Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Learning Portuguese, I think I'm learning Portuguese, I really think so.

When I read the lovely comment from Lauren on my last post, recommending that I try out Portuguese knitting because it works for Christine, who also has bad wrists, my first thought was, uncharitably, not "Brilliant. That sounds great". It was actually. "No, I don't want to learn another way of doing this. I tried continental once and that was an unmitigated disaster. I don't want to be a beginner again, all slow and clumsy with bad tension. I want to whinge and moan and cry for a bit about how hard done by I am and how horrible it is that my body is responding so poorly to the minor challenges I ask of it."

Of course, I calmed down a bit later, while I was nursing my throbbing wrist and staring at a pile of UFO's that were really meant to be finished by now. 

I went straight to YouTube and found a video by Andrea Wong, who explained it really well. I have been practicing on a garter stitch square for a charity blanket and I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm still clumsy and slow and I have bad tension. I really don't like being a beginner again, but I'm recognising it's a necessary evil. 

I'm also continuing on with the UFO's, knitting in my old style, but very slowly. I'm getting about 3 rows of the Knitting Olympics Cardi done every day and I finished Margot's first sleeve on the weekend. 

In other news, my craft-blogging friend Fenella is opening a craft and knitting shop in Christchurch. She will have a small knitting section with a range of yarns, knitting and felting supplies, books and magazines. It's bricks and mortar to start off with but she expects to go online at some stage.  She's asked for advice on which books or magazines and knitting supplies she should consider carrying. My personal magazine list would be the following: 
 - Interweave Knits
 - Debbie Bliss
 - Yarn
 - Yarn Forward
 - The Knitter

On the knitting supplies list I would include:
 - stitch markers
 - Knit Pro needles
 - Namaste Oh Snap pouches (and in fact anything else by Namaste that fits!)

If you have any suggestions of your own or want to find out about the shop, you can contact Fenella via her website http://www.emiliarose.com/ or leave some suggestions in the comments and I will make sure that they get to Fenella. 

It's raining here and there is a small lake in our front yard. The forecast says that the rain will continue, potentially for the next week. I hope it is less wet where you are!

5 comments:

  1. It is just like The Yarn harlot said right? Slow knitting is better than no knitting.

    I'd suggest your friend look around her local area to see what others are selling, because some things will be considered absolutely necessary (and it changes regionally). The fun part will be striking a balance between those items customers will expect and cool stuff they cannot otherwise get locally.

    I love all my Namaste stuff like crazy, but I cannot reccomend the Oh Snap Pouches. I use 'em and I love 'tm, but 2 of the 3 of them fell appart very very quickly. How are yours holding up? Have you had them long? I hope mine were just a bad bunch.

    Miss Bik :D

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  2. another tip for knitting with pain, is to knit on wooden needles. it sounds daft, but it works!

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  3. Well done for slowly perservering. A little bit at a time. We should all be open to new challenges and to learn new techniques - it broadens our knowledge base - Congrats on doing that

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  4. Thanks so much Alexia for posting in your blog and for giving me those ideas, I've printed it off to ask my suppliers about on Tuesday! We had our first day today and it good, relatively quiet which is what we wanted for the soft opening so that we can iron out the teething issues before a big opening in a couple of weeks. We made a couple of sales but mostly it was just awesome to see people coming into the shop and really enjoying the fabric and yarn and that word of mouth spread so quickly that one woman had 2 friends visit within 2 hours of her leaving after she randomly spotted the store while out walking. So that is a good sign! I'm absolutley exhausted but want to thank you for your post before I pass out from sheer exhaustion and an overly full tummy (and yes I did sneak a couple of drinks at the opening day dinner tonight, they went straight to my head, lol!)

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  5. we now have a website for the shop! www.stitchplayroom.com oh and I am with whoever suggested wooden needles for joint pain, they are lifesavers, I've just ordered in a full range of wooden needles (japanese bamboo) including jumbos and circulars!

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