Circular Knitting - I'll Stick to the Old Fashioned Methods

Last night Kaedean taught the Guild's circular knitting workshop and I was simply a basketcase. I don't know what was wrong with me - maybe the large glass of wine without dinner was the culprit - but I was all thumbs. I sat with Kaedean's mother and the poor lady had to put up with me knitting on the wrong needles and going backwards.

I was quite interested in the Magic Loop and knitting with 2 circulars techniques. Both of them were rather easy, actually. Of the two I'd say that Magic Loop is the less confusing once you figure out which "side" you are knitting at any given time. Plus there's only one needle. Two circulars would be a good method for knitting 2 socks at the same time and that's about it. I found this tutorial by Sheron Goldin on it that I will try because I love, love, love learning new techniques. However, I would probably not use 2 circs for anything else besides socks.

A few more notes about last night's meeting. First, it was the second time that I was in a Guild meeting with Lorna Miser. She is the founder of Lorna's Laces and now operates under Lorna Miser Designs. She wouldn't know me from Adam but I was thrilled to be in a class with her. And she was so nice. Second, Beth C., who is one of the lovely people, talked to me about the importance of doing what you love. For me that would be writing. Beth - now that I know you read my blog - thank you. And third, Kaedean is a wonderful instructor. Her lace doily is a thing of beauty.

While I was at the Guild workshop meeting, work was still being done back at the ranch. Karl made a contraption to keep the voles out of our veggie patch. They have already nibbled on the eggplant and peppers since Saturday, but the freak hailstorm on Monday slowed them down. Last night Karl fashioned a barrier of netting and PVC pipes around the vegetable box. He actually sewed up the netting using 10lb fishing line. Can you believe this guy??? The solar copper fountain we ordered also came in. We set that up easily, but now there's a problem. The tinny sound of water on metal reminded me too much of a drippy toilet. Ack! The fountain really looks nice...it's in the shape of a bird bath with a copper ball on top. We bought matching landscape copper balls to put in the garden (sounds kooky but it looks good). However if the fountain will always remind me of a toilet, I will not spend any time in my backyard. So we're in the evaluation phase.

All right, the wine is affecting me. Karl and I (mostly me) have been consuming an average of 3 bottles per week. That's a lot for us (me). Tonight we're (I'm) finishing up the third of 3 bottles of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay from the Marlborough region in New Zealand. I found them at Cost Plus. We spent a couple days in Nelson/Marlborough during my sabbatical last year, and drinking this wine brings back those good memories....like how we were stopped for a DUI check...but anyway....

Hope you are having a good week so far. Keep knitting and smiling.