February Lace

I have been writing for my PhD a critical review about the importance of place in history- either as a location, the place where you live or place, your social status. Obviously the second place is less important in today's society, but in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries it was important to know your 'place'. Place was also used to describe a job, as in to find a place in service - all very interesting and I have only got until next Monday to finish this essay!

It is interesting how a women's employment defined their place in the world of work - and I have been reading about the bone lace makers of Devon during the 16th and 17th centuries and reflecting on how this that once was an occupation, a poorly paid one, but something that a woman could do to help her family's income.

Nowadays what was work is often just a hobby. Knitting, spinning and all the other 'crafts' that we now spend our leisure time persuing were once essential to survival. All very deep, but that's the problem - work and play and how to balance the two. I am enjoying the research, but a big part want's to be playing - so mornings are for work and afternoons are for play and evenings are for Mr S and lace.....














My latest lace project - Midnight Shawl, part of the 11 shawls in 2011 challenge!!!

Why can't life be simple?

I just can't believe how complicated life can be at times - I don't know why I can't believe it, because if things can go wrong then they do. Simple things become mountains, mountains become unclimbable and so on.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that we were paying a lot more than the advertised price for our broadband - smaller package more money, bigger package less money - well I'm not stupid and going to pay more than I can get away with, so I requested the change - great - get confirmation - I would be paying less, and they'd send a engineer round to sort things out - no great shakes - easy peasey! Not a chance...

Saturday afternoon, not a good time, but they did turn up and left - leaving me internet-less - it'll be sorted in 24 hours they said - humph - no! Monday still the little blue light failed to flash - angry, but carefully polite, phone calls from me - job's worth people on end of phone - telling me the obvious - 'that my modem wasn't working' - as if I didn't know that already! Plus at the end of the umpteenth call the woman, after telling me that there was nothing they could do but send out a new modem - which would probably arrive sometime next week if I was lucky actually asked if 'there was anything else she could help me with' - the mind boggles, as if she had actually sorted out one problem and was ready and waiting to sort out the next - where on earth do they get these people?

Then along comes Gerriant, the Welsh wizard of Virgin Media, a man that actually does ring you back when he says he will, and sends round a lovely young man who 'noticed immediately that it was the wrong type of modem' - well I never, surprise surprise, who'd have thought that anyone would be daft enough to install the wrong type of modem - I can't imagine.

Upshot is, well obviously as I am posting this, the lovely young ex-naval man, brought me the right modem - and it works! But why oh why do I have go through this scenario - it isn't the first time and I don't suppose that it will be the last - all I want is people to do what they say they will, turn up on time and be efficient.

News Flash ................................. the dishwasher had just stopped working............................. they don't work after five, so tomorrow I will start the whole process again!!

Question - why do they play that awful music at you when they put you on hold? Perhaps they hope that you will hang up rather suffer?

I am now just wondering how long it will take this time, will he bring the right part etc etc - would it be quicker just to buy a new one - but then there is the problem of getting rid of the old machine - Ce la vie!

PS If you ever get to read this Richard Branson then you'll know what real people suffer at the hands of your employees

Three shawls in January

Yes three shawls, well only two were actually knitted in January, and the third my Aeolian was finished (well the last 20 rows and these are the longest rows) having been sat on the needles waiting for the extra beads to arrive, it is surprising how many beads you need the pattern calls for 2250 a total of 27grams.

It started at part of a KAL (Knit Along) on Ravelry back in August it was a chart only pattern and I had never been a fan of charts, but I was persuaded and to help matters along I bought a magnetic board which certainly makes life easier.

So this is my Aeolian Shawl beads and all - a real labour - it is impossible to get any rhythm going as you have to keep stopping to add a bead, but worth all the effort.












The first January shawl was Pretty Maids and I made this with my White Romney lace weight yarn - from the fleece to the finished shawl all done by me!












Here it is being blocked, it is really amazing how a piece of knitting comes alive when it is shaped, it looked nothing until I stretched it out (should have taken a pic of it in that state, too late now!)

And finally my Leadlight Shawl

This was done in Victorian Velvet a beautiful dark velvety colour - dark purples, greens and black - a stunning combination.

Next a Ethereal Lace Shawl in a deep midnight blue, my own hand-dyed merino lace weight.

Lateral thinking

I'm not a skinflint, but the price that some suppliers are charging for basic bags straps is completely ridiculous. One was selling two 'leather' straps for £14 plus postage......making an expensive addition. I do make matching handles , but sometimes a nice strap/handle can make all the difference, turning something basic into something special. I had checked out the local charity shops, but either the bags were grotty or pricey. There is an up-market charity shop in Chipping Sodbury, with designer bags at nearly designer prices, so I wasn't any closer to solving the dilemma and I had two bags just waiting for the finishing touch...






Then I happened upon some bags in the sale in a well known supermarket - absolutely awful, so you could see why they were reduced - but the handles were perfect - so perfect handles for £2 and two zips - what a bargain (well two bargains actually, 'cos I bought two) The girl on the check out gave me a really strange look - nothing new there!



Today, in another supermarket - belts reduced and actually buy one and get one free - so two lovely 'real leather' straps - the cost £1.50 - and I got the extra large ones!



So lateral thinking or what Mr S calls the Ikea syndrome, just because something is sold for one purpose it doesn't mean that you have to use for that - I remember that a while a ago we made a bedheads out of two shoe racks - and very chic they were too.

Brighton pebbles, not rock.....

We are having a week away to make up for the lost holiday at Christmas we had to cancel due to the adverse weather conditions.

Really Mr S needed to consult the Mass Observation Archive which is housed at the University of Sussex - as you never know how much will be useful so we booked a whole week, and then got through everything in one very long day. So now we have a few free days in which to relax and time to fulfil our annual tradition of throwing pebbles in the sea.

Know this sounds daft, and I can't remember when it started, but for years now, every Christmas we throw pebbles in memory of people no longer with us and for those who need a helping thought.

Besides the pebble throwing, as yesterday was sunny but cold and we 'walked' along the 'Lawns' in Hove and watched the sun coming through some clouds over the English Channel. Mr S misses the sea, being a Plymothian, and needs regular doses of ozone to get him through the year. But the ozone is just not the same here as it is on the Hoe in Plymouth - where the sea is more ocean than channel.

Spinning is on hold, but I am managing to get some of the Polworth fleece carded a job which seems to get put to the end of the queue at home when there is so much else to do, particularly now I am officially back working on my thesis. In this I have agreed with Mr S that I need to pace myself - before his surgery I had been working more or less 24/7, which was really silly, as I am registered part-time! As my friend E said I am very good at telling others not to over do things, while doing the exact opposite myself - so I now work most mornings and have the afternoon for other things - which should mean that I do not become a very 'dull girl'..

I have resolved...

...to never dye in lots of 100grams any more.

I have come to the conclusion that it might be fun to have lots of brightly spaced dyed rovings, but only dyeing 100grams is very shortsighted, for try as you might you can never exactly reproduce a spaced dyed roving - believe me I have tried as these two pics show it is nearly impossible with the vagaries of space dyeing to get a good match.















First dye of the colourway Make Believe

Second Dye of the colourway Make Believe - and this despite using the exact same amount of dyes in the same proportions - batch one is much greener than batch two which has come out with more pinky mauve than greens................

Why? Well the other day I was searching for some yarn to make a small shawlette - and despite the massive stash (according to Mr S that is) I found that I didn't have enough of any one colourway to make it - so hence the resolve.















So here is my first 200grams of Falkland - Holly Bush, it is in fact much darker than the pic shows, dark brown, berry red and, disappointingly not holly green. The green is more muted than I hoped for, but nevertheless it is 200 grams which is the important thing here.

Thought - will bigger dye batches mean that the 'massive' stash will take on mountainous proportions?

Survived

I have survived the snow and the 'big day' but the four days of 'Bank Holiday' are driving me slowly up the wall - spinning has been my salvation in the shape of 800 yards of laceweight yarn in the gorgeous colourway Victorian Velvet from Mandacrafts.















Now I have to choose the pattern - choices, choices there are so many lovely shawl patterns to choose from - I really can't make up my mind! But I think that it is going to be the Calais Shawl so all I have to do now is wait for the yarn to dry! Meanwhile I have been playing origami with fabric - great fun!
















And this is oddly named Lincoln's Platform