Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Murphy's Law


Murphy's Law - everything that can go wrong will go wrong..

The Demo Factor - when showing something to somebody and it does not work, it worked fine before you started showing it and works fine after but not working when you are showing it. This especially applies to machines like the computer or anything mechanical.

Over Confident Factor - when learning a new skill and you start thinking that you are doing something really well and oh how clever you are how you picked it up fast. Boom you make a big mistake and have to start all over perhaps with a bit more humble attitude.

Desperate Factor - usually happens when you need to do something in a hurry. The more desperate you are the more things can go wrong.

Why am I going on about this? You guessed it things are not going as smooth as I would like them. There are outside interferences to my agenda. I would like to be left in peace and just do what I want when I want. But there is disturbances like taking care of my family.... dogs ..... household chores ...... garden duties oh yes and work. I'm amazed I get as much knitting, and spinning as I manage but I want more.

What set me off this morning are my dogs! I love them very much but they can be a pain in the rear sometimes. When I sit at the spinning wheel Lucy wants to sit right next to me or play with my roving and even help with the foot pedals. If I keep my roving in a basket she is sure to jump right in and curl up happily as if the wool was the most comfy thing she has ever laid her little body down on.


Because I knit "by the seat of my pants" with no particular pattern and improvise a lot often I forget what I did. I originally started this blog to keep track of my knitting. It was pre Ravelry.com and it was a handy way to journal my hobby. When I tried to keep a real paper journal I kept misplacing the books and was not able to word search. If I wanted to include a picture I would have to print it out paste it in the book etc. Keeping a web log (blog) seemed the perfect tool. I did not think anybody would be interested in my stuff so I thought this was a private personal amusement. I am still shocked that friends and strangers actually visit my blog and read what I'm up to.

A lot of knitting techniques are difficult to explain in words, as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well then a motion picture or video is worth a million words. So since taking a video snippet of a technique is so easily done now I've started to take videos of what I'm doing. But this presents a challenge, most of the time I'm alone and I have to manage the camera and audio and make sure that I'm covering what I want to without shaking the camera or having weird noises in the background. For example part 2 of the picot edge I've been doing on my "Magic Bags" you can clearly hear Lucy barking her little head off.

Both dogs are so sweet and quiet most of the time but the minute I turn the camera on or get on the phone they start barking. (See below) I wanted to remember how I was drafting and document my progress in this new skill. Got the white towel in my lap so I can see the yarn fibers clearly, got the camera positioned and ready set go.... nice Zen . Oh spinning is so relaxing ...... Bark..... Bark..... Bark. Bark Louder BARK BARK SCREAM!

Suddenly my Zen experience got uptight. I suddenly forget my technique the draft is too short I'm pulling the fibers awkwardly and it's not what I wanted to show. Darn I'll have to do it again.


Here is the finished stage 1 of mystery wool 8 oz. Now I have to learn how to ply.


Crochet Picot Edge Bind Off Part 1








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