Felting, felting, la-la-la-la felting...

Well, here goes nothing!

Gigantor, the Christmas Stocking that threatened to eat Paris, is currently residing in the washing machine, hopefully being felted down to a more manageable size. It's always a bit of a hairy experience, felting; you just don't really know what's going to come out the other end.

Let's recap the 'Stocking' story from the beginning, shall we?

Back in November, when I thought I was leaving myself plenty of time to knit and felt a stocking (hey, it's knit in the round, on large needles - how could it not go quickly??). I cast on a few times, each time adding more stitches when I thought it might shrink too much in the felting process. So we went from 64 stitches, to 72 stitches, to 128 and then finally to 188 (I was tired of casting on and counting over and over again).

I knit in the round for awhile and then started the fair isle pattern, convincing myself that it would not be too big (because of course, there is no 'too big' in felting - is there?), until I got to this point:I continued on, past the fair isle and into the solid colour, which I thought I would just zoom along on... I turned the heel - if you can call it that when you're trying to put a heel into a doona cover!

Once I'd passed the heel and the gusset decreases, I ventured back into solid colour territory and began to slow down. And I mean really slow down. Anything was better than hauling out the gargantuan sock. Pete started to crack jokes about needing to bring it on a trailer when I knit in the car, and my lap was getting too warm as I sat to knit of an evening.I began to doubt the stocking. I asked Pete his opinion (and got more jokes in response!) and I seriously considered ripping the whole lot back and winding up whatever yarn I could salvage from the whole experience. But curiosity (and laziness) got the better of me and I continued to knit on the behemoth every night.

I finally grafted the final stitches a couple of nights ago and wove the ends in, resulting in this:Here are a few to demonstrate the 'actual' size of this ridiculously enormous stocking...Yes, Lola-Frog fits inside the stocking. Just like a sleeping bag. The reverse of the fair isle looks pretty neat though, doesn't it?And so today, with my heart in my mouth, I crammed it into a hot wash cycle and crossed my fingers. Let's go and see what we've been left with, shall we?Well... it's not as big anymore, I suppose... but I'm a bit disappointed in the way the fair isle really doesn't show up at all... and in the size discrepancy between the width of the leg and the length of the toe. I either should have cast on fewer stitches, or made the toe quite a bit longer... but all that said, it's felted into some good strong fabric, and it'll hold gifties from Santa - that's the main thing!

Weirded out

I really am, too.

Last Sunday we stopped to browse in Best and Less, a discount department store/chain while wandering through the shopping centre. It's a good place to go for cheap singlets, t-shirts, undies etc for the kids, and we thought we'd grab some stuff to pop in WonderBoy's stocking.

Pete wheeled Lola-Frog in the stroller, choosing undies and a couple of pairs of jammies for Wonderboy, and I kept young Mr. W out of the way in the little girls' clothes, looking at the wee skirts and dresses for sale.

And that's when I saw it.

It's still freaking me out to write this, even now.

It was there. Lola's Dress.

The darling wee smock-dress I'd bought the fabric and pattern for, and sewn all by my little lone self.

Same fabric (though a slightly duller version of the colours), similar style (except with unnecessarily naff looking bows on the straps), and buttons on the back in place of press studs.

Now, if I'd been perusing seed, or Pumpkin Patch, or some gloriously overpriced children's clothing boutique in Mosman or Bondi Junction, I'd be okay with finding this crude counterfeit hanging on the rack. But Best and Less?

Now I'm depressed AND weirded out.

Potentially the World's Largest Christmas Stocking

I've decided this year that since Lola-Frog will need a Christmas Stocking for her First Christmas, I should knit and felt one for her, rather than buy a cheap one from Target or Big W with the thought that "... one day I'll replace it with a nicer one", just like I've thought I would for WonderBoy. Which I haven't. Yet.

So I got started on Lola-Frog's this week, with some Lincraft Cosy Wool (it's DK weight. I'd've preferred to be using 10 or 12-ply, but you use what you've got access to - especially when it's cheap!), and I know it felts well. KnitNight's Franee has made a fantastic 'Team Swiss' (That's a Twilight reference, apparently!) felted bag with this stuff that is gorgeous.

I cast on twice for this stocking - the first time, realising that I was going to need to make it that much bigger to compensate for the felting process... the second time, making it ridiculously big. This kind of ridiculous:I'm pleased with the fair isle bands, and on one hand, I'm really excited to see what they'll look like once felted... ... but on the other hand, I'm nervous as hell about felting this bugger! I know that felted knitting usually shrinks lengthwise, rather than widthwise, and I know that the fair isle bands will shrink entirely differently compared to the plain stockinette, but... well, we'll see! On the up side, if it looks a bit weird, I don't see it being an issue - after all, it's for Santa Claus to pop presents in, not to be worn...

... unless it ends up being large enough to actually FIT Lola-Frog entirely into!

In the meantime, there's the small matter of actually completing the knitting part before it can be felted!

Thursday Night Shuffle

"...Excess ain't rebellion... you're drinkin' what they're sellin'..."

Tonight's song is "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle", by CAKE. It was their first single, released from their debut album, 'Motorcade of Generosity', in 1994. They're an awesome band, one that I can't believe I didn't know about earlier. Pete introduced me to the depth of their work when we got together, and I've really come to love. They're lyrics are so clever and insightful, and very much right on the pulse of what's going on in the world, just with very cool twists.As much as it was Pete who introduced me to the rest of CAKE's work (beyond "The Distance", which of course is very well known), this song is actually one I originally heard at the end of an episode of 'Daria', way back when I was in late high school... the lyrics really spoke to me, particularly the lyrics I've added at the top of this post.In this day and age, music is a fashion statement and a commodity... in contrast to the sixties and seventies, when rock 'n' roll really was a revolution and a lifestyle. These days, wearing the 'right' clothes to create the image that goes with your music of choice costs a bomb. It ain't about the music anymore, and it doesn't matter what type of music you go for, whether it's rock, punk, pop, emo, goth, dance, whatever. And that really seems to go against the ideals of a lot of these types of music...

"... And how much did you spend on your black leather jacket?
Is it you or your parents in this income tax bracket?"

Something not-quite-woolly to be proud of

I am exceedingly proud of myself, and have been these last two weeks. Why?I knew when I saw this fabric that I HAD to have a dress made of it for Lola-Frog!

I finished this for Lola-Frog two weeks ago, and am so dizzy with feelings of self-congratulatory admiration that I've had it hanging up in the family room since then... that, and I haven't yet banged the press studs in the back to actually fasten it on young Lola. I'm frightened to take a hammer to this darling little dress, so I just keep it hanging out here, and I pat it on my way past sometimes...

When Lincraft opened in our area three weeks' ago, I went in on their first day to check it out, and found myself admiring several bolts of very pretty fabrics, thinking about cute little dresses and smocks and pinafores that could be made with them. I see that I've picked up my mother's thinking, in that I'll see ready-to-wear garments in shops and say, either to myself or out loud (I'm not picky for an audience. Those who know me know I do talk to myself on a regular basis),

"I could knit/sew that"

And so, when walking past this fabric, and thinking these thoughts, I realised that maybe I COULD make something out of it.

Now, believe me when I say this, when recounting the events that led up to the ultimate choice and purchase of the materials for this dress, I feel I can honestly say that I hold genuine admiration for my mum.

She was able to go into a fabric shop with three of us in tow, all complaining heartily for various reasons, and not only choose the pattern she wanted to sew, but select and carry the bolts of fabric based on the requirements of the pattern, and also find the other threads, fasteners and/or zips needed. My sisters and I could not have been much help at all. I recall the three of us climbing in, out and around the fabric bolts as they were on their stands and being told off repeatedly for it!

I went in on a day when WonderBoy was at preschool, and had Lola-Frog in her stroller. Okay, so I've got two free hands and only one child (who can't walk away) to keep track of. Shouldn't take too long. She waited quite patiently in the stroller while I quickly found the patterns I wanted in the big book, then went up to the counter where the assistant found them in the drawer, took the guts out of them and gave me the envelopes so I could use the directions to make sure I got the right fabrics etc.

So far, so good. I turn the envelopes over and start working out the English instructions with the imperial measurements from the French instructions with the metric measurements and start looking at bolts for their widths. Bear in mind, I've got two patterns, and one of these would need two complementary fabrics, one as the main colour and the other as a trim. I'm holding at least two bolts, searching through others, and Lola, now looking for further entertainment, is pulling at fabrics from her stroller. I move the stroller out of the way - several times - and begin to make an awkward path to the cutting table and till. Until I realise I'll need threads. sigh.

Steering an umbrella stroller one-handed is damn hard work, but weaving a path through a crowded Lincraft like this, whilst balancing three bolts of fabric and trying to give Lola-Frog a wide enough berth so her pudgy little hands can't reach is something else entirely!

And so, we have a darling little pinafore dress for Lola-Frog to wear this summer. It's something that makes me even prouder when I remember that the last time I used a sewing machine was over ten years ago, when I sewed my own 'Signature Bear' for the end of Year Twelve!

Thursday Night Shuffle

All right! After two weeks' absence from KnitNight, the first on the Shuffle chopping block is...

"Anna (Go To Him)" is a cover of a song by Arthur Alexander, sung in this situation by The Beatles on their 1963 album, "Please Please Me". At this early stage in their recording career, The Beatles used to really get into playing cover version of some of their favourite music whilst on stage. They'd particularly get into playing some of the B-sides and lesser-known songs from hit artists at the time. Because Lennon and McCartney's songwriting abilities weren't seen quite yet for what they truly were (ie. EMI wouldn't let them write and put what they wanted on albums at this stage till they'd proven themselves and sold some albums), this album in particular is made up of cover versions.

When I get into a Beatley mood, I especially like to put this album on to begin listening to their catalogue from start to finish... especially now that they've re-released all their material. It sounds just superb.

And so, till next Thursday!

Well, colour my socks...

... this colour!
These daisy-type flowers are running a bit rampant at my place (sadly, the whole garden's gone to pot this year - I gave myself the year off, knowing I'd have trouble fitting in the garden with baby Lola-Frog, and... knitting!), and even though I consider them weeds, I really like the colour... I think they'd make really good socks!

Stashin'

Sock yarn, sock yarn, la la la la sock yarn!

Not that I'm knitting anywhere near the numbers of socks required to keep up with the amounts of yarn I'm stashing. *sigh*. But this stuff is different.These two are earmarked to be socks from Cookie A's 'Sock Innovation' book.They're Araucania Ranco Multi sock yarn, and I'm in love with the colourways. That's mostly the reason I bought them...

Pikapolonica!

Ladybird, Ladybug, Ladybeetle... many names for them ( I just looked it up on Wiki. Some of the lesser-used names for these insects include Ladyclock, Ladycow and Ladyfly - excuse me?) but I think that all round, they're considered to be good luck, either for cultural reasons (especially in Europe, I think) or for the fact that they eat aphids and so keep your roses healthy...


Wonder what the significance of them is when they take up residence on your sewing machine??I hope it means good luck for the current (gasp! Not knitted!) project!

Thursday Night Shuffle

Tonight's song is actually today's song... wasn't able to get to KnitNight tonight... and today's song surprisingly ended up holding some significance for me and for our little family, since today is the day that Lola-Frog was told that she didn't have to be a froggie anymore. The hip brace is off and our darling girl is off and away!Today's song is "Life, In A Nutshell" by one of my favourite bands, Barenaked Ladies. It originally featured on their 1994 album, "Maybe You Should Drive"... The lines that appealed to me, and to Lola's situation as I was driving home are

'... But I don't tend to worry 'bout the things that other people say
And I'm learning that I wouldn't want it any other way
Call me crazy but it really doesn't matter
All that matters to me is she...' '... I fell down with no one there to catch me from falling
Then she came 'round
And only her tenderness stopped me from bawling my eyes out
I'm OK, and that's why... '

I mean, you can read anything you like into almost any song you want, but that's what I saw in those lyrics today. Bless you, my darling daughter!

Finished Emergency Birthday Mitts, and Guerilla Knitting

No, not THAT sort of Gorilla!

hehe... couldn't resist such a stupid joke! That was taken a couple of weeks ago on a family day trip to Taronga Zoo, in Sydney. Here I am, with my monkey offspring...

At any rate, I meant to keep going with the Tale of the Emergency Fingerless Mitts. Gather round, chill'n, and hear my story! What was I up to? Oh, yeah. Crapping out on the Humanity Mitts on the Thursday, and casting on a new pair of Fetchings that night instead... I managed to get the pair finished by Sunday lunchtime, even with them being a little longer than your usual pair of Fetchings, and with my improvised new thumb, which would have taken up more yardage than usual. My sister seemed pretty happy with them:and so I hope that these will see plenty of use next year when the weather gets colder again! I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, which was just delightfully soft to knit with. It felt lovely to try the mitts on as I was going... maybe I'll knit me a pair one day!

And now, on to Guerilla Knitting. I happened upon an example of Guerilla Knitting in my home town of Bowral, a couple of weeks ago, in the main 'plaza'. I think this is reclaimed Sari silk, knit into a post warmer, featured here with Wonderboy.I do think it's pretty cool, but a big part of me is ticked off that I didn't get to do it first...

Well, wouldya look at that?

This was supposed to be a post from my iPod, a couple of nights ago before I went to bed (just cause I could, y'know?)... but I couldn't.

Dunno why, it just wouldn't work beyond allowing me the opportunity to add a heading and choose a font...

Thursday Night Shuffle

Tonight's first song on the list is The Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" (the Anthology II version, as opposed to the official single).It's just such a catchy, upbeat, fun song - a great one to belt out in the car. It's been one of WonderBoy's favourites from a very early age. He used to wave back to The Beatles when they appeared on the screen waving at him.

I love all the different versions of the film clip, too - particularly the one with everyone dancing like lunatics at the end. It was recorded at the beginning of a time for the Beatles that was becoming very acrimonious, so I like to watch this clip and think "Well, it can't have been all that bad all the time".

Lavender and Lilacs

The light was bad, but I just had to get some photos of the Cabled Beaded Sock as it is right now, alongside the lavender and lilacs in my Mum's garden, cause that's just where I feel the colours are from!
It's a lovely pattern to knit, and very well written (Thanks, Lynette!) by LeTissier designs in British Columbia, Canada. It's my first attempt at knitting anything other than plain socks, and I LOVE how these are turning out!

Sadly, I've put them aside in the last Wednesday in a big hurry... My little sister, Lucy, was turning 24 on the Saturday, and we'd arranged to take her out for dinner on Sunday night. I figured, as I bought the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, that if I got stuck into the pattern right away (Humanity, by Denise Lotter - Rav. link), I should be able to get a couple of fingerless mitts done quite easily by Sunday. Especially during a trip to and from Sydney on Saturday, which gave me an additional two knitting hours.

So, it was decided. I cast on Wednesday afternoon and got all the way up to the start of the thumb gusset by Thursday afternoon (couldn't work on it Wednesday night - we were with Lucy for dinner!), and I resolved to have the gusset done during KnitNight Thursday evening. Maybe even right up to the cast-off point.

The bottom fell out of the plan right around now. I may have not been reading the instructions correctly, maybe I was distracted by chatting with everyone at KnitNight... but I cocked up the gusset, big time. The increases were messy and disorganised, and after I'd ploughed through the gusset (delusional, I know), I found I had way too many stitches. I tried ripping it back, but couldn't get the needles back in where they should be.

And, fighting back the urge to cut the whole damned thing up into tiny, tiny pieces and feed it to the cat, I frogged the whole bloody thing. Dianne noticed I was muttering to myself a lot that night! I fished around in my bag and pulled out an old faithful standby: Fetchings. I cast on (again) and set to work. *sigh*

Here's Lola-Frog, all dressed up and ready to go visiting friends in Sydney on Saturday. Recognise the top?
Yeah, it's her 'Rainbow Dress', shortened to be a top since she's not walking yet. The yarn is that cotton that I dyed months ago for her - it didn't quite knit up into the big stripes I'd envisioned, but I like it nonetheless, and it suits her little yellow daks. If I could change anything, I'd alter the shoulders a bit for her, this is knit in the two year-old size since she's such a Gigantor, so the shoulders are pretty wide for her.
I think she's laughing at me and those damned fingerless mittens.

More on those next post.

Thursday Night Shuffle

Another week has passed, and so we are at another Thursday!

This week, KnitNight met in a new location, a few suburbs away from our usual place, so that a bunch of us can make it (it's a bit far away otherwise)... we're alternating our meetings between the pub and the RSL club.

Tonight's song is 'Go It Alone' by Beck, from his 2005 album, 'Guero'. I first saw the film clip for this song on an ABC late night music program, called Rage. It was initially the film clip that intrigued me, as I think it was the one that was built up of scenes that folded apart, kinda like a MAD fold-in... I've just gone to check it now, and I could be entirely wrong - it was a good six years ago!!! Maybe it was his track 'Sun Eyed Girl'... Oops...

I've pretty well fallen down on this week's Shuffle. Maybe this is a sign telling me that I shouldn't have this song on my iPod...

Is my face red?!

Doin' the Thursday Night Shuffle

Heading out to KnitNight tonight, the first song on my iPod was "Listen to What the Man Said" by Paul McCartney and Wings. It's a song that reminds me greatly of my childhood, as it featured on a Paul McCartney compilation cassette called "All The Best". I think we gave to it Dad one Fathers' Day, and we listened to it over and over in the car. My sisters and I sang along and knew all the songs pretty well by heart. I think I was possibly the only kid in Year Four whose favourite singer was Paul McCartney!

"Listen to What the Man Said" originally featured on the 1975 album, "Venus and Mars", ... but I was listening to the digitally cleaned up version from the newer best of album, called "Wingspan: Hits and History".
More shuffling next week!

Quickie 'finished' post - now with added photos!

Wow – a whole month without a blog post! Instead of trying to explain, as always, why I haven’t added any posts through September, I thought I’d look at it positively. I enjoyed a month-long blogging holiday!!

On the up side, I have a heap of knitting that I have actually completed. Blocked and photographed!

‘Fetchings’ are done, knit in Jo Sharp Silk Road Tweed in Aran weight. I liked knitting with this stuff, it’s got a lovely cushy, rustic feel to it - sort of like knitting with something a little bit felted already. The yarn was still able to highlight the cabling in the Fetchings quite well. I gave them to my dear friend Ali last weekend, as a very very late birthday gift - she's moving to Adelaide very soon for a year. Does is get cold down there in winter??

Okay, so at this point the ends weren't woven in, so they weren't 'finished' in the legal sense, but WonderBoy looked so cute modelling them that I couldn't resist using these photos to showcase them!

I feel like I'm on top of Lola-Frog's blanket squares, with all of August and one of September done and blocked here. I've also done the last two for September and the first for October, but they're either not blocked or not 'finished' (ie ends woven in) and blocked. I'll get there.

August Square The First;

August Square The Second (the Apple is to signify both Lola-Frog's first solid food as well as to have a Beatles reference within the blanket without resorting to anything gauche and obvious);

August Square The Third, and

September Square The First.

Another finished object still yet to be blocked (and I must do it this week, Dianne was asking to see it last Thursday at KnitNight) is a lovely chunky cabled scarf for a friend who is definitely going somewhere cold - New York - in November. Photos to come soon.

One of the reasons I've not blogged lately (and I've just now realised this) is because of all the spinning I was doing! That, and we got our hands on 'The Beatles: Rockband' game...

You go, Ringo!

...and both these pursuits have taken up considerable portions of spare time. I've spun up 200g of lovely naturally fawn-coloured merino roving that my mum brought back from Tasmania for me a long time ago now.

I have to say, now having spun with both raw fleece and prepared roving, that I find spinning with the pre-prepared fibres much more satisfying - in a totally instant gratification kind of way. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee once said that to learn how to spin well, you should start with good quality fibres. I think that since I'm certainly no professional at cleaning and preparing raw fleece, I certainly wasn't learning with anything approaching 'good quality' fibre, and this was affecting my ability to focus on the spinning itself. Plus, I'm an impatient person at the best of times. Who can wait for fleece to be cleaned and prepared properly when there's spinning to be getting on with?!

Photos to come, as well as a new idea I've been tinkering with to reintroduce some fresh 'randomness' into the blog...

Knitting hits mainstream TV?

Okay, so WonderBoy is sitting, watching Playschool last week... and he runs up to me, exclaiming, "Look Mummy, Alex is knitting! Look, knitting!" And what do you know, Alex Pappas is wielding the needles (awkwardly, but wielding them nonetheless) to finish casting off the little blanket that's been knit for Darcy the Donkey to keep her warm. I so wish I could source a picture to add - I was so stoked to see this happening on kids TV! What impressed me more was that they seemed to have deliberately tried to avoid the stereotype of a woman, especially an older woman knitting.

It looks like it's been quite a long time between drinks, blog-wise... perhaps only two posts this month. Boo. There's been a lot going on with the kids and the family during the last couple of weeks, with Lola-Frog and now WonderBoy feeling crook, a couple of birthdays and above all else, Lola-Frog being fitted for a new hip-brace that's to be worn twenty-four hours a day to finalise the treatment for her hip dysplasia.

It feels like I've barely got any knitting done this month.

Finally

Done, and done.

We have July squares! Ends woven, blocked and dry. Looking lovely.

Here's Square One, knit at Lola-Frog's hospital bedside. I like to think it represents the high temperatures she was experiencing at the time of her pneumonia. Let's call it 'Fever', shall we?
This is Square Two, possibly the result of some hallucinations on my part after looking through a lovely book of children's knits given to me by our friends Sam and Stevie. I saw several beautiful Fair Isle jumper patterns and thought 'hey, I could incorporate that into a square for the blanket'. Mistake? Possibly, but how many mistakes could it be said turn out this well? Not too many. I'm pretty pleased with it, I have to say.
And now, Square Three. I've now knit L, O and R, and still have four more letters to go. Kinda getting a little tired of knitting the same thing over and over, but I think it'll look pretty good when all done - I hope!
I still have to knit the thumbs onto the pair of Fetchings I've knit for a good friend's birthday (which was waaaay back in July - bad me!), but I've still cast on the DK cotton I dyed awhile back to knit a wee summer dress for Lola-Frog. After that? There are plans afoot for a thick, chunky cabled scarf for another friend who will be living a New York winter - I think she'll need it!

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Quick post, then off to the gym...

I finished weaving in the ends of the fair isle square last night. Does anyone else here suck on the end of each piece of yarn before threading it through the needle? You know, to make it straight and pointy?

God help me. I may stop yakking up colourful organic merino furballs sometime in the coming weeks.

Till then, I'm going to run some crochet around the edges of this square to stabilise the sides. Photos to come as soon as the little darlings are blocked!

Can't talk... gotta keep knitting...

Lola-Frog's sleeping less these days and certainly not sleeping in unison with WonderBoy, so I've gotta take what I can get, in terms of knitting time. I still haven't finished July's third square (though I have started it two and a half times and screwed it up twice, so surely that counts for something...?) and I am determined not to get held up in this KAL to the point where I'm posting pics of July's squares in November this year.

I shall prevail!

Until then, I'll just keep knitting.

Clearly, I have some weaving in to do...

Here's a full-on Fair Isle attempt from me, for Lola-Frog's 2009 blanket. It's the second of the three July squares... If and when I get the ends woven in, I'll block the bugger and post a picture!!

Meh.

It really really has been one of Those Weeks. Poor little Lola-Frog spent five days in hospital over these last two weeks with pneumonia. It just about broke my heart, seeing her all hooked up to the IV antibiotics and oxygen. But she's home now, much stronger and eating better. She's almost back to her usual smiley, giggly little self.And now for the knitting?

Firstly, all the time spent sitting with Lola-Frog in the hospital made for ample knitting time, particularly to catch up on knitting the Sea Wool Scarf which was intended for Mum's birthday... last Wednesday. So, after one complete frogging and several tinked rows, I found that I'd done somethin' stupid with the 'feather and fan' rows, creating wobbly waves that increased rather exponentially...

... so I was left with wobbly-wave-ruffles.After finally casting off and realising what had happened, I did a totally non Knitter-with-a-capital-K thing. I looked at it and held it up. I threw it across my own shoulders and pulled it round my neck. I turned it around and held it across my neck and chest, and said:

"Meh."

I was so over the whole thing that I think I conned myself into thinking 'Hey, it's still pretty, it still looks kinda cool... sorta free-formed and avant-garde. Yeah, avant-garde, I like that...'. I'm about to sew some green glass beads onto the corners, where I've also added the requisite tassels. More photos to come on completion.

Having upheld my end of the bargain in casting off the scarf successfully (hey, I said I'd get it cast off, not finished!), I decided to open my package from Interweave...I'm very impressed so far. I'm trying to read both books at the same time, and I've already watched the beginning of the DVD three times over. Once to get an idea of what's going on, once to try to commit it to memory, and a third time whilst actually having a crack on the spinning wheel. Excellent, excellent stuff - the books are well-written with lots of useful information and clear photos that really help me to make sense of what's being said. I'm learning lots, which for me is a pretty big deal!