Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.
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| Like The Queen Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content. |
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1 Comments:
What I like about the BW books is the surprise factor. It's so much fun to see how the stitches look when they're converted to real yarn and in color! Especially the lace. Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Wednesday, July 11, 2007 The electronics gods obviously have something different in mind for me than ordinary EZ Livin'. Dial up, which we all know sucks big time, is even more wretchedly slow this morning than ordinarily so. It’s been Happily, we heard on Monday’s visit "YES. You can sail and swim now" so guess what happened Tuesday afternoon. Yep. A crasher of monumental electrical force. Blown up out of who knows where, right when BD got off shore. Power outages, trees down and half an inch of rain. Even the 100% failure of the library’s itnernet connection. Let us hope the router suffered Death by Weather and the insurance will buy us a new one. At least the internal network is doing just fine - so real library activity can continue. We were in the dusk for about 90 minutes, smack during the Pirate Stories and Crafts hour - and just before it ended the power came back on. "Turn the lights off!" was the cry from the 14 or so brave souls who sloshed through the rain to make paper pirate ships (albeit, with some sporting pink glitter hearts) And the upshot of all the storm and dang is that I will now beg my network priests to see if we can streamline the setup a bit. We have a wireless modem plugged into a switch that goes into the router that goes into another switch. All of them are on a rack OrganizedByGuys - which means I have to stand on a kick-stool to get at them and all of them face the wall, so plugging in and plugging out must be done blind. Every network outlet in the building is hot - even though we have only 6 public access and 5 staff computers. We only need 11 wires coming out of the switch into pipe in the wall. Instead we have a medusa of snaky wires that turns my heart to stone every time I have to go work on things. I am the front line operator - I can do minimal things like powering down and booting up different components. I can even fake it with the jargon when I’m talking to the uninitiated. But if the system really needs to work, I have to get in my subcontractor electronic network guru priests. And anybody who’s ever tried to get a plumber can multiply that by 1K and understand what it’s like for a tee-tiny little library to function in the digital age. And it is also testimony to how really good these computer networks are - because we don’t go down that often, nor do we stay down long. It’s just that - when we are down, we’re really down. Patron visits plummet, circulation tanks, and our ability to impress people with our lightening like answers to their complex questions slows down to a page turning crawl. Ahh the digital age. Instant answers to your slightest query. Now you can Know - Instantly. Except when the power goes out. Reminds me of how glad I am that in April I bought the book version of the Encyclopedia Americana as well as the on-line subscription. So. Knitting Blog? Uhhhh yeah. Hmm. What’s knew? Oh. Yes. I succumbed. I bought the Vogue Knitting book of Knit and Purl stitches. I know, I know. I own 3 of the Barbara Walkers and the library has all 4 of them. Really, what is it? 2,000 stitches in the BW’s? . And I hear the Harmony guides to stitches are being reissued within the next 6 months. Paper back editions, under $20. Still and all, I have been wanting more, and different, knit and purl stitches. Or maybe I’ve just wanted prettier photographs. I’ve been having the most creative thoughts about sock designs that are both interesting and beautiful, with stitch patterns that can be memorized quickly so the knitter doesn’t have to carry the pattern around with her. I know there are plenty of such stitch patterns in the BW’s, but sometimes, as I flip through the pages, those dingy grey photographs leave my heart flat. I can wrestle with my intellect, read the instructions, analyze the stitch sequences and figure out if something would work in a sock, but if my emotions don’t kick in, I don’t really trust my brain. Or if I do, I’ll still be missing that "good feeling" that true E’s live, and judge by. I just won’t enjoy the deciding or the doing as much, and for goodness sake, when it comes to knitting, or life in general, for that matter, why not go for maximum enjoyment? I am sure that one reason I like the Nicki Epstein books so much is that her photographs are so clear, so precise, so big - and in color. I could wish that both she and the Vogue editors had put charts in along with their written instructions, but they leave lots of white space around their designs. I can always draw in my own chart. And so, even though the tomb cost almost $30 and even though I could have ordered it on-line for less, when I was in the city last week I plunked down the $ and walked out smiling. I knew it was going to be a tough weekend. A little pre-house-emptying gift is a good thing. I’m still smiling over my purchase and I shared it with the Tuesday Night knitters last night. They all agree - it’s a fine addition, even if there are some overlaps. And it was obvious that it was the beautiful visual presentation that was giving them all that pleasure, not the wide variety of content. So. If one can’t judge a book by its cover, (Though I sometimes disagree) for sure one can judge a stitch book by it’s pictures. Even if I were to never knit any of those stitches, the book has fulfilled its mission by giving me delicious visual pleasure, stimulating my imagination and providing me with inspiration to share with friends. Not bad for $30, hmmm? With my internet issues, (Hotmail won’t load, Blogger won’t let me post comments, high speed internet down at the library.... )I’m pretty much unable to make personal contact with my dear friends, but know I’m thinking of you often. posted by Bess | 7:20 AM |
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