Moment of Zen

My job at the yarn store is a dream job. During the lunch hour, when people come in to knit and chat, and between helping other customers, we get to knit along with the lunch group. I usually have a pair of socks on the needles, and little by little, the socks magically get finished. Both socks, as opposed to my usual one-sock-wonders that end up as part of a zany mismatched pair.

(The definition of a one-sock-wonder is: One wonders where the other sock went). Dryers can create one-sock-wonders too, as we all know. And who hasn't had that experience where you wonder what that lump under the bedsheet is?

I digress
Yesterday, having changed knitting bags, I went off to work. It was a gorgeous early fall day, and I had an idiotic smile on my face.

I got to work and pulled out my things. I had several things in my backpack. My lunch. My wallet. My phone. My keys. No knitting.

Now, knitting is my panacea. It keeps my little hands busy so I don't overeat, don't smoke, don't pick at things, don't, as the t-shirt says, kill people. And though there was plenty of work to be done helping customers, stocking shelves, and the like, the noon group kept asking me why I wasn't knitting.

"I'm having a moment of Zen" I said. They didn't buy it. I had to fess up.

When I got home, the first thing I did was to find my knitting in my other bag, and put it in my backpack. I slept well last night.

Miscellany

Having said that I hate knitalongs, especially mystery knitalongs, I bought the pattern for Stephen West's recent mystery knitalong. But I had heard from friends that, since it involves 3 yarns in 3 different colors, it was difficult to know which yarn to start with. So I'm going to look at completed ones on Ravelry, see if I like the pattern and try to understand how the colors should best be arranged. And if I don't like it, I won't make it. I'm making use of my underlying talent for procrastination to eliminate the mystery element.

I haven't been knitting much. I've been busy with lots of other things, like going to the Minnesota State Fair. Aside from CHEESE CURDS, Pronto Pups, and the new sweet corn ice cream, my favorite thing is the knitting display in the Creative Activities building. Emily Tremain's fair isle Doublemassa hat in Kauni Effektgarn is stunning, and, gratifyingly, it was prominently displayed instead of hidden under layers of other items. Katie Smith's beautiful sweater made of Opal sock yarn was also prominently displayed. Both won ribbons.

There were also quite a few lace scarves, stoles, and shawls, few of which were displayed so that you could see much of them. I realize there is limited display space, but some of these items looked very nice from what you could see of them.

Susan Rainey's circular tablecloth, done in what looked like fine crochet cotton, was gorgeous. It was impeccably knit, and impeccably blocked.

I am not a fair-enterer. While I'm vain about some of my talents and abilities, and somewhat proud of my knitting, I don't feel a need to be validated by winning a ribbon in the fair. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

It's been quite zippy on the home front, with a visiting sister, her two dogs (one is a 5-month-old puppy) and three cats. And I have a dog. They form a loose sort of Dog Chorus with hissing and growling for percussion.

Soon after the puppy, a blue merle smooth collie, arrived, I saw her thrashing something around on the floor. Since she had at least five toys strewn over the floor, I didn't think much of it at first. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dash of rich red. I wonder where she got that small red blanket, I thought. Hmmm. We don't have a small red blanket. Ummmm ... OH NO! NOT THE SCHAEFER! Let's just say Nancy is now possibly just Nan. I'm calling the puppy Vinegar Breath now.

By choice, I'm lying low for the Labor Day holiday. I'll need a vacation after my sister's vacation.

I'll be teaching Beginning Socks and Reversible Cable Cowl classes at Borealis Yarns in September and October. Check www.borealisyarn.com for more details.

F-ing Os

I’m thinking hard about F-ing some Os. No, that’s not code for naughty-speak.

If you’re a knitter, you probably know about UFOs (Un-Finished Objects). And if you’re me, you have several -- well, several dozen ... ish -- UFOs lurking in Rubbermaid bins and boxes and project bags and baskets and in any other sort of container large enough to hold projects-in-progress.

So, I’m thinking of F-ing some of those Os.

I’m dangerously close to finishing my current project, the Maude Vest from the Simply Shetland 2 book. I have an inch or so left to knit, then I may finish the armholes with crochet or I-cord edging, and then I need to block it. 

Usually when I reach this stage in a project, it feels done to me, and I can’t help casting on for something new and exciting. I’m sort of like Donald Trump in this way, only I go after newer, fresher projects instead of newer, younger wives.

And I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions, so I don’t ever resolve to F more Os for that reason. And I don’t believe in either Hell or the Knitting Police, so I can’t be guilted into finishing anything I don’t F-ing want to. (OK, that WAS naughty-speak).

So why this sudden burst of potential industriousness?

For one thing, I think my coworker E. is a bad (good?) influence on me. She is one of those dismaying people who casts on a project on Tuesday night -- at work, I might add -- and by Friday morning she comes in with a completed acre of fully blocked Orenburg Lace or a Dubbelmossa Fair Isle hat or some such thing. And not only that, she keeps up with her blog and puts plenty of photos on it as well. I admit to feeling a little competitive.

For another, I’ve had occasion to go into my stash recently and in the process I unearthed a few things that would take about 1 hour each to complete. For example, the Sonoma Wrap from Simply Shetland 2, which involved 72 inches of various lovely stripes in Woven Stitch. I completed the knitting in record time, but so far the edging has taken me about three years. Well, applied I-cord can’t be rushed.

And then there are the socks I promised a friend several years ago. All I have left is the foot of the second sock. Two evenings of work, max, and I could get that sock monkey off my back.

And ... and ...

But maybe I could just look at that beautiful new silk and wool handpainted yarn I bought on Saturday? You won’t tell, right? I swear I won’t cast on ...