Cross-Rib pattern stitch from Fitzgerald Scarf

This pattern: http://www.tricksyknitter.com/pages/bakery/fitzgerald-scarf-15.php led to a question on Knitting Paradise http://www.knittingparadise.com/t-8399-1.html which led in turn to me spending most of a night knitting up a swatch to enable me to answer the question. Being unable to post my findings on Knitting Paradise's pages, I'm putting it here. I'd put the scans of my swatch, but can't figure out how to put the photos here.

To note: I was not happy with the numbers or the balance of the original pattern. This is my re-worked (and more balanced, in my opinion) version of the Cross-Rib stitch pattern.

I used worsted weight yarn and 5mm needles. I cast on 28 stitches, using the crochet-hook cast-on.

Row	selvedge		2 pattern repeats		selvedge
1,3,5	3	P3	*K2, P5*	K2, P3	3
2, 4, 6	3	Knit all stitches			3
7, 9	3	P2	*Sl1wyif, K2,sl1wyif, P3*	Sl1wyif, K2,sl1wyif, P2	3
8	3	K2	*Sl1wyib, k2, sl1wyib, k3*	Sl1wyib, K2, sl1wyib, K2	3
10	3	K2	*Drop 1st slipped st to front, move next 2 sts to right-hand needle tip, drop 2nd slipped st to front, place 1st dropped stitch onto left-hand needle, replace 2 sts from right to left-hand needle, put 2nd dropped st on left-hand needle, K7*	Repeat between *’s but end with k6	3

Selvedge = for every row: begin with slip one knitwise through the back loop, K2, and end by knitting the last three stitches.

Who knew?

Who knew that access to a website could be blocked? By the ISP? By a government?
No access from there to many interesting sites - blogspot, Amazon.com (but not Amazon.ca!?), facebook, and others.

I am blessed to be back in the land of high-speed Internet connection to whatever websites I can find! Back where our immediate 'problems' are relatively unimportant. HOME SWEET HOME!

Circumstances beyond my control ...

What a lot that phrase can cover!

At this moment, it covers my youngest brother-in-law's death, the aftermath, and our hasty (and ahead of schedule) trip to Syria.


Burhan was about 50 years old. He was the youngest of my husband's siblings who survived into adulthood and reproduction. There were eight; now there are seven. He began his own family rather later than usual in that society. That means there are now five youngsters without their father. They range in age from 14 down to 4; three girls and two boys.


He was the spark of any party or gathering. He was the chief organizer of parties. He was the one who kept his father's bakery running despite all odds. He helped out everyone else with all their problems. Besides working endlessly in the bakery, he saw to it that his 'land' (patches of farm land well outside the city devoted to fruit trees) was well cared for and produced bumper crops of fruit - which he then carried to each of his siblings each week during the season.


He never asked for anything in return; nor did he receive it. No one ever offered to do anything for him. His brothers often shirked their turn in the bakery, even though none of them worked there full-time. Everyone felt free to ask favours of Burhan, but no one ever seemed to have any favours to offer him. Unfair!


Whenever anyone of them wanted some cash, he handed it over. Unfortunately, he never kept proper books of the bakery business. There were no books for him to take over from his successful, but illiterate, father. Early this summer, everyone got very agitated and they all demanded a family meeting. At that meeting, my husband played the role of peacekeeper. Burhan was supposed to put the books in order and present a proper accounting of income and outgo ... yet no one, not even the retired mathematics professor, offered to assist him. My darling did offer to help ... my darling who barely has a clue where our own monies are; who has never filed his own tax returns; who never kept books for his own business. Well, that offer was never carried through.


I dread this visit. I foresee the complete dissolution of the ties that have held these siblings more or less together into late-middle or old age. Burhan was the glue after their father's death. Without him ...


My lack of Arabic and the simple fact of being a female will insure that all I can do is be a silent bystander and watch the inevitable train-wreck. Left to my own devices, I'd stay far, far away from it. Since my darling says he'll be less unhappy with me over there with him than not, I'm going. In less than a week!!