ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

Strange day here in the UK.

Temperature has been low, the electrician will be returning on Thurs morning to fix the overhead florescent lights which buzzed out over the weekend. And, the heating guy certified my boiler as kaput. A new one is on order. Meanwhile, I have two small electric space heaters on loan.

Funny thing, that. I had been doing ok without them. Not great, you understand, but ok. I had convinced myself that wearing four layers, sitting under comforters, and burying my hands with knitting wool was a completely normal way to live in the evenings.

I now have the heater running. The temperature has reached 16°C (a balmy 60°F for some of you) in the bedroom and my nose is no longer frosty at the tip.

Knitting update

Ok, there are four things on the needles right now.

The two vests both have backs completed; fronts are now cast on. I think I might wind up ripping out part of cul-de-sac and reknitting because my gauge isn’t quite right on the one side.

The other (only three incidences worth of frogging and re-doing because of cable cross problems) is fine. If I had realized how lovely a knitting yarn this was, I certainly would have snagged all the rest of it that was on sale while I had the opportunity. 6.00 mm needles also spells progress….

Then there is the diamond shapes pullover has two sleeves to be attached while on which I completed one of the lacking 4 quarter diamonds.

Finally, the garter square cardigan needs the steek cut on the front and sleeves finished prior to completing the bottom panel. I now have four 3.00 mm needles dangling from here or there which can make it a challenge at times.

I am thinking that the green vest should be the fastest finish followed by the garter diamonds. Then, I might just take a break and knit myself a winter hat or two. I just happened to find a couple of wonderful patterns and I have this lovely alpaca yarn …..

Books

In my effort to decrease the reading pile – in paper version, I finished Thai Die by Monica Ferris, Whisper to the Blood by Dana Stabenow and The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint. All were rapid reads. The Kate Shugak novel does require familiarity with the series, Ferris has pushed the series far enough and the de Lint was a bit different than his other books.

Not that I am really complaining since it meant that I could race through all of them in an afternoon while waiting on the heating guy.

We are all familiar with the concept of UFOs – and not as Area 51 or flying saucers – but as unfinished objects when the subject is knitting/crocheting. Perhaps it would be more accurate to use UFPs – unfinished projects – but UFO seems to have caught on and stuck.

The phenomena has spread in my life. Since becoming an affectionado of audio books, I now have the problem of UFBs – unfinished books. Having mentioned before that I have been known to have the attention span of a gnat, you should not be surprised.

I have often had several hard copy books in progress between professional reading, paperbacks and the hard covers that I check out from the library. I might misplace a book, leave one in the car or at the office and it certainly would not do to be out of reading material. Book monogamy has never been my thing so the idea of having a book on the night stand, professional reading in the office, an audio-book in the car CD player and something else on the iPod for treadmill entertainment didn’t bother me.

At least, not till yesterday morning when I realized that things were a bit out of control. Getting on the train, I hauled out the iPod and could not remember which book I had been listening to. When I had been listening to a book became the operative question. I spun the wheel down the list.

I can no more delete an audiobook than I can toss out a regular book. It doesn’t matter that it didn’t appeal to me at the time, I could change my mind. Or, it might get better if I listened a bit more. Or, I might just not have been in the mood for that particular kind of story at the time.

And on, and on, and more excuses. I started counting. One, two, five, twelve …. Never mind, I am not sure that I want to admit to the final number of books in progress.

It made me feel much better about having four knitting projects underway. That is a positively puny number, totally under control!

Especially compared to started books.

Knitting, on the other hand, at Costa Coffee this after was a combination of two diamonds forward, frog one back as I once again was not completely all there. Yes, I know how to drop down and reknit just an area to correct a mistake, but this was not one of those occasions where it would not have shown.

Pictures tomorrow, I promise.

A venerable institution, The Charing Cross Hotel has been in continuous operation since 1865 (a fact that I found out much later).  The hotel, as the meeting site for today’s British Travel Health Association annual meeting was noted to be “in Central London.” The directions I had to the hotel were simple – exit the station and it is right there.

Sure.

Right.

First, which exit? Between the train station and the co-located Underground stop, there are a lot of exits. Not expecting any problem, I headed out of the station and started looking. After 20 minutes of trying different streets (& asking in four different coffee shops), I was desperate enough to activate the browser function on my phone. Apparently, there were several hotels with Charing Cross in the name. After finding that 39 Whitehall was obviously not where I wanted to be, I made one last ditch effort.

A very nice member of the London Police didn’t know the hotel location but called into his dispatch for the information and provided me clear directions.

Retracing my path to the train station, I walked along the front of the building.  I saw no signs from inside the station. Blindingly obvious, the Charing Cross Hotel is above the Charing Cross Rail Station with a discreet door to the far right as you exit the station.

The conference was worth it.

Knitting

40 Minutes on the train each way= knitting progress

and a couple of TV episodes courtesy of iTunes this evening after returning home = about 3 cm progress after frogging back an entire diamond to fix a miss-crossed cable

Tomorrow I am staying home, knitting, and turning on the electric fire. 6°C in the house is just a bit nippy.

It wasn’t enough that I had turkey yesterday, I had to do it again today.

My excuse was that the young man is off at school, not returning home till the weekend.

While I was at it, I invited a British friend, and a couple of American ex-pats with their partners.

Ignoring my detours to the VW Service Center (I was sick of the buzzer at every start up reminding me that it was due for service), additional work to the tune of several hundred quid and the fact that I still don’t have heat; I was ready for company.

We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, vegetable bake, cranberry sauce, salad, pumpkin pie, and brownies.

I think that was the whole list and I don’t want to even think about how long it is going to be before the left overs are all gone.

Knitting

Patience is rewarded, and I have been knitting. Having finished the second square this afternoon, it seemed time to add the shoulder extensions. Then there is the question of “follow the pattern….” or not. I have never been clear on good reasons to bind off shoulders before turning around and sewing them together, preferring three needle bind-offs even when it seems a bit confusing.

Confusing enough to have to do one shoulder twice when I realized that I had knit one on the top while the second one had grown out the side where one normally finds an armhole. Taken without a flash, this self-patterning sockyarn is a bit lighter grey in color than seems apparent here.

While Americans were getting out of bed this morning with dreams of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows and green beans smothering in onion rings dancing in their heads, I was sitting down to lunch at the Mess.

You probably don’t remember, but I sponsored a Thanksgiving Day lunch last year, providing the fixings while the chefs prepared the meal. It had a good reception so I had planned on a repeat.  Cheryl, the Dental Exchange Officer made a contribution as well (making my pocket book a bit more cheerful).

Perhaps there are those who find some major significance in the holiday, making long speeches or looking at long cultural traditions.

For me, it is a holiday devoid of heavy religious implications or obligations. Instead, it is the one holiday a year that revolves around celebrating with family and friends.

Thanksgiving at a British Officers’ Mess is not exactly sitting down with my family (daughter at University in the US, husband in transit somewhere in Europe, daughter in school in Germany, son at school in Kent, daughter at work in Germany), nor was it similar to having Thanksgiving with several thousand of your best friends deployed in a sandbox but still.

I was surround by people enjoying their meal, taking time to visit and relax with friends. There was enough left over that the entire serving staff was able to eat as well.

Even more impressive was that there were those who apparently did an imitation of the tradition full stomach sleep in front of the TV for the afternoon. Of course, they happened to be attending the Public Health Forum with a speaker who turned out the lights after lunch.

A good friend wished me a good time at the gym.

I had to stop and think about it. I am not sure what is good – other than finishing – about 50 minutes on a treadmill pitched at a 7% grade. Done, perhaps or relieved that I survived? Proud of myself for an efficient burning off of calories? Satisfied at hearing another chunk of an audio book?

Not probably a good time. Another 6+ km and more than 300 calories burned off, but not a good time

I didn’t grow up in an era where nice girls either exercised or sweated.  Heck, when I was in high school there were still mandatory gym suits of the snap up the front variety through the tenth grade, dress codes and ancient teachers.

Reading was appropriate as was Home Ec for girls and Shop for boys.

But voluntarily exercising? Not in that era. On the other hand, it is really too bad that natural fitness is not appreciated by the young. I certainly never planned on running this slowly, not being able to hoist as much, nor creaking in the mornings.

Although the trade off just might be worth it.

I get to wear pants to school…. I mean work.

No, it is not what you find in your drain, septic tank, or at the bottom of the local stream bed.

That is the official term, the highway engineers tell me, for the intermitant build up and slow down of cars on the road for no good reason that anyone can figure out at all.

We have all been there: driving along, minding our own business when the traffic slows down to nothing for a few hundred meters or so, then speeds up to normal again leaving everyone just shaking their heads.

Good road design does not contribute to the phenomena. A lot of sludging leads to agravation, short tempers and probably accidents.

And then there was our drive back from Lakenheath this afternoon, the boy and I.

It was not sludging that had us taking 2 hours to travel 3 km, closed the M11 just short of Epping and created a detour through Harlow to read the M25.

To Quote:

SIX cars and a lorry were involved in multiple accidents on the M11 today (November 22), which left two people in hospital.

A one mile stretch of the motorway, near to the M25 interchange at junction six, saw three separate accidents.

Instead of reaching home shortly before 1700, it was 1930… tired, hungry and really looking for a bathroom break.

Not only that, but I lost hours of knitting time. The Mole doesn’t have a driver’s license and besides – wouldn’t it just figure that I didn’t bring anything with me?

No clue as to what is going on, but for the last five days I have been inundated by SPAM from Russian IPs. Not just one or two replies caught in the filter, but 20-30 a day.

Heck, I normally do not see that many comments in a month. Of course, I have no clue as to why I would want to see 20-30 replies a day. At that rate, it is no longer personal, rather it is  comments for the sake of same.

To balance out the insanity, I got to spend the morning with the electrician. Good guy, he was tasked with the every five year electrical inspection. Translates to every socket (outlet for Americans), overhead light or government furnished appliance being tested.

Oh, yes, and the electrical connection to the smoke detectors. Never mind that they are tested out four times a year.

In a house the size of this one coupled with a multi-screen PDA program the process took over 4 hours. Meanwhile, I did some dishes, changed a light bulb or three, knit and talked audio books.

The afternoon run to Croughton was a waste. No decent library books and only my new glasses to justify the trip.

Ok, you might have asked for pictures. Afraid I do not have all that many.

Anita had to make the run from here in Camberley for a meeting. Given that it was at a government location, obviously it was not exactly center city. A bit out of town and up the hill to be blunt.

And then of course, there was the slight issue of my not having a UK passport. Having left my JFG ID back at the house, I got to sit in reception for a few hours. She felt bad. I was fine. iPod and knitting.

In fact, I had decided to sample for a project thinking that what I have on the needles was too likely to have a stitch dropped.

After her appointment we drove through part of the city, leaving the car in a two hour zone above Victoria Park.  Over all, I find Georgian architecture less than exciting, but here and there you can find such intriguing little details.

Of course, there is the history of coming to Bath for medical reasons. And then, as we were leaving, we spotted the sign posted outside the gate of one of the parks. Now, please tell me – if you are locked inside, how are you going to read the sign that tells you who to call for escape?

No, not the song from Fiddler on the Roof. Rather, sunrise of 0733 and sunset of 1616 does not leave for many hours of daylight.

If, like today, the sun does shine for a while at least I can enjoy it out the window and know that there was day light for a while.

If you happen to live in Helsinki, you have an hour less daylight in the morning and 30 minutes less at the end of the day. For Bodø, Norway 0919 and 1416 are your limits.

How do I know all this? Timeanddate.com provides all sorts of useful information.

For me, I need some sunshine. Once it is dark, I am ready to curl up with knitting, a book, the computer and rapidly drift off to sleep. Never mind that it is way too early in the evening.

So it was with a bit of bravery and my GPS that I set out for Spencers Wood this evening and Brigitte’s knitting get together. Not only do I get to see what Drops (Garn Studio) has in store, but it is a lovely meeting with what I really believe is all the Danish ex-pat women knitters in the area.

I got to show off my Fabel Cardigan and admire the two Piske’s as well as a couple of knitted reindeer. Of course, I forgot my camera.

Almost midnight when I got home, I still need to get organized. A friend has an official meeting in Bath tomorrow. Since she was not adverse to a ride-a-long, I am going to wander the town with a camera, glad that clear skies are predicted.

There are also those puzzles which are totally and completely insane. Humor is good.

Knitting those 20 rows over again, I am almost back to where I was before.

and, having had so much fun with the fulled clutch, I pulled out another lonely skein and started in

at this point

that I discovered the dropped stitch. Picking up the stitch is not the issue. With a fine crochet hook, capturing a straying thread and hooking it up 20 rows is not difficult. The yarn is Rowan’s Felted Tweed. Lovely to knit with, it does not have as much give as one would expect out of a wool yarn.  It was obvious from the tightness of the area, about three stitches wide, that the fabric was not forgiving. The interior of the garment did not look all that bad but the reverse stockinette clearly showed where the repair had been made.

Sighing, I pulled out those 20 rows and decided to knit them tomorrow during the day when I potentially had enough light.

Switching to a short project – two strands of Brunswick Impressions knit up, run through the washer and dryer makes for a quick bag while using up two complementary left over balls of yarn.

New puzzles arrived in the mail this week from Liberty.

Not only are wooden puzzles fun to work, but the whimsy pieces are a real treat. I had been thinking about cleaning. A friend stopped over to see how I was doing and caught me setting up the puzzle.

Over the course of the day, we did two – finishing up the Map of London – we then moved on to a vintage Opera poster. The whimsy pieces are even period appropriate; featuring various lords, ladies, horses with carriages and era appropriately dressed children with toys. In contrast, the special pieces in Phil Lewis’s Flatiron had been western figures from animals through bucking broncos.

I might not have cleaned much, but I did have a good time.

I think I might have forgotten to mention that Veteran’s Day was recognized earlier this week.

11 after 11 on the 11th to be clear, other wise know as Armistice Day.

One observes a moment of silence, lays a wreath. The red of poppies symbolizing something different here than they do in Afghanistan.

And, from upstairs while watching at our HQ, noticing a toy airplane left over from the Summer Ball.

It never come in to land, like those on that wall which are the names of those who did not come home.

At last – passed to me by a friend – someone who knows just how I feel when I just don’t remember……

Which might make up for the accident on the M3 this morning which backed up traffic onto the A30 for a long time. A very long time, meaning that it took me 3 hours to make a 70 minute trip. I had gone from frustrated to resignation, after all, once you are in the middle of the mess there is really no point in being upset. I had music, audio books and enough fuel.

Commissary had pumpkin cheese cake, cranberries and a nice size for six turkey. It might seem crazy, but since the Mole not here during the week the best I can do is Friday, the 27th.

No progress on the inspection or heat front, still not able to find any life or a working answer phone. But soaking in an “as hot as I can stand it” for a couple of hours after the gym last night made all the difference in the world!

Now, if I had a driver and could have knit, my life would have been complete.

Sparing you pictures, but I made what is likely going to be my last yarn purchase of this calendar year.
Army-Navy is a store that helps anchor the Camberley Mall. They actually belong to House of Frazier. Said organization is getting out of the yarn business. As a result, the remaining yarn has gone to 70% off. I did not know this when I got back from my cruise. In fact, I learned of this interesting fact early this morning from reading one of the Ravelry Forums.
At 70% off, obviously there are gaping holes in stockage. Almost all of the worsted weight and aran weight rowan yarns are gone but for the odd ball. The colors left in most yarns are a bit strange.
I did score some Lima (a wonderful cabled yarn), 3 balls to go with the ones already on hand so that I now have enough for a particular sweater I want. Silky-Tweed in a couple of colors – one of which will replace my current choice for Fäfner – now to be frogged without guilt.
Finally, I picked up some weird colors in Kid haze (the 225yards/25 gm kind) to knit some soft, fluffy scarves.

Then there is Prime Suspects and Madam Fate, neither of which can be played while talking on the phone. DH calling from the Lufthansa Senator lounge while waiting for his flight from SF to Frankfurt to be called. Work proceeding on new house well, he found good tenants for the next year and met more neighbors. Oh, yes and did some work in his spare time.

When I am completely brain fried – I revert to computer games.

Normally I am a fan of the Match 3 variety which can provide hours of mind numbing entertainment while successfully avoiding doing anything productive. Honestly, I do not consider running up scores as productive. Especially I am a fan of those which can be played in relaxed mode so that there is no pressure, no clock running and the ability to win if I stick to it long enough.

Ms Maus has always preferred Time Management and Hidden Object games. The first I simply don’t get, they are stressful and put on pressure. I am playing games to wind down, not up. In the case of the second, there is this slight issue of visual ability.

Most of the time, I simply can’t see those hidden objects no matter how hard I look.To top it off, many of them combine those hidden things with Rube Goldberg Puzzles which must be solved. Yes, I can do them. No, I don’t find them at all fun.

All of this is presented to you as background and might explain why I am sitting here bemused, working my way through the Mystery Case Files – downloaded from Big Fish Games.

Go figure – a different type of time waster, but time waster they most definitely are.

I really should be knitting, but I have only one more stage on Huntsville…..

I am not sure if I imagined seeing my breath in the bedroom this morning. Certainly, it was 5° C outside and a bit more than that in.

My boiler is not cooperating and will not stay lit. Simply put, I don’t have heat.

I do have three duvets (one under, two on top) with flannel covers, wool socks and sweat clothes.

Frankly, it reminds me of a Minnesota folk singer who wrote a lovely song about wearing long underwear, a shirt, three sweaters, pants, etc then getting out of bed to get dressed.

No question going to work this morning was an improvement over home.

I managed to get the Mole’s cell phone cancelled (he lost it) and will order him a new handset.

That was the good news.

The more challenging – I tried to call in a work order. There is a hold because of something called an “electrical appliance inspection” that I know nothing about. No repairs till the inspection is complete.

Fine.

The people who do the inspection are not answering the phone and their answer phone is clicking on and off without apparently recording messages.

Good work if you can get it.

Meanwhile, the water heater is on electricity as an alternate so I do have warm water. I have a thermos, I have warm clothes.

And, of course, I have a lot of wool.

Drops 111-1

I am pleased with the sweater back. Rather than stripes, I decided to go with another full diamond, then will finish the sides with 1/4 diamond insets

The front is not as pleasing. The stripes are both wide and boring. Frogging is in the future with a choice of 1/4 diamonds going in two different directions to keep up the angle theme.

Otherwise: blasting through audio books, having completed Bed of Roses – Nora Roberts, Kindred in Death – JD Robb and Obsidian Prey – Jayne Castle over the weekend. Easy listening and requiring no particular thought or concentration…..

Artificial light and flash makes the red appear to be more lipstick than it really is.

Progress is being made….

Change 1 turned the cardigan into a pullover. In stead of two 1/4 diamonds in the front, I knit a 1/2 diamond and am pleased with that part.

I am no where as thrilled with the upper striped portion of the front. In Fabel (the Drops yarn) which is a Norwegian Muster, there is enough busyness to break up the areas of solid. Not so with this yarn.

The back is ready for change 2 – instead of a 1/2 diamond inserted I am going to knit a full diamond flanked by some 1/4 diamond panels. That will entirely eliminate the issue of stripes on the back.

More changes to come.

I really like red.

My reward to myself in 2005 for working six weeks at Camp Casey was a lovely jacket.

In Pisa I found a bag. With

and lots of pockets

I think they look just fine together

An easy distraction.

Or not so easy as the case maybe.

This was part of my postal package pick up today.

Liberty Puzzles make (not cheap) wonderful, wooden puzzles full of whimsy pieces

I had to get started

The only caution I would make is that, for those of you who like the nice, regular pieces of modern die cut puzzles, these are challenging.

And, as I found out to my dismay – the print is too small for my aging eyes to read it. I am going to have to get the Mole to help me. Or get a magnifying glass so that I can see the detail on the box lid.

While the girls and I were doing the cruise thing last week, DH and the Mole were out in California on a two fold mission.

First, take a look at various colleges and Universities to see where the boy would like apply. He takes his “A” levels this year and finishes mid-June. Not being a fan of gap years, I want him to have plans firmly in mind. It also might do something for my ability to make plans and a budget for next year. Ms Soprano is also looking at the San Francisco area as a transfer student.

Looks like I may well change to California residency. The difference between in-state and out of state tuition is $20k. x two students. That is well more than paying 9.3% of my income in state income taxes….

I can do that because of the other reason they went: to close on the house we bought in Berkeley. Nice kitchen, great deck with view, masterbedroom and bath on main level (and the rest of the bedrooms upstairs). Redwoods, real redwoods on grounds along with plenty of storage. Less than a block to the bus stop and
under a mile to shul.

Plenty of storage space for all the stuff, including books and stash. Only thing is, if I started sorting out stuff now I could probably be ready to move in a couple of years…..

are colors that I often wear. So much so that I have been asked if I own anything (other than blue jeans) that does not fall into the categories of red or shades of white-grey-black.

The answer is a strong, maybe.

This might explain why I decided to knit this sweater from Drops in shades of grey and red.

Carefully reading through the directions, I rapidly figured out two things. The first is that, as a cardigan the sides are not going to match without steeks. The second is that I have to be willing to have stripes that are not the same width.

While I was at it, I decided to make a few changes. Not being a fan of reverse stockinette, I borrowed the garter variant from the last sweater.

Being quite lazy, and recently more than willing to frog things that do not make me happy – the

is going to serve for both a gauge swatch and to see if I like how the colors come out. So far I am happy. I don’t mind stripes on sleeves and it should be reasonably easy to make them match.

I have four 100 gm balls of sock yarn, on 3.00 mm needles. It should be enough for the smallest size. Unless, of course, I wind up with too much wastage from matching patterns.

Take a train. it might help if I had found my Bahn card. Get out at Frankfurt Airport. Find out that the seat you have is actually an isle seat.

In fact, it is in the plus section of the British Airways flight. That portion where the seats are leather, two abreast and wide enough to be comfortable and leg room enough to move your knees.

Rescuing my bag at Terminal 5, the bus was prompt, the train not so much and I dragged through the gates at the Academy ground in mid afternoon obviously long past the major 10 am meeting.

According to the rest of the staff, the meeting never got past the second item on the agenda before completely degenerating, so I don’t regret at all missing the meeting.

The house is a disaster, compounded by suitcases, packages which arrived in the mail and off spring who didn’t clean up the kitchen.

All is normal.

It is early in the morning, the girls are asleep while most of the ship seems to be stirring.

Not surprisingly, I was the only person in the fitness room for the first 30 minutes. The guy who then came in is doing a Malta-Malta cruise. Looking our at breakfast, I can see people headed away from the ship with their suitcases wheeling behind.

One of the positives about the cruise; if you are capable of handling your luggage yourself, you are allowed to haul it away at the end unlike other cruise lines that insist you drop suitcases out in the corridor to be hauled off the ship for you and reclaimed in a large arrivals hall. The girls and I will head out about 0900 and make our way slowly to the airport.

The ship is new, only two years old and doesn’t have a bit of worn or musty feeling. Even the low rent rooms are cheerful with nice beds, decent lighting and bathrooms with tiled showers.

At first blush, the idea of being able to go and do whatever you want seems great. I am sure that if you are traveling with young children it would be really key. Even the opportunity to eat all meals in the Garden Café didn’t stop most from hauling unruly children into the formal dining rooms. The shows were good, the musicians, singers and dancers all terrific.

Balance this with the overwhelming hucksterism. Somehow, if you have to buy raffle tickets, I don’t think you are winning a “free” trip to anywhere. Being cynical, I think they easily took in more than the value of what they were proposing to give away. Always things to buy, seminars on those things to buy, and charges for just about everything. Constant interruptions from the overhead speaker about something else on which you could spend your money.

Even on Friday night where the ship had provided three loaves of challah and a bottle of Maneschevitz for a Shabbat Service, it was hard to hear each other over the sales pitch. Interesting collection of attendees: Conneticut now living in Jersusalem cruising with his wife, Russian immigrant to New York, older couple from Tunisia now living in France along with their son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, another French couple and me. No count of a minyan according to the guys…. but then I don’t think they would have been happy with the prayer books discovered in the closet at the end. Reform is not them.

Over all, I had a good time. Traveling with the two girls was fun. I took photos, knit and did not do much for work….