Saved by Zero

Where she tells about her absence…

Life has a way of waking a person up. Suddenly and without warning you can get the apple sauce shaken out of you and you have to rethink your life. The title of this post is the title of a song from a few years back (OK! a few decades ago!) from The FIXX. I can remember an interview with the lead singer Cy Curnin who explained the meaning of the song. He spoke of life getting complicated and throwing everything up into the air (zero) and picking out the important stuff as it came down.

My life has been very complicated and just seemed to get worse as October came to a close. Serious illness is rampant in my family and it has fallen to the healthy to pick up the slack. I have had to eliminate a lot of activities that consumed so much of my time. I had to streamline and simplify my life. This blog was the first thing to go. I love blogging and I do intend to get back to it on a more permanent basis, but people come first. I also had to give up most of my crafting and painting… for now.

I’ll show you where I left off in November for most projects, some of which you haven’t seen before.

I only made it to two painting classes before I had to stop. I showed you the painting from the first one so I might as well show you the painting from the second even though it was deeply disappointing to me…

These were supposed to be baby sandals. Not a subject I would have chosen and I truly believe I was so stressed at this time that I could not concentrate. Speaking of babies…

If you recall the Baby Feet Wash Cloth I made a few posts ago, these are for the same baby. He was born Dec. 14th, 2006 and I’m not going to be finished, even one of these, in the near future. Sorry, baby Aidan.

You may recall these mitts. I only had one made when I posted the original picture! Well, I finished the second one and am using them. I would like to create a hat using the same pattern. That is a project for sometime in the future when I have lots of time! I will post the pattern if I do!!! The pattern for these mitts is up under the tab marked pattern and they are called Newfoundland mitts.

I have, in the meantime, continued on with the same balls of Noro and begun the second mitts…

Look below at the balls that remain. They are not the same and I did have to fiddle a little to get the colours to go the same way in these mitts!!! I think I still have enough left over from the two balls of Noro to do another uneven pair of mitts or, maybe, a pair of child’s mitts. If I do create a child’s size, I’ll post the directions!

This is the project I wanted to present in it’s finished state and will not be able to for a long time…

This is the entrelac scarf I began with the soy silk yarn (Patons SWS). It feels lovely and I have only made a few mistakes (note the artful folding of the garment to hide the glaring one!). I learned entrelac using the dishcloth pattern called garterlac created by Criminy Jickets. This dishcloth is not true entrelac as it uses only the garter stitch (all knit). I also used this tutorial that shows you how to pick up the stitches. Then using this knowledge and making one side knit, the other purl, Voila! Not perfect but I like it!

Anyway, it will be a while until I post again. It was by eliminating everything and then slowly adding it back into my life that I ‘ve been able to cope. As the blog was the first to go, it will be the last to come back. I hope you have enjoyed what I have been able to post and I hope to write again in a few months.

By the way; in researching this post, I discovered a little information about Cy Curnin I found interesting. Here’s a quote directly from their website…

Q. I saw something on VH1 that said Cy was making hats. What’s going on with that project?
[Editorial Note: During a break from recording with the band in the mid-'90s, Cy started his own line of
hats, called CyWear. A segment was featured on the music feature series "Where Are They Now?"]
CY: Not making hats now, but may be making a few for the commerce page. Might be fun for the Fixx
fans to be able to buy a hat with the Fixx written on it.
ADAM: Knitted by the singer.
CY: Yeah, exactly

I just thought you might find that interesting too!

No matter what faith you are, I wish you a happy and safe holiday season.

But Why?

Wherein she tries to explain the need to create.

It’s hard to explain to another person why one chooses to knit socks or sew your own skirt (they’re so readily available and cheap at the store!) or spin your own yarn (the stores are full of it!).

For me the drive to create has always been there. It’s not necessarily because I think my product is better. I do believe the hand made article will be unique and can exceed the store bought in quality, however, for me the thrill is going back to the beginning and creating something from scratch. Doing like my forebears did and making something from what appears to be nothing. I get a deep sense of satisfaction from this act of creation. The more practical and usable the better.

I have created many things over the years. I will spare you my poetry and the book that never did happen. As you know, I knit. I have long resisted the urge to spin, the call of the fibre. It just didn’t seem right that I should spend any creative time away from knitting to spin something so readily available. Of course, ultimately, I did give in…

This being my second attempt at spinning. Not too bad but quite thick. If I wanted to ply, it would create a heavy worsted weight yarn, so I’m using the singles to create gloves for DD. I did, however, wish to create a thinner yarn, something lace weight but I only had this Turkish spindle and it was too heavy for thinner weight yarns. So I searched the web and found a site that showed how to make your own. It’s an Akha. I thought this should do the trick.

I don’t know what I did but it wasn’t correct! The spindle kicked and wobbled. Maybe the yarn was too heavy for the Akha. Maybe I was trying to force the whorl up the spindle too far. Maybe I should buy a light weight spindle and get some experience!

I have success, a much thinner thread! When I ply it …

My first skein of 2 ply homespun. I think I need some practice plying! It doesn’t look all that impressive and it isn’t quite lace weight. According to many sources this 20 WPI yarn could be considered lace weight, according to others, it is a heavy sport weight or light DK weight.

At any rate, it is not yet lace weight in my books. I wish to create a soft lacy scarf for my mother for Christmas. I guess I will need more practice.

The question still remains, however, why do I spin? It’s a question I ask my self. If I truly enjoy something, then, it is worth doing. My painting teacher told a story of wanting to learn to play the violin. She loved the idea of playing beautiful concertos on a violin. She loved the sound. She did not, however love the process of playing the violin. The bowing and fingering were not for her. So the violin became merely a prop for still-lifes and interesting stories. So, do I love the process? I don’t think I do yet, I’m willing to give it a bit more chance. I will spin some Merino/Silk for Mom and then we will see… oh speaking of painting, class started last week.

We warmed up by painting with our weaker, less dominant hand. This I painted with my left hand. I know it doesn’t look like much here but it looks much better in person. In fact it looks much better than the painting I did with my regular hand.

My right hand sucks! I think I’ve got it all worked out. It is impatience. The painting with my left hand looks better because I had to slow down and watch what I was doing. With my right hand, I’m impatient and think I should be able to whip up a good painting in minutes. Nobody can, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking I should be able to. Do I enjoy the process? I don’t know. I certainly enjoy the outcome… at times.

All in all, it is the process that I love. The spinning, the knitting, the painting and writing. Nothing feels better than when things go right, smoothly and correctly, or when problems are surmounted, barriers leapt, I love it when I’ve done something quite clever!

Will I continue with the spinning and painting? I certainly will give it more of a chance, perhaps more focus and less rush. Then, we’ll see…

Keep creating, no matter what you do.

With Malice Aforethought

The Case of the Severed Yarn

While I have no intention of turning this blog into a cutesy site about my cat, our pets do have a way of insinuating themselves into all aspects of our lives, sometimes to our great exasperation!

Please see
Exhibit A.

Forgive the poor crime scene photography, even the photographer was shaken by this case. What case you ask? Well, let me explain….

I was sitting, minding my own business, knitting a sock for the up coming Christmas season, when all of a sudden I hear a strange noise. I look down and there is my cat, Whimsy, chewing on my yarn!

It is my fault, in a way, it has been so many years since she kittenishly played with my yarn that I took it for granted that it (my beautiful yarn) was safe. I was sitting with her at my feet and the yarn must have literally dangled in her face! As you might imagine, knitting caused said yarn to bounce, enticingly, up and down in front of her, just asking to be attacked and subdued. But she didn’t just bite it, she chewed it, grinding it between her teeth (this was the strange noise I heard) and so we have a self striping yarn, severed…
and we have Exhibit B.

Yes, it happened again. Not two hours later! This time I wasn’t knitting anywhere near the cat. In fact I had put my knitting down. Yes, members of the jury, the sock was on the table and the ball of yarn was on the floor resulting in a dangling length of yarn but remember, kind gentlemen and ladies, that there was no knitting going on and the yarn was not tantalizingly dancing in front of the defendants face! She choose to approach and inflict damage. This was clearly an act of Malice Aforethought. She murdered the yarn in the first degree. Ladies and Gentlemen, …this, was no accident!

I rest my case. The guilty party has been sent to her bed without treats, but has been receiving humane treatment in the hands of her jailers. Cat food and water being administered daily.

I have since rectified the severed yarn with a splice in both spots. I have a vague memory of seeing this done somewhere on the Web sometime ago. Here are the steps I took:

Step 1: I split the severed ends of the yarn in two. The yarn was four ply so each side of the split has two plies.

Step 2: I aligned one half of each side together, leaving the other half out of the way. These left overs will be dealt with later.

 

Step 3: The aligned threads were twisted together. Whereas this yarn was superwash, there was no chance of doing a felted join here.

Step 4: The resulting joined yarn was carefully knitted into the sock leaving the tails hanging freely. These will be woven in when I have an inch or more knit on this sock.

I truly hope the yarn holds together. These socks are to be a Christmas gift for my DS. He tends to be a little hard on his clothing!

I do have one other concern. I believe I may have mentioned on an earlier post that I might be a little, …um, anal? I dearly want two matching socks and now one of them is going to be oddly short a few rows.

Maybe it won’t show… Maybe the difference will be unnoticeable… Maybe Whimsy will get the second sock too.

Any one wanna bet?

Lolly if you read this, my Socktoberfest project might be a little late… My cat ate my homework… Really !

Remember, no matter what you do this week, do it creatively!

Newfoundland Revisited

Whereupon reviewing her pattern
she discovered a goodly amount of imprecision, inconsistencies and inexactitudes.

To my utter horror and shame, I have come to the realization, that the pattern I posted for the Newfoundland mitts was not a good one. This, of course, being a great understatement of vast proportions. It was a terrible, horrible and misleading pattern (Bad Pattern!).

My Reasons; I had made changes (as I found fit), when I first used this pattern, however, as I originally knit the mitts with acrylic yarns, these alterations are not now appropriate! My Excuses; I have none, I know better… SIGH.

I have since posted a good pattern (found in the tab ‘patterns’ up in header) distinguishable by the word “revisited”. I am positive that this pattern is good as I used it this weekend to make this:

Noro does look very good here although I’m a little disappointed that the pink was so over whelming. I still have enough left in the one skein to do another but because I’m a ‘little’ anal I want both mitts to match so I will be using a brand new skein of Noro # 154. The left overs will make another set of mitts with a grey wool.

Also made this weekend:

… For a baby gift. Made with Patons Cottontots, it is very soft and cuddly like a baby! I love this little pattern but not too thrilled with my wobbly bobbles. I guess I need more practice. I might even do another for the actual gift. I guess I’m just a sucker for punishment!

I intended to crochet a pair of booties too but the urgency of my Newfoundland folly was harassing me and demanding critical attention, so I had to knit, check and recheck the pattern!

What ever you do this week… Keep on creating!

Oldie but Goodie

Newfoundland Mitts
This mitten pattern is an old favorite here in Atlantic Canada and is a nice warm mitt for frigid weather. I had a much marked up, old pattern sheet kicking about and when I was asked for a copy, I decided I had better write up a new one with updated language. You can find it on my Patterns Page, the tab is located up in the header picture above. Here they are in all their glory.

I made these mitts about 6 or 7 years ago, when I started knitting again, after about that many years on hiatus from the crafty sticks. I was still a newbie, however, and used acrylic to knit these and many pairs for the children.

It was this particular pair, though, that taught me a lesson about yarn. One day, I went out to shovel my driveway, put on my newly knit mitts and realised that the cold immediately penetrated to my hands, the wind blew right through the mitts!

I couldn’t believe it. All those hours knitting mitts and they didn’t keep the hands warm. They didn’t even perform their main function. And the Kids! I felt really bad for sending them off to school in my hand knit mittens that wouldn’t keep their hands warm…

All yarns are not alike… Lesson learned (hang my head in shame).

I now knit exclusively with 100% or high blend wool or cotton. I always was a ‘natural’ nut (little or no plastic in my life!) and I have no idea what possessed me to use fake wool for knitting! It probably was the price, now that I think about it. I couldn’t imagine paying big $$ for yarn. I would have died paying $10 for a 50 gm ball of worsted weight yarn! Now, try and keep me and Noro apart!

I never did remake these mitts in warm wool. Maybe this season I’ll knit myself new ones… Maybe with Noro! Yeah, that would be neat!…. I’ll keep you posted

Keep on creating.