Whoa - Another Blogiversary

You woke up this morning, had your coffee, turned on your electronic device and, of course, checked my blog. Much to your surprise you found it looking quite different. Why, why you say to yourself, why is she changing that background? Because it has been there for over two years and frankly, I am tired of looking at that stockinette stitch. Now you can look at a bit darker whelk stitch pattern. And if you are very astute you might have checked out the Knitting Books I own and found there are 12 new books listed. Additionally, the why you should read my blog has been removed. I believe if you are reading this blog, I don´t have to give you a reason. But you are probably still wondering why, why all these changes now?

Because four years ago I started Flagel Knitting Files, yes it is my 4th blogiversary. (Actually, my first post was on October 2, 2011, but it was written and revised days before then. One could argue I jumped the gun here celebrating today. I am OK with that criticism.)

My goal for this year was to get up to 100,000 page views by October 2, 2015. And, of course, with the long layoff this summer I suspected my hope for reaching that goal was lost. But alas, with over 500 posts (507 to be exact) the blog sustained itself in my absence and I am happy to announce as of this writing I have 103,474 views with 100,000 views passed at the end of August just upon my return to the Lower Mainland.

There really is no need to rehash why I do this; it is documented here, here, and here. I can say in retirement I find the task a wonderful way to keep my mind busy and active. There is in every post information that needs to be gathered, names to be identified (BTW it took me around 30 minutes to locate the name of the new stitch pattern in the background) and details to follow up. I now have the time to just follow my passion and I do enjoy the journey.

To you my fair readers, thank you for tuning in. There is something very satisfying about getting up each morning and knowing a certain set of you care enough about me or what I am doing to stop by and read my prattle. I am very grateful. Now on to year number 5, I need a new goal. Any suggestions?

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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

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