I’ve been doing hours of work on my gansey database lately. Over the years, I haven’t been updating it systematically. It’s not a huge database – under 400 items – and only about 250 of these are gansey-related. The rest are other knitwear items in Johnston Collection photos – shawls, haps, jumpers, hats, scarves. The duplicate entries are now culled and the rest updated. In the process, I’ve found some photos that weren’t in the database, photos that haven’t been edited, and some that need re-editing. It’s back to square one – editing the photos first, then charting them when the editing phase is done. A long project made even longer. But it’ll be worth it in the end.
Colour on the cliffs
Town has been abuzz this week with the local Gala. Lasting for over a week, the Gala starts with a parade on one Saturday and ends the following Saturday with a huge bonfire and fireworks. The parade has floats by local businesses and groups, the pipe band, and the Gala Queen and her court. Up until the 1950s, it was the Herring Queen – her crown and throne are now in the Wick Heritage Museum collection. During the week, there are many events, mostly for younger folk – a youth highland games using foam cabers, for example. There was also a dog show, a roller disco, a fancy dress competition, and even a baby show. The crew of the Isabella Fortuna, the museum’s fishing boat, dressed up as pirates one day and welcomed all on board.
Treasure Hunt
The fireworks and bonfire caught me out. Led astray by the notices on FB which said ‘from 10 p.m.’, I was duly waiting at the window soon thereafter. The bonfire had been lit, its glow gleaming above the trees. I waited and waited. Around 1025, bored, I went off to brush my teeth. Of course, the display started while I was away, and I missed the first bursts.
Of a similar sparky nature, the chargepoint for the car was installed on Friday. It took two engineers most of the day. After checking the maximum load – when I scurried about turning on the dryer, kettle, microwave, oven, and electric heaters – and checking the earthing for the water intake and gas meter, the process began to install the necessary surge protection, relay boxes, cables, chargepoint, and cable holder. Near the end, the power was off for half an hour, and after this the installation was completed and tidied up. They gave me a run-through, and it shouldn’t be more complicated than plugging the car in and pressing ‘go’.
All being well, the gansey should be completed in the next week or so. With the rounds getting shorter, the knitting goes faster and faster. The cabled cuff will slow me down a bit. Then I’ll block it severely and solve the extra-long gusset puzzle. For the next gansey, I will choose something more straightforward, resisting the temptation to knit the gansey with completely patterned sleeves which I noticed recently in the database.
Somehow when people talk about electric cars they rarely mention the need to install high powered paraphernalia to charge them at home. Nor the fact that either you need a long (at-risk) cord or you need a parking place very close to the house. Most people are not going to be able to do that. Thank you for mentioning it.
Thank you for doing the database work!
You don’t have to charge at home, but it’s usually cheaper and more convenient. The cable is a massive thing, about as big around as a petrol/gas pump hose, with a huge plug on the end to match.