I knitted these using Addi Lace 2mm Circulars. They are correctly sized, grabby enough, pointed enough, and the cable join is excellent as is the cable itself.I used my own Andersson Toe Up Construction Method and utilised the Andersson Heel Mach II.
The yarn was dyed by me and was one of my first adventures with dyeing. I used Kool Aid. 
I am puzzled as to why the concept that the way we think, meaning what we believe, is the cause of much of what we feel and have happen in our lives. Now many things happen in life that we have no control over but it is entirely up to us how we interpret these happenings and how we feel and respond to them.
What we believe about ourselves, about others, about life, and about God (belief in or not). The God thing is of the utmost importance if one has a belief. Either the belief is in a God of Unconditional Love or it isn’t. If one has a dogma and creed one follows, (Xtian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu etc) then one doesn’t have a God of Unconditional Love and that is the cause of much evil.
It is said we have free will. Really? Do we know all the options? Do we know everything? Only then can our will be free. We cannot choose what we don’t know.
I watched The Kite Runner the other day. I was moved and angered by it. It changed my mind about the war. The Taliban is an evil force that does evil things to people. People like you and me. These ARE people-our bothers and sisters so it IS our business. However, I was still angered and astounded and bemused that once in the USA these people took their oppressive belief system with them and so were not experiencing freedom as we understand it.
The most wicked thing we do to children is to indoctrinate them in religious faith. It is wrong to do this. Evil. It castrates children. It robs them of their freedom to choose. It ties their minds and hinders them. It is well known it does this, which is why we do it! As the Jesuit said, I think it was, ‘give me a child till he is 7 and I shall give you the man’. A mind thus hindered has limited free will. Not only are they taught a limited range of choice but are also taught that other choices are evil and to even think their might be another choice is evil.
It is extraordinarily difficult and painful to undo a childhood of indoctrination and most do not embark upon it unless the pain of living becomes so great they must or die.
This indoctrination runs deep to the extent that we still sanction child abuse and don’t even recognize it. Circumcision of boys and girls is one such abuse. Interestingly, the circumcision of girls, mainly done by non whites, is now condemned by whites who routinely allow the ends of boys’ penises to be cut off! Both have always been done because it reduces sexual pleasure. This is the ONLY reason it is done. Because ‘God demands it is’ crap and an excuse and one that should no longer hold up as reason to abuse a child. It is an even worse abuse when it is done to toddlers in a public ceremony. How cruel and vile is that?
We can be, and are, taught in such a way that we can see evil and do evil and not recognize it as such. We used to execute people in vile painful ways. Although not all of us have reached a state of civilization where we have stopped executing people altogether, we at least do not burn people to death. However, we do still kill and in the ME barbaric methods are still employed, and also in the USA. We used to keep slaves. We used to force children to work in mines and factories.(We still do the latter so we can have cheap clothing but we pretend we do not.)
Our free will does not really exist in the way we seem to think it does. We can only act upon what we know and therefore our will is only as free as our knowledge allows.(Not to mention what our bodies allow!)
Now science has shown that in some cases, our behaviour is not subject to will. A recent documentary showed how it appears that many fat people have a deficiency of LEPTIN which causes hunger. So who are you going to blame now? Yes, it is the one thing we are still allowed to be cruel and nasty about and discriminate against-fat people.
Okay, so it seems three times a week is what I can manage at the pool. I went out last night and knew I’d be home latish but also knew that today the swimming hours were different and thus I could go later.No way. I awoke in pain and fatigued so knew swimming was out. Pigs bum!
I will complete Global Warming socks today. I cast on a new pair last night when out. I didn’t take GW with me cos I knew I’d finish them whilst out and then have nothing to do so started a new pair. Once GW is done though, I want to swatch the merino Baby Ull for a twisted stitch Aran I have in mind. This will be on small needles. I know it will take an age but I think it will be worth it.
(This is a repost because I found out how to better reproduce the colours using my camera and my monitor. Yours may vary.)
Colin
Wool arrived today. It is absolutely wonderful, the colours are superb – and I say this from the vantage of my own mini sock wool mountain. However I now have the following problems:
a) socks or shawl – it is so soft and the colours are so wonderful it deserves to be on display more as a shawl but socks would be so comfortable
b) do I knit it now or do I leave it in the hank to pet it for a while
I think I will pet it for a while until I can decide which option a) I go for.
You clearly have a talent for this, I hope to be a customer again in the near future.
TO BUY SEND EMAIL TO: apso@tantra-apso.com
PayPal payments
FIRST COME FIRST SERVED. I WILL RESPOND AND PAYMENT EXPECTED WITHIN 24HRS OR WILL BE SOLD TO NEXT ON LIST. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING.
My post title came instantly today. I know it would help if I accepted my situation but I am having such trouble doing that.
I did not go swimming today. I am too tired. It really p’s me off. I have gone from swimming a mile a day, 7 days a week to just about managing half a mile 3-4 times a week. I have yet to accept this state of affairs. I am okay with not going on Saturday or Sunday. This only leaves 5 mornings a week. I no longer get up at 5am to do it. I get up at 6.30am. I could even get up at 7am and still have time for taking meds and getting ready. However, I am not convinced an extra half hour will make much difference. I don’t sleep well anyway, waking every two hours or so.I just don’t get why I can't do as I used to. I am not talking 10 years ago, just a year. It was the end of 08 that I started to have real exhaustion problems and it took a while for me to realise it was the swimming.
I didn’t go today because I have dog washing to do and I knew if I went, I’d be too tired. I have awoken really rather sore so not swimming was a good judgement.
Oh I know, I just have to accept what is. I am not happy about it at all. It frustrates me. The swimming also keeps my weight down and the less I do, the less energy I expend and the less I need to eat and that is hard. Feeling hungry a lot of the time is a pain.
I just do not understand why I can no longer do what I did.
Anyway, that’s my moan today.
Yesterday, I dyed a hank of 100% Baby Alpaca and it is beautiful. I am not sure what colour to call it and I do hope I can capture it with the camera well. It is a rich shiny chestnutty brown. Simply gorgeous.
Colin
Wool arrived today. It is absolutely wonderful, the colours are superb – and I say this from the vantage of my own mini sock wool mountain. However I now have the following problems:
a) socks or shawl – it is so soft and the colours are so wonderful it deserves to be on display more as a shawl but socks would be so comfortable
b) do I knit it now or do I leave it in the hank to pet it for a while
I think I will pet it for a while until I can decide which option a) I go for.
You clearly have a talent for this, I hope to be a customer again in the near future.
TO BUY SEND EMAIL TO: apso AT tantra-apso DOT com
PayPal payments
FIRST COME FIRST SERVED. I WILL RESPOND AND PAYMENT EXPECTED WITHIN 24HRS OR WILL BE SOLD TO NEXT ON LIST. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING.
Hi Colin,
I received the Lush Puppy yarn today. That was wonderful post time. . . ordered on the 19th and arrived here in NJ on the 25th! Came at a good time, too, as we had no power for almost 12 hours due to a wind storm.
I will cake it this weekend and start a pair of spring socks with it. The yarn feels wonderful, the colors are great and it even smells yummy! Thank you for your wonderful dying and prompt service. I will be watching your blog towards purchasing again.
Hi Colin,
Just a note to let you know the yarn arrived today. (can't believe it came that fast) I love it!!! Just exactly the right color and weight. I've rolled into a ball and will start my socks tonight. It was a gray, dreary, rainy day here today but the arrival of the yarn changed all that. I know, I'm nuts but yarn has that effect on me. Keep on dying, your stuff is gorgeous. I will send a picture of the socks when they're done.
Just to let you know that the parcel arrived this afternoon and I am very pleased with it. The
colours are much nicer than they look on my screen. So much more vibrant and beautiful.
Thankyou
Hi, Colin:The mail arrived Tuesday afternoon (the 19th) and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a Royal Mail package from you! I now have in my possession your lovely skein of Deep Forest. It is even better in person!
You captured the essence of our northern California redwood forests most beautifully.
Thank you so much,
It seems I still haven’t got the hang of pacing myself. I am about to go to bed but wanted a moan first. I am really fatigued and achy and sore. I did my swim and spent the rest of the day watching dvd’s, dyeing three hanks, winding 5 into balls and then into different sized hanks. Apart form the usual cooking and washing up, that is ALL i have done yet I am completely done in.WTF? Winding and hanking is hardly back breaking work. Sometimes I find my limits just too limiting!
Still, I am happy with the hanks. Nevada, Navajo, Peace, Purple Crystal, Falu, Polly Unsaturated, and Night Jewels.
Nighty night.
I am feeling extraordinarily good today. In fact I have been for quite some time. Not in my boy, which is pretty much same old crap, but in my spirit I am good. This new outlet for my creativity has really added a new and good dimension to me and my life. I love to do it. I love working and not being sure what the result will be. I splosh about and end up with lovely yarn. Now THAT is groovy man!(Yes I know it could have been COOL, but bugger it, this is my blog.)
My talk and dem went well last night., Rained all the way there and all the way back and most of the night. The dogs, therefore, had newspaper left down for them and they slept free and not in their cages as they had not been out at all. Too much work letting 6 hairy dogs out into a wet garden.
I have started a new blog named KNITMAN’S KITCHEN. I have not put anything up on it yet. I thought I would use it solely for my yarns rather than get it all mixed up here. Good idea? Thoughts welcome. At present, I just alter the timing on the yarn posts so it is always first or second post. No hassle. Maybe my readers prefer it all on the same blog?
I noticed that the kitchen wall above the dogs’ crates was more or less bare and it occurred to me that it would handy to have shelves there. I could put all my dyeing stuff there, in easy reach, and not have such a mess around the place. I mentioned it to John. When I got back from doing the church last night the shelving was up and he had arranged all my dyes and pots etc on the shelves for me.
I have two solid dyes to offer up and also two hand paints. I shall probably do more today.I wan to just go and do it now, but I have other priorities right now, like dog washing. I am finding it hard for nwo to do the essentials as all I really want to do is paint.
Needless to say, my knitting time has reduced drastically. I am half way up the leg of both socks using the Global Warming colourway. I dyed these amongst my first dye work and each sock is entirely different! They were 50g hanks, dyed with the same colours but one was the dilute of the other. An odd pair of socks but I wear odd boots so why not odd socks?
Today I have arisen well. Not enough pain or stiffness that i needed help nor a big whack of drugs, just a small one.
Will be doing exciting things like clearing up dog poo, going to the tip to dump stuff we should have dumped a long time ago.
We are giving my first wheelchair, a manual that I can’t control myself, to the Cancer Charity shop. We will keep the manual I can control myself as a back up in case Daniel breaks down.
I intend to dye some yarn up today. I will be putting up two solids as well, a purple Baby Alpaca and a reddish merino/cashmere/nylon.
I will have to leave here about 5pm as I have a talk and demonstration of mediumship to give.
I bought a new Logitech wireless mouse yesterday at Tesco. It works much better than the one that came with my HP Pavillion machine. I have used HP machines for 10 years and have always found them solid and reliable. Just the wireless mouse on this machine has been temperamental.
Did I mention that I have found a milliner who will be making me a lilac Trilby? I have not found one anywhere on my travels nor by trawling the net so I am pleased I found this woman to make it for me.
I enjoyed yesterday’s show. Dressing up for it, being there, driving to and from with my friend Angie and her Tibetan Spaniels. We always have a good laugh. She has a filthy mind! As we were packing we met another two men, one of whom had scoliosis of the spine. It certainly puts into perspective the spinal problems of Angie and myself. His attitude was fantastic and he still shows his dogs. He takes about 120mg of morphine on top of his other stuff. The most I need is 20mg on top.
Whitney showed her heart out as always and this time she won the RCC, meaning she was reserve Best Bitch. She now has 7cc’s, 6 RCC’s and 5 Best of Breed. At 26 mths of age.
I couldn’t get out of bed this morning without help and for the 1h 40min it took for the drugs to work, it was really rather yukky. However, it didn't come back with such force so I have had a good day. We went and did the usual domestic shopping. Had lunch at Panini’s where I asked if they had changed their brand of coffee beans because the coffee was especially good. No they hadn’t but they had changed the person who makes it.
Nechung is doing remarkably well. Eating like a pig as usual and behaving like a puppy. Weird. The cancer must be slow I guess or she is just having a final fling.
I have a talk and demonstration of mediumship to do tomorrow evening about 55 miles from here. I will not make the error I made last time and take morphine beforehand. The almost 2 hours standing up does me in but this time I shall take the pill as soon as it is over. Really, that is when I feel the need. Whilst I am working, I lose all awareness of my body. All I feel is what spirit impress upon me.
I am very pleasantly surprised at how well my Knitman’s Kitchen yarns are selling. Satisfying. I have some more to put up, a couple of solids a swell. I am quite taken with how content being creative in this way leaves me feeling.
I am also thinking of starting up a petition. Trouble is I do not know to whom the petition would be handed to. It would be thus: We, the undersigned, demand that our 24 hour day be increased by 50%, thus giving us a 36 hour day. 24 hours is just not enough to meet our needs. Thank you kindly.
PLEASE NOTE: I AM UNAVAILABLE 6PM 21ST TILL EVENING OF 22ND. I SELL TO THE FIRST PERSON WHO EMAILS (TIME STAMP) AND WHO THEN RESPONDS TO PAYPAL INVOICE WITHIN 24 HOURS.
DON’T FORGET YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE LARGER VERSIONS. EMAIL ME AT
APSO AT TANTRA-APSO DOT COM TO BUY.
I had a rough night, fitful sleep, nightmares, and pain., Got up at 4.30am, did some dyeing, went for my swim at 7.50am I swam the best swim I have had in ages! No pain. I swam fast and strong too. I think as regards my body, I’ll stop trying to suss it out!
I have a dog show tomorrow and will need to be up at 2am so will not be available after 6pm this evening.
Still feeling good inside, still loving to dye, still learning. Like I need to put newspaper down when spooning out the ammonium sulphate. Why? It doesn’t mix well with bleach! Yes, I clean my surfaces down with a cleaner that contains bleach. It works well. However, as there were spilled ammonium sulphate crystals, only a few, I discovered they do not mix at all well. My eyes started to stream, I started to cough. I quickly realised what was happening, opened up the French doors and window, and got some fresh air in and held my breath whilst I mopped up the rest. Won’t do that again.
I also discovered that if one uses too much leveller when rinsing the dyed yarn, it starts to strip out the dye! Weirdly, one uses the leveller for more even coverage and better striking. Too much and the opposite happens. Another lesson learned.
The yarn I though I had buggered up yesterday has turned out beautiful. I had dyed the whole hank beige and was very pleased I’d managed that. The person I was attempting it for wanted the hank black red and beige. I dipped both ends into baths, one with black one with red. MISTAKE! The liquids got sucked up and out of the baths, all over the beige I didn’t want over dyed. I quickly rinsed it and set about painting the colours on. I got something resembling a turd. So I thought, okay I’ll purple bits and see what happens. A turd with purple bits is what I got. I hate to throw yarn away, even if it is turd-ish, so I stuck it in a dye bath of hot pink,where it looked like a floating turd, gradually sinking. Ten minutes later, I had beautifully dyed, multi shaded yarn!
Tenacity has always been my saviour. (No, not stubbornness!)
Just to let you know that the parcel arrived this afternoon and I am very pleased with it. The
colours are much nicer than they look on my screen. So much more vibrant and beautiful.
Thankyou
Well, having felt very pleased with myself for managing to dye yarn beige, I then went and buggered it up when I tried to add the other two colours wanted. I should have painted them on but I didn’t and dipped dyed them which went horribly wrong. The colour turned to shit as the two dye baths got sucked up throughout the yarn and mingled. What a mess. So I immediately rinsed it all out, was left with a paler mess. I overdyed by painting with black and red and purple and still it was naf. So I then but it completely into a bath of hot pink. I am so glad I did and didn’t throw the hank away. I like the result.
I commented to John about how rough my two brothers look. (If you recall I freaked a little when I saw them both as ‘suggested’ friends on Facebook.) John’s response was immediate and emphatic: well what do you expect when they have lived such wicked lives?
I was somewhat taken aback by the strength of his comment. He has no time for them at all and feels differently to I about what they did to me. I find I am ambivalent about them both, more so the younger one (by almost 3 years). I do at least have one memory of him showing me compassion. In between the telling me how God hated me and how wicked I was.
The older (by just over 3yrs) I have no good memories of at all. He was always callous, cruel and self centred. He never gave.
Yet I am acutely aware that they had the same cruel and self centred and abusive parents. Only they chose to identify with them and join in making me the scape goat. Both were willing to, and did, leave me rotting in an asylum rather than tell the truth.
Do I hate them for it? How can I? One, there is no point, I have never felt hatred. Anger yes. Hatred would poison me and not harm them. I am glad I did not take the path they chose. I do not ever want anything to do with them, there is no healing of our relationship. I don’t want it. I am content and I don’t need anything from them.
Twice in the last 15 years by younger brother has made ‘peace overtures’ which always ended the same way-with him telling me yet again how evil I am. It seemed that my lack of hostility toward him and my refusal to join in his fantasy of a happy childhood was something he could not handle.
Strangely, and denial is extremely odd, he did phone we once in tears to profess his sorrow at leaving me to rot in the asylum and begging my forgiveness. That contact ended in him screaming abuse at me and once again reminding me of my evil soul.
Fortunately for me, I have snail mail and e-mail from him which does tell the truth of our childhoods and at times when I have been confused I have referred to them just to settle myself.
I have no need of such things now. I have no need of them. I don’t need them to corroborate anything. I don’t need to forgive them because I don’t hate them. I am free of them. How blessed am I? I only hope that they find what I have but I shall not know of it if they do.
At least not in this life.
Hi Colin,
Just a note to let you know the yarn arrived today. (can't believe it came that fast) I love it!!! Just exactly the right color and weight. I've rolled into a ball and will start my socks tonight. It was a gray, dreary, rainy day here today but the arrival of the yarn changed all that. I know, I'm nuts but yarn has that effect on me. Keep on dying, your stuff is gorgeous. I will send a picture of the socks when they're done.
Hello Colin,
The yarn arrived this morning, thank you. You are right - you are an artist.
Hello Colin,
Just had to write a quick note to let you know that I am delighted with Desert Storm.
The colours are wonderful!
Thanks again
dear Colin
I tell you, that yarn is super fantastic. It just arrived and its so soft and the colors are top of the world. You are really an artist. Thank you
very much and all the best to you...
Dear Colin
Your beautiful yarn arrived today, it really is lovely, they are screaming at me to knit them next into a Clapotis and another scarf.
I have felt really quite content recently. I know what fulfilled means now. I do get an awful lot of pleasure and satisfaction form hand painting the yarns. After all these years, I really do see that I am an artist. It’s just taken an awfully long time to come to the fore. I guess that now that I have dealt with and dumped the past, the me hidden under all the gunk is free. It is like I have been in a puss filled cocoon and have finally burst thru and spread my wings and flown. I feel so different form the me I use dot be that he really seems quite foreign to me now. Not that I disown him at all and I feel sad for the me that was, not shame. Being reborn has been excruciatingly painful, so much so I didn’t think I’d live, but not only did I live, I became new and fresh. Just as well I am a tenacious sod.
I found yesterday was extraordinarily exhausting. Someone keeps nicking my spoons before my day is done! I found swimming hard. By 7pm I was very sore and finding it hard to stay awake. So I went and dyed some more. I was in bed and asleep my eleven and slept through, no getting up for swimming as I knew I wouldn’t be able to. Just as well as when I did get up at 8.30 it was freezing fog outside and I hate driving in fog. Not because of the fog but because of the wankers who drive fast despite not being able to see.
I shall have a quiet knitting and dog washing day. Speaking of dogs, Luque has finally got the message and has stopped pestering Edna and whining.
I have a dog show on Friday, the first major Championship Show of the year. Yes, I did attend a Championship Show two weeks ago but it is a new one and only a few breeds can win CC’s there, Lhasa Apso not being one of them.
Don’t miss this amazing Video Clip . . first read it FULLY..
This video shows the winner of " Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War I I . Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $130,000.00
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.
She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.
In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.
Kseniya Simonova says:
" I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. There’s surely no bigger compliment."
Yesterday I tried my hand at pastels. My first attempt did not produce pastels. I learned from that that when I using full strength colours, I am using far too much dye! Explains the run off. My second attempt, using the same dyes produced me what I wanted. I can go paler too and know how to now. I like both hanks very much. Experimenting is fun.
I keep getting invitations to join Facebook so I finally did. I am not sure how comfortable I am with it. I found it very disturbing that they had a list of people I might know that included my two brothers. I panicked and tried to figure out how to get out of Facebook altogether. Then I didn’t and just thought oh well. I still am not sure about it at all and ,may well be deleting myself from it.
We may be going to see Sherlock Holmes shortly. Part was filmed in John’s building (many films are) and he knows Guy Ritchie having met and talked with him a few times.
Luque is being a real pain about Edna. She is no longer in season. She attacks him but it doesn't stop him being a right twat either by howling or trying to jump her. He hasn’t done this before so I don’t really know why he is behaving this way now.
I find I talk to the dogs a lot. Conversationally that is. I know they don’t understand a word but actually…yesterday I had forgotten to close the stair gate and Carly, Whitney, Bridget came upstairs and were rummaging my wool room. I was talking to myself/them. I said in a normal speaking voice’ what are you lot doing twatting about up here? You know my wool rooms are out of bounds.’ and they all looked at me and went back downstairs. If I had said ‘down’ I’d know that was why they went back down. I didn’t.
I was disappointed yesterday to not be able to go to Pannini’s for lunch. It p’d down all day.
I will blog more photograph’s of my yarns later. Oh and i started a group on Ravelry called KNITMAN’S KITCHEN where I will also showcase my yarns.
DESERT STORM IS SOLD
(all yarn add £1 for outside UK, PayPal payment to apso at tantra-apso dot com))
First off, Nechung seems fine. She was back to her normal self yesterday and scoffed her dinner.
The weather has warmed up so now we are dull and wet, wet, wet. Ick. I hate wet. We usually go into town on Saturday’s and have lunch at Panini’s. It is not accessible by car but is very much so in my electric chair. However, the chair and wet don’t go well together.
Luque is being a right pain. Edna is over the hill now, no way is she mate-able but he seems to not have noticed that. I am going to have let them be together so that he gets the message and stops fretting. Poor boy.
I have dogs to bath today and then will spend time hanking. When I have done that, I might dye some more….
LOUD AND PROUD IS SOLD.
ENVINA IS SOLD. GRAND CANYON IS SOLD.
EMAIL ME IF YOU WANT ONE OF THESE. FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS.
apso at tantra-apso dot com
We have had the official letter from the court saying the bankruptcy was officially dismissed. We ought to know by the month's end where we stand all told and then it will be over. Once we know this we can make plans.
We would both like to visit Barcelona. This will be a two week trip probably. We didn’t go last March because some idiot at an agency in Barcelona told us it was not accessible. Well, we met a man and woman last week who had been there and they told us it was VERYY accessible. The man was disabled.Really, don’t ask an able bodied person about such things because they probably haven’t a clue.
So Barcelona is back on our list of places to go. We shall have to go during a pregnancy, not after. This means we are likely to be going February or March.
Nechung seems to be fine again today. We’ll see if she eats tonight.
My swim went better tho it was still not easy. I think it will take a while before I accustom my body to it again. It’s amazing how almost a month off makes such a difference.
I am very pleased with the way my yarn is going. I am glad I listened to John and invested the money into buying what I needed to do this. I have already had more than one person after the same hanks. My only advice is that one needs to check regularly. I do my best to be fair. For instance, one asked for a hank last night but I have had no reply. Another asked for the same hank this morning. If the first doesn’t respond by this evening, I’ll to the second. Both wantees are here so no time delay.
I have learned more about colour mixing too so will be playing with pastels later. Actually colour mixing is a doddle and great fun but I wasn’t sure how to get pastels. It seems that is just as easy. We shall see.
It is cold and wet. Yuk.
I keep getting emails offering to enhance my tool. I don’t think these people understand their customer base at all. I don’t want my tool enhanced. What would I do with it? I am married 29 years almost, 51 and half crippled. Enhanced tools are not what I want. Unless they make knitting better…
You know I wrote a while ago about Nechung having cancer? She is rather slow today but most significantly, she did not dance about for her food and has left two thirds of it. She has never missed a meal except for when she was about to go into labour. Recently, and oddly, she has been behaving like a puppy again. Today she is very old. I am not rushing to a decision. I shall just wait and see what she is like over the next few days. I did say I would know when her time had come because she would stop eating. Maybe this is just a slight hiccup.
Installing Windows 7 32 bit went easily. No problems at all. It’s working as is everything I had on my pc already. I didn’t go to 64bit because I already know that my Design A Knit software won’t work under that. The one very noticeable difference is that the colours on my screen are much more real. My photographed stuff looks more as they do in real life.
You should have heard me getting up this morning. I sounded like a foul mouthed centenarian. I can't believe how much pain I have today. I didn’t go swimming, but knew last night I would not as I felt very tried upon retiring. It is freezing fog outside. I went to the supermarket last night and I actually walked around it to get my stuff instead of using a chair and only getting a few bits or having a member of staff help me if I needed more than that. I felt quite pleased with myself. I was getting weak by the time i had completed but at least I managed it. I am shocked at how sore I am today though and I think that and the swimming and the dog poo pick up might be the reason. Or it’s just the beginning of a flare. Never can tell and I don’t know why I look for reasons really. I know my body is f*cked and nothing I do or don’t do will make that much difference!
I am delighted with how well my yarns have been selling. I can’t tell you how much I am enjoying doing this.
Many years ago, I read that Richard Adams who wrote Watership Down, did not discover his talent for writing until he had undergone psychotherapy. Years ago, about 28, I knew a lovely young woman (so was I, young that is) named Jane who always went on about how arty I was. I did not understand why. I knew nothing about art, was into clothing, did not draw, paint or anything remotely arty.
Now I am an artist. A fibre artist. I know that. And like Mr Adams, this came out of me once I had got my shit dealt with. I wonder how she knew it all those years ago?
Although I try not to, I wonder what I might have become had my interest in art and craft not been quashed when I was young and I had not been bullied by an immature father who could only see one way for a male to be. Now in my 50’s, I am an artist and I love it and I am more a man than he ever was.
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LOLLIPOP IS SOLD. DEEP FOREST IS SOLD. COAST IS SOLD.
I went swimming this morning. I really felt every stroke! The last time I went was Dec 18th. I ache all over but am glad I went and it will not be long before my body gets used to it again. I really get so much benefit from swimming. Not just that it keeps my weight in check but it goes a long way to keeping my body mobile.
I have been watching WEEDS. I really enjoy this. I am on the 5th series. It is quite shocking and not for the feint hearted. It is also very funny. It clearly shows too how we can truly f*ck our lives up by the choices we make. Far from glorifying drugs and criminality, it makes it clear how one’s life just goes form bad to worse once one starts on that slippery slope. Excellent show and Mary Louise Parker is not only a very good actress but a very pretty woman too. Elizabeth Perkins is also excellent. I hate to admit it, but that Mayor/Crime Lord man that got Nancy preggers is very attractive.
The house is a little active right now. Edna is in the middle of her first season and has reached the ripe stage. So we have lesbian orgies going on in the kitchen and poor Luque sitting outside, staring thru the gate, whining and wishing he could be on the other side. I have to say though that he is very good and hardly makes a fuss, just longing stares. He really needs a hair cut and will get it today. I have put it off as it has been so cold but we have central heating so he will be okay.
As you can see above, I did some more dyeing.
The other four hanks have been sold, just this one left now, although of course more will be blogged tomorrow or maybe the day after. Please add £1GBP for pp outside UK. I sell to the first emailer who follows thru to pay. My email is apso at tantra-apso dot com
