Shattered lives ......

These past 2 weeks have been very trying on our family. Our 13 yr. old son lost a dear friend to a careless drunk driver who didn't even know he'd hit the boy. Kendrick Owens died from his injuries from the hit-n-run. It was very hard on the community and especially the kids.

Midweek the high school participated in a program called "shattered lives" which is a full on reenactment of a fatal collision involving drunk drivers. The students, parents and emergency personell are all involved in the reenactment which is very realistic.

Needless to say that this was an especially difficult time for the community, and I honestly thought that it should be postponed a couple of weeks because the tragedy of losing such a young child was so fresh in our minds. I did not participate as I had originally planned to, I don't think I would have been able to.

If you would like to see a video of the shattered lives program in progress visit the following link. Be aware that it is very graphic, and does hit home, it sends a very strong message. http://www.shatteredlivesmc.com/

If you have teenagers or young adults in your home and can sit with them and allow them to view, please do so.

Elaine.

This is how easy it's supposed to be

circular sock knitting ............troubles

Okay, so I got the CSM and set her up. All was well and we were a crankin. that is until I tried to knit a sock. It all went well until I actually started to try and short row for the heel. I am having a heck of a time getting the tension right. Keep dropping stitches and skipping needles. Of course as always after going at this for a few days you loose your cool. I am so frustrated, it's maddening.

I'll get back to it of course :-). If I am correct and I've gathered this from videos and the manual, you don't add the tension or weights until the second half of the short rowing, right? Also, I tried wrapping which wasn't working.

So, I'll try working with it again maybe later or tomorrow. I won't wrap the short rows and just knit straight through with a hem of course, maybe a rolled edge would be better on second thought.

Funny how you can work everything out on paper and in your head, but actually making it work is another matter.

CSM ....circular sock knitting machinel

This is it. She arrived very well packed and in very good condition. There is a learning curve. I have her set up and am preparing to knit the first pair of socks on her.

I have knit a few pairs on a double bed knitting machine and it wasn't too terribly complicated. I can already apply many of the same principles here, the difference being that I am not dealing with the 2nd bed.

I also set up my knitting machine and made a few sock blanks for custom dyeing. They are knit rectangles that can be dyed and create an exact second sock if you double the knit. The theory is that you dye the two strands and knit from the blank as you deknit the yarn from the blank.

I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

I've been working nights and my hours are all turned around. I'll be back on days by the end of the week.