When Knitting Was a Manly Art

Bruno – Our wandering boy – Bruno wanders and sometimes we don’t see him for days on end. Actually he disappeared for about two months once. We had, of course, given him up for lost and then one evening, after all the rest of the cats were in the garage for the night and I was finishing up evening chores, a strange meow from under the deck and out crawled Bruno. Fat, sassy and no indication were he’d been for the past two months.

Bruno is also the King of Drool. We have what I believe is a genetic thing in our tribe. Over 80% of them drool when purring and contented. Bruno has drool mastered. When he’s *really* happy, he manages to leak from both corners of the mouth and from the front. If you have a thing with cat saliva, don’t pick him up…

Popularity: 7% [?]

Hand is feeling much better this morning and so 6 more rounds on the Aran sleeve. Only four more until final decreases, then I’ll look at whether it’s going to need extra length before the cuff is added. I’m going to hold off pictures until at least tomorrow.

Worked a bit on the Strong Heels sock last night and a few more rounds this morning. It seems to me that the heel to going to be too short, but I’ll work the whole sock so Eileen can try it on and decide if I knit the second one.

Whole sock – heel to right:

Closeup of heel – 1/2 heel on right needle. Increases start at bottom of blue band:

Popularity: 6% [?]

6:30am – Partly Cloudy – Current temp. 35.1F(1.7C)

Max 49.6F(9.8C) – Min 35.1F(1.7C) — 0.04″/1mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]

Recently I was pointed at some problems with the MenWhoKnit webring that I own and admin. I quickly found that my bookmarks to Ringsurf no longer worked and things had changed considerably.

A new owner and a completely changed interface for ring admin and things don’t work the way they did. Things are supposed to improve, but in the meantime there’s going to be a lot of upset web ring admins before it’s over.

See kadyellebee’s blog for more info if you run a ring.

Popularity: 6% [?]

My arthritis is still bothering me this morning, so I didn’t even attempt to work on the Aran. I’ve been taking plain aspirin, which helps much more that either naproxen (Aleve) or ibuprofen (Motrin) and the swelling is down a bit.

Instead I worked on the Strong Heels sock, which even with smaller needles and yarn, seems easier on my hands. I’ve been reading that folks are saying that the Bryspun needles are easy on those of us with arthritis.

Finished the 7 inches of leg and started the heel increases. I’m using what June Hiatt (POK) calls a ‘Right Lifted Increase’ – knit into the stitch below the next stitch on left needle and then knit into the stitch above it. I was going to try to do a balance pair of increases using a ‘Left Lifted Increase’, but it was just too finicky and decided to just stick with one type. I don’t think anybody will notice…

The heel is to the left, though with only two sets of increases, nothing much shows yet.

Popularity: 6% [?]

6:30am – Rain – Current temp. 45.9F(7.7C)

Max 46.9F(8.3C) – Min 39.9F(4.4C) — 0.67″/17mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]

Port – Female – The Magic Cat. The second surviving member of problem litter. She’s another that just doesn’t seem to be able to get along with the other outdoor cats and refuses to come in at night. Nearly completely black, except for a tiny patch of white hairs on her right shoulder. She’s another house visitor. Likes to sit on laps and lick noses.

Popularity: 7% [?]

or the lack thereof..

Only 4 rounds on the Aran this morning. I have a very arthritic left hand and currently my left thumb is really giving me problems. It’s swollen, stiff, with a steady dull pain in the joint and it’s slowing down my knitting. I had mentioned earlier that I had 10 rounds to go. Well, that should have been 20 rounds, as my count this morning is round 104 out of 114

Also put a half dozen rounds on the Stong Heels sock at lunch time. Only 1 1/2 inches to go to start the heel.

Popularity: 6% [?]

6:30am – Cloudy – Current temp. 39.9F(4.4C)

Max 44.2F(6.8C) – Min 34.0F(1.1C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]

6:40am – Clear – Current temp. 34.5F(1.4C)

Max 43.2F(6.2C) – Min 34.5F(1.4C) — 0.16″/4mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]