Time flies

And we all know the rest of the bon mot. So, what's been happening? Two really good evenings out, one playing Bridge, during which I did not disgrace myself, for once. In other words, no dithering in an irritating fashion over "oooh, dear,what shall I bid, why do my cards always have to be so difficult?" I do exaggerate, but I also know that I do have a tendency to twitter at the Bridge table, and it was nice just to be able to bid and play without expending all that adrenaline. Plus not making any dire errors, usually due to excessive cautiousness/timidity rather than bravado. Then dinner, and I do mean dinner, seven for seven thirty, several other guests. Not like us, these days, although once upon a time (I used to sleep with the Cordon Bleu part-work next to my bed, and Robert Carrier was my god, never mind Jamie Oliver, the parvenu.)
Chores and Tesco - we won't go there.
Then, the awful discovery that my car - you know, the one that didn't die - might have after all. Blunders on all side, the garages, and mine, but somehow we failed to properly note that it had not passed its MOT on the first attempt, and they neglected to retest it after fixing the problem.
Oops.
It's all fixed now. And I was told yet again that the poor old dear is on the way out (Oh, how I know that feeling!!) So, we might even go a-hunting next weekend. I have discovered a great tool on the internet whereby you can track down the type of vehicle that you re interested in at a garage near you. Too cool.

And - and. In amongst all of that, I did manage to continue work on the cashmere, and on the shawl. What I was going to say about the latter is interesting to me. I have always been truly pissed off by those snotty knitters who can do the really complicated stuff banging on about how dreadful it is to have all those easy peasy "patterns" out there, and how pathetic the people who make simple scarves and whatever are, they all ought to be giving themselves nervous breakdowns by trying to do some real knitting...Well, ok, so I am exaggerating again, but there is a strong element of superiority about it, and I genuinely get annoyed because there is room in this fibre world for all levels of involvement and ability and anyone who does anything for themselves these days is to be applauded.
However. This shawl is simple garter stitch, and all the yarn is Colinette. Gorgeous yarns, lovely colours and textures. And the thing is as tedious as all get out to knit! Now, I am certain that if I was doing a garter stitch shawl with my own handspun, then I would not be having the same reaction. So obviously, for me, the knowledge that I am creating the entire thing is crucial. Reminds me of the time I tried spinning in gardening gloves, and realised that most of the pleasure of spinning is tactile.

The other thing I did was get back to spindle spinning silk. I found my Bosworth midi with some silk hankies that I had started spinning a while back, and had a very pleasant half hour before bed. I need to get back to the spindle in every room that I was attempting a while back, it is amazing how much gets done that way.



Am I going loopy? Have flickr moved the "view in any size" button? Never mind, I found it eventually.

gw