Recasting On

[legalmoose]

The SOTU was a good excuse to sit still and knit for a while - listen to the speech, but not watch the goings on. I got several rows done on a new swatch, all knit stitch (I’ve still not braved purl yet), and I’m happy with how evenly it’s coming out this time. It helps that I cast on only 30 stitches rather than 42 - the needles aren’t really big enough for 42 - so it’s nice and even this time. It’ll either be a scarf or a pot holder, we’ll see. Depends on how often I can sit down with it in the evenings, and how bored I get.

Still don’t have the whole “how to hold the thread in the right hand” thing down yet - I keep twisting it too tightly around my index finger. Will have to get my friend TH to show me how she holds the stuff. Or learn continental style. Who knows. I’ll get it eventually, I know.

Interesting speech for some of the stuff he addressed. The earmarks portion (the reason I watched, actually, since it has a bearing on my practice area) will be an interesting change, and is going to cause a lot of headaches with Congress (who will find a way to earmark funds, even outside the official committee reports, trust me). It’ll certainly keep my BGA’s government relations people busy. I suspect those same folks will be culling quotes from tonight’s speech for a letter we have to finalize tomorrow morning as well. Makes me glad I don’t have my work blackberry just yet.

It is, of course, too little too late. Earmarks rose precipitously under the last term of (R) control of the Congress, and while they’ve come down some, they’re still pretty high. Not that (R)s alone are to blame - (D)s earmark plenty, too. Not sure of the solution, past taking the measures he’s going to put into place - an executive order signed tomorrow to ignore these extra-legal set-asides is a good start. Weaning Congress completely off pork, however, is going to be an uphill battle.

Got my heel shot up this morning with cortizone, to counteract the plantar faciitis I’m dealing with off and on. The night brace is helping, but I got to a point where I finally agreed with the doctor that a shot was called for. We’ll see how that does. I want this stuff done with, it’s not comfortable at all.

View this post at the Glen.

Comments

[susandennis]

I learned to knit when I was 6 and I never did learn how to hold the yarn properly. So, yes, for 52 years I've been doing it wrong. I actually studied the Continental method about 10 years ago and used it for for several years and then went back to the susandennis method. I lift my right hand to move the yarn over the needle holding that yarn between my index finger and my thumb. My 52 years of experience encourages you to find a comfortable way to knitting and go for it. And enjoy. And remember that one man's mistake is another man's design element.

[eyow.livejournal.com]

You're only doing it wrong if you're not getting the result you were looking for. If you want regular uncrossed stitches, and you're getting them, then it doesn't matter HOW you got them.

Love,
The Knitting Police ;)

[moderatio.livejournal.com]

That earmarks point in the SOTU confused me.

When you say "extra-legal set-asides" you mean earmarks outside the official committee reports? Also can the president unilaterally decide to ignore a congressional mandate? (I thought that was a no-no)

[legalmoose]

There are two types of earmarks - those found in the statutory text itself ("hard" earmarks) and those found in the committee reports accompanying the bills ("soft" earmarks). Hard earmarks are, because they are in statute, binding law. Soft earmarks are not found in law (hence my description as "extra-legal"), and therefore may be ignored by the Executive branch when it carries out the law (more on that below). Only by passing a law, either with the President's signature or over his veto, may Congress bind the Executive branch; that is the sole avenue for them to act under the constitution - passing legislation.

That said, the Executive agencies who ignore soft earmarks in the reports do so at their peril. Those agencies who do ignore them may find themselves with more hard earmarks, or reduced funding, or other nasty surprises in the following fiscal year. The appropriations committees don't brook a lot of nonsense from the agencies when it comes to their pet projects. As such, most agencies have a good understanding with their appropriations subcommittee(s) about how soft earmarks will be treated.

The Executive may also tweak the soft earmarks somewhat in carrying them out, depending on the particular agency's other statutory authorities and requirements. For example, my own BGA has statutory requirements for cost-sharing when we do R&D or other work with outside entities, as well as regulatory requirements for application for aid, etc. By strictly adhering to the cost-sharing statute and application requirement (not that we'd do otherwise), some of the soft earmarks disappear because the intended recipients don't want to go through the process of applying for the aid and then proving that they are living up to the cost sharing requirements prior to the BGA's release of funds.

[eyow.livejournal.com]

You've seen the videos at knittinghelp.com, right?

Plus, remind me to explain the difference between knitting and purling later. (Off to class, like 5 min ago...) You'll be fine, really.

[eyow.livejournal.com]

By explain, I simply mean "describe in words". I think it's a Good Thing when you understand what you're doing on more than just one level. :)

When you execute a knit stitch, one way to think of it is that you are inserting your right needle into the front leg of the stitch from left to right. (If you look very carefully at the stitches as they sit on the needle, you will see that it's not completely even, that the leg in front of the needle sits just a little closer to the end and to the right of the back leg of the stitch). Then you wrap the yarn around the right needle counter-clockwise (if you turn the tip of the right needle towards you as you wrap the yarn), or from front to back (if you're looking at it as you're knitting). You pull that loop through to the front, and when you drop the stitch off of the left needle, you can see that the top of the stitch drops to the back of the work. What you see below your needles should look kind of like a "V".

To purl a stitch, instead of inserting your right needle from left to right, it goes into the stitch from right to left. This leaves the right needle sitting in front of the work, so it is necessary to bring the yarn to the front of the work before you begin to purl. (If you try to do this after you've inserted the right needle into the stitch, you will find that it is very difficult to wrap the yarn properly around the right needle, as it prefers to start out underneath the needle). The yarn goes around the needle in the same way - counter-clockwise if you turn that needle towards you, or from front to back - but because you've inserted the right needle into the stitch from the opposite direction, you will find that the loops are being thrown to the front of the work, rather than the back.

Tell me when you understand that.

[legalmoose]

:-p I'm following Knitting for Dummies, which is working fairly well so far. This latest piece (my 2nd attempt) is looking pretty darned good if I say so myself. Of course, it's all knit stitch, which seems fairly hard to screw up if one is paying attention.

They have purling directions, but I'm enjoying watching the knit thing grow at the moment, so purling is on hold for the moment.

[eyow.livejournal.com]

It's all good. Sally Melville wrote a book of patterns called "The Knit Stitch". You can go a long way with just knitting. *nod*