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HANDKNIT TOWEL : TUNISIAN STITCH : INTUITIVE KNITTING

Left hand is in a bit of a cramp: the Tunisian stitch can do that to you! But this stitch feels and looks right for the hand towel I am knitting with four strands of a cotton and linen yarn and unmarked needles which seem similar in size to some 000's - about three-quarters the size of my little finger. White yarn on bright orange needles. A visual delight. This is producing an airy, lacey towel - an experiment. A former towel was knit in Tunisian stitch but in a much tighter gauge: it looks lovely (the stitch offers wonderful texture on white), 'works' well, but does take a time to dry between uses. Also the 100 % cotton yarn has twice been repaired at the edge after washing and this prompted the thought of making another towel. And the idea of an open weave with 'pockets' that may prove adequately absorbant and quick to dry. I've done about four inches, twelve inches width, and I am 'feeling' a contrast band just now might be nice, possibly stockingette or moss. Will see what the 'sticks and string' dictate when next I pick them up.

The Tunisian stitch is as follows:

On odd # of stitches and two rows

Wrong side Row 1 K1*(yo Slip 1 purlwise K1 with yo)*
Row 2 (K1 K2tog in back of sts) End K1
Hint - the brackets in Row 2 mean you keep the K1 on the left hand needle while you K2 tog in the back of the next two sts and then slide all three off at once. It's a bit fiddly (thus the hand cramp!) but becomes familiar once you get the hang of it.

"Fiddly" gives an opportunity to indulge in Mindful Knitting or Intuitive Knitting, however one wishes to think of it. In this case the vibrant orange needles were chosen to contrast with the white yarn and 'catch' the attention. The knitting into the back of the two stitches requires that I pick them up with thumb and forefinger of left hand and hold them away from the left hand needle so that the right hand one can gain entry easily. That's eight strands and the linen and cotton is a bit knobbly so there is texture involved in the touch and the sight as well. And those two stitches, from the previous row with the yo and the Slipped purlwise and then Knit with yo stitch manoeuvre, are like crossed arms, occurring between the single stitch, so easily 'seen'. There's a satisfying interaction with the 'tools', the skill, the growing product - and, most of all - the freedom.

MORE MEALS IN A DRINK

Something worthwhile here! This concoction is serving as an appetizer or a meal or a dessert or a snack. Coupled with supper last night it was all four. Here's the latest: soya milk and yogurt with three rounds of canned pineapple, 1/2 yellow pepper, 1/2 red tomato, a few slices of raw beet and I may have tossed in 1/2 stick celery. The result was sunset red and very tasty. Next I'm going to experiment with herbs like fresh rosemary, nasturtium leaves, a dash of worc. sauce or Bragg, maybe a sweet version with marmalade......

MEAL IN A DRINK

Many years ago when I was married and the children were young we bought a Vita Mix blender at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.. It was a beautiful machine with a stainless steel receptacle (or whatever you call the blender 'bowl')but what got us handing over $99 for it was the demonstrator showing us how we could have a "meal in a drink". This was intriguing enough as he put in pineapple juice, a banana, and an entire slice of whole wheat bread. Then, to add "protein", he took an egg and as he went to break it on the rim of the blender container he dropped the entire egg into the contents. Of course the audience gasped. He played up to us and looked shocked and then shrugged and put the lid on and turned on the motor. Then he offered samples and we realized it had been an on purpose 'accident' and the machine could, indeed, entirely pulverize an egg shell and "give needed calcium". (This was before the raw egg in food issue.) I loved the whole performance so much I stood through it several times. And I loved that blender across the many years it served us.

This came to mind the other day when I realized my winter diet is nowhere near as fruit and vegetable rich as in the summer and may account for the more sluggish feeling I associate with cooler weather.
So into my great old Waring blendor (I think the spelling was a publicity ploy) I put soya milk, plain yogurt, four canned pineapple rounds, a handful of raw brocolli crowns, half a stick of celery, a small raw carrot, tablespoon or so of energivita yeast, teaspoon of ground flax seeds, half a pear. NOT a raw egg, shell and all. (I do make Caesar salad dressing and use the contents of an organic raw egg, carefully wash the shell before I break it, taking the advice of someone else who also uses a raw egg and hasn't poisoned herself with either the fear or the actuality of salmonella.) Blended it all magnificently. A banana would have enhanced the flavour, but it was a tasty drink and satisfied my hunger, which is always the key to the worthiness of what we put in our mouths. Some things satisfy, for a short time, our craving to eat. What our body actually needs is satisfied by food that takes away our hunger and lets us get on with life until the 'need' gradually builds again. A constant search for food means we haven't 'fuelled' properly. I felt full after one glass so put the other in the frig and had it before bedtime. Woke up feeling quite perky. I'm looking forward to experimenting with other recipes where I can 'drink' a goodly assortment of veggies.

BLOOD

Picked up my sharp little scissors to cut a thread on a sewing creation and neatly snipped a quarter-inch cut into my thumb. Stared at it in startle as the white line turned to red. Stared at the blood. And had the most incredible sense of being a part of the mother who sorrows each month that the showing of blood means a child has not been started. A part of a soldier, wounded, bloody. A part of someone who self wounds. A sports injury and a nose pouring blood. A surgeon and a scalpel and an entry into a body. J Alfred Prufrock...... And returned to simply being a lady who had been a bit careless with scissors as the body plugged the flow and I got on with my sewing.

LIGHT

There was an item on the radio this morning about a nursery shining bright lights to grow tomatoes in their greenhouse and neighbours complaining they can read a newspaper in their backyard at two in the morning. (What comes to mind is that if I wanted to read a newspaper in my garden at two in the morning I might be pleased at the illumination, but I think that is not the point.) What I noticed not long after two a.m. was the Moon adding another blanket to my bed, this one pure light. Having made the transition of not now depending on the Sun to accompany an early rising the time of dark before the dawn is made use of. Today the light of the streetlamps is golden and reflecting on the trees (some still!!! in leaf) while the litmus paper sky has wicked up pinky-red Sun light. Sunlight will come later. PerCy shines his own light on the immediate me.

DON'T ROLL OVER, ROVER!

I like how you can get stockingette stitch on flat knitting items to not do a roll over on the edges by purling the second and second last stitch on the knit row and then just purling all the stitches on the purl row. Discovered this magic in Mary Thomas's Knitting Book and felt I'd learned a great trick.

GLASS JARS

There's something special about using the last bit of the content of a glass jar: thoughts about the replacement, either the same or contemplation of something different. I enjoy this. At the moment it is jam that is in question. And the choices available. The brands available at my favourite grocery story where I have been shopping for many years and the staff has remained mostly constant and I could engage in discussion over selection. The homemade jams offered in the Craft Store where the ladies will know the donors and have likely tried the jams and be able to advise on who tends to make a very sweet product and who not. Then there are the craft fairs where jams are also for view and for sale and the opportunity to speak directly to the maker and get a sense of where the fruit came from. The fact of strawberry jam made from berries straight from the garden appeals to me. Sometimes they have samples.

The adventure of selection is before me. For now I had the pleasure of washing out the glass jar with hot soapy water, chasing away lingering bits of jam, rinsing in hot water, drying the jar, still steaming, with a soft old linen cloth, holding the glass up to the light to confirm that it was, indeed, sparkling. It may go into the recycling bin. It may get put on a shelf for future use and my mind trips across what it could house - a food Christmas gift? the rusty square handmade nails still waiting in a bag in the basement on some sort of appreciation? knitting needles? my thoughts for the moment...

KNITTING - ART OR CRAFT

An endless subject for discussion. Is knitting art or is knitting craft? What makes art? Intent? Intent for what - that it be art? This seems a diversionary step leading back to the initial query of what is art. For myself I consider knitting art because I want it taken seriously, want it respected, appreciated, explored, want it to increase the awareness of the person involved in the creation and the person drawn to the item created, want it to 'speak', to 'express', to 'communicate'. Does this mean craft is all else and that it is somehow less? I don't know. I am focused on the art aspect of it. This morning, as I sat on the Polish deli patio with my knitting, as I shared the technique with a woman who inquired about the stitch I was using, as she walked away saying she was going to give it a try - I felt such a deep satisfaction from the 'art' of knitting.

The stitch was lace faggot chain from Mary Thomas's Knitting Patterns book, the pattern resembling 'faggots' or bundles of twigs used for fuel. The stitch responds with a wonderful diversity to experimentation with different fibres and different sizes of needles. With hemp or jute and little-finger-sized needles on six stitches it produces a lovely book mark with a scribed or ink-drawn look to it. With almost-thumb-sized needles and a handspun wool on ten stitches it offers a lacey scarf that twirls on itself. This aspect - the twirl - surprised me when I made the first scarf and there were moments of feeling I had to 'correct' something, but this passed and I love the double helix or spiral stairway or rotini noodle appearance of the scarf. I enhanced this by stitching each end into a cup shape. At a four to six foot length it can be wrapped many times around the neck for a cowl warmth and curl, a once or twice wrap gives a very nice adjustable drape.

The stitch is basically, on an even number of stitches, to purl two together with the wool at the back of the work as if to knit. Done this way each P2tog produces another two stitches. It is very simple but not all that easy. The trick seems to be to work loosely and make sure two lines of yarn are being picked up with each stitch.
And if it falls off the needles the best way to pick up the stitches is to frog one at a time, picking up what is left hanging when the wool is pulled out. It is almost impossible to frog a whole row and expect to pick up the stitches. But once you get the hang of it it is satisfying and enjoyable.

Yes, Knitting is an art. As I knit on the scarf, pay close attention to the tension of the wool, ply the right-hand needle with a gentle, almost teasing motion, suggest the wool 'stretch' itself a little with the promise it will then be allowed to 'relax', watch and feel my left-hand thumb 'coax' the needle-captured sheep's bounty to 'yawns' to respond to the 'tease', I see the similarity between how I knit and how I make pictures with paint and brush.

TRIBUTE HAIKU

For David Grierson, CBC Radio host, On The Island, Victoria BC Canada
who died suddenly on November 20 and leaves a large gap in the lives of his 'listening family'.

Gentle warm weather
Making us feel, oh, so good,
Exactly David.

CRUNCHY VEGGIES

I don't liked cooked vegetables done in that way which is expressed with a French expression which I cannot remember exactly how to spell at the moment but it has dente in it and you are going to have to imagine the accent unless good ol' PerCy will add it as I post this message. I want my vegetables soft if they are cooked. Not mushy, particularly, just nicely soft. Less nutrients that way? I challenge that. I think it's a culinary myth, or at least enough of one not to worry about the nutrients. Unless that brocolli or green bean or asparagus has just travelled from garden to pot, of course it has lost nutrients. And cooking it so that I am startled by its hardness seems a bit of a stretch regarding food value. Steam it, yes, don't drown it, but COOK it! Raw vegetables have their charm. Cooked vegetables have their charm. Betweenies don't.