Menokreatikkul; Saturday Stitches

Cecilia mentioned in comments that her own crochet efforts were being hampered by a sore shoulder. Something I can identify with. I have a history of frozen shoulder (never mind the "ol' arthur"), and I do know that I can get quite tense if I sit too long at a stretch of yarn work. I make a conscious effort to put the work down at least once every hour and roll the shoulders, breathe, drop... With crochet, over the years, I have learned to mostly keep myself loose, but in recent years, I've noticed that I am inclined to prop my elbows with cushions/pillows, and that helps a lot. 

When returning to the craft of knitting this year, I found that shoulder tension was returning big time, as well as noting that my spine was complaining. Clearly, I was straining at the work! I know that I tend to work my mouth when the stitches are sticking, too. I have to take deep breaths and remind myself to sit back, rather than 'falling over' the work.

Posture is important at all times, but when doing this sort of activity, it can be easy to forget oneself. To help keep me more seated and relaxed, I treated myself to a support 'cuddle' cushion...

I had actually been eyeing these up for a while. There are cheaper options out there, but this one boasted extra strong back support, given further credence by the large number of positive comments - and I have not been disappointed! This has been worth every penny I paid. Between that and the 'doughnut' (which I've had for years), I now sit like a queen. I still have to remember to drop the shoulder from time to time, but things have improved significantly, particularly when knitting rather than crocheting.

The Cotton Tails Tales Continue!!!

As for the knitting, I mentioned in Thursday's post that I had been learning a new technique. Well, strike that... I was observing and attempting it, but that was definitely giving me shoulder and spinal cramps! It was the continental style of stitching. For once, my not inconsiderable dexterity failed me. I know it is about practice, and maybe I'll get back to it one day, but meanwhile, the stitch pattern that had caught my attention enough to endure the day and a half I tried it had been yelling at me to "try your own version in standard western knitting!"

It didn't quite come out looking like the original (this video, if you are interested), but it's not horrible... using cotton yarn (untreated) may be part of the different appearance.

The photo makes it look a little more ribbed than it really is. Although not quite the pronounced eyelet version of the video, I am pleasantly surprised at how well this came together... my swatch kept growing and resulted in...

A summer slouchie! I had produced an oblong, but didn't have enough of these particular yarns to make it into a scarf, so joined the ends, did a little ribbed cuff and filled in the crown with crochet...

All that is needed now is for warm weather to arrive. This is definitely not warm enough for the current spate of chill.

Anyway, I was rather happy with my variation on this stitch, so much so that I decided to use it on the turquoise mercerised, of which I still seem to have quite a goodly amount! I also had in the stash a single small ball of similar yarn in a lilac shade, which will get used up in this, which is certainly to be a scarf. I was so pleased with the one I made for Joni, I was originally going to recreate that, but am now going ahead with this instead...

Menoturals; Night Bird (First Friday Filmclub Mini)

Joining in with the LLB gang and their Nature Friday blog hop...

And although I am something of a night bird, it is not myself to which the title points, but to one of the great denizens of night flight, the owl.

Specifically, the Tawny Owl. I was standing in the kitchen a couple of nights before Joni's visit when I heard it. At first, I thought I was imagining it, for as soon as I stopped what I was doing, it stopped toowit-toowooing! Quite some minutes later, as soon as I started moving, the call came again. I did eventually manage to get Merlin operating at the same time as it was calling to confirm which species was tucked away in the giant Beech tree in the backyard (for it must have been that close for the app to pick it up through the window).

This gave me quite a thrill. Although considered a common species of owl in the UK, the population has dropped by over forty per cent throughout this century, resulting in the RSPB now categorising the status as amber - i.e. of conservation concern. 

They are fairly territorial, so it is entirely possible that this individual will make itself heard again, although the recent weather, as mentioned in yesterday's post, is likely to have prevented too much activity. I shall be listening out, though! Here's a clip with the call I heard (recording details attached).

There can be differences in calls, too. As this is also First Friday, here's a wee film with some lovely photos and the sounds of both male and female having a conversation... 

Menopdate; A Bit Behind

Last month, I received a couple of little updates from Nobby... I know that several of you will have seen this as you follow him on his new book of phisogs address. However, I also know that a few, like me, have resisted that platform, so here we read about Nobby and Dru having raised some funds for charity (well done to them!), and more recently, Nobby's latest coiffure...

Smart, spring cut, I think we can all agree. Sorry that I am a bit behind with posting these... I feel a bit behind myself in general. Spring has been so slow to start here - one might say, elusive to non-existent. There have been bursts of brightness on occasions, and when the sun has appeared, there is some real warmth with it (breaking into double figures, just). The snow, graupel, sleet, gales, a prodigious amount of rain, and, incredibly, on Sunday, there was the most incredible thunder and lightning. Not something one expects in temperatures hovering around freezing. This little article was informative.

So, spring is a bit behind, too. The daffodils out in the backyard barely got their yellow glowing before the big storms hit at the start of the month. Very poor showing. 

Anyhoo - that's all for today. Soon the week will be behind me, and I'll be wondering yet again what I have to show for it. Although I did have a big spring clean in the kitchen last week and this week have been learning some new knitting technique. Not entirely unproductive...