Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The Sensible Christmas Project is knit. Loose ends, seaming and blocking – or, at any rate, a pass with the steam iron – remain to be done. A devoted pupil of Franklin's, I know I must do the seam while sitting calmly at a table. I'll have another little look at his mattress stitch lesson this morning before I start.

Your comments about the Ravello pattern – Ravelry link yesterday – have reinforced my enthusiasm for it. I went back to Carol Sunday yarns to think about things. The link is not to her website but to a Knitter's Review article. I was interested to learn that she sells only to us, directly from the website. The gauge of her yarns is slightly – but only slightly – finer than that specified in the Ravello pattern. Something could be done with this.

(Sue, it was pinklemontwist's blog entry which Zite picked up yesterday and got me started on this whole business. I've just explored her blog, and sure enough! there's the Milano, looking very nice. Soul sisters, as you suggest. Kismet, maybe.)

(I was interested in your weather, Mary G. Texas has clearly been much colder than Edinburgh, these last few days. The newspapers told us there had been snow in Dallas. I don't remember that ever happening when I was a child – many long visits to Dallas-based grandparents – although I do remember frost. Is the grapefruit crop all right?)

(In fact, I am beginning to allow myself to feel slightly hopeful about our local weather. I can remember two very nasty winters specifically – '62-3, when Helen was born; and '10-'11, when my sister-in-law was dying, Both of those were in full swing in December. Of course, winter often doesn't get going until January. But by then the light is coming back and the snowdrops are trying to bloom and much can be endured.)

Today's excitement is that Archie is coming. His term is over, and he's going home to Athens for a few days before they all come back to Edinburgh for Christmas. I had hoped to go to Merchiston to pick him up this afternoon, but our car is with the body work people having (at last!) the damage repaired which was caused when that bus leaned on us in the spring. It's due back today, but I don't know when-today. I hope at least I will be able to drive Archie to the airport tomorrow.

On Boxing Day we're going to Loch Fyne, while the Greek family heads off to Strathardle. I think all I will want to do at that point is sleep (very comfortable beds, at Loch Fyne).


Today is the last, I think, of the little pleasures afforded by the millennium – the date is 11-12-13.

6 comments:

  1. Glad to hear that the car is at last being sorted. You went quiet on that point and I had begun to wonder whether it had been done but not mentioned, since it comes under the heading of "Housekeeping" The have taken their time to get around to it!

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  2. Anonymous4:10 PM

    If you write out the date in month/day/year order, US style, there's still 12/13/14 to enjoy next year.

    Here in California, for the past two weeks we have had temps about 20 degrees (Fahrenheit) lower than normal - that means below-freezing nights even where frost is unknown. Uncanny.
    -- stashdragon

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  3. Anonymous5:33 PM

    We didn't have any snow whatsoever, Jean. It was all frozen sleet, several inches thick, but looks white like snow on the ground. It is hard as a rock and very, very slippery. Since the sun never shone for 5 days, and the temperature remained below freezing the whole time, the ice remained very thick. Yesterday's sun helped begin the melting, but there's still a long way to go on it. Sheets of ice now falling from tall buildings have become a problem, and the television News showed a video of two cars, parked at the curb, being crushed by falling ice. Both cars were a total loss.

    I'm pretty sure that the Texas grapefruit crop was not harmed, since that is down in the Rio Grande Valley. The main area affected by this ice storm is Dallas-Fort Worth and surrounding counties. I've never seen thick ice last for this many days here in this area. Thank goodness, the sun is out again today, and the temperature is just above freezing.

    Mary G. in Texas

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  4. in the hudson valley we are starting winter (pre winter that is) with a bang... a few weeks of below normal temps and starting today very low temps in the teens the next three nights - close to record levels.

    a wee snow storm on tuesday just as everyone was heading into work... and then it sputtered out. another snow event this weekend? possible says my favorite weather guy - hudson valley weather on facebook.

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  5. =Tamar8:10 PM

    It's not just the millennium, it's the calendar system. There is no 13th month in our calendar, so after 12-13-14 we number enthusiasts will have to resort to skips (6-10-14, 10-12-14 ) and math (addition is most fruitful, multiplication less so). Addtion gives us
    2.10, 3.9, 4.10, 5.9, 6.8, 7.7, etc., multiplication gives us 2.7.14 and 7.2.14.

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  6. =Tamar8:35 PM

    Oops. I got some of the math wrong (all too frequently). 4.10, 5.9. Unless we reverse the calendar and go back in time.

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