Dies Atra

Here we are again at the low point of the year, a day of death in our family calendar and also the third anniversary of the day I fell and broke my right arm just below the shoulder. A dreadful winter ensued. It still aches a bit, like an old love, when I think about it. Something happened to the right wrist at the same time -- it was never explained to me exactly what, and some x-rays turned out to be missing, the day I sat down in front of a dr who was prepared to explain. My thumb and first two fingers still go numb when I've been driving for a while -- it must be something to do with the position of the arm. It's gradually getting better, but so slowly that the grave may supervene. A carpal tunnel operation was suggested -- "it's no big deal," the surgeon said -- but I didn't like him, and the thought of being again without the use of my right hand, however briefly, was a very big deal to me, so I didn't go ahead with that.

These are all things you don't want or need to know.

Now that I've got broadband, I thought I'd try to incorporate a picture in a post, the way the grownups do. It hasn't arrived quite where I expected it, but there it is. It's Edmund Gorey's "Fruitcake". A dear friend sent it to me as a Christmas card once. I prop it up to inspire me when I'm writing Christmas cards, and it wouldn't be at all a bad idea to start on that job today.

The visit of my husband's publishers went very well yesterday. The woman who is actually going to do the editing and layout stuff came, as well as the man who is in charge of the whole operation. They got an idea of the scale of the task (it's huge). My job is now to translate the several hundred files it consists of into MS Word and send them off to London on a CD. My husband still works on a DOS-based system. Modern technology makes it easier for a publisher to prise such a work from the author's hands -- the files I convert and send won't necessarily be in their final form; changes are easy, and my husband can go on making them.

If I now put in another picture, where will it appear? Let's try. It went up there at the top, next to the first one. I still have a lot to learn. It shows James and Alexander, at the Games last summer.

My email address is now jean@milesandmiles.demon.co.uk. I phoned Demon yesterday and to their credit, I got straight through on the second ring, no Mozart, no need to choose one of five options. None of the passwords we had been struggling with the day before seemed to work, so the nice young man reset both the connect password and the email password to the same thing, and sat there with infinate patience talking me through the process of entering it in all the right places. The mytob virus presumably continues to plague the old address, somewhere out there in space.

And, oh yes, knitting. I finished a skein of yarn yesterday, and am approaching the final swirl on Swirly 2.

Later: I edited this post, using Rachel's suggestion in the first comment, and, as you see, moved the pictures around fairly succesfully. The sky's the limit.

Well, what a day.

I had best begin by saying that long garter stitch rows in a bright colour of a good wool yarn, are the veritable chicken soup of knitting, the perfect thing for the winter solstice, and for stress. I have reached the 12 plain rows on 450 stitches which preceed the final edging-increase on the 2nd half of the 2nd swirly.

And here I am on broadband. It's wonderful.

I failed to install it. All went well at first, but when I tried to activate the modem, the computer claimed that no driver was installed. I went around in circles for awhile, then phoned A Man. He had no trouble with that problem. (He unplugged everything from the USB ports, activated the modem, and then plugged everything back in.) But he couldn't get through to my email. I will have to ring the Demon helpline this morning and burst into tears. I didn't feel up to it last night. My website no longer seems to be available -- I think that means we achieved something.

For the time being, I can be reached as tayside00@yahoo.co.uk.

Knitting

had better be mentioned, however briefly. I finished the first half of Swirly 2, and am picking up the stitches for the second half. Thank you for your comment, Tamar. Increasingly, I'm happy with the colour, too. With only one half done, the scarf definately spirals, but "swirl" is a better word for what happens when it's double.

And the first half, on its own, is a good 18" shorter than Swirly 1 in its finished state.

Broadband

Well, this is it. It's going to be a busy day in other respects, as my husband's publisher is coming up from London tomorrow and he -- my husband -- wants my help with some last-minute tidying of the Magnum Opus. But I don't think I can use that as an excuse for not tackling broadband. Thank you very much for your words of encouragement, commenters. Rachel is said to have done it herself, but I am sceptical of that claim.

Alexander confirms what you say, Helen, about right-clicking on the Norton icon to disable the program. I learned my meager computing skills in a different age, and am inclined to forget about right-clicking. He thinks I'll succeed with broadband installation, but is less sanguine about my chances of finding my way back to Pop3.demon.co.uk to get my email.

You'll hear all about it tomorrow. Or, of course, not.

Comment

Thank you for your comment, Lillian. I hope your daughter is enjoying Reading. What is she studying? I could suggest that you write to me, jean@jeanmile.demon.co.uk, except that I fear that address may never work again.

Applying the contrast edge to part 1 of swirly 2: it's very bright. 

I should reach the border of the first half of the current swirly today -- I'll try a picture when it gets a bit lighter. It's plain Aegean blue, striped with a variegated Koigu which virtually disappears under the sea. At this rate, I'd have time to do a third scarf before Christmas.

I also printed out that hat pattern I mentioned a couple of days ago, and had some Noro Silk Garden thoughts about it. (That's a UK link.)

Non-knit

Yesterday's mail brought three parcels. Shopping on-line is as much fun as getting all the presents myself. At least, the first two I opened were presents. The third contained my new broadband modem. I started back as if I had found a scorpion. Now I've got to do it.

I've read the instructions. They don't sound too bad. (Except that I've got to disable Norton temporarily -- can I do that?) I think the thing is to read them again today, and then tackle the job on Monday morning, when I can phone A Man and hope for promptish help, if I get stuck. I've ordered broadband from the ISP I've had all along, Demon, and the difficult part of the instructions concerns accessing and converting my dear old dial-up account, once the computer is on broadband.

I've just had a look at Norton. I can't find anything in the help index about disabling it. I'll ask Alexander.

I'm swirling happily along with the Aegean blue. It's a strong colour and I continue to worry a bit about that.

A great thing about all this swirl is that it is consuming stash, in a small way -- lace knitting doesn't do that. No amount of knitting, of anything, will ever make any visible impression on my stash, but there is always a certain satisfaction in actually finishing a ball or skein of yarn.

Non-knit

I have virtually finished Christmas shopping, although not all the stuff is here yet. It's incredible. No wonder the High Street retailers are having a hard time, when it's so easy and pleasant to avoid them altogether. Yesterday, however, I stepped out and bought a present in a shop.

I've had an email from Demon saying that my telephone line is now ADSL-enabled, or something like that. Fortunately the hardware hasn't turned up yet, so I haven't had to do anything.

Finished. It is held up in this picture by a bottle in the shape of George Washington. We have a pair of them, purchased in or near Northampton, MA, in 1960. 

Finished the scarf. It's five feet long -- the instructions say it will be 80", but it's hard to measure swirly, and maybe it will stretch, and five feet is fine, anyway. The cast-on edge forms a central spine, and I don't see how 150 stitches of Koigu or any sport-weight yarn can come out 5' long let alone 6 1/2', but such is the case.

I decided as I was driving back from leaving James and Kirsty at the airport -- they should be in Beijing by now -- that the Aegean blue yarn from Candace Strick was too strong, I'd knit in gentler colours for the second swirly. Then it got dark, and I decided I couldn't bear not to knit with Aegean blue. So I've cast on with that, but I'll bind and probably stripe it with variegated Koigu rather than black as I had planned.

I'll wait until the sun comes up (if it does) to photograph the first scarf, in the hopes of showing you something not too washed out.

The message below is from Thessaloniki, referring to the second orange Wallaby I knit for Fergus. The first one was his Christmas present last year. He was delighted with it. It shrank to Thomas-the-Younger size in the first wash. His mother took the second one back to Greece with her after the birthday visit last week.

"[Fergus] Is terribly pleased with his sweater. He has insisted on wearing it every day so far and i doubt he will ever wear anything else until it falls to pieces. He's that sort of boy. David says we will have to dry clean it (when he's asleep) so that it wont meet the same fate as the last one."

 

So that's nice. I'veasked for a picture.

 

Non-knit

 

James had time to look at the broadband-installing instructions before he left yesterday, and I feel bolder. Hey, I put a floppy disk drive in this computer with my own hands. I can do anything. The really good news is that he discovered a small sealed envelope with my broadband details -- including the new password, in clear. So that's all right. I remembered that I had used the password I use for banking, and that it was too long and I had had to shorten it in some respect -- what I couldn't remember, and foolishly hadn't noted, was exactly how I had shortened it.

 

The Mytob virus persecution has stopped for the last two days, establishing the source beyond doubt as an American computer, I think.

Kirsty on the doorstep 

With my husband, in Drummond Place gardens 

The winter glooms came down like an avalanche yesterday. Time to make some soup.

I'm putting the contrast edging on the swirly scarf, increasing in every stitch. Now it turns out I'm working on the right side after all. I don't know where the mistake was. The next row is the cast off, so I might finish today. And start another.

James and Kirsty will soon be on their way back to Beijing -- I'll drive them to the airport. So we'll say goodbye with some Kirsty-pictures, above.

I got some stuff about broadband yesterday, but not the stuff I need to connect. So James can't help; I'm on my own, and it sounds as if I can't just drift along with the dial-up connection. I'm anxious. I had to choose a new password and I'm not sure I remember it. If you suddenly don't hear from me for a while, that'll probably be the plughole I've disappeared down. I'd better hurry up and finish the Christmas on-line shopping.

Potential swirly scarves 

All my favourite bloggers are too busy basting the turkey to write, so I wandered a bit further afield this morning and found these nice hats to knit. If anybody wants to join me in Christmas madness. And don't miss Helen's brilliant suggestion, in a comment yesterday, for a quick knitted present.

I have four more long plain rows to knit of the swirly scarf, before doubling the stitch number again in the contrast colour, and casting off in the same. Yesterday I laid out a few more potential swirlys. The blue yarn, a shade called Aegean, was a present from Candace Strick when I bought a sweater's-worth, still unknit, of her wonderful Merging Colors yarn. It's sort of a strong colour, but the kind of thing which is wonderfully comforting to knit in these dark days. With black for the contrast? Or striped with black?

The Aran-coloured Koigu, the background yarn in Thomas-the-Younger's striped Koigu sweater which was seen here a day or two ago, could be striped with variegated Koigu's for a sunny and cheerful stripy.

The other yarns are just lying there.

Non-knit

Today is James' and Kirsty's last day here. We plan to go see The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

James keeps remarking on the darkness. Beijing is on a line with Madrid, or Washington DC, roughly, and things are a lot lighter down there. He's had brilliant sunny days almost all week, too, which lightens the load a lot, darkness-wise. I usually suffer badly from gloom and anxiety during this Dread Decameron, the last ten days of November. From there until the solstice, it's so awful it's funny. But this year, what with the excitement of the birthday and James's visit, I've hardly noticed.

Another thing I've been doing which helps a lot, is Christmas shopping on-line. I spent an hour in a crowded shop a couple of weeks ago. It was full of expensive things I couldn't imagine anyone wanting, and awful people, and was pretty depressing. So I've been going through those catalogues which rain down on one. My husband says he wouldn't want to buy things without seeing them, but so far I have been pleased with the quality of what has turned up. And the process is blissfully painless.

Half-way. It's longer than it appears here. 

Kirsty went to the National Gallery 

I'm swirling away, but I made a stupid mistake.

I got the 150 original stitches back onto a needle -- that black line is the waste wool which was holding them -- and set out in the opposite direction. Start with a wrong-side row, the instructions say. I gave the matter little or no thought -- it's garter stitch after all -- and now I see that I have started with a right-side row. The scarf is finished, as you see, with a contrast stripe, and when you do that in garter stitch, there is very clearly a right side and a wrong side.

I'm not going to rip it out. I have two choices: to add or subtract a row, so that both sides are the same. Or to do the right number of rows, so that the right side for the contrast stripes will be different on the two halves. Since both sides will surely be visible on the wearer, I think that's the option to go for.

I continue to be overjoyed with the pattern. I hate holiday-deadline knitting. I don't do it. The Knitlist -- at least in the old days when self-expression was allowed -- is full, this time of year, of stress-filled accounts of knitting incomplete.

But this scarf is tempting me to join that miserable band. How many could I finish by Christmas? The thing is, they will make great presents for the very people who are the hardest to think of presents for. I'm certainly going to try a stripy one next, this time actually giving some thought to right-side, wrong-side (the answer will be to mix them up, I think).

Non-Knit

James and Kirsty and I went to Deep Sea World yesterday, and had a nice time. It is right under the famous Forth Rail Bridge of which we therefore had an unusual and breathtaking view.

 

My husband, at his birthday lunch 

Two of our guests -- namely Snow White and Rose Red in their striped Koigu sweaters. 

The birthday was a total success. I'm sorry not to have written yesterday. I was exhausted, and perhaps, if the truth be told, somewhat hung over.

Our four children gave my husband a small drawing by the artist he knows all about, and a delightful Grandchild Book for which each child had designed a page, at least those capable of such a feat. These things were presented just before lunch, and then we all walked up to the restaurant and there were the Nine Old Friends, a surprise as total for my husband as James's arrival on Thursday, and just as welcome. I think perhaps the best moment of the day, for me, was getting there and hearing the murmur of voices behind the door which meant that our friends had arrived and were drinking champagne.

The food and the service were fine, and we all had a nice time.

Nephew Theo, who arrived late and breathless straight off a transatlantic flight, is now in London compiling photographs onto CD's I hope. So there may be more birthday pictures soon.

Knitting

For fully two hours yesterday morning, I couldn't find my knitting (the swirly scarf). It was dreadful. It finally turned up on the floor in a corner of the bed room, where I had tossed it at the last minute before we left for the restaurant.

I've finished the first half, cast it off, and it swirls. I love it. I took a picture of it swirling, which we will have tomorrow, knowing that when I picked up the cast-on stitches and started knitting the other half in the opposite direction, the swirl would temporarily disappear. I'm in the middle of unpicking the waste yarn, and it is slow going. Next time -- and I am currently resolved to do another one right away -- I'll use that provisional-cast-on system involving a crochet hook.

Comment

Kate, welcome aboard.

The pattern for the Communion veil is my own, except that you'll need Marianne Kinzel's Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting for an altar frontal of hers which I have adapted for my purposes. My copy is a Dover reprint. I don't know if it's still in print, but a library would get it for you. I'm not finding the going entirely easy this time, and may be able to tweak the pattern to its advantage as I go along.

Another thought would be to knit a rectangle of any lace, perhaps with a small headpiece at one end. Queer Joe did that for a neice recently, I believe.

I'm jean@jeanmile.demon.co.uk. Write to me if I can help further.

Kids love row-counters