Books and yarn proved to be good therapy to help with getting through this week, which seemed stressful, chaotic, and much longer than necessary. But on Friday I received a notification that a relatively uncomplicated expense report I had submitted on behalf of a third party had made it all the way through the approval process. (And there was much rejoicing.)
I’m still trying to find a place where I can play the saxophone and not drive my poor dog out of his mind. For now, I’m keeping the unrepaired alto and some sheet music in the TV room, where I can keep the dog company while I silently practice fingerings. He is very happy with this arrangement. I am not fully appeased.
I acquired no new typewriters this week, but I’ve been watching some videos about cleaning them up. When I do start to adjust and shine the two computers I have promised to co-workers, I’ll document the process and share it with you. (Or should that content be in another blog, one dedicated to typewriters?)
Recently I hit some milestones with regard to the Impossible Read. I blazed through A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court in less than a week, checked out the DVD of the 1949 musical film version (with Bing Crosby!) from the university library, and asked my local bookstore to find for me a copy of Lev Grossman’s 2024 epic The Bright Sword. After I watch the movie and finish the 688-page Grossman book, that will about wrap it up for King Arthur.
At that point in the Big Plan there has been some reshuffling of the order of books. After the King Arthur tales, the next book I will read is the 2004 retelling of Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell in modern English. It runs 200 pages with almost another 100 pages of textual notes. Following that will be a translation of the Mahabharata by William Buck (1973), followed by the first of a twelve-volume set of the Mahabharata printed in Calcutta (the publication date is unknown but the volumes are ancient-looking), so I can get a sense of the translated but relatively unedited prose. Of course, if I fall in love with the prose and absolutely must read the other eleven volumes, they are sitting right there on the shelves of the university library and I’m sure they would love to be checked out. It might be the first time; I can ask the librarians for the circulation record for the title. I feel sorry for the books that never get checked out.
Connecticut Yankee was a pleasure to read and, as its afterword pointed out, a book that satirized almost everything that it possibly could. It’s also counted as one of the first time-travel stories — if not the first of its kind. It was helpful to have read the more standard King Arthur books first; again, the author cites Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Since I now have two copies of it, I can read it on the next lap.
Knitwise, I have been making pretty steady progress on the scarf KAL — an average of ten rows a day, until I got to the weekend and poured on the steam. The scarf is constructed in two halves knit from the center outwards, and I’m more than halfway through with the first half, in terms of length.
There were a couple of spots where I had to go backwards for a couple of rows after spotting mistakes that I had made. Errors in the knitting of this pattern are extremely visible! But that means they are also easy to fix if you have your head on straight.
I’m now able to pick up the work and do the correct knitting without referring to the written pattern. Huzzah!
I had another issue pop up in which the yarn tangled itself, but that was also easy to undo.
At this point I know how many rows I should be able to make in the main stitch pattern before I switch to the edging pattern for this half of the scarf. Then I’ll pick up stitches in the cast-on row of this half, and knit the second half in the opposite direction. If that doesn’t make sense, just hang on and wait for the photos-to-come.
Finally, I must give a public thank-you to Eldest, for providing moral and technical support while I finally decided to figure out what was making my Mac so slow. I have been putting off an investigation for months. While we still don’t know what had it moving at a crawl, it’s running along now as quickly as I’m able to type.
Chocolate Sheep 