Tink Knits!

Real Books or E-Books?

2011-06-06T20:52:00.002-10:00

I'm a little bit geeky, and yet, I'm also quite a bit old-school. This is my conundrum when faced with choosing between real (or paper-based) books, and virtual e-books. I think that both have their merits and their drawbacks.

Decor and collections

Real books make great coffee table decor (but then they have to be dusted), and look pretty when arranged nicely on a shelf (ditto about the dusting). However, that means you have to have nice books, and a nice coffee table, nice bookshelves and a very good dusting habit to support the "niceness" of the whole effect. Real books are nice to share with a friend, sitting side-by-side, peering at gorgeous photos, or illustrations (yes, Calvin & Hobbes cartoons count), but are very hard to share with a buddy who lives across the country, across the street, or is just sitting more than a few feet away. On a Kindle (and probably other e-books, but it's the only one I've used), you can highlight part of your e-book and share it with your entire Facebook "world".

You might have a great sense of accomplishment when staring at a wall-full or shelf-full of books thinking "I read every one of those books!". And again, you can collect quite a bit of dust and (heaven forbid) mold in those books unless you regularly dust and maybe even vacuum then. Great book collections are just that--limited or collectors editions of real books. E-books can't even try to compete with them.

Bookworms

Voracious readers can plow through book upon book every week. I have a friend who has a storage space to hold her books. Yes, the type of storage that you have to rent! That's a recurring expense, and I wonder how many books (e-books or paper books) can be bought for the price of her monthly rental fees. And if you're a voracious reader or just really caught up in a great dime-store novel, you typically want your book of choice to be with you at all times. A real book can add a significant amount of bulk to your purse, backpack, or other daily baggage. Therein lie two cases for e-books. You can hold tomes upon tomes in the space of one e-book, which might take up the footprint of one paperback novel, and perhaps be 1/2" thick, or less. I don't know how many books exactly, but I know it's about a metric ton of them. Getting back to the idea of wanting your reading selection with you at all times--I can think of a couple of times where that real dime-store novel wins out. If you're one of those people who likes to read while taking a bubble bath, or sunbathing at the beach, paper is key. Granted, the book will swell and wrinkle if you drop it in the bath, or get full of sand if you drop in at the beach, particularly when it slips out of your sunscreen slathered hands, your e-book will mostly likely be ruined after a dip in the water (not to mention--could that thing hold enough power to electrocute the bather? I'd rather not find out). Sand in the buttons of an e-book reader? I shudder at the thought of that. Paper will dry, and survive.

E-books can often cost less than their real counterparts, and while a case can be made for the economics of borrowing books at your local library, initial investment in the electronic reading device aside, e-book purchases (and on some e-readers library e-books are available for check-out) can save a reader quite a few bucks over the cost of a just-released hardback book. As for the purchase of a real book vs. e-book, well, e-books usually win that one hands-down. You can typically find a book to buy, and download it into your reading device in about the time it takes to find your keys, put some slippers on and get in your car--never mind driving to the bookstore or library--if it's open.

Greenies

What's greener? An e-book would probably win that one hands-down, aside from the tiny amount of electricity needed to power an e-book. I'm no expert on this, but I'm pretty sure that the carbon footprint of an e-book is WAY smaller than that of a real book. Just the trip to the bookstore or library required to obtain a paper-based book is a big expense. Then again, in 50 years will a plastic e-reader still be languishing in a rubbish pile somewhere, while the paper book will have broken down into some very educated compost? It takes paper manufacturing, printing, bookbinding, warehousing, and shipping to create a real book. That's all eliminated in an e-book.

I can think of several different types of books, and what I think would be the best format of book to have for each:

General reading: I prefer e-books for this. I like the fact that my book is with me in my iPhone and I can read it on the go. If I'm reading in bed, I don't need to worry about leaving my bedside lamp light on. The iPhone is self-lit (but I know that Kindles are not), and turns itself off if I fall asleep. Given the choice between accidentally dropping my little iPod Touch or 600+ pages of Twilight, possibly on my head, as I fall asleep, I choose the iPod.

Cookbooks: I like to jot down notes in my cookbooks, and I also like to have them sitting on the kitchen counter when I cook. I do have recipes stored on my iPhone and have cooked from them (they are much handier than dragging the whole cookbook to someone else's house if I need to cook "on the go"). If I spill something on my cookbook, hopefully it will survive (especially if it's sitting on my cookbook stand which covers the book with glass). However, if I were to spill on my iPhone or e-book reader, the result could be disastrous.
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Crafting books: If you can't tell from the title of my blog, I like to knit. I often use pattern books. Granted, it's usually acceptable to make one photocopy of a pattern in order to carry it around with you but again, I like to jot down notes and tend to write straight in my pattern books. I opt for the extra weight of the book over the photocopy so that I can reduce unnecessary use of paper. With an e-book, you can probably print out a pattern on a computer, but there again is the paper waste issue. Finally, it's quite handy to plop a "sticky note" down on a paper book to mark my place in a knitting chart or directions so I know where I am. That doesn't work very well once the e-book gets turned off.

Magazines: I don't read many magazines, but when I do, they are usually knitting ones. I like a paper magazine for the same reason I like a paper book over an e-book. And my small collection of knitting magazines and books have a place in my knitting cabinet that is relatively dust-free and hidden from view. If it's not a crafting magazine, maybe it's something I picked up in line at the grocery store to read on a plane ride or again, at the beach (ironically, I rarely go to the beach, but I've got to have something to read while I'm there!). Paper is key for those types of magazines for me, for the same reasons that a paper book wins out at the beach.

Gifts: Have you ever found the perfect book of poems, short stories or a picture book that you want to give to your favorite someone for their birthday? I'm not sure how my nieces & nephews feel about paper books I've given them, but can you imagine giving them an e-book of say, Shel Silverstein poems? How would you inscribe that special message on the inside cover of an e-book for the recipient to remember you by? I still have books that my Dad inscribed for me when he bought them way back and when I was too young to be able to read his scrawl. I may not remember exactly the title of the books, but I do know that my Dad bought them for me and of course, he made sure that the date he presented the books to me was also inscribed in the books. They are a precious "collection" for me. Hands-down, paper books are the way to go for me in the gift category.

E-book Readers

Since I'm talking about books vs. e-books, it bears mentioning that there are tons of formats in which e-books can be read. Some are free, such as apps for iPhone, Android, etc. on which you can read iBooks, Kindle books, and the like on devices that you already own. I do quite a bit of reading on my iPhone and/or iPod Touch. I'm fortunate that I can still read very small formats such as those. There are bigger, but less portable formats such as iPad (still pretty portable), and apps to read e-books of all sorts on laptop and desktop computers. And of course there are those actual e-readers such as Kindle, Nook, Boko, and the list goes on. I'm not endorsing one over the other. I don't even own a true e-book reader. But there is one feature that's probably on more than just the Kindle, that I like for knitting purposes: it will read aloud to you. The text-to-speech capability is only enabled on some books (it's the author's choice), and sounds slightly robotic, but I bet I'd use it quite a bit while knitting. I know some people read and knit simultaneously. I can, but I'd prefer to listen and knit. Since I don't have a Kindle, I do the next best thing--I listen to audio in the form of podcasts and audiobooks that I can check out at the library or acquire (usually Libriovox books for free) from iTunes. But that could be a whole post on its own.

What do you think? Paper book, or e-book?

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Tigers

2011-05-31T21:36:00.000-10:00

I'm baaaaack! (I hope you're hearing this in your head like in Poltergeist...b/c if not, you might be too young to read this blog!).

I'm not much of a blogger...but I've been reading a ton of blogs, and convinced my friend "hawaiigirlalways" that she should blog her deals & steals. Since she's doing it at DODO, I guess it's my turn to go for it here.

I started out this blog just for knitting stuff, but since it's already set up, I'm just going to go for it & use it for whatever comes up. I dunno if I have much to say that people will care about, but I figure I'll at least excercise my "writing muscles" for a bit when I post. We'll see how it goes with this, my first opinion piece...

Tiger Moms/tiger kids

A few months ago, my Dad sent me and my siblings an article about "tiger moms". I have to admit, I mostly skimmed the article because it was really annoying me that while a new book on the topic was inciting much controversy, at the same time it was also gaining a ton of free publicity. I am not going to name said book here because I don't want to add to the publicity. In a nutshell, while there are supporters of militantly strict, overbearing and, imho, cruel parenting resulting in overachieving offspring, the question bears asking:
How many of the same kids end up
1) in therapy?
2) rebelling against and/or alienating their pushy parents?
3) socially maladjusted?
4) all of the above?

But I'm sure we won't hear about those kids. At least not until they "go postal" and massacre a bunch of their co-workers or fellow students (to be fair, I won't mention specific cases for these--they don't deserve added publicity either).

Here's the thing: I'm not going to spout off a bunch of research statistics, but I am going to cite, using my 4 siblings and I for real life data, why I think so-called tiger parenting is a bunch of malarkey. At the same time, I'm thanking our parents for raising us the way they did, and for the most part, breaking the mold of "typical" Chinese immigrant parents (notice I used a T-word other than the name of an orange, striped jungle creature). We turned out just fine, and I think they should be quite proud.

So here are some of the characteristics of that T-parenting, according to that article:

No play dates or sleepovers:
Why not? It's good to have friends, and in my experience, a sleepover here or there really helped me to appreciate my home life as compared to those of some of my friends'.

No school plays/extracurricular sports or activities:
I can't even count the number of plays and musicals we participated in both at school and our local children's theater. Two of my siblings even started the music group at our church (I think they learned to play guitar from Dad...or maybe Joan Baez), and all five us sang in it at various times for years. School choir was a given for most of us, and three of us participated in high school drill team/marching band, going on to join the UCLA band. Two siblings even performed in the Olympics Opening Ceremonies with the band.

No sports you can't medal in:
Sports taught us the value of teamwork, commitment, practice, and sportsmanship. Two of my siblings did compete at the junior nationals level, but our choices in athletics were just that--our choices--no ulterior medal accumulating motives were put forth explicitly nor implicitly by Mom & Dad. We played mostly after-school sports, and some AYSO soccer. In addition, both spectator and participatory sports such as skiing and backyard football games were major family pastimes that we all enjoyed together.

There was one stipulation that did influence what activities we could participate in: regularly scheduled practices, performances, lessons or games could not interfere with dinner time. Dinner time was sacred family time. There was no TV (unless it was Monday night football when the entire meal was relocated to the TV room), and telephone interruptions were cut as short as possible. When we finally got an answering machine, sometimes we just let it answer for us. I have learned to appreciate those family dinners, and the close-knit family that they helped build. When I was growing up, I figured that all families had the same nightly "Leave It To Beaver" style dinners. Apparently not, but that's another topic for another day.

An A- is a bad grade:
It's not a bad grade if it's the best that you can do and you gave your best effort. However, I heard my share of "If it's an 'A' then why isn't it an 'A+'?" Ok, that's pretty pushy parenting, but that being said, we definitely did not get "straight A's" all the time, but how's this for academics for five kids:
5 bachelor degrees plus one double-major, one minor, and one master's degree and teaching credential from UC Davis, Stanford University & UCLA.

When all is said and done, I'd say that my siblings and I turned out just fine. We are all well-functioning, well-rounded, and contributing members of our communities. We have good relationships with our non-T parents, and I for one would never blame them for not pushing me hard enough. I choose instead, to thank them for letting me choose a path that was right for me.

What do you think of so-called Tiger parenting?

For this, I will blog!

2009-04-05T12:05:00.000-10:00

I found a link to this on ravelry.com and just had to post it. A girl after my own heart! I presently have 3 rolls of duct tape in my drawer: silver, clear, and purple!....I'd just like to know how she got all that sticky tape residue off her fingers and her knitting needles.

On another note, 5 of my closest friends (which includes 3 sisters) and I will spend my birthday at Disneyland in a few weeks! It's the first trip in years where I haven't had my travel knitting planned before the plane tickets were purchased. In fact, I wasn't even planning on bringing knitting into the park...until I found a couple of Ravelry groups talking about knitting and all things Disney. I decided on something easy and small, which turns out to also be a stashbuster (I'm already spending enough $$ on the trip!): preemie caps. I can't think of a better place to knit some happy thoughts into the teeny little hats. I picked up up a pair of teeny weeny sock needles (9" circs) from my lys, where Sue suggested that I definitely wanted to bring bamboo vs. metal into the park for "safety" concerns. Good idea! I may have to save the decrease sections at the top of the hats for some other time, as it might be tough to keep track of the dpns & the yarn needle while in line for rides!

Ball Winder Unwrapped!

2009-02-07T21:39:00.000-10:00

Have you ever wondered...?

I'm one of those people who always wonders how things work. I just LOVE the TV show by the same name, even though it's a little tough to knit while watching it :-)The problem is, I'm great at taking things apart, and not so great at getting them back together.

So...when my ball winder developed a squeak, I asked my 2 most mechanically inclined friends--who also happen to be fascinated by my yarn baller--if they could try to get rid of the squeak. They both work on computer hardware and systems and I know they're systematic and meticulous, so I figured I could trust them. Disassembly, de-squeaking, and reassembly took a while, and turned out to be a little more challenging than they thought it would be. There was some nervous laughing, and I had to look away. I was a little scared, to tell the truth.

The happy ending is that all is reassembled (look ma, no extra parts left over!!), and there is no more squeak! For the record, we used the WD-40 pen to lubricate the insides, and gave it a good wipe-down afterward so as not to unnecessarily lubricate any yarn being wound.

In case anyone else wonders what goes on inside the miraculous ball winder, I took a few photos to share with you:

Whew!!

2008-09-30T19:13:00.000-10:00

Ta Daaaaa! Introducing my Barbara Walker Learn-to-Knit Afghan! How's that for a mouthful?

I learned about this afghan from a knitalong group on yahoo groups back in 2004...which was also back when (nostalgia coming up)....

...I'd been knitting for less than a year. If I recall correctly, I was dying to start LTKA, but made myself wait until after the 2004 holiday knitting was completed.

...There was no ravelry, so I can't remember what I knit and there are no photos, but if I look in my knitting notebook, I bet I'd find a whole list, with one page devoted to each yarn label, with info on whom the object the knitted for, what size needles were used, where the yarn was purchased, and when it was started & finished. [Hey Jess & Casey--you guys did everything I was doing!!] Oh, and there's also a scrap of yarn taped to each project page.

...I had to spend more time documenting and less time knitting back then, obviously.

...I was still single, so I had more time to spend doing all that knitting & documenting.

...I wasn't sure if I'd actually finish it, so thought I'd be "safe" by "investing" less than $50 on all acrylic Red Heart Super Saver and Walmart Homestay yarn just in case in just became stash in my closet

...I didn't even have a stash closet.

...I had not discovered that wool, even if it makes me scratch when I wear it, can be really nice to knit with (A quote here from my friend AkamaiKnitter "You really should try knitting with natural yarn.")

...I had not discovered the convenience of interchangeable knitting needle sets, and so amassed a collection of "singles".

Sigh, if I only knew then what I knew now.

I actually managed to knit the squares in about 2 years' time, while I was dating my now husband, and then planning our wedding, plus knitting lots of other stuff on the side. While I was completing square 61 or so, I occurred to me "Crap! I wonder if you can actually block acrylic??" Nope. Double crap! Too late to stop now, although those lace squares at the end nearly killed me. So, slightly disheartened, I started trying to "block" the acrylic, which was mostly what people call "killing acrylic", and started crocheting edges on each square. That was a huge task, which got put on a long hiatus (1.5 years long!).

The hibernation finished when mkcarroll announced that Aloha Knitters was invited to show our work at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Family Sunday event on 9/21/08. She was planning on making a few swatches to show different textures in knitting...I just so happened to have 63 of them! While the squares were on display, what better time to work on the dreaded edging after all that time, so...the awesome HawaiiHooker offered to help me do some edges, and while we sat & chatted, we got all but 10 squares edged. The momentum had set in, and guess what I did for the past 9 days? I'm not much of a crocheter, but I even found, and figured how to do a "biscuit edge" as my border. HawaiiHooker even told me to toss the whole blanket in the washing machine & dryer with some fabric softener, and it would help to block up the thing a little...and make it really soft. I was so anxious to see how that worked, I tossed it in last night, even though there's a whole mess of stray ends still waiting to be woven into the back. Ok, so at least it's mostly done!!

I couldn't figure out how to photograph the whole blanket in one shot, so until I get get my photog friend, Tommy, to help me figure that one out, partial shots will have to do. Or, if you have photosynth I tried to put something up. I'm in there as tink, just like in ravelry.

The Article

2008-08-08T20:13:00.000-10:00

If anyone's reading this that hasn't gotten an email from me today, the article about the heart hit the Stanford Medical Community today. Here's a link to the newsletter:
Discover SHC.

Travel Knitting

2008-08-01T22:21:00.000-10:00

Way back in May when we learned we'd be traveling to California for dh's surgery, but didn't know exactly when yet, I decided to start preparing the one thing I knew for sure: I was going to need a bunch of knitting to help keep me sane and manage my stress levels. Since my husband's surgery and then recovery would be my primary concern, I didn't know if I'd have time to get to any LYSes, so I wanted to make sure I had everything I might need with me. Oh, and with all of the luggage restrictions, I knew I had to pack light so everything would fit in one suitcase. Later, when I learned that we'd be gone for 28 whole days, I felt very sad at the thought of leaving my wonderful yarn closet & stash for so long (I was worried about dh, too, but his stuff was a given--there were no options involved so there was also no need for thinking--just go and do it). I think I put more thought into what I needed for my knitting supplies than I did for anything else on the trip.

Here's what I ended up doing....

KnitPicks Options Binder vs. the "guts only" version. I used giant stitch markers to hold the pages together, & in a pinch, a few of them could be spared and used on a project, too. Removing the binder really cut down on bulk for traveling. I posted 2 shots so you can see the difference in size and thickness. Now that I'm back home, the pages went right back into the binder for safe-keeping (plus it's easier to find the bulky binder than the little, compact packet in my cluttered house).

After I took this photo, I actually grabbed another empty 2-part sleeve and inserted sizes 0 through 2 sets of 4" sock needles in one compartment, and some of the KnitPicks shorter size 1's. Also used a 1-part sleeve to fit in long KP size 0 in case I wanted to do magic loop, and a couple of other things. I'm not sure why I brought so many sock needles when I didn't bring a single ball of sock yarn, but I basically decided I wanted at least 1 size of needle up to about 11 (the biggest KP Options that I own).

The essentials: Patterns, tools, reference book, needles

I chose patterns that I thought I might knit, and made sure duplicates were available online, just in case they got lost. The tools included the usual Chibi needles, measuring tape, KP Options tool & extras, Knit Kards, stitch markers, plane-friendly thread snippers. One thing in there that I love for flying is called the "Grip Clip". It's a reusable & washable adhesive paper holder. The sticky back holds onto things like your airplane tray table (when it's closed), and you slip your pattern in the little slot so you can read it hands-free. You can buy them in singles at stationery stores, or I bought a pack of 4 at The Container Store. btw, if you use a plier and pinch the circle end of the KP Options "key" closed, you can then put it on a key chain or something so you don't constantly lose the little thing. I don't know why they made them open-ended to begin with!

My tool bag is a little pencil case bought from Walmart for about $1. I had another one with me for my "anywhere knitting". In that was a Mason-Dixon Baby Genius burp cloth that I could whip out and knit in waiting rooms, when riding in the car, etc. But after dh got home from the hospital, the only thing I did when riding in the car was try to nap since I was up with him quite a bit at night.

I chose the XRX Knitter's Handbook over my Knitter's Companion for my reference book mainly because of weight. I read somewhere that the Knitter's Companion pages are plastic coated for durability, but that also makes it weigh at ton. I also like the wider variety of material covered in the XRX book and the fact that the wire binding is covered and not prone to bending or snagging things.

Yarn for planned projects. Naturally this was the bulkiest part of my stuff. Had I used my space bags, it would have compacted things down quite a bit, but actually, due to my limiting other items, I didn't need to compact any of the yarn. The bottom bag (with pink yarn) is actually yarn for a quite bulky sweater I was making for my little niece. She turned 2 while we were in CA, so I needed to finish it for her birthday gift. The yarn and the sweater were all stashed in a plastic zipper bag that originally held a set of sheets. Those make some great project bags! The top bag had some yarn for other small projects that need to be made for gifts. At the last minute I also threw in my lace knitting project and my socks, which only needed a toe to be completed.

The End Result

I think this happens on many people's travels--I didn't end up using much of what I brought. I didn't touch the lace or the socks. I also didn't use many of the needles I brought (but I felt so secure having them with me!). I actually could have used one larger size set of needles than I had with me, but I also could have held off on casting on the oh-so-soft Malabrigo till I got home, but I wanted it for plane knitting.

Part of the reason I didn't get to much of the knitting is that I had ordered the yarn and pattern for the heart (see post below), and that took up a lot of my knitting time. I kind of forgot about that when taking into account how many projects I thought I'd need to keep me occupied.

The lace project was more about security. I had been working on it a lot before we left, and I thought I'd be sad if I had the time/urge to knit on it and it wasn't with me. Lace is so light, it was ok to throw in there. I'm a new lace knitter, so between the stress off events, the busy schedule, and having a 2-year old around all the time, I didn't have once second to do that kind of knitting.

Another reason I didn't get to all of the knitting is that I was lucky enough to get a little respite from husband care, and managed to get to 4 local yarn shops (Amazing Yarns in Emerald Hills, Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos, Green Planet Yarns in Campbell, Bobbin's Nest Studio in Santa Clara). I did a little stash enhancement at each of the stores. I also tried to go to Purlescence, but they were on vacation on the day I went, and I never made it back there, much to my regret. [off topic: I'm listening to Knitmore Girls' podcast, and Purlescence is their lys...I so regret not having gone back now!!]. I used the space bags to fit the yarn purchases into the baggage on the way home, and we ended up checking in 1 more bag on the way home (dh gets to check 2 bags automatically, so we didn't get charged).

Finally, the best reason that I didn't get to do as much knitting is that my earlier blog about hospital knitting let to a flurry of activity, and I put a chunk of my available time into trying to get that set up.

A chronological update for anyone interested:

7/14/08 The outline (my informal version of a proposal) went to Angela at the Stanford Guest Services.

7/16/08 We voted on a name: Healing Stitches

Approx. 7/18 or so: I set up a Google group (but only Beth Elliot joined it).

7/18: I got an update from Angela that she was working on seeing if the hospital wanted to start another program. She said she'd keep me posted.

7/22: Maggie from KnitWits@Stanford sent me an email telling me that she'd spoken to someone at the Cancer Center who's interested in Healing Stitches. Sorry Maggie, I can't believe that 10 days have passed and I haven't had a chance to email Holly. I promise to do it this weekend.

The Heart

2008-07-17T08:38:00.000-10:00

Before we left for dh's surgery, I wanted to find something to knit for the surgeon as a thank you gift. What the heck to knit for a man in the middle of a California Summer? I searched ravelry.com for heart motif scarves. I repeat: in the middle of a California Summer? No. I searched for a heart pillow. Eureka! I found an anatomically correct heart pillow. I love Ravelry! It took me seconds to find out that the pattern was in the Winter 2006/2007 issue of "knit.1" Sigh, how am I going to find that?? I sent emails to a couple of lys owners whom I'd met. Voila! Allison @ Fibers Grass Valley had the mag, and was willing to pick out supplies needed and have the "kit" shipped to my sister's house where we'd be staying in California. How'd I find Fibers? I checked out an ad on ravelry, of course. Hey Allison, Jess & Casey--it works!!

Sorry, I digress.

I started working on the heart as soon as we arrived in California, just 4 days before dh's surgery. I really didn't get as much time to knit as I thought I would, since so much of my time was taken up with dh's surgery & recovery. And then the volunteer knitting inspiration that hit me when we were in the Pre-Op process (see the other entries). I finished the heart, and we presented it to Dr. Reitz & his nurse, Sophia Loo, the day before we came home. When we presented the Igloo cooler to the doctor, he said "They used to use these things for heart transplants. Now they use these Tupperware things--they're a little bigger." I had to laugh & told him he actually needed to open it. His initial reaction was "What's this?" They were pretty surprised by the heart. I'm sure they've never gotten one of those before! ....If you're wondering what the white part is on the aorta, that's my rendering of the dacron graft they used to repair dh's aneurysm. Sophia had described it as looking like "an off-white Slinky" (I asked!). It's i-cord, sewn on there in a spiral.

Sarah, who's writing the article about the inspiration, and our whole exerience at Stanford, asked what the size of a real heart is in comparison to the model. A real one is about 50% of the pillow size, but Dr. R. added, he has seen hearts that were that big before (enlarged heart = not a good thing).

Prelude to a heart:

Fibers forgot to wind the Cascade 220 into balls for me, so I enlisted dh (before the surgery, of course!) into being my swift while I balled the yarn. This is his yarn dance:

KnitWit @ Stanford

2008-07-11T19:06:00.000-10:00

This will be a pretty brief post since I still have to finish a post on the other sitem and I'm really tired. Donovan & I met with the KnitWit @ Stanford on Tuesday to brainstorm ideas and sketch out a plan of action for trying to start the waiting room yarn idea. Thanks Lourdes, for gathering people to come talk to us! Everyone brought great ideas to the meeting, and it was nice to meet the faces behind emails.

Donovan found the quote on the floor, right where we were meeting. I thought it was really fitting and inspiring. The other photo is a view of the Hoover Tower from an perspective that I've never seen before--it's from the Engineering Building.

Today I got the call from Angela from Guest Services, who has the power to get approval for implementation of our ideas. She asked me to forward the outline of the project to her so that she can clearly present it to the "powers that be" who make decisions on these types of things. I'll beef up the outline, add in some vignettes of my encounters with knitters during my time here, and also add in info from the link that one of the KnitWitters sent me. Heck, I'll even offer to present the idea myself, via Skype or something. Angela said the process is a slow one, but I'm just happy that it's not dead in the water already. I'm patient. Maybe by the time that Donovan & I come back next year for his 1-year re-check, the project can get going.

I also met with Beth Elliot from Green Planet Yarn today. She has a lovely store, and she is wonderful!! She's got ALL the colors of Lamb's Pride Worsted! Plus many other yarns, and for each area, she's got a little writeup of the company or the yarn so that the customers can understand why she chooses to carry that yarn, certain types of needles, etc. Beth is a retired Stanford employee, and she's got some connections there, too.

In order to keep things moving in the right direction with the idea, we're soliciting name suggestions from the KnitWitters (or if you're reading this and have an idea, let me know & I'll add it to the list!), we'll vote on a name next week, and I'll start either a yahoo or a google group (Beth said the google groups aren't bad, either) some time after I get back to Hawaii.

Thank you everyone who's seen my blog or my emails, and wants to help out with the project!! I think Stanford is going to be surprised at our organized plans!

It's Alive!!

2008-07-05T18:12:00.000-10:00

My last post about what's now being called "waiting room knitting" has given my idea a life of it's own!

On Monday, when I had planned to contact the Stanford Auxiliary folks, I got a comment from Sara from the Stanford Hospital communications office. She thought I had a great idea and wanted to do a story on it. At the same time, my husband was being released from the hospital, so I hadn't had time to call the Auxiliary office at all. When I spoke to Sara I had to ask her to wait on the article until I'd had a chance to call them. Around the same time I also got a ravelry message from phydeaux (aka Brenda), with some leads to Erin at Bobbins Nest Studio and also to the Knitwit @ Stanford group. I called Erin on Tuesday as well as left a message at Stanford Auxiliary. I also sent an email and the link to the post to Lourdes @ Knitwits. Erin immediately wanted to be involved with the project. Lourdes emailed me back and thought there would be interest from the group to be involved as well. Ok! Only one piece is missing from the puzzle...I had to wait until Wednesday to hear from Sara C. at the Auxiliary.

On Wednesday I got the call, and Sara C. said that she also thought waiting room knitting is a good idea. She has to to talk to a sister program at the hospital to see how it would work, and she's going to get back to me. I gave her the blog address, too. Lourdes contacted a few Knitwit members who gave feedback, and we are all going to try to meet next week to throw out some more ideas. In addition, Lourdes sent me a link to an LYS that I hadn't heard of: Amazing Yarns.

I got to Amazing Yarn today, and I cannot believe I grew up in this area, and had no idea what a charming neighborhood exists in Redwood City on the drive to this shop! It really IS an amazing shop, and the owner, Andrea, is also wonderful. I did a little stash enhancement, and while we were winding balls in the industrial size ball-winder, I told Andrea about my waiting room knitting idea. She liked it, and said she'd like to be involved as well. She also will share whatever information we come up with with the knitting groups and guilds who meet in her home/shop on a regular basis.

This was supposed to be a short post about what's happened, but so much has happened! Can you believe it??

Hospital Knitting

2008-06-29T05:54:00.002-10:00

My husband had a major heart surgery at Stanford Hospital on Monday. It was a procedure that we've known needed to be done for about 3 years now, and after they monitored it closely, about a month ago we were "invited" to the appear for surgery asap. The surgery went will with hopefully few complications (he did suffer a mild stroke, which we hope will not affect him in the long-term). It was our pre-op appointment experience which gave me the inspiration for this entry.

I noticed that there are oodles of people in the pre-op and surgical waiting areas at Stanford Hospital. Dozens of people sitting around, reading the paper, staring into space, or napping while they wait for a loved-one's surgery or appointments (about 6) with all the people necessary when preparing for surgery. It's the same in the ICU waiting area, only then it's whole families, passing 90 minute spans in between the allowed 30 minute visit that occurs every 2 hours (i.e. 8:00, 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00). As is my habit, I plopped myself down in a chair to wait, and whipped out my knitting. It was mindless knitting (for me, the most soothing kind), so as I cranked out my Baby Genius Burp Cloth, I had a chance to look at everyone else. My thought was "I am lucky. I get to leave the waiting room and spend my waiting time in the comfort of my sister's home," because dh and I had already discussed this. I had told him that the best place for me to wait during his surgery would be knitting on the couch at a cozy knitting store, about one city North of Stanford, but I would be a good wife and wait in the waiting room. Well, he informed me that I should not stay at the hospital and that they were going to send me home b/c his surgery would last about 8 hours. So that was the plan. But I couldn't help to think about all those poor people who did not have a house less than 3 miles from the hospital, to go and try to relax while waiting the results of the surgery (incidentally, the wonderful Stanford policy is that the surgeon's nurse either calls or finds the family in the hospital for updates on the surgery a minimum of every 2 hours, or as needed if more frequently). And so the lightbulb went on....

I think it would be a great idea to have some kind of a volunteer program in the waiting area(s) of the hospital where someone could be offered some needles, a ball of yarn, and simple pattern, say a "Warm Up America" square, a preemie cap, or a chemo cap, to help pass the time. The squares could be then left at the hospital for finishing and/or donation to the children's hospital, chemo ward, etc. What better way to 1) soothe an anxious soul, 2) pass the time, 3) take your mind off your own stressors for a few minutes while helping someone else 4) possibly put your situation in perspective?

I've had some time to think out the possibilities (soliciting donated yarns from a network of lys's in the area and some of the major yarn manufacturers, figuring out whom to approach at the hospital). I even emailed a couple of local knitters--whom I've met on knitlist and found on ravelry. I wanted to know if they knew of any program that existed already. I also googled any kind of hospital knitting, and found that some hospitals do have "knitting baskets" in their waiting areas. I even came across an amusing story about how the knitting baskets in the emergency rooms in some hospitals were viewed as dangerous, and some were removed due to safety concerns. If anyone watches "ER" or the reality ER shows on TV, you'll see their point.

I haven't been able to go talk to the Stanford Auxiliary/Guest Services folks yet--unfortunately I got quite a nasty cold right before dh's surgery, and lost my voice. It's still coming back. But I did talk to a volunteer, also a knitter, who asked about my knitting, and another hospital tech who was on break joined in. The volunteer gave me the name of the volunteer coordinator. (I am not sure if I will start with her, or go straight to Auxiliary.) They both think it's a great idea. In addition, I learned that "Guest Services" for hospital patients & their family, provide many services, including bedside art therapy, book carts, and other things. Even the wife of the man in the bed next to dh's saw my knitting and thought that my idea is good. She even mentioned wanting to go pick up some knitting so she could have something to do while she spends her days with her husband at the hospital. Even some therapist, in dh's room to help the other guy, saw my knitting and said to me "I want to talk to you! I am a knitter too!"

DH is not ready to be released yet, but possibly soon. I've got most of my voice back, too. So I'm going to try to find the right people to speak to tomorrow. We'll be here in California for another few weeks until hopefully dh is stable enough to fly home. Although I won't be able to see any type of program here come to fruition in such a short time, I'm really excited about being able to at least get the ball rolling, I can offer to solicit donations and things even from Hawaii, if needed. (My ravelry contact has already given me the name of a store that may be interested). I hope it works out. Wish me luck!!

PS A few days ago, after learning that dh had a mild stroke (something that is a known risk of the surgery), I had brought a variety of things for him to do to try to stimulate his mind. After he played with his "Tweny Questions" electronic game for a bit (yes, it's fun for adults, too), I asked if he'd like to knit something. He said he would, if it was something small so as not to weigh his arms down--when you have open heart surgery, the arms are very hard to move for a long time. So I taught him how to do a 3-stitch i-cord, since it's part of a thank you gift I'm working on for his surgeon (an anatomical heart pillow). I had to watch dh carefully, but I know he's going to be ok if he can still knit!

I have the best dh...

2008-06-09T21:23:00.004-10:00

I'd like to start by saying thanks to the 3 people who commented on the last entry. I had no idea that anyone actually reads my ramblings. If I knew how to reply to the comments, I would :-)

Thanks for your expressions of support & good wishes for dh as he goes through his surgery. He's actually not having the surgery till 6/23, so right now everything is ok. He doesn't seem to feel any effects of his heart condition, which is why I guess they have to monitor him every 6 months--otherwise we'd never know there was something wrong. Last night he told me his condition is similar to what John Ritter had, except they didn't know he had the problem till it was too late.

I forgot to mention this about dh: HE KNITS!!

A few years ago, I knew I had struck gold: On one of our first dates he sat right down on the floor with me at Borders and we spent at least an hour, maybe two, looking at knitting books. He told me that he & his college roommate used to lock their door and knit "sweaters and things" and that they had learned from watching their Aunties knit. Then he just told me last week that he actually took a class to learn to knit while he was in college. [It was the '70's, they taught stuff like knitting (and how much you wanna bet macrame!) in college, apparently.] When I asked him what his girlfriend had to say about his knitting class, he told me that he'd never told her about it--they were together for YEARS!! His comment, "I couldn't tell her all my secrets!"

So, a couple of weeks ago, after dh had shown more interest than usual in my knitting, I asked him if he'd like to knit something. I suggested a bib for our little niece, Malia, and he was sold--he'd do anything for that little girl. So now, dh is knitting a little Mason-Dixon bib. He needs help every now and then when he messes up, and although he says that knitting is not relaxing, I beg to differ. Ok, it wasn't so relaxing when he was fighting with the splitty Cascade cotton I started him out with, but hey, I felt bad about giving him cheap Sugar 'n Cream for his first project. My mistake. After he threw the cone of Cascade across the room, I switched him to Sugar 'n Cream which is not splitty at all (and which would fly much farther, if needed), and we have a lovely "color blocked" effect. Tonight I figured out why he needs help with a big hole in his knitting every few rows. The fingers are still knitting, but the head is bobbing & weaving around and the eyes are shut. Instead of the arms just dropping down with the knitting, they keep going, just more slowly. How much more relaxed than that can a person get??

Non-standard Measurements

2008-06-05T16:37:00.005-10:00

I've spent the last few months thinking about this--I'm always without a measuring tape/ruler whenever I need it most. Just like Stephanie Purl McPhee's rant in "Yarn Harlot" (Archaeology chapter), my house is also a black hole of measuring tapes. (Those and the mini pocket knives which work so well for needlework because they have a tiny scissors, tweezers, and a tiny nail file all in one.) So I got to thinking, if I can memorize the measurements of a few standard items that I usually do have with me, I can employ those things to measure with.

Here's a few of my "personal" measurements

my hand span: it's about 7.5" (this one is risky--if I'm having a bit of an arthritic day, it can be 7")
my "wing" span, same as my height: 5'
first knuckle of my index finger: 1"

debit card: 3 3/8" x 2 1/8"
business card: 3.5" x 2"
dollar bill (if I had more than a dollar in my wallet, I'd probably go buy a new stinkin' measuring tape!): 6 1/8" x just under 2 1/8"

I should probably come up with a few more items.

I also came up with the idea that if I actually read through my pattern thoroughly before knitting (and providing that said pattern is the copyright safe one photocopy allowed for personal use/purposes of notation and portability), I could actually measure off and mark the measurements needed for the pattern. Say, if I need 1.5" of sock cuff, and later 7" of foot before decreasing for the toe, I could mark off 1.5" and 7" on the pattern. I rarely lose the patterns, just the $#@!! measuring tapes. [Ironically, the one that lives on the desk in front of my monitor hasn't gotten lost for months...but I don't actually knit in front of this computer monitor. My eyes will tell you that I probably should, rather than in front of the teeny screen of my laptop, but that's another story.]

The final non-standard measurement: time. How do you "measure" how much knitting you'll need for a given amount of time? For instance, I'll be away from my stash for a month--how much knitting will I need to bring for that?? I know it depends on how much room I have in my suitcase, how much time I'll have to knit, and what size the projects are, so this one's not so easy. Sure, I'll be close to a bunch of really cool LYSes, but it's frustrating to have to buy a new project when I know there's tons of them sitting at home. This does not help the budget restraints, either, which at this time are an issue.

I'll be thinking about this one as I sit with dh at the (Stanford University) hospital and keep him company while he recovers from major heart surgery in a couple of weeks. Probably not the best time to run out the door to the LYS. I hope that I bring enough knitting to keep me busy--the priority project will be the anatomical heart pillow (from "knit.1" Fall/Winter 2007), which will be the gift of appreciation to the cardiac surgeon. We'll be in California for nearly a month, and my beloved stash will remain at home across the ocean. I can't really run home to get another project.

PS A shameless plug for Fibers in Grass Valley. I emailed Allison last weekend and asked her if she had the back issue of "knit.1". I told her why, and that I'd need the pattern, yarn & whatnot for the project so I could work on it while dh is in the hospital. She not only had the magazine, but she's got the fiberfill, found some yarn that will work, and even offered me the needles. The whole batch of stuff was ready for me to buy by phone and have mailed off before I was even ready with the address where it'll be sent!

Stitches West: a parting gift.

2008-03-15T10:20:00.003-10:00

In February, my dear Godsister, Tina, passed away from cancer. We knew her time was near, but her illness was so sudden, and she left behind 2 darling little boys. We’ll all miss her terribly.

After I finished crying (at least for the first time that day) and found out when Tina’s funeral was scheduled, I thought to myself “I wonder when Stitches West is? How cool would that be if I can go since I’m there, anyway?” I had suspected that it was around February, so I looked it up. Her funeral was 4 days before the start of SW, and it was in the SF Bay Area! Tina knew I am an avid knitter (I even made her a chemo cap, which she thankfully never needed). My Godmother (Tina’s Mom), Mom & sisters even got to go to SW a few years back when I told them about it. But even though I dreamt of going, it’s just way too far away for me to justify a flight from here to CA in the middle of February. So, I choose to believe that my being able to go to SW after Tina’s services was a parting gift from Tina to me, and a wonderful silver lining to the trip that had to be taken.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this photo in the slide show they played at Tina’s services. That’s her & her boys, and LOOK, she’s knitting!! I found out later she was just learning to knit over the past few years.

As for SW, it was really incredible. I wasn’t able to sign up for classes since it was a late decision to attend, but I did get to the Ravelry meetup, where I real-life “Friended” orcoastknitter, creative & baygirl. I also got to finally meet Kathy & Steve Elkins, and Kirsten Hipsky from WEBS (where I spent the most of my yarn “budget”). It was really neat to have access to SO many LYSes all in one place. I had to exercise much restraint however, for fear of 1) not being able to get everything home in my luggage, and 2) not being able to afford food for the rest of the year  I did pretty ok, I think…just don’t show dh my credit card bill!

It was a little weird when people noticed that I was there all the way from Hawaii and they asked in wonder, “Did you come over just for Stitches?” But everyone was very, very nice, and I had a great time. It was a much-needed happy event after our sadness of losing Tina.

I forgot to take a photo of all my new stash together (and now it’s all sealed up in Space Bags). But if I can figure it out, I’ll put some flickr photos up here.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who were so nice at SW, and of course, thanks Tina!

Slow Blogger

2008-01-19T21:19:00.000-10:00

Well, I have to say that if anyone is watching my blog, I am sorry, but I'm just not too active of a blogger. I get kind of sick of the computer by the time work is done, and well, there's just not enough time to knit AND blog much.

That said, I just had to post this photo of what I consider the Ultimate Yarn Swap. That's my No Sheep Swap Pal, Debbie on the right. From June/July 2007 till now, Debbie has become what I call "Yarn Pal Extraordinaire". She lives in Norcross, GA, so when I found out that I had to fly to Florida for business, we thought "How cool would it be if we could meet up on a layover?" Well after many renditions of my itinerary with the travel agent, I gave up hope that we could pull off a stopover in Atlanta, GA, and then somehow the agent's last itinerary had a 2 hour layover there!!

Debbie's husband drove her the 35 minutes from Norcross to Atlanta, and we had the BEST yarn swap ever. Even the airport onlookers seemed pretty amused. My dm (in the middle), who had come along with me for the trip was pretty amused by ALL of the yarn Debbie brought me (I had to send about half of it back home with her b/c it would not all fit in my carry-on bag!). After we had to say our goodbyes (way too soon!!), dm asked me "This was the first time you two met?" Yes!! But we are Kindred Spirits to the core!!

Yet another reason I love knitting...it seems like when you're a knitter, you've got instant friends in other knitters. Not just Debbie, but I feel like I've found instant friends at the LYSes I've managed to visit lately in St. Petersburg, FL (Needles & Knobs), and in Burlingame, CA (Yarn Paper Scissors and Nine Rubies AND just someone I met at a non-knitting event whom I had identified as a knitter by her Noni Knits bag!!). And now more friends at our local knitting group, Aloha Knitters. Of all things, Bockstarknits (who friended me in ravelry) from Germany was in town & she got me to finally go to the local group. Yippee! More instant friends :-)

Check out this link!!

2007-07-24T21:35:00.000-10:00

Ok, I couldn't resist posting this link:

http://mochimochiland.com/weblog/?p=111

It's the hugest stash I have ever seen, and based on the comments, bigger than most other people have seen, too. Honestly, I think that Bonney's stash room might be bigger than my whole house!! It will be perfect to show dh as he has just made the comment "You have SO MUCH yarn!". Ha!! It all fits into one 4x6' cabinet!!

No Sheep Yarn Swap follow up:

I got the sweetest Secret Pal, whose name I now know is Sheila. She's got a cool blog, and looks like even an online store: knithouse.blogspot.com

Last month Sheila sent me some 100% pima cotton from Ulster, Ireland (plus some Wyler's "koolaid" to dye it with...but it's way to gorgeous to dye--I'll dye my KnitPicks Bare with that!) and this month I just got a skein of Svale (heard about but never seen that before) AND some 100% linen, again from Ireland. I am so lucky to have gotten such a great yarn pal!! Sheila's really neat, a talented knitter/crocheter/designer, and I'm so glad I've met her! I'll post pix of the yarn soon.

I must say, my downstream yarn pal, Debbie, is great, too. We have so much in common and email each other frequently, regaling each other with stories, and getting Rogers & Hammerstein musical songs stuck in each others' heads. I think I've made lifelong friends of both of my yarn pals!!

This is fun!

2007-05-21T21:58:00.000-10:00

The No Sheep secret (shhhh!) pals skein swap is so fun. I'm having loads of fun learning about my "downstream" pal, Debbie. It's so amazing how 2 people in different parts of the country who've never met can have so many things in common. I suppose as they say, great minds think alike....And don't we knitters all have the greatest of minds? I think so!!

I haven't heard from the person who is my secret pal "upstream", but there are a few more days left to hear. I'm anxiously awaiting an email, and hope I didn't inadvertently delete it, thinking it was junk mail. Upstream pal, if you're reading this, please please send me another email or put a comment on here! And since the directions say for the upstream person to look at my blog to learn more about me, I'll go ahead and answer some of the suggested questions:

1. What is your favorite fiber?

That's tough. At the moment, I really like knitting with Lion Brand Microspun. However, I'm really intrigued with the thought of bamboo, and love how sustainable it is as a resource for so many things, including yarn. I'm really interested in corn yarn, and would like to try it, too.

2. Do you seek out patterns calling for nonwools or do you substitute?

I do both. I substitute in a very anal and geeky manner, doing comparisons out on a spreadsheet I created.

3. What is the weirdest thing about you?

My husband says that I'm a "geekette".

4. Have you participated in other secret pal events?

This is my first time.

5. What are your favorite colors for knitting?

Bright, saturated pinks, purples, or creamy tans and neutrals. Not so much for blues.

6. How big is your stash?

About 17 miles. Much of the yarn has a designated project though. I can't wait for ravelry.com to let me in so I can track my FOs & UFOs and project queue.

7. Is there anything else I should know about you?

I can't wait to hear from my secret pal!!

It's started!!

2007-05-16T09:47:00.000-10:00

Hi! I'm so excited that the No Sheep Swap has begun! Now, if I can only figure out how to make this blog do what I want it to do!

Hi to my secret pal, "D" (trying to keep things anonymous...just in case). If you're reading this, then you really found my blog :-)

Six Sox KAL photo

2007-04-07T21:50:00.000-10:00

WIP photo: Horcrux, knit in Austermann Step colorway 14

Six Sox KAL April WIP photo

2007-04-07T21:07:00.000-10:00

Horcrux, knit in Austermann Step colorway 14.

Six Sox KAL/Knitting Happiness Is...

2007-04-03T15:52:00.000-10:00

Woohoo! I got into the Six Sox KAL just in time for the latest sock pattern, "Horcrux". I LOVE Harry Potter, so this will be so fun to do!! They'll be done for ME in Austermann Step.

Do you remember the song from "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" called "Happiness Is...."? Well, for me, Happiness Is peeking into my new ALL Knitting cabinet (DH helped me assemble it last week) where 95% of my knitting stuff now lives (the other 5% is still around the house). I love just reaching in to grab the project I need, or just to say "hi" to all of my stuff! Happiness IS also DH who tolerates my knitting mania!!

2007-03-15T21:57:00.000-10:00

Hi there, and welcome to my first attempt at blogging.

I probably won't post much because I don't have much to say. I don't think my life is that interesting, and I'm somewhat of a private person...or at least I like anonymity.

I've set up a blog because I'm really intrigued by the idea of secret pal yarn swaps, etc. and having a blog is a requirement for some of swaps. My first swap will be the No Sheep Secret Pal Skein Swap.

You probably won't find much about my WIPs because I knit mostly for gifting. If it's a gift, I don't want to take the chance that the giftee will see it before they receive it. Maybe I'll post photos after the gifts have been given.

Some of the issues that I'm currently into that others are also talking about are:

Stash organization & reduction: How did I get so much yarn!?!! Lots of my yarn is "inherited" and/or leftover worsted weight acrylics because:

Living in the tropics, there are very few LYS's to choose from & Walmart has the most yarn (I admit, I sometimes use Lion Brand and Red Heart, especially for baby blankets)
We have relatively little need for wool
Wearing and/or knitting with wool makes me sneeze, itch, and pretty cranky!
I hope to be able to enter all of my stash into my Excel spreadsheet someday. Meanwhile, I'm trying to knit from it to reduce the "load"

Sock knitting: I've been pondering why everyone is so into sock knitting. Here are my reasons:

They're practical--everybody wears socks
The tiny needles/stitches are really easy on my hands/arms so I don't get too tired (eyestrain is another story)
Socks are the ultimate in portable knitting

Charity knitting:

See above about stash reduction
I can do something I love to help others
There are people elsewhere who have a need for warm, knitted items far more than those around me

So, enough about me. I'd better stop blogging and doing all things knitting related so I can s