WIP Wednesday 33

It's ages since I blogged about a WIP (Work In Progress) but it was sunny today and I managed to get my camera to work. I have two to share with you, but only one is knitting - which is the cabled cardigan/jacket I'm making for Mini Diva.

It seems to be lasting forever or I seem to be taking forever to knit it. She decided the hooded version would be best (she thinks it is for her cousin) so that has extended my suffering in this particular circle of hell. I have about 6cm of hood left to knit, then the hood border, then the sewing up, then the buttons.



I had tried the 3 shops in town that sell buttons, but not one had anything remotely suitable, so DH (because he can be a honey) took me over to Fabric8 in Felixstowe on Saturday, where Mini Diva instantly found the perfect color and size amongst their mehusive selection:



And then because it was sunny we went to the beach, where the children - unbelievably - paddled in the water, and the dog refused to go anywhere near it.

Which brings me nicely to the second WIP for today:

don't be deceived - he is as dumb as a rock

I discovered over the weekend that he either is afraid of or hates water - he had a wet-spaghetti moment when I tried to get him into the shower for a seriously overdue wash; I think he has never been bathed, and his life before he came to us may have meant that he never really needed one. However, we do go to wet, muddy, smelly places, so we will have to overcome this somehow.

The other thing that we confirmed recently is one of his totally unattractive and seriously socially unacceptable habits, which gives a new meaning to this phrase; he is indiscriminate about it too - the cats' or his own, he's not fussy. On the plus side, I don't have to empty the cat litter tray out as frequently. I have read that feeding the dog bananas will stop this, but there is little discussion on how to get the bananas into the dog .....

the grin in question

Don't forget to pop on over to Tami's blog, where she hosts the links for the blogs taking part in WIP Wednesday ....

De Amicitia

So you see, I have retained some elements of my ejumacayshun. Enough to be able to select an appropriate bit of Cicero for your delectation, whilst I ponder the last writhings of what was a friendship. No major cause, just a build-up of occurrences that culminated in my sudden realization of just how changed that person had become.

''Furthermore, there is a sort of disaster in connexion with breaking off friendships — for now our discussion descends from the intimacies of the wise to friendships of the ordinary kind — which is sometimes unavoidable. There are often in friends outbreaks of vice which affect sometimes their actual friends, sometimes strangers, yet so that the infamy of the evil flows over on to the friends. Therefore the ties of such friendships should be sundered by a gradual relaxation of intimacy, and, as I have heard that Cato used to say, "They should be unravelled rather than rent apart," unless there has been some outbreak of utterly unbearable wrongdoing, so that the only course consistent with rectitude and honour, and indeed the only one possible, is to effect an immediate withdrawal of affection and association.

But if, on the other hand, as usually happens, a mere change of disposition and of tastes should occur, or if a difference in political views should arise (for I am talking now, as I said a moment ago, not of friendships existing between wise men, but of those of the ordinary kind), care must be taken lest it appear, not only that friendship has been put aside, but that open hostility has been aroused. For nothing is more discreditable than to be at war with one with whom you have lived on intimate terms......

......Wherefore, in the first place, pains must be taken that, if possible, no discord should arise between friends, but in case it does, then our care should be that the friendships appear to have burned out rather than to have been stamped out. And you must indeed be on your guard lest friendships be changed into serious enmities, which are the source of disputes, abuse, and invective. Yet even these, if endurable, are to be borne, and such respect is to be paid to the old-time friendship that he may be in the wrong who committed the offence and not he who suffered it.''

A rather traditional translation that retains the majesty and beauty of the original, which I found on Bill Thayer's site.

Comic Relief 2011

I am emerging from the pit to offer Twitter tarot readings ie. within 140 characters, for a £1 donation to TABI's Just Giving page - all you have to do is donate £1, say you're with me, and let me have your Twitter name so I can get hold of you .....

Alternatively, make a £5 donation, mention my name, and leave a comment & contact details here for a 3 card tarot reading ....

For Lucas

Lucas' funeral is today at 2pm Trinidad time.

No Post

I don't feel like posting. My cousin's 4 year old son was killed in a car accident yesterday. His Mom is in hospital, his Dad (my cousin) and his sister weren't in the car. My babies are staying home with me today.

KCBW2011 Trailer

So today I am going to try to entice you into the world of fibre frenzy - yarn stashes, skeins of yarn that Rumpelstiltskin would trade his first-born for, finished, unfinished and historical objects of admiration, respect, beauty and general OMG-ness, arcane skills, 10 thumb-ness, knitted items that live in the dark shame of the bottom of the wardrobe like a mad relative chained in the attic (not a Jane Eyre reference), and other weirdness. And granny-ness - but more of that later.



Firstly let's talk about the 2nd Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week, which, as the observant - not to say awake - amongst you can see from the post banner and sidebar button, will be running from the 28th March to 3rd April.



It's organized by my friend Mimi, and details of how it all works can be found here on her blog; I prefer to look at the topics beforehand so I have a pencil-plan of what I'm going to write about, but I know that there are others who live life on the edge by only revealing the topic on the relevant day ....

And now about the granny-ness. I am not a granny (I was a step-granny at the age of 27, but that's a post for another time) and it amuses me that there is still some kind of perception abroad in the world that knitting is only for old ladies.





Sure, I have met plenty of old ladies that do indeed partake of this one of my obsessions pastimes, but many of my interwebz fibre pals are a good 5 10 OK dammit 15 to 20 years younger than me. I would hate to think that one's interests - or circle of interesting friends - would be restricted by assumptions and judgments based on age. You may not think you are interested by young - or old- people, fibre, knitting or crochet: but I am sure that if you click on maybe even just one or two of the links in my special KnitCroBlo blogroll (when it's up), you will find at least a couple of things that will amaze, amuse and interest you.

ETA: many apologies for the mixed-font oddness, I don't know why that happened ....

Before and After #1

This is what we drove before the kids arrived:
















A fabulous tank of a car, an automatic Toyota Supra Mk.3 3.0l turbo. This is what I learned to drive in, and L plates look cool on this, I promise. Ours was called Scarlett, after the character from 'Gone With the Wind'. I cried when we traded her in.

This is what we traded her in for, when we knew Destructo Boy was on the way:

Val the Valkyrie, an automatic Volvo 940 estate. It was in this car that I backed into the invisible parked blue transit van.

And now we drive one of these, which has just passed her MOT after a new ABS thingy that was fortunes to replace:

Ingrid, an automatic Volvo 850 estate.

Volvos are lovely: reliable, trustworthy, safe, surprisingly fast with even more surprising grunt-ability, practical, not expensive to run or maintain.

How are the mighty fallen.