Day four of the new cholesterol medication, and the end of the old. So far the only side effect I notice is the common one, constipation, which was a side effect of the old medication as well. But, I lie, there does seem to be another side effect, but not one I am complaining about. My eyesight seems to have improved. Could it be the new medication, the cessation of the old medication, the hours spent on crochet and not on the computer, the slight weight loss… I don’t know! But I am not complaining.
The current project, WIP seems to be the buzz acronym for “work in progress”, is a simple pair of fingerless gloves for my Mom for her birthday. Sorry Mom, the surprise is not a surprise, particularly since you might be helping me out with advice about them from time to time. Having learned the single crochet stitch, it was time to move on to a new stitch, which is the half double crochet stitch. This took quite a while to catch on to, as apparently I don’t acquire new physical skills easily. I found these beginner crochet gif illustrations helpful, the videos are great but move way to fast for me, and if I take my hands off the work to press pause and continue on the keyboard I lose track of what I was trying to do with the yarn. It is still necessary to translate right-handed instructions to left-handed instructions, which slows me down considerably.
Yesterday the project began early in the morning, and at the day the stitches had been ripped out several dozen times, to start again. At the end of the day four short rows had been successfully completed. This represented a great deal of learning: the new stitch, how to join a chain to make a circle, how to add a row to a circle, and how to fail at changing colour (abandoned that one for now), and at crocheting intermittently into the back loop to create texture (abandoned for another time). The greatest leap in learning however, was being able to recognize the structure of the stitches accurately enough to use an acrylic (fuzzy) yarn rather than cotton (not fuzzy) yarn; this represents quite an expansion in my knowledge base.
It has been cloudy and drizzly since last Friday. Sunday gave us freezing rain all day. Monday brought a little warmth to the air, but not a lot. This morning it is cloudy and raining, and about 6C, not nice walking weather! I might go for it later today, if I can tear myself away from the crochet hook! Crocheting is addictive. I haven’t started dreaming about it yet, but I think that is just a matter of time.
I was looking at a video clip from Woodstock the other day, way back in 1969. I didn’t attend, as at the time in my life survival was an issue that precluded all else. It struck me, as I watched the video, that I didn’t see ANY overweight people. How things have changed from those days. At least 50% of young adults are overweight, probably more, that I see in videos of social gatherings in these modern times. It wasn’t until I watched the Woodstock images, that I was struck by the depth of the epidemic overweight and obesity problem in North America.
I remember a comment made, when I went to a folk festival for the day with our elderly neighbour Grace, when we lived in the little city. At the end of the day I asked Grace what she thought of the festival. Her only comment was, “there are a lot of fat people.” She wasn’t being judgemental, just descriptive.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
5°C
Date: 9:00 AM EDT Tuesday 28 March 2017
Condition: Mist
Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 5.0°C
Dew point: 4.6°C
Humidity: 97%
Wind: N 6 km/h
Visibility: 4 km
Quote
“Never confuse movement with action.”
Ernest Hemingway
1899 – 1961
Or lack of movement with inaction.
In other words, assumptions are risky business.
I wish I were there near you so I could physically help you with your crochet problems. I’m no expert, but I see where you need some personal assistance. When connecting a circle, just be sure you are connecting the top (current) row to itself and not turning the work so you have the top row connected to the bottom at the other end.
I watched a video one time done by “Mikey” of The Crochet Group on how to be sure, when you turn your work, it stays even up the sides… and from that one video, it helped me enormously the way he described the structure of the stitches and what to watch out for. If I can find it I will send it along.
OK, I found it right away –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji_lDvlSPrs
When he says “each one of these crochet stitches is like an apartment building…” that did it for me. It all became much clearer – he’s a good teacher.
Your observation about your eyesight is interesting, Maggie. I’ve found at times that meds have made my eyesight worse but only my thyroid meds have made it better. Seems that changes in eyesight are often caused by pressure in the eyeball. When pressure is higher the eyeball elongates, and this causes more nearsighted eyesight. As the pressure lessens the eyeball becomes more round and the eyesight gets better.
Had to smile at your crocheting becoming addictive. I hope it continues to bring you much joy as you branch out to new projects and stitches.
We’ve had a couple of damp and cloudy days, here. The temps have been warmer than last week but you couldn’t tell because the dampness made it feel cold.
DH and I are hoping to go to the Cottage Life trade show on Saturday. It’ll be fun to go see what they have.
Bex, thanks for that link! I have seen “Mikey” mentioned in the crochet groups. I watched the turorial and it is very good, the photography is very clear, and I can see what he is doing while he talks, which is great. I have subscribed to his youtube channel, and will go back there for further information. I haven’t advanced to the double crochet stitch yet. I have learned the slip stitch, the chain stitch, the single crochet stitch, and the half double crochet stitch so far. I am glad to have that input about the double crochet stitch going in!
The problems above have been resolved. It took a day to finally get them right, but now I have learned it. The second problem was because I was skipping the “chain 2” part of the instructions. Later in the pattern she began to omit the “chain 2” instruction, which I didn’t like, because if you were following the pattern exactly it would have let you into problems. But the pictures that accompanied the pattern showed that the “chain 2” was still being used, so I used the pictures to guide me. I have finished the first glove, almost, still have to do the trim. Tomorrow I’ll start the next one, when I am fresh in the morning.
I have come to the conclusion that I learn by making mistakes! It is time consuming, but by the time I get it figured out I know how and why it works, which means I can transfer the skills I learn. If I learned by rote I wouldn’t have that advantage, so I am satisfied with the way I learn. Painful to watch though! Still, I record it here because I find it interesting how I am able to discover most of the things that can go wrong!
Teri, my eyesight hasn’t changed significantly for the last 20 years, so I think this improvement is a minor variation, a welcome one. I think I am noticing it because I am doing the crocheting, which allows me to focus at different depths frequently, which computer use does not.
I am surprised at how much I enjoy crocheting. I have done fine needlework and quilting in the past, and detailed pen and ink cartography, but crocheting is much more relaxing than either of those passtimes.
It must be spring if the Cottage Life Show has come to town! Enjoy
Your Grace and I have noticed the same thing out in public. It’s enough to prove there are serious fitness problems in our society, and rampant poor eating habits. -Kate
Kate, I noticed a real shift when the schools stopped teaching food preparation and nutrition, which I taught to Grade 7 & 8, and Hight School students. By the time my kids hit school the only instruction was done by teachers with no specialized training in the subject, who just taught what they figured was important, and in the case of my daughters, the teachers were wayyyy off base. I don’t think most kids even know what Canada’s Food Guide is, or how to prepare simple foods from scratch. I noticed a few years ago when Canada’s Food Guide was being revised, that the most important input was not from science and professionals in the filed of human nutrition, but from STAKEHOLDERS! Stakeholders! What a travesty. The young think they can learn everything from the internet, but it isn’t true.
When my stepdaughter was in elementary school, so 2007 to 2012, the Food Guide was taught every year. Each year they were taught a little more, more complexity.
The thing I noticed, though, was that being able to spout the knowledge verbatim had no effect on her eating habits. We ate wholesome foods in reasonable amounts and when she was with us she maintained her weight, but we couldn’t overcome her other parent wanting to constantly stuff her with smoothies, milkshakes and ice cream cones. And that’s the style of eating she carries with her to this day. Unfortunately that also comes with about an extra 70 pounds, on a 5 foot frame.
Teri, good to hear some schools are teaching at least the Food Guide.
As for it sinking in, well, I suspect there is little hope of that anywhere these days. Processed foods abound everywhere you turn, and they are full of sugars, salt, unhealthy fats, lots of calories, and very little in the way of nutrition.
I remember sending Terra to a summer camp, at the University where I would have thought there might be some efforts to instill intelligent eating habits. I was wrong. I sent Terra in with homemade sandwiches, raw vegetables and fruit, nuts, raisins, fruit juice… and the other kids ridiculed her to the point where she begged not to go to camp anymore. What did the other kids have, well, pop, little bags of chips, prepackaged snack bars, fruit roll ups, prepackaged processed cheese with salty crackers, the list goes on. We suffered through the summer, no choice, but I was very careful about her summer camp experience the following year.
At one point when my kids were young, I swore that they thought that if it didn’t come wrapped in plastic it wasn’t food! And they weren’t learning that perspective at home.