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This would be the book you have Knititch. I found it in a second-hand bookshop years ago - I think these things somehow reach out from the shelf and touch me, and I often get a strong feeling that I ought to look in this shop or that, and then find a book that has virtually got my name in it. Not the same thing as with new books, where the shop can always get another copy, but when it is the old and out of print that will only be there occasionally, I find that a bit spooky!
Anyway, this book is one of my great treasures, and you can see a couple of the Gerda Bengtsson designs I have stitched from it. While we are about it, I have to say that in my opinion she is the best of all designers, simply from her use of colours.
The Jaeger sweater is getting very near to finished now - I am on the neckband, so I shoud soon be able to present you with a grand and glorious finished object!
This is what I have on the go at the moment - you will note that it is a Rosenstand kit. I have actually been neglecting it for ages, but this illness has made me want to do something needing less energy than knitting, so out came the embroidery. I have to have something in my hands when I sit down. It is what kept me sane during the years, not so long ago, when I had a problem which made me unable to knit. And that sorry story can wait for another day.
Knititch, I am not at all disappointed that Vivienne won the book - she is a good daughter, and I know that next time she comes to visit she will bring the book and I can have a look at it. We have a lot of books between us that belong in the house of whichever one is using at the moment. It is wonderful to be able to share my obsessions with a daughter - the same way as I was able to share with my mother. Sadly, my other daughter has never shown any sign of wanting to play with fabric and yarn, although perhaps that is not such a bad thing; it might just all get far too competitive!
The picture didn't arrive where I expected it to, and I shall have to consult my IT adviser, Vivienne on that subject! However, this is the first of the threatened WIP's - Jaywalker socks by Grumperina. Very pleased with them; the yarn shows the pattern nicely. I have just cast on another pair of socks using my Knitpicks Harmony wooden sock needles, just to see how they feel. I find them disconcertingly light after using the Knitpicks metal ones, but they have just the right lack-of-slip which will make them perfect for two-colour work, which I do intend to do. They certainly are BEAUTIFULLY pointy. And pretty.
The chest infection, or whatever it is, is still making life less than beautiful, however, these little darlings are blooming bravely outside the front door, reminding me that I should get out more often!
Sunday saw the first slight roughness at the back of my throat. So I have been feeling pretty unpleasant, and not inclined to do much. I have, however, been reading - The Falls, a Joyce Carol Oates. It grabbed me straight away. She has a way of trickling out the story which keeps me turning the pages. It didn't tug at my emotions quite as powerfully as "We were the Mulvaneys", but came pretty close.
I have also been watching the Channel Five programme about Vaughan Williams. I now begin to understand why I find his music so moving, and indeed, some of it, distressing. And also, some of it, incredibly uplifting. I have sung some. In 1967, I joined a choir which took part in the Leith Hill Music Festival. The main piece was Honneger's "King David" but there were some pieces by Vaughan Williams as well. I believe I can rightly say that I have sung for Ursula Vaughan Williams. That makes me feel proud.
This is the main project on the needles at the moment - a very old pattern that I am converting to a pullover rather than a cardigan - but at least I am using the right brand of wool. Helen, the person who told you it would be available for the foreseeable future was being overly optimistic. Yes the clothing arm of the business did separate from the yarn section, but that was years ago. Since then the yarn has been produced by Rowan, under licence, but that has finished. Nothing has been made under the name of Jaeger for the past year, and anything available is simply the remainders - there were undoubtedly large amounts, but diminishing all the time, and the watchword now is - if you want it get it now, since it will not be there later on. This from my lys - lovely helpful people.
I hope to get around to photographing my other two projects soon - the statutory pair of socks, and an experimental scarf which may yet come to a premature end. Looking at things from the blogger's point of view has made me realise that I am not doing anything exciting at the moment. Yes, the sweater will be a much loved garment, but it is frankly boring to knit. The socks are just - well- socks, and the scarf was an interesting exercise at the beginning, but now it is boring, and I don't wear scarves anyway. I have some laceweight, I have Victorian Lace Today, why am I faffing around with this dull stuff?
This is what the postman brought. Two jumpers-worth. From Cucumber Patch who deserve a compliment for speedy service. I am interested in what you said Helen, I wonder how we all managed to get the wrong end of the stick. It is sad when a brand we have trusted for so long finishes, and it is immensely cheering that this is not going to be my last consignment of scrumptious Jaeger yarn.
Nature notes: The heron is sitting on the roof of next door's shed. He is just too far away for me to zoom in and take a photo so you will have to imagine him. I know what he is doing - he is considering the goldfish in their pond, but since it is netted over, even if he manages to spear a fish he will not be able to get it back through the netting. That would be a waste of a goldfish, so I think I had better go and slam a door to encourage him to go away. While I do that, please imagine him lazily flapping away, sighing as he goes . . .
Oh dear, he is taking the mickey again. No, not really. It was just the usual question - "Do you want a parsnip to roast today?" We don't know why, but this year they have grown so large that, although the plants were thinned, they have grown together again and only come up in pairs, of which just one would be too much for the two of us! I shall have to get the wok out and make parsnip crisps later on in the week. Sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper - food of the gods!
Thanks Knititch for the tip-off about Jaeger yarn - two-jumpers-worth is now on order and I feel a lot better about the whole situation. I have loved Jaeger yarns for a long time. I remember a jumper knitted in my teens: the yarn was bought in a sale; it was supposed to have a roll neck but I could only manage a crew; I Never Finished Off - the ends were so short that I couldn't thread them into a needle (well that was my excuse) and when I passed it on to my daughter some twenty years later it came with the instruction to check the yarn end and tuck it in at the neck every time she put it on. That really was panic knitting: which comes first, the end of the garment or the end of the wool?
I really must make some effort to show off what I have on the go at the moment, but that will have to be put off to another day - I have a parsnip to roast!
Today I are mostly buying Novelty Fabrics. A small haul from the sale bins in Liberty. Not much to show for a trip to London when I had seriously hoped to Spend Some Money.
I had hoped that the sad demise of Jaeger as a knitting yarn brand might have mean't that there were some bargains to be had but I must have been too late. All I managed, apart from the above, was a pair of sore feet, and the memory of a meaningful conversation with a hen blackbird in Cavendish Square (sorry, no photo), while she graciously accepted three crumbs from my sandwich.
I knit, I sew, I read, and I have also decided that it is time I bored more people than the ones I meet day-to-day, and the other various bloggers where I leave comments. Here I am, joining in.And now I am going to go away and think about this electronic stuff for a while before I commit myself any further.
