Monday, September 18, 2006

Fancy some medievil felting?

I've been entranced in recent weeks by a documentary series The Worst Jobs in History  which paints a less than romantic picture of life in the distant past.  Watching the show you begin to wonder how anyone made it to adulthood and indeed, why they would want to.  Most jobs appear to be a combination of boring, dangerous and physically taxing - as opposed to the mere mental boredom and emotional torment of a job in a modern-day call centre, for example.
 
Each episode the host, having described some pretty hideous and dangerous jobs, nominates a 'worst' job for a period.  Last night it was being a fuller in medieval Britain; the person who felted woollen cloth by walking up and down on it in a bucket full of stale urine.
 
While this does sound pretty disgusting, I think it would be a far more pleasant option than collecting leaches or blood-letting or hauling stones or working in a modern-day call centre.  But maybe that is just me.
 
In knitting news, I am about six inches of ribbing away from finishing my second Trekking sock.  I went to Sunspun on the weekend to take advantage of their 10 percent off sale and buy some more Noro Kureyon to make the Lizard Ridge afghan (yes, I have been sucked in).  I also wanted to buy some more sock yarn but couldn't justify spending the money - nearly AUD$20/ball, even with the discount (I realise this sounds ridiculous from someone who buys Noro Kureyon).  I'm contemplating an overseas order for the sock yarn but will probably wait until I've knitted a bit further into my stash.

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