Being back at work - a topic not fit for blogging, obviously - and nursing a migraine - a topic not really blogworthy - cannot be said to be conducive to blogging. I have, however, been knitting a fair bit. Stayed tuned for "exciting" pictures and pattern ruminations. There is also that little thing about being filmed by Scottish TV tomorrow evening..
Knitting Anarchy!
My knitting group has been asked by Beanscene not to come back due to "disruptive" behaviour! Let me just repeat that: my knitting group has been asked by Beanscene not to come back due to "disruptive" behaviour. So, spending around £7-10 per head, sitting around a table and knitting for 90 minutes every other Tuesday can now land you with an ASBOS. Amazing.
Seeing as Beanscene has quite recently had financial problems I thought having repeat customers in an otherwise quiet café would have been a Good Thing, but obviously I know nothing about business strategies or customer service.
Addendum: photo and styling by my partner who is slightly gobsmacked by also amused by the idea of knitters getting ASBOS.
Cadder Excursion
The HarperCollins visit was a great success. They marketed the event as a chance to see original Peter Pan artwork and unseen letters from famous authors such as JRR Tolkien and Agatha Christie, but in reality we enjoyed the visit to the cartographic offices much more. We also had a chance to peek into the process of making dictionaries. Very cool, very interesting and very cheap because the on-site bookshop was closed. Boo.
The Antonine Wall/the Cadder Fort? Underwhelming as the site was excavated in the 1930s and subsequently turned into a sand quarry during World War II. So we stood in the rain, looked across the Forth and Clyde canal and saw a bunch of trees. However, as the Antonine Wall now has been declared a World Heritage Site, we might get to see something a bit more involving in the future. We did learn that the Roughcastle fort in Falkirk is well-preserved and well worth a visit, so we might head up there at some point.
Finally, we spent some time at Cadder Parish Church which stands in the middle of a forest. There has been a church on site since the mid-12th century and although the church has been rebuilt and refurbished many times since, you could still see the passing of ages in the surroundings. Dave loves his stained glass windows and was thrilled to see stained glass windows featuring World War I tanks. I was more taken in by the graveyard and its odd open iron coffin.. It was used during the 19th c to deter grave robbers (who'd sell fresh bodies to the anatomy schools). You'd simply put the coffin on top of the grave, fill it with stones and just sit in a little waiting house nearby until you heard the unmistakable sound of men trying to remove stones from the iron coffin. The waiting house is still there -- it looks to be a favourite spot for the local foxes.
And what is this? Could this be a sighting of the increasingly common februarii ladius sweaterae? I believe this one is the organic Scottish Gray variant with mother-of-pearl features..
This photo was actually taken a day earlier during our bramble picking adventure. Bramble is the Scottish word for blackberry and we have had quite a few bramble crumbles lately. Yum, yum.
Neapolitan Shawl
For various reasons I have been unable to post a photo of my first major foray into knitting in fifteen years. This is the stole shawl that spawned an obsession, dear readers.
I have known E. for many years and she is one of my closest friends. She turned forty in February and I was unable to celebrate the big FOUR-OH with her. I found some yarn. I started knitting. I finished. I loved it.
It is very fitting that I'd be knitting a Neapolitan coloured shawl for someone who has insisted on trying out various desserts on me before serving them for the rest of her friends: "So, Karie, do you prefer the lemon meringue pie or the chocolate bread pudding? Or maybe the frozen Cointreau mousse?" At least my gift won't wreak havoc on her waistline.
In related news, I like the look of Twist Collective, I saw a designer in person the other day and opted out of saying hello and I have bought my own weight in thin 2-ply wool. I'm also still sunburnt.
Snapshot: Saturday July 26 '08
Saturday. Barack Obama is in London. BBC News is showing the door to Number Ten and is building up the tension. The channel has two experts commenting (one qualifies by being American, the other by being a UK blogger) and finally Obama steps out ans answers questions we cannot hear. BBC News keeps saying that Obama's visit to Germany was tantamount to rock star adoration. Maybe Obama is not giving a speech to thousands of people here in the UK, but BBC News is certainly guilty of the rock star treatment too. I find it amusing when media double standards/lack of self-awareness are as evident as they are right now.
Today's edition of The Guardian has a special supplement on 'rebel knitting'. As I'm the polite sort of person, let's say the patterns are unexciting. The introduction to the new wave of knitters is okay, though. I recently read Knitknit: Projects and Profiles of Knitting's New Wave which is an excellent overview of avant-garde artists, edgy knitwear designers and intersection between art and craft. It also deals hands-on with the politicisation of knitting which the Guardian's supplement also addresses. (Yes, I'm the sort of person who has to intellectualise activities)
Saturday.
The kitchen needs tidying, there is laundry to be done and, oh, there are crisp croissants to be had in a minute.
I Thought Turkey Was The In-Flight Meal
A family who were bound for a week's holiday in Lanzarote are back home after a check-in desk mix-up meant they caught a flight to Turkey instead. (..) Mr Coray said they had not realised their mistake because their boarding pass stated only Bodrum airport and not that it was in Turkey.
(source)
On a vaguely similar note, try your American news IQ. The interesting bit is actually at the end where you can see the demographic make-up of results.
The other night the land-line phone rang and a tiny boyish voice said "im goin be big brotha". Yes, I'm going to be an auntie again. This time it feels even bigger than the first time. One of my best friends is also going to become a mother. This calls for Auntie Bookish to surf the net for things to knit, obviously.
My partner's sister and my friend may never speak to me again, of course:
(if this is your creation, let me know so I can give you credit for being a genius)