N is for Neville

It seems to me that there is a kind of galloping ennui pervading this little community.  Posting - not just mine - has been slow for a month or so, and everyone seems a bit limp.  Depleted.  I have been blaming the weather, except for the fact that while it is brutally hot, I don't believe it is really any hotter than any other mid-Atlantic summer I have lived.  And considerably less humid than memory tells me it was in the old days.

Someone told me a few days ago that it was because mercury was out of retrograde.  I was like, wait...isn't it supposed to be the other way around?  Uh huh.  It seems that the increased potential energy of a world out of retrograde is upsetting people - they're scared of possibility.  I would make fun of this except that possibility is a very normal thing to be scared of.  Very human.  Stupid, chickenshit...but human.

This same friend confessed that she has been suffering a sense of impending doom herself, and finds herself checking her email all the time waiting for...something.

I laughed and laughed and laughed....because I have been doing the same thing for several months.  I open my email box and no matter what is in there - 50 messages or none - I am disappointed.  Because I am expecting something and it isn't there and I have not the smallest idea what it is that I am waiting for.  And I really would like to know when I decided my email box was the oracle that would provide me with an Answer?  It is, if I understand correctly, a means of communication not the I-Ching.  (Though it would be pretty amusing if it turned out there was a secret subtext to the penis enhancement ads).

Dr. Who is back, which is very nice.  I can - and have - watch David Tennant be the doctor for an infinite number of hours.  I'm a very tiny bit embarrassed by how closely BBC Wales has captured my sexual ideal (I do so hate to be a cliche). Though, as my friend P pointed out when I asked him to please pack Mr. Tennant in a to go bag for me, should he happen upon him, he's pretty sure there's a waiting list for that.  So I am not alone.  I can't decide if that makes the mortification sting more or less.

I hadn't turned the a/c on until the night before last - fear of the power bill had me claiming comfort well past the point of believability - but I haven't been sleeping well and the change since I dropped the indoor temperature forces me to admit that it may have been heat related.  Oddly, I was knitting more before I cooled things off.   The blue pullover is done but for the neckband - it took me abut 4 hours to pick up and knit three rounds last night.

I did do some spinning. 

I've been working on these for WEEKS.  Camel Tussah in Fiddlehead from Foxfire.  This is a deliberate attempt on my part to spin with less twist in order to have a three-ply that is a leeeetle less firm.  The third bobbin represents a real failure of will.  It is significantly less good than the other two; as gorgeous as this stuff is, it would not be my recommended fiber for spinning in an 80 degree room in July.  Too fluffy and sticky and fine.   I kind of gave up on consistency a bit to just finish it already.  When I switched to some Shetland I carded up from fleece last spring I enjoyed myself much more and my spinning sucked way less.  Will ply when the third bobbin had a chance to go as limp as the first two.  Despite it all, I expect the resulting yarn to be rather nice.  I'm thinking a slouchy beret hat thing.

I found this in my change the other day.  1915 dime.  Pleasantly worn from nearly 100 years of handling.  It has given me rather a lot of pleasure these past few days to contemplate its adventures and the wonderful tactile smoothness of the old worn silver.

 

 

 

Comments

[Thalia]

I think you win for the phrase "galloping ennui". That made my morning. And yes, I've been feeling the same - restless but hesitant, waiting, and somehow waiting for something happy or uplifting.

Hmmm. Nice to know that it's other people too.

[Bakerina]

Well, that tears it. You're feeling the same summer ennui that I've been feeling, you're right there with me on the David Tennant waiting list, and you titled your post with my favorite of the Gashlycrumb Tinies couplets. I'm afraid that we have no choice but to move in with each other.

Or you could just come over to my house. I have pie.

[Suzanne]

That's one fine dime. I found out that it's called a Barber Dime after the designer. Indeed, it is mostly silver but cut with 10% copper (alloyed for strength, I would guess). I certainly know what you mean about the ennui, and this summer seems different from the last. For me, and maybe others, it is the first summer after I realized that I had reached my own level of stash saturation (stashuration?).

[Laurie]

Email is my only real link to the world at large, since I don't watch TV, don't subscribe to newspapers, and listen to aural news sporadically. Oh yeah, one of my idiot colleagues loaded aol on an office computer. I have to watch that boot up to get my email, so I see some headlines flash by.

I think we feel some version of this ennui every summer. I remember it in blogland before. People are busIER, more fragmented, outdoors, indoors, kids home, too hot for wool, too hot for fine fibers....

I'll take your word on the assedness of the third bobbin. You will probably find that the plying will disguise much, and you will be very happy.

[Phil Boncer]

Shannon, the "silver" pennies were actually steel. During WWII, copper was in scarce supply and needed for wiring all the war machines, so they made the pennies from steel.

Tina M., handling silk caps and hankies is always a lesson in patience. Moisturizing, while nice, will not change it. My wife dyes those, and they stick to your hands regardless.

PhilB

[The Other Kristen]

Eccleston for me, too. I was heartbroken when he left. I like Tennant now--he's won me over--but I don't salivate while he's on. Much. Eccleston, however, was a three-bib man. (Okay, not sure I like the way I've just melded sexual desirability and infantile response, but I'm too tired to write myself out of it.)

[Catherine]

There must be something in the air; every time I looked at your blog entry, I could swear you'd written "Camel Tush" instead of "Camel Tussah". I kept giggling, thinking what a great name for a golden colour :) Then again, you could knit lace with it, and it would loook like boiled camel's arse - before you blocked it, of course.

Maybe I'm just sick...

[Judy]

Eccleston! Hands down. A friend phoned the other day to see if I'd seen the 2+ hours on last Friday. NO.... I'd missed them. Here's hoping he can get them off his tivo for me. I do not like missing the Doctor.

Ravelry. I think there was something a (couple) month(s) ago in my mail. Guess I thought it was junk and got rid of it. Oh my. Here's hoping for another invite one of these days. Until then, there's never enough time.

[Marin]

I am a victim of that self-same galloping ennui. Meh.

On the lighter side, love the "Better Off Dead" quote. I maintain that, after my "Heathers" run, I should do some knitting project that's Better Off Dead just so I can quote the movie incessantly.

BTW, the Ravelry theory is nice, but I have little to no truck with Ravelry. My ennui is un-Ravelry-related.

Rub a dime. Feel better.

XOXO

[anne]

oooh, i love the dime.
and i'm almost positive i have that exact same fiber, 2 bags of it, from rhinebeck. i am dying to take a weekend off from everything to spin it and do nothing else.

i cracked up over your observations of the email oracle. . . but i made me think . .. "where do i look for that thing i am expecting?" cuz i know the feeling sometimes, too.

i'm pretty sure there is no subtext in the penis ads. that would be overkill.

[k]

Anyone else dreaming? I can't remember them but I know they are there, informing me of something.
And then there was the morning I woke up to a voice saying, "Don't do it." Apparently I wasn't paying enough attention to what was going on in my dreams.

[ivete]

I totally get what you're saying about the feeling. Unfortunately I got bad news yesterday and the feeling's still as strong as ever . . .

[Tina M.]

Beautiful job on the silk, and I hear you on the fiddly-ness of it. Sometimes you just don't want to have to work at it quite that hard. I haven't tried spinning silk yet, but just handling the silk caps and hankies I have is a lesson in patience. Must remember to moisturize, I tell myself. I love the color you chose, it reminds me of old gold.

You're not the only person to come across the hive mind when it comes to "something in the air". I hear it a lot in the Pagan community too, though I'm not knowledgeable in the astrology category. No matter what you may think on the topic, sometimes it seems like there's something to it.

[Shannon]

David Tennant is rather nice to look at, I just wish he'd speak in his native Scottish accent!

What a great find that dime is. I remember my mom getting a silver penny a couple times when I was pretty young. I can't remember if they were really silver or nickel or what. I always remember looking at the dates on my coins to see how old they were.

[mamacate]

Wait, Neville? What?

But really, not that I'm exactly the expert in this regard, but isn't Tennant a little delicate? I dunno, I'm far, far more interested in Eccleston. I haven't seen the new season (it sits on Tivo as my spouse is not a fan)so maybe my opinion will change, and he does have his moments, but really, I'm with Kat.

[Kat with a K]

I know what I've been checking my inbox for constantly - my Ravelry invitation! I had blog ennui for several months but seem to be coming out of it.

And I have to vote for Nine (Eccleston) as Hottest Doctor Ever because he seems to be underrepresented here. :) I love Tennant too, but he's not as cute or as tortured.

[Lauren]

Have you seen Viva Blackpool? It's been on BBC America (and on the BBC, of course), and now is on DVD. That's when I fell head-over-heels for David Tennant. Swoon!

[becky c.]

Ravelry is great, but it does suck up enormous amounts of time, and more knitters get invited everyday. Can't wait to see the 3-ply spun gold. (May have to call you Enchanting Rumplestilskin)

[Lissa]

Tennant. So hot. *swoon* He's the most precious thing EVER with his rumpled hair and the sneakers with the suit and the most adorable look of exasperation and...and...hey, what?

[Lee Ann]

I can't use Ravelry as an excuse because while I am indeed on Ravelry, I haven't documented a damned thing except the fact that my favourite swearing phrase in English has the same rhythm as it does in Québecois French.

Which, I believe, while a very nice feature indeed, was not the original intent of the beta version.

You mean nothing's going to suddenly land in my inbox and completely change my life?

Well, tabarnak.

[Jessica]

My posting issues are mostly from lack of hours in the day. Odd since there is more daylight I suppose, but then again the SOS monster did take over my life for a bit there in the beginning. Are you sure you aren't spinning gold and just not telling us? ;) The dime is really cool! What a find!

[nipper jenn]

I completely agree with you on Dr. Who. Tennant puts on his glasses and I start drooling. That man is too hot.

This possibility thing you've hit upon is really interesting. That may explain a lot. Certainly explains where my head has been lately.

[Beth S.]

He's cuter than Eccleston, yeah, but I do miss the latter's Northern accent (all planets have a North, after all.)

I haven't been spinning--too scattered to sit down and pay attention to it properly. Honestly, I don't think I'm going to be 100% until after the damned book comes out and I've read it cover to cover and then gone back to re-read the best bits.

[naomi]

I think Margot has a point--I know I've spent time moving old projects to Ravelry that might otherwise have gone into blog fodder, if not actual blogging.

Also, nice dime. I've never seen one that old.

[Adrienne]

Holy crap. We are living the same life, with the sole exception of the spinning. (For me, I suspect spinning would be a lot like heroin, in that it would be right in the wheelhouse of the very small part of my personality that devotes itself to addictions, which is why I've never tried either.)

I didn't realize that that is what I have been doing with my email box until you so eloquently ennuciated it for me. I wonder if there is a program onlin ethat would let you convert your in-box into a rudimentary I-Ching...

And if you get Dr. Who Tennant in a to-go bag before I do, I will be most vexed.