Practice Makes Perfect - At Least That's the Thought

Yesterday's machine knitting session was a lot of casting on, knitting a few rows, adding a different yarn, knitting a few more rows, and adding a lifeline. Then, taking everything off the machine and doing it all again. And again, and again. I have a small piece of knitted yarn remaining for the day's effort, and because I added a lifeline, I can swing the stitches onto my needles next week and move ahead with the next section - ribbing. I want to practice ribbing until I actually feel comfortable with it. Then I can move ahead into cables - I want to start with a simple 2x2 cable every four rows and see where that takes me. 

I love cables in knitwear, but when I was trying 
hand knitting, even though I had several different 
people try to teach me over the years, I was never 
able to get the hang of cables. Now I'm starting 
to understand them, and I can easily do cables on 
the knitting machine, as long as I'm careful to not 
drop stitches. I'm really looking forward to adding 
cables into my designs. 

I know I'm working on a baby sweater, but I also don't have any time deadlines because it's a practice piece. I really just want to get comfortable with my machine. I received four additional weights in shipping last week, and I did indulge in the purchase of a bunch of acrylic yarns in a variety of colors from JoAnne's Crafts (on sale, so a really good deal). 

Unfortunately, the website doesn't have the Neon 
Orange color, but this is the pink I got. It's 
appropriately named "Bubblegum". It's a lot of 
yarn for less than $2.70/skein, so I won't 
feel guilty about wasting some. The fine wool 
I'm using for the sweater is really too nice to 
be wasted, but this acrylic is just begging to 
be used and then thrown away. LOL

One thing I was laughing about with Aearwen on our weekly convo yesterday was my choice of yarns for "waste yarn". Waste yarn is used in machine knitting in two primary areas - you knit with waste yarn to begin a project - usually a section of 6-20 rows of stockinette. This is where you hang the row weights, to help the knitting move smoothly down as you move the carriage back and forth building rows of fabric. When you begin the actual project, you switch over to the appropriate yarn, cast on an edge of some sort (often an e-cast or a chain cast edge is used) and continue with your project. Waste yarn is also used at the top of a shaped piece, i.e., to keep the shoulders of sweaters ready to be joined later, and to help shape a neckline. 

I also picked up several colors of "Basic Stitch Anti-
Pilling" yarns in a variety of colors, again for not a 
lot of money. I thought some of of the variegated 
yarns might knit up beautifully into tams and in 
scarves. I'll have to wait and see how far I get 
this month and next, I'm probably looking at 
gifts for 2021, not 2020, but that's OK. 

I wanted waste yarn I wouldn't mind wasting - i.e., something that I wouldn't mind tossing or reusing until it absolutely shredded apart. So ... I got a big skein of Neon Orange, and a second one of a frightening Candy Pink (named Bubblegum). Both of these are colors I can't ever see myself using in a project, so no guilt - LOL. I quickly wound up a ball on my ball winder and it's perfect - perfectly hideous. Mission accomplished. 

I actually own two different ball winders, a smaller
one and a larger one. I'm taking the larger one to the
shop with me today, to get going on winding the 
skeins into balls for use with the knitting machine. 
The machine can only use yarns from a wound 
"ball" or a cone, not from a skein. Apparently it 
has something to do with regular tension, and I 
can understand the rationale behind that.  

I have a bag of the skeins I purchased in the back of Minion to be brought over to the shop with me today. I'll start using my ball winder and getting the various yarns ready to be used for hats and scarves and gifts. I might not have accomplished a great deal yesterday, but I feel much more comfortable with my knitting machine, so I guess I accomplished something after all. I'll continue watching a lot of YouTube and Craftsy lessons too because I'm learning a bunch of techniques as well as watching a lot of experts make wonderful and beautiful things. It's a really fun piece of equipment and I'm not regretting the purchase At All! 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have an excellent Thursday. Be kind, stay safe, and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Practice - Nothing Can Happen Without It

DH always wanted to play the guitar well. He loved, and still loves music, and owns several guitars that are on stands in various rooms of the house. As we were watching the final episode of the rebroadcast of "Country" last night, he said that he had always wanted to play guitar well but ... and then the excuses/reasons commenced. His fingers were too short. His fingers were too fat. He should have tried the mandolin instead of the guitar. Etc, etc. I commiserated with him and then went to bed. Why am I bringing this up? Because the one thing he didn't say was he didn't practice enough. 

Guitars are a beautiful instrument. I have one guitar - not a great
quality instrument, but good enough for my skill level. I haven't
played it for many years, though. I do love a well played guitar, though. 

It's a fact that not all instruments are perfect for all people. I played the guitar tolerably, and the flute horribly, and the cello with excellence. I found my instrument. But I also spent hours upon hours practicing my music, just as I spend whatever time I can spare on my art. Practice. That's the really important stepping stone to progress. You'll only get good when your hands and brain have practiced their dances so that the steps are intuitive. 

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has been making quite the stir in 

the world of top-level cellists. I was never at that level, although 

I did extremely well in High School, placing at the top of my 

age group for the state. I wasn't good enough and wasn't 

driven enough to carry it farther for a career, though. 

There are a lot of really excellent cooks out there - bakers, candy makers, and chefs. I am NOT one of them, but I guarantee the bread I was baking at the end of my sophomore year of college was better than the bread I was baking at the beginning of the year. The recipe didn't change, but after weeks of making two loaves a week, I got really good at it. I didn't have to check my recipe, I didn't have to think about how much to knead the loaves, I just did it, stuck them into the oven, and pulled out two perfect loaves every time. Practice. 

Not every chef has to be the next Gordon Ramsey, there are a lot
of different styles of cooking out there. Practice will pull almost 
anyone out of mere competency to excellence, however, if the
 desire is there. 

It's not enough to just want something. The want has to walk hand in hand with the desire and that desire has to take over a life to the point where every spare minute is dedicated to the goal of improvement. One thing in common for most of the talented musicians we were listening to on the documentary was they started young, and most of them took years to achieve a high level of skill. Years. Years of everyday practice. Years of practicing fingering, trying new riffs, and putting wraps around bleeding fingers. It's the only way. Practice might not make perfect, but it gets a person much closer to perfection. 

Not everyone is a painter or a weaver or a writer. But
if you have a great desire and drive to do one or the
other thing, you won't achieve your goals without
practice. Write for an hour, paint for an hour, draw
for an hour, practice music for an hour,
and do it every day. You'll get better
and better at your chosen craft. 

So today in your life, think about practicing something you want to improve for yourself. If it's music, pick up your instrument and practice for an hour or two. If it's artwork, grab that piece of charcoal or those paints or whatever your media and immerse yourself in art for an hour or two. If it's sports, grab a ball. If it's cooking, start a new recipe. Just DO it. Don't think about it ... DO it. 

Do it! Make it happen! Make the best pie, sew the best dress, or
be a great parent. That takes practice too. 

I'm off to the pool for a second day in a row. I should be doing floor exercises today, but I changed my mind and I'm going to swim instead. I suppose this is one way I practice - I'm there, exercising, five days each week almost without fail. I'm not great, but I'm working on it. I'm practicing. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday. 

Open That Closet and Don't Stumble (Much)

We're back into snow mode and that's OK, except for the fact that our snowblower seems non-functional and we're getting several inches of snow every 12 hours. This ends up requiring a lot of shoveling, so I've got less than 30 minutes to pull this together before leaving to shovel the driveway from our overnight flakes. Such is life, in a way. 

You can be multifaceted. The paints of your life always manage
to work together. I probably wouldn't paint a room with three
diverse colors like this, but I don't mind being a writer, a
shopkeeper and a metalsmith - three very different colors. 

In the nature of life, there always seems to be something waiting to be cleaned up, washed up, painted over or dusted. It's not so much housecleaning as life cleaning. It's not essential to wash the sheets and change the bedding every week, but it you don't actually open that internal linen closet, it's going to get musty and stale and when you finally pull out that clean sheet to put onto your virtual bed, it's not going to be much of an improvement. 

I can't even manage to think about how many hours I spend
practicing the cello. I certainly didn't want to practice every
day - I fought it as much as any kid who would rather be
outside playing with friends. But looking back, I'm really
happy that I stuck with it for as long as I did and that
I accomplished as much with my music as I was able. 

Maybe that's why we practice. Artists draw every day, musicians practice every day, writers write every day - motions frequently performed become habit. I like having a scheduled life with specific tasks to achieve by each day's end and many people share that comfort with me. It's when things pop up to throw off the schedule that challenge the mind. It's how those challenges are met that define the person. 

Stumbling blocks can be many things. Here, the policeman is
being tripped by the escaping criminal. Sometimes if there
are no stumbling blocks, we manufacture some. It's human
nature. 

How flexible are you to those stumbles that life throws at you? I'll be testing out personal scheduling boundaries today when I shovel early and when I have the cable TV tech invade my personal space in early afternoon (the cable box died yesterday morning - DH is aghast and it MUST be fixed or replaced ASAP). Do you open your mental linen closet often enough to keep things fresh? Do you practice your craft or do something you love every day? These are things that will keep you from going musty and old and it's never too late to begin a good habit. 

I think I'll have one day without snow today, but starting tonight we'll have another storm roll through with another 4"-6" of snow in the next 24 hours. It's OK, it's part of life. Roll with those punches and party on. Happy Wednesday - I'll return tomorrow. 

Learning and Practice

My day off was rather wonderful in its own way. I did manage to do the repair that I needed to do. I'm a few days late returning it to the customer, but not too bad. I ran all over town to do my errands and still ended up forgetting to buy post-it-notes (how did we ever survive before these little items were invented?) and completely forgot to drop by the comic store *sigh*. But I got the myriad of other things on my long list done and I did treat myself to one thing...

At the archery store/range they taught me the
step-through method of stringing my bow.
I don't think I like that method, so I looked for other types. 

I bought a bowstring for one of my bows! I spent time at home practicing stringing my bow and unstringing it again, and practiced the proper hold and pull for the string. This is absolutely using arm muscles that I haven't used enough recently, so it will take some time to get into the groove. I figure if I practice the basics like this and pull my string as if it is an exercise (number of reps, resting, then pushing for another rep, etc) then by Spring I might be ready to actually shoot some arrows. At any rate, the exercise certainly can't hurt.

This angel is using the brace and pull method. I've been using
this method and I like it better than the step-through method.

Picking up the bow and learning how to string and unstring it reminded me that even though I see something and ask questions, if it is a new process, it still needs to be learned and practiced. Certainly there are some things that may come easier to a person than another. I'll never be a woodwind or horn player - just not. I have no breath control and my lips vibrate too much with reed instruments, making me laugh because it tickles. My string instruments, however - they are my love. I suspect someone who plays trumpet would be unlikely to pick up the violin as a second instrument.

This is a kneel and pull method which I might play a bit with. I'm
still looking for a method that feels comfortable and natural
for me to do, but so far the brace and pull method is what I'm using. 

Muscle control and the ability for fine motor control are learned through practice and repetition. What is hard the first five, ten, twenty or one hundred times will become easier with practice and eventually will become second-nature. I'm asking my muscles to do things that I've always wanted to do, but never had the equipment to do before. It will take time to train my muscles into these new patterns and practices.

This is a vintage photograph of a brace and pull method
in use. The disadvantage of this method is if the bow slips.
The disadvantage of the step-through method is that it can
put uneven torque on the bow as it is being stresses into
its new form.

So as we enter the back-side of the week, think about the things you practice in your daily life. I write every day - that's practice because I'm constantly attempting to improve that skill. I communicate back and forth with friends on a daily or weekly basis - I think that friendship needs to be an ongoing thing, not left to rely on sporadic rain showers and sunshine. I work on my artwork, create new patterns and check out new processes, not only because it's fun but also because it's practice in the various techniques I want to use.

Skills are learned and then refined. What will you learn today?

Practice and Cracking the Whip

Why does it sometimes seem that life is only practice for the real thing? Everything we do seems to be practice. When I awaken in the morning I have to force myself into my running shoes and onto the treadmill, but the rest of the day I think longingly of doing exactly what I am now forcing myself to do. That's practice, it perches in the brain. When I was a cellist, I forced myself to sit down each afternoon and practice for 2-5 hours a day. I hated it. But when I was away from the instrument, I was thinking about it and what I wanted to accomplish the next time I sat behind the polished wood with my bow in my hands. So much of my life is like that...

My writing is similar - an anguish to do but something that I think about all the time when I can't sit at my keyboard. It's enough to drive me crazy. So many things try to get my attention. Art projects run around my head. Stories and plot lines vie with characters to try and get my nod. Different media jump up and down saying "time to bead", "time to paint", "time to draw", "time to work with the kiln". And somewhere in all that cacophony I have to crack the whip and decide what to spend my limited time on.

CRACK! I've been working on character sheets for the characters in my o-fic. It's slow, but once each one finds their voice, then the character starts to live. I still have so many doubts about this novel - whether I have enough plot to make a book out of this, whether the characters are strong enough to hold interest, and whether my own skills are up to the task. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'm keeping the whip cracking - exercise in the morning listening to Lynn Flewelling, writing or thinking about the story for the rest of the day, working on my research and background work for NaNo. Will I succeed in November? If I can sit down and give it my best, knowing that most authors have several novels in their bottom drawers that will never see the light, I can feel comfortable at lest trying my best. We'll see...November is still a couple of months away...