Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Howzzat! for the new header. That’s Juliet, of course. Her grandmother Rachel has beautiful brown eyes. Neither my husband nor I do – so the gene must be recessive. Is that right? I can’t remember her father Thomas’s eyes.

I must at least add an email to the designer of the Dunfallandy blankie to my to-do list, however far down.

Yesterday was a bit better on the knitting front, not much.

I finished the back of the half-brioche sweater, and cast on the front. My mistake, I now see clearly, was abandoning the Sous Sous at a point where so much fiddle is needed. I can’t pick it up and just knit for comfort – and that (comfort knitting), for very much the most part, is what I need.

I’ve got to attach that 4-stitch edging to the back neck. And then cast off the front shoulders and sew them to the back shoulders – I have established, for my own purposes at least, that grafting won’t be possible. And then, counting carefully, choose the spot and pick up stitches for the sleeves. I should have done all that before I laid it aside. Now, it all seems too difficult whenever I contemplate it.

At least I did something yesterday.

And I have also seen Kate Davies’ list of designers for the Hap Shawl book. It was among my “Promotions” and I deleted it too hastily. They are all designers I know, or at least know of, and am interested in. This book is going to be seriously good.

Non-knit

Archie came around yesterday afternoon, briefly, after a dismal-sounding trudge through the hail trying to open a bank account. The best he could achieve was an appointment to see someone a day or two hence. He has a test today on King Lear. I mentioned my favourite line, Lear with Cordelia’s body in his arms, “Never, never, never, never, never” – iambic pentameter turned on its head into a string of trochees.


He didn’t know it, although he knew “Howl howl howl” from the beginning of the same brief scene. So I have added a few syllables to his store of possible quotations. 

23 comments:

  1. Jean - I was taught that brown is the dominant gene in terms of eye colour and blue is recessive. So, that should mean that blue eyed parents cant produce brown eyed children - although I am sure it is more complicated than that...

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    1. Looking at Juliet's picture again, her eyes look blue to me - that special almost navy blue eye colour that babies sometimes have...

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  2. Oh, Juliet looks absolutely delightful!

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  3. Wonderful picture of a gorgeous litte person! She already looks as though she is working on her sense of humour.
    In the dynasty I belong to, the brown eyes seem to be fairly dominant but there are quite a few exceptions that we can't explain. It's all too complicated - but at least surprises are more interesting than predictable.

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  4. Oh, Juliet looks both impish and clever in that photo. And that's a lovely blankie she's wrapped up in, too.
    I believe that brown eyes are dominant and blue eyes are recessive. From my early genetics training, brown eyes could be either BB or Bb, while blue eyes must be bb. So two blue-eyed parents would not be able to produce a brown-eyed child, while brown-eyed parents could produce either brown- or blue-eyed children. However, things are not often as simple in real life as they are in high school genetics, and if either you or your husband or both have grey, green, or hazel eyes that might be what makes the difference.

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  5. Agree with those posted above that brown eyes are supposed to be dominant. However, we watch a lot of BBC tv shows (better than what's offered here in the US) and one thing I've consistently noted is that the majority of the BBC actors are blue eyed. It would seem that a recessive gene would be less frequent in a population. And yet, my FIL has dark, chocolate brown eyes and all 4 of his children have the very light hazel eyes of my MIL.
    So there must be more to it that dominant/recessive.

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    1. Although he has brown eyes, your FIL must also have a blue/recessive gene too (we all have two genes for eye colour) and this explains how his children ended up with the eye colour of their mum (she cant have a brown gene)

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  6. The only thing I remember about all this was there were sweet peas involved. And that blanket is perfect for the brown-eyed sweet pea in the photo!

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  7. Both Juliet and the blanket are gorgeous!

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  8. What a cutie pie! And she's grown so much.

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  9. Anonymous2:45 PM

    Totally adorable. Chloe

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  10. Anonymous3:02 PM

    That line of five “never”s from King Lear is supposedly the harest one for actors to deliver. Something about making it meaningful in performance. It is a great line from a wonderful play.
    cheers,
    CKP

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  11. Gosh, as soon as your page opened, I saw that picture and just smiled and said " isn't she getting big already!" That is one precious little girl with a blanket that she is going to love for a long time! Regarding genetics, I actually do understand it, but it is more fun just being amazed. We have a blue eyed tow-head that people can't figure out-and I don't feel the need to mention how much she resembles my dad!

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  12. Just lovely! She looks so huggable wrapped in that sumptuous blanket. It's funny how our sous sous adventures parallel each other.... After all that frogging, I've lost much of my momentum, and it now seems like an enormous undertaking to set myself on the way to finishing... I've made more mistakes in the last 16 rows than I had in all the preceding knitting. I think I will have knit about three sous sous' by the time this one is complete. It is comforting to have you in my thoughts on this journey.

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  13. Little Juliet is so beautiful -- as is the blanket.
    As far as the genetics of eye color is concerned, it is much more complicated than most of learned in school. There are up to fifteen genes controlling the color (controlling both amounts of pigment and the way light is scattered). Almost any color or variation of color is possible. The number of people having a trait in a population is not determined for the most part by whether the trait is dominant or recessive. If blue eyes are the most common allele (form of a gene) than it will stay most common in a population unless it is selected against.
    King Lear, genetics, beautiful babies, and knitting...what more could one ask for?

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    1. Anonymous7:55 PM

      Yes, some of my favourite topics! What a bright look that bonnie bairn has.
      - Beth in Ontario

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  14. Lovely to see both the baby and the true colour of the blanket.

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  15. Knitsiam (aka Bonnie)5:42 PM

    What a lovely little one wrapped in hugs of love; a fine welcome to the site. Blanket is beautiful and, apparently, already cherished. Blessings...

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  16. I agree with the previous comments that brown eyes are generally thought to be dominant... but I have also been told that it's much more complicated than a simple dominant and recessive gene as we were all taught in grade school. Whatever the genetics, the effect is lovely. As is the blankie.

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  17. Lovely! Such a great photo of babe and blanket.

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