Thursday, October 31, 2019


Those two balls of red Uradale yarn turned up today. If Ronnie Eunson had put them in his pocket and set off for Edinburgh yesterday as soon as he got my order, they could hardly have been here sooner. Maybe he did. I started a red stripe at once.

I don’t remember Meg’s random-striped child’s sweater, Mary Lou. Thanks for that. “Random” is surprisingly difficult. The mind much prefers regularity. Kate Davies offers various suggestions to help us decide which size stripe (6, 4 or 2 rows) and which colour to use next. I am doing it on the hoof (like last time), my only addition to the simple set of rules being to use all 14 colours before starting over.

I have been thinking about the timing of all this. I think I need to move back into the sitting room for some evening television, if I am to finish the Dathan hap and the South African striped one and the pocket square in good order. The South African stripes have to be ready by late April (for the expected baby) and the pocket square for Christmas. It would be nice to have the Dathan for Christmas, too. Perdita has taken to sitting on my lap when I’m watching television, which certainly doesn’t help.

Or I could just knit in the kitchen after supper. It’s portable stuff.

I am dealing with my which-row-next? problem, by the way, with my Katcha Katcha. Face up, the next wrong-side row is an increase. Face-down, it isn’t. So far so good.

Reading

“The Vanishing Fleece” sounds good, Mary Lou – and I like your idea of buying a book sometimes to support the author without necessarily enslaving oneself to an immediate read. Both that and “The Golden Fleece” sound worth adding to a new list.

Meanwhile “Olive, Again” turned up today. And I still haven’t read the new Le Carre. But first I must finish “The Small House at Allington”. Trollope hasn’t got many chapters left in which to give everyone their just deserts, but I am sure he will pull it off.

Happy Hallowe’en, everybody. We had a glorious day today to prepare us for the dark of November.

6 comments:

  1. I achieved a measure of randomness once when knitting a French Market Bag. I used four colours in the same sequence, then used graph paper and a due to determine how many rows of each colour would be knit.

    Alternatively, place all skeins in an opaque bag and draw randomly, leaving those chosen to one side until they’ve all been used.

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  2. I just ordered Vanishing Fleece for my Kindle, having finished a Rumer Godden yesterday. I also ordered another Godden and am getting ready to return to Trollope.
    I don't know if I could handle randomness; as an architect I'm too used to meticulously planning every detail.
    Halloween is in full sway on my street on the Upper West Side of New York.

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  3. I must say, even here in the US, I'm amazed at how quickly and cheaply one can mail something, and I expect the UK post office is more efficient.

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  4. Trollope seems to have given up on just desserts in the "The Small House" somehow. I blame serial publication and the notion of revisiting the characters again in the following book.

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  5. https://returntonow.net/2019/07/25/woman-knits-lace-fence-with-giant-needles/

    I have just discovered that someone has knitted a Shetland lace FENCE for her garden!!!!!!

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  6. I'm so glad to hear that Perdita is sitting on your lap for television, Jean! It's such a pleasure when a beloved standoffish cat makes contact again.

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