Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Rachel’s younger son Joe – the Grandson, of the Grandson Sweater -- embarks on life’s third decade today. It’s the only birthday-ending-in-zero for which there is no specific card on sale, at least at John Lewis. Happy Birthday, Joe, anyhow.



Well. Franklin. Dawn’s comment yesterday says it all, a good deal more neatly than I am about to.

How could this be? He has been promised as a star turn to Knit Campers for the last seven months or so – plenty of time for a double-booking to come to light. Even Franklin doesn’t have that many overseas gigs. Passports and travel plans would have to be in hand before now. He must be in touch with lots of people – including the camp organisers themselves – who would occasionally say, See you in Stirling. Dawn’s hypothesis is the only possible explanation.

If the double-booking was made this year, surely he would honour the earlier commitment?

The substitution, Mary Jane Mucklestone, is brilliant. The organisers did well to get such a big name, and such an appropriate one, at short notice. If I were interested in learning how to photograph fabric, everything would be fine. But since I am interested in being taught how to photograph fabric by Franklin Habit, I’m out of luck and out of pocket. Similarly, Dawn, who I am sure can knit a tomten with one hand tied behind her.

Which day is your cable class, Dawn? Can we meet when I’m there for Japanese knitting on the Thursday? It will be easier for me in many ways to take only one day away from domestic responsibilities. That’s a plus.

Life

I continue to wrestle with my new broadband connection. Specifically, to try to find my email. I tried your suggestion, Judith, but soon ran up against the now-familiar stone wall. I tried sending a message to myself as drump at btinternet dot com from Googlemail. It bounced back with the message that there is no such address at btinternet.com.

Maybe things will settle down after a few days. I have emailed the BT help desk. Eventually I may have to phone them.

Yesterday’s event, lunch with a friend, was very pleasant. Today’s is an unusual one – a young woman with a recording machine is coming to interview my husband about his memories of the founding of the Association of Art Historians in which he was closely involved. We’ll have to offer lunch, although we hope she’ll go away. Piperade, I think, into which extra eggs can be incorporated if need be at the last moment.

Knitting

What with one thing and another, I am still a couple of rows short of the top of the first rank of Green Granite Blocks on the right front.

9 comments:

  1. Maybe you should email (or send a Ravelry message) Franklin and let him know how disappointed you are.
    He may like to hear from those who were looking forward to his class.

    Sorry to hear of your mail woes! Do you need the BTI email? Maybe you can just skip it and only use the gmail account. They can be set up to send out or receive as any number of accounts.

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  2. I would call (about the email) myself. I came home from being on the road for a month and my email, cable TV and land line (all of which are hooked up by the same company) were not working properly and I called and bugged the customer service people 2-3 times over a few days and the problems were resolved pretty quickly. I find that calling always works best. It makes them hard to miss you. :)

    I am sorry about all the KnitCamp chaos.... that is disappointing to say the least.....

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  3. Anonymous2:26 PM

    LOL! i have to say, this is my favorite blog! Who is that handsome 21 year old? LOL!
    Keep up the good work! :0p
    21! ho hum! ;0)

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  4. Jean - lunch for the Art Historians - that is just so Alexander McCall Smith - you should team up. Be sure to knit as part of the scene.

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  5. Dawn in NL7:26 PM

    Hello Jean,

    I will be in Stirling Thursday afternoon (class is 2-5). I have also booked for Ravelry on Saturday. I will be in Scotland the whole week and I am taking Mum back with me for the week afterwards. It would be lovely to meet up as some point.

    The strange thing about Franklin's cancellation is that I was sitting in (well, near) Chicago on a business trip when I read it and I just wished I could call him up and invite myself for a cuppa.

    Still disappointed,
    Dawn

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  6. Gail (nosenabook)8:07 PM

    I'm sorry about Franklin not being at your event, I was pleased we'd have something in common. (I took Franklin's photography class in my hometown, and was just as excited to go as you were. It was great fun, and I did learn a couple of very useful things about my camera.)

    Possibly Dolores has taken the piggy bank and gone on a spree, leaving no funds for trips, even wonderful teaching trips.

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  7. I meant to add the Grandson sweater looks terrific on its intended recipient!

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  8. Anita5:23 AM

    Hello Jean - I saw this on Ysolda's blog so perhaps something similar occurred?

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  9. I'm sorry Jean the link to Ysolda Teague's blog didn't work when I posted my comment - but if you look for her blog, she writes that she pulled out because she was unable to agree on contractual arrangements with the Knit Camp organisers.

    Perhaps this is what happened with Franklin?

    (PS I love reading your blog!)

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