A tad optimistic

Calgarians are so tired of this protracted winter like behavior that every time we get a warmish day with sunshine, coats are shed, long pants exchanged for bermuda shorts and boots cast off in favour of flipflops.  But the next day, back comes the snow shower and makes the poor baby tulip leaves shiver.  At this rate the tulips will emerge from their cocoons in July!

The snow puts a spring in Libby's step though and that brings a smile to everyone's face.  This is a girl for whom snow was created I think.  She can hardly wait to get out there and make donuts, lopsided snow angels and just generally tear around like a mad thing.  This being spring snow it actually compacts together to make snowballs which I fire from the safety of the stop sending her flying toward the back fence trying to catch them.  She comes up with a mouthful of snow, grinning like an idiot.  I love it.

I'm also loving this sock.  I'm using Lang Jawoll Colour in colour number 132 and it is great fun watching the changes as I move along here.  I like Lang sock wool.  Inside each ball is a hidden surprise - a small ball of nylon thread in the same colour way as the sock yarn -  inserted  especially for knitting into the heels and toes of the sock  Very smart idea!  I'm trying out a new set of needles from Knitter's Pride - Karbonz in size 2.75 mm and they are lovely to work with - smooth carbon fibre shafts and steel tips.  According to the blurb on the package back, carbon fibre is one of the most versatile materials and is also used in the manufacture of aircrafts and space ships and racing cars.  Who knew?   I'm using my plain go-to sock pattern, casting on 64 stitches, knitting a  3 inch k1p1 rib and then down the leg to my favourite heel.  If you check out my sock tutorial post you can get the instructions.  With a wool this colourful, you really don't need a pattern - the yarn does all the work. 
I'm teaching a brand new class at Stash tonight - that we are calling Homemade to Handmade - I hope it goes well. 

Searching for signs of spring

It has been four months since my accident now, and I'm only just able to write about it, to write just how frightening it was to fall through the darkness like that and land so hard, breathless and in intense pain,.  All I could taste was dust.  There seemed to be no air getting in my lungs and I couldn't move.  The first set of X-rays clearly showed the compression fracture, and nobody wanted to even touch it, just to get me into a brace as quickly as possible.  And there I stayed.  I'm only just lately out of the brace and into a pretty intense exercise program that includes walking (thank God for Libby), and back strengthening exercise set by my wonderful physiotherapist .  Next stop is the swimming pool and Aqua mobility.  I hope the water is warm.

 I was wandering around the garden a couple of days ago looking for signs of any spring like behavior among the leaf mulch we so carefully laid down last fall before winter set in.  Winter really  was long, cold and snowy.   I spent most of it  laid up and resting inside my brace, getting comfortable knitting in a semi-reclining position between doctor's appointments,  various MRI's, bone scans and X-rays and watching way too much daytime television.  I think I glow in the dark but I haven't actually tested that. I nicknamed my brace "the bullet proof vest".  In truth it has held me up during this protracted recovery - which isn't over yet - they say it takes at least a year to recover from and accidental injury like this one, and probably my back will never actually be the same as it was. But if these exercises have anything to do with it - I will have muscles!

I'm cheered though, to see green plant life emerging.  The tulip leaves are about 2 inches up  out of the ground right now.   The blue poppy lived through the winter.  There are buds on the lilac and that gladens my heart.  Number one son pruned the tree and the sour cherry to tame the water shoots and he raked the lawns once the glacier had receded.
I'll spend more time in the lawn chair this year, after I get the pillows on it.  I'm thinking healing thoughts this spring.  The garden will survive and so will I.


 

It's all new

Meet the new Acer which now sits proudly on my desk in all its shiny glory.  The purchase was necessary or at least I thought it was, because I desperately needed a system upgrade, having been warned repeatedly by Microsoft that it was "orphaning" XP, my very well used operating system.

My old Acer lap top is seven years old, still going strong, and has given me very little trouble...well...other than the time it crashed under the weight of a nasty virus, but really, once we had expunged the bug, it chugged on and actually continues to do so.  However, its operating system, the very popular XP, does not and I'm sad about this. I imagine a lot of people are.  XP was a good system, easy to navitate and I had learned it well.

The new Acer is running Windows 8 - a bit of a learning curve.  Where are my files, where is my e-mail, how do I get from here to there?  And the most disconcerting thing is that this system seems to have a mind of its own - deciding for me when really I want to decide for myself.

The cursor, for instance, moves itself around at the most awkward times.  I really have to keep my eye on it to keep it in line, rather like learning to make a dog heal beside me if you get my drift..

I like the machine though, and if this new Acer is as much of a workhorse as my old one, I'll be happy with it.  I like the bigger screen, and the lighter weight of it.  And my fingers are getting used to the new keyboard...mostly .

Anyway, this has been occupying my time for the past week, first while I set it up with the help of my wonderful son who, although he doesn't look it, is super geek when it comes to this stuff.  Then we had to migrate all my files over to the new machine.  Then I had to learn where everything was - and I'm still learning all that, and then...I had to figure out what didn't come over, and re-install it.

So, excuse the temporary absence from the wonderful world of blogging.  However, I'm back and if I can keep the cursor in check, I should be able to post this without any problems.

I'm keeping myself sane by knitting -. 

This is a shawl full of lovely colour and texture in garter stitch using up odd balls from the stash .  I cast on 300 stitches on a 6.5 mm needle and am stopping at about 70 rows before I fringe the ends.  It has been a great way to use up some of the stash, although I did top up with some multi coloured wool - I changed colours every 3-5 rows just to amuse myself but it does have a sort of theme going on.  You can do this with just about any colour combination and just about any weight of yarn.  When it is finished, it will be donated as a prayor shawl to someone in need of comfort. 

OK.  There is a strange blinking light I have to figure out.  Talk soon.

SEAMING YOUR WORK TOGETHER THE RIGHT WAY - A Tutorial

…also called Mattress stitch, weaving, grafting but whatever you call it, here is how you do it...as promised.

You will need:   -A good tapestry needle or yarn needle with a blunt point.

                    - A few safety pins to hold your work.

                     -a pair or scissors to cut off the ends of your tails.

By learning this easy way of weaving invisible seams which is worked on the outside or right side of your work, you will have a very nice finished product that looks seamless, which is after all, what we are trying to achieve. There is no point of going to all the work knitting a lovely garment only to have it downgraded because of the way it is seamed together. 

   When you pick up a piece of your knitted fabric note that the side edge curls under to the purl side – particularly if it is a stocking stitch piece.    Slipped stitch selvedge edges don’t curl quite so much…but they still curl.  This is normal.

Use your thumb and forefinger to un-curl the side edge.  Notice the long loops and small knots.   We will be weaving through the long loops from the right side.

Here we go:

First of all make sure your cast-on edges are at the bottom of the two pieces you are seaming as they face you laying side by side and the right sides of the work are facing you..  You wouldn't want to go to all this work and find you've seamed one piece upside down! 

To keep things steady, pin the top of the two pieces together, and place another pin about half way down.  These pins will be removed as you weave your way up the sides.

Thread your tapestry needle with a length of yarn about 20 inches or 50 cm long.  By keeping your seaming yarn fairly short, you eliminate the risk of the yarn fraying.  When you run out of yarn, just cut another piece, leave a tail and continue seaming up the side.  These ends will be tailed in when you finish weaving.

  

Using your thumb and forefinger to un-curl the fabric on the left hand piece, bring your threaded needle up from underneath into the bottom outer edge.  Leave about a 6 inch tail.  Take your needle across to the right hand piece and go down into the bottom outer edge to join the two pieces but don’t pull up tight yet.  Make sure the bottoms of your two pieces are even. Join the two pieces together at the bottom.  You can tie a loose knot in your tail at this point:

                                    

                         

Staying on the right hand piece, from underneath, bring your needle up into the first long loop.  Go across to the left hand piece and take your needle down into the first long loop and up into the next long loop on the same side. 

Go back across and take your needle down in the same loop you came out of on the right hand side, and up into the next long loop on this side.   Now go back across the gap to the left hand side and take your needle down into the same loop you came out of on the left hand piece, and up into the next long loop on the same side.  Now...take a breath.  Things are going well.

Repeat this process up the side of your two pieces making sure you continue to roll the knitted fabric right out to the edge before inserting the needle into the long loops.

After you have made about 6-8 weaving stitches, stop and pull quite firmly on the weaving yarn to pull the two pieces together.  They will look as if they are one piece.   Pretty neat eh?

                                           

Continue until you have sewn both pieces together from bottom to top.   You may have to juggle one side or the other slightly to compensate for a difference in the number or rows, by inserting your needle into a knot between the loops.  Knitting is elastic so things should work out. 

Weave in your ends on the wrong side of your work as follows:

Thread the tail to be woven onto your tapestry needle.  Now take the needle and pick up the backs of the knit stitches on the diagonal for about an inch.  Pull your thread through gently.  Don’t pull up tight. Now, change directions and pick up the backs of your stitches in the opposite direction, again for about an inch.  .  Trim the tail close.  Use your tapestry needle to fray the ends of your cut off tail and then stretch the area of the weave just a little to set the weave. 

Weaving bound off stitches together .

You’ve bound off your shoulder stitches.  Now you need to weave the back and front shoulders together.   Still working from the right side – here is how you do it.

Thread your needle with about 50 cm of your weaving yarn.  Lay your two pieces out, right sides up, top next to bottom.

From the back side, insert the needle up between the first and second strand of yarn on the right hand side of the lower piece just below the bind off edge.  Take your needle across to the upper piece, and insert it down into the corresponding place on this piece.   Staying with the upper piece, bring the needle up two strands to the left , just above the bind off edge this time.

Go across the gap, into the lower piece, go down in the same place you came out of, and up two strands to the left.   Go back across the gap into the upper piece.  Repeat this procedure until your shoulders are woven together.

After you have made a few weaving stitches, stop and pull firmly on the working thread.  Notice, the bind off ridge disappears and the two pieces merge just like magic.

You can use this weaving method whether you have a straight shoulder seam or a graduated shoulder seam. 

THREE NEEDLE BIND OFF:   

If your shoulder seams are resting on a stitch holder or spare needle, here is how you bind or cast them off  together.

Hold together your shoulder pieces with the stitches on the holders or on two knitting needles, wrong sides are together , right sides both facing out.   The stitches should match. In other words, you have the same number of stitches on the back holder or needle as on the front.  With a third knitting needle bind off both front and back stitches as if they are one.  There will be a seam showing here.  This is not invisible.  A note here - you can transfer the live stitches to knitting needles to be bound off, or leave them on the holders - this is your preference.

 By the way, here are plenty of good resource books out there, and many U-Tube videos of course to walk you through these processes.  Some are better than others. 

Check out www.knittinghelp.com  on line for good steady demonstrations..

You may also want to check out books by Maggie Righetti, Elizabeth Zimmerman, Barbara Walker, Mary Thomas, and Vicki Squires, the gurus of the knitting world.    You can find these books on Amazon.