Sunday Ramble

Still here, still knitting. Monogamously and slowly. I've made it to seven repeats of the Myrtle Leaf stole. The lifelines, which are inserted every six rows, have only been needed once; which is a sign I'm improving! Only 33 repeats and the border to do in less than eleven weeks! Some days I don't knit at all so that doesn't help.

I've not been well - not sick - just not feeling 'well'. Extremely tired, down but not out - I'm sure you know what I mean. It's the end of the academic year and assessments are underway, which means marking and making decisions re grades - not the most glamorous part of my usually interesting job. And then there's the paperwork! I thought computers were supposed to make life easier?!

But, look on the bright side: there are only three weeks left of TAFE, and four weeks at the community college. Then I have an eight week break, or eight weeks without pay, whichever you prefer. I prefer the former because I need the break. WM has a regular income and we're used to my 'seasonal' wages.

Then there's Christmas for which I am nowhere near ready, and the wedding, which is almost completely organised; you see, I have my priorities straight! LOL

It's an easy Christmas for us in many ways; WM's family gathers the Sunday before Christmas. We hosted last year so this year we just pack some meat for the barbecue, drinks, some coleslaw and a cheesecake [so 70s] and travel to another sibling's home. Easy-peasy [as my students used to say in the 70s]. Then my family's Christmas will be at my sister's house - 500km away; the travel is the worst part. WM has Christmas Eve off as part of his normal roster, so that makes life easier. We'll drive up on Wednesday, stay in a 2-bedroom cabin at the local caravan park, spend Christmas Day and the morning of Boxing Day with the family and drive home in the afternoon; WM has to work on the Saturday.

As for the wedding: nearly everything is done; of course, there are still some little things - the seating plan [can't do that till we know who's coming], the order of service [when DD and SIL2B make up their minds] and the mother-of-the-bride's dress: yeah, that's me. I hate clothes shopping and am trying to lose weight by watching what I eat [sort of - really, I'm too tired to care] and vigilantly walking 10,000+ steps a day every day. The walking is supposed to help cure the tiredness too; the theory is "energy creates energy"! Hmmm!

Enough rambling; I'm off to work on Myrtle.

Are we tired of lace yet?

On Monday night I started, yet again, on the Myrtle Leaf Stole. I put a life-line in the last foundation row before pattern begins. I knitted Row One and Two and Three and Four and Five and Six with nary a dropped stitch! Aren't we all pleased?

Row Seven marks the half way point of the first pattern repeat [there are 40 repeats for the centre panel]. I inserted my lifeline as I knitted - still no dropped stitches but the yarn was snagging even more than usual. I tugged - too hard: the dental tape cut through my yarn! I frogged it all in disgust!

DD will wind the second skein [just as well I bought two] so I can start again.

Lace Hint #3: use dental floss not dental tape for lifelines - tape is too thick causing overly tight tension [gauge] and snagging with possible dire consequences.

The lace saga continues

Thanks all for the lace hints. Myrtle Leaf is not a difficult pattern, it's easily memorised and I travel along quite well while everything is under control. It's not the knitting that's hard, it's not even hard to drop stitches! ;-) I seem to do that intermittently on SSP when I have to purl through the back of two stitches. It's the finding of those teeny-tiny little loops and putting it all back together that's difficult.

Thanks especially to Rose Red for the hint about the lifeline when using Knitpicks. Knitting the lifeline in was a lot easier than threading a tapestry needle though those itty-bitty stitches! I found a hint that dental floss made a good lifeline so that's what I used.

Another challenge has been the needles themselves - the work doesn't slide as I'm used to when using thicker yarn and metal needles. I'm using Harmony needles and the yarn is so fine it jams where the wood meets the metal, where the metal and cable end join [yes it's done up correctly] and where the cable meets the metal [especially on WS rows]!

"Ah the joy, ah the fun, now the wedding stole knitting has begun."
[paraphrased from Chad Morgan's "Bogga Wogga Wedding"]