Saturday, August 04, 2012


The dining room furniture has been successfully retrieved. It was a stressful morning. The furniture-store men were not particularly skilled or respectful furniture-handlers. I feared both for the objects and for my husband’s temper. We had a bad passage about getting the carpet reasonably straight – it is ferociously heavy; my husband and I couldn’t have managed on our own, and anyway it couldn’t be done once the table was in the room.

Trampling on the uneven parts was not the way to set about things, as my husband told them with some asperity.



They declined to attempt to put the mirror back in place, and I was very happy to let them off. It is fragile. We have contracted with a nice man to restore the top of the sideboard, badly water damaged, and two chairs, likewise. He is tall and strong and pleasant and not at all limp-wristed and will have to bring someone with him to get the sideboard. I figure they can put the mirror up and add it to the bill.

As soon as yesterday’s men were out the door, I rang up the restorer. He is on holiday for the next fortnight. That means he will be back at work the week of the Games. So it drags on.

We got some other little things done yesterday, too – sending  a cheque to the man who cuts the grass for us in Strathardle and a birthday card to someone else; requesting repeat prescriptions to get us through August; getting some pages photocopied from the 14th edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Better than some days.

Knitting

Here is a picture from the Scotsman I have been meaning to show you. From Shetland.


AnnP, yes, I’ve done a couple of Turkish cast-ons, when I started toe-up knitting and failed at my first attempt with Judy’s Magic. Someone famous – Fleegle? – says that’s the one she uses all the time. It’s slightly loose, compared to Judy’s, but otherwise simple and good. I think I would classify Judy’s Magic as a brilliant variation of it.

I was horrified, looking at my notes just now, to see that I haven’t kept a complete record of which cast-on and which heel were employed for which sock, among the ones I have done this year. I know which of each I’ve done, but haven’t entirely recorded which socks they were employed in. Careless.

I should reach the final ribbing of the current pair today. Next will be Candace Strick’s “revolutionary” socks, for another small-footed grandchild. I’ve got to return to Judy’s Magic Cast-On until I have thoroughly mastered it. I’m thinking of knitting my husband a pair of toe-ups, trying them as we go the way the books suggest, to see if  I can achieve socks for him that really fit. This sock-knitting project looks endless.

6 comments:

  1. One of those lambs is sticking the tip of his tongue out - wonder if he licked his pullover?

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  2. When reading your comment about the toe-up cast on producing loose stitches it occured to me to mention that going down one needle size for the cast on usually solves that problem. If, for example , I am knitting a sock on 2.00 needles I'll drop down to 1.75 needles for the cast on.


    Glad to know that some headway has been made on the dining room project.

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  3. csj04232:00 PM

    Hi Jean:

    For Judy's Magic Cast On, I highly recommend going back to look at the original article with photos in Knitty.com in probably 2005 or 2006. I printed those pages out to look at and found them more helpful than the Cat Bordhi video. Also, when struggling, I remind myself that the TOP needle goes over the THUMB yarn, so the bottom needle has to go over the finger yarn. Helps me, hope it helps you too.

    Sue

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  4. Careless? I do think you have had bait going on to distract you! At the Minnesota state faIr there is a lamb lead where the human must be wearing something she or he made of wool, and the lamb is accesorized to match. Those lambs would win, hands down!

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  5. Anonymous6:29 AM

    Your husband sounds like mine! He is getting ready for a hip replacement in a few weeks, and is really cranky about what he cannot do now that he used to be able to manage (and hopes to be able to manage again, soon, post-surgery.)

    In the meantime, I try to keep things calm, and hope all will be well.

    Barbara M. In NH

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  6. I'm sorry to hear that everything has yet to be put in place and you had movers that made your husband cross. Tomorrow is a new day.

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