This is my first post to my brand-new blog, so I suppose this entry should serve as an introduction.
If you like to knit, and you have confidence in your brain and your hands, and you're not allergic to a bit of math, you may find my posts useful.
If you are a process knitter, you may enjoy my ramblings. I won't be writing much about how many items I have to crank out before Christmas Eve. I am much more interested in the process of knitting, the passage of yarn between the fingers, and the sanity-invoking aspects of this ancient craft.
Knitting helps keep me sane in an insane world, and it's a helluva lot cheaper than Prozac. Which is why this blog is called Mambocat's Knitting Asylum. I am Mambocat. Welcome to the Asylum.
If you are interested in the technical aspects of the craft, and in the behavior of fiber and yarn, and if you have an interest in handspinning, there will be something for you as well. I crochet a bit too, and if you are a crocheter who doesn't spell "cute" with a "k," you might find an occasional interesting item here.
And if, by chance, you work in the field of animal care or have a family member affected by stroke, you will find words of interest here. I work at a public animal shelter serving close to half a million citizens. Animal sheltering is a stressful, honorable, maddening, joyous, heartbreaking, but ultimately rewarding, vocation. Please, people, spay or neuter your pets and keep them confined for their own protection. No excuses.
Last year, my husband had two strokes at age 48, turning his life upside down, re-arranging mine, and leaving me astonished at the lack of real support out there for the long-term at-home needs of stroke survivors and their family members. Dealing with the long-term stress and frustration of stroke is tough. Having something soothing and useful to do with one's hands helps a great deal to take the edge off.
You may write to me at mambocatz@yahoo.com if you would like to correspond further on any of these topics.
Current project: doing the math for a welted beret in Phat Silk Fine from Lalana Wools. This oversized beret is designed to keep dreadlocks or other prodigious amounts of hair in check. The challenge in the shaping is to maintain the jaunty, bouncy look of a beret, without it collapsing into a shapeless sack. Phat silk is not as elastic as wool and not as inelastic as cotton, so the welt pattern will look crisp. The trick to the shaping is in both the thickness of the welts and the spacing of increases and decreases.
Till my next post,
Mambocat
