I had my first cello lesson two years ago yesterday.
As far as progress goes, this post that I wrote recently sums it up nicely.
Excuse me, but I need to go roll up my sleeves for another lesson this afternoon. That Scherzo is slowly but surely finding out that it is NOT the boss of me.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
4S: fernfrost
Scarf/Shawl/Sock Saturday (or Sunday if I forget to post on Saturday)
Welcome to the second edition of 4S.
I recently finished this Fernfrost scarf for my mom:
I've made several of Anne Hanson's sock patterns, and really liked them, so I was eager to try one of her lace patterns. Mom picked the pattern and the yarn color. (Apparently, this is the "wrong" side of the pattern, but I actually prefer it to the "right" side, which shows all the purl stitches. If you click on the Fernfrost link above, you can see what the "right" side looks like.)
That there is eleven-and-a-quarter repeats of a 32-row pattern. Here's a close-up of a 32-row section:
I used Knit Picks Palette yarn in the Cream colorway and their size 5 Harmony wood needles. There is pattern work on every row, so no purl resting row. This is probably the most complicated lace knitting I've done so far. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite the complexity, it gave me a lot of focus and relaxation. I will definitely try more of Anne's lace patterns.
Welcome to the second edition of 4S.
I recently finished this Fernfrost scarf for my mom:
I've made several of Anne Hanson's sock patterns, and really liked them, so I was eager to try one of her lace patterns. Mom picked the pattern and the yarn color. (Apparently, this is the "wrong" side of the pattern, but I actually prefer it to the "right" side, which shows all the purl stitches. If you click on the Fernfrost link above, you can see what the "right" side looks like.)
That there is eleven-and-a-quarter repeats of a 32-row pattern. Here's a close-up of a 32-row section:
I used Knit Picks Palette yarn in the Cream colorway and their size 5 Harmony wood needles. There is pattern work on every row, so no purl resting row. This is probably the most complicated lace knitting I've done so far. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite the complexity, it gave me a lot of focus and relaxation. I will definitely try more of Anne's lace patterns.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
children's e-book question
Seeing as today was filled with news about JK Rowling's announcement that she's (finally!) releasing the Harry Potter series as e-books on Pottermore, it seems appropriate to ask a question about children's e-books.
The background to this question:
I'm finishing edits to my next e-book. It's a children's novella for the 9 to 12 age group. Obviously, there will be a cover image.
Here's the question:
For a children's e-book, is a cover image enough, or do you think there should be some illustrations within the story, or does it matter?
If you have children who read e-books, or know children who read them, I'd especially like to hear from you. And your children, or the children you know. Feel free to ask them their opinion on this question. Also feel free to forward this question to anyone you think might have an opinion on it - I'm data gathering, you see.
The background to this question:
I'm finishing edits to my next e-book. It's a children's novella for the 9 to 12 age group. Obviously, there will be a cover image.
Here's the question:
For a children's e-book, is a cover image enough, or do you think there should be some illustrations within the story, or does it matter?
If you have children who read e-books, or know children who read them, I'd especially like to hear from you. And your children, or the children you know. Feel free to ask them their opinion on this question. Also feel free to forward this question to anyone you think might have an opinion on it - I'm data gathering, you see.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
4S premier
Scarf/Shawl/Sock Saturday (or Sunday if I forget to post on Saturday)
I'm totally cribbing this themed-post idea from Gwen's T-shirt Tuesday posts. She's okay with it, though.
I can't remember the last time I showed you any knitting progress, let alone finished objects. To remedy that, you lucky readers you, I'm going to attempt weekly posts on Saturdays (or Sundays) with photo updates of projects I'm working on.
I generally have at least one scarf, shawl, or pair of socks on the needles, hence the S theme. These three projects are my favorites to knit because they fulfill the three Ps - portable, practical, pretty. (I promise to stop with the alliteration now.) The materials for all three project types don't take up much room, so they fit into a small bag you can keep with you all the time so you can knit on them when you have a few spare minutes or fifty. These project types can all keep you warm as well as make you look spiffy. And there's so much pattern variety, both simple and complex, to keep your visual interest.
All of them are good for spring and summer knitting, too, because you don't have a lot of heavy yarn in your lap like you do when you knit a blanket or a sweater. (Ooh, this may renamed 5S in the fall, when I start knitting sweaters again.)
I'm going to start 4S with a photo essay of a shawlette knit-along I recently finished. I tweeted updates and pics after each section was completed, but I realize not everyone is on Twitter.
I've read Wendy Johnson's blog for awhile now, and I've always admired her lace patterns. She's got a new lace knitting book coming out in August and ahead of that, she's been doing a few group knit-alongs. For non-knitters, a knit-along is just what it sounds like - a group of people knit the same pattern and compare notes in the process. Everyone's using different yarn in different colors and maybe even different needle sizes, so despite it being the same pattern, there is lots of variety in the finished results.
It gets even more interesting if it's a mystery knit-along. You know what the finished object will be, but not what it will look like in detail. Sections of the pattern are released (in order) at regular intervals. The good thing about this process is that you work on the project a bit at a time, and it seems far more manageable that way. There's no real deadline, so you knit at your normal pace. There's no problem if you fall behind because the next pattern clues will still be available when you catch up.
For this mystery lace shawlette knit-along, Wendy suggested fingering weight yarn without too much varigation, and size 5 or 6 needles. I decided to use Knit Picks Stroll in the Tidepool Heather colorway.
(All photos taken with the Instagram app on my iTouch - I'm having a little too much fun with the retro pic options on that app.)
This is 239 stitches cast on with two rows knit.
Unfortunately, I had to rip all this out because the stitch count was incorrect in the pattern. It was supposed to be 241 stitches. Wendy discovered it pretty quickly and alerted the group. She even had a fix if you'd cast on the 239, but it only worked if you hadn't started the first lace row, which I had, so after a short visit to the frog pond, I was able to re-cast on with the correct number of stitches.
First 14 rows:
Twelve rows added:
Another 72 rows added:
The last 20 rows added and the whole thing bound off:
Blocked! (For non-knitters, blocking means stretching a piece and pinning it to get it sized correctly, and for a lace project, to get the pattern to pop out and not look like lumpy tangled noodles.
I think it turned out nicely, and I'd probably knit it again. The only changes I'd make are to take out the "spine," since I generally don't like that look in shawls (it's easily done by omitting the yarnovers on either side of it that make the line of holes), and I'd make it a little bigger since the average yardage of fingering weight yarn that I buy would easily cover another pattern repeat or two.
I'm totally cribbing this themed-post idea from Gwen's T-shirt Tuesday posts. She's okay with it, though.
I can't remember the last time I showed you any knitting progress, let alone finished objects. To remedy that, you lucky readers you, I'm going to attempt weekly posts on Saturdays (or Sundays) with photo updates of projects I'm working on.
I generally have at least one scarf, shawl, or pair of socks on the needles, hence the S theme. These three projects are my favorites to knit because they fulfill the three Ps - portable, practical, pretty. (I promise to stop with the alliteration now.) The materials for all three project types don't take up much room, so they fit into a small bag you can keep with you all the time so you can knit on them when you have a few spare minutes or fifty. These project types can all keep you warm as well as make you look spiffy. And there's so much pattern variety, both simple and complex, to keep your visual interest.
All of them are good for spring and summer knitting, too, because you don't have a lot of heavy yarn in your lap like you do when you knit a blanket or a sweater. (Ooh, this may renamed 5S in the fall, when I start knitting sweaters again.)
I'm going to start 4S with a photo essay of a shawlette knit-along I recently finished. I tweeted updates and pics after each section was completed, but I realize not everyone is on Twitter.
I've read Wendy Johnson's blog for awhile now, and I've always admired her lace patterns. She's got a new lace knitting book coming out in August and ahead of that, she's been doing a few group knit-alongs. For non-knitters, a knit-along is just what it sounds like - a group of people knit the same pattern and compare notes in the process. Everyone's using different yarn in different colors and maybe even different needle sizes, so despite it being the same pattern, there is lots of variety in the finished results.
It gets even more interesting if it's a mystery knit-along. You know what the finished object will be, but not what it will look like in detail. Sections of the pattern are released (in order) at regular intervals. The good thing about this process is that you work on the project a bit at a time, and it seems far more manageable that way. There's no real deadline, so you knit at your normal pace. There's no problem if you fall behind because the next pattern clues will still be available when you catch up.
For this mystery lace shawlette knit-along, Wendy suggested fingering weight yarn without too much varigation, and size 5 or 6 needles. I decided to use Knit Picks Stroll in the Tidepool Heather colorway.
(All photos taken with the Instagram app on my iTouch - I'm having a little too much fun with the retro pic options on that app.)
This is 239 stitches cast on with two rows knit.
Unfortunately, I had to rip all this out because the stitch count was incorrect in the pattern. It was supposed to be 241 stitches. Wendy discovered it pretty quickly and alerted the group. She even had a fix if you'd cast on the 239, but it only worked if you hadn't started the first lace row, which I had, so after a short visit to the frog pond, I was able to re-cast on with the correct number of stitches.
First 14 rows:
Twelve rows added:
Tristan wanted to help:
Another 72 rows added:
The last 20 rows added and the whole thing bound off:
Blocked! (For non-knitters, blocking means stretching a piece and pinning it to get it sized correctly, and for a lace project, to get the pattern to pop out and not look like lumpy tangled noodles.
I think it turned out nicely, and I'd probably knit it again. The only changes I'd make are to take out the "spine," since I generally don't like that look in shawls (it's easily done by omitting the yarnovers on either side of it that make the line of holes), and I'd make it a little bigger since the average yardage of fingering weight yarn that I buy would easily cover another pattern repeat or two.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
anniversary
Oscar-the-cello and I have been together for a year.
It's been a good relationship so far. Oscar sounds better in the new practice space (the room with the moon and stars). It's a smaller and cozier room, so I can hear his tones a whole lot better.
We're up to fourth position and about to dive into thumb positions. Our vibrato is coming along nicely. Well, all but first finger vibrato, but we're working on that. We have a better bow hold, too. A nagging ganglion cyst on my left wrist sometimes gets in the way of developing our relationship. However, my left hand grip is a lot looser than it used to be, so the cyst doesn't bother me as much as it used to.
The kitties like Oscar, too. They take turns hanging out in the room during my practice sessions.
Appropriately enough, I had a cello lesson tonight. More work on the Scherzo. Funny how relaxed you have to be to play the frenzied bits so they sound convincing.
Oscar puts up with me even on my bad days when I'm cranky or tired or depressed or angry or doubtful or dejected. Some days we sound truly awful together, and we can occasionally find humor in that. Some days I tell him I don't feel like practicing and can only manage a scale or two. He's okay with that because he knows that more often than not just getting started with a scale can be enough momentum to get me to stay seated and continue with an étude and maybe even wander over to tackle a bit of the current full piece I'm working on.
Here's to many more years together with Oscar.
It's been a good relationship so far. Oscar sounds better in the new practice space (the room with the moon and stars). It's a smaller and cozier room, so I can hear his tones a whole lot better.
We're up to fourth position and about to dive into thumb positions. Our vibrato is coming along nicely. Well, all but first finger vibrato, but we're working on that. We have a better bow hold, too. A nagging ganglion cyst on my left wrist sometimes gets in the way of developing our relationship. However, my left hand grip is a lot looser than it used to be, so the cyst doesn't bother me as much as it used to.
The kitties like Oscar, too. They take turns hanging out in the room during my practice sessions.
Appropriately enough, I had a cello lesson tonight. More work on the Scherzo. Funny how relaxed you have to be to play the frenzied bits so they sound convincing.
Oscar puts up with me even on my bad days when I'm cranky or tired or depressed or angry or doubtful or dejected. Some days we sound truly awful together, and we can occasionally find humor in that. Some days I tell him I don't feel like practicing and can only manage a scale or two. He's okay with that because he knows that more often than not just getting started with a scale can be enough momentum to get me to stay seated and continue with an étude and maybe even wander over to tackle a bit of the current full piece I'm working on.
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