All for the sake of a ball?

Sometimes the ability of the human mind to rationalize is astounding. Actually I mean the ability not to rationalize. Last sunday I was out walking Archie in the golf course. Now, usually he likes to carry his ball in his mouth. Given that the all is worth $5 I really take great pains to make sure we end our walk with the ball still with us. Well, this time as we got close to the end of the course, Archie took off onto the frozen ( and not frozen) pond. He has done this before. This time however, he dropped the ball in the unfrozen part. It slipped just a bit under the ice. I tried to see if he would get it since he was in the water anyways but he did not.

Well the next morning we returned to the scene of the crime. This time I had a long stick. As we approached, I could see the bright orange ball, floating on the surface but it had moved a bit farther into the middle of the pond. Although that nagging feeling told me to not do what I was going to do next, I of course ignored it. Archie had been on the pond many times before, and sometimes he even broke through but got right out.

This time was different though. As he got to the edge of where the water was no longer frozen, the ice cracked and his front legs slid into the water. His entire head submerged. I was freaked. Then his whole body went in. He turned to get out but the ice cracked and he could not get out. There he was in the middle of the pond, with his front paws on the ice and the rest in the water. We were isolated with no one else around.

I thought for a second and then just acted. I got down on my belly and spread my hands and legs out. I knew this was stupid but what choice was there. I slowly inched my way closer to the opening, hoping that the ice would hold even though Archie weighs less by half and it did not hold him. I got close enough to where I could grab a hold of his collar and then heaved. He came up and out of the water. I slowly backed up and miraculously made it back to the shore. We were both soaked.

How stupid was I that all for the sake of a $5 ball, we would try this stunt. How stubborn are we men that we refuse to let some ideas(like getting a ball back) die. Luckily we were both wet but fine. We hightailed it home and then dried off.

Let's hope that my stupidity level does not rise that high again.

As for knitting, I have not posted much on Ravelry but have finished quite a few projects. I hope to get some pictures.

I finished my first double knit hat with a different pattern on the both sides, I also finished my Aeolian shawl and am just waiting to block. This is for my daughter-in-laws wedding. I also did a quick toque to replace the one I had lost, and a pair of socks.

I am know at that point where I am not sure what I want to knit next. Hmmmn. Sometimes there are so many patterns and no time and then other times, hmmmmn. Well I guess it will come to me.

The Girls and Me

A few weeks back I gave a free seminar at Unwind Yarn showing the techniques to do double knitting. I want to thank the 30 plus ladies who all showed up eager to learn this new thing.

Now just to be clear, I am not talking about stranded knitting, which in down east is also called double knitting. No, in this case we are talking about knitting both a front and back at the same time on the same needles.

I had tried this a few times, but got the idea after it got cold walking my dog. So I decided to knit a two layer mitten. The outside layer was Cascade 220, which I figure would be fairly hardy and look good. The inside was done with Misti Alpaca worsted. This was for it's warmth and extreme softness.

I must say I had a great time teaching this method, and the girls were all eager and fantastic to work with. Each one had success at learning this style. I have even seen a few of the ladies try their own double knit mitten.

It's great to learn new things, and even better to share them with friends. That's what I consider all of you girls who came out. Afterall, when you spend 2 hours with people doing something you love how can you leave at the end of the night and not be friends. Thanks ladies. You always make it a pleasure to teach and I always learn something from all of you.

Archie and Me -

 Who would have thought that one dog, rescued a short while ago would become such a good friend in so short a time frame. Yes that's my dog Archie. And this past few months he has certainly been up to some hi-jinx.

It started last month after I had taken him into a forest area for a walk. Archie loves these walks cause he can run into the woods and then come out somewhere down the path and run back to me. After our walk, while we were back home, I noticed him licking at his arm. A closer look showed that he had somehow taken a good chunk of skin off.  I quickly called the vet, and a while later, Archie had gotten himself his first set of stitches. He had 4 to be exact. Along with a bunch of pills, and a taped up arm, I was also given the "Cone of Shame". For those of you with dogs, you know that is the big plastic cone that goes over the dogs head and prevents him from getting at his wound.

I really did not want to put this on him, so instead pledged to keep him with me at all times. The first night worked well, and the next day I took him to work. Later that day however, when I went to the washroom, he promptly took off his bandage. Of course this meant going back to the vet to have it re-wrapped.

Archie and Toulouse wondering how to get at my daughters pet rats.

Again I pledged to keep him in my site, but of course later that night I awoke to the sound of Archie pulling off the second bandage. I had to face the fact that the "Cone of Shame" was the only choice. So with a sad heart I put it on him. Well, the look on his face nearly broke my heart. I don't think I have ever seen a dog look so despondent. All night long he just walked around the bedroom, bumping into things with this space sized cone, and then back over to my bed he would come. His head resting on my bed he just sighed and stared at me with the saddest eyes.

I am please to say however, that after that night, I took the cone off and the bandage and found that without the bandage he would leave the wound alone.
The second problem was that he was on limited walks. This meant that after a day or two he was incredibly rangy. This multiplied each day. Well, to make a long story a bit shorter, his leg healed and I paid a fair sized vet bill.

Now we were back in business, so off we went for a walk in the golf course. Archie, ran ahead and as I got closer so that he was scuffling with something. It looked like a large rat, but I think it was a groundhog. The two went at it for a bit before I finally got him away. As I pulled him away, I noticed that he was bleeding. The groundhog had been able to land a couple nice bites on Archie's face. Again I called the vet and again set out to have him looked at.

As I was driving to the vet, I remembered something else. Something I forgot to tell you. You see, early that day my SO decided that she was going to pain Archie's nail a metallic Blue. Now of course I had said many times before, "please don't paint the dogs toenails". Of course you can see how much this was listened to. Now as I neared the vet I thought about how I was going to explain my big manly dog having "Blue Nail Polish". I didn't now who would be more embarassed, me or Archie. Well, in the end the wounds were not too deep and back home we went. Another large vet bill and another rehabing dog.

Finally today, I felt that he was recovered enough to brave another walk in the golf course. I prayed that the groundhog was no longer there. And to my delight he was nowhere to be found. But of course that isn't the end of it. Archie took off running, and the next thing I know he is chasing something. Something just as fast. Yes, he had found a fox and the two were moving at quite a fast speed. My heart dropped. What next.

Well, I don't know how the fox did it but he lost the dog and got away, Of course Archie, running through some trees had ripped his scab and was bleeding again. And off to home we went so I could clean up the wound.

Yes, it has been an eventful few months with my dog. I do think however, we will stay away from the golf course for a few weeks.

Finally

I have tried for over a year to knit a pair of warm mittens for my daughter in her school colours. Last year I knit two pairs. The first were stranded and the second one used an inner and outer lining. Both times I just did a simple home made design. While she appreciated my effort on both I could tell by the look on her face that neither was something she was going to wear. Yes, sadly they would end up in the same box as the hat I made for her.

Crushed.....well not that bad. So this year I decided that I would follow a pattern. I chose the "Salt and Pepper" mittens from Robin Hanson's book, FAVORITE MITTENS. This has been my favorite mitten book. I have knit the checkerboard and the striped mittens, so this would be my third

It is a simple stranded project that alternates colors. This means you don't have to worry about long floats. I added a third color to match my daughter's school colors. I really liked the way they turned out and guess what. SHE DID TOO>..YAHOOOOOOOOO

I have told many people that this is a great book for mittens. The only thing is that some of the instructions are hard to get when you read them. What you have to do really is just follow what she says, word for word, stitch for stitch. When you do this it works out and then it all makes sense.

Of course, given my success I went out and got some more school colors, eager to start knitting the "Newsprint Cowl" using the new Two color Brioche technique I just wrote about.

And yes, you can guess, when I told her about she again rolled her eyes and said, "Dad, don't you think I have enough school color stuff". Yes, after spending another $60 I was again back at square one. She instead just wanted something in Off White.

Oh, well, I guess someone else will just be the recipient of the new cowl.

Kids, SHeeesh

New Brioche E-Video

I was lucky to be chosen as one of a few to review a new Video E-book on Brioche Knitting. This book was done on Ravelry by "Liatm".

I have done some basic Brioche before I had reviewed this book. Basically a flat scarf in one colour. Brioche stitch makes a fantastically plush and elastic fabric great for all sorts of things. It was with great interest that I began to review this e-book.

First off, Liatm takes each step and illustrates the instructions with a close up and clear video. She moves slowly and explains really clearly what she wants you to do. It starts off with a cast on, and then with a set up row. She then moves into a basic stitch knit flat, and then in the round.

The real fun begins when she introduces a second colour in the round. This makes a great looking fabric. There is also a few suggestions for patterns. Finally she ends off with knitting the stitch flat.

I have to give this high marks in the way that she moves through each area. Perhaps the best part of the whole book, in my mind, is that she takes the time to explain how to READ your stitches on the needle.

Many people who love Brioche, hate the fact that when they make a mistake it can be so difficult to fix it and get back on track. By showing her viewers how to READ the stitches, she solves this problem. Now you can see a mistake before it gets to the point of no return. And better yet you can fix it.

I am just checking my stash so that I can cast on a two colour brioche hat or cowl. Can't wait to see how it goes.

If you have ever wanted to try this great stitch then I highly recommend that you get this book. You can find it at KNITfreedom in the Brioche Videos area.

Good luck with it and thanks to Liatm for a great job.

Every Piece Has a Story

It's funny how every piece that I knit seems to have it's own story. Case in point. I decided to try my hand at knitting another sweater. I have only knit one so far in my short knitting life. It was a baby sweater. It wasn't for me, obviously, but I just wanted to learn how to knit one. It turned out pretty good but I haven't knit one since. One of the main reasons is that I don't really wear sweaters. The last one I wore was one that my mom knit for me.

Well, I finally got my SO to come with me to the LYS and pick out a pattern and some yarn. The pattern was pretty easy and I couldn't wait to get started. The first problem was that I was having a hard time getting gauge. The pattern was 6 st per inch, and suggested 4mm needles. Well I started my swatch and found that I had to go down a needle. Then another needle size and then another until I found myself knitting my swatch on 2.5 mm needles. Yes that would be fine if I was knitting a sock, but this was a sweater. How on earth could I knit a sweater on 2.5mm. Yes you guessed it, I can't. So I switched from my regular continental and tried out Portuguese knitting. This worked better although I was still on 3mm needles. So be it, if that is what it had to be then I was game.

The pattern was pretty much all "Moss Stitch" which mostly meant a ribbing type of deal. For continental this was easy but not as much fun with  PK. Oh well, if that is what the knitting gods wanted who was I but a mere knitting mortal to argue.

Things went well and I finally got to the part where I was going to do a 3 needle bind off on the shoulder seams. No problem and so I went ahead and did it. The problem was that I forgot to make sure the "right sides" were facing. Yes, now I had a big seam ridge on each shoulder. Of course that would not do so I pulled out the seams, turned the pieces around and then seamed it up again. There, now that was finished. Well of course is wasn't.  You see when I was shaping the shoulder I did not follow pattern on the last few short rows so here I had a moss stitch sweater with this ugly stockinette part near the seams. I thought about it. Who would notice. Would it really matter. Let's just keep going. And as I had these thoughts I could feel the knitting gods glaring down at me. It was like having a good angel in one ear and a bad in the other. I knew that I could not let this be. If I kept going this sweater would end up on the bottom of some drawer or closet with no friends and nowhere to go.

So, for the second time I ripped out the seams. Then I knit back on each of the short row pieces and of course that meant three pieces. And then knit it back up in pattern. And finally seamed it all back up. Whew.....now I could move on to the border ribbing.

Well I picked up 300 stitches around the neck line and began to rib. I could see the finish line clearly in sight. I couldn't wait as I ribbed the border with extra ferocity. I got about 1.5" of it done when I noticed there was a ridge where the border started. Hmmmn?  I turned the piece inside out and of course you know what I saw, or rather didn't see. A ridge. So back into my ear went the good and bad people. Keep it, RIP IT OUT, Keep it, RIP IT OUT. I knew what I had to do. So once again I ripped out hours of work. I then proceeded to pick up 300 stitches, but this time on the proper side of the work. And this time there were no ridges. I have really come to hate ridges.

So now I am almost finished the ribbing. Almost done. Yes, it seems every piece seems to have a story. Some story's are not as great. But in the end, when you look at the finished piece you know the trials and tribulations that you shared. And in someway I guess this brought us closer.

Couldn't Help Myself

Last time I talked about picking up a new foster dog. Well, now he is my adopted dog. I really couldn't help myself. Actually he had me from the time he sat with his rump on the back seat, his front paws on the ground with his head sticking through on the console. What a great dog. I take him everywhere and am really glad I kept him. Archie is his name. Don't remember if I said it last blog. Anyways, he really makes me happy, even if I do have to get up every morning early just to walk him Even in the winter.

I thought I would be near the end of my sampler blanket for my daughter, but looking at it I really think I should go just a bit more. You know how you get tired of the project and then want it to end. So you talk yourself into that the blanket is large enough. And then you end it. And you are so happy until......you realize that it really was not big enough. Of course you know that before but you are so busy convincing yourself otherwise that you just pretend it's okay. Well this time I am not going to pretend. I am not going to end it yet. Nope...Bigger and bigger it goes until it really makes one great cover my daughter from head to toe and even more blanket. She is off to year 2 of University soon so I gotta get going.