Thursday 10 July 2008

Doh, again

I'm not having much luck following instructions at the moment. After having to do a bolero sleeve twice, I sewed one of them in and it looks very peculiar. I've knitted this pattern twice before without any problems, so it must be me. I'll unpick it, block the pieces properly and try again. I'm sure it'll be fine. Really.

I picked up Chrissy last night and did the first bit of the shaping at the front neck. When I started on the second bit today, I realized that I had done the shaping on the sleeve edge, not the collar edge. Doh. (That's not actually what I said.) So I've unravelled that and I'm doing it again tonight, while watching another episode of Law and Order: my very own personal Groundhog Day.

For some reason I thought I had done the sleeves of this already, but I haven't. I don't think they'll be too bad as it's a dropped shoulder so they're quite short, and I'll probably make them even shorter. I tend to wear my sleeves pushed up and there's no point in knitting extra yards of stuff. The ribbing at the hem is a 4x3 rib which is very tiresome: I think I'll do a 3x3 rib at the neck and cuffs.

The ospreys are still keeping me busy - well, maybe not busy exactly, but occupied. I'm amazed by how much more enormous they are every day. They were ringed the other day and got their tiny satellite backpacks on, so they now have little aerials on their backs and look like remote-controlled boats. They are walking about the nest a lot and stretching their wings: flying lessons should start soon. The sound has been off today so we've had no chirping.

I was thinking of having a competition for the Swallowtail Shawl, but I have decided that Nellie is the winner since she left a comment offering to be my milkman - can you leave your email address in a comment, Nellie? If you add it and then delete it, it will still arrive in my inbox and you should be safe from spammers. That's one of the nice things about having a blog, isn't it? Making up your own rules.

I watched a Dogme film the other night, by mistake. It was a comedy so it was all right in the end. Called Italian for Beginners, it was about a group of singles who all attended the same night school and although it started very gloomily there was lots that made me stay with it. The characters were all very sympathetic, even the awful one that everyone else shouted at. I suppose they were all imperfect in some way, but that's no bad thing. When it finished I wanted to watch the sequel right away so that I could find out what happened to them later, but there isn't a sequel, sadly.



Fans of Edinburgh roadworks may be interested to see another indie classic, Number 11 Bus.

10 comments:

Cazzab said...

Yes, I think the classification of "indie classic" is very fitting for the Number 11 bus. I was so excited that I corralled my four-year old for the duration so we could spot familiar landmarks together. I was disappointed it stopped at Princes St, though. We're going back to live in our flat in Tollcross in September, and I was hoping to check whether it was still standing (at least in 2006, when the video was shot).

Anonymous said...

That film is from a book by Maeve Binchy--I, too, wish she would write a sequel! The first time I saw it, I couldn't figure out why I "recognized" the characters, so had to watch all the credits to find out. The novel is titled "Evening Class".
As an occasional visitor, I love the "tours" of Edinburgh.

Judith said...

I watched this film yesterday! It was on TV a few weeks ago and I too thought it wonderful with a need for a sequel. The danish and italian mix was suberb and I am intrigued that it came from a Binchy story as a lot of the pathos and hilarity came from the interaction of the protestant old pastor, the Danish church and the new pastor.

Knitting Linguist said...

Another film to go check out, which is perfect as it's summer! I'm sorry to hear about the shaping woes -- how frustrating...

amy3778 said...

Hi there my name is Amy. Helen, I have been following your blog for quite some time now, and althought I dont know the 1st thing about knitting, I find you both fascinating and funny at the same time. I love see-ing what you do and how you accomplish it...keep up the good work!! amy
cntry3778@yahoo.com

Vivienne said...

I'd thought the story of 'Italian for Beginners' sounded familiar, but as the DVD is still in the to-be-watched pile I hadn't seen that it actually was based on 'Evening Class'.

Reminds me of the years when the was a new Maeve Binchy novel every summer, and Mum would buy it to take on holiday to Cornwall. She would get to read it first, then me, then my sister. It was lucky that we're all fast readers (and that there'd always be at least one day if not more when the rain was so hard that we couldn't leave the house).

Joan said...

My husband and I were looking for respite from the hot Florence sun and sought refuge in a cinema showing this film, in v.o. Problem is the v.o. wasn't english, but danish. And the subtitles were, of course, in italian. Talk about doh! But we enjoyed the movie anyway... it helped that I'd read the book!

Cinders said...

I read that book, but havnt seen the film must have a look.
I sympathise with you over the knitting mix ups! I think its to do with the brain fog we get. I relly muck things up big style these days and I'm signing up for a lace KAl!!! must be bonkers.
I like your Kool-Aid dying BTW. I like the fact that the yarn always smells fruity afterwards esp with the grape!! My first skein was very white and patchy. it just takes time to learn how to massage the colour in and feel confident splashing colour about. its good fun and additcitve once you get going! As I've found out!!!

Kate said...

I see you have similar jumper shaping issues as I do. I keep meaning to pick up the Fair Isele 101 jumper but I'm easily distracted by other projects... my and goldfish, I tell ya.

Til's well again, thank heavens. Slap Cheek as an adults sounds gruesome. I think I might just get a few immunity levels checked - like chickenpox!

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