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Alison Hawke

Alison Hawke

Star City camp

BBC News: Inside Russia's space camp. The location symbolises the sensitivity. For years, Star City didn't appear on any maps - kept hidden away from the West's prying eyes during the Cold War. Even today, gaining entry to Russia's Cosmonaut training centre

Spin to knit

Spun some more Coopworth Sunday night, it's the colour of really dark chocolate. The first twenty minutes were spent joining new roving only to have it come apart further back, and trying to ignore the pitiful mew of Quantum outside on the landing. I lost a lot of

Hemp and Lace scarf, take 6

Decided to try the trailing fuchsia lace pattern for the worsted hemp yarn, and I think it's working. The Summer 2006 Interweave Knits was a big help with yarnovers following purl stitches, from part one of their lace primer. Totally messed those up on the first try and

Blogging without breaks

Wall Street Journal: No day at the beach. In the height of summer-holiday season, bloggers face the inevitable question: to blog on break or put the blog on a break? Fearing a decline in readership, some writers opt not to take vacations. Others keep posting while on location, to the

WIDTW

(Title stolen shamelessly from Plaid Dragon) Finished the heel on the first Owl sock and tried starting the Column of Leaves scarf. Messed up row 1 twice, and row 2 once before I ripped it out. Maybe I need something simpler. The yarn is a good sized worsted weight, looks

Bill and the Nannygoats

First meeting of Anna's book club Monday this week, and we're starting with Reading Lolita in Tehran, a book about a book club, with study questions in the back. It's very recursive. The club is called Bill and the Nannygoats, for no readily apparent

Wellies ahoy!

BBC News: Experts make robotic welly wanger. The eccentric British sport of hurling wellington boots has been given a mechanical makeover by scientists at Aberystwyth University. More commonly known as welly wanging, experts have built a machine capable of propelling a welly up to 262ft (80m). A team has taken

Socks, tools, and a poll

It's official, I like Opal yarn. It doesn't split and the Owl colour is very nice, though it makes me think more of McVities Chocolate Digestive Biscuits and milk than the barn owl on the label. It did attract a higher than average share of onlookers

Tapestries Two

Busted! When I wrote about the Tapestries training last week, I didn't expect Elizabeth Vega to find it. Always a little disconcerting when someone says "I read your blog." More so when she's a writer! Did my interview Monday night (and was interviewed in

Health drink

BBC News: Tea 'healthier' drink than water. Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers. The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief

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