Ending the Hiatus

Today, the official second day of summer, I am ending the hiatus of not writing on this blog. Today I will offer a wee bit of an explanation. Tomorrow the writing will be back into the old mode, unfortunately for you dear readers. It will contain photos and explanations about my knitting in the past couple of months and other bits and pieces of my life.

There was a post written in early April that was eaten by the cyber gods. Since it was completely edited with appropriate photos attached, the loss made me unhappy. I see I wrote a replacement post a week or so later but never shared it. Why??

Here's a list of what I think happened. But first let me say this, each year since this blog was started there has been a break. Sometimes I don't write for a couple of weeks, other times a couple of months and at one point there was a lapse of four months. So the idea that I stay away is not new. Now for what happened to cause this hiatus.

As you might remember 2016 is The Year of the Sock for me. I have been knitting socks using the same instructions. My production has been consistent, if not up to the one pair per month yield, but indeed there are new pairs of socks to see. The only thing that has changed for each pair is the colour. From my POV this might not be all that interesting to you.
Although I did some fun knitting things while I was away, none seemed to rise to the level of worth writing about, until now. In the days to follow I will bring you up-to-date.
Arguably what I do here is more blathering than writing, but perhaps a case can be made for a type of writer's block. As mentioned above, nothing seemed to be newsy enough to record here. Yesterday my friend, Nancy, sent a brief note nudging to post something. And since she is one of my most devoted readers I took her request to heart and decided to get motivated again. Thanks, Nancy.
I was in Minneapolis from early April to early June. When one spends a fair amount of time with 30-somethings the pace of life increases. There were hours devoted to family, friends and neighbors making less time available to knit and write. Posting here suffered due to that very good kind of busyness. Now back in the comfort of my home in Greater Vancouver there is more time to reflect and record.

In the next week or so you will be brought up-to-date about what was missed while I was away. Here we go again!

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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...

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...

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 h...

Flagel Knitting Files

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