Odd Balls..

Nothing quite like an odd ball bin at the L.Y.S. I often find better things than in the sales. Yesterday I got four All Seasons balls in a mottled cream and purple ,one in purple and a purple lone Kid Classic . All at half price but when you realise what the full price was it seems a bit steep.
A really lovely knitter and blogger has been so kind to me I wanted to send her something special .I asked what she is short of and she said magenta so I dived into my stash last night . I was also searching for inspiration as I'd like to make a starry night shawl .
Then I notice some of the new Louisa Harding yarns are starting to come in and have to say there is a new Sari-ribbon that is just right .Also Thalia looks lovely .It is a shame the new boucle is such poor quality but it really is weak and tears so easily. I don't think it would be possible to wear a whole garment made from Sari-ribbon unless you enjoy suffering but it is the perfect trim .

More on badly made films and T.V ..

Holly and I just have the bit in our mouth and are off on this one. The most awful film we own for strange anachronisms is "Jackie ,Ethel and Joan" . After that period dramas like the original "Forsythe Saga" seem to be very bad at leaving out the era in which they are made i.e very sixties hair-styles. This was common but they seem to have a lot more research now. We are waiting for a copy of "Cromwell" to arrive ( which I have seen and hate Richard Harris's performance ) .It will be interesting to see how they deal with costumes .The only help they have are portraits which might be falsified in many ways. Then period furniture etc. If I remember Cromwell is too swashbuckling for my liking and if Prince Rupert was portrayed as he is in history books audiences would have been rolling in the aisles. Hopefully at least the decor will look authentic unlike that at Hickory Hill in J,E and J .There is obvious 1980's stencilling and rag-rolling everywhere. They seem to have Joan wearing late 1960s dresses in the early part of the decade.We are not experts but some things are so obvious. "Cromwell" being a high cost production will try harder I hope but it is ages since I have seen it. There was a series on Charles 11nd here recently which I avoided as it was nothing more than a sex crazed romp with an attractive actor . I hope there was more to the man and such nonsense is just plain boring. There was a pretty good series about Queen Victoria and her many links to other royals in my teenage years that was very good.

The worst film ever made...

"919 Fith Avenue"...as I had dinner cooking at 3.30pm I was ready for some entertainment as I knitted.I prefer something light if possible. You can't get much lighter than most Channel Five films so we gave it a try. It started off oddly, we couldn't put our fingers on it .We have "Missles of October" which is a filmed play ( at one point the editing forgets to cut out the applause) . That was it , the whole thing was very obviously on set and the script manipulated to make sure there was only one outdoor scene . To make matters worse it was the 1980s so everyone had huge hair , huge shoulder pads and kept trying to adopt Princess Di poses ( except the men!) .Any American with the good taste not to think that our Royals are fascinating , good etc by mere virtue of being born so forgive me. I think it was aimed at Diana fans who loved James Hewitt ...oh dear !.I have slight sympathy for the poor woman but my gut feeling is that she was very ,very lights out .
Even more oddly all the "downstairs" folks were Irish and I don't mean Irish-American ( the actors might have been ). Anyhow the father says "It doesn't do to mix with them upstairs" ..no he didn't tug his forelock .So with all of the working folks of New York why would you have Irish servants ? To make matters worse the poor souls were twee as all outdoors as in Irish villages in "Murder She Wrote" . Them upstairs could have been out of Dynasty they were that awful .They had the required drug addict son ...after what the right-wing nut said about what Kennedy kids do with their money you simply must have one in society. There was some poor actor who when William Devane was busy always got the white-haired Patriarch role . Now that rich ,old men die their hair these guys will be un-employed !

Phyllis Diller on being old...

"You know you are old when they discontinue your blood type" ..isn't that wonderful!

I just posted on my old blog..rats ! It is easy ...

as they have the same sign-in.

If you don't have a dream.

This is a picture of Holly doing her forced to pose for Mum smile.Never mind that what she is holding is a bag in Kaffe's "Roman Glass" . There is a tank-top thingy in "Kaffe at the V&A" which I adore.He said it would be easy ..huh! It was agony so it only ever got to be bag-size. But I still dream that one day I shall sit and try again . 

Hoping to finish autumn shawl today.

Then I must think about Christmas gifts I can knit and start my beach shawl. I am hoping to incorporate some pebble sized bobbles and have to think about texture. If you are reading this Jo , I have "Celtic Knits" and the sweater you were talking about is truly exquisite. I prefer to do her fair-isles because cables are almost impossible for me ..very cack-handed .

Time to wash all those knits.

It's a bright ,windy day here so I have hand-washed about six sweaters so far to hang out ready for chillier days. The capelets are fine at the moment for Holly and I wear Pashminas .It won't be long before I can wear my mostly chunky jackets. I really can't do fine knitting now. Holly is reading a Robert Graves book I found in my workroom when she should be typing an essay but I love it when she reads things I had stuck away for decades .

Sensory overload.

So many yarns and only one pair of hands.So many beautiful patterns and still only one pair of hands. Gill@ Woolly Workshop has some "Fiddlesticks" shawl pattens that are gaspingly lovely. I am thinking that if I close myself off in the workroom I could do it .I need to concentrate and yet prefer to sit with Holly whilst she is drawing so we talk . The new Noro is not madly exciting except for Cash Iroha being re-introduced. All I have to do is decide what to make before it's next season !

Distance lends enchantment.

A lovely bank-holiday weekend made all the more lovely by a divide of milage between me amd M.I.L .We used to have to do the rounds , my Mum , Jeff's Mum and have little time for ourselves . I visited mine in the week so it was three days of knitting and chilling .

High up knobs and low ones too...

A phrase used by working class folk here is "High up knobs" to describe the upper classes. Anyhow it's going slowly at the knob's Palaces to say the least.I think archaeologist's must need the patience of a saint. I'd want a little more than a lot of old foundations.I did manage some rather more exciting knobs and bobbles on my freeform shawl to represent berries .I also did a patch of fair-isle acorns .In fact it is about half-way and that is good because I am itching to start another in a colour combo. I hardly use but Colinette's mixed mill bags almost chose for me ,browns and navy . I am not sure about a theme but a few large bobbles as pebbles maybe?
I found a historical novel on E:Bay about Henny as she is now called at home .It might be rubbish but then again I remember reading every historical novel set during The Civil War as a teenager and some had a lot of research . I remember a favourite being called "Minette" and being about H.M and C1st's last daughter .I shall have to surf some secondhand bookshops. I also had a rather good bio. of Cromwell which stays in my memory as it was in my bag when I was mugged. I well remember the Policeman asking me the contents of my bag .I never carry a small one so it goes like this ,a biography of Cromwell ,a bottle of "Jicky" , a rapidograph ( drawing pen) , a skirt , a purse, a pencil case and some embroidery threads .He was hoping for a make-up bag and a purse no doubt ! Anyhow apart from shock ,injury and an inability to bear being in the dark alone I have got the rest back but it was in 1973 .I can't find the bio. I have never given away a single Kennedy book ,thank-goodness because I'd hate to have to start that collection off again .

Reflections..

Not getting all philosophical.I am talking about the yarns I bought which are very short eyelash with a definate twinkle.I knitted the browns into my shawl along with a strand of Kid Classic in Peat ..result a nice soft furry spot. Not feeling too well this weekend gave me the excuse to sit and knit and watch "Time Team's Big Royal Dig" .Oh boy that is slow going all I can say is show us inside Holyrood it would be more fun.I am not sure why we care who or where The Duke of Buckingham was .The Civil War defences at Buckingham Palace might be interesting if they'd found small items like an officer's watch or something as it is it's all foundations.I like domestic history ,The Pitt Rivers in Oxford is my kind of museum. Do not worry folkies I am not ill as such just a menopausal thing that means I don't feel free to go out for a day or two .I'll also drop off at intervals. I have liquid iron now so will run a marathon soon I am sure.
I have lost my new Rowan book and am feeling very annoyed as like Jo we have so many books piled here and there . Holly saw "Romance" in John Lewis and I want to check patterns .It's odd stuff as I bought her enough to make a scarf ( sort of pre-knitted but very loose).
I also found a book I wanted on the net yesterday but being very linited in interset it costs about £50.00s ! It's about the ballets and Dramas put on by Henrietta Maria. A woman attending any sort of such thing was considered a complete slut.I am not too sure what the really severe Puritans suggest she did all day .She couldn't cook , clean the Palace , she did a great job of having children so no complaints there .A bit of cross-stitch in black I guess ..go girl is all I can say .I am sure these plays etc were not at all like The Restoration stuff that might well have been vulgar and met my dis-approval she was just a woman in love with a sense of fun. I might get it for Christmas if I am a good girl .I did have my eye on some Cash Iroha in black but this is a very special book and Holly looked interested.She has a list of books she wants from The V&A .

Got my head in ...

C.V.Wedgewood's two volumes on The English Civil War found in Oxfam..well come on we can't buy yarn and books and guess which comes first . My mother is a little vague these days and when I phoned to ask if I had left my Bio. of Henrietta Maria at her house she said no.Then went on for two hours about Antonia Fraser's new one on Marie Antoinette..what did Oxfam have ? Yes the new book on Mrs Letthemeatcake.I don't see the connection , Mum probably does ..it's all heads isn't it .

A bit of stash enhancement.

Four colours of Reflection, one of Fireflyand a Boa in claret. 

A member of The New Model Army alive and well..

As I am on the subject... ..at Meeting there is a woman who pops up to remind us how wonderful it is that many of the most extreme members settled in Reading ( oh joy of joys) .These guys were The Taliban of the day , people were hiding Christmas puddings and looking depressed.As Jo points out mid-winter was adopted by The Christians but as an excuse that wouldn't cut the ice. She is somewhat odd and wears dark glasses as she swears she has porfiria which is well weird as Charles 1st had it and she is a staunch supporter of the other side. We are all dying to tell her the war is over but not sure she'd cope. She lives the time and will stand up and rant on and off ( I wonder if she's a relative of Ian Paisley come to think of it) . She comes to the carol service that is an added extra as Quakers were not noted for singing. Then she'll tell us about the most looney members with great delight . I've never seen her house but wonder if walking in I'd step back in time.

Woopert of the Whine.

Cruel but we think of him as talking like Pilate in "Life of Brian" .His Uncle had a stutter so it seems to go although as a Germanic speaker I'm not sure how that would work. Anyhow I know when I've re-awakened a passion.I was reading Parliamentarian propaganda on the net and found a wonderful load of tosh about "Boy" Prince Rupert's dog. He was his familiar ( so they said) and could be invisable and thus spy on the Roundheads .What we want to know is how he communicated what he'd heard to his Dad . It doesn't help our weird sense of humour when History channels do mock ups in a foggy frame. The Queen seems to float in a mist and three men filmed from above walk the Oxford colleges looking "right girl's blouses " to quote Holly. No-one looks short enough to be The King unless the others are Charles and James thus teens as big as dad. Holly's favourite period is W.W 1. So her face at three guys with sashes, lace boot tops "like jam-covers" was a picture. We only touched The Civil War at home-school as she prefers modern history. She is now quite caught up in the period along with her Mum. I shall have to do a tour of Reading site's that were famous for their part in the war.The local church had it's top knocked off by Cromwell . It does seem odd to be talking in favour of the King's side an awful lot .I don't approve of monarchy but the poor man really believed it was his God-given role to be his people's protector I guess. I admire his stubborn determination not to bend and give his jurors the chance to be let off the enormity of the murder . In that way he saw his duty through with courage and that is admirable in anyone. I can see a lot of visits to museums coming on.

Searched my bookshelves..

surfed the net and I have to say the net can't beat a book.You get a few add-ons but you can surf for hours for what can be in your hand and read in a day. So H.M ( if you havn't read previous posts that is Henrietta Maria..not Lizzie Windsor). we have an appointment at "Waterstones" . There was a bang on the door at 2.30..my latest Colinette order.I am knitting an autumn shawl so needed far more browns than I had . I think I must be very quaint because I find dealing with the loud men rather intimidating.Luckily our postman is very quiet. Yesterday Holly and I watched "Howard's End" and Prunella Scales was wearing a long gabardine coat , had on a lovely hat and was carrying a carpet bag ..that is how I want to look. I remember a comedy sketch that might have been on French and Saunders .Anyhow a woman goes around town in Victorian costume and pops into the corner shop where she asks to have a Mars bar wrapped and sent to her house..it was hysterical. I want to look elegant when I go out now and again ...white gloves is one thing I can't stand .Everytime I look at Ethel Kennedy she looks like Minnie Mouse ..only her hands I must add ( back in the 1960s).

Che Guevara.

Yet another odd one I suppose but nothing will ever convince me he wasn't a great man with a heart of gold. I hate killing and yet when you read about the poverty in Argentina,Cuba,Bolivia etc you can only understand. Sadly The English Revolution seems far more about The Middle class resentment of taxes , hatred of catholics than any sort of equality. I guess it gave Monarchy a lesson but did it change much at all..any answers folks?

Why I am a socialist.

Listening to a heart rending reading on radio 4 this morning I remembered why.After all with Blair around you want to forget you are ..but then he's not. Some poor Birmingham lady around about 1938 is widowed so what do they do ? She has four kids ...they take them away and put them in a Barnados home ( sounding not too unlike a borstal) . She works like a demon to get them back .Henrietta Maria come The Restoration was granted £3o,000 from Parliament and the same by her son .We worked that out as £49 million a year ....what did she do with it ? I grant she had lived ( for her) in near dire poverty for some years in exile but give me a break ..millions for one little old lady.

Henrietta Maria Stuart ( spouse of Charles 1st)

An odd heroine for a Socialist/Quaker/Republican but there you go. I am in the happy position of living in a multi-faith society with a democracy not a Monarch who believes they have any divine rights ( at least I hope not) . I was fascinated by her as a teenager , read biographies and admired her greatly .I still do but have forgotton so much in passing years.I'll say she was one sassy gal to say the very least .I'm not one for visiting graves of famous people but if I'm in France sometime maybe I could ..except her heart is in one place and the rest of her elsewhere.If in Washington I'd head for Arlington .I can't get her out of my head so will have to search Mum's books to see if I left any bios. there or go to the library.She is annoying though as I am now used to footage and newspaper articles etc and to making up my own mind.