Ohhhh THAT Point Five

So I'm searching for a pattern for my yarn from Sheep and Wool, right? I was new to this knitting thing and had noooo idea what to do with this funky chunky yarn, what needles to use, etc . . . The kindhearted seller told me it was "like (and I quote) colinette .5". Now then. My background is in medicine, and I was trained to NEVER write a decimal without a zero before it. That can be misread, the decimal overlooked - resulting in an overdose. So I wrote on the tag "like colinette 0.5". Thus began my internet journey in search of a pattern for this stuff. It seems there are *many* fibers called colinette. As searches often do, I found many very interesting and some rather exotic things including this tank cosy and tree sweater. Just how I got to those sites is a puzzle to me.

And then, in the UK. A brand name. Colinette Point Five.

Yupper, that's the stuff. I'll be able to use any pattern and feel secure that my item will measure up. This is not to be confused with Colinette One Zero mind you. I imagine that is slightly smaller. No, no, no. Point Five is the stuff for me.

Colinette Point Five

	100% pure wool
	tension 10 cm: 7.5 sts x 9 rows
	Comes in 100g hanks
	50 metres per hank
	needles_12mm

Colinette One Zero

	100% pure wool
	tension 10 cm: 16 sts to 25 rows
	Comes in 100g hanks
	100 metres per hank
	needles_5_5mm

Notice the swatch measurements come in centimeters, verrrrry sneaky. But, again with the decimal points! One Zero uses _5_5mm ?? Whaddup with that? I don't have any _5_5 needles. Nobody makes _5_5 needles. Oh, I can get 5 POINT 5 needles by the gross, but not the elusive _5_5s. Google, here I come again.

Lost and Found

Bobby just opened the bookcase and out popped the yarn from Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I thought it was lost. Gone. Trashed. Sul came over to help me clean one day and I swore she had thrown it out by mistake. There it was, tucked onto a shelf with Stephen King. I probably told her to put it there for safe keeping and throw the bag away. Sheesh. Let the pattern search begin!

Okay, okay

It’s been a long time since I touched tinkknitz. Not that I haven’t thought about it, you see. My attention span is short and I’ve been focused on a non-knitting issue in my life. Now that I’m free to be all knitting- all the time, I’d like to get back to it. I enjoy the creative aspects of my life and have missed exercising that side (which side?) of my brain (oh, maybe it was THAT side). I just visited my 43 things site. That's one I HAVE kept up with. If keeping track of two diary type thingies proves to be a bit overboard - one of 'em can go. I really like 43 things. Simple goals, simple results. Simple. It organizes my thoughts by following the progress of each goal which is waaaay cool.

Now then. I have been busy. Here's a sampling

• K1P2 Knit-A-Thon K1P2 sponsored a great day at The Lakeside Cafe. As the gods would have it, my Mother was discharged to home just the day before. Bobby insisted I still go. His argument was - my mental health. He stayed home with the caregiver and called me when the visiting nurse was on her way. It did the trick for me and I was ready to tackle all the paperwork, schedule therapy, and order equipment and supplies. Huzzah for knitting for charity.

• Finished Objects (turned in at the Knit-A-Thon) My first chemo cap (pitiful, but made with love). Also the other pink chemo hat I made on vacation - nice and big for prednisone patients. Several Warm Up Americas blocks. And finally . . . drumroll please . . . my damned apple cloth. I got the yarn from Margaret and the pattern from knittingknonsense. It was for a women's shelter that Holly Anne donates to. It was fun, and very cute. However, the last four rows refused to die. Thank you, Margaret, for helping me murder them. I had been working on that thing for, say 3 months now? It was so filthy, I had to bring it home to wash it (No, Bonnie, block it, said Holly Anne). When I did, soo much red dye came out of the yarn, I was glad the recipient wasn't going to think her face was bleeding! The yarn just looks mushed to me now, but I learned a valuable lesson. Don't try to do complicated patterns while trying to care for your mother in a nursing home!

• Christmas presents I made Kevin a great scarf, and have enough yarn to make another short one with the hole at the neck I think. I made a coaster for Mr.Mike at K1P2 and will be finishing another tonight. Made a terrific Pot Holder at Stitches but haven't decided on the recipient.

• STITCHES EAST After all the buzz at K1P2, I signed up for two all day classes at the four day knit-fest that is Stitches East. Whew. I learned soooooo much. The biggest thing was DPNs. Both classes taught dpn and I feel pretty comfortable now. There was also I-cord, increasing left and right, using a stitch holder, using two stitch markers, binding off with three needles and (ta-daa) one project is (get this) felted. Then there are cables and a little bit of Fair Isle but I barely remember them. They were on my first dpn day, and I had to content myself with learning the process, not finishing the project. I did an abbreviated version to be able to try the techniques, but eeek! I was slow. I am working on finishing that little hat now however, and am about to tackle that little matter of the cables . . .

• Project Bags I've been collecting enough knitting supplies to have basic kits in each project bag. I'm doing pretty good. Three are almost done. I wasn't going to put everyTHING in every KIT, but it's been easy to collect. Recent additions: I got some measuring tapes at Savage Mill Saturday that are very amusing. The pig has a curly tail to pull etc... I had a handful of free letter openers with an edge that cuts yarn like a dream. Some empty flat pill bottles (Target) stash stitch markers, tapestry needles, row counter and a knit picker.

• Little Red Book I got this to keep as a literal knitting diary - tracking gauge for patterns and needle size/yarn type. You know, something I can scribble in. It's red cloth with three sections. There are little pockets to tuck in labels from yarn or other terribly important notes. I took it to Stitches an already have a few "purls" in it (ouch, did I use that?). No creative space here, just the facts.

So here I am. Family responsibilities were in the forefront for the last six months or so. I don’t think I was doing much actual knitting in the last two months – mostly talking about knitting. Reading about knitting. Planning my knitting. Browsing for and stroking the yarn I may-or-may-not-be knitting. But as I look up at that list, I haven’t been doing as bad as I thought. I readily acknowledge that I am a slow, methodical, perfectionistic knitter. It is not my destiny to be The Queen of the Knitting Universe. Hmmm. Life just changed gears for me.