Imaginal Casements

Quiet day in. Cleaned apartment and finally remembered to change bag in vacuum cleaner (involving the usual panic of trying to remember how to change bag in vacuum cleaner). Weather continues beautiful. The weather forecast says it's getting cooler tomorrow and for the coming week, which is a good thing, as I hate to think what July is going to be like if May stays at this temperature.

Need to remember to put the gache (Guernsey fruit loaf thing which my aunt brought over for me) in the freezer. Need to remember to slice it first, otherwise one ends up with frozen lump and having to defrost the whole thing in one go.

Here are pictures of some of the knitting that I've been doing recently, for the local neonatal unit:

Baby blanket in Wendy Velvet Flake.
Baby hat in Knitcol Trends (conveniently self-striping).
Baby blanket in Twister Chunky (ran out of the colour in the far corner, had to finish in a different shading).
Baby hat and jacket in Wendy Peter Pan. (I find white boring. And I bet everyone else makes white stuff to donate. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)

Still managing to continue the Bleach / Phoenix Wright crossover on 31_days. Let's see if I can make it through the month.

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Sea Calm

How still,
How strangely still
The water is today,
It is not good
For water
To be so still that way.

-- Langston Hughes

Title: one born every minute
Requester: archangelbeth
Series: Avatar + Knitting
Requested Topic: Avatar + Knitting!
Due to http://incandescens.livejournal.com/622248.html

"There are various forms of Woolbenders," Iroh said. "The Knitters of the north require two tools, while the Crocheters of the south use only one. You yourself have the soul of a Knitter, Zuko."

Zuko looked at his two blades approvingly.

"First the Knit," his uncle instructed. "Then the Purl. Together, in alternation, they build to form a single piece of work, intertwined one with another as the wool bends."

Zuko frowned. A tiny little suspicion was dawning. "Uncle, you are serious about this?"

"Of course I am," Iroh said soothingly. "Now keep on working on that scarf for me."

Okay, since I've actually finished all three of these, and I'm not planning to do any more baby knitwear for the moment (translation: until I run across a pattern or yarn I can't resist), here are some photos of knitting that I did for a friend's baby. (The same one who I did the earlier bonnet and jacket for.)

Hat: view one and view two. (Done with some Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran, which is quality yarn, and which I was lucky enough to pick up a ball of cheap.)

Matinee coat: view one and view two. (Unfortunately I didn't get the two front sides quite matching on the upper torso area. But I couldn't bring myself to rip one of them up and do it again. Next time I will measure better.)

Baby kimono jacket: view one and view two. (Quite pleased with this one.)

Otherwise: ears are improving, am on antibiotics and eardrops for another five days and coming back in a week's time for possible syringing, depending on how they look. While still not fully back in perfect order, they're definitely improved on a couple of days ago.

---

Sonnet: Love Is Not All

Love is not all: It is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain,
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again.
Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by need and moaning for release
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It may well be. I do not think I would.

-- Edna St. Vincent Millay