Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I start today with what can only be termed a Jo Watson Moment. (Is that her name? Watson?)

The difficulties of Games Weekend in recent years have been greatly relieved by booking a lot of self-catering space in the old Kirkmichael Hotel. I think you can see, towards the left of the first floor of the hotel in that link, a bay window. The room behind used to be the lounge of the hotel. I remember my mother sitting in that window, waiting for us to come walking over the bridge to join her in the morning.

It’s now part of an apartment that sleeps six. At least since ’07 we have had it (plus other, smaller flats) for Games weekend, and, indeed, consider it “ours”. Last year, I booked it for this year (plus other flats) in late August.

Yesterday I began to wonder why I hadn’t yet heard from Angie about paying. I wrote – thank goodness. Sometimes it’s worth being neurotic. I’ve just had a note from her saying she has no booking for us.

I’ve copied for her the whole correspondence from last August, with comforting phrases such as “I shall put your booking in my diary” and concluding with her own “consider it done”. I anxiously await events.

It’s no use being in the right if people have nowhere to sleep.

On the knitting front, at least, things are going well. Changing horses in mid-stream was the right thing to do, and I continue to enjoy my little Portuguese jacket. At the moment, the short rows at the neck edge are on a six-row cycle, those forming the cuff on a four-row one. It’s all rather exciting but I seem to be keeping my head above water.

And maybe learning things about short-rowing that might let me return to the swing-jacket issue and design one for myself.

The Portuguese apparently don’t wrap a stitch when they turn in mid-row. At first I did it their way, but then decided that wrapping was neater. An eagle-eyed judge will see the difference, but I’m not here for the glory. I leave that to my six pea pods. The jacket is just to swell the number of entries, and, with luck, keep some wee soul cosy for a while.

I had a good time with my MP3 player yesterday, although the rush hour traffic swirling around Drummond Place makes listening more difficult than it was on my first such attempt on Sunday. I am going to pursue the advice Mary Lou and Donna gave the other day, about getting some fancy earplugs. Yesterday I listened to a women’s program – still lots of rapid-fire talk, but less laughter, and I think I did a better job of getting the general drift of what they were talking about. On we go. There’s no hurry.

4 comments:

  1. Jean, you made me laugh with your Jo Watson comment! I think 'doing a Jo Watson' will now become code in the knitting world for last minute panic and disorganisation. "Sorry I've not finished your Christmas Scarf in time, I've been such a Jo Watson this year!"
    I was at Stirling for the Saturday only and had a lovely day, despite all the things we were promised not coming to fruition. If I had laid out a lot of money on classes that were cancelled or re-arranged it would have been a different story though.

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  2. Anonymous4:06 PM

    I continue to be amazed at the cruelty of much that has been said on line and in open forums about Jo Watson, often based on unfounded gossip. I went to Knit Camp and had a wonderful time. Yes, there were glitches but, in the end, they were less important than the success stories. She, possibly naively, took on a huge task and perhaps did not always take the best decisions but she saw it through. Knitting in the UK is the better for Knit Camp. It's time to leave her alone.
    Ally

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  3. Anonymous6:31 PM

    I have inexpensive skull candy brand earphones, and they completely block out external sound. Perhaps they are available in your area?

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  4. Anonymous8:09 PM

    Perhaps people will 'leave Jo alone' when she has refunded all the money that people have lost because of her. Also, to publicly berate a teacher on Ravelry who has just been denied entry to Scotland (because of an oversight by Jo)and then say that she is going to relax as she is very tired,is not the way to behave.
    Jane-Beth

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