Heat pump done, walk fitted in, and Textiles and Tea

I was up very early Tuesday, to get to the condo for 7:30 because the HVAC team could be there that early. They were delayed and arrived after nine, but oh well. 

The lead guy had me personally attest to which of the downstairs units they were replacing. Reminded me of marking up the right body part for surgery. 

It begins.

Then two vanloads of technicians and equipment arrived and once everyone was running about with tools and things I asked if they needed me there.  They assured me they didn't, but I needed to come back later for the paperwork.

That could have been anything between three and seven, depending on how well it went. So I took off, got in a walk, cast on Sock Two, read some Cazalet  Chronicles, I really like that book, dozed off, heated some thirty minute lentils and rice, one more meal of that recipe to go, cauliflower cheese now finished, cod up next. 

And it occurred to me to show you the great toeup sock start I do when I'm not doing shortrows. It's the patch toe.

You knit a square in garter (plain knit) stitch, on two needles, casting on one fourth of the number the sock requires. Here I need 52 stitches, so I cast on 13. Since knitting stitches are rectangular not square, you need to check how many rows of knitting you need. Pro tip:  it won't be thirteen. Best to fold corner to corner to establish when you've got a square.

Then you keep your thirteen original stitches and pick up thirteen on the other three sides if your square. My last sock I picked up so I was knitting on four needles. This time I picked up 13 on the first needle in addition to the original 13. Then 13 on two  more needles, to knit in a triangle, my favorite way.

Once picked up, keep knitting and now it will become stockinette stitch because you're working in the round. And you're off, into the foot. I really like the simplicity of this start. The toe then shapes itself diagonally, and it's very comfortable.

There, worth every penny you paid for it!

Then an interlude back at the condo, after I got a call at 2pm saying they were done, all went smoothly,  just clearing up. So I went over to wait till they did the finishing bits, argued among themselves about cooking steak and chicken, and presented me with the paperwork. I got rebates adding up to about $700, most of which will go to pay the township for the permits, which will arrive in the mail soon.

The temp got up to nearly 90°f today, so when the cooling started up it was great. There's a fancy thermostat which Handsome Son will have to program with an app. I'll leave that Manly Task to him. 

Home again to a cup of tea to accompany Textiles and Tea with

,

who combines computer programming concepts and video with weaving , saluting women in the computer world, including Ada Lovelace who, with Charles Babbage, devised the punch card coding which was the predecessor of modern computing.

This is Ada

And here Ahree's doing an artist in residence weaving session to show how the cloth on the walls was made

This is a detail from Timecard, a piece showing the different tasks and time allotted, color coded, over a week. Initially she wanted a lot of colors for the activities, but after trying it out here, decided it was chaotic, and went for a muted effect. The piece covers a week from 6am to midnight.

This is a piece graphing the proportions of men to women in computer science courses, each row a year, the left part women, the right men. Women peaked in the field until the mid eighties with the PC and men taking an interest then pushing women out of the field women had created.

Here's a detail showing an inset of copper, symbolizing the use of copper in chip making. And it shows the sharp decline in women studying computer science.

She's an interesting artist in weaving, programming, well, weaving is programming, likewise knitting,  and the history of both.

Happy day, everyone, Tuesday was action packed here. I had to skip the knitting group but couldn't be in two places at once. 

Don't try to be in two places at once, it's very tiring.