blahhhh

The family room has my half empty boxes strewn about – I’m looking for 1) candle warmer since son has decided he needs it; 2) winter coats; 3) rest of knitting patterns; 4) odds and ends of paper work that need filing or tossing; 5) some knitting patterns that are neatly categorized (no, really, they are!  in folders arranged by item type – amazing!); 6) some pics to go on bedroom wall.

Why am I blogging instead?  because today is blahhh.  Nothing is wrong, everything is moving forward even just kinda blahhhhh.

New hire orientation was yesterday, I’ll be starting on Monday it looks like.  Could have used a couple more weeks to get some things sorted out but hey, can’t be upset about only being out of work two weeks!  It’s a temp to hire position and will remain temp for up to 6 months which is a long time but still, it beats unemployment.  I was blessed enough to find a job within the same field even.

I’ve been knitting a fair bit on Mom’s blue scarf (scarf for ally by Sumarai Patterns) .  It’s the first lace project I’ve done for a while and is moving along quickly.  There’s about 16″ done so far.

I’ve been mentally reviewing the knitting skills that I want to expand in -09 and I’m a bit behind!

Son has decided to do home school again this year.  For once, I’m not entirely thrilled about it.  He is very self directed so far as studying/learning goes but I really feel that he needs a socialization push.  I’m not big on the typical H.S. social scene but he really does need more than he’s allowing himself right now.  That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have friends, he certainly does.  They’re older (early 20’s) have jobs or are in college, which is fine.  But… there are a few things that come from having a variety of experiences with different people.  So….   figuring this one out.

Oh, and I have a couple apt’s with school counselors myself

Again, nothing is wrong.  Moving forward appropriately.  Just kinda blah today.
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minor update – consolidated boxes, disposed of no longer needed paperwork and assorted stuff, have a pot of chili simmering on the stove, laundry in the washer…. not bad for the blah’s. Oh… and the most important thing – I found the two sets of Knit Pick’s Options needles that were still packed. *insert huge smile here*

If I seem over enthusiastic about Knit Picks in general, it’s not for lack of awareness there are other yarn/needle/acessory companies out there.  It’s that I appreciate the quality they offer for pretty economical prices.  I’m not at the stage yet where I can self-justify spending over $200 on one project.  Someday that may be realistic for my skill level and budget – should the two ever become aquainted, of course.

Stash additions – fun stuff!

The olive drab Regia Stretch arrived from Sarge (Kim Opperman, President of Socks for Soldiers, Inc.) on Saturday and my KnitPicks order arrived today!!! The Regia is well… drab… but I’m knitting away an hour a day as promised.

KnitPicks rocks! They have great wool and silk yarns are very affordable prices; perhaps not top of the line but well within budgetary constraints and soooo fun to work with. I’ve got a couple skeins of Jay Kettle Essentials which will eventually be a pair of soft socks for B.

A couple skeins of Essentials Glacial which are mine, mine, mine for socks and… several balls of Fog Palatte just waiting to be turned into a lace piece. I also bought another pair of double points from them, seem to be needing more all the time. I also found a previously stashed ball of acrylic multi color that will be turned into toys for grandkids – no, NOT mine, none of those yet thank goodness.

Currently on the needles are Socks 4 Soldiers leisure pair 2, roll top pearlies socks for me, grylion’s socks, lace scarf, rib scarf and some handwarmers.

This weekend B and I went to O’Sushi again, we love that place.

O'Sushi

We’d planned to go to a show at the planetarium but I managed to lose my phone so we spent quite a while trying to track it down. He’s such a good sport and is constantly amazing me. The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet and thoroughly enjoyable.

Speed Knitting

Last night – this morning – I knit from 1:30 am to about 5am.  There are tons of projects that need working on, couldn’t sleep anyway so figured I should be productive rather than stare at the ceiling which is mind numbingly plain.   As my mind was raced over possible solutions to a family situation, my fingers started slowing down or speeding up according to the complexity of the thoughts rambling around.  Then it struck me – I should see what my speed is on a consistent basis.  Note to self – do this again a few times after having a reasonable amount of sleep.

This is what I came up with (for late night/early morning brain and emotions are numb knitting) – on size 2 dpns mens sz large sock the average is 4 rows in 4.5 minutes.  On size 3 dpns mens sz large sock it was more like 5 rows in 4.3 minutes.  On size 6 circulars with heaven knows how many stitches – was increasing like crazy for a ruffle – it’s roughly 3 rows in 8.5 minutes.

How do I compare to other knitters?  No clue!  However, I want to speed things up a bit.  Quite a bit.  So…. I’m working on learning Continental knitting.  It looks pretty easy but requires a different hand set of hand movements.

When I lived in the UK I sort of learned Continental but didn’t practice enough to make it stick.  I want to be able to stick a needle under one arm and knit quickly to the end of the rows though like my flatmates mum did.

As I was browsing through K2Tog I came upon Miriam Tegels tips on speed knitting.  Miriam holds the Guinness Book of World Records title of Fastest Knitter at 118 stitches per minute.  Astonishing speed!!!  I strongly recommend watching her video and reading the posting/comments on KnitPicks in Angela’s blog as well as listening to Kelley’s Podcast.  Lots of fun and informative conversation there.

Another fun speed knitting vid:

Speed Knitting (with Stained Secret Track)

I have a lot of progress to make but have discovered a few things that help:

1) Don’t try to speed knit when doing complicated lace (or even easy lace) patterns.  Should be obvious but this morning, it wasn’t;

2) When knitting quickly feel for any possible dropped stitches, if going fast it’s easy to drop until I ‘catch up with myself’

3) Stay as relaxed as possible – do NOT tense shoulders.

4) Practice reasonably decent ergonomics.

5) Take breaks.

6) Admire progress from time to time.

Perhaps simplistic but, they’re helping!