January 25, 2005

Do you like to putter?

Sorry for the lack of posting. These past few weeks have been fairly uneventful. This is a good thing and I am trying to enjoy the quiet time. I am on Husband Vacation again this week and frankly, it is starting to lose its cachet. However, I guess that would be better than being excited as he heads for the airport, eh?

The weekend was great – I was in cooking frenzy and X probably gained a pound or two. I made pea paneer and spinach paneer (paneer = Indian soft cheese). Hell, I even made the cheese from scratch. I also made sole, chicken curry, breakfast hash. And, there was much knitting. I am trying to finish up a hat and backpack before my Knitting Splurge comes next week. (I am taking a mitten class, a sweater class, and a slipper class - all in February). I had a slight knitting emergency as well. I made a hat for Older Nephew. A very cute hat. Unfortunately, it fit Younger Nephew instead. So, Older Nephew is upset that Younger Nephew is wearing HIS hat that Aunt Cagey made for HIM. Yikes. Can’t have that! So, I am furiously working on an adorable Noro Kureyon One Skein hat that is completely opposite to how I have knitted a hat before (Note: the color scheme for the hat in the link is different than the colors I am using.) Usually, I start out big on circulars and decrease to the top of the hat. However, this hat requires me to start out small on double points and increase to the brim. It is an interesting combination of frustration (had to frog the damn thing TWICE already) and exhilaration (Wow! This is COOL! I’m learning something new!). I am very proud of myself for all the frogging, though. My normal MO (in life, as well as knitting) is to just keep going and learn to love the mistakes.

Anyway, despite the lack of drama these past few weeks, my iPod did decide to stir things up and went on strike (it must be threatened by all the new models that popped up over the holidays - it is one of the original ones, so I imagine some day it will be called “vintage” or “classic”.) The headphone jack has gone bad – much like "a kitty box left unscooped" bad. I am frantic because my iPod is integral to my gym routine. – I had to work out to the local news this morning and frankly, it wasn’t that inspiring. I like to use things until they crack n’ crumble apart so I am hoping it can be fixed. I’ve only had this thing just over 2 years – damn it, it better have a lot of mileage left as I certainly don’t need an iPaperweight.

8 comments:

Rozanne said...

Like the looks of that hat. I frogged half of the hat I made when I could no longer pretend that it wasn't going to end up the size of a toilet seat cover. I'm glad I did.

Not that I really know much about knitting, but starting out w. dps and increasing does sound unusual. What kind of increase is it? A bar increase? I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do that.

Your knitting splurge will be wonderful! You'll pretty much learn everything you'll ever need to know, I should think.

And one last thing. I love palak (saag) paneer!

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Rozanne,
I don't know the "name" of the increase, but it goes like this - you knit in the front of the stitch, but don't pull it off, then you knit in back in the stitch. THEN you pull it off, having thus created 2 stitches. The directions say "increase by knitting in the front and the back of the stitch" and that is literally what you do......

Rozanne said...

Yep. What you describe is the so-called bar increase. It just doesn't seem to work for me, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I've looked at the drawings in several books and tried it over and over again and still can't get it. I need to go to an S-n-B meeting and have someone demonstrate. I'm really spatial-relationship challenged.

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Rozanne,
Try this link - they have nice small videos for specific stitchings. This is how I learned to purl continental. I could knit continental like nobody's business, but couldn't understand the picture descriptions for purling. The video got me through that tough spot, maybe it will help you, too. Sometimes, you just have to "see" it in action to get it.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/increase.php

Rozanne said...

Thank you sooooo much for that link! That is a huge help to see it done.

And I can watch it over and over again until I get it right! Bonus: It's in QuickTime so it works on my Mac. Whoever made that site deserves some kind of award!

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Rozanne,
No problem. I have no RL friends that knit, so I have no one to turn to for questions. It doesn't help that continental knitters are a minority - turning to the Internet for help was only natural.

Rozanne said...

I highly recommend knitting with other knitters as a social activity, especially if food and drink are involved. Maybe there's a Stitch 'n Bitch group in your community you could join? If you're so inclined that is.

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

My LYS has tried to start an SnB, but with little luck. This is one reason why I take so many classes - for the social aspect as well as the learning.