Sunday, February 04, 2018

England won. England always wins. Italy put up quite a good fight, however, and it would have been even better if one of their tries hadn’t been disallowed because of a forward pass.

(               ( -- Try=touchdown. The last time I saw a spot of American football on television, I was surprised to see a man run over the line with the ball and then not bother to touch it down at all. In rugby, the touching down is essential, although they don't call it that.)

(          (--The glory of American football, the pass, is forbidden in rugby. The ball-carrier is only allowed to throw the ball to someone behind himself. It is often to someone to the side who is only slightly behind. That’s how forward passes inadvertently happen.)


I got on with Archie’s socks while I watched, and have now nearly finished decreasing back down to the number of stitches I started out with. I don’t go in for all this business of afterthought heels. I let the yarn behave as it will, and enjoy watching it re-establish the rhythm it established at the beginning.

Just over 60 grams of yarn remain in the 100-gram ball I started out with. Soon I will have to join in another. I am rather surprised to see that I have a sock on the go, not very far advanced – one which never made it into the sidebar -- in yarn similar to the one I am using. I could frog it, and use that yarn for the feet. Or use something Completely Different from the odd-sock-yarn bag. In either case, the discrepancy will be hidden in the wearer’s shoe. I’ve often done it that way.

Arne & Carlos (to change the subject abruptly) have a delicious new video in which they maintain that, in Norwegian two-colour knitting, there is no such thing as a “dominant colour”. If one of your colours predominates over the other -- or “pops”, in the current idiom -- it means that there is something wrong with your tension. It is done with great humour and charm.

Non-knit, non-rugby

I am eager to welcome the Mindful Chef back tomorrow.


Here is a question for you, who have so often been so helpful before: spiralizers. One of last week’s recipes asked for some spiralized carrot. I have two hand-held spiralizers, which I had never used before. I dealt with the carrot, and the result was tasty indeed – but it was hard work. I am tempted to buy one that you turn the handle of; or even an electric one – they’re not very expensive. What do you think? Advice very welcome. I gather I’m about two years out-of-date on this one.

4 comments:

  1. I look forward with interest to the comments about the spiralizer. I researched those so attractive gadgets with turning handles, but was discouraged by the reviews. So I bought a hand-held and so far stick to zucchini.

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  2. I have an Oxo spiralizer with a hand crank, and like it very much. The only drawback is that the veg needs to relatively large and straight to be worth spiralizing, so all the oddly shaped carrots and parsnips we find must go unused for spirals. The Oxo machine has a suction device on its base to help stabilize the unit when in use.

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  3. Thanks for the Arne and Carlos link. I have knitted colorwork for a long time, and always used my left hand for whatever color there was the most number of stitches in that row. I never worried about it. Now A & C have given me credibility!

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  4. Interesting to see Arne and Carlos miss the point so thoroughly. When you see two mitts with the same two-colour stranded pattern, let's say red and black, one where black is treated as the pattern or dominant colour and the other where it is the red which is taken from below each time, you can clearly see the difference. I think it was knitting Kate Davies' First Footing socks where I first came across this idea, after knitting Fair Isle for many years. I also find that the two yarns are much less likely to end up tangled if you are consistent about the way you take them up.

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