Steve C. @57 I don't think that would be a workable sort of alarm. The car seats I've used have all been designed so that there is some part which remains strapped into the car unless you need to use the seat in a different car. For infants, the removable baby carrier is latched into a base which remains belted into the car at all times. For forward-facing seats, the seat is strapped in at all times. In both cases, the child is held in place with straps that are part of the car seat or infant carrier.
Also, more recent cars have what is called the LATCH system, which involves metal loops buried inside the seat that the car seat is clipped to, in which case the seat belts are not involved in car seat use.
Pendrift @161
I've had some decent success with sawing dowels from the hardware store into shorter lengths, sharpening the ends with pencil sharpeners, and sanding them (including rounding the ends). You can optionally wax them.
I've also heard of people knitting with weed whacker cord - it's about the size for socks, IIRC. It is flexible, so I imagine it wouldn't be to everyone's taste.
Kathryn @141
I'd agree with Thena that you probably have a standard beginner problem with knitting too tightly. The only thing that worked with that for me was time, really--which also evened out my stitch size.
Another possibility on the tightness front is that you might be twisting your stitches, which makes it more difficult to get the needle in (though it has its uses). In-person help is probably the best for explaining this.
If you're pulling your stitches really tight because the needles slip out otherwise, try switching from metal needles (if that's what you're using) to wood or bamboo. Slightly more friction will help hold the stitches on.
If you're looking at every stitch because the needle goes through the yarn instead of the middle of the stitch, try using blunter needles, which will slide past the yarn instead of into the yarn.
Acrylic yarn is a bit less forgiving of uneven stitches than wool. (In my opinion - and it is also my opinion that acrylic has its place. I hope I will not start one of the infamous acrylic vs. wool arguments by saying this.)
You are more likely to have evenly-sized stitches if you are tensioning the yarn around your fingers instead of dropping the yarn between each stitch. There are a variety of ways of doing this; try looking up Continental knitting or English knitting for the two most common (there are other names for them, but those are pretty common.)
I also recommend knittinghelp.com for their videos.
Unsolicited advice, unrelated to any of your questions: as long as you are not injuring yourself, and you are producing results you like, don't let anyone tell you that you're holding the needles or yarn wrong or that you're wrapping the stitches in the wrong direction.
As we rip the English ivy out of our yard, I'm using it to dye yarn. Might as well get some good out of it!
I engaged in a very, very ancient human tradition today: I taught someone how to spin yarn using a spindle. She's not yet at the stage where she can make the yarn while the spindle hangs in midair, but that will come, and soon.
"Apparently the nightmare scenario for botanists was a hybrid of Russian Vine and Kudzu. And this was found somewhere! Only it turned out to be a totally rubbish plant as it inherited the most useless characteristics of both parents and ended up in a tangled floppy mess."
To quote Flanders and Swann:
'Poor little sucker, how will it learn
When it is climbing, which way to turn?
Right-left-what a disgrace!
Or it may go straight up and fall flat on its face!'
We're in the midst of conquering the alien invaders in our back yard (we live in North Carolina): lots of ivy, some Japanese honeysuckle, and periwinkle all mixed up together. Fortunately, there's no wisteria or kudzu. Nor, even though it's native, poison ivy.
We're doing the rolling-up-the-mat-of-roots method, and will then cover up the place where it was with a layer of cardboard and then mulch on top of that. According to our local arboretum, this helps cut down on the number of ivy plants you get from the roots left in the ground. We shall see.
Hey V, I learned to knit little garter stitch squares for a doll blanket when I was five. Not sure about book recommendations, but I'll get back to you after I visit the library tomorrow and look through my own collection.
Something which made me smile this morning. I was looking at pictures of trucks by way of Google Image Search with my two-year-old when I came across this "404 not found" message:
Page does not exist
You have followed a link to a page that appears, unfortunately, to have been misplaced.
In the words of John M. Ford, "We're not lost. We're locationally challenged."
I will absolutely second the comments about rain and bad rain gear being recipes for disaster.
I went hiking in the Rockies one June with my father when I was in my late teens. We made sure I had both rain coat and rain pants, and we even re-sealed the seams on them as well as re-waterproofing my boots. (I think my father's gear was all new). But we neglected to check to make sure that the new waterproofing worked.
It was several hours into the first day's hike, it was warm enough that I was wearing shorts and t-shirt, and it started to pour down rain. So I put on the rain gear. Turned out I missed a spot, or else the Gore-Tex had gotten worn out across the shoulders; I can't quite remember. Also I hadn't waxed around the boot laces well enough. I was absolutely miserable.
Anyway, it's fortunate for me that my father was a member of a rescue club when he was in college, because he knew right away what was happening to me. He pitched the tent in the first vaguely big enough (not really), vaguely flat enough (not really) spot he could find, (I remember just standing there weeping in misery, not understanding what was happening), and shoved me into it. He made sure I stripped off completely and got me into my sleeping bag; I wasn't too far gone, so I warmed up pretty quickly. The sun came out an hour later, so I went and basked on a boulder.
It's left me very wary of rain on warm days. It's also left me prone to being scoffed at for warning people against hypothermia in such circumstances. But I perservere in telling them, regardless.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
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| 2009 | 5 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2007 | 1 |
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| 2005 | 1 |
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