Dear Ann:
In the aftermath of holiday and post-holiday feasting, I’m dragging a bit. After more than a year on and nearly-on the Whole30 (google it, I’m not testifying here–OK, I’m testifying: hallelujah, it’s fantastic), my weekend in the kingdom of carbohydrates has left me feeling downright hung over. Today I’m spending my Sunday going to barre class, sipping green tea, and knitting.
To Knit
I’m sewing up my Monomania Cardi. The finish line is in sight!
(My flat-knit sleeves are sewing up just fine. They will be snug. I like them snug.)
To have something to work on when the light fails, yesterday I cast on my Wollman Rink cowl. (337 stitches. Linen Stitch all the way. Giving myself permission in advance to bail and knit something else if I can’t hack it.)
(My Wollman Rink colors, in MadelineTosh Sport.)
Both of these things are for me. I’m not knitting for anyone else for Christmas (famous last words), but if I were, I’d try to find someone, big or small, in need of a foxy and/or wolfie hat.
(Foxy & Wolfie by Ekaterina Blanchard.)
To Read
It’s not just you and me: ganseys seem to be having a moment. Recently on The Women’s Room, Polly Leonard, editor of Selvedge Magazine, guest-posted an article arguing for protected designation-of-origin status for culturally significant textiles, such as ganseys. And this weekend, there is another gorgeously illustrated Polly Leonard article, on Fair Isle knitting.
To Watch
To get me through PBS fundraising campaigns, I keep on my DVR a string of episodes of the 1970s/80s British series, All Creatures Great and Small. For one thing, the costume department provides a parade of Fair Isle sweaters and vests, and other great country clothing from the 1940s through the early 1950s. (I cross-check Grantchester’s wardrobe against All Creatures.) The show itself is comfort TV at its very best. Accents and animals, kindness, scenic beauty, and humor, with a bracing jolt of the realities of subsistence farming. Great character actors, several of whom I continue to spot in British period drama and comedy roles (and in Robert Hardy’s case, the Harry Potter films). All Creatures currently is being shown late at night on my local PBS channel, for those who don’t have a bunch of them queued on the DVR. (Dear readers: if you know of other places to watch it for free, please shout it out in the comments.) The books are wonderful, too. In 2009, I devoured the entire series, one after the other, escaping to a veterinarian’s life in the Yorkshire dales. They have weathered the storms of KonMari, becoming touchstones.
Get busy and laze!
Love,
Kay
One of my favorite shows! I don’t have a DVR with hours of the vets but if I did, I’d be right there knitting along!
It’s been ages since we watched All Creatures Great & Small. It was our Saturday night favorite for years. It’s one of the shows that makes TV worthwhile.
Enjoy your lazy day.
Your yarn balls seem to have the ball band wrapped up cozily inside yet they are a product of the ball winder. Did you insert them at the end and perhaps cleverly tuck the end of the yarn inside? Or is there some other magic involved. All knitting is magic.
Yes, that’s what they do at the shop when they wind. Handy reference!
It’s surprising how often someone in the rav goat-breeders group relates or diagnoses a health problem in terms of All Creatures. Our memories of specific ailments and treatments (and sometimes even the names of the animal involved) are vivid, even though for some of us, the show was seen in the 70s.
Longtime fan of Peter Davison, also. Did you catch his appearance (of course you did) on Miranda? Such fun!
Just once, I want to meet a dog suffering from flop-bott.
Sadly, my cat womits semi-regularly…
Stagnation o’ t’lung? Scours?
I should start working them into conversation with Olive’s vet.
I’d love to see the look on your vet’s face if you did!
Margieinmaryland
Scours unfortunately comes up often, though not with regularity.
(See what I did there?)
At our house for many years we’ve embraced the concept of “Feeling kinda Sunday”. We don’t leave the house unless absolutely necessary. Much relaxing and knitting occurs! Viva la lazy Sundays!!!!
Thanks, Kay, for the tip about Grantchester. I found it on Amazon (free for Prime subscribers). Binge watching season 1 while knitting bulky slipper socks. Also found the books at local library, and am enjoying them, too. I appreciate your keen understanding of the connection beteeen British drama set in the 1940s and 50s and knitting.
Watching All Creatures when I was a kid sent me on my path to veterinary medicine! I still pick up the books. Our library has the DVDs, so my daughter has enjoyed them as well.
And that foxy hat! I have a baby boy to knit for, I must make him a fox – and then upsize it to make one for myself.
It’s reassuring to know that a real “vitnery” likes the show and books!
This has been the ultimate gloriously lazy weekend. Binged on Harry Potter movies 3 – 7 and the BT Guernsey Wrap still isn’t quite finished so it’s off to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – the original with Alec Guiness – for another 6 hours of bliss.
I hope you’re ignoring the PBS fund drives because you’ve already pledged, right? You don’t strike me as a freeloader. I further hope that everyone who has mentioned or will mention a show they have loved on their local PBS station is a pledging member to support such a terrific service. This is a place where the cost/benefit ratio is phenomenal!
Sorry for the sermon, but after all, I’m a minister, and it’s Sunday — a work day for me!
Love 1000x!
You’ve inspired me! I’m sitting in bed knitting, with coffee and a cat, at 9:45 a.m. Whoa. I’m not currently watching PBS, but I’m reading Warleggan (4th Poldark novel) while I knit. Very lazy.
ACGaS used to be on both Netflix and amazon video for streaming. OMG it’s not available. It has been for years. Oh the hours of knitting I have had while working thru the entire series Hum. Several times
I really hate the back and forth of the licensing process. It seemed there are quite a few BBBC ITV series not available now.
Acorn TV should just purchase it. Maybe we could start a campaign!
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The little owlie hat in her rav store is cute too. I will have to make it. Another thing for grandmas needles.
The chevron monolith looks amazing!
As a veteran british crime show lover and (underline) a scandinavian mystery lover, I recommend and (add italics) LOVE the new to netfilx and 2015 show called “River.” Watched it once on my own and once again with Mike. I could get a lot done if there were some more seasons.
I’ll watch anything with costumes … sadly, no dvr. But did start re-watching “Poldark” with my sewing group — the original series, then the newer one.
Must admit I loved the costuming in “Grantchester” – especially the high and low of women’s fashions, as well as the Sidney scenes in the museums. Has anyone read the books the show was based on? Must add to reading list.
I did google it! Wow ~ definitely interested, but I’m thinking this isn’t the month to start. Just reserved the book at the library.
And may I say that cardi sleeve seam is beautiful…
Ahhh..thanks for the memories. Little Tricky Woo (the dog) immediately came to mind! Of course I can’t recall my name or where I put such and such but I will never forget Tricky Woo:)
Oh, I remember Tricky Woo too!!
“Comfort TV.” I am always in search of more of it, so thanks for the reminder about All Creatures. I subjected our Thanksgiving houseguest to a regular Friday night of comfort knitting, (mine, but a project for her), comfort TV—in the form of a Joan Hickson Miss Marple on PBS—and a sleepy cat on lap. She dozed off about 10:30 pm!
The same friend influenced me to do the Whole 30 this summer and I am still about 90% compliant. We even had a delicious gluten-free, dairy-free, low sugar Thanksgiving feast. The only things that are a little iffy for me taste-wise are no dairy products in the mashed potatoes and arrowroot instead of flour in the gravy. Oh, and the stevia-sweetened cranberry sauce was a little tart, but I went off the range and added a dusting of ginger sugar!
All Creatures Great and Small – a favorite! So many great shows from the BBC. Maybe I should just move across the pond. Happy lazy Sunday!
Foxie and Wolfie will be on my needles sometime in the next 12 months — perfect for a craft fair fundraiser for my library building fund. Who could resist them? And back in the late 1970s All Creatures Great and Small was my late Sunday afternoon viewing every week. Loved that show. But although I knit then, I was not A Knitter, so the great fair isles and other delights were lost on me.
All Creatures Great and Small (the books) got me through two pregnancies in the late 80″s. The TV series is one of my all time favs. Now that y daughters are having children I am sharing again with them. I(I read them all to them as young girls.) Such an exceptional TV series and books. And the knitting…fantastic. Perfect for a cold winter day.
James Herriot, one of my most favorite authors. I was sincerely distraught when he passed away. No more stories? How could that be? I didn’t know there was a TV series based on his books. Definitely checking Amazon Prime and Netflix for them. Thanks Kay!
last Tango in Halifax has next season up…knitting Wisco holiday gifts in rasta to it…
A linen stitch cowl would take me AGES, but would be SO worth it. Can’t wait to see it finished. And I think the Foxy and Wolfie hats need to come in adult sizes too.
I forgot about All Creatures Great and Small. I just added it to my Netflix queue.
British TV is to TV what Whole 30 type food is to food. An acquired taste for some, but clean and remarkably satisfying in a kind of sneaks-up-on-you way. And best done without rules or expectations. I can’t see me to really do a W30 for 30, but eating this way most of the time has been wonderful in many ways. My DH, having just read about arsenic in the brown rice, is about to make the jump.
Oops – and I too want a wolfie hat in my size.
I’ve loved the books since I discovered them at my Grandmas house when I was a kid. They are as funny as Wodehouse and as romantic as Austen – remember his courtship with his beloved Helen…
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Your Monomania is wonderful– the epitome of “mono” itself! I clicked over onto Ravelry to have a quick peek, expecting to find a plethora of other monochromatic masterpieces and was surprised to see colorful, animated, decadent (but lovely) Monomaniacs… so glad you took the route less taken and subdued any desire to stray from its true nature!
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Definitely feeling the can’t-we-just-knit-all-the-time vibe.
Thanking you for links, and for the earlier intro to Grantchester. It’s on Amazon Prime, so I’ve begun to indulge. I must say I’m struck by Sydney’s resemblance to Shah Rukh Khan (which for me is all good.)
Eagerly awaiting the FO reveal!
Don’t forget your public library’s DVD collections when you’re in search of comfort TV. My library (yours too?) stocks loads of old TV series, including load of old British ones.
I was going to mention your local library too. I recently started working at my local library and we have loads of British TV shows and more. They are free and you get them for three weeks or up to nine weeks if there are no holds!
I just finished Call the Midwife season 4 and loved it! I’m on hold for Poldark.
I know a creature great and small who would love a fox hat if I let her see a glimpse of one. So totally cute.
Have you read the “Christmas Day Kitten” by James Herriott? The illustrations are a delight.
I would like to see more dragonflies and ladybugs. I love them both!
kay and ann – I have loved masondixonknitting for years. You ladies are fab!