The Cowl is complete

 and here it is.

The long point is designed to go down the front of coats or jackets with V-necks, and the piece that goes around your neck is double thickness. Very warm and cosy and the colours in the wool are lovely, although not particularly well visible in photographs. 

In other knitting news I have been scheduling 'start sewing blanket strips together ' on a daily basis for what seems like (but actually isn't) weeks and failing to get around to it. It's partly because other things have taken up my time and partly fear, since it involves learning mattress stitch, which I'm told is really easy. I'm just not sure that I believe it. However today I feel is the day to finally make a start. Just not quite yet. 

Phew, I'm Exhausted!

Today was the day that I gave the paper to the MLA Convention - over Zoom. At one point it seemed as though  we were going to be required to record ourselves and upload the recording but in the end it was hosted over Zoom. The MLA Convention is huge; the program which lists all the sessions  this year was 126 double columned pages long and I gather it's normally four times that size. So it's a Big Thing. 

Almost completely floored by Imposter Syndrome at the start when I realised that all other panellists plus Chair were Professors, and worried they would start wondering what on earth I was doing amongst them. Then I pulled on my big girl pants and reminded myself that if I had taken a different turn in my life I too might have been a Professor, or at least something a bit more impressive than just a Dr., and got on with it. 

The session was timed for 1.45 EST, so early evening here and that wasn't the best thing because it meant I couldn't concentrate on anything else all day save getting ready for it. When I have too much time before something like this I suffer from pencil itch which means I start tinkering with my paper - not ideal. But it's done and actually when it came to it I really rather enjoyed it. There was someone in the 'audience' I hadn't expected to be there and it was really nice to get  a message from her saying how much she had enjoyed my paper -  I know her well enough to know she would not have said that just for the sake of politeness, so that was good. 

I am however exhausted. So I shall be having a very early night I think. 

We've missed our walks for a couple of days this week, including today, because of abysmal weather, but we managed one yesterday and here's a photo, taken on South Ronaldsay, the next island down from us. 

100 Books to Read Poster No 24

 

So on the blurb of the cover the top says 'The novel that thinks it's a history of philosophy' and the bottom says 'The history of philosophy that thinks it's a novel' and when I read that I thought there are three ways this can go. It can fail as a novel, it can fail as a history of philosophy or it can fail as both. In theory there's a fourth option in which the book is a rousing success as both, but that was never going to happen  because if books could be both successful novels and successful histories of philosophy this wouldn't be the first one and there would be lots of them. Never let it be said that publishers can't recognise the main chance. 

It certainly fails as a novel. It has a clumsy and repetitive framing device, which falls apart towards the end, the dialogue is abysmal, the characters are cardboard and it is pretentious, preachy and propagandist. I'm not qualified to decide whether it fails as a history of philosophy, although there are several people included there who I wouldn't think of as philosophers so much as scientists or economists And then there is Freud. Goodness only knows what he's doing there. Apart from taking up space that could have been better spent discussing the French Enlightenment which is given very short shrift. Don't get me wrong. Freud was a great and original thinker, but a philosopher? Not so much, or at least not  the way I see it. 

The one thing I am likely to retain from this not-quite-400 page tome is that there was more to Epicureanism than a justification for sensory gluttony. Which I won't deny is worth knowing, but that was on page 103. 

For the avoidance of doubt, I  really did not like this book. At.  All. 

Walks

 Somewhat to my surprise we are managing to keep up our daily walk - helped a lot by the weather which has been mainly good. It can't last (the good weather, or the daily walking) but I'm making the most of it while it does.

So Saturday we did our  third barrier beach walk. This involves driving to the start of the barrier, then walking back along the sand looking for  shells and trying to avoid the occasional jellyfish while my back screams in protest at the way I'm putting so much strain on it by walking lopsidedly on a heavy sand slope. This is followed by a short but faintly worrying trek over seaweed covered rocks  to get to the bottom of a set of rotting and villainous steps. They take us back to the road on which we trog back to the car. I know, I've made it sound irresistible. It's fun though. I've got loads of photos of it on here already, so for today I'll just pop  up a pic of some seaweed which matched my jacket. 

Sunday we had a long walk at the Ring of Brodgar. Fabulous day - there was no wind at all, which is very unusual for Orkney. One or two people about but not too many. 

It was muddy underfoot so we wore our boots for the first time in ages. Also some boot socks which were a present from a friend in the US. 

As so often on Orkney we were blessed with a fantastic rainbow. 

And I tried to take some moody reflection photos. 

Yesterday was pretty grey and dampish to be honest so as the OH needed to go and do the shopping I went into town with him and we did a short walk along the harbourside and then round a thing known as the Peedie Sea. 

We saw lots of swans, some of which I took a photo of, and a man walking the cutest husky puppy, which naturally I didn't. 

Today, because we were taking down the decorations and also because the OH needed to work we stayed local and did one of our circuits round the village. It was further than I thought as I discovered when I felt my watch buzz to tell me I had made my daily step target well before we got home. 

In other news I have now finished the increase part of the First Footing Cowl and this evening I'll be tackling the first  bit of odd construction. I also need to cross my fingers I have a 40cm 4.00mm circular needle or I will be stuck until I can get hold of one. 

Really not how you want to start the day

 We were woken this morning by something that sounded like someone blundering about the house. This is worrying, although it has to be said that it is probably a lot less worrying in Orkney than in other parts of Britain, because however bad it sounds the chances of it actually being what the Australians call 'a home invader' here are infinitesimal to nil. That doesn't mean though that it can be ignored, especially when you have cats. 

Now I wouldn't want anyone to think that I don't have almost impeccable feminist credentials, but I have to say that for me the investigation of strange noises in the home is definitely down to the male of the species, always assuming there is one in situ. So it was the OH who followed a trail of bird poo and blood along the passage to the spare room, there to discover both cats, and a terrified water rail beating itself against the window. 

Apparently frightened water rails are difficult to catch Who knew? 

So, my general preference is for the cats just not to bring livestock into the house; when they do my preference would always be for the mammalian rather than the avian variety. I don't want small loose voles and mice running round my house, but better them than large-ish birds. 

He did catch it, and managed to open the window and get it outside (and there's another lesson, we really should check how easily our windows are opening all round the house on a regular basis or they will seize up). And then he cleaned up the mess by which time I was up and hovering around, putting on washing and doing vaguely useful things around the coffee machine. 

We walked yesterday and today, but that will be tomorrow's post; meanwhile here's a picture of the latest progress on the cowl. I know it looks nothing like a cowl just now, but that's because it is 'of strange and ingenious design', and assuming I don't go horribly wrong all will be revealed in due course. 

I had all sorts of plans for today but I think, in view of the discombobulating start I will abandon them all in favour of hot drinks, shortbread and watching Casablanca which I recorded over Christmas and have yet to catch up with. 

New Years Day Walk

 So probably because we felt like we have been confined to this end of Orkney for far too long, yesterday we set off in the car north and west  to find somewhere good for a walk. We decided to stop in Finstown, basically because it's there. It's the  sort of place that you tend to drive through rather than stop at unless you happen to live there. It's a fairly unremarkable village but beautifully positioned on the coast with two small islands in the bay and several other slightly larger ones visible on a clear day. There are also some very nice older houses and, unbeknownst to me because I don't take the interest the OH does in stuff, a new park.  

The park features running water which is rarer than you might think on Orkney

and also an arched gateway, I'm always a  sucker for those 

I'd thought it might be all a bit brown and barren at this time of year but actually some of the trees had lots of colour -

-and there was white honesty

and red berries 

and pink blossom - that one's a bit out of focus sadly

and when we came home I did some work on the first foot cowl. 

Not a bad day all in all. I even quite enjoyed the Dr Who special. 

The Sparklies Number 2

 

Oh look, it's socks. These are for the OH who watched me knit them thinking they were for me. Why he thought I might want to wear sparkly socks I can't imagine. Anyway they got finished yesterday - I was sorry I didn't have them done in time for his birthday but there you go. 

I went to the FB hosted cast-on-along for my new cowl yesterday. It was quite fun although I got the impression that everyone there already knew one another. That said the set up of the cowl took some concentration so I was quite pleased that I wasn't obliged to carry on a conversation while I did it. I did some more work on it when the FB thing was finished and  this is how far I got. 

We went for a long walk in Finstown today and I have some lovely photos but I haven't quite got around to sorting them out, so that will be the blog post tomorrow. And we'll be doing another walk, temperature and weather permitting. Not sure how long we can keep our resolution re a daily walk but it was good to get out of the house, and indeed off Burray, and go somewhere else today. 

2021 has been OK so far. I'm not taking that as an omen though.