Monday, January 16, 2012


Again, very little to report.

Here is a first pic of the Sky Scarf – and I get to award myself another percentage point today! I introduced a new refinement this morning – the sky was essentially a pale blue, another cold, fine day in the making. But translucent in the east, and with a few pink clouds in the west. What one knits every day is in fact two rows, one garter stitch bump, using two yarns together.  This time, I changed translucence for pink at the halfway point.


That dark blue at the beginning is a pre-dawn reading, made while Helen was here. She wanted me to do it at 8 a.m. every day. I am sliding towards 8:30. Presumably as the light strengthens and spring approaches, there will be more and stronger blues.

As for the sock, the gusset decreases are finished and I am Oliver’ing along.

Zite came up with a couple of knitting podcasts this morning. Both were a quarter of an hour long, “The Pauly Knits” and “Knitting Samurai”. Both were episodes in on-going series, and both started so slowly, with the presenters hard-pressed (it seemed to me) to fill up the time they had allowed themselves, that I never got to the knitting in either of them. I think I prefer prose, but I am willing to be confounded. Can anyone recommend a podcast?

Zite’s other contribution this morning was an interesting post from knittingyarn.com about vintage patterns, including a link to the Vintage Purls website where choice out-of-copyright patterns can be downloaded free.  Knittingyarn.com goes on to recommend the new second volume of “A Stitch in Time”. I am tempted.

Were people really all that much smaller 70 years ago? Or did designers just design for the Duchess of Windsor and expect everyone else to be able to adapt the patterns? Extreme slimness is very conspicuous in early Vogue Knitting Books.

Non-knit

The tax is ready to roll, I hope. I logged on to the government Gateway site yesterday, just to make sure I still could. “Tayside00” and the name of one’s cat won’t do as UserID and Password when one is dealing with the government.

The operation with the car went smoothly yesterday. The cathedral is not far away, it’s just that it’s uphill. We left 20 minutes before the off, and that was time to drive my husband up, bring the car back, and walk up myself.

Shandy, you are right that it would be sensible to call a taxi, but it goes against the grain. All our prosperity in old age is owed to the fact that we never take taxis. (Follow that link for a fascinating post from Shandy about samplers, and an account of as bizarre an accident as you are ever likely to hear of.)

6 comments:

  1. I too have looked longingly at Stitch in Time volume 2. The good news is that the patterns are multi-sized, some up to a 50"-52" chest. Ample!

    P.S. Have started blogging again after an absence of more than 2 years!

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  2. oh my goodness, there are some wonderful knitting podcasts. The grandmother of them all is lovely Brenda Dayne's "Cast On" I think she was the first, and still remains one of the consistently best. Start with #1:
    http://cast-on.com/listen/

    then there are several others I continue to like: Stash and Burn:
    http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/stash-and-burn/id214551727
    and Double Knit:
    http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/doubleknit/id280016705?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

    there are several more I can post to you. Let's Knit Together does a lovely video podcast.

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  3. i listen to several podcasts, I especially like the ones with a book review section.

    Charminglochie
    I like her book reviews at the end
    http://charminglochie.blogspot.com

    sticksandstring from Australia
    a bloke who knits, discusses books and includes nice music selections
    http://sticksandstring.wordpress.com/

    Knit Knit Cafe - mother and son no books as a regular feature but discuss yarn choices, techniques, problems and fixes
    http://knitknitcafe.blogspot.com/

    theknitgirllls - friends who spin and knit and do great revirws of new knitting books and patterns
    http://www.theknitgirllls.com

    knitmoregirls mother daughter knitters
    who discuss knitting problems and solutions and review pattern designs and books
    http://knitmoregirls.blogspot.com

    ... more podcasts list - http://knittingpodcast.blogspot.com/

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  4. I know what you mean about the "small" sizes of "long ago" - very discouraging to some of us!

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  6. Anonymous11:58 PM

    Another vote for Cast-on. You'll have in common that she's another American transplanted to the UK via marriage (or the equivalent!)

    Judith in Ottawa

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