Ruthless Knitting Archive

I am so glad that you are enjoying the adventures of Florence. Gryphon’s comment prompts me to reassure you: Have no fear. You’ll find out who she married before this is over.

But not today.

You’ll recall that we last left Florence raving about how much she enjoys the company of “Slim,” a.k.a. Bill Booth, her card-playing suitor from Pittsburgh. Bob, her earlier beau, had mysteriously disappeared from the scene. This was around January 1927. Now we are on to March:

March 19, 1927. Slim went to Pittsburgh Saturday evening. The first time he went in town over the weekend since I have been going with him. He said he had to see about his car, which was burned a few weeks ago. He came back but was not over until Wednesday evening. He went to Pitts on Tuesday eve. drove Molly West’s car up. Kino(?) went along. Monday evening he said he was home. Wed he was over + every other night until Mar 28 Monday when he bid another run in + got it. So he went in to Pitts Monday on the 6:45 P.M. He called me as soon as he got in to Pitts. + to his room.

Forced to be separated from Slim for the first time since they met, Florence begins tracking his movements rather closely. So far, his behavior seems reasonable. Since his car has been “burned” (vandals? lightning strike?), he must go to Pittsburgh to do something about it. But why didn’t he call on Monday when he was home?

While Florence waits to see what Slim will do next, I’ll give you a sock update: I finished the first Oriel sock for my mom. It’s pretty, and it fits mom, so all is well here, even though it accidentally went through the dryer on a full, hot-air cycle. Since the yarn is dark brown and black, I like to think of this as the first of my “Oreo Oriels.”

Now back to Florence:

I started to work at Robertson on March 21, 1927.

Mrs. Wilson died Mar 15, 1927.

March 29, 1927. John came down on the 12:45. He said he saw Slim was marked up for [the] 117 March 20, so I came down from Robertsons + waved to him when the train went through about 1:10 P.M. Look for him out some time Thursday Mar. 31.

Mar. 31, Slim came out on the 5:45 and we took him to Beaver Falls to get [the] 140 at 9:01. Only had a few minutes to get train. Was glad to see Slim Thursday evening. But our visit was short.

Isn’t that sweet? She’s a working girl now (is Robertson’s a shop?), but she still found time to run down to the station to wave at Slim as his train came through town and to ferry him from one station to another so they could spend some time together. I think Slim must have been a conductor. How else could she expect him to see her on the platform?

April 1, Mother went to [the] lodge. I sewed some + went to bed early. Louise’s birthday. Minnie still improving.

On April 23, Slim came down on the 12:45 + started to work on the New Enon run on Sunday morning April 24, 1927. On May 7, Sat eve., Slim did not come home. He was off all week did not come back until May 14, 1927. Tuesday May 12, Simms(?) broke his arm playing ball.

Uh-oh. Slim was tied up at work for three weeks, and yet he failed to come home when he was off for a whole week. This is not a good sign.

Friday evening May 26, 1826. Slim was bumped Sat May 28. Bob came down from New York stayed until Monday morning May 30.

The triumphant return of Bob! I don’t know what it means that Slim was “bumped,” but it would seem that Bob arrived at the right moment to take advantage of Florence’s dissatisfaction with the poker-playing lout. Well-timed, Bob!

We’ve also had a triumphant return here at Ruthless Knitting: the Habu project is back!

I am so glad that I decided to wash the swatch, because when it came out of the dryer it was both shorter and wider than I expected it to be, making up for the 10 stitches that I accidentally forgot to cast on. The thing about this Habu Cotton Gima is that it can be whatever size you want it to be. The swatch could easily be stretched to 23 inches wide and 7 inches tall, or 20 inches wide and 7.5 inches tall, or 18 inches wide and 8 inches tall — whatever you like! This is a bit maddening from a design perspective, but I’m trying to knit it to the size that the knitted fabric naturally will return to (and thus most wants to be). I unraveled the bound-off edge on the swatch, joined new yarn, and knit up most of the rest of the front. Just one side of the V-neck to go, and I’ll be on to the back.

I think the Habu project needs a name. Perhaps I should call it “Florence.”

So that’s where we are. Florence has to choose between one of two beaus, and I have finished part one of two different projects. Will she marry Bob or Bill? Will the Habu project work out, or will it crash and burn? Will I find the fortitude to knit the second Oriel sock?

Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 9:50 am and is filed under Adventures of Florence, Projects in Progress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.