Saturday, June 12, 2010

World Cup

We are not interested in football.

At the moment, around here, that feels like being given a whole extra month of life. My sister and her husband will be here next week – I will ask her how it felt actually to be standing on African soil yesterday and not be interested in football.

However, today is an exception. A recent New Yorker article about the “Miracle on Grass” – the day, 60 years ago, when the USofA beat mighty England – has kindled a temporary interest. I think the article said (we left it behind in Perthshire) that the two teams have not played each other from that day to this. The Queen (not personally, I don’t suppose) has added her touch by giving an MBE in this morning’s Birthday Honours List to the 90-year-old sole survivor of that game. And our goalkeeper is a New Jersey man.

So we’ll be watching, and cheering for the underdog.

Knitting

Here are the Green Granite Blocks. Somehow they look more three-dimensional in photography than they do in real life. I’m very pleased.


Here’s the back – I hope I am leaving enough percentage points, as I advance my Progress Bar, for the clean-up at the end. No joke, with Kaffe. But the point of this picture is to let you see, to some extent, I hope, how the new system – butterflies for the larger patches of colour – has produced somewhat fewer ends, in the second rank of blocks.


I got out Kaffe’s “Pattern Library” yesterday. There are, after all, some things I’d like to do. Divide the left-overs into two piles, and knit the famous Persian Poppies or Earth Carpet? Both from “Glorious Knitting”, I think. Or three, and go for almost anything else? That would have to be far in the future, either way.

Magazines

I got an awfully nice note from Wendy yesterday, asking what British magazines I would recommend. Golly. I’m not sure, a la fin fine, if I wouldn’t now agree with my friend Helen C.K.S. and choose the Rowan magazine and leave it there. Far and away the best for design; good articles, too. It’s expensive, and of course limited to Rowan yarns, but on the other hand appears only twice a year.

I still subscribe to Knitting – the one the Curmudgeon has said is the best mag on either side of the pond. I’m always glad to see it on the mat, but I’d drop it pretty quickly if I had to cut back. Looking her up for that link, I read the Curmudgeon’s enthusiasm for Verena, of which I’ve never heard. Hmm.

Like Wendy, I read The Knitter once and it was sort of impressive in its expensive way, but not enough to make me yearn for – or even look for – the next issue.

How often do I knit from a magazine? Almost never, with the VK Chevron Scarf as an interesting exception, this year.

When I was young, the Vogue Knitting Book was all there was. Its twice-yearly appearances were Events. These last ten years, I’ve been swamped with knitting magazines. Delicious at first, but I wonder if it’s not time to pull back.

5 comments:

  1. While I wouldn't say I am interested in "football", I am in Africa and so spent yesterday evening in the hotel bar with a lot of cheerful folks, mostly men. The first goal was a great triumph and I was sad to see Mexico score the tie. Still, it was a memorable evening. I doubt though that I will stay up for US/England since I leave very early tomorrow.
    Helen

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  2. I think the internet has shifted the landscape regarding knitting magazines.
    There are so many websites with free patterns (Knitty) and so many free patterns available through Ravelry, a magazine doesn't seem to have the same impact.
    I don't feel any compulsion to keep up on knitting magazines these days. I would rather make the scarf recommended by a Norwegian blogger, or an easier sock from Knitty.
    On the very rare occasion I do buy a pattern, it is because I read others' recommendations on line and liked the finished products I saw online.
    I do borrow an issue of Interweave Knits from my mother once or twice a year, but I don't wait for its arrival.

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  3. Anonymous2:52 PM

    Unlike your sister, everyone here was thrilled to see Mexico score the tie. I don't watch sports on television but I do go to the local field (and it is a field) to watch some on Sunday afternoons.
    Your sweater is absolutely beautiful and I now know what people mean when they say "The wow factor". The colours just butt up to their neighbours with such wonderful results. Even the band blends together so well. I am looking forward to seeing this develop.
    Ron in Mexico

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  4. Donice2:52 PM

    I find myself enjoying Piecework magazine more than magazines with patterns, and have let most of those subscriptions expire. The historical articles in Piecework, and the occasional pattern, usually pique my interest. I still get SP's Woolgathering, just because.
    The KF sweater progress looks wonderful.

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  5. In Australia we also have to put up with "Australian Rules" and "Rugby League" as well as the football (known here as "soccer").
    The simple solution has been to turn the television set off!

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