Thursday, April 16, 2009

I write this as I might scribble a note to be cast to sea in a bottle. My Princess-knitting friend Cynthia had a hard disk crash last week – everything lost. So today will be backup day for me, and I have already had two system crashes: blue screens with an alarming message which I have already forgotten, suggesting that I might have installed new hardware or software, which I haven’t. I have succeeded in backing up Lotus Organizer, with its years of knitting information. The first crash happened when I was trying to back up Quicken. There are some important files in Excel. I think I can be philosophical about the rest.

Other miscellany

I haven’t yet heard from Trailfinders with my new e-tickets (so I haven’t yet done anything about trying to get our little party into three adjacent seats). Easter is a major havoc-causer in England – less so in Scotland – but I’ll phone today if nothing turns up.

The rest of the country seems to be basking in spring sunshine, while Edinburgh is enveloped in a haar and ten degrees Celsius colder than anywhere else.

On a brighter note, I planted my bean seeds yesterday and am as impatient as any four-year-old for instant results. I hope to get the remaining courgette seeds in today.

We plan to go to Strathardle tomorrow for the weekend. It’s still too chilly for a major seed push, but I can put in more potatoes and start some broad beans and salad and go on weeding and preparing ground.

Knitting

I’ve reached row 23 of the final repeat of the Princess centre – 15 pattern rows to go when this one is done. Tamar (comment yesterday), I have forgotten what the McMorran Balance is – I could Google it, if the computer would let me; another thing that has started happening is that Internet Explorer simply vanishes, instantly and without an error message, if I ask it to do anything it doesn’t want to do.

But I agree with the principle of what you’re saying: I really want to know whether the original purchase provided me with enough yarn, and I think I’m going to go ahead with it and risk a mark somewhere in the top edging where I have to join in the new yarn. It looks a perfect match, but probably isn’t.

I have to go to a Drummond Place committee meeting this evening. That will advance the second bed sock, anyway. And both my husband and I have hospital appointments soon (the Eye Pavilion, at last, for me). That’ll move things forward, too.

Here is a cheerful picture from Loch Fyne to conclude, taken on Easter morning when the Lenten alcohol-fast was over at last. That’s Rachel’s husband Ed, watched by Thomas-the-Younger.
So if you don't hear from me for awhile, blame the computer.

1 comment:

  1. =Tamar2:32 AM

    The McMorran Balance is a little Plexiglas[TM] box with a calibrated arm; you hang a short piece of yarn on it and snip until it rests in the notch (the instructions will explain). Then you measure the yarn, and multiply by 100 to get the length per given weight. Then you weigh your remaining yarn, do a little more math and you have the length. Mr. McMorran is a Scot working in textiles, by the way.

    Or if you have a lot left, you can cut ten yards (or meters), weigh it on a mail scale, and divide by ten to get the weight per yard. Then weigh the ball, and divide the ball weight by the weight per yard to get the number of yards.

    My thanks to the Yarn Harlot, Fleegle, The Shizzknit, The Spinning Shepherd, and Rosie Blogs for the above information.

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