Ya Knew It Couldn't Last

Nope, it couldn't last. This afternoon I cast on a Pinwheel Hat.

The pattern is similar to Coronet, but is worked in short rows. Pinwheel actually predates Coronet by almost three years. There are plusses and minuses to each pattern. In Coronet, the cabled band is knit first, then stitches are picked up for the rest of the hat. I suppose if you like picking up stitches, this is no problem, but most people I know think it is a pain. Pinwheel is worked in one piece with short row shaping. However, it must be seamed up the back. All in all, I prefer Pinwheel, which is why I am knitting it.

I'm still working on Cody's sock. Progress is slow, but I am making a little.

I haven't done a karate post in quite a while. Well, in a week. There wasn't much to report on Thursday's class. We did basics the first half of the class--as always, then I helped a san kyu finish learning Chinto kata. He was almost to the end, and I taught him the last four or five steps.

Last night in Black belt class, we worked on bo kata--both tokumine and urashi. I had forgotten some of urashi, but going through it a few times brought it back to me. We also worked on finding self defense moves in kata. That is, we picked out defenses from different kata for the same move. After class, sensei asked me if I was learning anything from it. I said that it was really hard for me to learn just by standing there listening to him talk, and almost as hard to learn just by watching. I have to be doing the stuff to really learn it. He said he's going to try to incorporate more drills into class. I hope I don't end up partnered with one particular student. She never does the drills the way sensei tells us to. It's really hard for me to get any learning done when I have to pair up with her.

Tonight's class was basics with a twist. We went through a few upper body basics as normal, but when we did the kicks, we did them slow motion first. Then we did them normal speed. Doing kicks in slow motion is really good, not only for checking your form, but for working on balance as well. After that, we did some stance work, followed by seisan by the numbers. Sensei would count, and we would to a step of the kata and all the techniques that go with that step.

Finally, we partnered up and did some kumite drills. That was it for tonight's class.

The bad thing is that one of the little kids moved up to the adult class this week. You almost have to feel sorry for this kid. Nobody likes him, but he brings it on himself because he is soooooo obnoxious.

There is supposed to be a lunar eclipse tomorrow (Wednesday). I'm off to research it.