Patching Holes

Kitsune nestled between our computers

I don't have any exceptionally witty words today.  

We are still getting used to the new "normal" around here.

The cats are happy that everyone is home and check on us constantly.  There are four monitors on the table and various other devices that are warm and lovely to curl up against.

Hubby is working from home and I am so thankful to his company for working so hard to put this in place in such a short amount of time.  We are able to co-exist and work on our separate jobs while being together and that is really nice.  More time with my hubby is always a blessing!

For the most part, we have quarantined ourselves.  This is a decision that we came to together as the news gets more serious.  The only time we leave the house is to get food and most of that we get delivered.

I have moved all my visits to FaceTime, Discord or a phone call.  I like FaceTime best because you don't seem so removed from people when you can see them.  I try and text and check in on friends and family on a regular basis.  It is vital to have connections of some sort in this crisis.

There are new closures each day of things that we took for granted as being part of our normal.  MD Sheep & Wool for instance just canceled for the first time in 47 years.  

There will be more of these kinds of announcements in the days to come.  While it is sad, at the same time, it is what needs to be done to keep people safe.  

Remember all the times you said if you just had some time you would (fill in the blank)?  Well, now you can do that thing you wanted to.

I know that I have a bunch of things like that.  I've really struggled with the Basement.  But since I worked through the fear thing, I have cleaned up a whole bunch of it and reclaimed scads of yarn I didn't know that I had.  I hope to get a lot more done during this quarantine time.  

Also, there is knitting.  So much knitting.  I can't seem to stay focused so I keep working on new things and not finishing the last project.  I am trying to focus on them instead of the fear that is hard to ignore right now.  But for me, I already work at home.  So the only thing that has changed is hubby is home and we don't leave the house. 

I hope you and yours will continue to be safe and healthy. 🙏

*******************************

Duplicate stitch is a technique that is usually used to cover existing stitches to add a design like a name to a Christmas stocking.

It can also be used to repair holes or to rebuild areas where the yarn has been damaged.

Yarn

Use a yarn that is the same weight as the yarn of your fabric.  

Tools

A blunt yarn needle

stitch holder

crochet hook

dpns

(you might not need all of these but it is good to have them on hand instead of needing to run and get them while you are in the midst of fixing your knitting)

If you look at stockinette, the front has little vees.  Each vee has a point at the bottom and two points at the top, kinda like a heart.  These are the sections that make up a stitch.

the left side of the stitch    \ /     the right side of the stitch

the bottom of the stitch

Duplicate Stitch:

Cut off a generous amount of yarn and thread your needle.

*

Insert the needle up through the work from the back to the front for the first stitch just under the bottom of the knit stitch that you wish to cover.

Find the vee that is above your vee and go under the right and left side of the stitch.  This will make the right side of the stitch that you wish to cover.

Then take the needle back through the same place as your beginning stitch.  This covers the left side of the stitch and you have completed a stitch.  

*

Repeat the procedure between the ** for all the stitches you need to cover.

You can see that all you are doing is following the path of the stitches.

Don’t pull anything too tightly or leave it too loose.  Try to keep your tension even.  

If you are making more then one stitch, you have four directions you can go: up, down, left or right.  Think of your stitch like the center of a cross.

X

X V X

X

********************

If you have a hole from say, a yarn over that should not have happened, don’t despair, duplicate stitch can fix that too.

Note:  A yarn over that created a new stitch that added a stitch to your knitting will create a new yarn column.  If the yarn over is just down a few rows, this can be fixed by dropping the stitch off your needle and unraveling just that stitch until it disappears.  Then, gently tug on your knitting to eat up the extra yarn.

So here is my hole.

First I want to identify the bottom and top stitches of my hole by some means.  I used dpns.

Then, I want to insert my needle up through the work from the back to the front just under the bottom of vee of the knit stitch my dpn is holding.

The top dpn is a placeholder for the stitch I need to go through that forms the right leg of my stitch.  I removed the dpn after making the needle pass.

After finishing the stitch by bringing the needle back through the bottom of the stitch, I removed the last dpn and this is what my duplicate stitch looks like.

This is what it looks like in the same yarn.  The dpn is pointing to the stitch.  This new stitch will be a little out of place since it was created by the yarn over but there will be no hole in your knitting.

Next week knitting with a bias.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions regarding this or any of my other tutorials, please feel free to leave a question in the comments.

Happy crafting!

Ruinwen

😀

Wholeness

"Everything you need you already have.  You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else." 

-Wayne Dyer

Accepting who you are in this moment, in this place in your life can bring you serenity.  That doesn't mean that you don't keep growing or moving forward it just means that at each step of your journey you are content that you are where you are for a reason and the lessons that you learn are precious treasures.

I begin the day with an affirmation/meditation to be open and to flow with the prosperity in my life.  Prosperity isn't just money it is a trifecta of blessings: abundance, happiness, and healthiness.

I can love and appreciate my body at this moment yet want it to be stronger as well.  I feed it healthy food in sensible portions and walk and exercise.  In truth, there is no goal but the choice to be healthier.  

When I started exercising again it was because I couldn't clean the cat box without my back hurting.  This simple daily task to honor my cats should not have taken such a toll on me.  I knew that I was out of shape.  So, I vowed to my body to do better by it.  I have loved it at each part of its transformation.  I have celebrated each achievement with it and continue to thank it for every moment that I get to experience because it took me there.

Now I can clean the cat box without pain because my core is stronger, the muscles around it are stronger...I am stronger.  I can sit longer at the computer now without feeling fatigued.  I also sit straighter with better posture.  I feel taller and can pick up heavy things again that I could not a year ago.

Being stronger has allowed me to feel more capable.  I have taken on many of the tasks that I would ask others to do for me and I know that I can do them.  This is something that I took for granted years ago.  Now, I see everything I can lift as a gift my body has given me.  I see that working together as a body, mind, heart, and spirit we are truly powerful and anything is possible.

Mental strength is another thing that I have been cultivating.  I can love myself right now and I appreciate my self and what I have accomplished.  I still want to find harmony between me and my fears and anxiety.  

Just like getting up and exercising is a choice.  Being happy is a choice.  One chooses happiness.  If you are waiting for something or someone to change in order for your happiness to begin then in most cases you will keep on changing the goal, which will be always just out of reach.  

What would happen if you decided to be happy right now?  You can still have goals that you are working towards.  If you are not working towards something then there is no growth.  Growth means you are living and thriving.  

What would happen if you smiled right now and really felt it?  Think about something that makes you absolutely happy and hold onto that thought.  That is what happiness feels like.  Smiling releases endorphins that encourage that happy feeling throughout your body and help to lower your stress.

Every day I do at least one thing that makes me happy.  I laugh and smile when I am doing it because when you learn to cultivate happiness it spills out of you easily.  I have a sentence I say, which is like a mantra, it is all mine and it is pretty silly, but I can't not smile when I say it.  "I love rainbows, unicorns, magic, cherry blossoms, the smell of rosemary, sage, thyme and oregano, rainstorms at night, the ocean, the stars and the feel of drapey, soft, yarn."

I love myself and accept myself when I struggle with creating happiness.  I still have anxiety and fears but much like strengthening my core, I find it easier to recognize that my emotions are unbalanced and I work to find out what is the cause before they get too out of wack.

It is okay for me to have to work through these feelings.  It is part of growing and learning about myself.  It seems that lately, I have been uncovering things about how and why I think or react the way I do that never occurred to me before.  The reason is I am listening to my body, my mind, my heart, and my spirit.  I am taking into account the reasoning behind my fear and working with them instead of banishing them or ignoring them.

It isn't always easy.  But I am learning and growing as a person as I walk this journey with my fears and anxiety.  We are learning to choose happiness together and there are many things that used to cause me to panic that now I can do easily.

I try and remember those times when I could not do things that seem so easy and comfortable to me now so that I can encourage myself and see how far I have come since last year...and that always makes me smile.

Abundance is something that a lot of people feel is lacking in their lives.  Abundance, for most people, equals how much money they have.  A lot of people have all kinds of ideas about how money flows into their lives based many times on how they grew up.  For instance, someone who grew up feeling less abundant might now work extra hard to create a life full of abundance so they never feel that lack again.

But an abundant life is more having a lot of money.  I knew many very rich people that were never truly happy.  Their wealth did not buy them happiness.  

Abundance is about feeling joy in just being, having a mind to dream and create in some form, being surrounded by people who love and accept you for who you are and looking around at all you have and realizing how blessed you are, and in this moment that is enough.

Again, this doesn't mean that you can't dream and have goals.  It is accepting that the you in this moment is whole, there is nothing you can buy, obtain or earn that can give you what you already have.

I've told you about my little mouse issue in the basement.  For some reason, this whole thing turned into fear and I had total anxiety over even stepping a foot down there.   But I have been working through the fear by listening and I am super careful with gloves and a mask and tons of cleaning supplies and I have been slowly working my way through the basement again reclaiming my yarn.

I am actually enjoying the process, even if I have to throw some beautiful yarn away.  The basement is slowly getting clean and the fear that I have is now supportive of reclaiming my yarn room.

I have been storing yarn up here for three years to keep it safe and I have a lot of it.  But when I started to clean up down in the Basement, I realized how I had just put all of it out of my mind.  I have scads, of yarn.  I am totally abundantly blessed in yarn and i haven't even cleaned up all the bins yet.

I keep having to buy another container to keep it in every time I begin in a new area and that room is not that big.

It is so easy to take the things that we have for granted and look at the things we don't have.  But what if you looked at the things you do have with gratitude you would start to realize how abundant you are?

What would happen if you looked at all the friends you have, your support system as it were, and saw them for the amazing treasures that they are?

I'm sure you know this story:

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us.

One is Evil.  It is anger, envy, jealously, worry, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Choose wisely.

Bright Blessings!

****************
I realize that not everyone reading this blog will be at a point where your life is even near a feeling prosperous, and to those people I ask the powers that be to bless you and uplift you and grant you a safe, happy, abundant, healthy place to live where you can thrive and find happiness in the mundane.

****************

My math teacher bestie in her Pi shirt.
Also, a shout out to her for helping me understand Pi formulas.

In honor of Pi Day on March 14th, (3.14) I have been working with circles.  

This is a baby blanket I made in 2006.  It had picot edging. 
This is an example of a circle constructed in a spiral.

In knitting making circles is not something we do very often.  I'm not sure why because they are super fun to knit.

We will look at two of the many circle construction methods today, the spiral and the Pi circle.

Spiral Construction Example

Spiral circles use a spiral to increase and shape the circle and you end up with a lovely snaking design of yarn overs.  

In the above example of a spiral circle, you would cast on 8 stitches in the round; you will have 2 stitches on 4 dpns.

Here is the formula for my spiral example.

Round 1:    *YO, K1, YO, K1* repeat ** 4 times
Round 2:    Knit all stitches
Round 3:    *YO, K2, YO, K2* repeat ** 4 times
Round 4:    Knit all stitches
Round 5:    *YO, K3, YO, K3* repeat ** 4 times
Round 6:    Knit all stitches
Round 7:    *YO, K4, YO, K4* repeat ** 4 times
Round 8:    Knit all stitches
Round 9:   *YO, K5, YO, K5* repeat ** 4 times
Round 10:   Knit all stitches

By this time you can see a trend.  You can continue in this manner making a circle as big as you desire.

This circle has spirals that bend to the right.  If you were to change the pattern to:

Round 1:    *K1, YO, K1, YO* repeat ** 4 times...etc then the spiral would turn to the left.

Also, you don't have to do yarn overs if you don't want to.  You can use another increase method as long as you follow the formula.  An example of this would be to use kfb or knit in the front of the stitch, without taking it off the needle and then knit in the back of the stitch before taking the stitch off of the needle (one increase made).

Round 1:    *kfb, kfb* repeat ** 4 times
Round 2:    Knit all stitches
Round 3:    *kfb, K1, kfb, K1* repeat ** 4 times
Round 4:    Knit all stitches
Round 5:    *kfb, K2, kbf, K2* repeat ** 4 times
Round 6:    Knit all stitches
Round 7:    *kfb, K3, kfb, K3* repeat ** 4 times
Round 8:    Knit all stitches
Round 9:   *kfb, K4, kfb, K4* repeat ** 4 times
Round 10:   Knit all stitches


Another way to make a circle is the Pi Circle.  Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi Shawl was one of the first round shawls that I had ever seen.  If you haven't read any of her books or watched her DVDs...you might find a lot of enjoyment in seeing one of the pioneering spirits of the knitting craft.

In making something round you have to take in to account Pi, which is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  For knitting, this means that the circumference will double every time your row doubles.

In building your circle there are two different calculations that need to be made: 

• the number of stitches on each round
• the number of rounds in-between each set of increase rows

For instance, if you cast on 8 stitches then you need to follow it with 1 plain row with no increases.  Then you will double the number of stitches to 16 with 2 plain rows.  And so on.

The cats helped me pin this so it was hard to get it totally round.

This circle was made by casting on eight stitches:

8 stitches                   1 plain row

16 stitches                 2 plain rows

32 stitches                 4 plain rows

64 stitches                 8 plain rows

128 stitches               16 plain rows

and so on...

You can increase with yarn overs or kfbs.  You can use both.  You can just have eyelet rows or use the long plain row sections to included lace that maintains the row count.

The one I made for a sample uses all those techniques together.  In the first three increase rounds, I used kfb.  I used yarn over increases for the next round followed by some lace that kept the round count at 32.  Then I used kfb again to increase to 64 stitches.

Pi circles are very versatile and are a lot of fun to knit.

Remember to always use a stretchy bind-off because I once knitted a huge circle with thousands of stitches that I bound off way too tight and it was more of a jellyfish when I was done then a blanket...and I was very, very, very, sad.

Next week we are going to go back to fixes and look at fixing an unintentional hole in your knitting.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions regarding this or any of my other tutorials, please feel free to leave a question in the comments.

Happy crafting!

Ruinwen

😀

Breathe With Me

My happy little heralds of spring always create joy when I see them poking up their beautiful heads.

I have been hearing a lot about Marie Kondo lately and her goal of helping people create an environment that sparks joy.  I feel that is a beautiful thing.  Creating a happy place where you can thrive is empowering.

We used to have a sign on our fridge at my Mom's house that said, "Be happy you have a house to do chores around."

In truth, we are all very blessed.  It is a fact that is easy to forget when we are hustling from one place to another and rinsing and repeating another workday.  If we stop for a moment to look around us, at all we have, at all we take for granted, it is huge.

The biggest thing that we take for granted is this amazing body that carries us everywhere and allows us to exist in this world.  Yes, all of us have things that might not work to perfection all the time.  We all have our struggles and things that we either live with or have to work through.

Have we taken time to thank this body of ours?  Ever?  I know that I have spent most of my life focused on my imperfections instead of praising my body for getting up each morning.

That stops now.  I love my body in its state with all its imperfections and though I don't have to love the issues I can embrace my body and be thankful for all it has given me.

As a woman, I am thankful for the babies that I could bring into the world.  What an amazing thing to carry a child and then hold that child in your arms.  My body did that.  I know that women give birth every day but it is always a miracle to me when a new soul comes into this world.

Our bodies do so much and take such a beating each day.  I think doing something to give back to them only seems proper.

I feel that taking a moment when you come home after you kick off your shoes and toss your car keys to just be, is so important to your body.

Stop where you are and take a moment to breathe, really take a breath, fill up your lungs and feel the oxygen course through your system.

Relax.  Just like Marie Kondo says to surround yourself with things that bring you happiness, reach into your day and sort through the moments.  If you had a bad day, hold the image of them for a moment, glean what you can from their lesson and then let them go to the Universe.

Then find the good parts of your day and celebrate them.  I try to find three things each day that stand out above the rest and I record them in a journal and then expand on being thankful for them.  This way I can create a focus based on happiness instead of starting a negative spiral.

When I think about them I smile.  I try to feel how they made me feel happy and brought me joy.  I constantly work on cultivating this feeling of happiness so I can call it up when my mood shifts and I start to focus on the negative moments more than the positive.

While I am still smiling I roll my shoulders and my neck.  I drop my shoulders and let go of the weight of the world for a moment...this is my moment.

During this ritual, I consciously breathe from my belly like a baby does.  If I have to I place my hand on my belly so that I can push against it with my breath to remind myself what it feels like, then I do that.

Each time I tense up, I look to see what emotion is causing the stress to return and lovingly acknowledge it, learn from it and then let it go.

If I am thinking about what comes next, I am missing the point of being in the now.  Being present in the moment connects me to my breath.  

At this moment, I feel calm and centered.  If I do this practice throughout my day I feel more connected to my self.  The more I take these little time out moments, the easier they become for me.

Just 10 good, deep belly breaths a few times a day followed by rolling the shoulders up and down and then rolling the neck gently until you feel a little calmer can make a huge difference.

The hope is that you will take more deep breaths even when you are not doing the relaxation ritual.  Deep belly breathing massages the internal organs, lowers blood pressure and your heart rate, improves your core stability, lowers the effect of stress hormones and reduces stress in general.

And something I truly believe in is breathing.  😀

So many times when we panic, we hold our breath and this is when we truly need to just breathe.

In knitting, your emotions can be the key to your tension.  So before I begin, I always take a deep belly breath and try and relax.

Bright Blessings!

***************

I realize that not everyone reading this blog will be at a point where your life is even near a happy place, and to those people I ask the powers that be to bless you and uplift you and grant you a safe, happy, healthy place to live where you can thrive and find happiness in the mundane.  

*******************

Here is a stitch that has been dropped in garter stitch. 
My finger is pointing to the stitch just poking up that is behind the ladder strand.

Now that we are relaxed let's talk about dropped garter stitches.

Last week we explored fixing a drop-stitch in stockinette.  Today we will be looking at fixing a dropped stitch in garter stitch.

In garter stitch, you knit both rows.  But every stitch is not the same.  There are purl bumps and smooth knits that look like vees and each of these stitches must be dealt with in a different manner.  

For practicality’s sake when talking about the two different looking stitches we will call them knit and purl, even though in garter we will have knit every row.  The vees represent the knit stitches and the bumps represent the purl stitches.  

You will need to determine if your drop starts on a knit row or a purl row by looking at the stitch next to it then choose the corresponding section below that you need to follow.  

My example here starts with a knit stitch. 
You can tell the last stitch made was a purl because of the purl bumps all being uniform.

The first stitch on the hook is the ladder and the second is the working stitch.
Pull the ladder stitch through the working stitch.

 Section A Knit Fix:

The stitch we need to fix here is a knit stitch, this means you want to end up with a vee on this stitch.  In garter, you can't see the vees in between the purl bumps very easily but if you pull the bumps apart those vees are there.

Make sure your dropped stitch is situated in front of the ladders.

Insert your hook through the dropped stitch from the front towards the back (making sure that the stitch is not twisted) and then pick up the bottommost strand in the ladder going under it from the front to the back and then catching it on the hook.  

Then, pull the ladder strand through the stitch on your hook to form a new knit stitch.  

***

When making a purl stitch the ladder strand must be in front of the working stitch.
From this setup, pull the ladder stitch through the working stitch.

Section B Purl Fix:

The next stitch that we need to fix is a purl stitch, this means that you want to end up with a purl bump on this stitch. 

Make sure the ladder stitch is in front of your dropped stitch.  

Place your hook through the dropped stitch from the back to the front and pick up the bottommost strand in the ladder.  Then, pull the ladder strand through the stitch on your hook to form a new stitch.  

***

Continue alternating techniques for knit and purl and rows until you have laddered your drop all the way up.

Ladder your dropped stitch back up to the current row you are working on.

Give your newly rescued stitch a gentle tug to make sure it has been absorbed back into your fabric.

Awesome job!

Note:  If this is a new drop then you will have no trouble in laddering it back up using the strands of yarn between the stitches.  If it was dropped a while ago, you will need to borrow a little room to ladder it back up; thus making this section a little tighter.  Give the fabric a little tug or block it to help the stitches even out.

Next week we are going to take a break from fixes to talk about circles.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions regarding this or any of my other tutorials, please feel free to leave a question in the comments.

Happy crafting!

Ruinwen

😀