Thursday, September 08, 2016

I enjoyed my day off – oh, boy! did I enjoy it – but now it’s over and life resumes, which is the essential difficulty with days off. I heard no news from Alexander, which I can take to mean that he found my husband much as expected.

I got the downloading, etc., done and have just dispatched the scans to NY, ready for the start of their day. So that’s done – if I’ve done it right.

And I got a bit further forward with the Uncia. I’m finding it very difficult. I haven’t yet tried enlarging the chart – after all this scanning, that should be trivial. I don’t remember that even the Princess shawl involved this much anxious peering. At the moment, I am alternating a right-side and a wrong-side row, each the same as before. (Except – watch out – an increase row looms not far ahead.)  I have learned a certain amount about them, but there’s still a lot of peering to be done.

But I remember that I had done something like 50 repeats of the Princess shawl edging before I had memorized the pattern. There must have been a lot of anxious peering involved that time.

It would be nice to get the Uncia to the point where I could attempt television.

Other Knitting

I’ve heard from the Feral Knitter that her book is about to be dispatched. I am really giving some thought, in these troubled times, to the breaking up of our house: which will mean deciding, amongst an infinity of other things, which knitting books and which cookbooks to take along into my brief future. Other books pile up in the clouds, thanks to the Kindle app on my iPad.

But nothing is more difficult than to stop accumulating knitting books and cookbooks.

Art

You’re right, jeanfromcornwall, that Alexander’s pipe (Tuesday’s post and comment) is facing the opposite way from Magritte’s. There are several possible explanations:

                Alexander got it wrong.

                Alexander intended it as a comment: this, after all, is a pipe.


                A couple of years after he gave it to my husband, the pipe got unstuck. We took it to our local framer-restorer and tried, I think unsuccessfully, to explain it. But he put it back together for us, solidly. He may have been the one to turn it around.

8 comments:

  1. It's interesting to consider the pipe. After all, it is something to do with surrealism, or a statement, or something . . . .
    Whatever it is, it has caused a lot of us to stop and ponder. Pass a mirror, somebody!

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  2. Don't rush into breaking up your house. You may find (as I did) that there is comfort in the familiar. But it is lovely to have things to look forward to. Decluttering can be very therapeutic :)

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  3. Although breaking up your house may well be looming, you can still enjoy the here and now. Glad you had a good day off.

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  4. Anonymous1:35 PM

    Everyone needs a day off from time to time, especially in high stress periods. Glad you could find one this week!
    LisaRR

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  5. Anonymous2:18 PM

    It seems to me one of the Ravelers found working from the written instructions to be easier than the charts. Or maybe you tried that and found it didn't work for you? chloe

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  6. I've been using a couple of knitting books on my ipad, and I am surprisingly pleased with the experience. I still need to print out a page to stick in the project bag, however.

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  7. Anonymous9:08 PM

    Lingering thought in my mind from previous Comment - in your 80s, Jean, haven't you earned the right to every day as a day off, and given your circumstances, since life is never perfect, shouldn't you feel justified in actually grabbing the occasional day, instead of maybe feeling that that is all you are "entitled" to? I may be misreading your feelings but so often we women take on a sense of responsibility that no man would in the same situation and I hate to see that happen. At least, I hope you are planning and scheming for that NEXT day off! Chloe

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  8. Anonymous9:11 PM

    I meant MY previous comment, not the actual previous commenter's. Sorry. Chloe

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