Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

Sorry, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to alarm anyone.

I've had a lot to think about and it turns out that thinking precludes blogging - who'd have thought? Also, the knitting has been of near catastrophic dullness and repetitiveness - would you believe two more Forest Canopy Shawls?

And now my computer chair has packed up and I can't sit at the pc for more than a couple of minutes at a time. A kind friend is going to IKEA at the weekend and will collect a replacement, and I will then bring you up to date in exhaustive detail.

So far, I haven't decided to go back to pointless, incessant barking.

New Yorker, 12 September 2005

Dreaming

I didn't feel particularly well when I woke on Sunday morning, but I did feel relieved when I realized that I wasn't actually married to the man I'd just married in my dream. I don't know who he was, but I don't think it would have worked out. I quite often feel relieved when I waken up, when I realize that I don't have that job or that meeting, and I haven't lost my walking stick in a particularly large railway station - which is probably the same station where I haven't just missed a train.

I'm often disappointed to realize that I don't really have that extra room I just discovered in my flat, the room where I was going to put all the stuff I don't have room for, but mostly it's good news. My mobile phone is working after all, and I haven't lost all my shoes.

The latest Pinwheel Blankie is finished and will soon be on its way to its next owner. I thought I was going to get bogged down in the border, but instead I got seized by the idea of finishing it and getting it in the post, so I did it all day Saturday and blocked it on Sunday. It grew from 32 inches wide to 44 inches: I could have stretched it more, but I didn't think it would improve it.

I like it for its simplicity and tradition, although I'm a bit worried that the mum might just think it's dull. I hope not. To recap, it's the Pinwheel Blanket, with the border from the Lace Edged Cardigan in Debbie Bliss's Cotton Denim Aran book, and it took 7 balls of Drops Karisma Superwash: the shawl took 5 balls and the border took nearly two. Size 4mm needles.


The silky Forest Canopy grows slowly. It looks like a rag at this stage.

I'm very tempted by an idea I found on Knitting in the Shadows's blog. She says it's not original but I found it on hers so I'm giving her the credit. There's a Ravelry group or groups too. The idea is that you make your own Sock Club by selecting skeins and patterns and parcelling them up in separate bags, which you then open at monthly intervals. When I first read about it, I thought, 'Well, thank goodness I've just given away my sock yarn so I won't be tempted to do something as silly as that,' but then I started thinking about all the lace yarn I have which just sits in my head as a bundle of Could Do This, Could Do That ideas which never get resolved because I have to decide which to do first, before I decide anything else. This way, I could match the yarns to the patterns and then let chance decide which I was going to do first. I have got as far as printing out the patterns I want to use, and although I still feel pretty silly, I think I'm going to look for some bags soon. I might accidentally arrange which one to open first: do you think that would be terribly wrong?

I got this from the Yarn Yard the other week: the colours are a pale, smudgy version of crocuses peeping through grass. It goes by the romantic name of 612 and it's very pretty.


I meant to post this sooner. He must have a cat at home. Or several cats.

Knits in Wear

I've got some more interesting shots of recent FOs, being worn by the people for whom they were made.

This is Micah, wearing his new blanket while he has a nap in the supermarket queue.

Photo by Pops.

And this is Calum in his Felicity hat.

And in profile.
You can really see the colours here, and the halo from the possum (New Zealand possum, not American). It's Cherry Tree Hill merino and possum, which they don't do any more, in the shade River Run. The small pink person beside him wouldn't put on the hat and scarf that I made for her with Felted Tweed and Kidsilk Haze because, allegedly, it is scratchy. Hmmm.

I ran out of yarn on the edging for the Pinwheel blankie and started meanwhile on a shawl. It's the trial shawl for my goddaughter to decide if she wants a wedding shawl and before I could splurge on some silk yarn, I remembered that I had this Hand Maiden Sea Silk.

I think the colour is Ocean.
The pattern is, of course, the Forest Canopy, which I chose partly because well, because, but also because it doesn't use so much yarn as some shawl patterns and I only have one skein.

The music which alarmed some visitors to my previous post was coming from the Playlist in the sidebar above the jigsaws. I've changed the settings now so that it doesn't come on automatically: you have to click on Play.

I went to the optician today for a routine eye test and discovered that I don't need new glasses. I think this is the first time since I was about 10 years old that my sight has stayed the same for two years, hurrah. I haven't worn them out by knitting and watching films at the same time.

Broadcast News was on television the other night. I hadn't seen it since it came out and I still felt the same way about the characters, which surprised me because I usually find if I see a film twenty years later that as well as feeling different about the film, I often relate to the characters differently too. I still think the Albert Brooks character is too much of a dork although he has a lot of good lines (and now he makes me think of George Costanza too, which he couldn't in 1987), I still identify a bit with the Holly Hunter character while not sharing her presence of mind, and although my critical faculties tend to abandon me when I'm faced with a tall strawberry blond, I still think William Hurt plays the shallow-but-he-knows-it anchorman with depth and subtlety. I don't think the characters would be so honest with one another nowadays, but maybe that's just me. I'd forgotten that Jack Nicholson was in it, playing one of his demonic roles with the specially sharpened eyebrows and it was good to see him. It has a lot of good lines, very sharp script.