Sunday, November 06, 2016

So Andy Murray got to be the World Number One without even playing any tennis yesterday. I wonder if I’ll be able to watch him play today. It made me put my Nicola Sturgeon hat on for a moment, and reflect on how he’s British at a moment like this, but more often a mere Scotsman. I thought of Kipling’s famous poem “Tommy Atkins” which I’ve just re-read. It’s not at all without interest, tennis aside.

Southern Gal, I fear the Cubs’ glorious victory cuts both ways – it’s another example of the totally unexpected wins of 2016, and it could weigh as heavily for Trump as for Clinton. And (Nicola Sturgeon hat here again) I have been sorry to see the British press far more interested in the Cubs than they were a few weeks earlier, when Hibs won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 114 years. (Sam has since died.)

But we need to think about knitting.

I recently sent for Pearl-McPhee’s “Knitting Rules!”. Another of those late-night, in-bed, iPad-propped-on-knees purchases, cheaper than signing up for another Craftsy class. It’s here, and it’s distinctly good, a sort of Knitting Without Tears de nos jours. She’s less dictatorial than EZ. She knows we hate swatching, and knows we must do it. And wash the swatch – I don’t think I’ve ever done that. But I will have to admit that some of my most successful sweaters have been the result of a considerable preliminary swatch.

And speaking of Craftsy, and of swatching, Carol Feller has got us through three whole lessons of “Celtic Cables” without crossing a single cable – it has all been about measuring and st st swatching so far. I have pre-ordered Norah Gaughan’s “Knitted Cable Sourcebook” which I gather, among other attractions, is good on the relationship between a st st swatch and the eventual cables.


My Kaffe Fassett sock is advancing down the foot. I will very soon finish the first ball of yarn, and must remember to pack some Whiskey Barrel with my hospital-visiting-kit, to finish off the foot. The first few pages of R.C. Sherriff’s “The Hopkins Manuscript” have gone well. Perdita and I sit in the kitchen in the evening, where it’s warm, to avoid heating the rest of the house. I knit the half-brioche and watch television programmes on the iPad and should finish the first half of the front tonight. 

9 comments:

  1. I've never taken a Craftsy class, but you tempted me to take a look at this one. I'm intrigued by why she chose to call the course "Celtic" cables, since they look pretty much like regular cables to me. Perhaps it's because they will produce an Aran type garment? I'd have thought Celtic referred to the closed knot type, as in your wonderful blankie.

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  2. I always find something new from you - I had never heard of Naomi Mitchison, searched online and found her obituary in the NYTimes from 1999, which describes her as "Author and Feminist Rebel" and one from the Guardian "a queen, a saint and a shaman" Do you have any suggestions for a book to start with?

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  3. =Tamar2:19 PM

    I liked Knitting Rules! best so far.
    I seem to recall 19thc tales of having to build a fire in the library every so often, to keep the damp out of the books. Of course, they said nothing about keeping the damp out of the people!

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  4. I had never thought to compare Stephanie Pearl-McPhee to EZ, but you are right, as always. I just had never thought of it. I think everyone but Franklin hates switching, but do it we must and washing and blocking your swatch really does give more accurate results (not to say that I actually do it every time...). I have just signed up for Gudrun Johnston's Craftsy class, but am not allowing myself to start it until I have made a bigger dent in my Christmas knitting. Unless one of my loved ones announces a pregnancy before then, in which case I will have an excuse why a hap needs to be started immediately. Easily distracted here. Herb Caen used to refer to it as hamster brain, and I definitely have it

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    1. Ah! Herb Caen! What a great writer. I grew up in the SF Bay Area and he was daily reading in my household.

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    2. Anonymous8:57 PM

      Absolutely.
      -- Gretchen (aka stashdragon)

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  5. I have been known to knit a very large swatch, wash it & even toss it in the dryer for a few minutes with a felted dryer ball. I loved the result - just slightly fulled - I made a hooded sweatshirt with that wool. It was NOT superwash but instead, good old Briggs & Little worsted wool. Wore like iron. And hooray for Andy Murray!!!

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  6. Well the latest FBI "announcement" from Comey has erupted - it turns out there is nothing in the 'wiener emails' to change their minds. I am too polite to say what I would like about that man , suffice it to say it's not pleasant.

    G#d help her in these last 2 days to regain more of a lead.

    Btw surely you know that Stephanie has a semi regular blog. Yarn Harlot.

    With DST leaving us its depressingly dark now at 5 pm. Sigh.

    Have you th Ugh the of a portable heater for the room with theTV? I live in an uninsulated apartment and use them on my den and study and music room. Much cheaper to run one of them when I am in the room and need the heat than to try to heat the apt as it really means heating the outdoors. I rarely turn the heat on until January using layers of sweaters and wool socks and wool curtains on the interior doors to keep my small rooms warm with the portable heaters on only when in the rooms. Anyway maybe that would work for you

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    1. First line of last para should be 'have you thought '

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