Flagel Knitting Files

Second Viola done just above the heel flap Socks are the theme for my knitting in 2016, and when I decide to take on something I like to study it.  That means I have been looking at lots of sock patterns, and I do mean lots.  Ravelry has over 41,000 such patterns and of that number over 12,000 patterns are free.  To be clear I am far from looking at all of these patterns, but it was very easy to fill hours perusing the different options.  The review caused me to find out a few details, some of which I knew nothing about and that then lead to further research. So far I have found three different ways of knitting socks, from the top down, from the toe up or knit flat requiring a seam running across the bottom and back.  When I started looking into discussions about the two major ways to knit, top down or toe up, it became clear knitters seem to have a strong preference for one or the other.  It seems to be one can start quite a long discussion asking which is a preferred way to

Knitting is my job now; I spend hours at it per day.  It serves a therapeutic, creative and inspiring activity for me.  This last week while I was not writing, I knit relatively mindless items.  Additionally I decided to focus on small projects that kept Miss M on the forefront of my mind. Here´s the results. A BBQ hotdog with a mustard drizzle, a burger on a sesame seed bun with lettuce, ketchup and mustard and finally a fried sunny side up egg with two strips of bacon.  Just as they have been in the past, these are made from 2 0 to Make--Knitted Fast Food by Susie John's.  These small items are perfect for using up scraps of yarns.  And I happily mixed wool with cotton and acrylic yarns.   Under normal circumstances one would never mix different fiber types, but this food will not be blocked, cannot really be washed or dry cleaned so mixing fibers will work. The edge of the egg is crocheted with the dark bit added to help it really look fried There is a lettuce l

I have been away for a week giving myself time to clear my head.  Mike, the cat, passed away on January 25 after being with us for nearly 17 years.   He lived in two of our homes and spent 24 hours per day inside.  All of this is to say, Mike the cat, was quite a part of our lives. He was featured in this blog several times (I found at least nine posts with photos).  Just place ¨Mike¨ in the search engine to see those posts.  He is missed and before I let the pain go I wanted to write about what I learned from Mike, the cat. Be proud of what you are .  Mike carried himself with elegance.  His tail was always high and he literally strutted.  His jumps both up and down were always graceful.  This cat had no self-image problems. Let out your true you.   Mike truly liked people and he was happy to let everyone and anyone know it.  People knew he had quite a personality because he shared his love.  And if you pet him, he was immediately your friend. Let others know what you want.  

I was off by a couple of days in completing Susie Rogers´ Reading Mitts .  Seems there was the issue with Mike.  He is taking his sweet time to recover; the anaesthetics impacts his interest in food and water, which impacts his recovery.  We are watching him closely and we have agreed no more anaesthetics for the time being. As for the Mitts, here they are in all their glory.  Paul had to be recruited to take these shots in the sunniest part of the day. On Friday I did stop at a yarn shop in Bellingham, specifically NW Handspun Yarns, to see if I could find an interesting roving.  Indeed I did find something, but more about it later.  While roaming around the store I found the yarn used for the Reading Mitts.  It is Schoppel Wolle, Leinen Los in colour number 9093.  It is a 30% linen and 70% wool blend with a generous 328 yards or 300 m per cake.  This is what the Jimmy Bean says about this yarn: Leinen Los is a slightly felted, single-ply wool and linen blend with a natur

Mike went to see the vet yesterday and it was a good thing we took him.  His injuries on the tail and left hind leg were much more serious than we first thought.  It was little wonder he was limping so. The vet shaved his tail and to my amazement about a dozen punctures were revealed.  Some were so serious they required stitches; there was also a puncture and stitch on his leg.  We took the risk of using anesthetics on him, because it is very hard on an old cat.  But Mike came through the process and is now resting at home taking antibiotics.  The patient is expected to make a full recovery. Hopefully Mike will remember it is dangerous to wander into the outer world.

As you know if you follow this blog I live with a Lebanese American/Canadian and a Tonkinese American/Canadian, Paul the guy and Mike, the cat.  This is a sad story about Mike with a happy ending. Mike is small for a cat, weighing in at 11 pounds when he was younger and now over 12.  We have kept him an inside cat his entire 16 years and 11 months, but that doesn't mean he is not curious about the outer world.  As a young cat he would try to exit any time an outside door was opened so we were very vigilant  whenever anyone can in or out.  Nonetheless when he was four Mike spent 36 hours away, came home dirty and hungry, but he did come home uninjured.  As  he has grown older we have become less focused about his attempts to get out because he seems less and less interested in the outer world.  Perhaps we had become too complacent.  That brings us to yesterday. Paul had an appointment south of our home and we had decided to drive to the States to do some grocery shopping after it, p

Not a single ladder to be found, the heel is turned, gusset set and on to the foot. As an update, the Viola sock is coming along nicely.  The small needle, U.S. 0 or 2 mm, helps create a very neat and professional-like look.  That is the good news.  The bad news is the sizing is smaller than I anticipated.  This will fit a child, but until it is finished I will not be able to determine how old that child must be.  It is an experiment and I will be making a pair.  But after knitting in circles for what seemed like forever, I took a brief break.  (Those of you who know knitting will recognize I indeed continued to knit in circles.) Meet Susie Roger's Reading Mitts  from Ravelry.  I had purchased some time ago a linen, cotton, wool blend (band removed) to make a pair of socks.  But after reading about wool for socks I decided this combination wouldn't make durable socks so instead I decided to make them into fingerless gloves.  I have to say I am loving making these ty

A niddy noddy is a tool used to take spun yarn off a bobbin and convert it into a hank of yarn.  With a simple twisting motion of the tool the yarn is taken from the bobbin and transformed into a mode that will allow it to be more easily stored. The name is quite unusual so I thought it was worth looking into.  According to the Oxford Dictionary the term was used in an old English rhyming song: Niddy-noddy, niddy-noddy, two heads and one body. ‘Tis one, tain’t one, t’will be one soon. ‘Tis two, tain’t two, t’will be two soon. ‘Tis three, tain’t three, t’will be three soon. If you look at the photo of my niddy noddy you will see it does have two heads and one body.  But there was no explanation offered to explain the two, three etc. part of the rhyme. The niddy noddy creates hanks of yarn that are easy to store.  Leaving yarn on bobbins is an inefficient use of bobbins and knitting from bobbins is difficult.  I purchased a rather small niddy noddy because for now my s

You read that title and probably wondered if I had decided to create my own language, but spinning like all specialities has it own vernacular.   The diz is a tool one uses in spinning and I just received one. The diz is a small disc or plane used to help regulate the amount of top comb or batting used to create yarn in the spinning process.  The disc-like diz may look a lot like the plastic top of a spice jar which means it contains a number of small holes.  My diz is a flat wooden plane with three different sized holes.  I picked wood over plastic because I rather like the natural look and feel.  But note from the images found here, a diz can be made from ceramics, stone, shell and even a needle sizer will work. What you cannot see is the keyhole on the left side for holding the diz Normally a diz is used to remove wool from a wool carder drum or a batt or a hackle to form a neat roving ready to spin.  In my case I am using it to fluff up some special roving I purchased.

Pair #2 was going along pretty well.  But there was a laddering  effect going on between needles #1 and #3.  Mom and I talked about it while I was on the farm and we agreed it was strange there was no such problem at the other two points.  I shrugged it off saying once the sock was washed everything would be fine.  But the more I looked at that laddering the less it seemed blocking would fix the problem.  (BTW, I think it was the stitch maker I was using.  It might just have been too big causing the extra yarn to accumulate where it did.) Then here at home I managed to drop a few stitches that subsequently ran down a few rows, something that isn't hard to fix with a crochet hook.  But instead I took the entire sock off all three needles and decided the laddering was just too much to bear.  Here's a couple of goodbye pics as the Viola sock is being frogged. Another reason for my frogging Viola had to do with my first pair.  I have been wearing them rather regularl

I have returned to Greater Vancouver but a few thoughts about the farm.  There was a very sleepless night for me the evening before I left with thoughts of Dad, concerns for Mom and just a general unsettled feeling about leaving.  One of my brothers took me to the airport and we talked about thinking we are OK and then something, an item or a person, can cause grief to hit again.  We know it is far too soon to think we are done grieving, but there must be something in our natures to make us want it to move along more quickly.  It is nice to know I am not alone in this.  I see evidence from my brothers, sons and Mom that we are all at about the same point. Speaking of her, Mom had asked me to stay through New Year and I stayed beyond it a few days.  Those few days were pretty productive for both of us.  I could tell she was ready to be alone by the time I left.  She was knitting (always a sign of general stable mental and physical health) and wanting to get to the library to pick up s

For the last four years I have started each new year by highlighting the Pantone colour of the year and 2016 should be no different.  For the first time ever, according to their website, Pantone has selected two colours, Rose Quartz and Serenity.  To an untrained colour expert, like me, the colours look like baby pink and baby blue, but then I am not specialized. Each year I also love to quote what they say about their selection because the words are evocative and frankly interesting.  So here we go with two quotes: For the first time Pantone introduces two shades, Rose Quartz and Serenity as the PANTONE Color of the Year 2016. Rose Quartz is a persuasive yet gentle tone that conveys compassion and a sense of composure. Serenity is weightless and airy, like the expanse of the blue sky above us, bringing feelings of respite and relaxation even in turbulent times . And~~~ And if you want to see the complimentary colours, check out the Pantone website here . Reporte

Life here on the farm tends to move along at it own rhythm.  Mom and I have been doing some tidying up at a pace that suits her.  We are experimenting with new recipes to her, new frozen dinners and even a new way to have the mail delivered to her door (it takes a letter from her physician, but the box can be moved).  And Mom is back to knitting again, always a good sign things are moving to a new normal. Yesterday morning Mom saw a peregrine falcon very close to the house sitting in a bush where many small birds live.  One of my brothers confirmed indeed there are peregrines around and that he had also seen a bald eagle in the woods the other day.  Apparently once the lake freezes over the eagle will leave.  Then I captured these guys. They are wild turkeys right on the yard.  I took this photo through the front door window of the house with no zoom.  And although one turkey is on guard watching me they stayed eating gravel and grass for about 20 minutes.  Oh and my n

The pair of socks are done.  It is clear they are made from the same yarn, but the coloured stripes from this variegated yarn started at different points in the two skeins I used. The heel of one sock is dark brown and the other is teal.  But the ribbing, which is what will show is similar enough to make people wonder if they are meant to be that way or not.  I like these socks they are mates but not exact matching.  Pair #1 of 2016 is complete. If you are heading to Brooklyn before January 22, be sure to stop by the Brooklyn Botanical Garden to see their exhibit called, Knit, Purl, Sow .  It contains 22 anatomically correct knit flowers and plants.  Check out the images here, and an article about the exhibit here.  Mom and I studied the hibiscus for some time today.  Her favorite was the Lilly pads and I like the Tiger Lilly.  Each uses a variety of recognizable stitch patterns.  The images are worth a good look.

This morning I was up a bit earlier than Mom and decided to take the camera outside and shoot a few pictures in the yard.  The sun had risen, but it was also lightly snowing so the sky has a certain ethereal quality. These are the views of my childhood, something taken very much for granted back then.  This morning I so appreciated the quiet, beauty (at least to my eyes) and familiarity of these sights.  The deer tracks so close to the house helped remind me how close to nature the farm is unlike my house in Vancouver and condo in Minneapolis.  These are the scenes of my start where I was taught some of the tough realities about life and death.  As this new year begins there is solace in knowing I learned these lessons decades ago and can apply them now during my time of grief.  And aren't I fortunate to have had to wait so long to apply this knowledge. Not only will 2016 be the year of the sock and spinning as much as possible, it will also be the year of gratitude because I have