Sunday, August 26, 2007

Nicely spliced!


This morning I actually went to the festival properly. It was less muddy today - and people seemed more sensibly shod. Those inside did seem to be enjoying it. I found a few things (mostly books, and a DVD) to spend my money on, but I was just thinking that I wouldn't really have paid £8.50 for the experience, when I ran into Jim. He was carrying (quite proudly, I think) a piece of hairy rope with a loop in it. 'Did you splice that?', I cried. 'Yes', he said, smugly.

Well, one thing I have always wanted to be able to do is splice (the other is crochet, of course), and have never managed to work out how to do it from a book, but he said it was easy, so off we went back to the Guild of Knot Tyers stand, where a very patient man showed me how to do it. And it is easy, once you know how. That's my effort in the photo. I only hope I don't immediately forget, but I have bought a book to remind me.

So, three cheers of today to the Guild of Knot Tyers (Sussex Branch, as it happens). Three boos of the day to Towpath Talk, who offered me a free copy of their newspaper and then gave it to me in a plastic carrier bag.

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