There’s a lot of loose ends to tie up. Well, not exactly, but my mind is all scattered in the past few days. I’ll tell you all about it, but let’s get the knitting out of the way first, shall we?
Me and bags…
I stole some yarn from Jaishree to make this bag. It’s now living with its owner in Australia happily, so I can blog about it now.
In the usual fashion:
Yarn: Common-or-garden acrylic, pinched from Jaishree’s stash. The recipient said she liked blue and this was what I found. I used two strands held together. I’m happy to report that despite being acrylic, the yarn shows off the cables quite nicely. Perhaps the tight gauge helped. This is light-worsted weight, the usual size.
Needles: 4mm, 6mm and 6.5mm
Pattern: The Lambe bag from Berroco. This came in a newsletter with four cabled bag patterns and I had in fact queued one of them when I read in the Rav RAK group that someone wanted this one, so it sounded ideal. The other one’s still on my queue, but will probably be made later. My project page on Rav is here.
Time: This took a while to make, because after starting it and finishing a repeat or so I realised that I’d miscrossed a cable, and had to rip. That kind of put me off a bit, but this was the only knitting project I took with me to Hyderabad, to ensure I would finish it. And I did.
Size: 9″ x 13″ across at the widest point, going down to 11″ across at the top.
Extra #1 I was glad to have the bamboo handles, which were almost identical to the ones the pattern called for. I bought them right here in Cochin.
#2 I like cables and bags. What can I say?
#3 I didn’t line this bag, because I felt the fabric was dense enough…Should I have?
#4 I had yarn left over and couldn’t resist the temptation to begin another pattern on my queue. I cast on almost immediately I got back and even finished part of it, and then found myself wondering if I had enough yarn. So of course I demanded that Jaishree send me more, which she has, the poor thing. So keep your eyes peeled for yet another blue thing in the future, ok? I know you can’t wait.
………………
Other stuff. Warning: will be hodge-podge-y
- There’s this new job I’m doing (job? contract? assignment? whatever) and I have a couple of files to attend to.
- Yesterday we had two separate meals out at the hospital, one a traditional Onasadya (Onam meal) for lunch served on a banana leaf, and the other a dinner in the evening to dine one of the doctors out. I got told off after the first one by the male in-law for waving my hands about when I talk. It isn’t ladylike, apparently. Not if I’m dressed in a sari. I wonder if I have a banner on my head that says, “Yes, I’m 34 years old, but I need to be told how to behave.” In a suitably tasteful font, of course. Needless to say, I tried to be very demure at dinner and did not go over to talk to the men which I normally do. Mustn’t blot my escutcheon further.
- We are hoping to go to the UK/Ireland/Italy in a few weeks time, and now that The Man has been given approval from his headquarters, the visa process has begun. Last year I thought getting a visa to one country was bad enough. I don’t know what made me think trying for 3 at a time would be any better! If they had all been within the Schengen zone, it would have been nice, but alas, no! All three countries have minds of their own, so we need a UK visa, an Irish one and a Schengen one from Italy. Just the UK form has 21 pages.
Of course, a lot of it we don’t have to fill, because it’s full of sections for all categories of visitors, but the bulk is still intimidating. Also, finding answers to questions like “How much money will you need for your accommodation and food while visiting the UK?”, “Have you ever done anything which might make you not a person of good character? If yes, please give details.” is quite exhausting (I wonder if waving my hands about would qualify). And so much of it is plain terrifying. The Italy visa requires a long list of “mandatory documents” including a confirmed air ticket…what if we don’t get one? Then we’d have to add the visa fees to the cancellation charges as lost money.
- Bright spot? I posted for advice on the Rav forums and found a great new friend who’s promised to put us up in Rome. Best of all, she has 3 cats!!! No wonder she’s so kind as to offer a bed to almost-total strangers.
- Italy sounds more and more like India every time I go to a different website or source of information. The potholes, the pickpockets, the 60-day train bookings, the refusal to accept credit cards…But the men should be handsomer, no? 😉 And I always have been drawn to Rome and Egypt…Perhaps Rome because my parents and sister went there as part of their farewell tour (actually they were relocating from Canada for good and decided to cover Europe on the way back, touching London, Rome, Venice, Paris, Amsterdam, Belgrade and Egypt in 1972). Anyway, they had a photo-rich book on Rome I still have memories of.
- Another India-like feature? The Consulate site tells me the VFS (Visa Facilitation Service) has a centre in Cochin, but the VFS-Italy site says there isn’t. This sort of confusion feels so Indian! I’ve sent a mail asking for information. I’m hoping not to have to travel to Chennai or Mumbai for the visa, sigh. Anyway, we need to get the visas in order, so nothing to be done until the other two come through.
- Looking once again for help/advice on accommodation in London. And do any of my mostly silent readers live in any of these places and could we meet? It would be so much fun! This would be in late October, early November. Last time I didn’t actually get to go to a knit/crochet meetup. Or a real yarn store. Though I’m thinking that would be too tempting/depressing/dangerous for my credit card. So, anyone out there in London/Manchester/Belfast/Dublin/Rome/Venice-or-Florence?
- Another example of the unexpected kindness of people: I saw someone queuing or faving the Ten Stitch Blanket (Ravelry link) on Rav and discovered the UK’s Knitting and Crochet Guild were selling copies of the past issue of Slipknot which had the pattern. I wrote to them to enquire whether they’d send a copy to India and the lady was sweet enough to send me a copy free! Gives you a nice warm feeling inside. The pattern itself is written in Elizabeth Zimmermann’s chatty style, not the row-by-row detailed style.
Thanks for listening! My mind is flitting from one topic to another these days, and the table at which I work is in a royal mess. Which is reflecting the other I am not sure, but the likeness is astounding.
Don’t mind me, I’m just a sloth.
14 comments
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September 8, 2008 at 4:05 am
mazhalai
Pretty purse
and happy Onam to you too.
and have fun on your travels 🙂
M
September 8, 2008 at 10:44 am
heideho
All of the blue items are beautiful. Everyone in our family gesticulates while talking. If our hands were to be tied behind our backs we’d sit mutely and stare at one another… at least for awhile. The travels sounds lovely. I hope to be in a position to take my daughters abroad in the next decade. Your creative spot looks bright and happy.
September 8, 2008 at 11:02 am
Andrea (noricum)
Lovely bag! I like your rocking chair too. 🙂
I guess I would be completely unladylike by that guy’s standards… I really wave my hands when I talk. (So much so that my advisor would state that he needs “nouns and verbs” to go along with the hand gestures. 😉 )
Thanks for pointing out the blanket… neat! 🙂
September 8, 2008 at 11:39 am
ramblingroses
Me too, me too with the hand-waving. No one seems to mind though and everyone has accepted it as a Preeti-quirk!!! Enjoy your travels and Happy Onam to you too – my hubby is Mallu (never lived in Kerala though) and so we always get together with a few displaced Mallu’s like himself and do the fun Onam stuff – dressing up in traditional garb, sitting on the floor trying to eat various “delicacies” off the banana leaf!!! Hillarious!!!
September 8, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Srividya
Hi. That bag is so pretty. I know basic knitting but couldnt never get this far with any pattern. My mom is good knitter though. As regards your travels I heard Uk has lovely yarn stores. Did you google for any stores.If you are going to bring yarn for people count me in.:)
September 8, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Cindy/Snid
That bag is fantastic! Congrats!
I had to laugh at all of the Visa stuff. God help me if I ever have to deal with such things. I really, really hate paperwork and forms with a passion. I am always too tempted to put snarky sarcastic comments in reply to what I consider stupid questions. Yikes. Sounds like a fun trip though!
September 8, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Lorena
That bag looks really great! I would not have guessed that it was acrylic; the cables are really standing up and shouting hello! But what I really like… is your rocking chair. It just looks so comfy, and like it’s been around and has some stories (which it would undoubtedly tell while gesticulating madly, if it could).
September 8, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Lucy
Your crafty corner does look so very cozy tho…and well-use! Love the bag!
September 8, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Alhana
Good luck with all the paperwork for your Visa, sounds very tiring! And that photo of you on the rocking chair -I saw it before at Ravelry forums- is the best photo-while-knitting ever! So comfy, I envy you 😀
September 10, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Yasmin
Nice bag ! And yes the visa mess is usually so frustrating and some of the questions are really funny..lol!
Hey I love the idea of a bangle stand for holding yarn and thread…cool! I must look for mine ( I still have to unpack a few cartons ) and put it to good use.
September 11, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Teresa
That bag is beautiful. Wonderful colors. The recipient must be so pleased.
Teresa
September 17, 2008 at 9:53 am
Smellyann
I am loving that bag! The color is beautiful, but the cables! Very nice work.
I’m envious of your upcoming travels. Such interesting notes. I like the place where you sit and work, too. It’s far more organized-looking than mine! 😀
December 16, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Laura
oh so nice!!! i have been looking for inspiration for such a bag, since i had bought some beatiful wooden handles i had no use for.
Now i feel really like starting to knit!!! congratulations!
June 1, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Two bags full « Where is she now?
[…] Generic acrylic, the same that I swiped from Jaishree and made the Lambe bag with. I don’t know about wearables, but it’s good for bags, especially when held two […]