Flitting Around

I spent over an hour at the physiotherapist’s this morning. I go every so often for a “tune-up” on my stiff neck and shoulders etc. Today I had a new physio who is really into teaching me some new exercises and better posture. What she doesn’t know is that I do the best I can with anatomy I’ve been given and there is only mitigation not cure for any of the problems. I’ll be good and try to follow her recommendations though. Unfortunately I never go until it’s somewhat past where I should have gone. I’m suffering a bit this evening from being poked hard, but it’s my own fault. I’ve been tortured for my own good.

I finally broke down and got a whole pile of new books from Chapters/Indigo and there’s one left that’s on its way. The good news is that’s it’s way cheaper to buy books this way but the bad news is that you can’t see them first. You also have to wait for them to come but you can take them back to the local store if it’s not what you wanted. I’ve done pretty well and am enjoying them all so far. Bibliophiles Anonymous isn’t getting me for a new member any time soon! I like my addiction…er, habit….er, gratification too much. This here blog isn’t called Damselfly’s Delights for nothin’, ya know!

One of the new books I bought is called Hand Knitting: New Directions by Alison Ellen. It’s not as earth-shatteringly novel as Debbie New’s Unexpected Knitting but it does have its interesting points for the structure geeks (like me). Unfortunately the patterns included are not as interesting as the rest of the text would indicate. The sweaters are rather basic shapes with no fitting (not even set-in sleeves!) which is becoming more the modern norm these days. They might go at a different angle but they are not photographed on a human model so I would hesitate to follow them exactly. I do like the hats though, but then I love hats in general.

Another knitting book I got is Dyeing to Knit by Elaine Eskesen, subtitled “How to use – and create your own – beautiful hand-dyed yarns”. I haven’t read it thoroughly yet but it looks like it has info on dyeing (which I don’t need of course but that’s ok), on colour and inspiration, a fair amount on suggestions of what to do with your dye-painted yarns, and a few rather simply-shaped patterns. At least they’re photographed on real people. One garment I noticed that’s got some possibilities is a vest with a gathered stitch, like ruching. This could be interesting for something though maybe not this vest shape. I’m looking for some different stitches to use with handpainted yarns besides plain knit which gets kind of boring after the n’th iteration. Looking forward to reading this one more closely.

More later. You don’t want to know how much I can spend on books all at once, do you? I just spent several hours covering them with clear adhesive plastic. Just like a real library! But with more craft books than my local library has.

Project notes: I’ve got the yarn wound into balls now for the Pomatomus socks. Every little step is a step forward! I’ve also got fairly far down the legs of T-Mans grey marl socks. That’s TV knitting. And I’ve just about decided to frog the Jaywalker socks that have been languishing lately. I’m not happy with the fit. I might overdye the yarn a bit too. I kind-of liked the colours originally but the two balls don’t match at all well. They were dyed in the ball which leaves the inside of the balls much lighter than the outsides. Which would be ok if they were more the same but they’re not working for me. Better to send ’em to the frog pond than to ignore them forever. There’s more but it’s late and I’m tired.