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WRITING BLOG
| Anne's work on needles
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Cable jumper for Mike
Rowan wool/cotton in 'misty', a marled grey. My own design, much becabled.
Beaded top in hemp
Hemp yarn from House of Hemp in 'gosh', kingfisher blue / green.
'MOST SECRET' project
One more for yuletide in fluffy yarn, 6.5mm needles. A breeze.
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Finished projects 2002
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17th November
I've got four incognito FOs but I can't tell you about them!
Two super secret projects have been finished (Noro yarn is now used up) and two more classified items have been crafted for yuletide. These were inspired by Emma's recent FO (no link, recipients may be eavesdropping; but if you're a blogger, you know where to find her). Superbly easy to knit, made two on Sunday. Mike's cable sweater is zipping along again, but work will be interrupted by one last top secret creation.
Hemp sources
In Brighton the other day I came across the Hemp Shop in whose window they were displaying cones of fine hemp yarn. Unfortunately this stuff was sourced from China where they had manufactured a very weak yarn, unfinished and very string-like, with whispy areas which broke down in embarassment when stared at intently. The Hemp Shop are now trying to source Romanian hemp yarn which they say should be of better quality. I mentioned House of Hemp but they were not interested.
11th November
Knitting and Formal Logic
I've been doing some formal logic / predicate calculus again, having dug out some books from university days and spurred on by... er... not being able to crack Bamford's codes - and not even knowing if they are crackable, or just inserted as a cruel joke to drive gullible readers mad. (See what I'm reading now). The feeling I get in my brain when I am working on this (logic) is the same that I get when I'm knitting a complex pattern. Yum.
One of my massage clients this morning (how did we get talking about this???) knows the feeling. He describes it as 'fog clearing' and I can key into that. For me it's more as if the back of my brain is being expanded just behind my ears, as if I'm looking backwards and watching the (hopeful) sparking between dendrites. And it's true, I jest not: knitting causes this sensation, albeit in a milder way.
One of my elderly clients, who is developing altzheimers, has been told by her doc to get knitting again, and to knit as complicated a pattern as she can manage. I suspect we are talking about a particularly enlightened member of the medical profession here. Not only does she (venerable client) tackle intarsia, fairisle and texture in one row, but she knits left-handed, left to right, and transposes patterns in her head. Now *she* should be doing predicate calculus.
9th November
Bonfire Night Revelry
Barcombe Bonfire night was dry and uneventful - no other bonfire societies turned up, but Toria made up for that by having 20 odd people to stay. We all survived fine and Jamtart was unmoved and slept on Toz all night.
Here is evidence that Mike was there (he went up with his friend Ade and another chap who got stuck in his jacket when the zip wouldn't undo - we rescued him with the sheer intellectual brilliance and technical ingenuity you could only expect from yours truly - the insertion of a paper clip through the zip pull which snapped back the locking mechanism, rendering the subsequent hard yank somewhat overeffective!) He was very grateful as we were looking at a long
sentence and thought it might get a bit hot when the summer came around.
8th November
NO, no, Noro
I can't get the hang of this Noro yarn. I have four hanks, same colour, same dye lot. They fall into two groups of two which have completely different colours in each. Not even close. The feeling is not even the same. One pair has raspberry reds and salmons, mustardy yellows and greens, and the faintest touch of mauve. The other group sports bright navy, sharp red and purple. About 30% of the yarn is the same in each of the pairs. So I have made one very top secret, classified project out of each of the pairs. Hmmmph. Not using it again.
In answer to one of the comments - I love Anjuli now it is finished, and I find myself wearing it all the time. I had to lengthen it, as the cropped version was too short (but the long one was too long for me). It sits just on top of my hips and makes them look slightly slimmer than they really are (yes!!!). I wear it with a skirt (Me? a skirt? Yes. I have a skirt. A long denim one.) and with jeans. I actually made it in heirloom cotton / wool from Ozeyarn (see link on green background below). It's odd to knit with but the finished article is very warm without being too woolly. I had to alter the pattern a little to accomodate the yarn's new guage, but it was worth it.
The Hemp Beaded Top is advancing a few rows at a time, and is still fun. Thank goodness! It is my own design, which I am writing down religiously as I change it in the knitting of it and shall publish it at some stage if it works out as nicely as I am anticipating (drool).
3rd November
Shiny, shiny, shiny beads
I love my beaded top! I love the hemp! I think I'm in knitting heaven. I can pick it up and knit a row or two without either getting bored or having to perform major mathematical miracles to work out where I am in my pattern.
Mike's Rowan Cable sweater is progressing as well. This is a no-brainer, but gorgeous to knit. I would rather he hadn't chosen grey...
Top Secret
Have started a top secret Christmas present, information about which is not only classified but 'Very Restricted Knowledge' (see what I'm reading - so juvenile am I!). It's on 6mm needles and is galloping along. No picis.
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Knitting books in action now:
Knitting with Beads - Jane Davis
Easy instructions, cool designs, loads of inspiration
US shoppers click here:
Knitting with Beads
The Seaton Collection, Jamie and Jessi Seaton
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous designs, all intarsia, mostly 4-ply (fingering). One in double-knit. Flowers, oriental, heraldic. Very English.
US shoppers click here:
The Seaton Collection
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Read this month:
Body of Secrets - James Bamford.
About the history of the NSA and, to a lesser extent, the GCHQ. Can I work out the coded intro to each chapter? ...grrrrr.
US shoppers click here:
Body of Secrets
Enigma - Robert Harris.
Exciting crypto 'Boys' Own Annual' stuff about the breaking of the Enigma code.
US shoppers click here:
Enigma
Reading now:
Beginning Logic - E.J. Lemmon.
My logic textbook in university days.
US shoppers click here:
Beginning Logic
Intelligence Services in the Information Age - Michael Herman.
Collection of articles on Intelligence issues icluding discussion of ethical issues and intelligence's place now and in the future.
US shoppers click here:
Intelligence Services in the Information Age
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Link to me!
Alternative Knitting in German - ja wirklich!
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