Friday, August 25, 2006

A good fisherman's woman

"I'm pretending to be a good fisherman's woman. Just like Anna Ingunn's mum, the gladiator of all fisherman's wives..." - Emiliana Torrini


Honestly but these good women are *everywhere* these days, have you noticed? Loads of gansey knitting going on - from the Harlot on elsewhere. Odd then that the Torrini album was one that I chose to include in Emily's care package - talk about one of those odd coincidences! It must be the subtle changes in the air signifying that fall is slowly but surely coming around the corner - for me it's the double sight of both the freshman swarming all over campus and two lovely (aspen?) trees turning a deep golden yellow already...

I was absolutely as thrilled as thrilled can be to get word from Emily that the package arrived safe and sound (I mailed that box priority mail a week ago on Thursday, and she got it late this week! Hmph, but the US Postal service certainly has something to answer for in that one - - - honestly, what if that delay in shipping had caused her chocolate to melt???) and was even happier to hear how much she liked it. I had SUCH a good time picking everything out that I had been walking around for days with my fingers crossed waiting to hear from her... The chocolate (in case anyone is interested) is both Green & Blacks and some Chocolove - - they make the best dark chocolate bars that I've probably ever had (except for a few morsels I sampled while in Germany) - - well worth searching them out. And hey - if you can't get them in your particular town let me know, I'm always willing to put together a box o' chocopower for a good cause! And why certainly - I'll happily provide muffin recipes to anyone who asks, but I must state up front that while I myself am a HUGE fan of those muffins they aren't my original recipe. Whose they are, though, I dare not say, for fear of being carted off to jail for insider stock trading...... [snicker, snicker] Poor thing, she really is the butt of far too many jokes, isn't she???? I really *should* be nice to her, after all when the Harlot was on tour last year she went onto M's radio program and spoke to the woman herself who was quite kind to our Wild-Haired and Under-Caffeinated leader..........

I have to admit, though, it felt very strange to not include a knitted dishcloth or a knitted......something in Emily's box. I mean, I totally rely on kitchen cotton and washcloths plus a bar of locally made soap to get me through the emergency gifts - so not including anything handknitted felt very strange. But honestly - have you seen the woman's socks? She's a genius with the needles - she can make a dishcloth that would whup my dishcloth's soggy bottom any ol' day.......... ;>

Speaking of genius, does anyone have any good ideas on how to deal with the following?


No, not the coffee (decaf) and chocolate (G&B's Mayan Gold. Emily, have you tried this yet? I'll be extremely interested to know what you think once you do!) - I totally know what to do with both, but rather the huge nasty snarled mess next to it, under the (since) frogged sock. I spent a good hour winding (barely) enough tangled yarn into a ball to knit a sock. Hopefully enough to knit one sock, but I'll obviously need to eventually produce a second.....and will want to salvage the rest. If this were hair on one of my little sisters I'd yank out the mega bottle of conditioner and find a good comb, but as it's not I have nooooo idea even where to start or if there are any tricks/tips to follow?

Speaking of the ripped sock, here is the replacement in all of it's four inches of colourful glory. I'm quite thrilled as I have moved in the pattern instructions from my four size-2 dpns to five size-1 dpns, which makes me feel a bit more skilled and a bit more confident that I won't have as many ladders in these socks as I otherwise would. I just can't believe how fast they're coming along now that I switched patterns!

And speaking of fast, I made some decent progress on R's clapotis this week during all of my meetings and suchlike - I'm up to 3 dropped stitch rows. I'll have to consult the pattern, but I think (?) I'll do at least 15 or 17 before I start to even think about doing the decrease section. And R, being bored with a piece of knitting is part & parcel of the craft, so don't fret one tiny bit if I start to whinge a bit about the clapotis - finding the discipline to push past the boredom is a good thing, as once you do that you discover some truly interesting things about whatever it is that you're knitting, plus it always seems to be just that same time when you learn a knew knitting skill yourself! Check out the recent progress - I'm truly just loving these colours the more I see of them....



And last, but not least, a long-ago promised cat picture for Emma of my cat Ella in her new sleeping cubby!
Ahhhhhh........I love it when I'm finally able to upload proper photos again!

(See the knitting book collection above Ella's head?)

1 comment:

stitching pooh said...

love the socks, and your clappy is so pretty. Did you get that cats permission to photograph her in her new room, how cute:)