Originally published January 30, 2006 For those not born within the sound of the bells of St. Mary – le – Bow, the complete phrase is: “Me old china plate – me mate.” It’s a Cockney phrase. When you refer to someone as “Your old china..” you are actually calling them your mate or friend […]
When I started out in the knitting business or this business of knitting, there was a small mail order yarn store in Quebec called La Folie de Laine. I once asked the owner what the name of her business was in English – not a great question since we should be a totally bilingual country
Originally published January 24, 2006 We are starting to see the signs of Spring. 1. In January the raccoons come out of hibernation. Some believe they never really go into hibernation, but the naturalists who write their columns, swear that there is a month or so when they are not knocking over our garbage cans,
Originally published January 22, 2006 January 25 is Robbie Burns (1759-1793) Day. It will be the 247 celebration of his birthday! This is the day we serve Haggis – or a more palatable substitute (read sausage and mash with neeps – turnip.) We read: To A Mouse, To A Louse (has nothing to do with
Originally published January 20 2006 My daughter went camping last weekend. It was the 20th of a somewhat mild January but still the forcast was for -5 degrees C. She slept outside – under canvas with snow in the forecast. There are other ways to wait for Spring, then knitting. One could, simply, wear the
Originally published January 18, 2006 Dylan Thomas is one of my favourite poets. He is another icon of male decadence, also Welsh – hmmm, must be something in the water – “shaken not stirred.” If I were to pick a knitting pattern that exemplifies this creative “force” – call it Spring in the seasons, call
Originally published January 17, 2006 I know that the title of the film is Tea and Sympathy. It is one of the few films that I have seen. I have a weakness for films about schools. “Goodbye Mr. Chips” is one of my favourites. Actually one of my regrets in life (along with never having
Originally published January 17, 2006 I just visited Wikipedia to-day. I know I should have done it ages ago and in deed I have been meaning to ever since I read about it in a business article. The article was actually a comparison between Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia. For those of you who aren’t familiar
Originally published January 16, 2006 There are things that those who live in the North do to make believe that Spring is just a snow drift away. We plant Spring flowers – indoors, of course. We plant paperwhites in January. We marvel at the speed at which their roots appear and their green shoots sprout.
Originally published January 14, 2006 Robyn Gallimore of Red Bird Knits sent me an e-mail with this picture. It is one of her sock of the month patterns – Scarborough Fair – with the comment, “Since you like fold(folk) songs, here’s one for you!” I replied, saying that she had been knitting and spinning too
