Anhinga Flaps Forwards

I've finished the back of Anhinga, and most of an arm. It is lovely yarn to work with, and I don't notice that it's a tape. I've knitted with ribbon before and had to keep an eye on it (come to think of it, where is that unfinished jacket...?) but this just races through the fingers. I'm following the pattern, not making any alterations or allowances for the change of yarn: my calculations never result in a concrete enough difference for me to want to take any chances. And although the construction is so novel, it's also simple enough that if I have to undo anything and re-knit it, there won't be too much gnashing of teeth.

Smashing Puffin has been very patient and helpful with my eternal questions about tension (knitting tension, aka gauge, not the other sort). She says the rolled edges almost disappear after washing.

An anhinga is a bit like a cormorant apparently, Gretchen, but it isn't one: it's a Darter. Their feathers aren't oiled so they sometimes have to dry them in the sun, hence their elegant posture. Here is another extraordinary photograph. Do click.

Photo by Matt Edmonds. Anhinga drying its feathers at Sawgrass Park in St. Petersburg, FL, 2007

I went to get my hair cut on Friday and that entailed a little railway journey so I got some rows done on Karius on the train but it's still not really worth photographing.

This is where I go to get my hair cut. It was lashing down with rain on the day.

My finger has healed up so I think I'll do some more silk lace soon - don't know though, Anhinga is very seductive. It might depend on what I'm watching. There was a heavenly Cosi fan tutte on t' telly on Saturday and I hardly took my eyes from the screen. It's the Glyndebourne production by Nicholas Hytner, filmed in 2006. His name is Topi Lehtipuu.



Cosi is my favourite opera, except when I'm watching Don Giovanni.

As I've mentioned before, I'm going to a wedding in October. I've already been to two weddings this year, but this one is a bit special - no, it's not mine. It's three months away, which is a dangerous amount of time because you think you have ages, but it can slip away, espcially if you change your mind about what you're going to make / wear. I could end up with three tops and no bottoms, and I can't go to a wedding without a bottom. I need to sit down and establish what my options are, what patterns I have in my head, what yarns I have at my disposal, and seriously, what shoes I'm going to wear. I won't be wearing a hat, so that's something.

I have disabused myself of the idea that I might make myself a stainless steel jacket out of Habu yarn, but I am still torn between Habu Shosenshi paper, House of Hemp Illusions and a floaty piece in Kidsilk Haze.

Or maybe a nice shawl.