago. I want something for travel, for breakfast-on-the-beach, for the rehearsal dinner, and for hanging-out.

I walked the length of George Street the other day, looking dispiritedly into the smart shop windows. Even at Jaeger, if skirts were shown at all, they were knee-length, and the styles totally unsuited to old age. Then I found East, which I had never heard of. I think all four of the needs just mentioned can be dealt with by means of a basic dark skirt with an Indian jacket, shirt and scarf. Best of all, I can plan and covet on-line and then walk back up to George Street and see and try the actual things.

So I’ve put the Gray and Osbourn catalogues on the out pile. That’ll teach them to ask for an “issue number” for credit cards.

3 comments:

  1. I think the Yarnery has the book and I was underwhelmed, but I check tomorrow night when I go in to teach. The hole in the border is a little sad, but will be unnoticeable once you mend it, I'm sure.

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  2. Yes I'm the fan of Jane Waller's books and like the old pattern formats translated into present day patterns. It is also fun to suddenly spot a pattern that my mother or grandmother once knitted years ago. The book I was using at I knit is this new book http://www.knitonthenet.com/stitchintime/
    Knit on the Net has lots of good articles about old patterns and one about Jane herself
    http://www.knitonthenet.com/issue2/features/janewaller/

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  3. My heart just about stops when I see that hole. I've learned from your experience - freeze the project while not working on it.

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