Flagel Knitting Files

A yarn bowl, as least for a few of us, might seem to be one of those luxuries in knitting that is really unnecessary.  I recently wrote about having two and my friend here in town also purchased me one so now I have three.  A few years back if someone had suggested I would really love having that many I might very well have argued, no, they aren't that useful.  That is until you use one. Knitting is a process; one starts with string and a pair of needles and makes something with it.  This takes time and most knitters I know like to have the project of the day close at hand.  Thus the project is either tossed in some sort of bag with the rest of the skeins or WIPS OR placed wherever the knitter sits.  Both options come with certain hazards.  A ball of yarn bouncing around in a bag full of other skeins or other projects can get tangled.  Leaving a pair of needles with the project in a chair, you can imagine the dangers this creates.  So I have faithfully been using my yarn bowls.

Tink (knit spelled backwards) refers to having to take knitted work out because some mistake has been found.  It requires the knitter individually remove the active stitch off the needle and pick up the stitch below it while simultaneously pulling the active yarn out of the picked up stitch.  Yeah and if you think reading the description is laborious, try doing it.  Personally I find it rather s-l-o-w.  Watch just the first 30 seconds or so of this video to see what it means to tink. When I find a mistake some rows away from my active knitting it is rather satisfying to frog (ribbit-ribbit to rip-it rip-it) away rather quickly.  The entire project is taken off the needles and one rips away row after row until the mistake is removed.  Although this video   is not done with the usual flare that I frog something, you can see how harrowing it can be to have all those live stitches just hanging out there hoping to be picked up as you place them back on the needles.  It seems every time I

The longest vacation time I've taken away from work in the last 20 years or so has been for a total of three weeks.  In the past after those three weeks off a need for familiarity would come over me.  The thought of returning to work was a welcome opportunity to return to a known routine.  Upon retirement I wondered how I would fare during the fourth week and beyond. So doing the math this morning, I realized yesterday was the first day of that fourth week.  The fact that it was necessary to actually do the math is a good sign.  So far there's been no pining for a routine yet, because there has been no need for one.  The great thing about retirement so far is this, if I am tired I sleep, bored I get out and do something, hungry, there's plenty of options to eat in (yes, the cupboards are now pretty well stocked) or out (and by out I mean walk a couple of blocks to a host of options).   With family and friends around, there is someone or something going on all the time.  B

Today started with one of my daughter-in-laws taking me to the internet service provider to change the name on the account from hers to mine.  What could be easier, right?  Sure the transfer took no time at all, but the new adventure started when upon arriving back home I found there was no internet service.  Silly me, how could I possibly think changing the name on the account would leave everything the same.  After about 1.5 hours on the phone, they restarted the modem and I restarted the WiFi; problem solved.  I should be thankful the problem was solved, but perhaps I'm not thankful enough. This activity seemed to leave me out of sorts though, the thought of searching for more furniture seemed tedious rather than exciting; something was missing.  After lunch I fumbled around and realized the something missing was time with yarn and that's when a plan was created to change all that. I knew StevenBe was having a yarn sale because I'm on the emailing list after my son

The Beatles song title is, With A Little Help From My Friends .  That's how yesterday went, I got by with a little help from my friends.  Nancy, my friend in Minneapolis, who has been a friend for 20 years is an avid reader of my blog.  She is a very good soul in that regard and even though I see her often now, she continues to read what I say here.  So yesterday shortly after I posted my problem about the table, she and her husband, Mike, arrived at my door ready to do hard labour. Mike came with gloves, which made a huge difference when trying to pick up the glass table top.  Together we formulated a plan regarding hoisting it.  One of my daughter-in-laws had dinner with me Tuesday night; we ate crossed-legged on the floor around the coffee table.  She had been here on Sunday helping my son and I pick up the thing.  Additionally, she had put her thinking cap on and on Tuesday suggested we take advantage of the rather sturdy wooden coffee table she'd left for me to use until

Knitting, still not much is happening.  I made some progress on the Mock Plaid scarf and will reveal it when it is done.  In Wisconsin Mom got hooked on that pattern and she too is making one.  There is another little ditty I did, but I have to put all the finishing touches on it before revealing.  So some things are being worked on, but progress is slow. Let me tell you what I have become - handiwoman, instead of knitter.  Now a real handiperson will laugh at what I'm about to write, but me, a novice handiperson, I am proud of these little accomplishments.  It seems as if the investigating what to do, the hunting and gathering of the right items and the installing of them makes me feel good about my accomplishments. The light under the microwave went out on Sunday morning, the same day the InSinkErator decided to stop and the same day I had the great idea that my son and I could put a rug under the dining room table.   The toilet seat since I moved in has served as a rock an

Well, in two weeks I have managed to cover 2,600 miles or approximately 4,200 kilometers.  The trip across the Western part of the U.S. to the Midwest was smooth and uneventful.  That means there were no traffic problems, no car problems and no hotel surprises.  Montana and North Dakota are big states with sparse populations so meals and gas stops had to be coordinated.  Other than that it was an enjoyable trip. First there was the scorching 95 degree F or 31 degrees C driving through Spokane, Washington and on through the Rockies into Montana.  Apparently I was too busy driving to snap any photos of the Rockies, you'll just have to take my word for it, I did cross them. Saying goodbye to the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest. Saying hello to the very hot and eastern part of Washington State near Spokane. In both Montana and North Dakota the speed limit is 75 mph or 121 kph.  Can't say the last time I spent hours driving that fast, but the adjustment came pretty

This day has long been anticipated.  In fact if it weren't for the economic downturn in 2007-08 and the fallout it brought about, this day would have happened a few years earlier.  Today, I finished my last day of work! I do try not to over think or dramatize these types of things.  Leaving a job is something I've now done 27 times in my life and each time it has been on my terms.  (Yes, I know I have been one of the really lucky ones.)  It seems to me that once someone leaves someone else comes in and more than fills the void.  So as expected, like clockwork about noon today all the messages coming in through e-mail stopped.  Perhaps this often happens on a quiet Friday afternoon and I haven't noticed, but today I did.  There is a new leader in my/her office and she's now fielding the questions and giving answers. After over 40 years of work I feel pretty good.  There was not a single job I didn't learn something from; some of the lessons were more palatable th

I worked on June 30 although most of the staff in my office took the day off.  It was one of the last kind things I could do, work so they could have four-days off in a row.  As for me after 3 more work days I'll have as many days off as I please. Canada Day commemorates the coming together of three Canadian colonies into one country within the British Empire in 1867.  More specifically, thank you Wikipedia:   Canada Day  marks the joining of the  British North American  colonies of  Nova Scotia ,  New Brunswick , and the  Province of Canada  into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into  Ontario  and  Quebec ) on July 1, 1867. Canada became a kingdom in its own right on that date,  but the  British Parliament  and  Cabinet  kept limited rights of political control over the new country that were shed by stages over the years until the last vestiges were surrendered in 1982, when the  Constitution Act  patriated the Canadian consti