Yesterday after a rather disasterous lawn bowling match, we were having the usual cup of tea and a light salad plate served by the opposing team. The person next to me, in an effort to make polite conversation, asked if I were going over to Wales in 2 weeks time. With what I hoped was a wry smile, I replied that yes I was going over. A member of our team helped me out by chipping in that I was in fact going to be one of the players in the forthcoming British Isles Championships – to be held in Llandindrod Wells in midJune. It’s a big thing in my life to be representing Ireland as a member of a team of three – but obviously it’s not so important to everyone, not even fellow bowlers. I really have no wish to be famous – but I do aspire to bowl well. Wish me luck!
Reading choices May 29, 2007
On another blog (Jean’s Knitting) Jean lists her five most important books. I have been having a good think about this. I find it too hard to list 5 favourites. I will name one favourite favourite – The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Now I’m going to tell you 5 authors whose books I am currently saving on my shelves – Larry McMurtry, Patrick O’Brian, John McPhee, Jonathan Raban, and Ivan Doig. More thoughts to follow.
Black gansey finished May 29, 2007
I am very pleased to announce that I have finished the black gansey. I really enjoyed knitting this gansey – gansey 1 was green, gansey 2 was purple and was abbreviated to become of sleeveless top, gansey 3 was white, and now gansey 4 was black. I have a big library of knitting books and patterns and instructions. In the midst of this “muddle” I found a set of instructions that I like and I have been using these sheets for the current spate of gansey knitting. I think the instructions were written some time ago. I found them in a pile of old knitting patterns passed on to me by one of my older sisters when she was cleaning out her big house. They were published by The Chamomile Studio in Rangeley, Maine and titled Technique Sheets – 10 Steps to your own Designer Sweaters.
Black gansey and black cat May 21, 2007
Work on the black gansey continues. I have almost finished the sleeves and hope to join all the stitches soon to knit the yoke. I’m thinking of doing a bit of pattern in the yoke. Will depend on whether I’m watching tv or not. I had a bonanza of reading and knitting yesterday. The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden had me gripped. What an excellent book. I don’t want to see the film but I could cope with the book.
A further reading recommendation is The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. That was the choice for our book group this month. An excellent choice with much to discuss.
This is a sunny morning in Dublin and when I went out to our back garden our cat appeared on the roof. I got a few photos of her route down the wall and fence. She is a lovely cat.
Silence May 17, 2007
I haven’t blogged for a few days – I’m still busy knitting away on the black gansey and am progressing up the sleeves. Doing both sleeves at once and am about at the elbows. I’ve had lawn bowling matches 3 days in a row this week and had to practice over the weekend. The tyranny of the bowling season has kicked in.
The lawn bowling seasons is now overlapping with my music lessons and realated activities. So I feel a bit pressed. The music lessons run to mid-June when I am scheduled to go to Wales for the British Isles Lawn Bowling Champsionships. Between music and lawn bowling I feel as if I have a lot on my plate. Wish I could knit while watching bowling matches.
Knitting Memories May 8, 2007
I am just back from a lovely Spring drive to Enniskerry. What a lush countryside! The Spring foliage is wonderful – and the sweeping view of Sugarloaf as seen from the drive in to Powerscourt is magnificent. One has the feeling that the trees that line the drive must be of ancient vintage. Huge trunks and canopies of branches. I wish a photograph could do it justice.
I have been doing this drive to Enniskerry for close on to 40 years and it still amazes me. I think I would vote for it as my favourite road in Ireland. And I still say that despite the encroaching development that has taken place along the way.
The reason I titled this entry Knitting Memories is because as I drove along my mind drifted back to a time when I took the sons to ski at Kilternan Artificial Ski Slope. This was in the days of doing the usual teenage mother thing of ferrying one’s children hither thither and yon. On one of these occasions I had just acquired 2 lovely little books about knitting and I relished scanning these books while the boys did their skiing thing. And the Enniskerry Road even in the late winter had its own beauty. It is always changing and I always enjoy it, even when there are traffic delays or road works or pipe-laying
Guitar playing and Bill Oddie May 8, 2007
Guitar Playing and Bill Oddie This blog is supposed to be mainly about my knitting but I do other things as well. So here are some reflections on one of my other activities. Watching Bill Oddie on the PlayItAgain BBC programme last night – Bill was being taught to play the electric guitar – his teacher was a very accomplished and personable guitar player and she wanted Bill to learn basic techniques before proceeding to do his songs. Well, they tried to get along but Bill resisted that way of learning and he and his teacher finally parted company. Bill conferred with another leading guitar player, a more unorthodox one, and found that that fellow had been self-taught. This appealed to Bill and so he followed his own path, achieved his objective of singing and playing at his daughter’s 21st birthday bash, and is content to play on his own for his own amusement. I kind of relate this to my clarinet lessons. Yes, I do want to learn basic techniques a la my teacher Patrice but I am finding it hard to remember all he is trying to teach me. I enjoy practising chords and scales etc. but I find that I get maybe more enjoyment just playing pieces on my own. On the other hand, I do want to participate responsibly in the band, so I want to improve my playing. I will go along with Patrice’s way of teaching and try not to worry about not remembering everything – and not playing particularly well at my lessons. He is a good teacher. And he has given me lots of basic and very helpful tips. I think there has been improvement – I just have to learn not to expect miracles and accept my own limitations.
Does Franklin’s blog entry about a small thing tackling a big thing – the mouse and the radish – apply to my music aspirations? (For Franklin’s blog see my side bar)
Next project May 7, 2007
Well, here we go on the next project – my trip to the yarn store in the industrial estate last Thursday resulted in the purchase of 6oo g of black Celtic Tivoli Aran. I really enjoy knitting with this yarn so I decided I wanted to do a gansey in black, again using my 3.25 circular Addi Turbo needle. The white gansey is a little bit snug so I have cast on 172 stitches, 10 more than I knit for the white gansey. We’ll see how this goes. Pictured above is progress so far, achieved mainly while watching a very interesting dvd Tous les Matins Du Monde, starring Gérard Depardieu. This film is based on the lives of 17th century French composer Sainte Colombe and his protégé Marin Marais. The soundtrack was performed and conducted by Jordi Savall. A wonderful thought provoking film and soundtrack.
Pictured also are my 2 alto recorders. I love the combination of the wood pictured on the orange knitting. The Yamaha recorder is made from maple and the Kung is from palisander wood. The Yamaha was purchased in a music store in Cambridge England 2 years ago. I just love it. Last year I purchased the Kung in the Early Music Store in London. The purchase was made after much deliberation. My recorder teacher prefers the sound produced on playing the Kung so I am practicing more on that at the moment. I think I still prefer playing the Yamaha. It’s a lot lighter and easier to hold. But my teacher has pointed out that the slant of the lowest holes makes it difficult to play. She felt it was a design fault or mistake on the part of Yamaha. I have written to Yamaha about this but have not had a reply.
The White Gansey is almost finished May 3, 2007
The white gansey is almost finished. Just a bit of sewing up to do. I ran out of yarn per usual and finished the upper body and the neck with a whiter white than the rest of the sweater. Have decided that that slight change of white adds a certain interest. A design feature!
I have now gone out and bought yarn (hopefully enough this time) for a black gansey. Gansey knitting is becoming an obsession.
And I’m taking advantage of this nice day to be outdoors working on the ill-fitting blue Aran that I abandoned some months ago. That is a rescue mission.
