Lace knitting and How Much Fun It Is.

I was about 8-9 years old when my neighbour taught me how to knit a scarf for my doll.  I have been knitting off and on since then - so for about 30 years  :)  and please don't try to impress me with your math skills and give me the correct number of years. I have been eyeing shawls and wraps for some time now, and thinking how much fun it would be to knit one of those.  So....

I went to a store in downtown Regina "Hip 2 Knit".  Apparently there is a very knowledgeable helpful woman there who can answer any question you may have about wool and patterns.  Unfortunately, I have been there 3 times and always get her husband who is somewhat less helpful in either department.  He will assure me  that this or that wool or pattern is really popular and they sell a lot of them.  But that is the extent of his help.  So, I am on my own.  I find a few possibles and it is getting on to 4:45 and the store closes at 5:00 so the gentleman steps in and tries to get me moving a little faster on making a decision.  I am persuaded to try this beautiful skein of yarn and this pattern that only uses one skein of yarn and which, in the description, is suppose to be perfect for the beginner lace knitter.  And the perfect circular needles to make said project are the last set on his shelf.  This is fate speaking to me, I am sure so I buy the yarn, the needles and he gives me a website where I can get the pattern.  This is going to be great.  I can maybe whip this little number up when I am on holidays in Mexico.  I try to forget that I paid $40 for the skein and $20 for the needles.  I don't usually buy skeins, but you would just wind it up into a ball right, how hard can that be?

Mexico - day one.  I am going to wind this skein into a ball of wool.  Hey, there are all these little threads tying bits of the skein together, what could they be for?  I cut them.  I start to wind.  The skein drops on the floor, I just pick it up and chuck it on the bed beside me.  Oh Oh, little bit of a knot here.  And there.  Oh man, look at that big swirl.  The skein is completely knotted together and one big blob of mess.  I think maybe those little threads were to keep the skein from tangling?  Without a bit of exaggeration, I spent 6 freakin' hours just untangling and winding that one little skein into something that I could knit with.  Plus I had to cut the wool twice.  Hopefully you can make a join in lace knitting.

Okay, so on the plane on the way home from Mexico I will have nothing to do but cater to a man with no arms and to knit.  I pack my knitting in my carry on.  Airport security confiscates my needles.  They are sharp - but not as sharp as the game stylus that the guy ahead of me gets to take with him.  They are circular so they could be used to garrote another person.  I look at her and she looks at me.  I am tempted to say "Really?  Do you see who I am?  A terrorist on a charter flight to Regina?  Do you know anything about knitters, they NEVER would give up their needles to a terrorist - they would die first." in my most sarcastic voice, but contain myself and get used to the idea of buying more needles when I get home.  Murray loves when I get my knitting needles confiscated. 

Finally get more needles once I am home again, which, I am peeved to notice, have been made in MEXICO.  I start the cast on.  This is great.  My first lace shawl.  I follow the directions until they say " complete rows 11 - 18 (the pattern stitches) following the chart until you have completed 122 rows".  Well that seems simple enough.  However, I like to sit in front of the TV when I knit and so I find myself not able to follow the chart as simply as I thought.  At a commercial break I will find that I missed a row.  I combined one row of the chart with another.  I generally messed up so horribly that I have to rip the whole thing out and start over from stitch one.  Seven or eight times!! 

Now, I recall mentioning that "never giving up" can sometimes be equated with being "too stupid to know when to quit".  So - I decide that somehow I must continue with this until I get it and you decide which of the two I am being (please don't feel the need to share with me your decision). I turn to a medium that I truly love.  One that has never let me down.  One that I can confidently pursue with clear and correct results.  I create a spreadsheet in Excel.  I generate a chart which shows which row corresponds with rows 11 - 18.  For example, when I am on row 37, I know that I need to do row 15 on the chart.  I put a smaller sidebar on my chart which says how many pattern stitches I should be working with on each row.  So, I need to do 2 repeats of the pattern stitches on row 27, for example. 

Things go much better now.  I still will mess up and have one stitch more or less to deal with, but I have learned to STOP!!  RIP THAT ONE ROW OUT CAREFULLY AND GET IT RIGHT BEFORE YOU GO ON!!!  One stitch here or there is a big deal in knitting lace.  Who knew??  Anyway the only bad thing now is that in order to rip out and get it right I have to put myself in absolute quiet seclusion.  Like a jury.  Or a monk.  I must block out the calls of "Could you get me a drink", or "do we have any cheezies" and the like.  No TV.  No ipod.  Just knit.  Just get this one row right.  Then, I can go on to a more normal life.  Murray loves that I have taken up knitting lace >;) 

I may never finish this shawl, but I know that I will never finish trying.  The only time I quit trying to knit was during the game between Saskatchewan and Team Canada.  Go Rink Holland!!  Best of luck in Denmark!! 

/bye

What I do instead of clean my oven.

Okay, a third post is really going to far.  Obviously Murray isn't home - hee hee hee.

I got these ideas from the "myscrapchick.com" website.  I think they are just soooo cute.  I used mostly Stampin' Up papers, my trusty little Cricket Cutter, and glitter paper and stickers from Micheal's which I had to negotiate a second mortgage on the house to purchase (so handy that Micheal's has a RBC rep right in  store now).

 Happy Valentines Day everyone

/bye

How to clean your oven.

I know that two posts in one day is unusual for me, but I just had to share this great way to clean the oven.  Especially when you are having "overly critical of your housekeeping people" over for supper (like anyone I have given birth to or married, for example). 

Step One:  Buy a cherry pie from Lorraine Nicholson (can be substituted with strawberry rhubarb)

Step Two: With a very sturdy egg flipper or a cement trowel - scrape all the crud off the bottom of your absolutely cold oven.  Depending on the thickness, this may take some time.  Safety glasses would be a good idea.

Step Three:  Vacuum up all the cruddy pieces. 

Step Four:  Tell overly critical people that the crud stains left on the bottom happened when you baked the cherry pie.

Your Welcome.

 

/bye

Why I hate to make a cake

This

took all of this

and all of this

and all of these too!

I just feel like moving!!

/bye

Projects on display

I have done some crafting lately.  Just wanted to log them for posterity.

I made a card for a friend who was celebrating her 80th birthday.  She is a twin, so I am not sure why I didn't make one for her brother as well, but ended up buying his!  Go figure.

I used the "watercolour" technique.  I wet the paper, stamped the image in pink and then blended the pink throughout.  Then, using the "stampa-ma-jig" I restamped the image in a darker pink.  I think it turned out to be quite nice and watercoloury looking.

I used several colours of cardstock, a border punch, organza ribbon, embossing, teeny little sparkly dots.  I know I can see you yawning, but trust me, my cardmaking friends would be so proud of me.  And the stampa ma jig thing is HUGE to us.  Anyway, I liked making the card, and the thing is, you think about the recipient the whole time you are making it.  I try to always put real good vibes into what I am giving people.  Throw back to the hippie days I guess.

I am trying to learn the continental method of knitting.  I was taught the English or "throw" method, which is slower and I think it is harder on my hands.  Anyway, I started out with a simple scarf pattern of 6 row garter stitch, one row yo garter stitch.  As I went along I got a little better at the method, and my stitches got tighter.  The scarf started to get smaller as my stitches got tighter.  Soooo, I have put this one to the side for now.  It will remain a WIP until I decide what I want to use this yarn for.  (I cast on for another scarf, and using the continental stitch and same pattern my scarf is looking all the same size and more even.  Yay for me!!)

This last project is a baby blanket.  I have a friend who is having her third child soon and I wanted to make it for her/him.  I had lots of yellow left over from another blanket I made.  I think I will edge this plain little blanket with a nice lace edging in either pink or blue as is appropriate.  But, I'll have to see how it will look like that.  The edging in this pattern is very wide.  Might look good. 

Also I wanted to show the arthritic friendly crochet hook that Holly and family gave me for Christmas.  It is the bees knees.  I love it.

I also have a cardigan that I started for Holly last fall uh that is the fall of 2009.  Anyway, since then I have found a better pattern.  So, someday I want to get back to that and hope to post the finished project.  Please, no breath holding though. 

Off to aquacize tonight, and hope to visit my little boys when I am in Regina.  Hope the weather stays nice, I hate driving home in the dark at the best of times. 

/bye

Feelings of inadequacy

Have you ever checked out the blogs that I list on my site?  How do they do it?  They blog almost everyday - well with the exception of Holly and Christa - who are still at that point of their lives where carving out a minute to go pee is a huge challenge.  But the other two - sheesh!  Crochetaholic completes two or three crochet items a day, whilst reading many many pattern books she receives, searching through catalogues and on the net to order more yarn and attending some kind of Knit Knight at the Kings Arms on a regular basis.  As for the Yarn Harlot - she makes a pair of socks every month, along with other knit items too numerous to mention, writes books, attends Sock Summits and Vogue Knitting Conferences - where she is one of the guest speakers - and yet, blogs, blogs, blogs.  I also follow a number of other blogs, which I would love to include on my list, but I kind of forget how.  All of them.  Crazy prolific at whatever they do AND at blogging. 

I only work 50%, and on my work days I can assure you that once my duties as head cook are completed I settle in my favorite easy chair like sludge in a pond.  If I have remembered to grab the knitting needles before I sit down, then I might knock off a row or two - if they are short - before heading for bed.  My paper crafting, which consumes a fair chunk of my disposable income, sits piled high and for the most part untouched.  I got the sewing machine all oiled up and ready to use once, but the oil has since congealed.  I get my facebook status updated quarterly.  What is wrong with me???

Okay, too negative and will put me in a sulk and probably not enough gigabytes to contain the list.  So, what is right with me.  I am NOT an overachiever.  My family does NOT have to worry about my OCD.  People never worry when I walk in on their house when it is untidy - I may not be very athletic or agile but I can leap a pile of laundry while dodging bags of overflowing garbage and not land on the family pet.  I am polite. I don't turn down an invitation to dine out even if I have a roast in the oven.  I rarely put roasts in the oven, because I don't want to be rude if someone should invite me out to dine.  I know how to appreciate the truly wonderful - like grandchildren and pedicures.  I do not "covet thy neighbour's ass" or eat yellow snow.  I would rather be late for work than miss the wonderful sunrise at ten to 8:00.  I know full well that sunrises that occur earlier than ten to eight are not ever going to be that beautiful and so never have a moments guilt about sleeping through them.  So, that's a pretty good well rounded list.  Thanks I feel better now.

/bye

Winter holidays

Dominican 2009

We have booked our holiday for the winter.  We try to get to Mexico or some other warm sunny place for a week each year.  I am so ready for my sunning on the beach - I just can't wait.  To heighten the suspense, the weather has turned really freakin' cold and snowy. 

I have learned over the last few years the essentials of traveling are money, my prescriptions and English language books/magazines to read which will go in a carry on with me.  I have suffered the agony of lost luggage, but we go all inclusive so I can use unlimited  Pina Coladas to dull the pain. 

The holidays are hard on Murray.  Once there, he is not able to work.  He has to relax.  He gets really tense and nervous relaxing.  But, after a bit of time on the beach, he gets into a routine to take the sting out of doing nothing and settles down some.  Unlimited Pina Colodas help with that as well.  If he can't work himself, he needs to be seeing other people at work.  At first he would try to rouse me off my deck chair to do something - oh like, tidy up the room or clean off the leaves from our deck - but realized that he had better luck communicating with the dead and gave up on that type of thing.  So now he contents himself by wandering around the resort watching the guys trim trees or sweep leaves or fix stuff.  Still, he is always glad to get home and get to work. 

Anyway, I better get at my biggest job this morning, which is making an appointment for a pedicure.  My coworker suggested that I should get a belly button ring also.  Ha!  The sight of my belly and its button could make people go blind, much the same way me wearing a pleated plaid skirt does.  No, I intend to keep my belly button firmly out of sight at all times - so no need to decorate it. 

/bye