An Experiment with Texture in Knitting

Once again, I find myself with lots of available time at my call center job while waiting for a client to call in. A couple of months ago, I promised myself that I would learn a couple of new knitting or crochet patterns this year. I'm definitely working on it, so I figured it's time to share the two latest patterns I've learned for knitting.

As I've stated before, I'm not all that adventurous when it comes to knitting... yet. I know the basics of knit and purl (a reverse knit, for those of you who were curious), and I know a couple of basic patterns ... a scarf and a pair of slippers, for example. However, I've never ventured far into patterns, and frankly textures like cable knit and patterns like sweaters or baby booties scare me. I just don't feel I have the skill to do them justice... yet. That said, I have been experimenting with texture. Both of these have ended up as scarves, because that's one of the easiest things to do when learning a new pattern texture.

This first pattern I took straight off of the Internet. It's a basic basket weave pattern that I made with either size 7 US or size 9 US needles, I don't remember which. (My size 7 needles broke after 20+ years, and I might have done this on either pair.)

Anyway, here's the photo of the pattern I got from the Internet:

Basket weave pattern example

For this pattern, make sure you cast on in groups of eight stitches until you reach the desired length.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: *Knit 4, Purl 4*, repeat between the * to end of row
Rows 3 - 6: Same as row 2
Row 7: Knit
Row 8: *Purl 4, Knit 4*, repeat between the * to end of row
Rows 9 - 12: Same as row 8
Repeat these twelve rows until the length of the scarf is the desired length.
Knit a row, and then cast off.

Here's my example:

Jill's Basket weave Scarf

The second pattern I've worked on is a diamond pattern. I've seen this pattern in all sorts of things - mainly sweaters - and I wanted to try it. Again, this is a simple alternating between knit and purl stitches. I figured I'd start it from scratch. Of course, now I've been told that there is an app for this. Figures, huh? Anyway, here's  an image from my brainstorming session:

Whiteboard Brainstorming Session

This is the one I'm working on now, and my coworkers can tell you how many times I've undone this scarf until I got it the way I wanted it. Part of the problem was that I'd either forget where I was in the pattern (and therefore mess it up) or I thought it was the wrong width, or it looked too squashed. Here's the pattern I ended up with for the scarf:

Cast on in multiples of 10 until you reach the desired length, and then add a stitch. Mine is 31 stitches wide, and I'm working on my size 9 US needles.

Row 1: Knit 5, Purl 1, *Knit 9, Purl 1*, Repeat between the * until you have just 5 stitches left, Knit 5
Row 2: Purl 5, Knit 1, *Purl 9, Knit 1*, Repeat between the * until you have just 5 stitches left, Purl 5
Row 3: Knit 4, Purl 3, *Knit 7, Purl 3*, Repeat between the * until you have just 4 stitches left, Knit 4
Row 4: Purl 4, Knit 3, *Purl 7, Knit 3*, Repeat between the * until you have just 4 stitches left, Purl 4
Row 5: Knit 3, Purl 5, *Knit 5, Purl 5*, Repeat between the * until you have just 3 stitches left, Knit 3
Row 6: Purl 3, Knit 5, *Purl 5, Knit 5*, Repeat between the * until you have just 3 stitches left, Purl 3
Row 7: Knit 2, Purl 7, *Knit 3, Purl 7*, Repeat between the * until you have just 2 stitches left, Knit 2
Row 8: Purl 2, Knit 7, *Purl 3, Knit 7*, Repeat between the * until you have just 2 stitches left, Purl 2
Row 9: Knit 1, Purl 9, *Knit 1, Purl 9*, Repeat between the * until you have just 1 stitch left, Knit 1
Row 10: Purl 1, Knit 9, *Purl 1, Knit 9*, Repeat between the * until you have just 1 stitch left, Purl 1

This is the build-up of the diamonds that start on Row 1 with a purl. As you can probably see, the even numbered rows are the reverse of the odd rows' patterns. This is because unless you add the second row, the pattern ends up looking squished. (OK, I stole this idea from a pattern book, but it works!)

Now it's time to do the reverse...

Row 11: Knit 2, Purl 7, *Knit 3, Purl 7*, Repeat between the * until you have just 2 stitches left, Knit 2
Row 12: Purl 2, Knit 7, *Purl 3, Knit 7*, Repeat between the * until you have just 2 stitches left, Purl 2
Row 13: Knit 3, Purl 5, *Knit 5, Purl 5*, Repeat between the * until you have just 3 stitches left, Knit 3
Row 14: Purl 3, Knit 5, *Purl 5, Knit 5*, Repeat between the * until you have just 3 stitches left, Purl 3
Row 15: Knit 4, Purl 3, *Knit 7, Purl 3*, Repeat between the * until you have just 4 stitches left, Knit 4
Row 16: Purl 4, Knit 3, *Purl 7, Knit 3*, Repeat between the * until you have just 4 stitches left, Purl 4
Row 17: Knit 5, Purl 1, *Knit 9, Purl 1*, Repeat between the * until you have just 5 stitches left, Knit 5
Row 18: Purl 5, Knit 1, *Purl 9, Knit 1*, Repeat between the * until you have just 5 stitches left, Purl 5

Now you just keep flipping back and forth. In other words, repeat the pattern between rows 3 and 18 until you reach the desired length, then cast off.

As I mentioned before, I'm still working on this scarf, but here's an image of what I have so far...

Well, that's it for this post folks! See you 'round the Internet.

Cutting Back

Like many people in the current economy, I am what is known as "under-employed". I'm not unemployed, but I'm not making as much money as I used to with a day job that pays less per hour ... and no vacation time, sick time, holiday pay or medical benefits for six months. That means cutbacks. So where to start?

In my case, I decided to drop the satellite TV.

My contract with my satellite provider expired a couple of months ago, and when I looked at my finances (or lack thereof), I realized that I could no longer afford to pay over $200 a month for television services. Between broadcast television and my large DVD and BluRay collection, I decided we could weather it.

There are a whole lot of options out there for someone who doesn't want to pay a satellite television or cable television provider. First of all, there is the option of broadcast television. Ok, so I don't get to see the cable television shows when they are first broadcast ... which is going to be hard then the new seasons of Doctor Who and The Walking Dead begin.

If I wait for a while, new seasons of my favorite shows usually show up on Netflix and I get an e-mail when they arrive. The Netflix service is $7.99 per month for either streaming television or DVD by mail, and another $7.99 if I choose both options That's quite a savings from that satellite bill. Then there's Hulu.

Hulu.com allows you to watch full episodes of the current season of popular shows via the Web without a subscription fee. These episodes usually come out the day after the original broadcast... which is much more tolerable than waiting six months to a year for the full season to become available on Netflix. HuluPlus is a subscription service that allows this same service to be connected to smart phones, game consoles, and tablets. The price for this service is $7.99. There is also a one-week free trial. Even combined with both Netflix services, this will be cheaper than the cable bill. The only real downside is that I don't know how long current episodes remain on Hulu.

Plus there is always YouTube. Many game consoles and smart phones have YouTube apps. Somebody is usually posting clips of television shows or movies, not to count the large supply of music videos - professional or amateur, official or unofficial - that are on the service. You don't have to have a subscription to view a video, but you will want one if you ever intend to post anything. I've found many a Doctor Who "Children In Need" Christmas special on YouTube.

I was recently told about another video service. Vudu is a free app for smart phones, tablets, PCs and gaming consoles. This service allows you to rent or buy movies and have them streamed to any compatible device. If you have movies on DVD or BluRay in your collection that have an "Ultraviolet" code, you can also add those to your Vudu file. I figure this is worth a shot, so I decided to sign up. The confirmation e-mail said I got several free movies, but I haven't tried to get one yet... I'm thinking about Men In Black 3 and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as two of those options.

So as you see, there are lots of options for your television viewing pleasure if you decide to drop the cable or satellite television services. The only thing I am really going to miss is the DVR.

The Problem With New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! This time of year everybody seems to want to do New Year's resolutions. I have a bit problem with those. The problem is that I never seem to follow through on them. If you are like me, you set New Year's resolutions because you want to improve your life a little bit in the coming year. How many of us actually follow through on these goals?

A friend of mine posted an article on Facebook from CRACKED.com titled 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person (thanks, Rex!). It spoke about how people don't really care what education you have or what kind of person you are, they really only care about what you can do for them.

The other day I listened to Dr. Matt Woolley, a licensed clinical psychologist practicing in Sale Lake City and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Utah, speak about this same subject... how New Year's Resolutions are "lame". They are lame because unless you really care about the resolution (or goal), you are not going to follow through on it, that just sets us up for failure. (By the way, you can catch Dr. Matt's wisdom on The Shrink Show website and podcast, and he is also a frequent guest on 101.9 The End's morning show.)

The trick is to make your goals achievable, to write them down, to really believe in them, and most of all to FOLLOW THROUGH! It's the following through bit that I generally have problems with. That said, I'm still going to try.

This year I have decided not to set any New Year's resolutions, but to actually DO something.

So, in answer to the question "What are my New Year's Resolutions", I resolutely say "none". However, I do have the following goals for 2013:

• Keep an active blog with a minimum of one post per week (how am I doing so far?)
• Learn a couple of new patterns for knitting or crochet
• Learn Adobe Photoshop (I already have the program)
• and the big one, Get a better day job