Historical fiction and fact

I finally read Wolf Hall.  Great book.

It is very, very difficult to write historical fiction without making the central character sympathetic, I say  difficult not impossible, Cecelia Holland can do it.  Mantel makes a ruthless Cromwell sympathetic by writing how he thought about his actions, he doesn't justify himself,

The next book Bringing Up the Bodies promises to be even better. Wolf Hall ends with Anne Boleyn at the height of her power. My views on this period were shaped by the historical fiction Brief Gaudy Hour and Norah Lofts  I think I read everything Lofts ever wrote, both of these books view Anne as the victim of Henry.  He saw her, wanted her, got her, got bored and killed her and she was a "good girl".  Reality is harder to find,  she certainly wasn't a pure virgin trapped by circumstances. 

Another view from a minor character at Henry's court, a court painter, is Anne and her family as dissolute, dissipated and ambitious, which seems closer to the truth as researched and written by Alison Weir.  Henry did get bored and he did want  a son but Anne fell largely due to political manoeuvring by Cromwell and all her other enemies.  But if he had not gotten her executed, she might well have gotten him executed. Mantel will have fun with that.

A very long mistake

I thought about this, I thought long and hard.  Carefully chosen colours, lovely yarn, an interesting and creative idea, a method I have used many times.  I checked along the way to make sure it was working out as planned.  I even carefully weighted it when I had done 3 rows of blocks to get an average weight per row, so I could tell if I had enough yarn.  I have enough yarn, what I don't have is the ability to notice the most obvious thing.

 

The red, brown and orange sweater underneath  is a good length, the bottom is mid thigh on me.  The back of the neck is lined up, The bottom of the fushia, pink and blue sweater is a long, long way down.  The picture in my mind has it just below the knee, so much for my mind.

An ankle length sweater has a certain elegance but this is going to stretch, and stretch and stretch more, I know it will.

It was knit on interchangeable needles, my beloved knitter's pride set using very long cords.  The cords are still in the piece and they keep it from being as long as it could be.

One of the reasons I love interchangeable needles and long cords is how easy it can be to try on unfinished things,  why didn't I try it on?

It got spread out, it's picture was taken to show how nicely the back of the neck and the bottom hem were developing.  Somehow, while measuring to get the back of the neck the right width, which happened, the whole at least 6 foot length of it got ignored.

But the creative idea worked out well,  interchangeable needles got interchanged every 6 units making the entrelac modules bigger towards the bottom.  There is at least a 2 inch difference from the back of the neck on the bottom of the picture to  the 7 units on the hem line.  It's is a shame that the hem line would drag in the mud.

And I presume to teach. 

Yes, a course called Explicating Entrelac at at Colour Conspiracy   

Come if you dare.

I can't decide if i should rip it out now or save it for the class as a horrible example.

Worlds' best social Site

It's not just me that thinks Raverly is world's best, here are some hotlinks about it.  I am doing an informal presentation tomorrow to my guild. 
 

Reverlry

The opposite of unravel, to make with fibre.

Everybody should try it, 

well everybody who has sheep, alpacas, everybody who spins, dye or weaves,  everybody who knits, crochets, tats, everyone who is interested in textile history.

Better than Facebook

we fibre artists are a polite bunch

 

one great site about another Wikipedia which is also largely created by it's users

Flood abot rav

Famous knitters lurk on it, and a writers of good murders mysteries, like Pat Macintosh.

 

One for quilters nowhere near as good, there is nothing else like it.

Be afraid, be very afraid, it is addictive and cuts into knitting time.

While I am putting up good sites, the Alberta Weavers, Spinners and Dyers conference is in May and some of the details are, not many,  on the site.  If enough people are interested and register I will be teaching a course about entrelac, a very handy method of knitting for handspinners.

Olds Fibre Week

I am teaching at Olds Fibre Week again this year.  Three classes if enough people sign up, Humble Hook a beginners crochet class,  Interesting Beginnings, Useful Endings, Excellent Edges and Joyful Joins about different ways to cast on and off and edge your work, it's amazing how many different ways there are.

 Mitts inside,  the thrums are pure alpaca, I am worried that they will be to warm.

Right side out, much smaller.

Books, books and more books

My favourite Calgary book store Fair's Fair has just got in a huge pile of knitting books.  After I got some of what I wanted and more than I really should, this pile is still waiting for new and loving owners.

And 3 or 4 shelves full.  they all came from one owner who had to down size.


 These books are in excellent condition and reasonably priced.  if you go and buy something, Please mention that you read about on my blog.  I don't get a commission, sigh, I wish, but I would like them to know that their excellent service to me over the years pays off.

Ladies in Blue

Even grownups, grandmotherlys type all, love to play in water and play with colour.   The Calgary Guild of mudpie makers got together for a dye day.  It's more fun than mudpies.

The blue gloves are specially for dyeing, they are quite heat resistant.  I've fished a skein out of boiling water,  very, very quickly.

The blue fibre is mine, and the lady sharing the table was dyeing sock yarn.  She got a lovely grey pink.

Purple dye over blue, using the pour and puddle method.

Not bad results, thanks to Ruth B. expert help.

Thursday morning at my guild

 I am a member of a great group the Heritage Weavers and Spinners of Calgary despite the fact that I don't weave, I do spin and dye, as well as knit.  I am also a very, very lucky spinner.

This morning I was the only spinner and a good thing too, at our informal thursday drop in.  A woman donated  6 huge bags of fibre to the guild.

Here it is on the table and the bookcases, I helped carry it in and unpack it.

The Guild has a tradition of members dropping off stuff they won't use, it gets sold to any member who wants it, on an honor system, somewhere in that picture is a battered can with a coin slot in the top.

Being the only spinner and the unpacker I got first dibs.  This is what I hauled home and my vehicle of choice.

I put in a fair donation though not what it's worth retail,  some of it I might end up giving back, some of it I will share with other spinners,  some of it will be it my stash when I die, I have stash beyond life expectance. And I intend to live a long time.


This RED and the picture doesn't do the redness justice must be about 10 lbs, I don't have a scale that works for that much.  It's going to thrums for mittens. Well, not all of it.

This is 5 lbs 10 ozs of Romney.  The donor left just about everything in the original bags which is good idea, it's much easier to use something when you know what it is.

Lastly this is alpacha.

I feel a bit guilty about this, other guild members urged me to take what I wanted and pay what I could,  and there is still a lot there, though more suitable for felting than spinning.

There are a lot of advantages to guild membership, being part of group of people who understand and the occasional lucky day.