Joined

I grafted the two ends of my scarf almost invisibly (picture soon) after reading several pages of The Principles of Knitting, by June Hemmons-Hiatt. It's a big book with close to 600 pages, but the writing is tight - before reading the instructions about grafting, the author set some pre-reading from earlier pages.

Hemmons Hiatt has an entertaining, authoritative voice along the same lines as Elizabeth Zimmerman.

My friend Paul writes for comedians, so he is always on the lookout for gags and punchlines. When he was browsing my bookshelf, he saw my copy of the book.
'The Principles of Knitting!' he chortled, 'wasn't that banned?'

Well, it is as rare as a banned book. The book was published in the 1980s and has been in scarce supply ever since. Rumours of a new edition sparks lots of anticipation on knitters' sites. Check out some of the prices for used copies here.

I didn't tell Paul the price that it is selling for on Amazon, in case he decided to abduct the book as a joke.

Mindful Knitting

Sitting and knitting did for me what sitting quietly didn't. I lasted about 5 minutes over three days. On the first day, the Philosopher Cat (pictured below) tracked me down for a cuddle as I was sitting quietly - a privilege because she generally keeps to herself. She never stays long, and when she had departed, I picked up my knitting and I focused on the pattern as a mantra.

The pattern is for a scarf with frilled ends. It’s my own creation, or as much as anything one knits can be one’s own creation. The ends have a Christmas bell kind of look, it is in a very Christmassy red 8 ply (double knitting/worsted) – a strange choice of activity and project for an unusually warm and humid post-Christmas Melbourne summer.

After quite a bit of unraveling (myself and the yarn) I’m close to grafting the two ends of the scarf together. I am quite familiar with Kitchener Stitch, particularly using it to graft seamless toes for socks, but information on grafting patterned (rib and purl) stitches is more of a challenge.

All over the shop

Such a splendid saying - I wonder where it came from. I have some suspicions.

New year, same old me. I find that am I identifying a little too much with John M. Wagner's Maxine, particularly her attitude to daily organisation. I'm thinking specifically of 11am, but not just that.

Rather than clean my desk today, I volunteered to do the household shopping. How desperate is that! First stop was the newsagent, where I bought a lifestyle magazine that featured an article on the benefits of meditating with a brief outline of how to do it.

A few years ago I bought a book about knitting meditation, Mindful Knitting. I loved reading it and then gave it away to someone who I thought would go beyond reading about it.

Tomorrow I will sit still for twenty minutes and give the method outlined in the magazine a trial.