A New Chapter Begins

Sometimes life changes can happen in an instant, at others there's plenty of advance notice to prepare, but even then the change can still create quite an impact.

Here's the person responsible for the most recent change to all those in her extended family. Meet Miss M. That's how we'll refer to her here in this very public blog. (A sincere THANK YOU to Grandpa Schaffer for all these new baby photos):

M as she'll be known on this blog

So it was on Saturday, November 16, 2013 at 6:14 pm (Central Time) the lives of many people changed. A couple became parents, their parents became grandparents, the couple's brothers became uncles, aunts and uncles of the parents/grandparents become great aunts and uncles and so on. In that instant so many new roles came to be for so many people. I am the oldest of my generation, her uncle is oldest of his and now M will be the oldest of her generation. It is a story as old as time itself, but when it is your time it is very special.

This morning using technology I was able to talk directly to M. She smiled and cooed back into the iPad when I softly spoke to her; she even turned her head to the sound. (BTW Mike, the cat, seemed a bit jealous that someone else was getting this sort of attention.) What a blessing to have both my grand daughter and daughter-in-law come through the delivery process healthy and all safe and sound. Now my knitting has even more purpose because I know and have "met" the individual for whom these items are being made. My determination is redoubled. Here's a quick review of what's been done for M so far ~~

And there is another one in process

So even though I haven't changed I am totally changed, by one very small person. It is impossible to take such a beautiful improvement to my life for granted. One final one photo very near and dear to me, my son captured being a loving father.

And in one instance, a new chapter of life begins for all of us involved.

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Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms. (BTW

Ode to the Cat

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Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting. It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008. (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.) See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles. And what about the yarn? It is truly ex-bulky. It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space. Or how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m

Flagel Knitting Files

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