Wednesday, September 04, 2019


Politics continues exciting – goodness, gracious me! And there are more votes to come tonight.

Knitting goes forward well, too. I have done the break row at the top of the Spring Shawl triangle, and the plain rows that follow. What remains is the decrease row (k3, k2tog) followed by one more plain one. Then: (a) how to preserve the stitches? And, a subsidiary question, how many stitches do I actually have, compared to the number there ought to be? I don’t expect perfection. I also don't expect the yarn to suffice for those two rows: I'll take a picture for you whether it does or not.

Next: (b) Is the needle I have been using long enough to handle the stitches I must now pick up along the sides of the triangle? If not, do I have another suitable needle of the same gauge?

None of this sounds insuperable, problem-wise.

Danish “night sweaters”

Hoxbro supports your ideas, Shandy and Anonymous and Chloe, that Danish people slept sitting up in alcoves or short beds. It’s a good deal more comfortable than it sounds, speaking from experience. It's the way to go if you break an arm. And I, too, have retained an outer garment or two in extreme weather, such as Christmas in Kirkmichael.

Chloe, it’s disappointing that you can’t get a preliminary idea of the book. I think the part of my (extensive) knitting library that I most value is/are the books about regional knitting of one sort or another. Gladys Thompson and Sheila McGregor were the first; there are many others. This one is a worthy addition.

Reading

I’ve finished “The Eustace Diamonds” and am at somewhat of a loss. I’ve started “Adam Bede” but am put off by the dialect. I’ve downloaded “The House With the Green Shutters” but I don’t know that I am stout enough of heart to read it again. Unlike many others, I remember it pretty well. It's grim.

3 comments:

  1. About your politics, all I can say is God Bless all of you! Would that we had the ability to draw "you-know-whom" up short! You can do that and this Amerikkkan applauds you!

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  2. I am always delighted when I see the activities in the UK Parliament. For a 'stiff upper lip' nation, it is wild compared to our most staid Congressional behavior. We need more of the wildness! Also, I check the Beth Brown Reinsel reference, her pattern appears to be an undershirt, not a nightshirt "he Nattrøjer were a part of everyday wear for Danish women in the 1800s. These were cropped pullovers, used as undershirts" I agree that I usually buy the regional knitting books, if only to support the work. Then when they go out of print, I can look at them on my bookshelf and sweart to read them one day...

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  3. Anonymous3:51 PM

    Why not follow The Eustace Diamonds with Phineas Redux? Every decade or so I re-read the Palliser novels in sequence, at a leisurely pace and interspersed with other reading. Just now I'm on The Prime Minister. Trollope was carried away by his imagination there - no politician in human history can have been as high-mindedly pure as Planty Pall.
    -- Gretchen (aka stashdragon)

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