Flow

I managed to watch the last two episodes of 'Child of our time' (Sunday nights, BBC1) despite the fact that I was working. My regulars can be very understanding indeed! In the last-but-one Prof. Winston spoke about the concept of flow.
Flow: a mental state where you are totally absorbed in what you are doing, losing track of the progress of time; generally associated with a feeling of focus, full involvement, and a sense of progress.

More years ago than I am happy to admit, before I left home in fact, I was a pianist. Not a professional, but I did spend at least two hours a day practising. There were times when the brain and the sound seemed to be directly linked, without any of the frustration and fumbling that can occur when the fingers get in the way. I am amazed to report that I am starting to get the same sort of feeling with my knitting at the moment.

I mentioned Grumperina's lace hat in my last posting, and wondered if I could do something similar using one of Marianne Kinzel's lace cloth patterns as a basis. It worked. I thought it, I knitted it, and it worked! It's different enough from the original in appearance that I honestly think I can say that I've designed a piece of lace. Wow!

The original is in a mostly-white DK with small blue flecks, and really doesn't look as though it will photograph well. I'm going to make a second one, using 4-ply in blue, in the hopes that a)it will fit the baby girl I have in mind and b)I will be able to get a good picture of it.

Knitting Olympics
Thank you Fibredev, Minxxy and Dawn for your suggestions on Team Scotland. I have updated the criteria, and will add my project of choice to my sidebar over the next few days.

I suspect that I am going to tend more towards Jean's idea of the Special Knitting Olympics, in that I have a pair of socks which have been promised to my mom for about a year now. I will need to find the pattern, find the sock (completed but slightly too long), the yarn and needles, and then see how far I can get.

Comments
Thank you Jean for mentioning me in the same paragraph as Franklin. I must make it clear that I am not a photographer. I like to take pictures, and occasionally I take a good one, but I'm definitely not in the same league as Franklin.

Renovations
We have parted company with our project managers. Actually, we sent them a letter which requested a new on-site project manager, and they let us know that they wouldn't be working with us any more.

Frankly, we were both getting so stressed at the way the project was being run (or rather, wasn't being run) that this is a Good Thing. We're in discussions with most of the people who had been working on the project to make sure they'll be able to continue with someone else doing the coordination.

Work
Edinburgh yesterday was actually quite pleasant. The seminar was a bit of a waste of time - as usual very much focussed on the kind of operator who can afford to offer special deals to travel agents, go to trade shows in Moscow, employ staff who can speak foreign languages.... In our case that would be: German, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Afrikaans, French and Geordie. Very funny. I don't have that many staff as it is.

I did, however, manage to finish that hat by dint of sitting right at the back of the seminar room, so at least some of the time was spent productively.

Useful info:

• most people search the internet using their first language, so having a translation of your web page in the language of those who are likely to be visiting will get you more custom.
  We can probably arrange for German, Spanish, French and Polish without too much hassle, so that is an option
• Visit Scotland will not promote direct flights into Newcastle Airport (our closest airport) or Newcastle Ferry Terminal because Newcastle isn't in Scotland. Sigh.
  About half of our guests entered the UK at Newcastle, and almost all are travelling between England and Scotland. I will be contacting Visit Britain (although it often sounds more like Visit England in practice) to see what they can do for us.

I walked from Haymarket to the Queen's Hall on my way back to get the car, and felt much better for it.