Friday, October 16, 2020

 

The random-stripe EPS progresses well – I’m ready to increase 10% (or whatever it is) and embark on st st. Here are the yarns, as promised:




 

BUT today I got the latest pattern in Kate Davies’ new club. And I’ve just this moment had a message from Pam – another who can’t leave a comment – who has anticipated what I was about to say: here is the pattern I’ve been waiting for. Her “Evendoon” pullover! All the colours anyone could want to get through the winter solstice! And in her Schiehallion yarn – that’s an important part of the deal, for it is the name of our beloved local mountain. “Evendoon”, we are told, means “straightforward”. Nobody here in Scotland ever uses these Kate Davies-y words to me.

 

It’s a top-down, which (as I think I said recently) I don’t think I’ve ever done. New skill, or at least, new experience.

 

Well, I didn’t actually send for it today, but I don’t think it’ll be long.

 

I had another nice time this week sitting and knitting a bit with Arne and Carlos. When they talk about design, they talk about “collections”.  Maybe I would find their work more congenial if they produced patterns one at a time like KD. Of course she has someone who knits them for her, and probably other help in pattern-writing, but I am sure she works hard on the details of each one.  The result is something that feels more hand-crafted, for want of a better term.

 

Other

 

I made another batch of kimchi today. I am becoming positively Korean in my attachment to it. Can I assume that fermented vegetables have the same virtues (whatever they may be) as vegetables eaten fresh?

 

I heard from C. today (who is still her daughter’s full-time carer) that wee Hamish, as well as articulating “da”, has mastered the Zulu click. The development of language is fascinating. It is we grown-ups, of course, who turn “da” into “Daddy”.  I wonder if the click has a similar use that delighted Zulu parents can attach to it, and I look forward to discussing this with Hamish’s father Manaba. There is a story somewhere – Herodotus? – of some people who isolated a baby from all speech, in order to discover what the original language was. Eventually the baby said “ma ma” and since that is the Persian for “bread”, that proved that Persian was the original language and I am glad to say that the child was surrounded by normal speech thereafter.

 

I’m reading Nancy Mitford’s “The Blessing”. Can’t stay away from the Mitfords. Helen brought me some Spanish omelette the other day which incorporated some beets grown by the Duchess of Devonshire’s granddaughter, friend of a friend of Helen’s. Nancy Mitford would have been her great-aunt. Talk about degrees of separation.

7 comments:

  1. Those colors look like fun! I do feel 'weather headaches' in spite of the fact that I have been told that's a myth. The use of the Zulu click in a baby is fascinating - can't wait to hear.

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  2. Thank you for showing us your pile of colours. I'm havering over whether to start a striped Shetland, following your lead - I've certainly got plenty of colour choices. However, my recent knits for me have all had more of a challenge factor and that's a lot of plain knitting in a fine yarn.

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  3. =Tamar8:40 PM

    Lovely sweater! I once made a hat with even stripes divided by narrow black stripes, never considered using white that way.
    I couldn't comment for an hour this morning, finally got through. It seems to be random.
    Weather headaches are not a myth. A brother of a friend didn't believe in headaches or toothaches and was scornful of the idea, until he was eighteen and had his first, both in one day. So experience fells skepticism.

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  4. Beautiful yarns! Re. fermented vegetables, not sure whether they will have the "same" virtues as fresh veggies; I would assume they have many of the same vitamins/minerals and much the same fiber content (perhaps the fermentation process changes the levels of these nutrients somewhat?), but surely they will have the added benefit of pre- and/or pro-biotics, which are much prized these days for maintaining "gut health," similar to other fermented foods? Fascinating!

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  5. Anonymous10:11 PM

    Well, what a timely development for you, Kate's new sweater. Happy winter knitting!

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  6. The only languages I know of that don't use the "m" sound in the word for Mother are Finnish and Japanese.

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    1. While the word for Mother in Finnish is Aiti (with an umlaut over the A) and grandmother is Isoaiti (again with the umlaut), we always called our Finnish grandmother Mummu, which brings in that M sound. It seems to me that so many languages use the "M" and "N" sounds for mother and grandmother, while the "D" and "P" are for the fathers. M/N are whiny, and we mother-types do most of the nurturing, while the father-types are more likely to play with them. The P/D etc are those happy, playing sounds. Obviously, that's a bit narrow in scope, but is something I've observed often as both a mother and pediatrician!

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