What a week for knitting news! (at least, if you count
today, improperly, as Seven rather than One).
There’s a
blog post up from Kate Davies herself. She has had a tough time, and isn’t
well yet. I think I had assumed – I’ve forgotten the details – that it was some
unpleasantness on social media connected with racism in knitting which drove
her to withdraw from the public eye. That may have been a factor, but it
certainly wasn’t the whole story. (Needless I hope to say, she is not and never
has been a racist.)
She says she’s getting better. We can only hope so. She’s
still knitting and still walking.
I forgot to mention yesterday that there’s a new colour available
of her Millarochy tweed yarn – a beautiful primrose yellow. Yellow had been rather
conspicuously missing from the palate. I love my Dathan hap so much I am
thinking a bit about knitting a pullover. I still don’t quite like the shape of
the KD one, however. Maybe another hap, with some yellow in it.
As for my own knitting, I am now well advanced with the date
and the half-Calcutta-Cup on Thomas M’s scarf. I have the same sense of
surprise that happens every time I knit letters or numbers – can I express this
idea properly? The knitting itself is utterly unrhythmical and seems senseless, but
what emerges makes amazing sense.
Here’s the swatch:
The first third doesn’t count. That’s where I assumed, quite
wrongly, that after the first cross-over everything would revert to the k2 p2 of
the first row of its own accord.
Reading
I’m progressing well with Wilkie Collins’ “No Name”,
although there’s still an awful long way to go. I'm afraid I have succumbed to the latest Simon Beckett, however -- "The Smell of Death". It's very well reviewed, and starts well, with a minimum of maggots.
Cookery
Mary Lou, I don’t trust myself as an arbiter of taste since
I have lost my sense of smell – but I think you’ll be alright with those
anchovies in that lamb stew (see yesterday). They sort of melt into the oil and
contribute only saltiness.
A fascinating - and horrifying - post from KD. She explains her situation so lucidly, but it must be a terrifying condition to suffer from.
ReplyDeleteCan I "Sell" "North and South" to you as your next read? I expect that you have read it before, but it repays re-reading. I keep marvelling at Gaskell's ability to explore her male protagonist's emotional states. I'm also struck by how Lawrentian some of it is, and how completely unlike "Hard Times" written at about the same time. And, of course, there is the 2004 BBC production starring Richard Armitage.
A strong second for North and South, as well as for Wives and Daughters, and in fact all of Elizabeth Gaskell's works.
Delete-- Gretchen (aka stashdragon)
Good yellows are difficult, I think. That's why there are so few. Brave of KD to discuss the BPll, I have friends with this condition, it is frightening, and unlike 'physical' ailments, has so much stigma. Shandy, I did enjoy North and South, and enjoyed the BBC production as well.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-son-in-law suffers from bipolar. From what Kate Davies says she is in a much better place regarding her diagnosis and her support system than he ever has been. The hardest part of being bipolar is that the treatment takes away from the highs making the sufferer feel half alive. That makes it very difficult to stick with the treatment recommendations.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful yellow, isn't it1 And I like the striped kerchief which they have made with it. I did a "mini Dathan" or "Dathan Kerchief" with some of my hap leftovers but I think I need a yellow-and-grey version also. I would cheerfully knit a second Dathan hap in full confidence that it would be utterly different from the first but still delightful when completed.
ReplyDeleteJennyS