Saturday, February 14, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day all round!

My remarkable facility with garter stitch continues. I turned the square around on 62 stitches, and so far the declining edges look as neat and satisfactory as the ascending ones. It should be ready for dispatch to London by Monday. This is the Rowan Cotton Glace version of the Pocket Square, mentioned yesterday.

The new IK shows several buttonless cardigans, hanging free with 4”-6” of wearer visible between the edges. They look very neat and comfortable – but does it work? Or does such a garment slip off the wearer's stooped and care-worn shoulders?

And that's about it, for knitting. In the absence of Zite – gone with the iPad – I've been catching up on long-unread blogs. Both the Harlot and Annie Modesitt seem to be in good nick. Best of all, the Socklady, miles from anywhere, moose in the yard and wolves howling at night, no salad for weeks when she is snowed or iced in as at present, living alone and knitting those amazing socks. Sometimes the links in my sidebar don't seem to work so I've put one in the text.

Someone needs to explain to me what “negative interest” is.


I am making a Vietnamese pho chicken soup from a recipe in one of my magazines. Yesterday I poached a whole small organic chicken for ten minutes and then left the pot in the spare room for the rest of the day to cool. Today I am bringing it back to the boil – lovely crystal-clear broth, but the chicken is far from tender. Today it is to simmer for half an hour. Then it must cool again. It is only on the third session that one cuts up the chicken and adds flavouring and finally ingredients (noodles, bean sprouts). Good fun.

15 comments:

  1. skeindalous11:22 AM

    My understanding of 'negative interest' is that one pays a bank to hold one's funds, keeping them 'safe', at a small cost! The mason jar buried in the back yard seems equally appealing.....

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  2. I have very broad shoulders, and that style slips off mine every time. Unless I am posing. IF that is how Pho is made, then the $9 bowl I buy in the restaurant is a bargain! Let us know how it turns out.

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  3. Ellen1:45 PM

    I have several sweater like that, and they don't slip off my narrow, sloped shoulders. The secret is that the neckline and shoulders still have to fit; if the neckline is too wide, off it will go.

    Perhaps this is the time to dust off that new Mac book that your family got you and power it up. The working of the Macbook and of the Ipad are almost the same...even I can do it, and registered to the same apple account, you should be able to access everything that was on the iPad.

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  4. Thanks for the shout out about my blog, have had 32 hits directly your blog to mine, wonderbar. About to play with Koigu and make more wild & crazy gloves.

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  5. Anonymous3:46 PM

    Happy Valentine's Day Jean! Your husband is right. You do have a lot to answer for.

    I have decided that I must go out and buy my first iPad!

    The problem is there are apparently around 56 variations. Do I go for an iPad mini or the bigger one? Do I go for black or white? Do I need high spec memory (I suspect not as thing can be stored in the cloud). Do I need a case or a sleeve? Some people advocate getting a brightly coloured case so it is less easily mislaid but I care too much about the aesthetics of things.

    Anyway, I am going to have fun choosing. I already have a MacBook Air so shouldn't be too difficult to grasp.

    Have you thought that the hat may have been under your bed for a long time and it was pushed out from under the bed by the vacuum cleaner (or maybe not if there is no space under your bed).

    Jan, North Yorks

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    1. Anonymous3:49 PM

      Oh, do I need fingerprint recognition for an extra £80?

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    2. If you are over 40, go for the regular iPad. The Mini is a bit small for aging eyes.
      Don't bother with the fingerprint - a 4 digit code will work nicely.
      Get a snap on case. Better protection than a sleeve, and easier to use. The brighter the colour, the better. Harder to misplace if it's fluorescent orange.

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    3. Anonymous11:06 AM

      Thanks Mary Lou. That confirms one of my queries. My eyes are not great and are getting worse! I am over 40 and 50! I would use it a lot with Ravelry and would definitely like to use it for knitting patterns - seems knitters are divided on the issue of size...........

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  6. A definition off google - Here's how to make sure your next knit is just right. ... can be made with positive ease (larger than the body) or with negative ease (smaller than the body) - so refers to looseness or tightness of the knitted garment.

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  7. Jan, if i may be so bold, i have both sizes and love and use the mini ipad MUCH more than the larger one. I have the last versons, not the newest one. They are both fine. As for memory - it really depends on whether you get the cellular version - in which case you will be able to access the cloud from anywhere you have cellular access - however you will be paying the data charges. i have the wireless only versions - but i always in spots with wireless when i use them (dont commute for long times) If you have a long commute you may want to consider a hotspot from your iphone if you have one - then you dont need to spend the extra money for the cellular version.

    so if you get the wireless version - you may want to have more memory so that you can download items to read/listen/watch when you are not able to get wireless.

    so then it really depends on how much extra you want to spend on the memory - the old saying in the IT Pro world is that you should buy the MOST memory you can afford at the time. you will ALWAYS want more memory.

    I adore my mini ipad - find i read SO much more than i did prior to getting it - even without a long commute. its just so easy to carry and use. my iPad is good for use at my desk or if i want to write in an outside space. btw i purchased a fabulous keyboard/cover that makes the iPad more like a small laptop. as the iPad is larger and heavier (at least my model) it works best for me as more of a laptop.

    one more thing - i recently was gifted a chromebook - which i really like - its a different animal but useful in its own way. i am not suggesting a chromebook as an alternative but its another option to the larger iPad. obviously its a different OS but has things to recommend it.

    anyway... good luck and have fun with which ever you choose!

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    1. Anonymous6:30 PM

      Ooh, thanks so much Southern Gal! You have raised some important things I hadn't even considered so I'm glad I asked. My daughter has the iPad mini and loves its portability and uses it much more than her phone and her laptop.

      I'll try not to be too impulsive and will think a while about how I am going to use it.

      Thanks for the advice.

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    2. Anonymous2:37 AM

      I had a second generation ipad and found it too heavy and too large to fit in my purse. Have since spoiled myself with an ipad mini retina (of the generation just before the most recent) and LOVE IT. It is light enough to be really portable and large enough to read anything, even if I have to use the pinch gestures to enlarge text. I use it for knitting patterns, Zite, all the mod cons.

      Judith in Ottawa

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    3. Anonymous11:01 AM

      Thanks Judith. It seems the mini has the vote of two knitters and I was especially concerned about being able to look at patterns!

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    4. I also use my mini more than the heavier iPad. And I love that the mini takes up less room in my bag/purse.

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  8. Happy Valentine's Day to you Jean. Reading you each morning has become part of my morning ritual to start the day. Hope you treat yourself to some lovely goodie today!

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