You-are-there reading

I'm reading an enchanting book of essays, Ex Libris, by Anne Fadiman. These essays seem effortless, but like faultless craftmanship of all kinds, the appearance of effortlessness is the mark of something that is definitely not effortless. And like many great essays, these are a magic mixture of personal tone, research that does not announce itself and content that has the reader saying 'ah!'.
One of the essays is 'You Are There', an exploration of 'the practice of reading books in the places they describe'. As well as being a fan of the practice, Fadiman outlines her own, and the exploits of other passionate devotees in such places across time, including her friend Adam, 'who once read the ninth book of the Odyssey, in Greek, in what is believed to be Cyclop's cave'.
I've often felt the connection of songs to cities, but the closest I came to you-are-there reading was when I started reading Anna Funder's All That I Am while travelling through Germany last year. I understand the idea of 'you-are-there' reading, but I-was-there-when-I-was-knitting [insert name of garment or knitted object] is something that I am more familiar with.

Vegie knitting and more frills

While working through my stash I came across a ball of Morris Osten - clever name for those that remember Austin cars - that I had been given by a friend. It's very similar to a couple of balls of Katia Ondas, which I confess I had acquired at a great wool shop in Albury, NSW.
But how to knit using this stuff? There were printed instructions, and pictures too, but it wasn't until I saw the YouTube demonstration posted by the owner of the wool shop, K2Tog, that I felt confident to knit with those yarns.
Despite the awkwardness that I felt in managing the yarn in the first few rows, knitting with these yarns provides good 'veggie' knitting, the project grows quickly and looks pretty. One more scarf to go and I will have cleared these yarns from my stockpile.
Veggie knitting is mindless, rather than mindful knitting. If this style of veggie knitting is not for you, but you like veggie knitting with a purpose, each year K2Tog posts a simple pattern that can be made for Carevan, a charity in Albury.

Some things take time

This skinny scarf with a fat frill was a great disappointment to me. Yeah, I know that mistakes bring opportunities.
This one gave me the opportunity to decide that I have a way to go as a designer and I took two years off from the blog rather than post the picture.
The design would probably work well draped around a Christmas wreath, with the frills as a feature. Since Christmas falls in the hot Australian summer, a knitted wreath may look bizarre. But no more so than Christmas lights blazing in the heat.