Saturday, February 20, 2010

Six more rounds of lice needed. The great thing about lice is that they make it utterly easy to ensure that the sleeves are of identical length. Two more sessions should do it comfortably. You may be sure that I’ll return to the ear-flap hat tomorrow. Even so, the Sweater Crisis should come next week. I am tempted to tiptoe in at night and unravel some sleeve, like Penelope.

Janet, I fear you may be right, that I am turning into a character out of Alexander McCall Smith. Scotland Street is just around the corner, as you probably know, and he often mentions Drummond Place. He uses the art galleries on Dundas Street -- why not the auction house in the other direction? And knitting would fit right in.

Here is our little picture. She is somewhat faded, and we have chosen a spot for her which the sun will never reach. We spend a lot of time, this time of year, when the sun is strong and comes in on the near-horizontal, running around closing south-facing curtains and shutters.


(The Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory maintain Cardinal Newman’s room as it was the day he died. It must be rather interesting; women weren’t allowed upstairs, in our day, and so I’ve never seen it. They invited my husband in once to advise on preservation, and the first thing he said was, close the curtains.)

Miscellaneous

A friend on Ravelry sent me this link, suggesting I try to do the same for Drummond Place. It is a wonderful idea, certainly to be added to the HALFPINT list.

I was there thinking about EZ’s Bog Jacket. It would have to wait until the yarn fast is over, because it definitely looks better in one or two solid colours, and that’s what I don’t have, in adult-garment quantities.

I have recently had a note over in Ravelry from Bridget Rorem herself, knowing how I admire her lacey alphabet – I used it last year to sign and date the Princess, and often before – and reminding me of her Lace Alphabets Scarf Sampler at the Schoolhouse Press. (Scroll down a bit.) It is certainly something one ought to have, if one thinks one might ever want to write anything in lace.

I’m glad I’ve got the Piecework where the alphabet originally appeared, however. If ever a wedding is in prospect at which my Princess could possibly be worn, I plan to send the bride a copy of the photograph of Bridget’s daughter (I presume it’s her) in her wedding dress, wearing the amazing shawl her mother knit, just to give some idea of how the Princess might work out in practice.

(I discovered while wandering around the Schoolhouse Press site looking for the Rorem link that they are soon to produce a Knitting Around DVD which will include the Bog Jacket.)

8 comments:

  1. JennyS8:37 AM

    Jean, I have a spare copy of the alphabet samplers leaflet if you would like it! You once sent me a leaflet and I would be glad to reciprocate.
    JennyS ( in the U.K.)

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  2. rosesmama12:37 PM

    I ordered the back issue of Piecework with the lace alphabet a few years ago at your suggestion. Now, of course, I have a subscription. It doesn't help in effort to rid the house of extra paper, but it is certainly interesting to anyone who likes history. Thanks for the nudge in that direction.

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  3. the picture is wonderful! what a charming lady.

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  4. Sister again. A comment for Janet.
    I like the Eye of the Leopard a lot; it's very real--but it's also 20 years old, maybe more; that's not a book he'd write today. Mankell is the Artistic Director of the Theatro Avenida in Maputo; we met him when we lived there and heard him speak several times. I wish he would write more about his more recent views of Mozambique.
    He turns out to have a very good web site: henningmankell.com. Have a look in particular at the video called "Plan" which was filmed in Uganda. There is lots of Mankell himself in it and he is wonderful.

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  5. Jean, have you seen the little green jacket that was reconstructed from an EZ sweater in an issue of the Twist Collective? (Maybe the fall issue I think?) That seems like it might be a fun challenge to knit, especially if you have any young women in your family-- and the style of the sweater is pretty classic. I have been eyeing it for a while. I thought that sweaters and south Texas don't mix (especially after spending a year in Oberlin, where sweaters were so welcome) but as it turns out, they don't heat the building here in the winter and it gets really cold in my office. (One of my colleagues, a theorist of religion, has a stack of heavy aran sweaters she brought from her native Canada that live in the office and she wears them in the cold months.) Anyway the Green sweater (I think it is called- it is on the Schoolhouse Press page under patterns) looks like it might be a fun knit.

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  6. Anonymous10:03 PM

    Many congrats on getting your picture - she does look lovely. And glad Janet made the Scotland Street comment - I think of you when I read the books, and vice versa. Really don't care for his other series, but I love those ones - I'm really caught up in the characters.
    - Beth in Toronto

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  7. i love the designs made by the woman of the little jacket with the houses. She has patterns for zebra mittens - 1 zebra on 2 mittens.

    anxiously waiting for the finishing of the sweater. how are these kangaroo pouches being changed into the neckline?

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  8. =Tamar3:07 PM

    I just looked again at the picture. No doubt I've read too much fantasy, but suddenly that headdress combined with her hair looked like a wolf-head and -skin cloak! I like it, by the way.

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