ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

Remember last year (2008) when I bought those Shetland Fleeces? Or a while ago when I spent a day up to my elbows in hot soapy water?

It is dry. The weather is lovely. And I have my combs……

This morning when I came down to the kitchen, there was a change in what had been my planned snacked.

It seems like a mouse has come to visit again…….

Paul Daniel Mervis, 27, was buried today at the Aldershot Military Cemetery. A British Army LT he was with The 2nd Battalion the Rifles (2 RIFLES). He was killed 12 June 2009 while on patrol in Helmand Province. (notes also here and here).

The Jewish community in the British Military is proportionally even smaller than that of the US services. Paul is the first casualty of the community since the Falklands (1982). Cemetery space is extremely limited in England; a guaranteed funeral plot is not a minor benefit.

A full formal graveside service, it combined military and Jewish traditions. I estimate that there were close to 350 standing on the hillside for the service officiated by the Rabbi of the family’s temple in Wimbledon. Also present, the rabbi emeritus of that schul and the past layleader for the British Armed forces (only one when you have 300 total or less….).

It was a quiet and fitting service, as much as anyone can say about a funeral for a young man of 27. The readings and eulogies from his brother, sister, uncle and best friend gave me the impression of a bright, opinionated, loyal, argumentative young man full of joy, willing to go to the wall for his beliefs and delighting in the chance to serve in the army. He won’t be there for his younger brother and sister, this fall he won’t be the best man in his childhood friend’s wedding. It was obvious the pride in him through the pain of everyone who spoke.

I had not met him as the only way I would have was attendance at Amport – he had been planning on coming Jan 2010. Adding my shovel full of dirt to his grave prior to saluting in full uniform was not how any of us plan to make acquaintances.

As you can tell, I have been messing around with the blog appearance again. Never mind that the sidebars seem beyond repair in all themes or that this particular theme has no options whatsoever. (Meaning that I have to get creative and actually edit some php and css files myself. Not mentioning that the editor does not seem to be working nor remotely does anything resembling the archive function.

Ah well. Clean, simple. Lots of white and the Heidelberg pictures rather than my current garden. Please let me know in the comments what you think and what you find that is broken, I would really appreciate it.  For that matter, does anyone really check the blogs anymore as apposed to reading feeds?

In better use of my time, I hauled out the spinning wheel yesterday.

and tried spinning a bit of the black roving I received in the On-Going UK Swap.
Looked at some of the white shetland

and combed at bit, spun it into singles, then plyed.

it was happy to be fine

and it is now washed and hanging. That small amount turned into 30 meters of two ply.

meanwhile, the grey fleece I washed last night is mostly dry

My choice of listening today has been Zombie Chronicles by James Melzer which you can find on his website or Podiobooks and The Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steven Miller. You can find it contained in the Saltation Podcast on Fireheart Foundry or available on iTunes. It will be out in hardcover from Baen this fall.

At almost 2200, it is dark enough that I need to bring in yarn and fleece.

I have just been reading Thomas L Friedman’s “The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization.”

I have head a number of his other works and decided to go back to some of the basics. (Remember that I was born in 1950 and joined the military in the Cold War Era: that I pre-date both TVs and Movies in color, computers other than Main Frames, and the oral birth control pill.)

Our whole focus from “whose side are you on” has shifted. It might not always be for the better as short term business attitudes have resulted in long term industry disasters (remember when General Motors actually made a profit?).

But today, I buy wooden knitting needles from Indian and Vietnam, yarn from Peru, Japan, Australia, Estonia and Germany without leaving my desk. I download patterns from designers around the world and have friends in dozens of locations scattered across most of the continents.

Few of us have “loyalty” to our own country for products. Rather, we want the best for the purpose that we can afford, no matter where in the world it originates.

Which is why I am knitting a baby sweater: the pattern by a US designer on Norwegian 3.5 needles out of a UK yarn for a baby living in Germany born of Hungarian and US parents.

Pictures tomorrow

Arriving home at 0303 I was walking into walls exhausted. Bad enough I was stupid enough to drive home rather than take Réne up on her offer of a place to stay, but there was one more “official” event on the agenda.

This afternoon was the Annual Garden Party at the Mess. Pims, tea, crumpets, scones, and finger sandwichs. Exhaustion prevented me from getting the full history behind the event. What was evident was that I actually was dressed appropriately for the occasion (it is not often that I voluntarily don either dress or heels).

It seemed to be one of those occasions when retirees come out of the wood work making me feel quite young (understand, with the normal British Army retirement age I am the oldest officer in the building, trumping even those who rank me).

The Mole, being home for the weekend came along on the promise of free food and the threat of whatever if he didn’t. Kindly wearing his suit, he spent most of the time bored out of his tree until we had a chance to talk to probably the only two other people at the event anywhere near his own age (offspring of the senior Keogh ESO, one of whom is reading law while his sister plans the same in about two years time).

The rain held until just after we returned home.

As might be expected, knitting, reading, spinning and sewing were not high on my list of accomplishments today.

I know I was not thinking straight several months ago when I blithely agreed it would be wonderful to attend the Army Birthday Ball at Menwith Hill. Sponsored by the MI BN, it is only a measly 250 miles (give or take depending on road construction which translates to 4-5 hours on UK roads) from where I am stationed.

Also making it a bit problematic was the fact that I didn’t get home all that early on Thurs evening coupled with a before 0530 start.

Did I mention that I also had promised to arrive at Menwith Hill in the morning in order to work on some paperwork? Said paperwork needing to be completed prior to 1100 when the GOH (Guest of Honor = two star General Officer) was scheduled to arrive.

And then there was the small issue of road construction, two lanes roads at the end, a few tractors chugging down the road effectively blocking everyone and …..

you get the idea.

I did get a nap in the afternoon, the Ball was fine, the food a buffet (that actually had vegetables), the Chaplain did one of the best invocations I have heard in years and I hit the road to home about 2230.

We will not discuss road construction on the way back (unanticipated closures and detours) nor almost going the wrong way down a dual carriage way (what is with the idiot who moved the signs?) and just say that I feel into my own bed at 0300 cursing myself for being stupid enough to drive home exhausted.

Next time, I will take up the kind offer of the bed (or sleep in the car if I am feeling stupid) and drive when it is light.

And, after all of that – I don’t even have any pictures!

Never mind that this is an official military function, the dress for the annual Royal Army Medical Corps Dinner is Black Tie.

It is not warm out today. Nowhere near warm enough to wear the only floor length dress I have. Even if I wear a light weight fancy top, I would still be at risk of freezing.

Instead, I hauled out a cream colored tux I bought on sale several winters ago. It is lovely; fancy jacket with shiny lapels and matching pants. Add a burgundy silk top and I was all set. I almost, but not quite thought about wearing Phoenix, but it just didn’t seem dressy enough even though it makes quite a statement.

Did I mention the run to Croughton today which almost made me late? Or that I discovered the custom is to wear military medals on the suit jackets which meant that I had to make a fast run home to pull medals off my dress mess.

(Remind me, is there a point to not wearing a uniform and then hanging things around one’s neck and pinning military ribbons to one’s dress jacket?)

It was almost midnight before I was able to get home and crash for a few hours before getting on the road in the morning for Menwith Hill.

Back home, I realized that I was nowhere near as coherent yesterday as I thought.

There is a reason why the written instructions (instructions? who reads pesky instructions) are very specific about not driving for 24 hours after anesthesia (legally impaired I think were the specific words).

Forgot to show you the progress on the Faery Ring Aran

Other than driving home mid day and rescuing the dog – the only useful things I accomplished this morning were a stop at the library and a stop at the craft store (Lakenheath both).

TBR

in no particular order
Wormwood – Susan Wittig Albert
A Cedar Cove Christmas – Debbie Macomber (written soap opera)
Undead and Unworthy – Mary Janice Davidson. What am I doing with this book anyway? The last one in audio drove me insane!
Wings of Wrath- C.S. Friedman
The Language of Bees – Laurie R King
Three Bags Full – Leonie Swann (I skimmed through it in the original German. wanted to see how it was in translation).
odd girl out – Timothy Zahn (real scifi!)
Dark of Night – Suzanne Brockman (the next in the Troubleshooters series).

includes all those things that you really need to do, but leaving you feeling poked, prodded and undignified.

Last month I was a good kid (May, we are thinking about May and the fact that it must have been a lifetime ago) and did the eye exam, mammography and bone density thing. All of which proved that my vision is crap, that I am flat enough to have been right about there isn’t anything there that would not be really obvious, and my bones are brittle. Ok. No surprises, none.

I am waiting on my new glasses, will think about repeating the mammography in a few years (annual? not this child), but will seriously have to do something about my bone density or I am going to wind up breaking things and falling down. I really don’t like Phosamex…nasty stuff.

Next on the list – current recommendations are that healthy adults get a colonoscopy at age 50, then every ten years for colon cancer screening. I am 58. That is 8 years of avoidance. Not quite as impressive as ignoring mammography for 13 years, but close.

Today was my lucky day at Lakenheath. One of the friendly surgeons (really good guy who teaches ATLS with me) was taking me on as a patient.

After a horrible drive up, I dropped in early to the Surgical Clinic. Scheduled for 1300, they were willing to move me up to 1100 (translates, I didn’t have to be hungry for a couple more hours while they trucked off and had lunch) when they finished early with their previous couple of patients. I don’t have much for veins, but IV meds do wonders in knocking out headaches.

I received a clean bill of health, the admin assistant from the flight medicine clinic walked me back to billeting and I checked in with the intentions of finally getting the rest of my missed nights sleep.

The Air Force takes excellent care of its senior officers; they put me in a suite with living room

kitchenette

and bedroom

and definitely more closet space. Too bad that I was not quite enough with it to enjoy myself.

Knitting

I am not counting them, I am really not. Ms Maus who was with us in Barcelona remembered to haul along some of the regia cotton sock that I purchased on sale from Wollefactory. I started this scarf on size 5.5 needles. Sock yarn on such needles works up quickly.
I was almost finished with the first ball this past weekend

and completed the last couple of rows before deciding it was stupid to proceed without the pattern.

and I really like the pattern.

Did I mention that there was free WiFi?

Have you ever met ducolax? How about Golytely?  (it mixes up to a gallon)

The two of them teamed up against one helpless middle aged lady?

I really don’t have time to tell you about my knitting, or reading or anything!

I have been listening to audio books (not a surprise there) and knitting.

The colors on this shawl are actually pretty close to accurate and I am over half way through the first ball. The needle is one two Kollage circs that I own. Turned out to split the size difference between two normal circs and be just perfect for the pattern.

Faery Ring Aran

Mary Scott Huff posted this wonderfully fun pattern (Ravelry, sorry about that) for a knitted jacket with hood. Knit in worsted weight yarn, it looked like something that might go quickly. The KAL officially begins 1 July. I decided that I could play if, and only if, I could find yarn in my stash.

And, as luck would have it, last year I orderd some lovely denim blue from an Irish Woolen Mill. I have eight balls (350 meters each) which looks like it should be just about enough. And if it is not, I will skip the hood….

It starts with a cable around the bottom which then has stitches picked up from the side.

this photo is a bit more acurate on color while you can see the cable a bit better here (I think).

I have the stitches jammed fairly tightly on the needle. The other Kollage, it knits smoothly except for the fact that the join holds up the flow of stitches a bit. It also might have something to do with the cable being completely limp. That is right – no twisting, no kinking, no memory, no stiffness. Pushing yarn up a noodle?

Anyway, I like the looks of the project so far. Since Ms Copper has decided it is not for her, I will have a fall knock around sweater for me.

really doesn’t look much like sock yarn anymore.

On one of my blast through Germany trips I picked up two balls of this lovely yarn with the intention of knitting something other than socks. In fact, I have to think hard about the last time that I knit a pair of socks. It might be months.

Anyway, Twinings is published by Knitspot (same lovely woman who produced the Ostrich Plumes I showed you a few days ago).

There are a couple of really wonderful features to this pattern. The first is that the edging is knit as you go, eliminating the insanity of not knowing if you have enough yarn left to finish the shawl. The second is that it can be knit in two halfs and grafted in the middle so that the pattern balances. Some of us consider just knitting the pattern in reverse (which can be done since all the body rows have the same number of stitches). Lastly, the pattern repeat is simple enough to remember (most of the time).

Like it?

I am not sure what is happening right now in my life, but knitting up lace scarves seems to have it over endless meters of garter stitch.

The 100 gm of Bamboo (Wendy Happy) became this scarf -

and the end looks like this -

I think I also forgot to show you what I did with the seond 50 gm of Mini-Mochi

Now there is this small matter of hauling out the pins and blocking wires. According to MaryHenry – departures into Lace are addictive and not easily cured.

Today and tomorrow are the annual GP Study Day(s) here at AMD. Great excuse for me to put off a medical appointment I had at Lakenheath. Rescheduled for next week….

Unfortunately, this is official military and not a time where it would be proper to knit.

Fudge the proper, but the agenda looks interesting even if I am skipping the Carvery.

There was sunshine in Barcelona, lots of it. At least till we left the hotel for the airport this morning.

The rain on my parade started at BA check-in which I couldn’t since they closed the counter and the machines were turned off. Now, I did on-line check in, but once again failed to ask the hotel staff to print my boarding card. Last time I am this foolish.

Two hours in the outer area waiting to get a boarding card to clear security so that I could wait the next two hours inside the passenger terminal wandering the shops and not spending any money. And yes, I could have stayed at the hotel a couple of hours longer but I was the only one with a flight at that time. Leaving too soon to go out on the Catamaran and later than my two dear family members. Just couldn’t see asking for special arrangements for just me.

Two times around before we landed at London City Airport. There are a lot of flight restrictions at London City and there is not much maneuver room. Aborted landings are not all that uncommon when there is a lot of turbulence combined with a tail wind. I can live with that; the pilot executed a perfect landing in spite of everything.

What I had not counted on was the continuing construction on the Docklands Rail. Replacement bus service to Canning Town, Replacement bus service to Stratford – Tube to Bank – Tube to Waterloo. Rail from Waterloo to Ascot in time (2137) to wait for the 2213 to Guildford so that I can get to  Camberley. It was 2250 when I walked in the door.

I was glad to be home, the dog was thrilled to see me….

ps -I did get some knitting done this weekend with a wonderful bamboo yarn.

We are all booked into the Hotel La Florida on the hill over looking Barcelona. It looks like it is right above the city. In reality, we are a bus ride to nowhere with polution obscuring the view of the city.

We meandered around the city a bit,

saw Gaudi architecture

and found this:

leading here. Run by Jennifer (kamikazeknits on Ravelery) she has all sorts of goodies in her store. Including the 3.00 mm KnitPro tips…

This stop made up for dinner which was late and featured dead stuff of both fish and flesh variety. Their alternative for me was Risotto.

as apposed to yesterday which featured this wonderful custard.

and tomorrow we head home….

.

On vacation for three days. It is the annual business outing of DH’s firm. Last year it was Majorca, this year Barcelona. The sunshine is nice, but we really need to think about doing something other than city tours and late night dinners. Other than one other couple the same age as us, the rest of the crew is a good 20 years younger. Many are starting families and we do need to figure out something that is a bit more family friendly. No one likes to leave babies with strangers, so that means that some of the husbands and wives wind up with child care duties instead of elegant suppers.

Me? I can do without the elegant suppers…..

Ms Copper (rapidly returning to her original Ms Blond) is the only one of our offspring who was on school vacation and joined us. The one Finnish member of the group has a daughter the same age, the two of them suffering the rest of the younger set this evening.

Well, I managed to get the school check done, drove back to Camberley, deposited cash in my British Bank account and caught the train toward Waterloo with 30 seconds to spare.

I was meeting a friend (would you believe with a Harley Street Clinic address?) to discuss some follow up from the Budapest meeting.

Had just enough time on the way back to wander through John Lewis, Liberty of London

(they have little now compared to what I remember from 2000) and join a group of knitters at I Knit London for about an hour

before my train.

Audio

The Iron Hunt – Marjorie Liu

Still can’t figure out how I missed it this morning. On the list Croughton was a pounds sterling check for the Mole’s coming years school tuition. Paying it early saves over 5%. Not going to make that on the money if I leave it in the bank and pay in installments. I wasn’t sure there was enough in the savings account, so I needed to bring my check book.

Looking in all the usual places, I didn’t locate it this morning. Not in the living room book case, not in the desk drawer in the office/junk room. Not in the basket of knitting stuff next to the couch in the living where I was sure that I tossed it a few months ago. Writing checks is not all that common a thing for me. For UK expenditures, I use my debit card or occasionally cash. For US, it is credit card over the Internet. For train vending machines in Germany or other countries, I give my DH the thrill of it showing up on his Swiss Bank Credit Card. All in all, rather cosmopolitan of me to spread it around.

I went to Croughton, ran all the errands, stopping at the bank last of all. Asking the nice guy at the counter to check and make sure that I had enough in my savings. Then he made out the check, I paid the fee in cash. Finally, he sat there looking at his screen.

what is the matter?
You don’t have enough in your account to cover the check.
(aside here, well – duh, with the dropping dollar I sort of thought this was going to be a problem. That was why I asked him before we started.)
Ok, then I will have to come back tomorrow and we will do it again….

Getting home at 1500, I spent the next three hours on a check book hunt. This checkbook has the last remaining checks for our stateside account. The one that gets my pay every month by direct deposit. It has more than enough money in it to pay the tuition bill. I repeat, three hours of hunting.

I checked out the all the bookcases in the house, cleaned and organized the drawers and clothes cupboard in my bedroom. Cleaned the office/trash room and sorted all the paper. Searched all the yarn baskets I could find. Checked every single pocket, suitcase and bag in the house.

Totally disgusted, I decided to rescue the loose knitting needles from the basket next to the couch. On the bottom, upside down, was the check book. Right where I failed to see it this morning.

Pain in the ****, another round trip in the morning early and I need to be in London at 1300.

Can you tell that right now I need fast projects for a short attention span? I keep promising myself I will head back to things that need more than one 50 gm skein of yarn but I keep getting distracted….

Revontuli

Is what I wound up with just before running out of yarn. And

almost dry with just a couple of hours in the sun.

Since I had two balls of the multi-color yarn – I decided to go ahead and try a scarf with the second ball – Ostrich Plume scarf from Knitspot.

The basic pattern is 32 rows long. In reality, there are only two pattern rows with three knit/purl rows between.

In case you hadn’t seen enough pictures of my Phoenix – it is now finished, blocked and drying…

She has the right idea. Play really hard and then sleep whenever the opportunity strikes. A happy camper today, she was back in the office with me today after being excluded all of last week.

Revontuli

A lovely Finnish pattern, I have been considering this shawl pattern for a while. I had the ball of yarn that wanted to be something simple, something that would knit up quickly and show off the self striping shininess of the wool/silk blend. Certainly it has not been happy forced into the configuration of a sock – and settled comfortably into a ball immediately upon frogging.

Completion of Chart I

followed by partway through Chart II

while listening first to Spider on the Web followed by the most recent three episodes of The Secret World Chronicles – the Hunt. I just picked up The Metamor City Podcast and will see how it goes. Quality of the record seems good, and one never knows about shared universes. Several of the usual Podiobooks suspects are intermittently involved.