Sunday, September 16, 2018


I couldn’t be wrong twice – this must be an Andrew-and-Andrea week.

I didn’t achieve much today, suffering from the usual post-Italian-lesson exhaustion. I should have gone for a walk, and didn’t.

I’m doing round 43 of the 48 in the Kirigami yoke. Any minute now. There’s nothing to do after the yoke chart except a few rounds of K2 P2. Next problem: can I find a nice short circular of a slightly smaller gauge?

Then I must get back to the Calcutta Cup vest, before the Cup is contested for again. Fortunately I will soon be having lunch with one of you who is a master Fair Isle knitter, currently in Shetland for Wool Week, maureenfromfargo. I am counting on her to raise my flagging spirits.

An outpost of the V&A Museum has opened this weekend in Dundee as a museum of Scottish design. I wondered if that would include knitting, and apparently it does. There is at least one Fair Isle sweater. Fair Isle sweaters have been produced since the 17th century, according to the Scotsman newspaper last week, and traditionally incorporate four colours. Are those statements true? The sweater illustrated looks as if coloured by plant dyes, which is a good start.

I’ve got two technical problems for you today.

I often label important emails in Googlemail and then archive them. Until recently, there was an option on the left-hand side of the screen to reveal the names of all my labels. I could then click on the one I wanted, and see all the emails archived there. That option has vanished. Emails can be labelled and archived, but not readily retrieved. Something to do with the update that was forced on me last week? I’ve archived all the receipts and e-tickets for Archie’s and my great Italian expedition.

No great disaster – the iPad still preserves the old system. But I’d like to get it back here.

Second:  I watched the opening episode of a rather silly but rather thrilling thriller a couple of days ago, called Killing Eve. The remaining episodes, I was told, are available on BBC iPlayer (presumably meaning they won’t be shown on normal television). That is bad news for nervous old ladies living alone. I can’t figure out how to get BBC iPlayer on my television set (which is fed by Virgin cable). Again, no great disaster – I can easily watch it on the iPad. What would I do without it?

11 comments:

  1. I can’t help with the technical problems but I need to tell you one thing. You have inspired me to ferment. I started a batch of sauerkraut yesterday. It was so easy! I’m to start tasting it on Tuesday. It does have bubbles this morning, so I am encouraged.

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    1. Hey Pattie, how ya doin’? I love homemade sauerkraut, we haven’t made any yet but a good friend did last year. She gave me two pints for my birthday last November, best BD gift in a long time! Good luck with yours, sounds like it’s well on its way!! Maureen

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    2. Maureen, I’m fine! Jealous of you visiting Scotland again this year. I’ve remodeled my house over the past year and that has drastically cut my travel budget. Maybe next year! I trust you are well. I hope you and Jean have a wonderful lunch. And the offer still stands if you visit western NY. (We’ll have homemade saurkraut)
      😉

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  2. The series is still going to be shown on Saturday evenings

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  3. Yes, isn't that an odd idea, to offer the whole series at once in advance of it being shown on television? I thought the whole show had a freshness about it, quite unlike some of the formulaic police procedurals we are used to.

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  4. =Tamar1:07 AM

    I don't know (having a strong opinion is not _knowing_). "Fair Isle" is a term that gets used loosely to mean any kind of colorwork. Strictly speaking I'd be very cautious about a newspaper article's historical accuracy. "Sweaters" is another controversial topic - does it count if they are worn as underwear? Knitted shirts and shirt-like body garments are documentable to the Middle Ages (see Knitting Madonnas) depending on who you believe and your definitions. Fragments of knit-purl-patterned silk and wool tunics have been found in Denmark, whole silk ones in Scandinavia and the UK (often claimed to have been made in Italy). Colorwork is much older, goes back to the earliest known true knitting, from the area of Cairo in Egypt, between the 8th and 11th centuries AD. Fair-Isle-looking knitting is found in the Baltic before it's documented in Fair Isle itself. Those multi-colored silk tunics are found in the late 17th century, but are they considered Fair Isle? Wool copies of the texture-patterned ones are found then, and multicolor wall-hangings (that look like pictorial afghans) are required to become a Master Knitter in the 16th century in the area of Germany (as are knitted shirts and-or trousers).
    It's controversial in historic knitting circles.

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  5. Killing Eve is good silly fun, always a treat to see Fiona Shaw and our Canadian Sandra Oh. We're getting it here in Ontario on cable TV Sunday evenings. Friends from here were headed for the Dundee V&A a few days ago and sent a striking photo of the outside - I'd had no idea this extension? satellite? was being planned.

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  6. Loved Killing Eve. Awaiting next season.

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  7. the new design for GMAIL... is going to be forced on all in two weeks...

    as for finding your labels, at the top left corner you will see three lines (its called a hamburger)

    click on that and the menu on the left will expand to show all the labels for your archive folders

    (i call them folders but Google calls them labels - tomato, tomahto)

    the biggest change that eeveryone is screaming about on the hlep forum is that they took away the ability to click on the sender name, get details and click on the email to then search for all emails from that email. people are livid. (me too)

    anyway the rest if just updating gmail design to the material design. (the new look).

    as for KE, it will still be shown. but isnt this the second viewing so that is why they are releasing the entire season...since its aired already. (it aired in the spring)

    lmk if you have any questions

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    1. btw you can always search by any word in the email in the search box at the top of the window. any word. you will get a shorter list if you use more words

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  8. I hate the new GMail, for the reasons SoGal has mentioned. I'll have to put Killing Eve on the list. To watch, not to do...

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