Lammies Bleat in Aw the Fanks: We Knew it All Along, Didn't We?

I've still been dithering around over the word "fank," although I've been sidetracked a few times. Here is the final word, the real definition, quoted from the Dictionary of the Scots Language, a project based at the University of Dundee.
FANK, n.2, v.2     I. n. 1. A sheepfold, a walled or fenced pen for sheep. Orig. Highland but now fairly Gen.Sc. 
    *Slg. 1812 P. Graham Agric. Stirling 293: 
    In the vicinity of the farmer’s dwelling there is a pen, here called a fank, erected of stone and turf. 
    *Sc. 1849 Session Cases (1848–49) 535: 
    Macfarlane had been employed at his sheep fank all day. 
    *Uls. 1907 Enquiry into the state of Rathlin Islanders II.: 
    During the summer they have to be herded on the hillocks and knowes among the cultivated plots during the day, and kept in walled-in enclosures, called, locally, fanks, at night. 
    *Abd. 1926 L. Coutts Lyrics 54: 
    Lammies bleat in aw the fanks. 
    *w.Sc. 1949 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 463: 
    Sometimes the fank is substantially built with high stone dykes around its pens and runways, and many ingeniously contrived wicket-gates for “shedding” the sheep into various pens, according to their class and age. 
    2. A sheep-shearing at a fank. Hence fank-day (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). 
    *Sc. 1875 W. A. Smith Lewsiana 157: 
    News has come to the cottage this morning that the people are gathering for the Carloway fank. 
    3. A small cattle-fair, held at a fank. 
    *Arg. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 VII. 162: 
    Formerly there were several small fairs, called Fanks in the parish [Ardnamurchan], which the principal cattle dealers never attended. 
    II. v. To drive into a sheep-fold (Per., Slg. 1825 Jam.). Gen.Sc. 
    [Gael., Ir. fang, a sheep-pen.] 

Delivering on Change: 100th Day Challenge

Start of a new day on the prairie

Here we are on the 100th day of the Obama administration. The President promised change and transparency and has been working very hard at providing both. Every time you turn on the TV, there he is, telling us what he is doing (transparency) and how things are being changed for the better. For an interactive map showing how the actions taken by the President and his administration have benefited people in your state, go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/foundationforchange. 

It's been a long time since I've felt so inspired by a President. Mr. Obama is a teacher at heart and that is always evident when he speaks--every speech I hear seems to have something in it for me, and I am left with things to think about--especially about how I can work toward helping with positive change in our country. 

I like the way he gives us all concrete challenges, such as this one in his April 21st speech on community service:

...[April 29] marks the 100th day of my administration. In [the] next eight days, I ask every American to make an enduring commitment to serving your community and your country in whatever way you can. Visit whitehouse.gov to share your stories of service and success. And together, we will measure our progress not just in the number of hours served or volunteers mobilized, but in the impact our efforts have on the life of this nation. 

I am lucky enough to have plenty of time to give to my community, and take great pleasure in doing so. It helps me to meet people and to make new friendships. I knit sweaters for children through Knit for Kids; knit and crochet with a group of women who make baby blankets for new mothers; work with a middle-aged man who is learning to read through the local Literacy Council; and I spend one morning a week at an elementary school tutoring young readers. 

Sometimes my volunteer hours add up to well over 100 hours a month! I would never have had that kind of time before retiring, but even when I was still working I started on my Knit for Kids goal of 100 sweaters hand knit for needy children. 

I hope that you and everyone you know will rise to this challenge of giving back to the community. If you would like to find volunteer possibilities close to home, a good place to start is at http://www.whitehouse.gov/change/ to find service opportunities and to share your story. 

Search for "Fank" Definition Returns Nimble Sexpots and More

Fank, you ask? I can do that...

Note: For a further taste of Scotland, try out the recipe for Forfar Bridies on my other blog.

If you persevered to the end of yesterday's post, you will recall that we were still searching for the meaning of the Scots word fank, as in the sentence "... in the sheep dip up at the high fank..."

Along the way, my Internet journey took me over to BBC Scotland, where I found what is apparently a public blogging site where all can post. Nestled within its electronic pages, I found many new words (shirty! arse end! Abba!) to look up (just kidding) although, I'm afraid, still no definition of fank.


But look at this list of adverts (see? I'm learning the lingo) from Scots lonely hearts columns. In keeping with our apparent theme, the list is called:

More For the Fank?

Below are allegedly real ads from lonely-hearts columns. 

Grossly overweight Buckie turf-cutter, 42 years old and 23 stone, Gemini, seeks nimble sexpot, preferably South American, for tango sessions, candlelit dinners and humid nights of screaming passion. Must have own car and be willing to travel. Box 09/08

Aberdeen man, 50, in desperate need of a ride. Anything considered. Box 06/03

Heavy drinker, 35, Glasgow area, seeks gorgeous sex addict interested in pints, fags, Celtic football club and starting scraps on Sauchiehall Street at three in the morning. Box 73/82.

Bitter, disillusioned Dundonian lately rejected by longtime fiancée seeks decent, honest, reliable woman, if such a thing still exists in this cruel world of hatchet-faced bitches. Box 53/41

Ginger-haired Partick troublemaker, gets slit-eyed and shirty after a few scoops, seeks attractive, wealthy lady for bail purposes, maybe more. Box 84/87

Artistic Edinburgh woman, 53, petite, loves rainy walks on the beach, writing poetry, unusual sea-shells and interesting brown rice dishes, seeks mystic dreamer for companionship, back rubs and more, as we bounce along like little tumbling clouds on life's beautiful crazy journey. Strong stomach essential. Box 12/32

Chartered accountant, 42, seeks female for marriage. Duties will include cooking, light cleaning and accompanying me to office social functions. References required. No timewasters. Box 23/45

Bad-tempered, foul-mouthed old bastard living in a damp cottage in the arse end of Dumfries seeks attractive 21-year old blonde lady with big chest. Box 40/27

Devil-worshiper, Stirling area, seeks like-minded lady for wining and dining, good conversation, dancing, romantic walks and slaughtering dogs in cemeteries at midnight under the flinty light of a pale moon. Box 52/07

Attractive brunette, Maryhill area, winner of Miss Wrangler competition at Framptons Nightclub, Maryhill, in September 1978, seeks nostalgic man who's not afraid to cry, for long nights spent comfort-drinking and listening to old Abba records. Please, Please! Box 30/41

Govan man, 27, medium build, brown hair, blue eyes, seeks alibi for the night of February 27 between 8pm and 11.30pm. Box 17/91

Greeting Copiously

As I have mentioned before, I have been enjoying Alexander McCall Smith's book series, 44 Scotland Street, with great gusto.

Part of what delights me so is the language. I keep running into terms I've never heard, and wish that I could hear them spoken in the Edinburgh accent used by the characters in the books. Imagine a father coming home from work to find his brilliant son, Bertie, sitting on the end of his bed and "greeting copiously" because he has been denied the pleasure of attending the 7th birthday party given for his schoolmate, Tofu (a child of vegans, thus the wonderful name).

Greeting=wailing, crying, lamenting

More terms:

Impoverished people are seen to be "skirled about in poverty"

A group of people buy tickets for a "tombola" (a raffle)

A literary figure is referred to as "one of our great makars" (poets)

A fellow gets involved in a "terrible stramash with the boys" (disturbance, fight)

A "bereft wally dug is deprived of its mirror image" (wally dugs--who knew?--are matching pairs of china dogs, often displayed on a mantel)

A wedding reception was planned to take place at the Crieff Hydro. All I could picture was a wedding party, bride and all, scampering across the top of a dam that was part of a hydroelectric project. However, I found that Crieff Hydro is a family hotel and spa, a regular leisure resort featuring swimming pools and other water activities, as well as restaurants and rooms that are available for wedding receptions.

I was curious about a statement that included the phrase: "I knew a fiscal who spent his time prosecuting cases..." I have since found that a "procurator-fiscal" in Scotland is the same as a "crown attorney" in Canada and a "district attorney" in America.

And, last but certainly not least, I came across this seemingly simple-to-translate statement: "...in the sheep dip up at the high fank..." When I threw myself at the mercy of our home Interwebs Machine, searching for an image of a fank, it returned a rather frightening photo of a lady wearing green nail polish and a pert but very bare bum. Certain that I was on the wrong page (had spell check changed "fank" to "spank?") I tried again and found that the good folks at Google were suggesting that perhaps I meant "what is a bank?"--a question that becomes harder and harder to answer in these days of fiscal chaos.

No! I insisted that I wanted someone out there in Internet Land to answer my query about fanks with no more nonsense. What I found needs to be posted tomorrow.

Hens Dancing, by Raffaella Barker

An amusing novel about a woman living in an ancient cottage in the Norfolk countryside raising flowers and hens and children--what could be bad? However, I almost gave up on this book at the first chapter when the heroine admitted to an addiction to the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer. Lucky for me, I got over it and continued on.

I'm glad I persevered. Hens Dancing could certainly be called a light-hearted romp, but it was a lot of fun and I found myself giggling as I turned the pages toward the anticipated and highly satisfactory ending. Watch for the hen joke...

Best of Camping with the Zees

Click on photo to read the sign--you'll be glad you did!

I passed our little camping trailer out on the driveway this morning. We peered at each other sideways, nervously wondering if we would be having any camping adventures soon.

To get myself all geared up for the season to come, I was thinking about some of our previous camping experiences. Several of them have appeared on this blog. Perhaps, if you are thinking about doing any camping, you should look them over, too, just to remind yourself about all the delights awaiting you--lost fishing licenses, unexpectedly empty propane tanks, encounters with snakes, ditto with tarantulas, accidentally drinking live and wiggling flies, dogs who eat leashes, and the all-important Camping Rule #1 (Drink something, anything, to help you remember that camping is fun. Do this before trying to set up the tent trailer).

Here, these will refresh your memory....

Tenderfeet
Camping with real cowboys

The Bacon's on the Bed, Dear
In which the Zees are introduced to their new-fangled covered wagon

Endless Days at Bottomless Lakes
Endless Days... and Nights
Endless Days... But Beautiful
The dog ate all the leashes! Mmm, these flies taste minty! Oh, no, tarantulas!

Mr. Zee Goes Up
A snake slithers and Mr. Zee unexpectedly learns to fly

Adverse Reaction to BioSpot

In my last post, Warning! Health Hazards from Flea and Tick Products, I wrote about how my dog, Leny, had a number of seizures after an application of BioSpot. Here is what happened next. 

Following the advice of James TerBush of BioSpotVictims.Org, I called the manufacturer of BioSpot, Farnam Pet Products. The phone number for the Risk Manager/Consumer Relations for BioSpot is 1-800-234-2269. If you are making the call, have the box of Biospot that you used handy, and a copy of your vet bill. After getting your information and a summary of the situation, they will ask you to submit the following so that they can refund the price of the product and consider reimbursement for the vet bill:

1. Proof of purchase for the BioSpot product that gave you the problem--either a receipt or the bar code from the package.

2. A copy of your vet bill.

3. A copy of the vet's notes from your visit.

I'm expecting that they will probably refund the cost of the product and will most likely deny responsibility for any adverse reactions and will thus deny the claim to have the vet bill reimbursed.

The reason I am feeling so cynical is that after I talked to the customer service rep, she transferred me to an Animal Poison Control Center, where they said they were not connected with the company that makes BioSpot. The rep there told me that her resident vet expert was telling her that my dog's 4 grand mal seizures after getting her BioSpot dose were just a coincidence, and due to something else. She suggested that my dog perhaps got into some human anti-depressants (there are none in my house)--somehow implying that my dog has opposable thumbs when I am not looking at her and that she is able to wrestle open child-proof lids on drugs that we don't even have. 

The Poison Control rep said that she would like to chat with my vet on the phone to explain to him that he came to the wrong conclusion in connecting the BioSpot with the seizures.

It was kind of creepy.

****

Update, May 2013: The manufacturer eventually sent me a check to cover what we had paid for the product and what we had spent at the vet's office. The check had no indication of what is was in response to, and there was no admission of wrongdoing on their part or on behalf of their product. Leny continues to have seizures about once a month. We will never know for sure if the product caused the onset of seizure activity.

Warning! Health Hazards from Flea and Tick Products

We accidentally poisoned our own dog with an over the counter flea control product. She is doing all right now, but I wanted to get this warning out to everyone I know. I will do more research and be able to provide more links and information over the next few days. Here is what happened:

Leny, our four-year old, much loved Lab/Sharpei cross, had four very frightening grand mal seizures yesterday, just two days after we gave her a dose of Biospot. We had administered other doses to her in previous months, at first with no problems. Last month she seemed uneasy and uncomfortable after the dose--I wish we had paid attention to our gut feelings then. 

Beez and I were out, but luckily my sister was here at the house when Leny started seizing. That good, brave Auntie Bucksnort got the pup right to the vet, though she was shaken up for the rest of the day after seeing the seizures. Leny is back from the veterinary hospital now and is doing well. The Biospot should be out of her system in another 3 days; her blood tests all indicated no visible lasting damage at present. She is on Valium for the next couple of days and phenobarbitol for the next month. 

We thought we could save some money with this cheaper alternative to Frontline. We are very, very sorry now and hoping that we have not inadvertently caused lasting damage to our good friend and beloved family member. Oh--and by "saving" on Biospot, we ended up with a $240 vet bill. Not that we hold that against the vet--my point is that sometimes what looks like a savings is far from it!

I found a website, BioSpotVictims.Org that has some great information on the problem. It has many, many firsthand stories from pet owners. The author of the site, James TerBush, has been extremely helpful, and has provided the following links (quotes from the sites are in italics; bolding is mine for emphasis): 

- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Increased Scrutiny for Flea and Tick Control Products for Pets.

This page was last updated 4/20/09 and reports as follows on an increased incidence of reported adverse effects: 

Adverse reactions reported from the spot-on products range from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and in some cases death. Over 44,000 potential incidents associated with registered spot-on products were reported to EPA in 2008. Pesticide registrants are required by law to submit information to EPA on adverse effects resulting from the use of any registered pesticide. The seven products in the table below represent about 80% of that total. 

-National Resources Defense Council: GreenPaws, For People Who Love Their Pets:  

Over the last 8 years, NRDC helped remove six of the most dangerous toxics from pet products. But we need your help to get rid of the rest. 

The GreenPaws site has a list of flea and tick products that are harmful to pets, as well as an article on protecting against fleas and ticks without chemicals. 

BioSpot is one of the brands listed by the EPA as containing dangerous ingredients, and I would never go near it again anyway--but so is Frontline, so I'm not sure where we will turn next. I had been worried when I learned that some prairie dog populations are host to infected fleas that carry the plague bacteria. We are surrounded by prairie dogs here in eastern New Mexico, but looking at the Centers for Disease Control plague incidence map has eased my mind, since there haven't been any reported cases in this part of the state (for the reported years 1990-1997). So, I guess we will be trying some non-chemical flea and tick control methods. 

If you have any suggestions or stories about flea and tick control, please share them via the comments section. 

44 Scotland Street

I have long enjoyed the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith (now a delightful television series), so I am pleased to recommend another of his series to you.

This one starts with the novel, 44 Scotland Street, which introduces us to the characters living at this address in modern-day Edinburgh. My favorite, so far, is five-year-old Bertie, who is a brilliant boy. His mother, who treats him like a social experiment (the Bertie Project), has great plans for his intellectual development and has already filled Bertie's days with lessons to teach him to speak Italian and to play the saxophone; she has also painted his room a supposedly non-gender specific pink. Bertie, on the other hand, would like to be a regular boy with a name more like "Jock." He would like to go a school with lots of boys in uniforms and a rugby team; and he adores trains (the love of which his mother fears is a metaphor for something unpleasant). I am looking forward to lots more of Bertie in the other books in the series. 

Here are the books so far: 

44 Scotland Street

Expresso Tales

Love Over Scotland

The World According to Bertie

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones (will be published May 2009)

You can read more about the books here on Alexander McCall Smith's website. And here is something that I just found out--should you be traveling in Scotland, you can actually stay in a Scotland Street bed and breakfast close to what might be the fictional location No. 44.  

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski

Imagine a 562 page book that you CAN NOT PUT DOWN: History. Family. Dogs. Evil. Poison. Magic.

If you would like to read an interview with David Wroblewski in New York Magazine about his book and its Hamlet themes, go here.

Book cover from Google Images

Handmade

Not everything in my new room (see recent posts) is recycled trash. I am lucky enough to own a collection of our own Auntie Bucksnort's pieces. My sister does beautiful, delicate, detailed and creative art and I treasure each piece of her work that I have in my house. My new shabby chic room is graced by this wonderful stained glass fan lamp that she made many years ago. 

I am pleased to finally have the fan lamp in the same room as her oval piece that is hanging in the window. They complement each other beautifully, although conceived and executed years apart. 

Here is a detail from the embroidered pillowcases in the room that I made some years ago, after living in New Mexico for the first time had liberated my sense of appropriate color combinations. My approach to handwork is more or less pretty slapdash--just get it done. Obviously, I'm not the artist sister with all the patience and attention to detail!

Still Recycling

I just can't stop with this trash talk. I wanted to show you one last garbage vignette in my "new" room. This time it is another little shelf thingy that my sister crawled out onto the burn pile to rescue. It spent some time in my New Hampshire basement feeling rejected, but made the cut and was loaded into the moving van when we headed west to New Mexico. 

Good thing, too! Old New England trash like this is considered "antique" out here in the New West, and is hard to find. So, the battered little shelf became shabby chic and ended up as part of a proud display. 

That lusterware plate below the shelf came from--you guessed it--the Swap Shop in my old town in New Hampshire, where I found it down at the bottom of a pile of cracked plates in the kitchen recycling section. Ditto the two little floral plates in the top photo.

That bit of hand work casting the lacy shadow (below) was also someone's discard.

The little ceramic animals were collected when I lived in Canada many years ago. They were made at the Wade Pottery in Burslem, England, and used to be found as premiums in boxes of Red Rose Tea Bags. 

The old bottles and the little creamer were dug out of the ancient dump behind the stone wall at our old colonial home back east. Every spring, we would find different items near the surface, moved there by the frosts of winter--in much the same way that New England farmers and gardeners have a new "crop" of stones every season.

Other People's Trash

Now that I've started talking about frugality, it's going to be hard to stop me. I wanted to show you some more uses for other people's garbage. We're still in my redecorated bedroom. 

The little cupboard in the top photo was found up in the hayloft of the barn at our old colonial house in New Hampshire. It was painted black when I found it and has been through several paint jobs since then. In this particular reincarnation it is decorated with some sunbonnet baby stickers that my sister gave me long ago. 

The shelves hold some glass pieces that mostly came from the Swap Shop at our old New Hampshire dump. The "Swap," as we lovingly called it, was a metal building containing shelving that was loosely organized into categories like "books" and "toys" and "kitchen," etc. The motto there was "take it or leave it" and it was a great way for the community to recycle objects they didn't want that were still useful. Sadly, the town there has apparently become too upscale for this kind of recycling, and the Swap is no longer in existence. 

Some of my best finds at the Swap were these two old glass candy holders. They would have originally been sold filled with candy, held in by a paper seal at the bottom. 

The cupboard is sitting on an old painted wooden chest that was found in the back hall of the same old colonial house when we first moved in. Apparently, even the feckless "B" family had no use for it. It, too, has lived through several refurbishings at my hands, and is now a creamy but battered yellow. 

The cloth spread on top of the chest is woven of fine linen, delicately decorated with drawn-thread work. It was found, balled up in the bottom of a box of assorted trash, down at my favorite New Hampshire dump--an absolute treasure, just tossed away. 

Frugality is Back, and Not a Moment Too Soon

All recycled: The floor lamp, chair, bedside chest, shelf, candy dish, dresser scarf

I've always been frugal. There, now you know. Maybe it's because I was born a Yankee, but when I first read or heard the phrase use it up or wear it out, make it do or do without, it was with a great feeling of recognition and relief. So that was what was wrong with me, and why I never liked shopping.

Nothing makes me happier than using someone else's castoffs. I guess you might find that scary, but it certainly means that I am easily entertained. 

Take a look at these photos from the room that I recently painted and redecorated. Practically everything in the room was someone else's trash that has found a new life. The old metal bedstead was left behind by the occupants in a house I bought long ago. The floor lamp in the top photo and the table lamp in the bottom one came from the Swap Shop at our dump/recycling center in New Hampshire, as did the lace curtains, the picture frame, the candy dish (don't know what else to call it--it has a pressed glass bottom, divided into sections, and a carved aluminum lid), and the dresser scarf (hand-painted). The little shelf unit on the wall was probably fished out of the burn pile by my sister, and some of the glass items on it came from an ancient dump out by the stone wall of our old center chimney colonial house, also in New Hampshire.  

The wing chair was always mine but could have been tossed out when a puppy ate the upholstery off twenty years ago. I've made set after set of slipcovers for it since then. 

See how much fun I'm having?

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

You'll rarely read anything on this blog about television because, although I watch it now, I've spent most of my life up to this point avoiding the ubiquitous TV. When I was a child, my family would insist that I put down my book and join them in the living room to watch The Jackie Gleason Show or Red Skelton. Imagine having to coax a child to watch television!

Now, here I am, breaking with my own tradition and recommending--no, insisting!--that you watch HBO's new series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It is based on the series of books by Alexander McCall Smith, and the main character is the melodiously named Precious Ramotswe. Although the filmmakers have taken some liberties, you will still love the characters, the setting, the language, the accents, the music, and the story. 

To read about the books and to find out why you should be reading them, see my post from last year called Meet Precious Ramotswe.

Image is from TVScoop.com.

Great Knitting Discoveries

It is entirely possible, if you are a knitter, that you have always known about these three tricks. I wish that I had known, or that you had told me. Instead, I had to discover them for myself.

Trick #1: When knitting a complicated pattern, make a copy of it and put it on a clip board where you can see it. Use a sticky note to keep track of which row you are on, and use a row counter, shown above in the top photo. You can hang your little row counter around your neck, but don't forget that it is there and accidentally wear it to the grocery store. Row counters are sold in the knitting needle section of your yarn or variety store.

Trick #2: If you are like me, your circular needles find their way out of their packages and into a drawer somewhere. This means that every time you want, for example, a size 7 needle, you have to scout out your needle gauge, and measure the needles until you find the right one. This is because the needles aren't marked, unless by some invisible code I haven't discovered yet.

Now, this is a nice little project for when you are retired--I wouldn't expect you to have time for it at any other stage of your life. Gather up the needles, the gauge, and some brightly-colored nail polish. Measure each with the gauge, then mark the needle sizes with the nail polish, using a code that mades sense to you. The photo above shows you my newly marked size 6 needle. I grouped the marks in sets of three because I once read that three is the largest number that the brain can easily picture. Whether this is true or not, I can quickly grasp that this is a size 6 needle with just a glance.

Trick #3: Those same circular needles sometimes want to curl up, and there is nothing worse than the continual struggling that you will be doing with a needle that won't straighten out. I ran into this problem recently with a new needle that had obviously been languishing too long in its package at the store. I kept knitting and hoping that it would straighten, then I had to worry that I would have to take all my knitting off the needle and immerse the needle in something hot. Don't do this!

There is an easy solution to curled up circular needles and they can be straightened even while your current project is in progress and the needles full of yarn. Just warm the cables up with a hair dryer and they will straighten out in a few seconds. Magic!

Another* Dishcloth Pattern

My friend and fellow knitter, Marie, gave me this lovely item as a gift. I thought that it was a decorative piece until she mentioned that it was a dishcloth. It's almost too pretty to use!

Round Dishcloth Pattern

Instructions:

Cast on 18 stitches.

This cloth is made up of 6 wedges, all exactly the same. When you finish knitting a wedge, you just go ahead and knit the next one. Then the edges are sewn together, the threads are woven in and the cloth is complete. 

Every wedge:

Row 1 : K to last 6 sts, P2, K2, P2.

Row 2: K2, P2, K2, YO, K to last st, turn.

Row 3: K to last 6 sts, P2, K2, P2.

Row 4: K2, P2, K2, YO, K to last 2 sts, turn.

Row 5: K to last 6 sts, P2, K2, P2.

Row 6: K2, P2, K2, YO, K to last 3 sts, turn.

Row 7: K to last 6 sts, P2, K2, P2.

Row 8: K2, P2, K2, YO, K to last 4 sts, turn.

Row 9: K to last 6 sts, K2, P2, K2.

Row 10: Cast off 4 stitches then K1, P2, K2, YO, K to last 5 sts, turn.

Row 11: K to last 6 sts, K2, P2, K2.

Row 12: P2, K2, P2, YO, K to last 6 sts, turn.

Row 13: K to last 6 sts, K2, P2, K2.

Row 14: P2, K2, P2, YO, K to last 7 sts, turn.

Row 15: K to last 6 sts, P2, K2, P2.

Row 16: K2, P2, K2, YO, K to last 8 sts, turn.

Row 17: K to last 6 sts, P2, K2, P2.

Row 18: Cast off 4 stitches then K1, P2, K2, YO, K to last 9 sts, turn.

Row 19: K to last 6 sts, P2, K2, P2.

Row 20: K2, P2, K2, YO, K to last 10 sts, turn.

Row 21: K to last 6 sts, K2, P2, K2.

Row 22: P2, K2, P2, YO, K to last 11 sts, turn.

Row 23: K to last 6 sts, K2, P2, K2.

Row 24: P2, K2, P2, YO, K to last 12 sts, turn.

Row 25: K to last 6 sts, K2, P2, K2.

Row 26: Cast off 4 sts, K across row.

*For a simpler dishcloth pattern, see An Old-Fashioned Project for Frugal Times