ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

It is an ordinary day here in the UK; just another day at work.

Since I had bugged out on holding a 4th of July BBQ this year, I elected to sponsor a Thanksgiving Lunch instead.

Turkey
Dressing
Vegetables (mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots)
Corn Bread
Pies (it was supposed to be Pumpkin and Pecan)

Contrary to what the Mess had thought, essentially everyone in the building showed up. (Physical limit is 120 and we were there).

Seemed to go over well with a lot of happy people. The Chef also made a tasty nut loaf, so even I got enough to eat.

1620 and it is dark. Time to go home and check on the turkey for Saturday and knit the last bit of the body on Solo

Audio

The Pagan Stone – Nora Roberts.

Norfolk lines that is, not Norwalk (and all its viral cousins).

We have breakfast, finding that we are not the only group in the place accompanied by a pup. Hanging out all morning, I manage to get some more knit on the Solo and another book read. Slowly we move out, after all, we can’t get through the gate before 1245. I thought briefly about spending the morning in Gravelines. We had driven there yesterday to see the Vet. Old fortifications, moats, old walls – it seemed quite interesting.

If only the weather had not been so raw, wet, cold. It would have been nice to have pictures and some intersting sites other than fleets of trucks heading to or from the ferry dock.

We get to check in and hand over all the paper. A different gentleman is working today. He comes out to verify with his little chip reader that it is still the same dog as yesterday.

It is; she is scared.

Then he tells us that we haven’t paid for the dog to cross.

I look at him. My reply is something to the effect that I was in their office four times yesterday and that the woman at the desk both made arrangements for the vet and re-issued our paperwork. Nothing was said about paying extra for the dog. Can I pay him? Do I have to go out and about again? Whatever, I am just tired.

He looks at me, then says to go ahead. Not going to charge me this time.

We roll to queque D, then drive up the ramps when it is our turn.

The seas are rough.The trip not only takes an extra 20 minutes but we have a further delay at port entry since other ships have been late.

Lucky us as we drive through the rain up the A20/M20/M26/M25/M3 before escaping onto local roads and pulling through the gate.

All of us are glad to be out of the car.

Except, of course, I still have a train station run to make.

that is all it was.

We left Germany early this morning. Driving through various rain, snit and snow flurries, I made only two quick stops on the way to Dunkirk. We did have one detour of less than five minutes when I wasn’t paying attention. 625 km or so – in six hours is not that bad, even taking the long way around to the port.

After waiting in line to check-in, we rolled up to the window.

Sorry, he said. It is now 10 minutes after ten.

I didn’t have a clue at first, then realized that he was looking at the Vet certification on the Golden Retriever.

What?

It is ten minutes after ten, he repeated. Your certifcate on the dog expired after ten. You can’t take the ferry.

Ten flipping minutes.

We finally figured out how to turn around and get out of the entry (dodging 18 wheelers who were not happy at seeing a car coming toward them in their lane) I finally found the office.

They take the “entry allowed between 24 and 48 hours after vet certification” extremely literally.

I suppose I should accept part of the responsibility. Intellectually I knew about the rule and had not looked at the certificate, much less noted a time. I just had assumed that they had taken the dog in late morning/early afternoon. To be honest, even knowing now the result I am not sure that the time implications would have sunk through.

We were given the information on the regions emergency vet service which we found after 20 minutes of driving around lost. We waited. She was seen and retreated. 79€ later I was back at the office to get rebooked for the following day. Time on the vet signature was 1245 which meant we could take the 1400 ferry.

Directed to a local hotel where a three person room was 42€, I checked in via automatic machine and took the dog up to the room.

We were exhausted. The four of us slept, including the dog, glad to be out of the car.

And tomorrow we get to leave France…..

Just the Maus and I today.

We cleaned (to some extent), did laundry. Washed the entire order of polar fleece that arrived a few weeks ago, played a couple of computer games. And knit.

I finished up her sweater (after a run to get another couple of buttons since the first batch are lost somewhere in the house).

Kochoran Sweater Front

Kochoran Sweater Back

The Mermaid is done, ends woven in, photographed

And this is when everything fell apart.

and drying upstairs.

I managed to find all the information from the Oct Cruise so that I can finally upload the pix.

As the final crowning glory for the day, I decided it was time to do the steeks on my Viking Ship Sweater. The Front is not an issue, one just stitches down the front. But the sleeves? I needed to know how long to make the steeks.

The pattern is missing. I have searched the house. Twice. I have been through everything. Nada. To make it worse, I located my working copy of pages 1-3. I need page 4. It is the one that specifies the sleeve information and has the chart.

Did I mention that this pattern is OOP? On Monday. I can email Sandnes and see if they are willing to send me a pdf of the pattern, or just the last page. I am easy and desperate!

After that, well. It was time to read and crash

This week at the Pentagon, LTG Ann Dunwoody was promoted to Gen. She is the first Four Star Female General. Amid all the pomp and circumstance and speeches – I think her comment is the best:

She later quipped: “There is no one more surprised than I – except my husband. And you know what they say: Behind every successful woman is an astonished man.”

Around the House

Modern Housing (Un) Solutions managed to actually get one of their repairmen by today. I know have an doorbell that works and an outside light that functions over the door.

Heat, well, that we still don’t have.

Knitting

Well, two more ridges on the Hanne Falkenberg Solo.

Reading

Secrets – Jude Deveraux. An ok, quick read but I refuse to agree that any woman can be that stupid or naive.
Chasing Darkness – Robert Crais. A good Elvis Cole novel with good dialog, great characters and less than the usual amount of violence.

out my work window

Podiobooks

I think that I have mentioned them before – Podiobooks that is. It had been a couple of weeks since I wandered past the site. Made my contributions to Discovered Country by Nora Fleischer, Dr Janeway’s Plague by John Farrell, Double Share by Nathan Lowell and How to Succeed in Evil by Patrick McLean.

Then, while wandering around (avoiding work you might say) I found that the Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk) is serializing a new book – Cordurouy Masions by Alexander McCall Smith. On-line only, one new episode per week in both audio and eBook format. For free.

Amazing what a full pot of coffee does for one.

Coffe Break

I am one step closer to complete on my Mermaid. No longer insane over the infinite I-cord, I just have the small issue of sewing the sleeves into the body.

Mermaid Front

Mermaid Back

Not pictured is almost a full ball of the dark eggplant. Kit comes with more than enough yarn. Finishing, bleh.

It is dark out, I am tired. It was easier to go back to knitting on Solo. I am almost at the back midway point.  The right front is at the top with the collar edge being the black. Other than the under arm dart, the rest of the sweater is simple stripes without any short rowing. (Well, I am assuming there are short rows on the sleeves, but I am not there yet).

Solo, day 5

Listening

Cure for Modern Life - Lisa Tucker.

Not greebles

and there are the occasions that the youngest two even get along…..

Mermaid

The only thing that will take longer to knit than the collar on this Mermaid is going to be the I-Cord around the front. Infinite extent of I-cord. I shudder just thinking about it.

Knitting the collar on Mermaid