Maundy Thursday

I'm really terrible about writing a marketable blog post, paying careful attention to titles and tags and photos and first lines -- but if you've read more than two posts of mine, you knew that already.

One test knit is completed and mailed off; the second ought to get finished tonight, blocked tomorrow, dried on Saturday, and mailed off on Monday. On Tuesday, I'm going to need some traveling knitting, and I am dithering about what I ought to start.  The Counterpane is a great standby project -- but white cotton on a cone is not an ideal traveling companion.  If I keep dithering, though, maybe that's what I'll end up with. Socks are a possibility, but I don't have enough of any one color in my stash to make a hard-wearing pair (and that counts using a contrasting color for tops, toes, and heels.  Tune in two weeks from now to find out what I ended up with.

Since it's verboten to publish pictures of test knits ahead of their time, here's a photo of "Minnesota Morning Sunshine on Hard Water Deposits from Tea Kettle."

Minnesota Morning Sunshine on Hard Water Deposits from Tea Kettle

I'm pleased to say I'm doing a MUCH better job using my tea in a timely fashion than I used to do.  This morning I used up the last of the black tea in the house, leaving me with my Sunday Puer Mini-Tuo Cha, a few tablespoons of a herbal blend, and a jar or two of mint leaves from last summer.  Well, not the LAST of the black tea in the house ... but the last of the black tea that had been in the house the previous morning.  I visited our local tea shop yesterday and came home with a nice stash.

Spring does seem to be happening outside.  We had a delightful lot of snow just after my last blog post, but the sidewalks are already clear (even the ones we didn't shovel) and the remaining snow piles are merrily melting. My tomatoes are putting out their first sets of true leaves, and all my peppers except for 6 California Wonders and one Jalapeno are up.  I hope they survive my travels.

Vanity Fair ended much sooner than I thought it did.  I think that means the book was much more coherent the second time through, and I could follow who was who, and doing what where.  I cast about for another audiobook (being in the midst of test knits) and thought that perhaps I could use Thackeray as my 'read 3 books by the same author' author.  After a VERY slow start (which I will probably find not so slow if ever I listen to the book again), I am now enjoying The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne.  And after that shall come The Virginians.  For my paper book reading, I WAS working on Timothy Keller's book on prayer. Upon reaching the chapter where he looks at what Augustine, Luther, and Calvin said on prayer, I quickly detoured myself to  read Letter 130, "the only writing wholly devoted to the subject of prayer which he (Augustine) produced."  The sentences are not easy, but the words are ... and I'm thinking how fun it would be to work through the letter in Latin.  I do great with bunny trails.

My new harp has developed an annoying buzz from the sharping lever on the E above middle C, and the little wrench I have to tighten the screw simply does not get enough purchase on the offending loose screw to fix it.  Happily, most songs don't call for lever changes from E-flat to E, or E to E-sharp in the middle of a song, so I simply tune the string as needed.  That fixes the buzz, but it doesn't fix the... woof?  twang?  bark? of the adjacent F which is more pronounced with the sharping lever on.  A trip back to the maker may be in order one of these days.

A test knit calls.  Until April!