Baggage

I purchased an online class a while ago to learn Portuguese style knitting and haven't gotten past lesson 1 yet.

I know my reason is petty and what we call in Hawai'i "manini" (small time, stingy, not worth spending time on); however, in her discussion of purling in the Continental style she says we "cheat" and use a lazy method of working.  This has stuck in my head and I can't get rid of it -- *especially* when I am knitting, and that's why I'm writing about it here. I'm hoping this will make it go away because it's having an effect on my enjoyment of knitting.

Maybe if I had learned knitting from a kindly, gentle, understanding teacher it wouldn't matter to me, but I didn't. Everything had to be done exactly the way it was taught and if it wasn't I was berated. There was one right way and only one right way to do things, and if I couldn't do them that way then I must be stupid or lazy or an imbecile. It's the reason I stopped knitting before I was even seven years old and didn't pick up needles again until a few years ago when I taught myself Continental style.

There have been times when I've turned off youtube videos because of people who think the way to make themselves good teachers is to make fun of the way other people do things.  And this is a class I paid for and a method I want to learn. I feel trapped in the middle of my own baggage and her prejudice. Teachers should be aware that students carry baggage and use language in their instruction that is nonjudgmental.

I'll try to get over it, but some things just stick with you no mater what you do, you know? Like they have a life of their own.

Can you hear me now?

I have no idea why I'm having such a hard time editing the template on this blog.  It seems like a parts changer -- but it isn't.

The last time I changed the background it looked great. It was pretty busy, but there was a foreground frame around the text with an opaque backing so it was easy to read.  Today I wanted to add this blog address to my Ravelry page & came to copy the URL and couldn't read a word.  ARGH!!!  Tertiary light color of the text was completely lost in that textured oil-on-canvas ground.  Totally sucked.

So I've changed the whole thing and I'm hoping maybe more folks will visit, now that you can read the damned thing!!!

Been knitting, trying a little experimenting & I'm starting an Inspiria cowl.  So far so good.  I tried out my color combo choice with a hat first & had to change one of the two color ways.  Didn't look bad, exactly, but it wasn't what I wanted/expected.  How many times do you think I have to learn that putting two skeins together and loving the result does not mean that they'll work up with the same result?  Once a month?  A quarter?  A year?  As long as the time between the lessons keeps growing longer I guess I'm making progress.  <g>

Happy Solstice/Christmas/Yule/Chanukkah/Kwanza/Pancha Ganapati/Hogmanay/New Year to all.  May peace grow in the New Year.

Is it just me?

Nov 25th: My husband bought me Happy Birthday Oreos yesterday. Vanilla cookies with filling that tastes like cake icing & is very sweet. What a crack up!

DTB: I can never remember: are right leaning cable stitches held to the back or front of my knitting? Do I put the needle in front or in back of the bar for M1R increases? It is a thorn in my knitting that I've had since I learned cables. It used to be amnesia where these two items were concerned.

Luckily, I recently figured out a fix while I was making a hat which included both cables and increases. It narrowly escaped violent frogging thanks to this mnemonic.

Anyone who leaves a room for a moment when there are still people in it has said it at one time or another: "I'll be right back."  Right cable stitches are held to the back of the work and M1R are made with the needle coming under the bar from the back of the work, so lucky for me it works for both.    

Well, that's my device and I'm sticking to it. So far it has worked every time I've needed it. Simple and unforgettable.

Now if I could only remember that bar increase stitches are always made on the opposite side of the work from how I picked up the bar...  <g> it's always something with me!

The hardest thing I did today was fill out the "favorite colors" part of this profile page. There are some colors I am always attracted to and some I like only in concert with others. Sometimes I don't even know the name for a color that came up in a dyeing experiment & I fall in love with it; but then I'm reluctant to use the yarn because it will be gone forever! There are very few colors I actually don't like, but there are many that I won't wear. Nitpick, nitpick, nitpick.

I should have been a detective.

Brain the Peas

I recently maximized the display quality of my monitor to see if I could tell the difference between what I was using and what the monitor software recommended for my maximum viewing pleasure. I did this mostly because I like jigsaw puzzles and have a great game on my computer that can turn any picture file into a puzzle. I find it amazing how much more detail I'm able to see in a photo, for example, after I've put it back together. Anyway, it turns out that I can see the difference, so I am leaving the settings at maximum.

There is, however, a slight problem. I need binoculars for the fine print -- as in any print. Today I was reading a blog called Free Food for Rats where on July 10th Anja posted a recipe for spider crab gateaux piments (a fancy little crab cake made into appetizer puffs rather than patties). Interesting sounding ingredients, but when I got to the instructions the first words threw me for a loop. "Brain the yellow split peas and blitz in a food processor..." Wh... whaaaat??

Now, I know it's been a while since I've actually cooked anything (spouse - lucky, I know), but basic directions can't have changed THAT much, can they? So I read it again with my nose about 2" from the screen, "Drain the peas..." Aaahhh. Discombobulation event terminated.

Hmmm, maybe is this one of those things like kids being able to hear really high ringtones when adults can't -- and maybe I'd better reign in my imagination before it runs away with me.

Learning Curve

If I'm going to say I have a blog there must be more than one post a quarter. Maybe it's just me, but...

I came to Blogger today to write something and decided to clean up and post the draft of "What are you Buying" while I was here, but apparently I erroneously posted my draft at the beginning of September. Sorry to anyone reading, although seeing that draft & then the finished product probably shows more insight into how I think than I thought I was going to share.

Of course, there are always revisions to be made and if I wait to post something until it's "perfect" I'll be lucky to post once a year (exactly my dilemma in most things).

When I lived in So Cal I learned heirloom sewing from a very lovely woman called Janet. Her philosophy was "Finished is better than perfect," and while under her tutelage I finished quite a few items. Actually, when it comes to sewing I can think of only one item I started that I haven't finished (well, there were two, but I threw out the second one after realizing I never should have started with cheap-assed material  in the first place). I think most of the credit goes to Janet and the balance is up to it seeming weird to start many sewing projects at the same time. I make my husband's Aloha shirts and don't have any unfinished ones lying around. Unstarted, yes - lots of fabric in plastic boxes with his name on them, but unfinished? Zero.

I don't have any idea why that is, because I have a multitude of UFOs in needlework of many types. Maybe something about the amount of time it takes to complete and my attention span. Hmmm, do interest and attention equate in this situation? Thought cake! Yum...

Maybe I'm just a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower and back again. No rhyme. No reason. No PWE. Just a crow attracted by the shiny bits. 

What are you really buying?

Preface: I've been thinking about money, which is something new. My approach to simoleons has pretty much been "if you have 'em, use 'em; if you don't, find something else to do." I'm realizing that this may not have been the best strategy (Savings? Was ist das?); although in its defense it does have one great advantage: I am very rarely stressed over a lack of it greenbacks.    Om....

In the past few months I've been purchasing vintage Lion Brand Jamie yarns (mostly pompadour) online. I like the old warm colorways with peach and aqua added to the regular pink/white/blue/yellow variegation, and even the yarns without them are generally warmer in tone than today's. As each package came in I wound the skeins into cakes, using some right away to make wee hat & bootie sets, tiny dresses, and shirts for the Tripler AMC NICU & L&D units, and future-iffing the rest into clear plastic yarn boxes for as yet unknown projects.

In my search I discovered some vintage Kresge's (Kresge's!!) 100% WOOL pompadour. Three skeins in a very 1950s greyed aqua and one cream with lovely warm undertones. Cool, right? I didn't cake this up right away, leaving it until I thought of something special.

I decided this past week on the something and got the Kresge's out to cake up. After about 10 cranks it broke. I think, "Hmm, ok, it's dry & needs a little soaking in water to moisturize (it is over 60, after all...)," tie up the ends and start turning again much more gently. After about 10 spins, it breaks again. Now, those of you with wool experience (vintage or otherwise) probably felt the "Uh-oh" after the first break. I'm still at Hmm, because I have lived in warm (mostly island) climates since I was 28 & the M-creatures I'm familiar with have not evolved to the same diet as their colder weather continental clansmen.

I keep winding & it keeps breaking. I'm still in denial & think I'll try the second skein. Then I try the third. Then I try the creamy one. FINALLY the M word comes rising up out of the soup like some long lost Nessie & enters my consciousness. For those of you reading this who don't know me, I am generally a good thinker (tangential, true, but mostly good). Really, I am -- no, *really*, it's just that I can be a little bit s-l-o-w to lift my head above the water occasionally. I am giggling right now because I just remembered that someone once told me I wouldn't recognize reality if it jumped up and bit me in the ass (hey, Kermit). Yes, I had a boyfriend named Kermit. Now you're giggling...

Anywho, sitting there staring at these lengths of useless wool that I had been so thrilled to find, it dawned on me I'd been trying to buy something other than just yarn with these pompadour purchases. The Kresge's label had sealed the deal for me on that "find" and if I'd come up for air I'd have thought of the possibility of Moths & passed it by. But I didn't because it was Kresge's in 1958 at Hallowe'en and they gave out sponge toffee for trick or treat. All you had to do was sing a little song or do a little tap dance & a whole sponge toffee was yours.

Is it a bad thing that I didn't foresee the moths? It was a pretty cheap wake up (at around $10) and how often does that happen? 

The crux of modern living. My theory is we get so much crap in there that some of it just has to go. If we're not diligent the grey matter will choose which parts, perhaps to our later chagrin.