Thursday, October 31, 2013

Three Charts Conquered

I'm very pleased to say that I followed Chart 3 of the Winter Leaves Shawl with hardly a problem.  Somehow one extra stitch appeared in a leaf on one side of the shawl and one less on the other.  I couldn't see where the problems occurred, and taking the rows back once didn't fix it, so I fudged them.  I have to say that on row 15 of Chart 3 make sure you do not increase stitches on either side of the S2K1 because it'll mess up your count.  When I fixed that and proceeded to the next row after increasing stitches at the tip of the leaves, I knit the K1P1 row with my fingers crossed mentally.  Much to my relief it worked out fine.  Now I can knit happily to the end.  I'm going to knit the rib longer.  I think it will look better and I have plenty of yarn.

I may have a solution to the camera problem.  My cousin gave me his smart phone.  I have to buy a battery and a charger for it.  He says it takes photos and plays music, so it will replace two broken pieces of equipment sorely missed.  The battery's not quite as cheap as he thought, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than a new camera.  As for the charger, I'm going to stop at the Ravena Barn to see if it might have one.  I saw a box with a lot of chargers in it when I was down there last time. 

Speaking of which, I have errands to do so I better get going.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Late Night Knitting

I have managed to master Chart 2 of the Winter Leaves Shawl and I am well embarked on Chart 3, although not without mishaps.  Part of the problem may be because I'm knitting late at night, watching something on Netflix.  I wonder which is the problem.  

Most of the errors seem to be a forgotten yo.   There was one place where I wrapped the yarn around twice.  There are also a couple places where the stitch count is off, where I can find no problem in the pattern. I will fix the yo, but I'll have to fudge the stitch count problem since I couldn't see how it came about.  I can't always count or read a pattern correctly late at night, either.  When I see too many potential problems, I put it down until the next day.  Usually at least one problem goes away.  

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Winter Leaves Shawl, Chart 2

I'm currently working Chart 2 of the Winter Leaves Shawl, again.  I became an expert on just about every way to mess up Chart 1.  I finally got it all correct, then starting messing up Chart 2. 

When I first starting knitting lace shawls, I chose a very simple one to start with, and then two more progressively more difficult ones.  It was a very good way to build lace knitting skills.  It's not a good idea to stop knitting lace anything for several months, though.  I think it let me back slide.  In addition, I'm following charts, not a knitted pattern, so some things I have to figure out myself.  

At this point I'd say the important part of Chart 2 is that the count for the stitches on either side of the center stitch is exact, and that you keep an eye on the ends, too.  Never lose sight of the center! 

It's a Cat Thing

When I lived in my previous apartment, one cat liked to climb on top of the cupboards and knock things down.  I had things stored up there that didn't well elsewhere, like fans and curtain roads, so I didn't like this amusement.  It didn't occur to me until watching this video that it was an inbred cat-thing and not just a Tamsin-thing.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Part Way There

I am steadfastly working on the Winter Leaves Shawl.  It's challenging to increase stitches and work in pattern at the same time.  When I stopped to look at the shawl last night, I saw that I did fine on one end, but did something completely different on the other.  I wish the good end was the one on the right so I could copy what I did on the left, but of course it's not.  *Sigh*  If I still had a working camera I would take a picture of the good side before I ripped it back.

I am the type of knitter who will take something back instead of fudging, although not all the time.  My feeling is if I'm only going to knit it once, I'd rather have it correct.  Occasionally on a shawl, despite my best efforts, I will have an extra stitch.  If it's not too noticeable or it doesn't affect the pattern very much, I'll just fix it by knitting two together.

Attention on Catster


My cats' diaries are getting attention lately on Catster.  Catster is a social web site for cat owners.  It has been around a long time and was pay only.  Recently I discovered there's a free membership level now.  For the fun of it I decided to open an account and create profiles for my cats.  People do like to talk about their pets, but not all people want to listen.  It's also an opportunity for me to play around a little with words. 

This past Sunday I received a message that Molly (full name Molly Kayleen) was Catster's Featured Diary of the Day.  She would be featured on the community homepage all day long.  She received many visitors.  Today I was told that Emily (full name Emily Rose) was the Featured Diary of the Day.  Not only that, Midnight was also chosen as one of today's featured diaries and would be displayed all day today at Diary Central. 

What am I doing right here?

Catster: the site for cat lovers

Thursday, October 3, 2013

My MP3 Player

I love my MP3 player.  It's an 8GB Sandisk Fuze which I've had for three years and it looks like it's nearing the end of its useful life.  It is such a wonderful gadget.  It's a life-saving to an insomniac.  When you're doing something physical but boring (housework comes to mind) and are wearing clothes with a pocket, it helps occupy your mind and keeps you going.  I am so sad I'm having trouble with it, since I have no money to replace it.  I might be able to keep it going for a little while.  The problem is that it won't turn off.  The quality of this little thing is excellent.  It's held up to more abuse than I'd like to admit.  Sansa customer service has always been polite and helpful when I've called.  Let's hope something happens soon to enable me to replace it.

Please note I know how to use its and it's correctly.  It's not that difficult, folks.