just another raveller

Here's a loose translation of an article from Lenta.ru 28/11/2008 Moscow Knitting Class Robbed Two residents of Moscow's Northern District have been charged under article 162 of the Criminal Code (robbery). As reported on the website of the Moscow police department, a 73-year-old retiree and her daughter robbed an organization offering knitting classes. The retiree and her 35-year-old daughter appeared at the office at No. 1 Yamskoe Pole Street and demanded the return of 10 thousand rubles (about $400) the daughter had paid for a program because she wasn't happy with it. A secretary, who was alone in the office, suggested the women request reimbursement in writing, which would then be passed on to the management. Instead, the retiree took out a taser and attacked the secretary. The women left, taking a purse containing 34 thousand rubles (about $1200). The police detained both women.

I'm up to 4 and a half hats by and have 3 to show here. They are all for a friend in Montreal, a librarian who first hired me as a student back in the dark ages of print indexes and rubber modems with receivers that looked like suction cups. She is now undergoing chemo sadly, but never mind. I hope these will cheer her up. The first is a tidy little red number in Katia Mississippi 3 , a fingering weight cotton acrylic blend. This should be very practical. This green lace hat is more glamourous. The yarn is Louisa Harding Nautical Cotton. The woman in the yarn shop said, "I wonder why they call it "nautical?" and looked at me. I didn't say anything then, but now I know. I think it has something to do with it being a bit like rope, beautiful, shiny, shapely rope, yes. But nonetheless it does have rope-like qualities. It was a bit hard on my fingers, but it was worth it in terms of the texture, unlike some cottons which just lie there afterwards looking like washed...

The first time I saw an email telling me about Daily Lit , I deleted it. The whole idea of reading a novel on email seems anathema, abominable, even blasphemous, doesn't it? Well, I've caved. I've signed up. Essentially, Daily Lit is a service that sends you a few paragraphs of a book each day on email. You select the title (many are free) and tell it when and how often you want to receive installments. The default is daily. When you finish your daily bit, you can click on a link and have the next day's paragraphs sent to you immediately.  I'd been trying to re-read The Pickwick Papers in connection with a translation I'm working on, but I wasn't not getting anywhere with it. The Pickwick Papers, that is. So I've signed up for Daily Lit and will see how it goes. No guarantees. Unable to leave it at that, I just noticed that on Librivox , which provides free audiobooks from the public domain, read aloud by volunteers, you can now have a chapter a day sent...

I'm not as far along with my knitting as I thought I would be but this is not unusual. I thought I would finish the Heart and Sole socks at the conference and start another pair. I thought I would finish the cardigan fronts that I was working on and  cast on for the sleeves. No and no. I did quite well with the cardigan fronts, finishing them off on the flight back from Charleston, but I left the printed pattern in my luggage and I couldn't remember what to do about the sleeves so I read a book, Virginia Nicholson's Singled Out: how two million women survived without men after the First World War .  This is a very interesting book, written almost entirely as a string of anecdotes. This makes it a good book to dip into and put aside. I keep flipping to the index and the notes were, fortunately, published with the book and not slung out on a web site somewhere.  The print in my paperback copy is very tiny. I can't wait for my new glasses to come later this week. Anyway, t...

I'm posting from the airport at Charlotte, North Carolina, on my way home from the Charleston Conference. This is the best connectivity I've had all week. I was in Charleston for voting day, which was so exciting for everyone. I watched from my hotel room and went out into the lobby after 11 thinking it would be packed with revellers but it was dead quiet. I guess South Carolina is a red state. Anyway, I later had several exciting conversations about it with taxi drivers. People are really happy and hopeful. To prime ourselves for our own presentation, my colleague and I went for a walk along The Battery . It was a beautiful day. On the way back uptown, we stopped twice. First, we practically stumbled across the Unitarian churchyard.   We found it only by peering down a leafy narrow passageway and then daring to go in further. Annabel Lee of Poe's poem supposedly haunts this place...    Then we stopped at Knit on Wentworth Street. Of course we did. I finally bought volume...