Flagel Knitting Files

Gussie, my grand beagle, needs a sweater.  The winters in Minnesota are C~O~L~D  .  It is not unusual for somewhere in Minnesota (usually tucked right next to the Canadian border) to be the coldest spot in the U.S. So when my DIL asked about my knitting a sweater for Gussie it made perfect sense.   I looked into Ravelry and found patterns like the two shown below.  My thoughts were these: Signature Turtleneck Gussie is walked outside a lot, easily an hour or two per day during the week and more on the weekend.  This sweater needs to be knit with warm yarn, but perhaps not high-end wool.  I wouldn't want her to overheat. The walking is done in woods and marshes not on sidewalks or paved spaces so this sweater is going to get dirty often.   Hearts and Bones A classic design with either cables or Fair Isle elements seemed to me to be the right type of design for Gussie because beagles seem regal to me and I think of the...

I jinxed the good weather streak yesterday when I wrote about it, (yeah as if I have that power).  A cold front pushed down from Alaska last night causing the temperatures to dip below freezing.  And as if that weren't enough, it was cloudy enough this morning I did need my full winter weather walking gear to stay warm outside. I f I make a mistake on a project sometimes it has to go into the ¨Time Out¨ bag until it no longer makes me upset. In addition to that I have had a bout of spring cleaning fever, probably brought on by the search for those buttons.  The knitting accessories have been sorted and organized, but there was the matter of what to do with the half dozen or so WIPs that have also cluttered up my office.  Among them were a couple of baby sweaters and blankets that stalled for any number of reasons. (Lack of enough yarn, lack of appropriate knitting skill, a poor choice of pattern vs. yarn, I became just plain tired of it.)  These p...

The weather here in the Lower Mainland has been fantastic.  Apologies to those of you still suffering through winter.  Crocus have come and gone, our tulips are pushing their way up toward the sun, and robins are hopping around everywhere.   Yes, spring is making its way here. That means when I go for my walk each day what I wear has been adjusted for this positive change.  It has been in the 50 degrees F range, aka 10 C meaning it is warm enough to not require winter wear, but my fingers still need to be protected.  My Light as Air  possum yarn gloves have been put into action.  Here's a few things I can report after using them. I have long arms so my entire life I've struggled to find sweaters, coats, and long-sleeved shirts long enough to keep my wrists warm.  Thus to compensate I need gloves longer than usual.  The Light as Air gloves, without any alternations, fill that bill.  They easily fit over shirts and tuck neatly into a s...

My stash of yarn is in better order than it was a few days ago and my office is more organized than it was at the start of this week. Beads are all placed together, and ribbons and wool for felting are living separately so with the yank on one bag all like stocks come out together.   Why this flurry of activity?  I had to find the antique buttons for the possum yarn fingerless gloves. Let me start by describing how I got myself in this disorganized situation; all too easily, unfortunately.   I have a nasty habit of purchasing knitting accessories that capture my attention without a plan for them.  That means beads, ribbons, embroidery thread, as well as buttons are purchased randomly causing these arbitrary purchases to be stored haphazardly in my office and elsewhere.  This habit creates chaos with no quick way to locate any of my knitting accessories. I looked three times in each of the possible locations to no success.  Then just as I was about to ca...

I started 2013 with a post about possum yarn, should you wish to visit that post, click here .  Possum yarn is a specialty of New Zealand where the possum has been considered a pest since the early to mid 20th century.  Possum yarn is described as ultra soft, durable, pill resistant as well as lighter and warmer than cashmere.  I have been intrigued to touch and use this yarn since I wrote that post. I even went so far as to talk to my LYS owner about specialty wool and yarn several months ago when I was investigating the qualities of wool from different varieties of sheep.   We discussed the dynamics of stocking natural yarns like those that have not been dyed as well as special and rare types of wool.  She mentioned that specialty yarns are expensive to purchase because they often come from abroad and/or use rare or exotic (think expensive) wool.  This added expense causes her customers to shy away from them often meaning the yarn must be put on sale le...

Just one year ago today I wrote about Mike, the cat's, 15th birthday making today his 16th in cat years or 80 in human years. My new camera is fast enough I can take a photo of him actually looking at me. I was away for about three weeks recently and noticed some differences in him when I returned. He is walking with an ever so slight limp in his left rear hip sometimes more pronounced than others.  You have to be paying very close attention because cats are notorious in not showing when they are ill.  I suspect this is arthritis, or at least, it seems to look like the type of walk I have seen in those suffering from arthritis.  This limp is most pronounced when we take stairs together throughout the house. Paul hadn't brushed him while I was away and it showed.  Older cats, according to the reading I have done, aren't as efficient at grooming themselves as younger cats.  I think I've brushed half a cat of fur off him after my return.  And Mike...

Coach Logo I wrote about the Upscale Baby Sweater here and here  in early January. The logo from Coach is knit into the front and back.  My complaint about the directions had to do with following the chart.  With the front panels and back knit at once, I managed to conquer the logo but stalled at the collar.  The structure of putting the right front, right sleeve, back, left sleeve and left front together seemed difficult until I actually knit it.   Or maybe the haze of traveling had worn off so I could follow what to do.  At any rate, the instructions, which seemed so unclear at first blush, made perfect sense as I got into it over the weekend It was good timing too because the little guy I am making Upscale for was born on Friday, February 13.  Yesterday all the finishing touches came together. The completed Upscale Baby Sweater The seed stitch at the hem and down the front keep it from rolling or curling and it is one of my favorit...

Recently I have been looking into achievement and how one defines it.  This lead me to looking into the term, self-efficacy .  A. Bandura, arguably one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, defines self-efficacy as:  ¨one's ability to succeed in specific situations."  Research has shown (DH Schunk, 1981, WS Silver, 1995 and CS Dweck, 1975) that the attributions a person assigns to words like success or failure effects their achievement.  This is not new research by any means, but it can help understand persistence when being creative.  Let me use my experience with the Jelly Yarn as a case in point.  It has been a journey. When I purchased it I had a vision for the Jelly Yarn.  It is meant to create a fabric dense enough to cover a knitted pancake or waffle and it needs to have drips or drizzles so it looks like it is running down the sides of said bread-like items.  It needs to be somewhat circular in shape but doesn't...

The boys having a ¨serious¨ talk It has been over three weeks since something was posted here.  In that three weeks three major cities were visited:  Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix and Seattle.  While in MSP I spent tons of time with the ¨kids." And of course there was extra time with that growing grand daughter.  She is currently in ¨stranger danger¨ mode but will let me read to her.  And it is clear she's a little girl read to a lot. A smiling Miss M I also met for the first time my new grand beagle, Gussie.  She was recently adopted and has been a breeding female for most of her 8 years.  Gussie is very happy to now reside with her new family, has become very attached to my daughter-in-law and is very unusual in colouring for a beagle.  She is a dark brown where most beagles are black.  Meet Gussie: Gussie resting, note her brown colour The temperature for most of my time in the Twin Cities was in the mid 30 degree F ...