New Cowl

Cowl Notes from Ravelry page:
I didn’t want to do an all over stitch pattern this time around. Thought about a cable and decided on a center panel of British Moss Stitch:

Row 1: K1, p1

Row 2: P1, k1
over 20 stitches I also made the ribbing deeper.

I also thought I was using Worsted Weight Bare and after winding the second skein realized I am using DK weight. I am getting 6 stitches=1 and 7 rows=1 on Knit Picks Harmony Interchangeables.

I like the stitch definition of the British Moss section. Might use that on cowl 3.

I think I've gone a little cowl mad and on Christmas, too.

DVD's:

Fourth disk of Live on Mars, season 2

Three Midsomer Murders

1 disk of Taggart (great Scottish crime series, if you haven't seen it.)

Watched the entire first (and I think only) season of the Australian cop series, The Strip. Best advertisement for a Queensland holiday I've ever seen. The plots were good; it's just that the writing didn't make you care about the cops. I actually ended up like the "crime boss" character best. If you've seen McLeod's Daughters, several of the actors appear in The Strip and Aaron Jeffrey is a main character.

The Days After and a new cowl

Treated myself to a third of a pound of Yurgicheffe coffee. Oh my. Kenya AA is still my all time favourite coffee variety, but this is a close second.

Below are more pictures of The Day After. The snowdrift that had piled up against the living room window is gone. I wandered out today to get a few supplies (like coffee). The streets (except for the piles of snow) are for the most part clear but tonight is supposed to be colder than the last two (the effect of the snow on the ground and the atmosphere), so I expect in the morning all those damp and wet places on the pavement will be ice.

The large snow covered item that looks like it's next to the buidling is actually the fir tree across the street shown close up in Saturday's post.

We had a few hours Monday morning without heat or hot water, but since 11am yesterday have been toasty and warm. I expect it was the result of everyone being at home instead of at work and the usual pre-holiday laundry washing bonanza. The snow on the hills across the street is sled scarred

I have spent the last three days rearranging my sleep schedule to watch the live broadcast of the start of the Kagyu Monlam led by His Holiness the Karmapa. I was truly expecting it to be a solo experience of watching a web broadcast of the teaching on A Letter to a Friend. Instead there was a chat room intended to report any broadcast difficulties that became a social arena where the online community chatted amongst themselves and with staff attending the Monlam in Bodh Gaya. What a difference it made being able to chat online to others. I now have new Facebook friends and a community of people with whom I have had a shared experience. It was amazing to see HHK live. Particularly to see him intervene in both English and Chinese making sure the translators chose the right words to convey the meaning of his teaching.

I had read the Letter to a Friend before and during the teaching and HHK illuminated and made the concepts real and applicable to everyday life and practice.

Because our online community (there were at times over 500 of us) was so lively and engaged, more of the Monlam teachings will be broadcast live between now and January 1. We had a special gift not shared by those English speakers in attendance at the monastery. In the interest of time, the HHK said there would be no translation of his talk on the environment. One of the online participants translated the main ideas from the Tibetan for us. The work that the Kagyu monasteries are doing to implement HHK’s guidelines is astounding. I failed to get the link to the environmental website for the monasteries but will post it when I do.

Between sleeping and web broadcasts, I have been knitting. I am working on another cowl in Knit Picks Worsted Bare. I continue to beaver away at my first legging (going to do the open heel tonight.) Piccys tomorrow.

Toupie has for the most part been very good with the topsy-turvy schedule of the past three days. It did help that the second teaching of the day started at our normal getting out of bed time, but we’re usually in bed for good by 9:00. He didn’t make too much of a fuss about getting up at 10:30 for three hours.

One news item struck me: Prince William spent the night out in an alley in London to draw attention to the plight of the homeless. Good on you! Although the news item didn’t mention security, I’m sure it was there. But as the charity campaigner who accompanied the prince pointed out, there was no shielding the prince from the cold of the night or the hardness of the ground.

The Blizzard of December 2009

You've heard about it folks; maybe some of you have been out in it. Here's a pictoral record covering from about 7:30am until about 13:50pm 19 December 2009

This is the view from above, standing in the street, looking at my snow covered feet with the hem of my coat resting on top of the snow.

This is a fir tree.

This is a fir tree.

The walkway from the back door. People were actually out cleaning off their cars. Others were off with various devices heading for some sleding and sliding down the hill that leads down to the park.

This morning between 7 and 8 when the snowfall really started to become heavy.

The brown line of bricks under the window that you can see in this picture from this morning are now completely obscured by snow. It occurred to me about noon, that living on the first floor, I could have snow up to my window sills.

Saturday Night between 19:30 and 20:00

The Cowl and some random photos

Toupie on top of the bookcase in front of the computer The books I look at while I compute.

Someone in this apartment keeps playing with the picture on the wall. I wonder who?

This is the view of the atrium at work that I have when I leave my desk. This is me in the cowl in front of my pod.

Another me in the cowl in front of my pod.

Lots of compliments on the the cowl today, which exceeded all expectations. It was a cold day and less windy than yesterday, but I was perfectly snug. I wore a scarf but really didn't need it. I was able to easily pull the cowl down when I boarded an overheated bus (no hat to keep track of) So, I'm thinking of frogging the scarf I started last night and going straight to legwarmers.

It is predicted we will get a metre of snow tomorrow. If I can lasso a neighbor, look for snow angel piccys.

The Cowl is Finished

Except for blocking and weaving in the ends. Click here to see the pictures and my comments on Ravelry. Will post pictures tomorrow.

DPNS and Sari Silk from the Source

I'm testing picture placement.
The first photo is recycled sari silk given to me as a present by a colleague who went home to Nepal in October. This photo shows legwarmers on double-pointed needles.

Two more rounds on the cowl!

The Magic Loop Mastered

I feel like Mike from A Chorus Line: I Can Do That. And what am I knitting? Toeless leg warmers. I’m taking a bit from two different patterns and improvising. Magic Loop eliminates the fiddly start that sometimes happens to me with dpns (I have yet to see the Elizabeth Zimmerman video where the dpns keep falling on the floor.)

The cowl should be finished tonight and I’ll have pictures tomorrow.

My next goal: starting socks on two circular needles.

Magic Loop

I've been fussing with a problem and have finally arrived at a solution. Since I do a lot of my knitting during my commute and the next items I want to knit are legwarmers and fingerless gloves, AND the thought of wielding five double pointed needles on the bus would

a) probably damage my knitting
b) result in the unintenional stabbing of a fellow passenger
c) send me scrambling on the floor of the bus for a dropped needle

I started looking for an alternative. For non-knititng readers, double-pointed needles are used for knitting small circumferences, although you can knit any item in the round on double-pointed needles. Traditional ganseys were knitted on long, thin steel pins (precursor of the double pointed needle). I actually enjoy knitting on five needles. It's a challenge sometimes getting started but to me, if you are knitting a lot of stitches on dpns moving from needle to needle seems to make the work go faster than using a circular needled.

I first considered knitting in the round on two circular needles. One of the problems of knitting on the bus is keeping arm and hand movements to a minimum so you aren't constantly elbowing the person next to you (something people texting or sending emails on their pdas need to master). I've learned to always sit on an inside seat where my throwing arm is next to the side of the bus to minimize this issue. I finally settled on using the magic loop technique, using one long circular needled to knit in the round. I'm currently getting the hang of it with a skein of sock yarn.

Will post results soon.

Another Cake-filled Weekend

Put the yarn winder through its paces over the weekend:

Using the green skein to make a scarf for my green coat. Nothing fancy, just straight stockinette.