Flagel Knitting Files

You may have been wondering why I haven't been posting much lately.  It is a fair enough question and I do have an explanation.  Remember the flower wall hanging, the one I call the wall flower?   (How could you forget it, I mention it a lot.) What nearly 18,000 stitches look like Well I finished the white background.  It is made up of (90 stitches X 30 rows) + (120 stitches X 126 rows) or 17,820 stitches.  (I believe I unrepresented the number the last time I calculated it.)  It is knit solely with the stockinette stitch which is knit one row, purl the next, then knit a row, followed by a purl row for 240 rows (I am grinning as I write this because it is now finished !)  Frankly this is a rather boring task for an average type of knitter like me, but it had to be done. Next I start the duplicate stitch in black to form the flower.  It too will take a bit of time to complete so perhaps it will be another relatively quiet week. Tena, on the other hand, has been ticking ri

Several of you have asked me privately about the progress I'm making toward walking like a normal person; thanks for the inquiries.  This past week I saw my doctor who had my most recent X-rays.  She told me this coming week I can get rid of the boot and start physiotherapy for my left ankle.  It was twisted to both the outside and inside of my foot when I fell and without the boot it is weak.  I'm still taking steps going down rather slowly, but otherwise continue to make good progress.  Just in time as there is the possibility of snow on the mountain this week. Since I've been walking more it seems I've become tired again, just by doing my job.  This was the first week in a month's time that I didn't require people to meet with me in my office; I instead went to wherever on campus the meeting was held.  Getting from point A to point B on a university campus takes a certain amount of energy; but when that campus is on a mountain, there is an added certain amo

It has been nice to get out.  As I wrote yesterday, I did win a door prize at Knit City, a $90 special knitting bag.  The information about it was added to the October 14 post as a post script. On Sunday I had signed up to take a candy making class at Cocoa Nymph in downtown Vancouver.  It was a rainy day so staying inside for 2.5 hours was a good idea, even better was the fact I got to stay in a candy shop that smelled so wonderfully chocolaty. The Cocoa Nymph found at 4 West 7th Avenue The lesson began by outlining the process of taking a cocoa bean from the tree (where it grows on the trunk) to a usable format, something much more complicated than I realized.  We also got a brief history of chocolate.  Chocolate, as we know it, has been around for about 150 years; however, there's evidence it was used as early as 1900 BC.  We had a tasting of a single source Mexican, Cuban and African chocolate.  It was amazing how differently each tasted from one another. The Mexican w

My activity levels outside the house have been picking up as my feet heal.  I have been able to downsize from the crutches to a walking stick.  Funny, Paul gave me this hiking stick for my birthday this year and it has certainly now come in handy; was it a premonition? Yesterday Tena and I ventured to the Croatian Cultural Centre on Commercial Drive to attend Knit City .   This was a yarny extravaganza with tons of exhibitors and classes for the yarn enthusiast.  Our plan was to get there early and then go for lunch.  Apparently everyone else attending had about the same idea.  We stood in line to get in and then slowly snaked our way through the booths.  It seems many of us were carrying rather large bags, seemingly full of new found goodies.  It was so busy progress was slow, but then that suited my degree of speed perfectly. Here's a photo of the entire event from the stage to give you a sense of the busyness: Knit City on October 13 taken by Apple Yarns of Bellingham, W

Friday, October 12 has been declared I Love Yarn Day by the Craft Yarn Council.  If you check out t heir website you will see there are lots of ideas about how one might go about celebrating the day. I intend to spend it sharing odd/inspirational/things I must do knitting photos like these with you:  A very low-cal sausage, indeed.  Probably not very spicy either. At least for some of us. I must figure out how to make these; no pattern was shared My inspiration to knit a roast chicken.  Again no pattern These gems have been collected for over a year until I could find just the perfect use for them. Obviously, I think sharing them on I Love Yarn day is such an occasion. Of course I am also working with yarn this evening.  Now that the elf shoes are complete, I think a matching elf hat is in order.  Working with yarn is never dull; I, of course, am speaking for myself only.  Mike and Paul are a bit less exuberant about the whole yarn thing IMHO.   But t

I have been working on a project for the last week or so, but it has been a secret of sorts.  Last year my former boss, Tim, pledged to dress up like an elf for Xmas 2012.  He said he'd go for the green shorts and top and even throw in the green tights, but he made no promises about the shoes.  He's over 6 feet tall wears size 12 shoes so he was reluctant to commit to being able to find elf shoes that would fit him. Remember back in early September when I posted a free pattern to make elf shoes ?  More than one of you contacted me and said something like:  "Really, elf shoes?"  Yes, really, they are for Tim.  So I waited for the wool to go on sale at the local craft shop.  The pattern needs to be made with wool because the fibers will be fulled.  Generally the fulling process is called felting in knitting.  It is a technique of putting natural fibers in hot water and agitating it until the yarn pulls together and begins to shrink.  Some use a washing machine and a s

Tena has her first Gramps sweater done.  Have a look: Tena's Gramps This is such a beautiful colour combination.  The main part of the sweater is made with Madelinetosh Superwash Merino wool in a colour called Plaid Blanket.  (It can be hard to tell how wonderful a variegated yarn can be from such a small photo like below) Madelinetosh - Plaid Blanket I believe the accent colour is another Madelinetosh called Baltic. Madelinetosh - Baltic And there are the leather or leather-look buttons  I picked up at Dressew  (Tena believes they are real leather, apparently I'm not yet completely convinced they are.).   Either way they certainly complete the Gramps look. Tena was a bit reluctant to let me take this photo because the sweater wasn't totally finished.  So she got to see first hand how the "sausage is made" with regard to my blog photos.   I often use tricks that the camera will help hide, like tucking all the loose ends into a sleeve or

It is the Thanksgiving weekend here up North.  I've been here years, am now a Canadian citizen and remain unsure if there is a specific day to actually eat turkey or if the meal can take place anytime during the weekend.  It appears the latter is more correct than the former, but perhaps a native can let me know so I stop wondering about it.  At any rate it is a three day weekend, and I've taken advantage of that extra day for knitting and other fun.  This post is about the other fun, knitting will follow. Save On Meat, 43 W. Hastings, Vancouver Last night I drove downtown to Save On Meats to take a three+ hour class on how to make bacon, pancetta and sausage.  (I know what a shock, the German girl is interested in making sausage!)  Save On Meats is on W. Hastings next to Pigeon Park (for you out-of-towners, it is in the midst of some of the seediest part of Vancouver)  The shop includes both a meat market and diner both locally owned.  (If you click on the link above y

My first ever blog post took place on October 2, 2011.  The main motivation behind starting a blog was to use it to record photos of the projects I completed in a way that will allow me to find them.  Simply adding a folder in my electronic photo storage device was not good enough because it was hard to search.  I didn't label the photos very well and didn't link whatever pattern I used to the photo.  In addition I thought in some small way the blog might be a record of me .  Since this is a public space perhaps someday my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren might enjoy remembering me through my writing.  Maybe?  Were these goals too lofty, perhaps, but I don't regret for a moment having started down this path. Excluding this post there have been a total 133 posts with 5,894 pageviews as of October 1, 2012.  The most popular post is "The Dachshund" with 594 pageviews (Really it is because people are searching for badger ).  Then "U900's