Wednesday, November 04, 2020

 

The only people to emerge from this sorry mess with any credit are Peggy and I, who said out loud in public last week that we had no confidence whatsoever in polls. At the moment (just after 5 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time, Wednesday November 4th) the BBC is saying that Biden probably won. For what that’s worth.

 

However, I got a fair amount of knitting done. I have abandoned the sleeve stitches and am now progressing peacefully down the body of the Evandoon. Five more broad stripes needed, including the one I’ve just embarked on. Unless I decide to lengthen it a bit. I suspect I’ve got plenty of yarn.

 

I’ve seen Franklin’s new vlog. It’s very good. He has the gift of talking to a camera as if he can see you and me through the lens. It’s not very long, this first episode. He talked somewhat about how this peculiar year has produced in him a need for mindless knitting which he claims not to have felt before, even when sitting with his dying mother. What he means by “mindless knitting” wouldn’t do for me. He showed us a fine scarf in, I think, linen stitch. For me, the present state of the Evandoon will serve as such for quite a while. Truly mindless, except for attaching the next stripe.


But, oh! I miss the Panopticon!

 

Thank you for your help with knitting notebooks, reminding me of my own failures in the past. I spent many a happy hour cataloguing my knitting books in Library Thing, until I stopped doing it. I can’t remember my password, now. Likewise, I once entered all my stash in Ravelry. One thing I do maintain is an electronic Filofax – Lotus Organizer. I copy the year’s FO’s into it from the sidebar here, at the end of each year, and list the knitting I intend to do in the year to come. Beverly, I’ll have a look at Planner Porn. And Anonymous, you’re right, this blog serves me as a sort of diary.


I can never buy a new computer -- it probably wouldn't load Organizer, even if I could find the disk.

 

Sometimes, at night, when Italian cookery on YouTube palls, I look back at this blog. The other night I clicked on 2009 – the click plunged me into this end of the year, and I was stunned at my energy: Christmas shopping on foot, Christmas-card-writing, cooking breakfast, lunch, tea and supper (that wasn’t mentioned, but can be assumed) – and getting quite a bit more knitting done than I seem to manage nowadays. Only 10 years ago. Eleven.

9 comments:

  1. Good Grief!! i think it's been 30 years since I last used a Lotus product . . . & oh how I mourned the loss of Lotus Symphony when I got a new computer!! And thanks for the update on Franklin.
    I am afraid it doesn't matter who got elected, it's not going to change much south of 49. I'm so very glad I'm a Canadian.

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    1. Sharon, I understand where you are coming from, and of course even a Biden win will not erase the tension and anxiety on the States. But it will perhaps help Americans to hold their heads a little higher when interacting with the rest of the world and it will definitely help those who reject the fearmongering of Trumpism. And Jean: from the BBC’s mouth to God’s ears.

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    2. I have to respectfully disagree with you, Sharon, though I understand your feelings certainly! There are a number of very serious changes that I anticipate can happen fairly quickly: science will be the guide for dealing with our COVID pandemic; we will take climate change seriously (again, science); children at the border will (please God) be reunited with their parents; and any attempt at another "Mulim ban" - the very antithesis of what our country is about - will stop forthwith. Those alone are reason enough for me, but your mileage may vary. While others were dancing in the streets yesterday, I was dancing in my seat and thanking God for Her great mercies. Again, your mileage may vary.

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  2. I think 2009 was the year you and I met up in i-knit London on what I had an inkling would be my last ever trip to London. I was right about that - although there have been some trips to far flung places since we moved to the East Midlands, I have been going downhill in the past few years, just like you.There is so much activity that I could never contemplate now. At least knitting remains.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Was trying to say, at least the internet lets us keep in touch with far-flung friends easier than it's ever been, and badly needed at the moment too.

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  3. I also very much enjoyed the Panopticon.

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  4. Anonymous2:42 AM

    I had not heard of Lotus organizer! (I did have a Palm Pilot! Those were great.)

    Oops I think I am just being paranoid about Ravelry. Did not mean to scare anyone here.
    I too have totally relied on the website for years. Just trying to be a bit more on top of my data in future? I really enjoy seeing other people's finished projects and comparing yarns for substitutions, and those aspects are not replaceable with just my notebook (no matter how nice!).

    Lisa RR

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