New Moon in Scorpio

  Well I'm several days late on this post, I blame the busy times and Halloween! But that is no excuse, I've been thinking about it since last Wednesday, October 26th when the new moon occurred at 4 degrees in Scorpio.
   For me this fell in my 2nd house, which is the Prosperity/Abundance Gua. I was also a few days late on doing some proper prep and dedication, but I read in my astrology magazine that you have a good 2 weeks after the new moon to put new things in action. So I cleaned my office nice and shiny on Saturday and since have begun really working on defining some of the career aspirations that were probably also motivated by the prior new moon.
   In the 13 moon calendar, this month (which started mid-October and continues to Nov 14th) is about asking " what form does our service takes in the world?" Scorpio is a sign of deep water and so I am starting to dive deeper than I ever have into the definitions of how my service can be shared into the world, and also how I can attain my own prosperity from that!
   As a final note to this post, I'm just going to add that starting with the full moon in Libra, I will try to document progress made in a gua or sign when the dedication I set out at the new moon comes to completion with the full moon in the same sign.

New Moon in Libra

   Here is the first installation of my feng shui of astrology blogging :) Please visit my Feng Shui of Astrology page for more info!
    With the new moon at 4 degrees Libra as of 5:09am (MDT) today, I prepared yesterday by finding 4 degrees Libra in my chart. For me this falls in my first house.  The first house in astrology corresponds to the Career/Life Path bagua in Feng Shui and the color Black. The way I determined which areas of my house to clean up and prepare to welcome some fresh energy, in order to align with this new moon, were several-fold.
    First I made a list of each room in my house, including the entrances, such as Front Door, Living Room, Dining Room, etc. There are a couple of schools of thought in feng shui, one where the Career/Life Path bagua is the front entrance (to a house/room, etc) and the other is by direction, where that bagua is in the North. I'm not sure which school of thought I ascribe to, so I decided to go with both of them.
    Next I made a list of all the areas that would correspond to this bagua from all the angles.  And because I apparently like to complicate matters, I also added another configuration where I considered my back door the 'front entrance' because I use it to leave/enter my house more than the front door.
    After associating all the areas of my house with different baguas, my First House - Career/Life Path bagua consists of these focus areas: Front door, Back door, Master Bedroom and the Stairs (in the north).
    For my new moon ritual, I cleaned the front and back doors, as well as the separate door to my garage, and cleaned all of the clutter out of the front door area. To finish up this week I am going to re-paint the outside of the entrances since the paint has chipped and is weathered a bit since I moved in (6 years ago).
    I guess it is no surprise that I am spending so much time updating my blog either, since it relates to my 'life path' which I'd like to someday turn into my career ;)

Shifting direction ...

     Ok, so as I mentioned in a previous post, I have been rethinking the direction of my 'work'. Here I mean the work I came to do in this life, my soul purpose, what I am here to do. Bear with me as I shift towards my truer purpose, and bring this blog along :)
    As you may already know, I have been studying Astrology somewhat intensely for the last year and a half or so. As I continue to be passionate about knitting as well, I've decided to attempt to combine the two, in an alchemical way that creates healing for the subject.
    My intent is to create a foundation where I take the basic aspects of knitting and astrology, relate them, and then find the alchemical healing aspects.
    If you are not familiar with Alchemy, let me give you a brief description of how I'm intending on using it. As the ancient tradition it was the way to turn base metals into silver or gold, also known as the "philosopher's stone". There are lots of mythical qualities associated with alchemy, and it is sometimes associated with spiritual concepts as well.  This is more my leaning - my goal is to take some concrete properties such as the colors, patterns and fibers of yarn and mix them with a subject's astrological birth chart, and create some sort of healing in a knitted piece.
    Long term I want to expand what I've discovered into a book, website, etc. My approach is going to start with case studies. I have already collected the astrological info of several of my friends, as well as compiled a great big amount of info of how the astrological signs, etc could possibly relate to knitting.
    My next step is going to be to print out and organize all of this information, and continue to expand it by pursuing more about the history of knitted stitches.  Then, once I have gathered enough information, I'm going to construct my 'case studies' in a hopefully scientific experimental fashion, and set out some theories as to how combining these things can help heal people.  Oh, and the type of healing I am really focusing on is more specifically helping people to achieve balance in their lives.
    I plan on taking an intuitive approach as well, since my intuition is strong.  I may also incorporate other aspects including Feng Shui of Astrology, Gemstones, and anything else that I feel could help out in this creative process.
   Btw, I have decided to publicly post this plan and these ideas as a way of laying claim to them as mine, and have dated record that I came up with them first. I find that far too often I have great ideas which I decide not to record or pursue and then not much time later I see them popping up on the internet from someone else completely.  Which is fine for those things I was not meant to pursue.  Since at the moment I feel as though this is what I am meant to pursue, I may as well make it publicly known.  Anyway... haha, thanks for following along on my journey!  I hope you find it interesting and entertaining.
   

(Knitting) Project Management

     I have been focused this month on wrapping up the multitudes of projects I started within the last few months. I've also been working on making progress on some non-knitting projects, including latch hooking (a 3D penguin when it's done!), cross stitch (tiger pool project I've been working on forever), and I've picked up weaving and am taking a class for it!
     With Mercury in Retrograde, it seemed like a good time to finish rather than start things. And the great news is that Mercury goes direct on Friday, and then there is a New Moon Sunday, so I'm probably going to set my sights on starting all these yummy new projects then.
     In other news, I have had a bit of an identity crisis with my 'brand' that I am continually trying to develop. I'm in the process of reformulating my whole approach and I expect this blog to morph as well! So stay tuned for more about that.
     The main project I've managed to complete is the blanket for my friend who is due with her first in a couple of weeks. I started it back in April and even worked on it at Jazz Fest! I'm excited to deliver it, though not sure if as excited as she is to deliver! (haha).  In the process of making that blanket, I fell in love with the yarn, Mushishi, which is a 95% wool/5% silk blend. Verigated and a little uneven in weight, but only to a charming degree. Plus, everyone LOVES the color green that it is. I'll have a picture up soon.
    Earlier in the month I wrapped up the hand dyed tubular sweater that I made for a class I had on the schedule. Unfortunately the class did not happen (no one signed up). But I am glad to have finally made something out of that beautiful hand dyed yarn that I've had for a couple years.
     For now, trying to finish these fishnets .... :O()

Mastering Tension

The most difficult thing that my beginning knitters usually run into is mastering their tension.  When I refer to tension here, I’m not talking about gauge (though that is the European term for gauge), although your tension will surely affect your gauge. J  Tension is the natural flexibility of the knitting piece based on your hands, and how tightly you knit. Yarn and needles can also affect tension, however. For example cotton does not stretch as much as wool, so you will have less flexibility in the knitted item when using cotton vs. wool, no matter what your tension is.
    Getting to a point where you knit with consistent tension is all about practice and time. Over time you will generally hold the needles and the yarn the same way, and thus develop your natural tension. But it is important to develop some proper technique as you develop your tension, to avoid challenges later. It’s true that some people tend to be tight knitters, and others are loose. But your mood can also affect your tension. If you are tense, you will probably knit tighter.
    I mostly see beginner’s struggling with how to hold the working yarn in their hand to knit. The problem with teaching tension is that everyone's knitting style is different. In the same way everyone holds a pencil differently when they write, so will they hold the yarn slightly differently when they knit. Continuing with the pencil analogy, you can hold the pencil too tight (and that hurts your hand!) or push down too hard on the paper, and break the lead. Working with yarn while knitting is the same. If you wrap the yarn too tightly around your hand, or pull the yarn too tight when you wrap, your tension will be too tight and your knitted piece may pucker. Or it could make it simply a pain to knit, as you have to keep wrapping and unwrapping the yarn around your fingers. But if you don’t wrap the yarn at all, then your knitted piece won’t have enough form to be consistent and it will be difficult to wrap the yarn at all.
    The key to finding the balance point, as I often try to demonstrate to my students, is to wrap the yarn just enough so when your fingers are closed around the yarn/needle, the yarn doesn’t move. Then when you open your fingers, the yarn slides easily. For me this means I wrap the yarn once around my ring finger, and then rest it over my index finger. When I grip the needle, my fingers close and hold the yarn tight. When I open my hand or release the needle, the yarn will slide easily over my fingers. Harder to explain with words than demonstrate, but hopefully you get the idea.
    The best advice I can give is to try wrapping a) not at all; b) around your fingers once; c) around your fingers more than once. Pull on the other end of the yarn with your hand both open and closed and see how easily the yarn moves. 

Knitting tips – never counting higher than 10

     Crocheters sometimes say they prefer crocheting to knitting because there is too much counting in knitting.  I believe they are just not making use of all the tools that knitting provides. Here I intend to let you in on some tips to how to never have to count higher than 10 when you are knitting. In addition, these tips will help you feel more relaxed while knitting and offload much of the brain power required, which will help knitting become more relaxing and fun for you!
    To start, you should never have to count higher than 10 when casting on. When I cast on, I place a stitch marker every 10 sts. That way when I have to cast on 100 or so sts for a large hat for example, I place a marker after every 10 sts cast on, and then I just have to count 10 of those sections of 10 sts. Then on your first row/round, you can remove the markers.
    Next make sure you are making use of your row counter. Depending on what you are knitting, and what the pattern is, you may use your row counter in different ways. You may even need to use more than one row counter on a project! I do this when there are two different things going on, for example, a pattern that repeats every 6 rounds, and a decrease that happens every 4.  Yes, you have to remember to click your row counter every row, but this will otherwise keep you oriented in where you are in your work. This is especially helpful for when you set your work down and pick it up later. My rule of thumb is, I set my row counter to the number of the row I am working on. That way when I come back to it later, I can see exactly which row in the pattern I am on.
    Back to stitch markers, another great use is to set them around different pattern elements, or between repeats within a row. It depends on the complexity of the pattern you are working, but it would be nice to only have to look back to your last marker rather than the beginning of the row to check your number of stitches in a complex pattern.
     If you have another place in your knitting that you find yourself doing too much counting, let me know and I will help you never count higher than 10 ;)

Keeping track when you get back

     In my last post I provided some tips to help you reduce your thinking while knitting, and thus be able to relax and enjoy the craft. In this post I hope to provide some more useful tips towards that end. One challenge a lot of my students have is forgetting where they left off on a knitting project when they set it down and come back to it later.  The best thing you can do is to get to the end of a row or round and make sure you have properly noted where in the pattern you stopped. Most of the time this can be done with either a sticky note on your pattern itself, or by using your row counter when you are working a pattern that has repeating rows. 
     Unfortunately you can’t always make it to the end of the row, and sometimes you get interrupted in the middle of what you are doing, and then need to reorient yourself to your pattern.  This can be challenging for newer knitters, who may not be familiar with what knit and purl or other stitches look like after they have been worked.  If that is the case, look back to the beginning of your row or round, and start counting the stitches along with the pattern. For example, if I am working in 2x2 ribbing, and I started my row by knitting 2 stitches, then purling 2 stitches.  If I am on stitch 36, then I know it is a knit stitch. I can start at the beginning of my row and count, knit 2, purl 2, etc. up to where I am.
     With lace patterns this could become much trickier as the yarn-overs (yo) are increasing the total stitches and knit-2-togethers (k2tog) are decreasing. If you are in the middle of a row, the easiest thing is to start at the beginning of the row and review each worked stitch to see what it was. If the pattern is something like: *K1, K2tog, yo, k1*, then I need to count my stitches in groups of 4. Knowing what a yo looks like and what a k2tog look like will help. A yo doesn’t have anything connected to it on the previous row. Be careful because sometimes these stitches will get cozy with a stitch next to it and hide. K2tog’s have two stitches hanging off them on the row below. The best way to learn what any stitch looks like after it has been worked is to work that stitch, and look at what has formed on the right hand needle.