Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Plans shifted from hour to hour yesterday, spreading gloom and confusion in my heart. Unnecessarily. The most immediate problem is that my husband must have the remains of a broken tooth extracted on Friday afternoon which means among other things that we can’t join the Greeks in K*rkmichael until the next day. They’re landing in Edinburgh, so we should at least see them to say hello.

And they can get started picking red currants before we get there.

It sounds as if Greek Helen and I will have a car for 48 hours in CT. That’s thoroughly good news. We won’t have to hang around waiting for our lift while merriment goes on elsewhere, and we can leave and go home when jet lag requires. My brother-in-law is hiring a bunch of cars for wedding guests from a firm called Rent a Wreck. I’m not quite sure whether that is Roger being funny, or someone with a really good business idea.

I think the time has come to start a List. It should calm me down.

Let’s think about knitting – another calming influence.

I made some advances, yesterday.

I finished off the Princess, very clumsily. Unpicking waste yarn has never been among my talents, and that one was a nightmare, spiced with the constant anxiety that I would snip the working yarn in my irritation and haste. That didn’t happen, but the pick-up of the original first row was clumsy and in the end, lace-grafting be damned, I garter-stitch grafted the two ends together and there’s a visible line.

The moth repairs – there were two holes, in close conjunction – was even clumsier. The Princess can consider herself lucky I didn’t just darn her.

But it’s done, and I don’t think these clumsiness’s matter much in that sea of stitchery. I have put her away in a drawer for the moment, hoping to wash and block the day I get back from CT. Where do I go for acid-free tissue paper?

I’ve done a few more rows of the jabot, and concluded that it was Duchrow’s fault, not mine, that I kept finding myself a stitch short the day before. I think the admirable Judy Gibson warns of the danger of mistakes in the patterns, although I can’t find the passage. It happened during a section in which the jabot was increasing in size – we started with 11 stitches, and are adding more by fits and starts. For a while each row had balanced increases and decreases, but the designer then proceeded in the next row as if she had added a stitch in each repeat.

Once I grasped this – if, indeed, I did grasp it; the mistake may still be mine – I could put the missing stitch in where it belonged, instead of discovering its lack a few stitches later on and working an awkward kludge on the assumption that it was All My Fault.

The problem only lasted for a few rows. We’re now back on track.

On top of all this, I got some cardigan sleeve done, too. I’ve finished the second-sleeve increases.

14 comments:

  1. John Lewis always sold acid free tissue here "down south" Either in the paper/stationery section or in the craft areas, but it may have been all moved around now!

    ReplyDelete
  2. GrannyPurple12:09 PM

    Some dry cleaners may have acid free tissue (wedding gowns, for the storage of)

    ReplyDelete
  3. As usual, Amazon has the necessary - 25 sheets for £4 -bargain!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jean, "Rent a Wreck" has been around for ages here in the U.S. They have been reliable when I've used them in the past, although I expect that service varies from site to site and owner to owner. As I recall, the cars have never been obvious "wrecks," just older and more modest than the shiny new ones found at other rental agencies.

    We are leaving tomorrow for a wedding in southern Virginia that will be on the same day as yours in CT. I have also been finding lists a balm to my sanity, even though I don't have to fly on this trip. There will be enough driving to last me the rest of the summer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kristen has explained Rent a Wreck. I will just add that it always reminds me of that WC Fields movie where he wins a million dollars and uses it to buy cars that he uses to run 'road hogs' off the road. Road Rage Follies of 1932 and still funny.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I also was going to comment on Rent a Wreck. Everything seems to be coming together in this imperfect world. Have a good trip!

    ReplyDelete
  7. =Tamar2:34 PM

    Hooray! The Princess is complete!
    I wish your husband the best of luck with the dentist.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i too have used Rent a Wreck and the cars are just fine When I was in college we rented this fantastic blue station wagon for a road trip to Cape Cod for the weekend... again Kristen explained them petty well. Usually their rates are cheaper and they are one of the only companies that rents to people under 25.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I remember Rent A Wreck from when I lived in Detroit in the late '80's!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Do you think that you may go back and redo the graft?

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Princess can consider herself lucky I didn’t just darn her."

    Or damn her.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hester from Atlanta6:15 PM

    I agree with Kristen and the gang about Rent A Wreck - slightly older but perfectly functional cars - and cheaper than the regular agencies. Hope you have a grand trip.

    Congratulations on the Princess. I am sure you are delighted with it, yet feel somewhat in an empty nest syndrome. Best - Hester from Atlanta

    ReplyDelete
  13. I was wondering the same as FiberQat - whether after the wedding you'd find yourself in a different frame of mind and attempt to redo the graft.

    Are you going to place it back in the freezer for the time you're in the US?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I rented a vehicle from rent a wreck in Monticello New York about twenty years ago. Since I was the only one of our party of three who was over 21 at the time, I had to do the paperwork, and pay the money.

    I have to be honest with you, it was indeed a wreck. The guy made us go and have lunch while we waited for him to put the 'fender' back on. We fancied it to be like Blues Brothers' cadillac. But, my oh my, did we have five days of fun in that car!

    We slept in it at Yasger's Farm, where we pretended to know something about woodstock. We even drove it to Boston.

    Be the end of those five days, we loved our rent a wreck so much I swear I've got a photo of me sitting on the bonnet somewhere.

    The very phrase 'Rent a wreck' brings me many happy memories. I'm sure your rent a wreck will do the same for you!

    ReplyDelete