Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Cast On

This is a tutorial for Jeny Staiman’s surprisingly stretchy cast on. She also has a surprisingly stretchy bind off, which I will hopefully write a tutorial for someday soon.

This cast on is my go to cast on whenever I want something to be stretchy! It’s great for socks, hats, sweater necks…everything! Because this cast on is essentially a series of slip knots, you’ll need a smooth yarn, as a bumpy yarn will catch as you go along.

Video Tutorial

Photo Tutorial

1. Make a slip knot and place it on your knitting needle.
2. Take the working yarn, and from the inside of your left hand toward the outside, bring it between your middle and index finger.
3. Loop the yarn around your left thumb by laying it over the top and bringing it around the other side.
4. Lay the yarn back on top of your left index finger.
5. With your needle in your right hand, bring the tip of the needle around the back of the strand of yarn farthest from you from the top.
6. Reach under the further strand and grab the strand of yarn closest to you with the tip of the needle.
7. As you bring the near strand back under the far strand, twist your thumb away from you so that the yarn forms a loop over the needle and your thumb.
8. With the needle tip, reach up over the back of strand on top of your index finger and bring it through the loop that is around your thumb.
9. Keeping your yarn snug, release the loop that is around your thumb and pull it tight. The loop will form a slip knot at the base of your needle, and you will have a stitch cast onto your needle.
10. Repeat steps 1-9 until you have the desired number of stitches cast on.

Sometimes even with the best of tensions, the loop doesn’t want to close nicely. You can try to pull it down a little bit and loosen it again with your right hand and then try to pull it snug again, or you can simply take it off the needle and try again. This cast on feels very fiddly at first, but with practice, it’s a very fast cast on!

Two for the taking

Here are a couple of videos that I’ve come across in the past week. They’re very different, but they both invite us to look outside ourselves and consider-to consider the intertwined lives of humanity and the things that we share in common. Hope you enjoy them! More tomorrow about this week…it’s been amazing!

The cat and kitten post…

For those of you in the know, you’ll know that I prefer cats to dogs. What you might not know is that my parents are currently feeding 15 cats (seven of which are kittens). So as well as sunshine and family and friends, my five weeks at home were full of cats.  I decided that if I ever lived at home for an extended period of time again, I would start a blog called “The Cat Chronicles” and tell inane stories of what’s going on in the daily lives of the cats on the property, and the amazing, wonderful, and clever things they did. Or better yet, I’d call it “The Kat Kronikles”… … maybe not. 😀

Anywho-pictures and video!

Hiking Tubal Cain

It’s been such a privilege to be home for a while, to spend time with amazing people and to see some beautiful places. On Saturday, I got to go hiking with some friends from church along the Tubal Cain and Tull Canyon trails. We had a bit of cloud cover to start out, but then it cleared up and was sunny for the rest of the day. About mid-day, we stopped for lunch, and I watched the clouds curling around a ridge. The combination of permanent and ephemeral was enthralling. My heart is indeed full.

Mid-outreach Update

I haven’t really taken the time to take many photos and videos over the past month.  I’ve had some free time, but I’ve been reading a lot of detective novels (Poirot by Agatha Christie and Wimsey by Dorothy Sayers). I find that sometimes, the thing that I enjoy most has nothing to do with what I’m currently doing. So these days, when my days are full of people, sunshine and ice cream…detective novels are just right.

That makes it sound like we’re not doing anything. We are!  We’ve had a couple incredibly full and a-bit-too-busy weeks, but mostly, our weeks have been just right. They’ve been a combination of ministry that we plan ourselves, and joining in with ministries that are run by Moldovans.  That’s what we’re here for really, not only to share God’s love with others on our own, but also to support and build up the body of Christ that’s already here, and to join in the work that they’re doing!

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The videos: Capoeira in Stefan cel Mare park, lots and lots of rain, and fishing early in the morning at Rassvet with Sergei. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Being a tourist in Prague

I hate it and I love it, being a tourist, that is.  When I’m not being a tourist, I love that I actually get to know people in the place that I am, that I know the real city (in this case) rather than just its pretty facade.  But I miss seeing the famous things that tourists get to see.  When I am being a tourist, I love walking around the beautiful buildings and looking at art in museums.  I love the luxury of basking in the sunshine and eating ice cream from expensive stalls, and buying tatty tourist trinkets.  But I hate looking like a tourist and not fitting in with the locals. I also strongly dislike being in a group with other tourists, because as soon as we start talking to each other, all the local people think, “Ah, Americans,” and roll their eyes.

I wonder if I could become a ninja tourist and silently blend in with the locals while still enjoying the expensive ice cream…

And now, for your own benefit: Prague.

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Hlas (The Voice)

On Monday, the team went to visit a school in Prague.  We went to give a presentation in Wales, and to help the students practice English.  It reminded me strongly of the time when four native German speakers came to my German class when I was 15.  We sat and stared at them and spoke as little as possible.  I’m glad I’m not in junior high or high school any more.

After visiting the classes, we attended an English club at the same school.  One of the students that we had met earlier came running in, and said that they had two free tickets to a singing competition, and did any of us want to come? I said yes and so did Kristin.

So that evening, armed with small Czech phrase book, Kristin and I caught the metro to meet Misha and her family.  It turned out to be our best evening in Prague!  We had so much fun with Misha and her family, trying to say things in Czech and English, and making each other laugh because we had no idea what was being said!

The competition was superb as well, rather like American Idol or X-Factor.  I have now been on national television in two countries.  That’s just weird.  In the song clip, we’re standing up on the right-hand side in some of the frames.  It was fun being a teenage fan-girl for one night!

Bubbly (by Colbie Caillat)

My roommate, Shelby, used my phone to record herself singing a song for her boyfriend Jacob. Something went a little wrong when we put the recording onto the computer…

Photos (and a video) from York

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Perhaps the most profound moment for me in York was standing in the same spot where Constantine was proclaimed emperor of Rome.  If it hadn’t been for his vision of a broken sword (“By this sign conquer“)  and his conversion to Christianity, I may not have become the same person that I am today, and may never have seen his statue in York.

Clywedog Trail