My New Home November 19, 2009

We have moved and are settling into our new temporary home.  We emptied the previous house which we had owned for 40 years, moved some of the items across the street to our new temporary home, and sent a big container on its way across the seas to Seattle.  It’s not difficult to get used to our present quarters.  The cat has probably adjusted best of all, and he has told his friends about it also.  We awoke to find Slinki and his pal Charlie looking in our bedroom window.  Clever cats!

The cats are enjoying exploring the fences and shrubs and a new profile of roof space.  We have a lovely birch tree in the garden and I’ve seen little birds hopping about.

Have I brought my knitting?  The answer is yes – just.  I had to rescue it from the shippers.  They had packed it to send to Seattle and I found that box just in time – slit it open and took out my various cat boxes with my knitting projects.  No problem.

the stash – the cat box photos are still in the camera.

Baby Blankets November 15, 2009

Here is the finished edition of baby blanket no. 1.

  Baby Blanket no. 1 – Knit with 2 strands of sock wool – 1 strand multicoloured, 1 strand plain – size 3  100 cm circular needle but not knit in a circle.  It was knit going back and forth all the time – garter stitch.  It’s packed now for our move across the street – I’ll put in the measurements when we get unpacked. 

Here is the remaining stash of knitting yarn – 50 balls of wool.

  Remaining stash of knitting yarn – 50 balls.

How many more baby blankets will I knit?  I’ve started my 2nd one so we’ll see how I get on.  I have 112 stitches for the 2nd one.  I am making it slightly narrower –  maybe 2 inches narrower – than baby blanket no. 1.

  the stash all packed and 3 different projects in the cat food boxes – all ready to be moved across the street to our temporary home

Might as well be getting some fun and some statistics out of this knitting, packing, and moving process.

Moving House November 14, 2009

Regular readers of this blog know that we have been planning a move from Dublin to Seattle.  With that objective in mind, we have been packing since last April, I think.  Clearing the house.  Boxes and boxes and boxes.  We piled them up in 3 garden sheds and one of the bedrooms.  We anticipated moving sometime in the summer.  Well, here we are in November and finally on Friday the packers have come and taken them away.  The house doesn’t look very different.  How are we managing to live without all these things.  I wonder.  And I wonder how we’ll feel when we have to unpack all these things in Seattle.  

  here they are loading the van

 

  more boxes for the van

 

  finished for the day – the van is almost full

 

They’ll be back with another van to complete the job on Monday.

 

 

Do Cats Have Dreams? November 14, 2009

We know that cats and dogs have a wonderful sense of smell.  See this blog to read about a dog that can smell scrambled eggs even though she is sound asleep.  And we think that dogs have dreams when we see a dog twitching his legs and we assume he is dreaming about chasing rabbits.  But I’m wondering if cats have dreams – or nightmares.  The other evening we (the cat, my husband and I) were all sitting calmly, sleeping, knitting, watching a dvd (The Chess Players, an excellent dvd by the way).    

 Suddenly, Slinki the cat, who was one of the beings apparently asleep, leapt several feet in the air from beside me on the sofa and landed 3 feet away in the middle of the coffee table, scattering the balls of wool and the knitting needles thereon.   What on earth had happened?  We wondered if something had stung her – what I do not know.  Or did she have a nightmare??      a calmer Slinki, investigating the balls of wool – maybe she had a sip of that red wine

 

Dogs and Politics in Ireland November 13, 2009

The Irish Wolfhound.   Cú Faoil as Gaeilge         

  Irish Wolfhound pictured in the Irish Times, Sept. 13, 2009

This was an interesting article in the Irish Times this morning.  That gentle giant, the Irish Wolfhound has a distinguished history.  The current breed has come a long way from his origins as a fierce hunting dog in pursuit of wolves. 

The Wolfhound’s reputation as Ireland’s national dog has not been without challenge.  However, it still stands as part of the logo of the National Theatre.  And when the Irish Free State introduced its first coinage in 1928 the wolfhound was chosen for the sixpence.  Many official monuments incorporate the breed.  And it is also used in pop culture to indicate Irishness.

In ancient times the wolfhound was associated with the nobility.  To some extent this continued even under English rule.  In some quarters the breed was seen as an ascendancy dog, even before it became a mascot for the British Army’s Irish regiments.

  Irish Wolfhound mascot (from Wikipedia)

 

Michael Collins was not only a political leader but also a dog lover.  He favoured another Irish breed, the Kerry Blue.  According to the Times article, he planned to make this breed the official national dog of Ireland.  In 1920, while he was still on the run, he somehow managed to exhibit his own Kerry Blue at a dog show in Dublin.  The dog was named Convict 224.  Other names included Trotsky, Markavich, and Dawn of Freedom.  Convict 224 didn’t win the cup – probably just as well since the cup was presented by a British Army captain.  Later Michael Collins sponsored his own perpetual trophy for the breed, and Kerry Blue owners have been competing for it ever since.

Online Resource for Materials of Irish Interest November 12, 2009

How rapidly things are changing in the world of libraries.  In 1993/1994 when I did my degree in Library and Information Studies at University College Dublin, the concept of email was just being introduced.  Near the end of the course we were invited to a talk on the soon to be introduced world wide web.  How far we have come since then.  In today’s Irish Times there was an article on the introduction of a new database for research on matters of Irish interest.

What a wonderful resource.  According to the article, the Sources Database for Irish Research has records of books and periodicals of Irish interest held in the National Library of Ireland and research centres and universities in the US, Britain, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Knitting a Blanket November 12, 2009

I am currently knitting a blanket.  I am using the various sock yarns from my stash.  1 strand of self striping  and 1 strand of a plain colour.

 

 

  the blanket at 15 inches

 

Here is a photo of my stash as of a couple of weeks ago.

  approx. 50 balls of wool in my stash

  an earlier photo

  earlier still, approx. 56 balls of wool – and note the knitting on the left.  That has been completed – just needs pressing and a fastening.  The knitting on the right is still in progress.

 

Cats and Libraries Etcetera November 12, 2009

Dewey, a book for cat lovers and librarians

 

I sold my spinning wheel but no it wasn’t the one shown below.  The one below is a wheel I saw in the Flea Market in Hollis New Hampshire.  I wonder when it was last used.  It looked to me as if it would need a few more bits before it could be made to work again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shippers are coming to take away all the boxes that we have packed.  Shown below just a few of the boxes waiting to go.

 

 

 

Included in the boxes are the 300 plus books from my book selling business.  Business is a euphemism for paying for the privilege of sitting at a table every couple of months and trying to sell books.  Sales rarely equal rent for the privilege.  Business will resume in Seattle, possibly in Fremont Market.

 

 

 

 

Theft at the Knitting and Stitching Show November 8, 2009

Today I heard a sad tale.  Earlier this month, one of the stand holders at the Dublin Knitting and Stitching Show had her handbag stolen at the end of the Show.  I understand the theft happened  as we were all scrambling to dismantle our stands and get things out to our vehicles.  Of course the theft was annoying and inconvenient and it resulted in the loss not only of cash but also of credit cards, passport etc.    It is particularly sad as not only were personal items stolen but also money that the person had been raising for Breast Cancer.    Oh dear.  We all know we have to be careful at these shows and exhibitions and this serves as an extra alert to be ever vigilant and to take care.  There are some pretty unscrupulous people amongst us.

  Knitting with the big needles made from drain pipes – this was the project where the fund raising was taking place

  View of a rug knit on the drain pipe needles – the knitting materials are approx. 3″ wide waste strips   (I would have loved to source these waste strips to make a braided rug.) 

   Balcony view of the Knitting and Stitching Show.

  Display of the Irish Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers at the Knitting and Stitching Show – far from the scene of the theft

Farewell to my Glimakra Loom November 6, 2009

My first loom was a Spears rigid heddle loom which I purchased in a local toy shop in 1975.   We were being posted to Fiji and I wanted to learn to weave.  During our previous posting in St. Lucia in the Caribbean I had wanted to weave but couldn’t figure out how to go about it.

So I included this small rigid heddle loom in our shipment to Fiji and eventually got going after we got settled in Suva, the capital of Fiji.  Soon I wanted a bigger loom and ordered a table loom from New Zealand.  That wasn’t enough so I ordered a bigger floor loom, a Squirrel loom.  On that loom I wove my first rugs.  We brought the Squirrel loom back to Dublin but there was not a suitable space for it in our house.  Off we went to Bangladesh and my husband Ian built a very sturdy loom for me.  It was made of Chittagong teak and it was a splendid loom.  Too heavy to bring back to Dublin however. 

So when we were settled back in Dublin in 1983 I decided to order a Glimakra 10 shaft loom from Sweden.  And it is that loom which has served me well for over 25 years.  It has just gone out the door.  Alas.  But I’m not really sorry.  With the passing years, it is now too big and heavy and I no longer want to crawl around underneath it.  And also, I found that I was weaving on only 2 or 4 shafts – I had no need for the 10 shafts.  When I get to Seattle I want to replace that loom with a smaller but equally sturdy loom, on which I can resume my path of weaving rugs.

 

 

   At my Glimakra loom in 2004

  My Glimakra loom, well wrapped in 20 parcels, on its way to its new home in Limerick

 

Now for a word or 2 about spinning wheels.  My Ashford spinning wheel, imported from New Zealand in 1976 when we were in Fiji.  I have not used the spinning wheel as much as my various looms.  However, I have a certain affection for it, given its provenance.  It too is soon to leave us, but it has already been replaced by a Louet wheel, a nice reminder of my friends in Dublin and the Netherlands.   I am looking forward to getting to know it.

  Ashford spinning wheel from New Zealand

 

  the Louet wheel being used at the Dublin Knitting & Stitching Show