Scoliosis in the family tree

Scoliosis was pretty easy to live with when it didn't hurt. Somehow, with all the twisting and bending of my spine, it didn't hurt until I got older and probably more inflexible. 

It hurts today. Between my shoulder blades on the right side of my spine it feels as though someone thrust a knife. Often it's like this, hurting right there, making me consider I might be a victim of betrayal. 

My mom has the same sort of curve, her's leans to the left, whereas mine leans to the right. Both present themselves at T4, and secondary waves roll up the neck and down the lower back. 

My great-grandfather on my mom's side of the family was a character I understand. And it seems like this flaw was handed down through his blood line. I never got to meet the man, but I heard stories about him and even read about him in an obscure Utah history book.

This much I know; He was the Sheriff of Juab County, Utah in the last part of the 19th century and into the 20th century. His name was Daniel Joseph Cronin. His wife, Sarah Ferguson and he had altogether 13 children. My maternal grandmother, Margaret Louise Lucas, was their oldest child. This great-grandfather rode his horse throughout the county for his business as the sheriff. Once he even rode all the way to Idaho, stalking a murderer who'd stabbed someone to death. While it's awe-inspiring to think about riding into another state in order to perform such a function, it's even more astounding to hear he did it all while wearing a metal brace he'd been given for the purpose of holding up his crooked spine. I firmly believe people were different back then, that kind of dedication and perseverance seems elusive in this age. Someone once told me I had an aura of capability and determination about me. Maybe I got this from Dan, but chances are not I think...those kinds of traits coming from personality rather than by blood lines. 

Tentacle Hat update

The "tentacle hat" is finished and it's a cutie. When I tried it on with the tentacles pointing up, it kinda looks like a crown, yet it also looks as though I have dreadlocks. A perfect hat to wear if you want to change your looks quickly. It also looks very elegant when worn around the neck with the tentacles pointing down and hanging around the neck like a fancy Egyptian necklace. 

I wrote out a pattern for it,  named it "Fringe" and have designed the page, though I'm waiting for someone attractive to fall into my path so that they can model it so I can take a shot of it and include the photo on the pattern.

I'm excited today about some of my paintings being shown at Indigo, a cute little shop on Kentucky Street in Petaluma. Michele, the owner is going to hang them above the dressing rooms.

SF Giants' Stitch-n-Pitch and the tentacle hat/neck warmer

Last weekend Knitterly and the Muench Yarn warehouse in Petaluma held their annual sale. Among other yarns I picked up three skeins of Berroco's "Celtic" in a colorway that has been discontinued. I'd made some nice hand-warmers from "Celtic" last winter for my son and brother for Christmas, and I was inspired to do it again, though I don't know who the recipient is to be yet. As I finished the second hand-warmer on Monday, the thought came to me of making a matching hat or headband. I'd used the hand-warmer pattern out of "Weekend Knitting" by Melanie Falick. (I love this pattern, so elegant, simple and versatile.) I would make this hat or headband to match, by knitting it up vertically in garter stitch using short rows if it was to be a hat. But as I cast on the first row, I was intrigued by the idea of casting on a few extra stitches and casting them off on the next row, forming "tentacles" at one end and knitting straight across all the rows instead of short-rowing, making a doubled up headband that could also be used as a neck-warmer. 

Last night was the SF Giants' Stitch-n-Pitch game against the D.C. Nationals (Gnats) which ended in a win for the Giants, breaking a painful seven game losing streak. Our seats were in the section with all the other knitters, but a small mistake on my part landed us in a less congested section. Other knitters were there too, adding a feeling of belonging. 

One knitter in front of us was knitting a blanket out of some multi-colored, fluffy yarn. The knitter she was sitting with was knitting something light green and silky looking in-the-round. I had to work hard at not giving her suggestions to make her knitting more pleasurable. She was struggling with the yarn, stabbing her needle into each stitch and knitting continental style but with the yarn wrapped around the tip of her left index finger, which she was having the stretch way out and wave around in order to hook the yarn with the needle. In addition to this problem, she was twisting each stitch as she knit, making all the stitches more dense and tight. It was difficult to watch. It was no wonder she'd stop knitting for long stretches of time while her friend knit along happily.

As the game went on, my headband/neck-warmer was growing. Usually when I tried to knit at the baseball game, I'd get so worried about getting hit by the ball, (our old seats were in the bleachers under the Coke bottle sculpture in left field.) but here up in the upper deck and behind the foul zone, it felt safe. I'll bet the Giants' staff thought awhile before they picked out the knitters' section. Honey and I had a good time, although we were very late getting home.

As I write this, it's almost halfway knit. I'll post a photo when the whole set is done, and I plan to write a pattern for this interesting. multi-purpose garment.

Anna 

Fur-nanda Llama

A few years back I made this little charmer, Fur-nanda Llama, by needle-felting some llama fleece and little bits of yarn together. I kept her at my desk at work for awhile, she was a real conversation starter there. I had to take her home however, when it seemed like she talked to much. Really, she's such a chat! I thought I'd share her with you today.

She's holding a skein of yarn, waiting for you to wind it onto the ball she has in her lap. I made her a simple muslin peasant dress and a red skirt. She has small button eyes. Her tiny rocking chair was made by Honey. She's always had a prominent place in our home, somewhere where she can make noise without disturbing us, like the kitchen.

SF MOMA show: Frida Kahlo

Seeing Frida Kahlo's paintings up close is worth a trip into The City.

I'd long had admiration for Frida's work. Her self-portraits are so moving and meaningful to me, and I feel she's very beautiful in spite of the everyday standards of beauty in the U.S.. Being a chronic pain patient, I can relate to her visions of suffering and yet find them pleasing to my eyes. 

We took the day on Monday, driving into San Francisco, parking, walking through Buena Vista Gardens and into the geometry of the Museum of Modern Art building. Up to the 4th floor we climbed, slowly making our way into the crowded exhibit, following the people ahead of us—the place is so crowded we can't see at first just which painting is coming up. Shuffling, we see her paintings slowly, we are close to them, more close than others who are rushing to say they saw the exhibit. 

Her method of applying paint is appealing, especially considering many of her paintings were done while she was lying in her bed, and confined in a brace or cast. Many of her works have tiny amounts of paint applied with what must be cat's whiskers. What else could lay down such little strokes?

The painting which moved me the most was "The Broken Column." The background is a ruptured Earth. Dry, dead grass covers most of the background, broken up by huge, dark rifts, like fault lines. The sky is blue, yet there is a foreboding grey cast to it, like Golgotha on Good Friday. In this portrait her hair is down and flowing, and she looks at the viewer, but not straight-on like in her other portraits, and there is no blood shed. She is naked under her brace, wearing a sort-of loincloth around her hips. Her torso is divided vertically, the rift slightly more dark than those of the Earth, and within the rift is a broken Ionic column, simulating her own fractured, crooked spine. Nails are driven into her loincloth, up her lower right side, crossing to her left side at the breast. Unlike her other portraits she is alone. No pets, no lover, no husband, no other Frida, making this one seem the most tragic of all. Her expression is that of being in pain, but being perhaps, too tired to cry. As I looked at the painting, I started to cry. I had to look away and choke back my grief so that I could get through the exhibit. 

After we had seen the exhibit, we walked back through the gardens and down Mission Street where we spotted Mels Drive-in. Hungry, we went in and took a seat at the counter. Mel's is unique. Juke boxes are scattered through the eatery which you can operate with a quarter. Chrome and red leather predominate the furnishings and black and white photo stills from the movie, "American Grafitti" are action captured on the walls. I ordered a Blue Plate special; Rotisserie Chicken with vegetables and mashed potatoes. Honey ordered a burger with fries and a cup of coffee. Honestly, the mashed potatoes were lacking seasoning, even a little milk or butter while they were being prepared would have saved them. The chicken and vegetables were excellent. Later, Honey ordered up some pie ala-mode, allowing me to taste, yum!

Anna  

Project update and other stuff

After having left the project alone for so long, and realizing I was making up stuff to do in order to avoid frogging and fixing the cable problem, I finally had the where-with-all to approach the task. 

Frogging can be a risky venture, especially with silky yarn like Berroco's Bonsai. It's been pleasurable to feel the yarn slipping through my fingers as I knit, and its heft is comforting, but these two qualities make frogging even more treacherous. Shelli at Knitterly in Petaluma outlined the best way to approach it; Lay the piece of knitting on a clean, flat surface. (Don't try to frog while the piece is held vertically, as this causes the slippery yarn to undo a few rows down as you are ripping.) Carefully remove the needles. Frog (rip, rip) until you get one row above the row where the problem first occured. Grab a much smaller needle than what you've been using, and one-at-a-time as you pull the yarn out of each stitch, transfer the stitch below onto the smaller diameter needle. As you start to knit again, be conscious of the way your stitches lie—that is, make sure your not twisting them, and don't forget to switch back to using your larger needle. Phew!

Now I'm on my way again. I even bought yarn for a future project; I'm going to make a simple fringed scarf for my mother. She's elderly and wanting to wear more pink, but thinking pink's not appropriate for her age. After having seen the way pink transforms her skintone, I'm sure it's a good thing. I got a skein of Alchemy's "Pagoda" in the color vermillion. It's 100% silk and has a sweet nubby texture. Future yarn review!

Latest project

Being a long-time knitter, (I learned in 1972, but became passionate in 1993.) some of you might be surprised to find out I struggle with it sometimes. Most times I knit quickly and without many problems but this latest project is a bugger. Not that it's very difficult, it's a challange, but not difficult. I am knitting a simple shell, out of Berocco's "Bonsai," with a seemingly straightforward cable up the front and garter stitch edges. 

This project started innocently; I swatched first, carefully blocked the swatch, read my gauge, drew a sketch including details of the cable, the edges, where the shaping would take place, I calculated my cast-on—I do all this because I plan to design and publish my knitting patterns. This shell is to a shop example, perhaps hanging out at Knitterly next to a stack of the patterns I plan to sell.

At first, I used size 7 needles and cast on the number I calculated and knit for awhile, nearly a whole skeinsworth, before I noticed it was quite a bit bigger than I'd planned. I frogged it—rip, rip, but not before I calculated the gauge on that. I cast on again using my new calculations. Darn! The cable I started over the garter stitch bottom border made the border lumpy looking. I frogged it again. This time I plan the cable start within the garter stitch border, I cast on again. It was going pretty good this time, I had some decreases happening along either side every six rows and I was up to the bust where I'd planned to knit some short rows so that the shell would fit better over my chest, like darts on a well fitting blouse. I'm doing the short rows beautifully when I lifted up the knitting and saw... horrors! I hadn't followed what was going on within the cable and I'd cabled the crosses where I didn't have to! And darn this yarn is slippery, and I'm going to have to frog back to the beginning of the short rows! And that means picking up all those slippery stitches and feeding them back onto the needles.

There it lies, on the coffee table, waiting for me to finish it. It's been hot, I've had some appointments, I've been making up excuses so that I can justify not knitting more on it. My mind is taking me to new projects, but I must decline... I really must finish this shell so I can take a photo and finish writing the pattern so I can earn some money. Maybe today I will knit again.

Anna Hallquist