Pick Your Path, Then Follow It

Nothing brings joy to a knitter's heart quite like being asked to knit something for someone. Even showing someone something you like and saying "I think you'll like this" then having them nod in a vaguely non-committal way is about all the encouragement we need. (I am assuming this is true for other knitters - correct me if I am wrong.) And of course, there are to-be-gifted knitting projects that the recipient knows nothing about and those are always great, too.

My proclivity for this kind of knitting has generated a bit of a backlog. This is no one's fault but my own and so I am taking responsibility for my knitting to-do list. I am enacting a Resolution. I am resolving to complete my current list of projects before casting on for any more projects.

New Year's resolutions would be inappropriate in the middle of April so I'm making a Friday the 13th Resolution. This Resolution will be in effect from Friday the 13th to Friday the 13th. Conveniently enough, the next Friday the 13th falls in July of this year and three months is a very reasonable amount of time for tidying up the knitting landscape. (On an irrelevant but serendipitous note, that is the amount of time I am going to need to continue being gentle to my ankle.)

So without further adieu. . .

As Blog is my witness, I declare the following Friday the 13th Resolutions:

(In no particular order)

1. I shall not start any new knitting projects between today and the next Friday the 13th.

2. Between now and 07/13/2007 I will only knit on the projects as itemized below. (Some of the listed projects are literally started - as in already on the needles - and some are just on the docket.)

3. My little Christmas ornament sweaters are exempt for the following reasons:

a. They are an ongoing project that was started before the Resolution was enacted.

b. They are the aperitif and thinly sliced ginger of my knitting life these days.

c. It is my Resolution so I get to make up the rules.

4. Swatching doesn't count.

5. Charity knitting doesn't count. (Hey - there might be some sort of knitting emergency.)

6. This Resolution is purposefully silent on acquisitions.

The Approved List:

1. Mama's hedgehog herd. I need to make her a total of five. Hedgehog-1 is complete - knit, felted, stuffed, seamed. Hedgehog-2 has been knit but not felted or anything else. Hedgehog-3 is on the needles. Hedgehogs-4 and -5 are in the stash.

2. Socks for my ankle surgeon. (This is my current on-the-go project. This has a slightly different deadline in that I want to take them to my July 9 appointment.)

3. I need to sew the lining in Lori's Sophie bag. (Not technically knitting but the knitting project isn't done until the non-knitting part of the project is done, too.)

4. The Almost Amish Baby Blanket. (The challenge of this blanket is that the Pima Cotton Silk sheds. I can't take the shedding knitting with me to work on when I have to then go back to work or anywhere else. This is at-home knitting.) 5. Socks for my oldest niece. (I have made significant progress since this picture was taken. This sock is beyond the gussets and the second is just past the cuff, however, both of these socks are on holders at the moment because I have borrowed the needles to work on Item #2.)

6. A white llama for Carrie. (She got a brown one for Christmas and now wants a small white one with a black face, too.)

7. Felted magazine bag for my friend Donna. (The pattern for which I need to work out. Right now this pattern is only in my head. A dangerous place for a pattern.)

Should the stars and planets align causing a shift in the fiber of the universe which then results in me finishing 1-7 before 07/13/2007, then the following projects are permissible.

8. Mama's Tahki Cotton Classic Colorific Daddo blanket.

9. My Briar Rose Knitalong Abundance shawl from the Cozy pattern.

10. Socks for me from Susie's yarn or the Trekking. I will cross that bridge in the unlikely event that I come to it.
Well there you have it. The Resolution. So now I've said it "out loud" which should help keep me on task.

Today's Quote:

"However vague they are, dreams have a way of concealing themselves and leave us no peace until they are translated into reality, like seeds germinating underground, sure to sprout in their search for the sunlight." - Lin Yutang

It's the Journey

Here is Lori's finished bookmark. I blocked it out last night and when I took the pins out this morning I discovered that, mercifully, I had dodged the crochet bullet. I imagine that it is safely tucked in Ricochet by Sandra Brown by now.

Why I Do It

My love affair with knitting has more to do with the knitting itself than with the finished object. I guess I am a Process Knitter, as they say.

It has not gone unnoticed by even casual observers that I seldom knit for myself. I am sure that on some level this is because I am generally (I think/hope) a kind person and I sincerely enjoying doing/making things for others. On another level, and to be perfectly honest, there are very few knitted things I actually want to own for myself. I realize that a statement like that is borderline sacrilege but it is the truth.

Scarves? I like them and they are lovely but I seldom wear them - I am warm by nature and do not live in a cold climate. (I have two scarfs and I treasure both of them.)

Hats? Have ya'll seen my hair? A hat that would cover all my hair would make the Cat in the Hat green with envy. Plus, hats do not flatter my round face.

Sweaters? That is a lot of knitting and, you know, me=warm by nature.

Ditto for gloves.

I don't wear legwarmers for obvious reasons.

Basically, other than socks and felted bags and related accessories, there isn't much I want to knit for me. (I did recently buy sock yarn from Susie with the sole purpose of making socks for me. Hurray!)

Maybe it is a sick and cruel twist of fate that I fell in love with knitting.

Case in point: Fingerless Mitts. I do not need or want fingerless mitts but I could not resist the urge to knit them. I saw the Fetching mitts all over blogland. Then the ever so practical and appealing Dashing mitts. Not to mention Euny's Endpaper Mitts, Wendy's mitts, Stulpen and at least 400 other amazing, intriguing patterns. Fabulous knitters Kim and Dorothy and Dr. B and so many others extolled the virtues and usefulness of fingerless mitts.

With all of those fabulous patterns I've admired and study, I (of course) decided to make up something of my own. A skein of Mission Falls 1824 superwash wool in the Pistachio colorway, my trusty size 7 Addi-Turbos, a slightly altered Farrow Rib pattern and a few weeks of knitting more off than on, I give you: Farrow Rib Mitts.
Mitts at Rest
Mitts as modeled by Lori's hands

And, by special request of the model: Mitts in Action.I took the mitts to work to show Lori and bemoaned the fact that I had knit these and didn't have anyone to give them to. She came up with the perfect recipient: a sweet, kind, lovely older woman who works in our accounting department and is always cold. Her name is Elsa and she is a knitter (though she tells me she does not knit anymore, in my book, once a knitter always a knitter) and probably one of the nicest people we work with. I was thrilled when Lori suggested I give them to her.

In the end, these mitts have done their duty: I tried a stitch pattern I've been wanting to try, I satisfied my fingerless mitts jones, I got to give a little something to an unsuspecting recipient and as an added bonus, I got to post a picture on my blog of Lori holding her tatas.

I think a day this full of knitterly goodness calls for wine.

Today's Quote:

"It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage. " - Henry Ward Beecher

The Missionary Position

A man we work with had a heart attack on Wednesday and has been in the hospital ever since. Heaven only knows how long he will be in the hospital. His girlfriend, who also works with us, came to work this morning to stay busy for a little while and to "avoid sitting at home crying". (Ya'll know: I sympathize with the tears.) She told me this morning that she has been trying to read a book while sitting with him at the hospital but realized she was reading the same paragraph over and over and not comprehending any of it.

I'm sure ya'll know where this is going.

I told her I had just the thing for her. I explained to her the peaceful repetition of bedside knitting. I told her that knitting is a happy medium on the how-focused-you-have-to-be scale. I explained about the comfort of keeping your hands busy and your mind occupied enough that you don't sit there dwelling on the endless "oh no, what if?" possibilities. I told her that watching someone sleep is a whole lot less gut-wrenching when your hands are being not just busy but productive. (In retrospect, she is probably thinking that I am may not well in the head....)

Luckily, I had some Lion Cotton in my car and some needles. I did the cast on for her and knit the first few rows. (I don't want to hear about it if you think this is cheating. I didn't want to scare her off.) Since the cotton was handy, I set her up to make a dishcloth. Of course, everyone I have ever taught to knit, I've started them on a dishcloth. Probably because that is what I was started on. I told her, if the hospital stay is longer than a dishcloth, it can be a dish towel.

Q&A: I'll Bring the Q's, You Bring the A's

All of which leads me to my questions, dear knitters. I want to know: How do you do it?

Do you have a preferred "first project" that you use when sharing the good news with the masses?

A go-to yarn/needle combo for the knitting converts?

And (now this is the closest we get to "controversial topics" here at Ok! What Next??) have you ever "helped" someone learn to knit who had not expressed a desire to learn? Is it morally reprehensible to force our craft on the unsuspecting?


Today's Quote:

"If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it." ~Edgar Watson Howe

Knitting Philosophy and Self Portrait Sunday

I have a confession: I hate wooden knitting needles. Not only do I not like wooden needles, I love metal needles. There. I've said it. I have wooden needles and I do knit with them sometimes but I am happiest when I am knitting with metal needles. Why do I feel such knitting shame/guilt over this? I guess because when I first learned to knit, all the books and other things I read insisted that bamboo and birch needles were the best. It seemed that to really be a knitting aficionado, you had to love wooden needles. From what I could gather, metal needles seemed to be the loud, brash, white-trash cousins, living on the fringe of knitting society...the ones that the other needles tried to pretend didn't exist. I have recently come to terms with my love of the metal needles. If it really is true that the wooden needles are so much better, then I am resigned to being a fringe knitter. My 16" Size 7 Addi-Turbos are my favorite needles - I seek out reasons to knit projects using these needles. I have even bought yarn specifically because I knew I would use these needles to knit it up. Running a close second, my 16" Size 8 Boye needles that I think I got at Michael's.

Sheesh. I'm glad I've got that off my chest.


Self Portrait Sunday

1. I don’t have a particularly keen fashion sense. I wear things that Katy says will look nice on me (or things that she doesn’t wear anymore and passes along to me) and I do my make-up the way I do because either Katy or Lori has told me, “You should do this with your make-up.” I can acknowledge that I need help in these areas and most of the time their input doesn’t offend me. Most of the time.
2. I almost always wear lipstick when I go out of the house.
3. I love my family. We have our warts and our weirdness but somehow this makes me love them more. I sincerely enjoy family get togethers. Frequently this includes board games. We can be very competitive.
4. I miss my Daddo so much. And I wish I had had a chance to get to know my Nana (his wife) better before she passed away. (I was 3.)
5. I love my little dog Sally more than I consider reasonable.
6. I bite my nails – and I have as long as I can remember. I have tried to stop but have been unsuccessful. This is not a habit I expect to be able to kick.
7. I have issues about toilet paper. In my house, we only use the very best toilet paper. 2-ply. Very soft. We eat off brand cereal and use generic ibuprofen. There are things you can skimp on and things you can't. Also, when I put the toilet paper on the roll, it has to come over the top, NEVER from the bottom.
8. I am accident prone. It is sad, really. Once in a while, I think I’ve grown out of it, and then I do something clumsy again.
9. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. Then I will have a night where I get like 12 hours of sleep and then still go to bed on time the next night. Is there such a thing as a binge sleeper?
10. For the longest time, I didn’t want to learn to knit because I had learned to crochet years ago and absolutely hated it with a burning passion. Now I knit voraciously.
11. I do modular origami. I do the regular kind, too, but modular is my favorite. I do a lot less origami since I learned to knit.