Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Very little, today.

I didn’t feel entirely up to snuff yesterday, and accomplished little as a result. Today looks like a normal day – according to the New Norm – and I hope for better. Starting with some Uncia-knitting this morning.

I progressed down the foot of the second Whiskey Barrel sock yesterday, during the hospital visit. I’ve already forgotten how many rounds there are in the foot, and will soon be reduced to counting the first sock. I wound the second skein of the yarn during the presidential debate, so I’m ready to join it in today.

Karen, thank you for spotting that the Vintage Shetland Project is now to be published in December – just in time for Christmas! Gosh! That’s not worth much, without estimates of how much work remains to be done and how much poor Susan thinks she’ll be capable of, and when. There’s no news in the Vintage Shetland Project thread of the Susan Crawford Vintage Designs group on Ravelry.

I hope “pre-order” on the website doesn’t mean that she’s still taking money.

Potato-digging


What you people need – anyone who’s interested in potatoes – is an Oriental Gardening Tool. The link is to a blog from some years ago. From it, you ought to be able to find a source. It’s a tool that puts you in touch with tillers of the soil through the millennia, the way it fits into your hand. I gave one to Alexander for Christmas once, and he said thank you but he didn’t think it would be much use because he didn’t do much gardening on his knees. Three or four months later, he asked where I’d bought it: Ketki wanted one of her own.

11 comments:

  1. I'll look for one of those for Christmas. Thanks. We use a spading fork and generally end up piercing a few.

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  2. So you grubbed potatoes on your hands and knees?
    On a different point, is there any chance that you could share your method of dealing with the Uncia charts? I am finding it very hard to recognise the difference between some of those symbols. Can this be a style of pattern unique to Lucy Hague, or is she working from a new tradition in, say Japanese lace patterns? If she invented some of those complex crossing stitches herself, I am lost in admiration.

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    1. if you have problems with the less common symbols, why don't you enlarge the chart and mark those that bother you with colour markers - if you work through the chart before knitting that should make it easier? not sure that Lucy Hague used special symbols, I have seen most of them before...

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  3. Oh dear, "Oriental"? I didn't think that word was still in use in that context. The retailers should definitely use a less sensitive name.

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    2. That is just ridiculous!

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  4. Peggy, it's a traditional Oriental tool. Give me a break . . .

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  5. That's some tool! Thank you!

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  7. I seem to remember that my weeder , purchased online, was called a Korean Weeder.

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  8. For North Americans a good source for the Ho-Mi digger is Lee Valley Tools. I've had mine for about 20 years and it's my go-to for almost any soil moving task.

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