Saturday Snippets for October 8

Shetland Workshop
The Shetland lace sampler scarf is blocked and drying. I remembered to take a pre-blocking picture so we can appreciate the magic of blocking when I post the blocked picture. Lord willing, that will be tomorrow.

The Shetland Lace Workshop is taking up almost all my knitting time except for the time allotted to CIC knitting. We get to pick and choose our Shetland projects. My next project is going to be a mini Hap shawl. Real Hap shawls are very large, so we're learning construction on a mini.

Hap shawls are practical, heavy shawls worn by the Shetland ladies for everyday warmth. Very different from the light, airy lace shawls they knit from cobweb yarn to sell to the traders. There's a picture here. After you're done drooling over the gorgeous Shetland lace on the top part of the article, scroll to the bottom to see the Hap shawl.

What Obsolete Skill Are You?
The title of this quiz made me giggle. Since they didn't show all the possible results, I'm curious what other obsolete skills someone might be. I'm afraid I may have many of them.

If you take the quiz, please let me know what obsolete skill you are. Don't be embarrassed. It can't be worse than Gregg shorthand.


You are 'Gregg shorthand'. Originally designed to
enable people to write faster, it is also very
useful for writing things which one does not
want other people to read, inasmuch as almost
no one knows shorthand any more.

You know how important it is to do things
efficiently and on time. You also value your
privacy, and (unlike some people) you do not
pretend to be friends with just everyone; that
would be ridiculous. When you do make friends,
you take them seriously, and faithfully keep
what they confide in you to yourself.
Unfortunately, the work which you do (which is
very important, of course) sometimes keeps you
away from social activities, and you are often
lonely. Your problem is that Gregg shorthand
has been obsolete for a long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Fingernails
This is the first time in my life I've ever had fingernails so strong they don't bend and/or split. I think my new, improved fingernails are a sign a new drug I'm taking is working.

Severe osteoporosis runs in my paternal family. I've been taking calcium for about ten years and still losing bone mass.

Three months ago I started taking Boniva. It's caustic, but only needs to be taken once a month so I plan ahead to deal with the side effects.

I get excited every time I look at my hands - not about the fingernails, but about the possibility the Boniva is actually restoring some of my bone density. That would be a very very wonderful thing.