Running Short

I have been knitting the Op Art baby blanket by Melissa Dominguez published in Knitty 2008 in Rowan Softknit Cotton and Halcyon Yarn Casco Bay Worsted for my new Nephew who is due any day now. I did stockinette on all the rounds but the last stripe.  Garter stitch in the round is slightly evil.

I am on row 6 of 16 in the final stripe (which is white) of this baby blanket.  Last night, hubby commented that it is almost done. I said "Yep and I will have a lot of black left but not much white."  I pulled the cone of black out to show how much is left and then pulled out the white ball that was looking deflated. A little too deflated. 

Tiny ball and big blanket.

I checked my math with my trusty food/ yarn scale. I had used this 50 gram ball to do 7 rows, I have 10 more ever increasing rows and it now weighed...GULP...20 grams.

I ran to the computer to buy another ball.  I found a coupon in my e-mail that gave me free 2-3 day shipping from Paradise Fibers. They are the super fastest shippers and I knew I could count on them.  I even got a notice that it shipped today! "I am going to have it before I finish knitting up this ball!" I danced around the house.

Then I saw the weather...we could get anywhere from 5-18 inches of snow tomorrow night. Sigh.
USPS says, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."  However, I believe I may be knitting on something else to get me through the storm.

My Mom "LIKES" me alot.

When I logged on to Facebook this morning, I saw that I have 5 notifications.  Three of the notifications were telling me that my mom "liked" something I wrote.  Sometimes, I think she uses the "like" button to mark where she has been, like my dog on a walk around the block. We have 55 friends in common which means anything I write, she sees. Most of the "Favorites" on my projects on Ravelry are from her. She has my first knitted washcloth and my Kindergarten art smock.  She has retired and moved to my hometown. I see her almost every day. She will be the first to read and comment on this blog post. To say she is my biggest fan is a bit of an understatement.

I was talked to my co-worker from China and she said, "You are lucky. Your family is so close. They all love and care for you." Her family, including her husband, is all in China except for her daughter, who my co-worker raised alone. 

I read my favorite Ravelry board, Selfish Knitters.  Lots of them have narcissistic mothers and they are just now as adults learning to tell people "no." Their mothers think the world revolves around themselves.  It is a very child like attitude that is hard for me to understand in mothers.

Then I drove home and thought about it.  My commute is my time. I listen to NPR and Pop music with no comments regarding my taste or political leanings. I call my best friend for a nice phone chat that is not interrupted by, "MOM! He is touching ME!" It is kinda nice.

I was so deep in thought, I lost track of time and ended up in the slow lane. I looked at the clock and realized I wasn't going to make it to both day cares before they close.  CRAP!  I picked up the phone and called the only person I knew who could help.

"Mom? Would you pick up the boys from daycare?...Thanks...Yes, Subway sounds nice for dinner...Yes, after dinner I have to take both boys to Bugs' Cub Scouts because Bear is at work and then I have to go to the grocery store...Oh...Yes it would be nice if you could take Boo AND go to the grocery store while Bugs and I go to scouts...Thank you, Mom, you are a life saver."

She wouldn't even let me pay for dinner or my groceries.  She makes me wish that real life had buttons.

So, I can click "LIKE"

Full circle

Here is my finished Starfish Blanket.
I think there was little boy finger prints on the lens of the camera.
This photo shows the size. My 6 year old holding the blanket is 3'8" with a red hat and white shoes. See him?

Casting off the blanket has left a big void.  I have a sock on the needles that I need to work on but I am going to be thinking about what I want to cast on next. It must be something for me.

As of tomorrow, I have been blogging for one year.  This past year has been a year of self awareness and self respect for me.  I have started putting more effort in those things that bring me joy and have cut out the things that add little value to my life.  It has been very cleansing. I still have more work to do (see My Dog is Fat post) but I am feeling good about life in general.

Plodding along

I don't have a lot of exciting news this week. I am working on the 9 (of 15) section of the Curlicue Coverlet which means more yellow and more blue sections then last time I photographed it. I am working out on the treadmill at lunch on days that don't start with T and happy to report that at a 10% incline I can do an 18 min mile.  My first goal will be to do a 15 minute mile with the next goal being 2 miles in 30 minutes. 

I did see a middle age man steal a pack of cigarettes from the grocery store this week.  The man had been completely rung up (including the cigarettes) and everything was bagged up (except the cigarettes which were on the little check writing counter) when a computer glitch knocked out all the checkout stations. The cashier and manager started un-bagging everything and scanning it all back into the checkout computer. I was two carts back. I saw his hand clench around the cigarettes.  I saw the hand slide back just slightly and then just a little more.  I was staring intently when another cashier invited me to check out in her lane.  When I had checked out, I saw him tucking the cigarettes in one of his bags all the while talking to the manager. He walked out as I did and looked cool as a cucumber.

Why didn't I turn him in? Maybe because it is only a $4 item. Maybe because he was buying beer and dog food (wet and dry food, he loves his dog) so I pictured him, a bachelor, drinking at home alone with his dog and felt bad for him.  Maybe I have seen Empire Records too many times. (Damn the man, save the Empire!)  Mostly, I think I wanted to see whether he would get away with it or not. He did and I got a little secret excitement from it in a boring week.

Radio Silence

This month has been really quiet here but I have a good reason.  Mostly it has to do with family and the holidays, but it also because of a series of flings.  Knitted flings of course.  Flings must be kept secret, they take you away from your commitments and they make you feel a little knotty.

It all started with a phone call asking my mother what my step-father would like for Christmas.  She said a nice black hat.  I ran out and got some Lion Brand thick and quick and two days later had this:

Then my Godmother surprised me with a really nice gift

so I made her a Fling Scarf.

 













I knit my mother a necklace from the kit she bought at Rhinebeck. I forgot to photograph the finished product but it looked a great deal like the kit photo. This was such an easy pattern, so soft, so pretty and quick nice looking gift.

Finally, there was a nice calming soft brown wool hat that kept me calm through all the December drama. I knit it not knowing who it was going to be for or even why I was knitting it when I have a deadline baby blanket on the needles.  I needed something simple to knit on, something that kept my hands busy and when I cast off I found a very deserving person who felt honored to claim possession of the hat. All and all it was a good knitting month of flings but now I better get my tail in gear and finish the starfish blanket before Little Miss Mermaid comes.

Hope everyone had a very happy holiday.  I think this was one of the best Christmas' we have had in a long time.

PSA

In the knitting world, there is a phenomenon called "Sleep knitting" where you doze off with needles in hand and wake up to find more knitting done then when you drifted off.  Normally your hands go on automatic and just do a knit stitch or a purl stitch over and over.  Never to your hands work in patern, unless it is Garter or Stockinette and then it is only a 50/50 shot that your hands will get it right on their own. Knitters have reported that this usually requires tinking back to correct it.  However, if you don't recognize till 6 inches later, you must start ripping back or the daredevil move of dropping back. (I always feel I need Mission Impossible music when I drop stitches 6 inches down to get make that purl get in line.) 

With Christmas coming up in 23 days, I am issuing this Public Service Announcement to watch yourself.  Do you feel sleepy after staying up late to finish one more row?  Do you wake up with needles in your hands? Please if you feel drowsy, put down the needles. It is not worth it to try to get a couple more rows when you may have to rip it all out again.  Sleep Knitting can get you in deep trouble when you are working on a deadline.  Which is again, only 23 F-ing days away.

The More You Know...

Done and Done

So this year, my only goal was to make sure the boys had new hand knit hats before Christmas. It makes me feel like a good mom while I am knitting lots of other things for me. 


Bugs is the bomb.

Boo as the Dark Knight

Bugs, 6 years old, is a fan of video games and anything black and gold (Go Steelers!!) so I made up an Angry Birds hat. Boo, 2 years old, likes superheroes so he got a Batman hat with mask. 

It got so cold last week that we unearthed their hats from last year to wear to school. That pushed me to cast on.  I hurried to finish and they were both done the day after Thanksgiving (Yea to Bear for doing all the holiday driving so I could knit.)

Then this weekend, it has been 60 degrees and way to warm to wear their hats. Sigh.

So,  I now solemnly declare in front of all three readers of my blog (Hi Mom!) that there will be no more Christmas knitting.  No last minute projects for the kids teachers, no up all night finishing something for Aunt What's-her-face, No stress, No fuss.  My Christmas shopping isn't done but I have a list. Some of it will be baking because that is quick, cheap and well appreciated but no knitting...I hope.