Knitting activity has slowed down recently.  I completed a garter stitch lengthwise scarf.   This isn’t the greatest of pictures but in reality the scarf looks much better.  It was enjoyable to knit so I decided to do another one only this time make it a bit longer.  Ha!  I wasn’t very systematic in deciding on the number of stitches to cast on and ended up with far far too many - enough for a scarf probably at least twice as long as the first one.  I tried knitting very loosely so that the stitches could be moved more easily on the needle but that wasn’t achieving the desired result and it was just getting harder and harder to knit all those stitches.  So I cast off last night and now have a long narrow strip that I am sure I will be able to incorporate as a border in one of my blankets.  All is not lost and a lesson has been learned.  (Trying to be positive about this!)

Most of my time lately has been focused on lawn bowling matches.  We are going over to the States for a visit with one of the sons and to attend my 50th reunion from Middlebury College in Vermont.  50 years, gulp.  Of course these trip plans conflict with a number of other items on the agenda - seems inevitable.  I have had to alter the dates for a number of lawn bowling matches and have had matches almost every day this past week.  And this has also been the week for the end of year recorder concert where I have been doing my recorder lessons, and also the end of year meeting of another recorder ensemble that I play with.

Reading Jean Miles blog I am rather tempted to do part of a meme that is going the rounds - I would pick and choose though - places you’ve lived, what you were doing 10 years ago, what is on the to do list.  I don’t have time for this now but might reflect upon it over the reunion weekend.

It turned out to be mostly a knitting day at the bi-monthly Dublin City Book Fair yesterday.  There were a lot of browsers/customers - in fact, quite a steady flow of people up until about 3 p.m.  Then a feeling of hush descended.  One of the other sellers predicted that the the mid-afternoon hush would be followed by a late afternoon hush.  Such was not the case however as there were a number of late-comers and the flow of people picked up at the day drew to a close.  It wasn’t the best of days sales-wise but it wasn’t total disaster.  The chat was good and I did make progress on a square for another blanket.  Blanket no. 7 is now in the making.  I’ve sewn the ends for blanket no. 6 so that is finished.     Blanket 6

Here I am obsessively making my way through my stash of knitting yarn and what should happen but someone came along at the Market on Saturday and offered me a big bag of even more yarn.  A firm thankyou but no - even that lovely bright blue luring me to say yes.  My own stash seems to breed by itself in forgotten corners so I don’t want any extraneous additions at the moment, thank you.

As a departure from the knitted squares, I have now started another project using left-over yarn.  Recently I read somewhere of a man who had worked his way through his left-over yarn by knitting 33 scarves lengthwise in garter stitch.  I thought that was quite a feat.  I’m happy to start experimenting with just one and see how it goes.

The other project I should complete soon is the “ubiquitous” second sock - better do that before I forget how I knit the first sock.  After all, I do want a pair. 

At last, we are transitioning into Spring and the knitted items that I have been taking to my weekly market, namely scarves and socks, no longer seem so appropriate for the season.  So I decided to take one of my rugs.

And - my rug now has a new home.  I was so pleased.  Rug sales at the Market are rare - smaller items are more popular.   I just might set up my loom again - my loom is currently taking a rest - and I am taking a rest from the “tyranny of the loom”.  If the loom is set up, I feel I should have a warp on it - and if there is a warp on it then I should be weaving.  Knitting needles don’t exert quite the same dominance.

Nevertheless, the knitting needles have been clicking and here is the latest project, nearing completion.  Hodge Podge blanket no. 6.

I am determinedly working away at reducing my stash of left-over knitting yarn, and actually I am getting a lot of satisfaction out of this simple straight-forward knitting and then joining the squares.

My other stash reduction assault is on my weaving yarn.  That yarn is all right for incorporating in crochet blankets, but I also use some of the knitting yarn as well.

I enjoy working on a granny square type project while watching tv or a dvd.  Recently we viewed another Gerard Depardieu film, Germinal, based on the novel by Emile Zola.  Well, I knew it would be grim - back in the days when I read Zola I found him an excellent writer but his novels were grim to say the least.  The film was excellent - I had been putting off watching it because I wanted something more cheerful but really the acting was so good and the scenes were epic.

My reading of late has lead to feelings of nostalgia.  The Life of Noel Coward by Cole Lesley, published in 1976; and Self-Portrait with Friends, The Selected Diaries of Cecil Beaton 1926-1974, published in 1979.  Noel Coward, b.1899 d. 1973.  Cecil Beaton, b. 1904 d. 1980.

These were creative men of my mother’s generation, spilling over into my generation in their later years.  I enjoyed these 2 books very much but found myself feeling quite melancholy as these men slipped into old age - old age in their 60’s and 70’s.  Their lives were so full, so creative, so glamorous, so artistic - what more to say.  And yet in their later years their former prowess gradually slipped away.  They experienced ill-health and inevitably many of their friends were also becoming ill and there were many funerals.  This was social history.  But sad in a way - these 2 books did not glorify the ageing process - in fact, I finished the books in a rather negative frame of mind.  Lives well lived, but melancholy and sad in their later years.  

While still on the topic of that generation, I was happy to receive my copy of Interweave Knits and to read the article about Elizabeth Zimmermann and the Schoolhouse Press, written by Franklin Habit .  Elizabeth Zimmermann, b. 1910 d. 1999.  Her knitting books make for inspiring reading, not just for her knitting skills but for her life experiences.  In a google search I also found a very interesting blog entry from Grumperina, another Elizabeth Zimmermann fan.

Activity of late has mostly been concentrated on practising for the Europe Day Concert by the massed bands of the Rathfarnham Concert Band Society.  This included the Rathfarnham Adult Band (we try to leave out the word “beginner”).  It was a big night and fortunately the weather co-operated.  The Concert was held out of doors and there were almost 150 of us performing.  It was a stirring performance for me to be a part of, even though a number of the pieces were beyond my capabilities.

 I’m there - in the third row of the clarinet section.

 to welcome a new member of the family I have this baby blanket - hope the baby likes purple.  The baby is the first great grandchild for one of my sisters. 

I’m not sure about this revised edition of wordpress.  I can’t seem to get my pictures to the size I want, and in this case the colours are all blotchy.  The blanket looks better in reality.

Just an addendum to my previous post telling about my latest reading.  Again, browsing in the Oxfam Charity Shop the cover of this book caught my eye.

This book was a bit flip but rather an interesting topic.  It was really the cover that attracted my attention.  A good piece of graphic art.  Nevertheless, I liked the contents of the book well enough.

Perhaps the title of this blog entry is a bit of an exaggeration.  I have been doing some knitting of late but now the lawn bowling season has started and also May is verging on turning into “music month”.

Above is Hodge Podge 6, almost ready for its border.  That pile of stash yarns is getting smaller!

 my other current knitting project is another pair of socks

Apart from knitting, time spent lawn bowling is increasing - and that’s a real pleasure with the weather we had yesterday.  Weather almost like summer.  Not so pleasant a couple days previously when it was “winter”.

After the big concert on April 25th, we are now practising for another concert - this one to be even bigger with all the bands of the Rathfarnham Band Society.  Almost 150 players.  This is to be an outdoor concert, weather permitting, to celebrate Europe Day this coming Friday May 9th.   We have had 2 and 3 hour rehearsals one day after another - my right hand is starting to cramp!

Knitting, music making, and reading.  I really like biography and social history.  A few months ago I found a book - a very big book - almost 500 pages - about the Life of Noel Coward.

This book turned out to be quite fascinating, long as it was with lists and lists of parties and party guests over the years.  Having finished that book, I am now turning to a book about Cecil Beaton - another biography and social history.  I purchased it along with the Noel Coward book and I suspect that these 2 books were donated to Oxfam by the same person - I wonder who it was.

This rather amusing link came in the mail (email of course) last week.  Do you want to create more private space?  Then have a look at this link.  I got a bit of a chuckle and now I have found on Jean Miles’ blog, one of the blogs I read regularly.   You Knit What Two has surfaced.  Read more if you want to explore what not to knit or what to do with knitting that didn’t turn out to be quite what you intended.

There seems to be some concern as to what I am going to do when I have used up all my knitting stash.  Like the last person to leave, do I just turn out the lights?  Well, first of all, I don’t think I will actually manage to use up all my stash - I’m pretty certain I will acquire more yarn when the stash gets too low.  It’s sort of similar to my book buying - I always have a lot of unread books on my shelves and I slowly work through them, but long before I have read them all, I have acquired more.  Reminds me of the old Walt Disney film Fantasia. 

The sock knitting continues, as shown below.   And the squares knitting for hodge podge 6 is the other part of the ongoing assault on the stash of knitting yarn.  

Another project lurking in the wings is a cardigan in natural colours.  I find that yarn a bit difficult to knit and I am not totally convinced I want to do that project - hence it has been moved to the back of the queue.