Skip to main content

Where's the Kung Fu?

I haven't been writing about that lately. One reason is that my shoulder is injured so my training is all messed up. K, my teacher, decided that I shouldn't use it for a month because it was getting worse not better even though I was being careful. So when I am in class now I tie my right arm to my side with my super-long, white sash. It was really hard to deal with at first, but now I am doing everything with one arm: forms, drills, and sparring.

I've also been learning my broad sword form with my left hand. I am imagining that someday I will have an Inigo Montoya moment where I do it with my left with a lot of pizzaz and just when folks think I am done I toss the sword into the air, catch it with my right and go to town with it. There is something I must tell you.......

I've been working a lot on strengthening my legs, too, since I can't work the upper body very well without using my shoulder. K made up a stance sequence for me to do. I have been holding each one for 30 seconds and charging position. Although I can hold some of the stances for much longer, it's really improving my weak ones. See this page for what I am aspiring towards. And it's not just the form, but the ability to hold it for some given amount of time, say five minutes.

Comments

JustApril said…
love your knitting - you have real talent and a cool blog. I have been chomping at the bit to try fair isle myself. at least my lil' sis is doing well at it!
Erica.Hysterica said…
Tag, you are it...details are on my blog
JustApril said…
I forgot to say, I love your Inigo Montoya reference! funny!
Miri Mack said…
Hey April, thanks for the kind words. You have a great blog as well.

Woohoo, I like playing tag, erica!

Popular posts from this blog

Pattern: Ice Princess Panta

For a long time now I have been wanting for make something to match the fingerless mitts I made with Cayli's gorgeous home-grown, hand-dyed, handspun that she gifted me with the holiday season before last . I had some left over still but wasn't sure about the yardage. However, I had a vision of making a head band, as I find them cute and convenient for a gal that wears her hair up in the winter. And they hardly take any yarn. Originally I wanted to make a headband like the cabled panta I made before, but the gauge was all wrong. So I improvised something late the Saturday night. And here it is: I love the subtle blue striping and the feel is OMG soft. Cayli's yarn is truly amazing and was such a pleasure to knit up. Ice Princess Panta Yarn: Heavy worsted Handspun <50g Needles: US 8 and a cable needle or DPN Gauge: not critical, but a row gauge of 5 rows/inch with make a nice fitting panta 18 inches in circumfrence. Special Stitches: FC (front cross) = Slip 2 stitch

Golden Gloves

So let me just start out by saying that I didn't win my match at the Syracuse Golden Gloves, but I did have a good time, a good fight and learned a great deal. We left Ithaca before noon on friday. There were 11 fighters plus coaches riding up together in a van from GIAC. It was crowded, but fun. The guys and gals from my gym are good natured and easy going so sitting hip to hip was not uncomfortable at all. When we arrived at the fairgrounds in Syracuse, we were able to weigh in right away. After the numbers were recorded the organizers looked to find matches in your weight and experience class (coaches kind of RSVP their fighters). It turned out that I didn't have one which really bummed me out, but with the weigh ins over there was something really important to catch up on: Eating. We all went out to lunch and then came back to the fairgrounds. If you were matched up, you had to see the doctor. It turned out that while I was gone someone my weight had registered. So I was se

Boxing, Knitting, Job Search Blues

The past two months haven't been a good ones here in kung fu knitting land. I think I have been depressed. Well, I know that I have been. I mean, about two months ago I stopped doing a lot of stuff that I normally do, like blog and knit and read. And I had a few days where I was barely able to keep it together. I mean I was on the verge of crumbling into a little heap. Yes, a little heap of sad-Miriness. I thank my sister and Ms. Missy for getting me through there. I'm no longer in danger of heapness, small nor large. In fact, I feel more balanced than I have for a long while. I'm not exactly sure what brought on this bout of melancholy. I was under a lot of stress to try to find another job that fits my schedule so that I can keep my School Age Program job. I have one now that fits the bill for the time being. So that's a little better, but I really think I was suffering from some sort of post-trauma depression. I mean it felt so good to get out of my old relationship.